Pete The Chop

I saw this article on CNN.com yesterday: “Is ‘Guitar Hero’ Saving Rock and Roll?”

Apparently, not only are sales are up for artists who have songs associated with the popular game, but sales for guitars are up in general as a result as well. Talk about the game turning into a savior!

There are two things missing from the Guitar Hero mix - U2 and Music Rising. Rumors had been floated around that a U2 song - perhaps “Mysterious Ways” - might be included in a future edition of the game. (How cool would that be?) There have been no confirmations on it, however.

If I could brainstorm for just a moment…Music Rising could take advantage of the game by offering a Music Rising-style faceplate for the guitar controler, or even doing an uber-celebrity edition of the game where all the proceeds goes to Music Rising. Mr. Ezrin, Mr. Juszkiewicz, Mr. The Edge…wouldn’t that be a cool idea?

This is a post from the @U2 Blog.

Guitar Hero - Nah! Guitar Savior!

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We reported some time ago that 72-year-old country legend Glen Campbell is covering “All I Want Is You” on his new album, Meet Glen Campbell. Now you can see a live performance of it.

Campbell and his band did the song recently as a part of an “AOL Sessions” taping. Here’s the video:

This is a post from the @U2 Blog.

Glen Campbell covers U2

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Hot Press understands that there’s absolutely no concern in the U2 camp over four tracks from the band’s new album which leaked onto YouTube over the weekend. Indeed, there is some surprise that the story has been afforded such a high level of exposure, given that the ‘recordings’ were of such poor – or rather [...]

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You probably know that we’ve been giving away all kinds of CDs over the last couple weeks — here’s a photo I took a few days ago right before a trip to the post office. Some CDs have been given away via our Twitter page, some in our Facebook group, others via our news mailing list and even our forum.

Now it’s time to give away some CDs via our blog. Ready?

The Prize

The winner of this giveaway will get a full set of all three remastered deluxe CD sets: Boy, October, and War.

How to Win

Follow these steps:

1. On your own blog or web page, write a post or article about @U2.
2. After the article is written, come back to this post and put a link to it in the comments — this is your contest entry. If you don’t come back and leave a comment/link to your blog post/article, we won’t know about it.
3. Be patient while we choose a winner.

That’s pretty simple, don’t you think? Don’t know what to write about? Here are some ideas:

• Make a list telling your readers about the Top 3 (or more) things you love about @U2.
• Alternatively, make a list of things we can do better! Tell us what you wish we offered or were doing.
• Write about your favorite @U2 event/party.
• Write about your favorite/least favorite @U2 news interview, article, essay, etc.
• Seriously … anything you can think of!

You’ve got a week to do this. We’ll accept entries until end-of-day on Tuesday, August 26. At that point, @U2 will read through the entries that we find in the comments below and choose one winner.

Good luck!

This is a post from the @U2 Blog.

Ready to Win Some Free CDs? Hope So…

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TORONTO - A new campaign to promote HIV testing is trying to reach young Canadians where they’re at - on the Internet and listening to tunes.

And it’s relying on the talents of rockers U2 and hip-hop sensation Mary J. Blige to get them to pay attention.One Life, an online initiative launched Monday at luvu2.ca, targets sexually active youth ages 18-30 and urges them to practise safe sex and get tested for HIV.

It aims to spread the word through an online video set to U2’s hit song One, recorded with Blige and made available by the artists at no charge.

The campaign is a collaboration of Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada, which makes pharmaceuticals including drugs to treat HIV-AIDS, and Universal Music Canada.

It also involved AIDS service organizations, medical clinics and testing facilities, and physicians.The companies, hoping to create a buzz on networks, forums and blogs, are pledging a $1 corporate donation to HIV-AIDS prevention groups every time a viewer forwards the video.

Murray Jose, executive director of the Toronto People With AIDS Foundation and a spokesperson for the campaign, said he’s worried the evolution of medications to treat HIV-AIDS has created a false sense of security among youth, with some mistakenly believing the disease is curable.

He said testing is critical because one in three people infected with HIV don’t know they have it.There is “a huge need” to keep repeating messages about the importance of protected sex and HIV tests to every new crop of teens, he added, and the Internet campaign is an innovative way to grab their attention and point them to more information.

While the rate of new reported cases of HIV has declined overall in Toronto, recent health statistics show an increase among those ages 20-24.

The One Life website includes a search tool to help people find local testing facilities and links to sources of sexual health and HIV information.

Alex McKay, research co-ordinator of the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada, says the fact that celebrities are lending their names for the promotion of sexual health is “laudable” and long overdue.

- CanadaEast.com

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Online campaign mixes music with safe-sex message

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Bono has reportedly been ordered to lose weight before U2 release their new album and start a proposed world tour next year.

The singer – who has been entertaining celebrity friends including Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and Robert De Niro on his yacht in France this summer – has been told he needs to lose his excess pounds before the band start their promotional duties again.

A source told the New York Post newspaper: “U2 have an album coming out around January. And then the band is going on another world tour in March and April - so the boys have been told to start exercising all the summer weight off.”

U2 – comprising Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr. – are rumoured to be calling the new record, their first in four years, ‘No Line On The Horizon’.

Tracks on the LP have been leaked on the internet after a fan recorded the music from the upcoming record that Bono was playing in his French villa. The four leaked songs are believed to be called ‘Moment of Surrender’, ‘For Your Love’, ‘Sexy Boots’ and ‘No Line On The Horizon’.

- azcentral.com

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Bono ordered to lose weight

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That’s it! The world is talking about the leaked songs (5 until now), U2 is having free advertising, the press is going crazy after this news (Bono’s fault, Bono’s sexy boots, etc.). What do you think? Is that a smart promotion or Bono hasn’t been careful? You can leave comments here or in our Forum. Be [...]

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Posted by Steven Musil, CNet

The next time U2 manager Paul McGuinness wants to rant about music piracy on the Internet, he may have to add his own boss to his list of targets.

Four songs from the Irish rock band's forthcoming album found themselves on the Internet after U2 front man Bono was caught playing the songs a bit too loudly on his stereo at his villa in the south of France, according to a report in The Sun. An alert passerby on the beach is credited with recognizing the iconic singer's voice and recording what he was hearing. He then supposedly posted the recordings to YouTube, but the tracks don't appear to have stuck around long on the video-sharing site.

The songs--thought to come from a forthcoming album called "No Line On The Horizon"--include the title track, "Sexy Boots," "Moment Of Surrender," and "For Your Love."

McGuinness, who wants to fight file sharing by forcing Internet service providers to ban people who pirate music, suggested earlier this year that Apple and other makers of digital music players were wrongly profiting from their "burglary kits." At the time, he placed much of the blame on tech companies, but also pointed a finger at record labels that "through lack of foresight and planning allowed a range of industries to arise that let people steal music."

If this tale rings true, it wouldn't be the first time U2 has lost control of unreleased music. In 2004, just before the release of their last album--"How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb"--the band reported that a CD containing unfinished music from that album had been stolen after a photo shoot in the south of France. The band announced it would release that album immediately if tracks from the CD were leaked online. But when songs from the album began appearing online a few months later, the band said they were finished versions, not songs from the stolen CD.

Editor's note: You can listen to the songs yourself by visiting the forum and finding the post that mentions the 4 leaked tracks. Inside contains a link to the website with the songs.

Copyright © 2008 CNET Networks, Inc., a CBS Company. All rights reserved.

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He said: “I think we can safely say it’s one of the great, innovative records from U2. Bono’s in great form, singing fantastic.”

BONO should be more careful about where and when he decides to blare out tracks from his band’s new album.

The U2 rock lord has been stung by a cheeky holidaymaker who overheard the singer indulging his own ego last week.

Most families have a bit of Club Tropicana by WHAM! rattling out of a tinpot stereo on their hols.

But the music idol is quite rightly proud of his abilities and was playing tracks from the Oirish band’s eagerly awaited new release.

The fan couldn’t believe it as he strolled along the beach by Bono’s palatial villa in the South of France when he heard that famous voice thundering out the windows.

And the savvy passerby was sharp enough to record what he heard then race home to stick the clips on YouTube.

The band have recently put the finishing touches to their first studio album in four years.

Universal Music Group, which owns the band’s Interscope label, have registered the domain name No Line On The Horizon — suggesting that will be the CD title.

It sounds like a self-help book BRITNEY SPEARS might read.

Four songs have been posted including the title track and Sexy Boots, which will be the first single.

The other two leaked tracks are thought to be called Moment Of Surrender and For Your Love.

Super producer and long-time U2 collaborator DANIEL LANOIS, who has produced the album with BRIAN ENO, reckons it’s the best he has ever recorded with the band.

 

I’ve heard the leaked tracks and it definitely sounds like a return to form.

Their last album, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, was great — as was the Vertigo Tour — so they have a lot to live up to.

The album is pencilled in for release in November with Sexy Boots strutting its stuff a couple of weeks before.

The names of several other tracks on the album have also been leaked and include Love Is All We Have Left, One Bird, If I Could Live My Life Again and The Cedars of Lebanon.

Bono is notoriously secretive about new material.

You’d think one of the richest men in rock would have a pair of decent headphones.

- The Sun

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Bungling Bono blamed for leaked U2 tracks

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Ronnie Drew, a founding member of the Irish folk group The Dubliners, died yesterday after a long battle with cancer. He was 73.

Drew, born in Dublin in 1934, formed The Dubliners in 1962 with Luke Kelly, Ciaran Bourke and Barney McKenna. Their songs include “The Molly Maguires”, “Dirty Old Town” and “Seven Drunken Nights”. The Dubliners also recorded with The Pogues, and together they had a hit with “The Irish Rover”. Drew also released a string of solo albums.

The Irish President Mary McAleese yesterday called Drew a “champion of traditional Irish music”.

She said: “With The Dubliners, he re-energised and refreshed our unique musical heritage. He brought great pleasure to the people of Ireland and yet more around the world.”

Drew’s wife, Deirdre, died last year. He is survived by two children and five grandchildren.

Earlier this year musicians, including Bono of U2, Christy Moore, Shane MacGowan and Sinead O’Connor, released a song called “The Ballad of Ronnie Drew“. All profits from the single went to the Irish Cancer Society.

- Jennifer Quinn, Independent.co.uk

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Dubliners’ founder dies

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‘Ronnie has left his earthly tour for one of the heavens…’ Bono has paid tribute to the great Ronnie Drew, who has died aged 73, after a long illness. ‘Weddings, funerals, bar mitzvahs… that’s what I loved about Ronnie Drew’s voice and spirit. Music to inspire, to console… an optimism that was contagious… that’s what U2 [...]

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Probably it’s your first time here and you arrived looking for info about U2’s new album “No Line On The Horizon” but U2Star is more than a blog! Let me show you some important features: 1) The best (and most complete) Meaning of U2’s Lyrics database in the net.  The Lyrics/Meaning of/Tabs side contains the whole U2’s [...]

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U2 frontman Bono has inadvertently given French fans a preview of their new album, which is reportedly called No Line On The Horizon. Cheeky fans wandering near the Irish singer and activist’s home in Eze, in the south Of France, heard his distinctive voice booming out of the family’s villa and recorded clips of it on [...]

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My friend Declan emailed this link to me: U2 *A Diary* Rare Promo Pack + PR*

Yep, someone is selling a little press kit about U2 - A Diary on eBay UK. How crazy is that??!! I believe this is a press kit that Omnibus put together while taking the book around to the various publishing industry trade shows, trying to convince booksellers to order lots of copies.

That link won’t last forever, so here are a couple screenshots for the archives.

And then here’s some of the description:

I’d feel all proud about this, like “I’m famous” … except no one has placed any bids.

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Blender Magazine, recently published the top ten song picks of US presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama.

U2 didn’t make McCain’s list, but came in at number eight on Obama’s with “City of Blinding Lights,” which he uses frequently at his campaign appearances.

I’m not sure what is more disturbing—that McCain doesn’t list any U2 at all, or that he has two ABBA songs in his top five.

This is a post from the @U2 Blog.

Obama tells Blender U2 is number eight.

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