Dallas Schoo - salu2podcast 2009The Edge’s roadie Dallas Schoo won an award, while U2 production guru Willie Williams picked up two prizes.
TPI magazine editor-in-chief Mark Cunningham said the Irish band’s tour had “made the biggest noise” of the last 12 months in more ways than one.
“It is a massive engineering feat - from scenery to video to audio, with the biggest PA system that has ever been seen on a tour,” he said.
You just know they’d rather be wearing jeans and bomber jackets
Bassist Jah Wobble on the nominees at the black tie event
“It’s a fantastic achievement and the four members of U2 are effectively the icing on the cake.”
The TPI Awards were first held in 2002 and the winners are voted for by readers of the magazine.
This year’s ceremony was hosted by BBC Radio 2 broadcaster Chris Evans and attracted artists including the Pet Shop Boys, Kaiser Chiefs singer Ricky Wilson and former Public Image Limited bassist Jah Wobble.
Speaking about the nominees at the black tie event, Wobble said: “It’s very interesting seeing all these people with mohican haircuts and beards done up looking very uncomfortable wearing black suits and bow ties and all that.
“You just know they’d rather be wearing jeans and bomber jackets.”
Check out all the backstage photos /U2TOURFANS 2009
Tampa FL/Dave Long/U2TOURFANS 2009Superstars U2, who buy carbon offsets to balance the greenhouse gases that they emit during their concert tours, have asked their fans to do the same through a project the band has prepared with Offset Options.
The project has calculated that U2 fans emit an average of 127 kilos of greenhouse gases while traveling to watch the band’s concerts. The firm sells carbon offsets on its Web site to balance the amount of greenhouse gases emitted during the tour.
After conducting research, Offset Options identified four projects to support, including ones in China, India and Indonesia, as well as the Dora-1 plant. U2 fans will be able to balance their average carbon emissions by purchasing an offset certificate from one of the four projects for $1.89.
Offsetting carbon emissions is an important tool in creating environmental awareness and encouraging environmental institutions, according to Pınar Öztürk from South Pole’s Turkey office.
“The system can be used for a bank branch. Or it can be used to offset the emissions resulting from the airplane flight of a tourism agency,” Öztürk said. “Individuals can also buy them, as in the U2 project.”
In a news piece from Turkey, it is reported that “An environmental-responsibility project from Irish rock band U2 will bring money to the Dora-1 geothermal power plant in the Aegean province of Ayd?n.
The project will raise approximately $450,000 for various environmentally conscious power plants if U2 fans purchase carbon certificates offsetting the emissions they generate when traveling to the band’s shows.
The Dora-1 plant will take a share of any funds raised by the initiative.
The transactions are conducted on the voluntary carbon market, which is based on principles that allow people or institutions to buy carbon credits to offset their greenhouse-gas emissions. The system, which allows consumers to contribute to global-warming prevention efforts, also represents a new dimension of global commerce.
The Dora-1 plant, which belongs to Menderes Geothermal Elektrik Üretim, has the right to offer carbon-offset certificates valued at 30,000 tons because it generates power using clean-energy solutions. The plant has issued its certificates through Switzerland’s South Pole, a firm carrying out emissions-reduction projects.
South Pole calculated the amount of emissions the plant would have produced had it generated electricity from fossil fuels. Carbon offsets for that amount have been certified and sold to the Australian firm Climate Friendly, which then sold the certificate to Offset Options. This new electronic marketplace provides Web services aimed at increasing price and product transparency within the voluntary carbon market.
U2’s ‘massive carbon footprint’
repost from earlier 2009
Dave Long/U2TOURFANS 2009The £90m U2360 tour also features three 390-tonne stages criss-crossing the globe, along with 200 crew and backstage staff.
The opening night in Barcelona’s Nou Camp last week featured the space station-style stage and satellite link-up with the International Space Station.
Perhaps appropriately, the tour’s carbon footprint can also be measured in space terms, with their colossal emissions of up to 65,000 tonnes of CO2 enough to fly Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr from earth to the planet Mars — and back.
The figure was calculated by experts from carbonfootprint.com, a company which specialises in assessing environmental damage.
U2’s CO2 emissions are the equivalent of the waste created by 6,500 average British or Irish people in an entire year, or equal to leaving a standard 100 watt lightbulb on for 159,000 years.
The band’s vast emissions are dozens of times bigger than Madonna’s carbon footprint on her 2006 world tour, despite her extravagant demands and 250 staff. She produced 1,635 tonnes in air transport.
U2’s PR agency RMP did not return a request asking if the band were buying carbon offsets to contribute towards the damage of their enormous emissions.
Carbonfootprint.com’s environment consultant Helen Roberts said: “The carbon footprint generated by U2’s 44 concerts this year is equal to carbon created by the four band members travelling the 34.125 million miles from Earth to Mars in a passenger plane.
“You also have to add the carbon emissions from the same number of concerts again next year.
“Just looking at the 44 concerts this year, the band will create enough carbon to fly all 90,000 people attending one of their Wembley concerts to Dublin. To offset this year’s carbon emissions, U2 would need to plant 20,118 trees.”
Pollution experts said U2’s 44 concerts in Europe and North America this year will produce 20,117.50 tonnes of CO2 emissions, unless the band unexpectedly decide to ship to equipment to the US, in which case the footprint would be 5091.41 tonnes.
Bono and his bandmates will generate 64.42 tonnes of CO2 by flying 22,037 miles to this year’s gigs in their private jet, currently stationed at Nice airport, near their Cote d’Azur holiday villas in the south of France.
Most of the carbon footprint comes from transporting the three 390-tonne stages, using 3,286.60 tonnes of CO2, with another 916.07 tonnes for extra equipment. Next year they are expected to play 20 concerts in North America in June and July and 20 dates in Europe in August and September.
The Saints came to Miami to win last night and return home with a Super Bowl win. As the fans begin to sing their victory song “WHO-DAT” we can’t forget U2’s connection to New Orleans, the Superdome, and the Super Bowl.
In 2002, U2 gave what many still remember as one of the best halftime performances in Super Bowl history. We launched a poll to see if the nation agreed once again voted the best half time show ever.
Writing at the Huffington Post, Shawn Amos recalls, “Less than five months after 9/11, U2 turned the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans into a place of worship. As the Irish band played their final song, ‘Where the Streets Have No Name,’ a giant banner was raised behind them displaying the names of the 2973 people who died during the 9/11 attacks. U2 used the banner during that year’s Elevation Tour but this televised version had added resonance and turned a mere sports game into massive statement of unity and resilience – something New Orleans would need three years later when Katrina hit.”
Then, in 2006, for the first home Saints game at the Superdome since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, U2 performed with Green Day the single “The Saints Are Coming,” a moving rock anthem to mark that occasion. Add to this Edge’s work with Music Rising to get instruments to New Orleans’ musicians during post-Katrina years, it’s easy to postulate that U2 were cheering for the Saints as they marched to their first Super Bowl appearance and subsequent victory.
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The BBC is to overhaul the regulations that dictate how much damage it can do to its commercial rivals after being criticised by its own fair trading committee.
The corporation, backed by the £3.6 billion licence fee, will use two separate reviews to consider everything from the activities of its commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, to the effect on its rivals when it signs exclusive coverage deals.
The BBC Trust, the corporation’s governing body, will carry out a full public consultation on the BBC’s fair trading policy, to begin in the summer,while BBC executives have also been ordered by an internal fair trading panel to revamp guidelines that govern the impact of editorial decisions on commercial rivals.
The reviews came to light in an internal report, leaked to The Times, that ruled that the BBC had unfairly damaged commercial channels through its tie-up with U2, the Irish band, for an album launch, which included altering the BBC logo to “U2=BBC”.
The corporation’s Executive Fair Trading Committee upheld a complaint from RadioCentre, which represents commercial radio groups, that the link-up between the BBC and U2, which included a BBC DJ claiming that it was “part of launching this new album” had “impacted negatively on commercial radio stations’ access to U2”.
The committee said: “Based on the independent economic advice received the panel concludes that the BBC’s activities in the case of the U2 coverage had the potential to cause a negative impact on the commercial radio sector.”
The BBC is bound by a “competitive impact principle” that decrees it should “endeavour to minimise its negative competitive impacts on the wider market”.
The BBC Trust review, which will be completed by the end of the year, will also consider the activities of Worldwide, which has a turnover of more than £1 billion and has frequently been criticised for using its links to the corporation to “bully” smaller players.
In November the BBC Trust ruled that Worldwide should not repeat deals such as its 2007 acquisition of Lonely Planet, the guidebook publisher, for £90 million. Rivals claim that the deal meant the BBC was entering a market that had little relation to the corporation’s core purposes.
Tony Elliott, chairman of Time Out, a competitor to Lonely Planet, said: “It is about time the BBC got to grips with the effect it has on the rest of the market. We will be making representations to this review that the BBC should be more mindful of the damage it can impose on its commercial competitors. Hopefully we will get some genuine action.”
The BBC Trust has ordered Worldwide to publish a business plan for its activities over the coming years, by the end of March. Insiders concede that the document could have to be rewritten if the Trust dramatically alters the rules governing the impact the commercial unit can have on the market.
RadioCentre will also make representations to the reviews. A spokesperson said: “The BBC’s almost effortless access to hugely popular bands and big name talent means that its on-air output can have a significant negative impact on competitors, as it secures a far greater share of the limited promotional time than its public service remit requires.
“All too often the BBC simply justifies its editorial decisions by saying that it is satisfying audience demand, forgetting that the primary purpose of the BBC is the promotion of its public purposes not simply the pursuit of popularity.”
A BBC spokesman said: “The BBC accepts the findings of the Executive Fair Trading Panel and will action the recommendations that have been made. These include a review of relevant sections of the Editorial and Fair Trading Guidelines to provide greater clarity in the future.”
U2 play surprise rooftop concert
(Remember this interview ?)
Rock band U2 have played a surprise gig on top of BBC Broadcasting House, in central London.
A crowd of around 5,000 watched the rooftop show, which capped off a day of promotion for the Irish band’s 12th studio album No Line On The Horizon.
U2 had been special guests on BBC Radio 1 and rumours of the gig appeared on internet message boards during the day.
The band performed four tracks during the 20-minute gig, including new songs Get On Your Boots and Magnificent.
They also performed Beautiful Day and Vertigo, as onlookers danced, clapped and sang along in the street below.
‘Great honour’
The BBC’s Darryl Chamberlain, who was at the scene, said: “Some people tried to crowd on to traffic islands to see them… the crowd was screaming and cheering.
“Others were spilling out of pubs and shops to see it, and looking out of windows. It was a good natured crowd and people really seemed to be enjoying it.”
Police closed Portland Place in Westminster to divert traffic away from the area.
News of the unannounced gig spread on internet message boards
The band all wrapped up against the cold, except The Edge who wore a short-sleeved lumberjack shirt and hat.
The performance was also broadcast live on DJ Chris Evans’ BBC Radio 2 show.
U2’s impromptu gig echoed The Beatles’ 1969 rooftop performance at record label Apple’s London headquarters.
Earlier the band revealed they are preparing to tour later this year, and hope to offer tickets with cheaper, recession-busting prices.
Frontman Bono told BBC Radio 1’s Jo Whiley they had “something very special planned” for early summer.
He added that it was “a whole way of trying to do shows outdoors and make them very intimate”.
In an interview on Radio 5 Live with Simon Mayo, Bono said that he had “gone off” Get On Your Boots a few weeks ago, but was now “back on it”.
“It’s a small song, a tiny little song, a little shot of adrenalin,” he added.
Another song from the album, Breathe, had its live debut at an intimate Radio 1 concert on Friday morning.
Bono told the audience: “This is a great honour. This is the first time we’ve played these songs to people, so we hope we don’t screw it up.”
He said they were “trying” to work on some cheaper ticket prices, but added: “We’re also going to have some very expensive ticket prices because rich people have feelings too!”
Radio 1 also apologised on-air immediately after Bono used an expletive to describe Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin.
The BBC said it had received no complaints about it.
February the month of love some would say. In honor of the upcoming Valentines day weekend - ah yea next weekend. We found this wonderful story from Charlene Ross editor over at SKIRT! Hey now fellas we ready cosmo too.
Why not we could all learn a couple of things. Plus we are not a complete staff of guys we do have a couple of female writers. Anyway. Back to the story.
Charlene’s 2.1.10 article happened to be on her experience kissing Bono. She of course not the first nor the last that kissed Bono and said her life changed for ever. We thought about the story for a couple of days, Dre contacted her and we have clearance to post the full story. - We want to hear from you ! Have you ever kissed one of the boys ? Do tell ! Share your experience with us. kissedu2 at u2tourfans.com or leave a comment below. P.S we added some photos from our collection - They are not tied to the original story.
My Life Changed Forever the Night that Bono Kissed Me
Hmmm…well, that statement might be a tiny bit misleading but it is certainly not a lie. My life did change forever the night that Bono kissed me. But his kiss was not the reason why. In fact I suppose it would be true to say that Bono kissed me because of the reason my life changed forever.
This is my February love story…
When Dave and I had been together for about 4 years I was ready to get married. No, scratch that, I was desperate to get married. Well, not to get married, but to marry him. I. Wanted. To. Marry. Him.
Bono and Wife A year and a half into our relationship Dave was promoted and moved to New York. We carried on our relationship long distance for a year. He asked me to move to New York with him without any promise of a future and I did because I missed him so badly.
In less than six months we were back in California because of a new and better job. We went house hunting. He bought the house that I chose and we lived in it together, again without promise of a future of anything beyond that. After a year of playing house I was ready for a ring.
I’d had some false hope… I was convinced he was going to ask me on a trip to his hometown of Chicago for homecoming weekend. He didn’t.
I was equally disappointed on a romantic vacation in Hawaii when my fantasy proposal at a restaurant on a sunset beach never materialized.
If I remember correctly both of these disappointments led to me crying like a crazy person in the middle of a restaurant when my dream moment did not happen. It’s amazing he didn’t run away from me as fast as he could without ever looking back.
So when he asked me to get a few days off of work so we could go to San Francisco over the 4th of July holiday I knew he was going to ask. He hated San Francisco but I loved it. Why else would he want to go there if not to propose?
But here’s the thing about Dave… he loves surprises. Once he told me we were going to Napa for wine tasting, which we did, but only after going to see Paul McCartney in Berkley. When he was living in New York and I was still in California I took a couple days off work because he was coming to LA and had planned a trip to the Sequoias for us.
The day before he was supposed to arrive I received a Fed Ex envelope with a ticket to Chicago where we met for a romantic weekend. (That was the weekend he asked me to move to New York which is why I was convinced a year later when we went back he was going to ask me to be his wife.)
Girl trys to grab a kiss So three days before we were supposed to leave for San Francisco when he said to me, “How would you like it if instead of going to San Francisco, we went to Paris and Italy instead?” I excitedly answered “What!?”
Dave worked at Island Records – U2’s record label. He explained to me that he had arranged a business trip with some radio programmers and trade magazine writers to go to Paris to see a new band called Quicksand to generate some publicity and airplay for them.
Then as a special bonus we were all going on to Verona to see U2.
I was thrilled… and crushed. There would obviously be no proposal on a business trip.
The trip was a whirlwind. We were only in Europe for 5 days. We took the redeye and arrived in Paris the following afternoon.
Dave played tour guide to a group of 15 in a city he had never been to. Paris was a day and a half of sightseeing, big group dinner, followed by another day of sightseeing, big group dinner, concert and very little sleep.
The next morning all 15 of us got up, walked to a bus stop, boarded a bus that took us to the airport, flew to Milan, took 4 cabs to the train station, took a train to Verona and then took more cabs to our hotel. We were exhausted but Dave had to leave immediately to go to the venue where U2 was playing to set up our ticket and pass situation.
Bono and Adam grab a kiss When we arrived at the stadium we met Dave and he told us we would be watching the show from the sound board. The sound board was huge – kind of like a mini stage in the middle of the floor area.
Coincidentally there were also many people not only from the management company, but other industry bigwigs as well. Tom Freston, the president of MTV; Carter Alan the Boston DJ who is credited as being the first DJ in the US to play U2; Bill Flanagan from Musician Magazine who was writing a book about the tour were all on the soundboard with us. Pearl Jam was the opening band. Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington were there. I may not have been getting engaged, but this little girl from Reseda was surely living the rock and roll dream.
(For those of you unfamiliar with Reseda please re-watch The Karate Kid where Ralph Macchio’s character is looked down upon by Elizabeth Shue’s parents and called “that boy from Reseda.” That pretty much sums up Reseda, where I am actually pretty proud to be from.)
But let’s go back to that soundboard in Verona, Italy…
The show was amazing. I’d seen the band perform a couple of times on this tour before, but never like this – in Italy, amongst the powerful and famous with a laminated backstage pass hanging around my neck. When the first part of the show was over and the band changed for their encore they would entertain their audience with videos recorded by audience members in a video confessional booth before the show. The best videos would be edited during the concert and blasted on the big screen. Again, I’d seen this before and was explaining what it was to the radio programmer next to me because the people on the screen were talking in Italian and we had no idea what they were saying. And then the third person on the screen was Dave. And. I. Just. Knew…
Some times a kiss is just a kiss “Charlene, we’ve come over 5,000 miles and we’ve been on planes, trains, and automobiles to get here, and what I want to know is…will you marry me.”
I wasn’t even standing next to him. I crossed the soundboard, threw my arms around him, and said yes.
Under the guise of generating an awareness of a new band and being looked upon favorably by taking a bunch of programmers and writers to see the most famous band in the world, the real purpose of this trip was an incredibly large romantic gesture just for me.
After the concert we were all put on a bus that took us back to U2’s hotel. There was a private party for the band by pool area witha generous buffet and free flowing wine. Naomi Campbell was engaged to Adam Clayton at the time and we chatted with them for a while. One of the guys in our group had snuckhis camera into the concert and we all posed for a photo with the Edge. Immediately after that shot his camera battery died. (This was over 16 years ago – before tiny digital cameras and camera cell phones.) Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington and some of their gorgeous model friends played ping pong in flimsy summer dresses. (Picture every male head on that patio going back and forth, back and forth withthe ball from model to model.) I met Bono who congratulated me on my engagement and kissed me right on the lips. I am not exaggerating when I say that I think I drank 12 glasses of red wine and did not feel one tiny bit drunk (nor did I wake up with a hangover). It was without a doubt the happiest day of my life.
Two days later when we flew home Dave bought me a Gucci watch I had been coveting for a long time in the duty free shop. I joked with him on the plane that I didn’t know what was the best part of the trip – the designer watch, the kiss from Bono, or getting engaged. Sixteen years later the watch sits in a box; it’s no longer my style. The taste of Bono’s kiss (which yes, okay was really only just a peck) has long been washed away from my lips. But my lovefor Dave, my husband of 16 years next month, has only grown stronger. So I guess we all know the answer about what was best. (Definitely the kiss from Bono – right!?)
Editor Comment: After reading this story I was reminded of a story I have read at least twice. The possibility of finding love. “A Bridge A Cross For Ever” just wonderful story about true love, true friends and in the end love wins. - Thank you Charlene for allowing us the chance to share this story with our readers. Dre
Its Super Bowl time here in the states and once again the question comes up as to what was the best Super Bowl Half time show. Some would say the “Janet” show now we would not even put that up as a choice but we had been out voted by the people. However U2’s powerful and emotional perfromance on Feb 3rd 2002. The band performed Beautiful Day / MLK / Where The Streets Have No Name , incorporating an amazing tribute to the victims of the September 11th attacks within the show.
After some conversation and of course looking around on the web for other polls heres what we would deem as the top 3 all time great Super Bowl Half time shows . Good Luck “Who” this weekend your going to need it against this list.
3. Diana Ross (Super Bowl XXX, 1996): We wouldn’t have believed it, either. But for about 10 minutes, Ross reverted to her disco-era awesomeness. Somehow she managed to fit in four costume changes while singing close to a d
ozen hits. She ended the performance by being lifted away in a helicopter, and her hair remained perfect - still the greatest special effect in Super Bowl history.
2. Prince (Super Bowl XLI, 2007): While several big-name artists have had trouble adapting to the medley-heavy Super Bowl halftime format (Bruce Springsteen comes to mind), Prince seemed completely at home in the over-the-top glitz of the performance. Drenched by a rainstorm, he played Jimi Hendrix and Foo Fighters covers along with three “Purple Rain” songs.
1. U2 (Super Bowl XXXVI, 2002): Even in the best years, you’re not going to hear “Super Bowl halftime show” and “classy” in the same sentence. But U2 managed to present an entertaining show, and also a respectful tribute to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. The highlight: “Where the Streets Have No Name,” while a video screen showed the names of the fallen.
The singers Bono and Bob Geldof have incurred the wrath of Brian Johnson, a fellow rock star and frontman of AC/DC, over their celebrity activism.
Brian Johnson AC/DCJohnson, the gravel-voiced British singer of Australia’s biggest rock band, has joined a growing group of critics of Geldof and the U2 singer over their very public charity work, saying they should stop lecturing audiences about charity work and instead do their good deeds in private.
“I do it myself, I don’t tell everybody I’m doing it,” Johnson, 62, told Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper.
“I don’t tell everybody they should give money – they can’t afford it. When I was a working man I didn’t want to go to a concert for some bastard to talk down to me that I should be thinking of some kid in Africa.”
He then offered some words of advice to his fellow rockers: “I’m sorry mate, do it yourself, spend some of your own money and get it done. It just makes me angry. I become all tyrannical.”
AC/DC were asked to play at the Live Aid concert in 1985, but turned down the chance to play at the charity event, which raised an estimated £100 million for famine relief and made an international celebrity activist out of Geldof.
Johnson described Geldof, who also organised the Live 8 benefit concerts in support of the Make Poverty History campaign in 2005, as a “canny lad”.
“He did what he though was right at the time but it didn’t work,” Johnson said of Geldof’s Live Aid concert. “The money didn’t go to poor people. It makes me mad when people try to use politics or charity for publicity. Do a charity gig, fair enough, but not on worldwide television.”
Johnson’s tirade against the two Irish multi-millionaires is not the first time their charitable work has earned them criticism for letting their egos get in the way of campaigns.
Bono/ Dave Long U2TOURFANS 2009 Bono, who regularly lobbies governments on behalf of the world’s poor, is a fixture of the annual G8 summits, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times and has an honorary knighthood, was also attacked by the author Paul Theroux in 2005.
Theroux claimed the U2 singer was part of a group of celebrity “mythomaniacs, people who wish to convince the world of their worth”, and accused him of perpetuating the lie that Africa was fatally troubled and could only be saved by outside help.
“A lot of them wouldn’t know what to do if they were on the field. They’re the party who will always be in opposition so they’ll never have to take responsibility for decisions because they know they’ll never be able to implement them,” Bono said.
While there were 63 songs contending for a place at this year’s Oscars, only five made the final cut. Last year it was Oscar champ Bruce Springsteen who was snubbed for his Golden Globe-winning title track to “The Wrestler.” This year U2 and Paul McCartney got slapped down by the music branch of the academy for tunes written specifically for films. U2 wrote and performed “Winter” for “Brothers,” while McCartney did the same for “(I Want to) Come Home” from “Everybody’s Fine.”
Both of these musical powerhouses have a connection to the Academy Awards. U2 lost a best song bid at the 2002 Oscars for “The Hands That Built America” from “Gangs of New York” to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” from “8 Mile.”
This year, the Irish rockers and Sir Paul both lost the best song race at the Golden Globes to “The Weary Kind” from “Crazy Heart.” That track — written by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett — is in contention at the Oscars, as are two tunes from “The Princess and the Frog” by Oscar champ Randy Newman, “Take It All” from “Nine” by two-time Tony winner Maury Yeston and “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” by Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas.
With such musical pedigrees, how did U2 and McCartney not make it into the final five this year? Oscars’ Rule 16 sets out the criteria for winnowing the list of eligible songs down to the final nominees. There was no need for the executive committee of the music branch to recommend that there be only three nominees, as the number of songs far exceeded the threshold of 25 that might have triggered such action.
Unlike other branches — such as acting, which uses a preferential ballot — the music makers screen clips of all the eligible entries and then score them on a sliding scale from 6 to 10, with half-point increments in between. If a member has a song in contention, they are ineligible to vote.
As per the rulebook, “If no song receives an average score of 8.25 or more, there will be no nominees in the category. If only one song achieves that score, it and the song receiving the next highest score shall be the two nominees. If two or more songs (up to five) achieve that score, they shall be the nominees.”
With five nominees this year, we know they all scored at least 8.25. Perhaps the tunes by U2 and McCartney broke that barrier as well but fell short of the even higher scores registered by the nominees.
U2 Appears Mile High
U2’s appearance at Invesco Field at Mile High on June 12 will be the biggest single-band concert in Colorado this year, but the third annual Mile High Music Festival will likely draw more people. The event will take over the fields surrounding Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City on Aug. 14-15, organizers told The Denver Post. Moving the festival from July to August has multiple benefits, according to promoter Chuck Morris.
“It won’t be as hot in August,” Morris, president of AEG Live Rocky Mountains, predicted. “And we’re also a week after Lollapalooza, which will help with the routing of some of these bands.”
Morris’ team is busy booking, but he’s not announcing any acts until his initial artist announcement, due in early March.
U2’s Bono Says Yes to Jesus,
By Stephen K. Ryan
“but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma” …Bono of U2
Before President Obama commits to a meeting with cause celeb, The Dalai Lama, in Washington D.C., a meeting that will certainly enrage the already testy Chinese, he may want to brush up on the more sublime spiritual aspects of Buddhism and the Dalia Lama’s notion of Karma. Mr. Obama seems to be surrounded by bad Karma at a time when the healing benefits of “Grace”, at least according to Bono may be what is called for.
According to U2’s Bono, many people in the United States misunderstand, or at least he did initially, the ideals of “beauty and goodness” found in Buddhism and Karma, and he suggests that the “Grace” of Christianity is often overlooked and may do wonders for one’s soul.
In the book, Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas (Riverhead Books), the iconic rocker shared his thoughts on numerous topics with the French music journalist and friend who has been with the band since the beginning. In the book, Bono, offered the reader a glimpse into his “Christian” heart rarely seen.
Bono makes an explicit confession of faith. Bono says “but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma. At the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one,” explains Bono. “And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that… . Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff.”
Bono says to Michka Assayas, a secular journalist “Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: He was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn’t allow you that. He doesn’t let you off that hook. Christ says, No. I’m not saying I’m a teacher, don’t call me teacher. I’m not saying I’m a prophet. I’m saying: ‘I’m the Messiah.’ I’m saying: ‘I am God incarnate.’ … So what you’re left with is either Christ was who He said He was—the Messiah—or a complete nut case… . The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nut case, for me that’s far fetched.”
Perhaps with a little more grace in the President’s life, Mr. Obama’s karma may begin to improve.
Letter to the Editor
We started a new series yesterday “Letters o the Editor” We are amazed at the amount of people that lots to say about the letter from “N” as we have always said we are fans and we do post both sides of the story. Sometimes fans have views that we may not agree with however that’s the nature of the business, music speaks to everyone differently and fans view bands differently.
If you have a comment, share it, express yourself that’s what music is all about. We stand by our decision to post the letter and welcome you the fan to consider writing your own view. We will review it and consider posting it.
You just know they’d rather be wearing jeans and bomber jackets 
