Bloomberg reported today that German Trabant cars may become obsolete in the near future due to new environmental standards being placed upon the citizens of the European Union.
Apparently the cars, which were famously used as lighting props on the U2 Zoo TV tour, are awful tools of pollution, emitting several times the amount of carbon dioxide as other vehicles of comparable size.
Truthfully, the Trabant has had a turbulent existence since it’s birth in 1949. You can read all about its history here, on this ‘fan’ page I found.
Perhaps instead of having the engines rebuilt, or fighting the new standards with lawsuits that would undoubtedly waste a lot of time (and paper), the owners of these relics should just throw in the towel, paint their Trabbis up and make their money back on eBay.
It looks like a couple Italian fans had the good fortune to run into Bono and Ali strolling along the beach in Killiney yesterday … at which point they apparently asked Ali to take a picture of them with Bono.
And she did! Nice!
Click through to see the bigger photo on Flickr, and here’s another one of Bono and Ali strolling along, happily ever after….
This video is from the 2005 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Why on earth are we posting that oldie (but goody)?
Keep your eye on the interaction between Bono and an audience member with about 35 seconds left in the song. I remember seeing that exchange at the time, and wondering what it was.
Several months after the induction ceremony, in an interview on VH1, Bono explained that the exchange was actually a friend handing him her mother’s ashes. Bono said that he had “forgotten to give them back” (shocker) and as a result, the friend’s mother was now “on tour” with U2. This was all said with a grin, and it had Larry in stitches of laughter.
The current issue of Vogue magazine (May 2007, U.S. edition) has an article which brings additional clarity (and levity) to the story. The woman handing off the item to Bono in the above video is Susie Buffett, who is a board member of DATA and is the daughter of billionaire businessman and philanthropist Warren Buffett. Susie’s mother Susan had also worked closely with Bono in the philanthropic world.
This is the relevant snippet from the Vogue article:
Given pride of space in [Susie's] enormous living room is a painting by Bono, from a photo of her mother on a trip to Ghana… Susan Buffett was a huge fan, even before she met him—when she was being treated for cancer, her daughter would pop in the “Rattle and Hum” DVD before administering her sleep meds. Susie introduced them during a trip to New York, and both sides describe it as nothing less than a love fest. Bono sang at Susan Buffett’s small family funeral (”All I Want Is You,” backed by Susie’s son, Mike, on guitar).
Draped over the corner of the painting is a rosary containing a vial of Susan’s ashes that Bono took on his last world tour. When Susie handed him the vial (she had brought “her mother” to hear him at U2’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), he stuck it in his pocket and joked “Your mother is in my pants.”
“I thought, If she’s floating around up there, she is really proud of me right now!” says Susie.
Formed in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in September, 2005, Music Rising supports the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast’s seminal music community following this environmental crisis.
Last year saw their mission dramatized by U2 and Green Day’s powerful video and their live performance for the reopening of the Superdome. On April 21, Music Rising co-founder The Edge rallied his colleagues in New York City to donate instruments and memorabilia for a special “Icons of Music” auction that raised $2.4 million. MSN Entertainment was there for exclusive interviews with The Edge and other participants, conducted by veteran music journalist Alan Light.
Starpulse reports that a BBC 6 Music poll, set to be voted on tonight, includes U2 in its Top 10.
Only this time, it’s not a compliment.
The radio channel is choosing the “worst lyrics ever” and U2 has made the list for the line:
I’ve got no self control/Been living like a mole
from 2000’s “Elevation.”
And this got me thinking—sure, that line is ridiculous, but haven’t they done worse? I think they have. So I made my own top 5 list of the worst U2 lyrics:
1. You know some places are like your auntie/But there’s no place like Miami (”Miami”)
2. I know that everything is not ok/But you’re like honey on my tongue (”A Man and a Woman”)
3. I didn’t give anyone else a choice/An intellectual tortoise (”All Because of You”)
4. Where I grew up there weren’t many trees/Where there was we’d tear them down/And use them on our enemies (”Peace on Earth”)
5. Your eyes make a circle/I see you when you go in there (”I Will Follow”)
Of course, genius lines such as Midnight is where the day begins, Home/That’s where the hurt is, and I’ll see you again when the stars fall from the sky more than make up for these minor snafus.
Formed in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in September, 2005, Music Rising supports the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast’s seminal music community following this environmental crisis.
