U2 — the band and the music — inspire millions of us. It doesn’t surprise me to find churches holding U2charist services or people being moved to action by Bono’s work for Africa. It doesn’t even surprise me that politicians jostle each other for the photo opportunity with the Irish guy in the shades, although in many cases I bet that’s less about inspiration and more about Can I get your autograph for my daughter?
I find U2 fans at parties, in the grocery store checkout line, in the pub when “Streets” comes on the PA and the two guys in overalls covered with cement dust at the next table start singing along with such feeling… We are everywhere.
It turns out we’re even inspired by the way U2 does business.
I came across this article because I just launched my own management consulting business last week, and so I’m building relationships with folks in the industry… and it’s been a surprise and a delight to find so many U2 fans in the mix. And you know what? It’s no different than making friends in the GA line, or sharing a hug with a stranger in the ellipse because U2 makes you both feel so good. People find out I write for @U2, and suddenly we are no longer formal, we’re no longer suspicious or particularly competitive — we’re just two people on email or on the phone talking about what we love about the band and their music. The U2 fans I’ve met in business (including Michael Lee Stallard, the author of the article) have been really nice people, supportive and helpful. Isn’t that cool?
And isn’t it cool that U2’s values may be inspiring people not just in spiritual or community terms, but also in business as well? I’d love to hear what you think about it.
This is a post from the @U2 blog.
What if more business was like U2?
Peninsula,
Rock star Bono has cancelled his visit to Doha next week.
The frontman of U2 and global activist has suddenly pulled out from attending the UN Conference on financing for Development held here this week.
He was also slated to be a guest on a special edition of the Doha Debates, part of the Qatar Foundation and broadcast on BBW World satellite channel.
A spokeswoman for the Doha Debates said Bono's representatives had said his withdrawal was due to "unforeseen circumstances" and was unable to elaborate.
On Wednesday Bono's charity ONE issued a statement confirming his arrival in Doha this weekend.
Bono is co-founder of ONE, a global advocacy and campaigning organisation dedicated to fighting extreme poverty around the world, particularly in Africa.
ONE's European Director, Oliver Buston, who had announced Bono's tour programme to Doha previously, has confirmed yesterday that the tour was indeed cancelled.
"We are aware of the great public expectations of the visit. I regret on behalf of Bono who was forced to cancel his visit to Doha due to unforeseen development," said the spokesman without elaborating reasons beyond Bono's unexpected pull out.
However, ONE, has a strong delegation to participate at Doha submit, advocating for a deal on development.
The delegation will call for aid quality, quantity and will look for new partners in support of the millennium development goal.
© 2008 Peninsula.
There’s a wire service story running today about the death of Rob Partridge. It’s short, and I don’t think that URL will work forever, so I’m going to reprint it below in its entirety:
Man who signed U2 dies from cancer
The music PR who got U2 their first record deal has died after a two-year battle with cancer.
Rob Partridge signed the band to Island Records in 1980 when they were unknowns struggling for recognition. He remained the band’s publicist for many years and a friend of frontman Bono.
As Head of Press and later Media Director for the label, he dealt with artists like Bob Marley, Grace Jones, Tom Waits and Marianne Faithfull.
I don’t think that story really does justice to how important Rob Partridge was in U2’s development.
When I was researching U2 - A Diary, I spent a lot of time digging into the band’s early years — the late 1970s and early 1980s. That’s one of those gray periods with a lot of uncertainty about what exactly happened, when things happened, and how they happened. I managed to find some new articles and made some contacts with people that helped a lot.
At almost every turn, Rob Partridge’s name came up.
The short obit above talks about how he got U2 signed to Island Records, and that’s true. You may remember U2’s late 1979 tour of London clubs. It was pretty much their first and last chance to get a record deal from one of the major UK-based labels. This is the two-week tour that I describe on ppg. 25-26 of the book. It’s when they were called “Capital U2″ at one concert, “V2″ at another, and “The U2’s” at another. Edge cut up his hand two days before the first show. Only nine people showed up for one club date. And whenever record label execs announced that they were coming to a show, U2 were terrible. When it was just an audience of fans, they supposedly played terrific shows.
Here’s the diary entry for the final gig of that London tour:
December 15
- Windsor Castle, London. U2 wraps up its brief, inconsistent tour. Luck hasn’t been on their side: U2 thinks they’ve played their worst shows with record executives in the crowd, and great shows when almost no one is watching. The band is unaware that Rob Partridge of Island Records caught one of the good shows, and is spreading the word to others at the label.
Somewhere on that tour, Rob Partridge showed up unannounced at a gig and caught U2 at its best, while the other (announced) record execs caught U2 at its worst. It’s not at all a stretch to say that U2 wouldn’t be around today if not for Rob Partridge seeing one of those good shows. No other label was beating down U2’s door, and they were ready to throw in the towel after the early 1980 tour of Ireland — the one that ended with Island signing U2 to a major contract.
I knew Rob would have some amazing stories to tell about those days, so I tracked him down in July, 2007, and sent him an email asking for an interview. He wrote back, told me he was in treatment for cancer, and asked if I could check back with him in a couple months. I said I would and offered to say some prayers for his health. I waited until November of last year to try him again, but never got a reply. It’s one of my few regrets about researching the book that we never connected, but he obviously had far more important things to focus on.
Rest in peace, Rob Partridge … one of the most important people in the U2 story.
Thanks to Todd for pointing this out to us from Billboard. The big news here is that U2 recorded a new song just last Wednesday and it’s slated to be available through this new digital music magazine:
U2, Coldplay, Killers Help Launch (RED)WIRE
by Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
Some of the biggest names in music are contributing exclusive songs to RED(WIRE), a new digital music magazine launching on World AIDS Day (Dec. 1).U2, Coldplay, the Killers, the Dixie Chicks, John Legend, R.E.M. and Bob Dylan are on board for the initiative, which is an outgrowth of the Bono-reared activist organization (RED). All proceeds from subscriptions will benefit HIV-infected people in Africa; MSN.com will host a kick-off party on Dec. 1.
For $5, users will receive a new issue of RED(WIRE) every Wednesday, featuring an exclusive song from a major artist, a song from an artist (RED) aims to showcase, a multimedia piece that could encompass video or photography and a look at how proceeds are directly benefiting Africans in need. The materials will be downloaded to a custom player and automatically loaded into iTunes.
Users can send two free issues to friends, and will be rewarded if they join RED(WIRE). “Artists are already saying, ‘I want to give you a track for those people who brought friends in,’” (RED)WIRE founder Don MacKinnon tells Billboard.com. “That’s the biggest idea: using social networking to actually change the world in a unique way.”
U2’s track was recorded just last Wednesday, while the Killers, Elton John and the Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant teamed up for the Christmas song “Joseph, Better You Than Me,” which MacKinnon describes as “like a power ballad.” This is the third year in a row the Killers have penned a holiday song and donated proceeds to (RED).
Meanwhile, John Legend’s take on Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” finds him eschewing piano for a
stripped-down arrangement with guitar, bass and backing vocalists, according to MacKinnon.Also coming is the first new Dixie Chicks song since the group’s Grammy sweep in 2007, “Lucky One,” and Elvis Costello and the Police jamming on “Watching the Detectives” and “Walking From the Moon,”
taped during Costello’s new Sundance Channel show “Spectacle.” Additional (RED)WIRE offerings will
be announced in the coming weeks.MacKinnon is particularly enthused about the creative directions open to (RED)WIRE, especially with such high-profile artist participation.
“I had a meeting with Jay-Z, and he wants to talk about artists to be featured in that spotlight slot,”
he says. “Big artists may curate an issue. The whole goal was to create a creative platform. When somebody says, ‘I do all this photography and I want to put it in as an extra,’ That’s when I go, this is going to be really cool.”
This is a post from the @U2 blog.
Bono’s (RED) organization is at it again with a new digital music magazine that will donate a portion of subscription fees to the fight against AIDS.
MSN Music will host the (RED) Wire launch party Dec. 1, the 20th anniversary of World Aids Day, with exclusive songs and videos from artists including U2, Coldplay, Death Cab For Cutie, Sheryl Crow, Dixie Chicks, John Legend and Jay-Z, according to USA Today.
Subscribers, who’ll pay a monthly fee of $5 for the service, will receive weekly e-magazines with exclusive songs, videos and slide shows from participating artists.
“The goal was something that wasn’t just a one-off CD, but an ongoing service that would generate an ongoing flow of money,” Hear Music founder Don MacKinnon, who engendered the project, told USA Today.
Upcoming issues of the magazine will reportedly include a song featuring Elvis Costello and The Police, a Christmas number with Elton John and The Killers and tracks by Bob Dylan and R.E.M.
The service will also provide subscribers with frequent updates regarding the organization’s efforts, MacKinnon said. Part of proceeds will go toward providing medicine to those affected by AIDS in Africa.
“So many charities show a picture of a dusty village and ask you to send $10,” MacKinnon told the paper. “We want to give people a real window into the culture of Africa, something that can help them understand in deeper ways. We’re trying to get cameras to teenagers, so they can show us their lives.”
More information is available at red.msn.com.
- Pollstar
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If you haven’t purchased U2 - A Diary, and are planning to do so at Barnes & Noble’s web site, they’re running a special for the next week: 15% off any single item.
You need to use coupon code M8H7N3F to get the discount. Just letting you know….
Blast from the past! Ignore the Tommy Cooper video, it's the audio we're interested in. This is Bono, interviewed for the first time on Dave Fanning's radio show a month before the release of U2-3. He comes over all wise beyond his years. Enjoy the lovely Dub accent.
Elysa Gardner, USA Today
The new digital music service co-founded by Bono, which promises fans exclusive music by major artists in exchange for $5 a month to fight AIDS, will launch on the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day.
MSN will host Monday's kickoff event for (RED) Wire, an extension of the (RED) organization founded by the U2 frontman and Bobby Shriver to combat AIDS in Africa. New songs and videos from U2, Coldplay, Death Cab for Cutie, Dixie Chicks, Jay-Z, John Legend and Sheryl Crow will be available at red.msn.com.
For Legend, signing on "was a no-brainer. (RED) has proven an effective vehicle. And the lineup of artists is exciting company." The singer recorded a new version of Bob Marley's Redemption Song, "which just felt right for this project and for the time that we're in."
The premieres also include a live track from the upcoming Sundance series Spectacle, pairing Elvis Costello with The Police, and a new Christmas song recorded by The Killers and Elton John. Bob Dylan and R.E.M. are on deck for future editions.
"The goal was something that wasn't just a one-off CD, but an ongoing service that would generate an ongoing flow of money," says Hear Music founder Don MacKinnon, who conceived the project.
"I like that it stands alone as a creative and fun thing to both receive and participate in," says R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe. "And it would be that with or without the charity aspect."
In addition to the superstar exclusives and collaborations, subscribers will receive a weekly spotlight track featuring a lesser-known artist. "I call it 'the artist we want everyone to hear,' " MacKinnon says. "It doesn't mean that they're a big buzz act or unsigned, but there will be some that very few people have heard of."
There's also a non-music feature that MacKinnon describes as "the Cracker Jack surprise. It could be an actor reading a favorite speech or poem, or telling a joke, or some great photography."
Subscribers will receive updates on how their donations are being used. "So many charities show a picture of a dusty village and ask you to send $10," MacKinnon says. "We want to give people a real window into the culture of Africa, something that can help them understand in deeper ways. We're trying to get cameras to teenagers, so they can show us their lives."
Half the fee will go the Global Fund, through which (RED) provides AIDS medicines for women and children. Most of the remainder goes to artist royalties.
Copyright © 2008 USA Today.
I was all set to do another book giveaway contest this week here on the blog, but since it’s Thanksgiving week here in the U.S., and people are busy/distracted/traveling/etc. … doing a contest now doesn’t seem like the best idea.
So, heads up that I’ll do a contest next week here on the blog. This will be the contest where you don’t need to have a web site or blog to win. 
Good reviews are always fun to read, and it’s especially nice when people you know and like — and whose opinions you respect — have good things to say about U2 - A Diary. My friend Todd Mintz, himself a big music fan, bought a copy of the book and wrote a review today that praises the book, as well as all of you who helped research and write it here on U2diary.com:
McGee (and all the other fans / contributors at U2Diary.com) have put together an incredible historical document on one of the most important rock bands ever and if you have any interest / like for U2, this is an essential book to own.
Todd also picks up on the 100% objective voice with which I wrote the book — there’s no editorializing. I’m surprised earlier reviews haven’t discussed that, and wonder if future reviews will mention it. We’ll see.
But Edge confident as deadline looms, learns MOJO’s Danny Eccleston.
WITH THE RELEASE of U2’s 12th studio album delayed until February, and the band still mixing furiously in a London studio MOJO are unable to name for fear of an instant fan-siege, guitarist The Edge has called the MOJO office with a progress report.
In line with U2’s late preference for enigmatic titles, the album seems certain to be called No Line On The Horizon – although Edge insists that anything can still change (U2 have even been known to record backing vocals in the mastering suite).
He goes on to reveal that they’ve shelved the songs recorded with Rick Rubin in 2006 and that much of the material dates from sessions with stalwarts Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, who co-write. Confirmed track titles include Moment Of Surrender and Unknown Caller.
There follows the director’s cut of the interview reported in the issue of MOJO magazine that’s on the shelves right now…
MOJO: Well, my first question has to be, have you finished yet?
Edge: [Coolly] Not quite. That’s why we’re here.
So, why finish up in London?
Well, it’s good to get out of familiar surroundings when you’re looking for a different perspective. Get out of the comfort zone.
If you’d stayed in Dublin, would you have just carried on producing material rather than bringing everything to a conclusion?
Maybe. Also, a good mix room is always important. Our studio in Dublin is more like a glorified rehearsal room really. It doesn’t have proper acoustic treatments for mixing and whatever. So we always mix in a studio that’s properly set up for that process.
Is the album still going to be called No Line On The Horizon, or is that a red herring?
It’s not totally firmed up but it’s still the working title.
So, what the hell does it mean?
It’s an image. It’s an image, Bono tells me [laughs]. It’s like when you’re moving forward, but you’re not exactly sure what you’re heading towards – that moment where the sea and the sky blend into one. It’s an image of infinity, I suppose – a kind of Zen image.
Is it a metaphor for how U2 make their records? No deadline on the horizon?
[Laughs] Guilty your honour! We were talking about this. Our work process is all about allowing inspiration to arrive at any time during the process. So there’s no finality, there’s no formality, until it’s in the shops. U2 albums never get finished; they just get released.
So do you think that helps the record? You can use material you started months ago, but as long as you’re re-examining it right at the last it can still sound contemporary?
Yes, I think that’s true. Song titles, lyrics, melody lines can change right up until the last minute. I think our records are always… it’s the last few weeks when things really come into focus. It might take us a long time to establish the basis of the record musically, but then a lot of stuff will change.
Famously, Chris Blackwood came down when we were doing Achtung Baby and with a week to go he said, There’s just no chance you’re gonna finish this album; I’ll come back in a month’s time and check on your progress. So he left town, and sure enough we finished at the end of that week! It’s like this ground rush. You seem to be going nowhere and then suddenly you hit the last period and then everything starts to move and everything clicks into place. It’s just the way we do it because I suppose inspiration is the ultimate thing for us. It’s not craft. So when things start to really get close, it’s a really inspiring time and everyone just gets onto a whole other level of creativity and we go into overdrive and all these ideas start coming through.
Has anything survived from the first bout of sessions [from September 2006], the Rick Rubin material?
We actually laid all that stuff to one side. Really out of deference to Rick and that set of songs we just said, Ok, that’s that, and we drew a line. So none of the Rick material went into this project. Everything has been written subsequently.
Is that because you weren’t that keen on it in retrospect?
I think there are some fantastic ideas there and they will, I’m sure, be finished off and see the light of day. We just felt like we wanted to put off the decision about what kind of record we wanted to make. And then we went in with Brian [Eno] and Danny [Daniel Lanois], literally just as an experiment to see what would happen. And suddenly there was this excess of stuff, ideas… and we just thought, OK, this is clearly where we are at our most potent at this moment, working with Brain and Danny, so let’s follow that idea down the road and we’ll get back to the material we started with Rick at some point.
What were the Rubin tracks like? Were they unusual for U2? He’s quite hands-off isn’t he, as a production “entity”?
Rick’s just an amazing intelligence and a guy with a huge love of music and an instinct for it. He gave us great advice as much as anything. His whole thing is, Don’t go near the studio until you know exactly what you want to do… which of course is the opposite of how we usually work.
But we were following Rick’s approach with Rick and we were working on songs and working on ideas and they’re still there. So I’m still excited by the possibility of trying that approach. It reminds me of what happened on our first album [Boy, 1980]. We went in, we had all the tunes – although even then we didn’t have all the lyrics – we had all the arrangements down to the point where we could just go in and record the album. We could have done it in a day, and of course the backing tracks had a great completeness, because we knew exactly what the tunes were.
The way we do things now, there are drawbacks. I feel for Larry [Mullen, drums] sometimes. He’ll be playing drums to Song A and then somewhere along the line the whole song gets thrown out, but we keep the drums, and then something else happens over those drums. Then sometimes we’ll replace those drums at the very end because he plays differently depending on what the vocal is. So even if it’s the same tempo, the same backbeat, the same chords, if the vocal’s different, the drums don’t feel quite right. So, there is something to Rick’s approach and it just means you make all your decisions early… for better or for worse. Ultimately, I feel, for us, it is those last couple of weeks when you get those amazing new ideas.
How would you describe the overall personality of the new album?
It’s a record of two halves. One half is songs that came virtually fully-formed out of sessions we did with Brian and Danny – stuff we’ve only played once or maybe twice and that’s it: just the raw moment of creation. Then the other half is material we’ve kicked around a while and went through the usual cycle of versions and incarnations. It sounds like a U2 album but it doesn’t sound like anything we’ve done before and it doesn’t really sound like anything that’s happening at the moment.
Can you talk about a couple of specific tracks?
There’s a song called Moment Of Surrender, which is seven and a half minutes long. Brian got the ball rolling with a suggestion for some chords and then we made a few adjustments and got to this set of changes that we really liked and then just kicked it off and we immediately realised there was something powerful going on. And when that happens, it’s like you don’t have to say anything in the room; people know it’s going off. Then Adam came up with this incredible bass part and Bono had a couple of melody ideas on the spot, so it was really quick. There’s something really thrilling about a piece that comes together like that, because you really don’t have time to think. There’s something great about that. It’s the purest moment, often, when you don’t have an opportunity to step back and consider anything; you’re just in it.
So it’s a trance-y thing?
It’s hard to describe really. It’s very 21st Century. It’s a beautiful song, amazing rhythms, great lyrics and [laughs] fantastic guitar playing!
And then there’s another one from Fez [Morocco, where U2 recorded in May/June ’07]. Similar kind of situation, in a session where we’re just trying out ideas and this piece of music just came through and we all knew at the time that it was good. It seems to be everyone’s favourite or second favourite tune on the album. It’s called Unknown Caller.
Can you hear the influence of Fez?
To some degree. A couple of the tunes were recorded there. We had some local percussionists come down one day – but I’m not sure that the tune they did has made the record. With Unknown Caller the sound of Fez is there because we were recording in this riad [town house]. The way they are constructed, they have this big atrium and that’s where we were set up. So the roof was open and the swallows were flying into the atrium and nesting, so at the beginning of the tune you can hear these swallows. So it really has this very tangible atmosphere of the space that we recorded it in. So Fez is there in that sense. But we’re not into musical tourism. It’s the same with Achtung Baby, there was something in there but it wasn’t overtly German, you know, and this isn’t overtly Moroccan… It’s just a flavour.
Lanois has been quoted a couple of times recently in the Canadian press and the word he seems to be favouring with regard to this record is “innovative”. After all these years with the same team can U2 still be breaking boundaries?
Well, that’s what we get off on – hearing something that we’ve never heard before. It’s so great to work with Brian; he’s always doing things that are completely fresh, and we as a band don’t really come alive unless we feel like we’re exploring some uncharted territory. So, it’s not easy to get something that you’re really excited about, but once you do, you know, and that’s everything for us. We wouldn’t want to be working with anyone else on that front. Both Brian and Danny are hugely inspiring to work with, breaking us out of our comfort zone in our writing or playing.
Your relationship has endured longer than almost any other band/producer match-up, but it’s more than that this time. Did I read that Brian and Danny were writing with you?
We decided at the beginning of the project that we would make that offer to Brian and Danny to see what it might lead us to and I think it was really great. I think they were both flattered and I think it gave them a great boost of affirmation and confidence. So those sessions had this great atmosphere; everyone was in a great mood and we got some great shit out of it. That doesn’t mean that we didn’t have to go off and write as U2. Bono and I did a lot of work on material on our own as well, but it was those sessions that set the tone for the album and they wouldn’t have panned out as they did if we hadn’t asked Brian and Danny to co-write with us.
After a couple of straight-ish rock records in All That You Can’t Leave Behind and How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, was it time for U2 to stretch out again? Does knowing you’re in a position of strength mean you can do something wilder?
I think for us it’s really about keeping it fresh. Making All That You Can Leave Behind and How To Dismantle… inspired us at the time. This time we wanted to try something different and we didn’t really know what it was. We just knew that we wanted to fall in love with the process of making music and see where it led us. So, initially, we didn’t really think about where the music was going to go; we were just playing together and seeing what happened. And, by not concentrating at all on making an album I think an album started to emerge. So, it’s really us following our creative instincts. In some ways it’s very uncontrived. People tend to think of our music as being a manifesto of a kind but this is really organic; it’s just what is interesting to us right now in music and going for that.
What’s Bono banging on about this time?
I think there are some interesting third person characters in the songs. It’s giving Bono an opportunity to change his perspective in the lyric writing. I think the last two albums were really personal and first-person. But I think this one has a more panoramic scope lyrically, so it’s still personal and it’s still ultimately written from experience and Bono’s perspective, but he just has more freedom.
Did his piano lessons come in handy?
Yeah! He’s been working a lot on material on his own and that’s fed into various different projects that we’re working on. It’s cool. We’re all still in a phase where we can learn, develop and change. I don’t think we’ve actually stopped that process of being born, so to speak. And it’s very inspiring for me to see Bono coming up with very strong musical ideas. That’s what being in a band is all about.
You always manage to find – in every record – a piece of technology that you engage with immediately, and that throws up a song. Where The Streets Have No Name came out of your dabblings with the Infinite Guitar box, and this time you mentioned your Death By Audio pedal…
It’s this particular kind of 21st Century distortion. Guitar is such a versatile instrument, but it’s very easy to get in a cul-de-sac in terms of how it sounds. I love anything that just gives it a different personality and this particular set of distortion pedals I think, are a different colour. It’s like a different personality and that, for me, is a great jumping-off point. I used Death By Audio’s Supersonic Fuzz Gun on the song No Line In The Horizon, and a couple of others I think. It was Ben Curtis who turned me onto them. He’s one of the Curtis Brothers from Secret Machine – he’s got a new band now called School Of Seven Bells, who are pretty interesting.
So how much work is left to do?
Way too much, as usual, but we will get there. We’re not f**king around this time. This is personal!
Interview by: Danny Eccleston
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Three new exclusive Edun T-shirt styles have just been made available in honor of the 20th Anniversary of World AIDS Day.
This partnership between the Hewsons’ ethical clothing label and Zazzle, a retail platform famous for their fast production, will give back in a joint venture for good:
“20% of proceeds from the sale of the three tee shirt designs will benefit the ALAFA, an industry-wide program providing education and prevention, as well as counseling and management of AIDS through health management and treatment for HIV-positive workers in Lesotho.”
To see the designs, or order a shirt, click here.
This is a post from the @U2 blog.
Edun Partners with Zazzle for World AIDS Day Anniversary