Bono's New Flick

Daily Telegraph

 

 

http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5657092,00.jpg

 

MOVE over, Eddie McGuire. Now it's music legend Bono who seems to have taken on the Everywhereman tag.

 

In a break from saving the world and fronting U2, the Irishman has made his acting debut.

 

As our exclusive photograph shows, Bono plays a hippie in the upcoming Hollywood flick Across The Universe, which is set to a soundtrack of classic Beatles songs.

 

"For my first acting role, I thought this would be interesting and a little bit special,'' Bono says of the film, which will be released on November 1.

 

Directed by Julie Taymor, of Broadway musical The Lion King fame, Across The Universe uses 33 Beatles tunes to tell a love story set in the US of the '60s as the Vietnam war raged.

 

Bono shot his cameo role in New York over two days, singing the Beatles numbers I Am The Walrus and Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds.

 

Across The Universe features a relatively unknown main cast, although other notable cameos include those of Salma Hayek and Eddie Izzard.

 

I have a jacket like that :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Look :w00t: :w00t:

 

 

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v510/TWINX/jacket.jpg

I like that jacket Twinky :wub:

My god, that's nearly €20 million, NO WAY is that house worth even €5imo. It is nothing special :o

 

 

That's London for you. You pay £5 million for a garden shed there. Totally ridiculous. :wacko:

 

I like that jacket Twinky :wub:

 

 

 

Thanks :heart: ....me too :w00t:

mr. and mrs. macphisto share the same jacket :wub: how sweet :naughty:

It´s a lovely jacket Twink

That's London for you. You pay £5 million for a garden shed there. Totally ridiculous. :wacko:

Sounds a bit like Helsinki too :arrr:

ooooooooh matching Jackets nice!

 

 

Yes....we soooooo belong together :wub: :wub:

def :teresa:

:naughty: :naughty: :naughty:

and me :blink: :blink: ( BONO4JENI) :naughty:

http://www.u2france.com/spip.php?article11222

 

 

U2 cutting it fine with hotel plans

Sunday 16 September 2007, by Corinne/Dead

 

 

U2’s plan to transform the Clarence Hotel is hanging in the balance, as the rock supergroup have just one more week left to answer a list of key questions from the planning authorities about the project.

 

Bono and the Edge — who own the property in the heart of the capital — applied to Dublin City Council earlier this year to give the Clarence a €150 million revamp.

 

Their ambitious plan is to make the Clarence "the most spectacular hotel in Europe", complete with a spaceship-like glass dome on top, visible from all over the city.

 

Their proposal to quadruple the size of their landmark property, demolishing neighbouring Georgian buildings and rebuilding the hotel itself, has been the subject of a number of objections.

 

Officials in the council’s planning department delayed their application in March, saying the owners must answer a raft of 18 questions before it could be considered.

 

They were given six months to respond — but have yet to do so and the cut-off time is looming.

 

With the deadline set for September 26, the Clarence Partnership have just over one week left to provide the additional information requested.

 

A source in the planning department said: "They are cutting it very fine, leaving it until the eleventh hour. Or perhaps they are using all the time they have, as some of the questions are very complex."

 

In a letter to Bono and the Edge, the department pointed out that under Section 57 of the Planning and Development Act, authorities will not grant planning permission for the demolition of a protected structure, save in exceptional circumstances.

 

It stated that it requires the strongest justification to do so and wants the owners to address this matter in detail.

 

A significant number of the queries relate to the ambitious skycatcher glass dome, a Viking boat-shaped atrium stretching from the basement to the rooftop.

 

It asked the applicants to clarify the numbers and purpose of all proposed openings onto both Wellington Quay and Essex Street East and it wants more information and details on drawings and plans and requests clarification on the nature of the proposed retail area.

 

Bono wants to transform the 44-bedroom boutique hotel into a nine-storey, 141-bedroom five-star hotel and spa complete with signature restaurant, bar and fresh food market.

 

The new hotel will encompass the former Dollard printing works and four other Georgian buildings on Wellington Quay.

 

Objectors to the plan include An Taisce, the heritage trust, who say the proposal is completely inappropriate for both the protected structures and their historic city-centre location, and the Irish Georgian Society, which believes that the development would dwarf adjoining buildings and dominate the Liffey quays.

 

The Clarence hotel was established in 1852 and bought by Bono and The Edge in 1992. Despite being the hotel of choice for international celebrities, it has incurred losses.

 

One of the biggest critics of the proposed Clarence revamp is conservationist and former head of An Taisce, Michael Smith, who described it as the "bast*rdisation" of the hotel.

 

He said: "The city council has indulged them and their property partner Paddy McKillen long enough."

 

 

From:

 

http://www.u2france.com/spip.php?article11223

 

 

 

Exploring U2’s Back Catalogue: Special Editions*

Sunday 16 September 2007, by Corinne/Dead

 

All the versions of this article:

[English]

 

 

See online : Interférence

 

By Mark Reed

 

“The Joshua Tree” is 20 years old this summer. 20 years is a long time. And recently, almost every band that’s been around as long as that has released a “Special Edition” of its back catalogue. Expanded with rare, out of print material! Remastered with new, previously unheard music! Demos, live songs, b-sides, finished ‘abandoned’ tracks, rehearsals and remixes! Every band seems to be doing it: releasing tenth, twentieth, thirtieth anniversary editions with new packaging, previously unseen artwork, unreleased songs, interviews and documentary DVDs.

 

But not U2. Never U2. U2 are about moving forward and exploring new territories. Not about looking back. U2 are an adventure – not a history lesson.

 

U2 will always leave you wanting more. For them, it’s not about sating demand, but about slowly, carefully releasing material so there is no such thing as an overdose. The albums are just the albums: relatively compact, complete artistic statements. Not ripe to be exploited with remasters or expanded editions. Every song is given time to be explored and listened to, relistened to and rediscovered so each listener can truly glean from it all the meanings possible. Even now, a decade later, I’m still finding new things in “Pop”, when I thought I had heard it all.

 

It is important to consider why this may be. U2 are artists and craftsmen. An artist doesn’t display his every piece of work, but only what he regards as his best. With some bands, regarded as amongst the best in the world, the best is The Best Of The Best.

 

U2 know the value of their band. They know the strength of the band as a brand. It is a strong name of no small commercial clout. When U2 put out a record, no matter what it is, it sells millions and millions. Even U2’s biggest commercial ‘flop’, “Pop”, has sold something like 7 million copies. Almost everyone in London could have their own copy.

 

U2 know that when they release a record it will be seen as an Important Artistic Statement. Academics will pour over the meaning of miniscule lyrics, and look for biblical references in the sleeve imagery. They know that if they stand on a stage to sing the material, that if they wanted to sell 70,000 tickets a night, they would. U2 know that it is not just what you say that matters, but what you don’t say. That what really matters in their music is not just what is not played, but also all that you can’t leave behind.

 

For U2, the album is a complete statement. It’s not merely a collection of songs. It matters that each record consists of a narrative and musical flow and that the record makes a cohesive statement.

 

Even the order of the songs matters. Consider what you think “How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb” would have sounded like if it had started with a gentle ballad of “One Step Closer” and ended with, say, “Vertigo”. Unlike a movie where the big explosions are at the end, a record must start well and end suitably. This is why most U2 albums tend to close on a piece of relatively gentle, elegiac music : “40”, “MLK”, “Mothers Of The Disappeared”, “All I Want Is You”, “Love Is Blindness”, “The Wanderer”, “Wake Up Dead Man” – all of these are suitable closing points for a record. All of these are songs that tend to summate the themes of the previous 50 minutes of music and form a piece of narrative and musical closure: in the same way the opening songs tend to be vital, important pieces of music that define the record in microcosm.

 

“That’s why I hate those reissues. Someone somewhere thinks that ‘Murmur’ ends with a live version of “We Walk”.” – Peter Buck of REM

 

Consider then, the U2 album as an artistic statement. Imagine if the last notes of the album weren’t “Walk On” or “Fast Cars”, but were instead a meandering, forgettable b-side, or perhaps a hastily appended demo where Bono hasn’t yet found the melody of the song and the lyrics are the gibberish that Brian Eno calls “Bonoese”: anyone who has heard the leaked 1990 demos will know that U2 have plenty of these.

 

It would devalue what has already been produced and add nothing to the legacy. Sometimes, magicians are good because they do not reveal their tricks. It is sometimes enough not to know how they weave their magic, only that there is magic.

 

To look behind the curtain and say that “It’s only Smoke and Mirrors” removes the power of the spell great musicians weave. A U2 record is a talisman, a spell, an artistic statement that is self-contained and a delicate blend designed to achieve and express a specific vision. A carefully constructed mixture of elements to create a unique chemistry that is more than the sum of the parts. To remove or add an element could be to destroy or weaken the equation. The painter knows that where he puts the frame is as important as what is in the frame.

 

That is why U2 albums are not appended in expanded “legacy,” “anniversary,” or “special” editions. The music contained within them, and every nuance thereof, is enough to create a lasting and important statement, to achieve the desired communication of great artists. To show the artist’s sketchbook and reveal all the extraneous material destroys the integral and vital mystery of the work in creating a complete and satisfactory artistic work. The record is a statement, and revealing the inner working of how it was created dilutes the vision. Leave the albums alone, they don’t need expanding. They’re more than good enough as they are.

 

 

What a brilliant article :o :D

I thought so too. That's why I posted it :P

Thanks Jups :wub:

:w00t:

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gchy-z...vW0PTJv4ueIe2vA

 

 

Golden oldies: pop and rock veterans still the top earners

2 hours ago

 

NEW YORK (AFP) — When it comes to picking up royalty checks, the oldies are still the goldies, according to a new list naming veteran rockers the Rolling Stones as the top earning musicians of the past year.

 

According the Forbes.com website, the Stones earned 88 million dollars from June 2006 till June this year, thanks largely to their "Bigger Bang" tour, which kicked off in 2005 and has grossed 437 million dollars to date.

 

And although 37-year-old rapper and head of Def Jam records Jay-Z came second in the list with total income of 83 million dollars, most of the top earners are better known to toe-tapping older generations.

 

Forty-nine-year-old Pop icon Madonna came third in the list with 72 million dollars, while US hard rockers Bon Jovi, who first hit the scene in 1983, took home 67 million dollars.

 

Elton John, who had his 60th birthday this year, earned 53 million dollars, ahead of Canadian pop singer Celine Dion with 45 million.

 

The lower end of the top 10 saw rapper 50 Cent lead Irish rockers U2 and rapper and record producer Diddy -- previously known as Puff Daddy, P. Diddy and just plain Sean Combs. The three banked 33, 30 and 23 million respectively.

 

"Pop music has long been a young person's game. But when it comes to pocketing the biggest returns, oldsters rule," Forbes said of the list, adding that while record sales were crucial, touring was the real money spinner.

 

"The really serious money comes from touring. And no one can pull in the big bucks like an older, established music act," it said.

 

Helping to drive the big earnings were top-whack ticket prices, with Madonna charging an average of more than 180 dollars during her 2006 North American tour and the Stones taking an average of more than 135 dollars per head.

 

Most musicians in the list owed some of their income to alternative sources, not just relying on album sales and touring.

 

"They also exploit the power of their brand name to push other products. That can be as simple as selling ring tones and fan merchandise or locking up lucrative sponsorship deals," Forbes.com said.