This isn’t dated, but judging from the description of “chin-length dirty blonde hair that was somewhat greasy,” we can assume this was the Vertigo tour. Apparently when our favorite drummer was in Boston last year, he made quite an impression on a waitress who posted this on bitterwaitress.com:

Early one evening I approached a new two-top and noticed that one of the guys looked familiar…he had chin-length dirty blonde hair that was somewhat greasy and chiseled features, but looked like he’d been on the business end of some hard living for quite some time. I said to the bartender, “The guy at table five looks familiar…he kind of looks like David Beckham’s older, drug-addicted brother.” It was only when I took his order and noticed his Irish brogue AND remembered that U2 was playing that night that I realized I was waiting on their drummer. I have to admit I was a little flustered but not as flustered as I’d be if I met Tom Waits or Bob Dylan. Anyway, he was very lovely, very quiet and polite and a decent tipper. People sitting at the tables right near him didn’t even realize who he was. The manager went over to him with a copy of the restaurant’s menu and very quietly said she’d comp his meal if he signed the menu. He smiled and said “That’s a tough deal to beat.” He left me $20, pretty generous considering if he’d been charged his bill would’ve been only about $25. He definitely looks older but you can still tell how H-O-T he was fifteen years ago. Oh, hilarious sidebar to the story: he came back in the very next day and had lunch and the bartender waited on him…she just happened to be wearing her brand new U2 t-shirt that she’d bought at their concert the night before. She felt like a dumbass but he smiled and said “Nice shirt.”

Gosh - it feels like only yesterday when I met up with M2 and many MANY other fans (and celebrities) at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. I can still remember the heat of the sun on my back and how quickly it got cold that night. I wasn’t best pleased with Rage Against the Machine opening because my seat became part of the mosh pit, and the local security hadn’t done anything to bring order to the disorder up towards the front. In the end, it worked out OK as I managed to leave that area of the pitch and got to stand next to the soundbooth when “Staring at the Sun” was attempted. I remember standing there with my hand over my mouth in shock that my music heroes could actually f’up at this level - but that shock couldn’t be matched by the dismay seen on the crew’s faces inside of the soundbooth area. That was when I realized that they really were human afterall. After all of that, I managed to bump into Paul McGuinness and was able to hand him my “WANTED: THE DALTON BROTHERS” flyer I had made up. He laughed and asked if he could keep it. (Yes, I seem to be the historian of U2’s alter egos).

The start of the PopMart tour for me was like one big family reunion. This was the first tour where fans in internet chat rooms and mailing lists (like Wire) were finally meeting up with each other for the first time in person. Las Vegas was where I met M2 for the first time in person, as well as just about everyone who I consider to be among my closest of friends. It’s great to hit the road to do some travel when it’s tour time - it’s the time when I can meet up with everyone again and be reminded of the fact that I wore my discoball jacket for the start of PopMart. (Yes, that’s right - I did wear a discoball jacket! Who said you couldn’t get into the kitsch of PopMart?)

It made me happy to Google “U2 Las Vegas PopMart” to find that the Las Vegas Sun Newspaper still has their coverage available for folks to read. If you feel like going back in time, check out the coverage. I still can’t believe that they only played “Do You Feel Loved” a total of only 9 times on the tour - but then again, it was a bit tough for Bono to sing.

The generosity of U2 fans is amazing!

As you’ve read on @U2 and on U2.com (and a variety of other places), the photo auction for the African Well Fund’s “Build a Well for Bono’s Birthday” campaign raised over $11,000 with close to 3000 people bidding on the 92 photographs, kindly donated by a variety of U2 fan photographers.

In the upcoming weeks, the African Well Fund will be announcing their grand totals of the combined fundraising initiatives all for the BBW/4 campaign.

Thank you to everyone who participated. Your support has gone to make a difference in the lives of THOUSANDS of people in Africa not only in this generation, but for generations to come.

It’s not too late if you’d like to contribute. Check out the African Well Fund’s site here for more details.

…for “Sexiest Vegetarian of 2006.” Yes, the fine folks at PETA have their annual poll of the sexiest vegetarians in the world.

Who’s Larry up against? Well, Sir Paul McCartney, Moby, Prince, Ziggy Marley, Alec Baldwin, Andre 3000 and - yes, “Weird” Al Yankovic. Also on the list - Kenny Loggins and Michael Bolton.

To add to the competition - let’s give Morrissey something else to be peeved about U2 (as he’s up against Larry too) - so, go cast your vote for Mr. Mullen today!

African Well Fund photo auction
Originally uploaded by Phil Romans.

… what are 92 pictures worth?

Well, since this collection of photos is being auctioned off as a fund raiser for the African Well Fund, it’s not a stretch to say these pictures might be worth a couple lives saved, and certainly worth a village or two gaining access to clean water.

Still a couple days left in the auctions, so

get bidding!

This is making its rounds across the various U2 email lists - please tell me this isn’t how he’ll look in another 48 years! (Original source unknown.)

Willow Creek Association, a faith-based group linking action-oriented churches together, has announced that Bono will “appear” at its Leadership Conference August 10-12, 2006. The conference is scheduled to take place at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., but is scheduled to be broadcast to more than 130 churches via satellite. Seems Bono met one of the leaders of the organiztion through their work in Africa, and agreed to provide a video-taped interview to use as part of the conference. So, if you want to catch a broadcasted image of a prerecorded tape, AND you have access to a member church in the Willow Creek Association - mark August on your calendars!

I’m not sure who has seen this making the rounds on YouTube, but it’s a snippet of a documentary Michael Stipe did. This shows he and chef Mario Batali traveling to Toronto to catch one of the Vertigo Tour gigs. What’s neat is watching how they react during the show - there’s Mario taking photographs with his cell phone and there’s Michael hopping around and dancing. Who said that celebrities acted differently than the casual fan? (Also - never knew the back of the bathrobes had the Vertigo V on ‘em - man, when they brand a tour, they really do brand it, don’t they?) Check it out here.

This weekend, long-time rock critic for the Boston Globe, Steve Morse, wrote an *awesome* piece for the Boston Sunday Globe magazine. Here’s some of the U2-related tidbits from the article:

“And when I retired from the Globe last year, Bono showed up at my going-away party at J.J. Foley’s on Kingston Street downtown, just hours after U2 played the TD Banknorth Garden.” (Note: Bono did mention Morse during the 12/5 show and his retirement).

“I had covered U2 from the time they played the Paradise. Not every review was favorable (the night of my retirement bash, Bono told the crowd that I wasn’t afraid to “kick them in the arse” once in a while), but I always called a show like I saw it. The band’s Fleet-Center show in 2001 didn’t sustain its usual peaks, and Bono wasn’t attacking the songs. So I wrote that. Sometimes an artist might not talk to you for a few years after a bad review, but my paycheck didn’t come from the record industry. It came from the Boston Globe, and I always cherished that independence.”

Bono, seen in Dublin yesterday, has short hair. I consider this news. And now, for the first time in the history of U2, Larry has the longest hair of any of them.