Skincare industry coverage makes way onto U2 fansite blog. End of world, soon to come. (Breathe deeply boys, it will be okay.)

The June 2007 UK edition of Harper’s Bazaar has a feature article on a skincare brand called Nude. It is an organic, chic, eco-conscious brand. I doubt you will have trouble guessing which member of U2 and his better half are investors in it.

Here is a snippet from the piece:

Nude’s founder is Bryan Meehan, the man who made ‘organic’ hot when he set up Fresh & Wild (and then sold it to Whole Foods Market for $38 million); his investor, inspiration and ‘muse’ is Ali Hewson, wife of Bono and founder of ethical fashion brand Edun (Nude spelt backwards). Bono is also an investor, and supermodel Christy Turlington, a friend of all three, tried out everything before it was given the final sign-off…

The official website for Nude Skincare is here. And you can download a pdf of the Harper’s Bazaar article about the brand on this section of the site. There is also a related article from the Independent that you can read here.

So do you think the whole band is going to go Nude? Or just Bono?

—This post brought to you by Scatter O’ Light.

I just recently celebrated my wedding anniversary and as couples will do when celebrating such an event, heading out for a special meal as part of the day’s activities seemed appropriate.  After going over our options, we opted to head to a sushi restaraunt.  Yum!

Knowing we had a bit of a drive in front of us, I thought it would be appropriate to grab some music that meant something to both my wife and I for the ride.  So I grabbed our copy of the September 21, 2005 show from Chicago.  It was the last show in Chicago on the Vertigo tour, and it was the only show on the tour we were able to catch this time.

That performance, while being an excellent overall show, had a few standout moments for me.  The first truly special moment was during Electric Co. when Edge took his solo while walking around the ellipse.  He was sporting the biggest smile I’d seen him have on stage in a very long time, and it just added to the appreciation of the moment to have him walk past us at the tip of the ellipse with such obvious joy while playing.  We knew that if Edge was that loose, we were in for something special.

The next moment came during Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own.  We all know what that song means to Bono, and this happened to be a night where not only did he get deep into that song but he almost got lost in it as well.  When he got to the line “I don’t need…I don’t need to hear you say” he choked up and nearly lost it but recovered quickly and carried on to the end without any other issues.  That made a powerful song feel that much more powerful to both my wife and I as we had each lost someone very close to us in our family over the past year.

Those of you who read Matt’s Off The Record column may also recall that he posted a Youtube link in one of his columns which had this show’s version of Bad.  It was special because Bono wove in all of The First Time within the Bad rhythm.  If you can find it out there and have not seen or heard this yet, I’m urging you to check it out because it was awesome.  I can remember standing there during that song and thinking to myself that this is one of those versions that happens once in history and I was there for it.  It was amazing.

The final moment is the moment that inspired the title of this entry.  The band closed the show with 40, like they should every show if you are an old-school U2 fan like I am, and it was a solid performance of that song.  As Bono left the stage, he hung his hat on the microphone stand and waved to us all.  After Edge and Adam also left the stage, Larry finished up with his drumming while we all continued to sing.  When Larry finished, I think he surprised everyone when he walked up to Bono’s microphone stand, put Bono’s hat on his head, stood there for a moment and then walked off the stage. 

It was almost a declaration that while Bono is the voice of the band, we were instructed to never forget that U2 exists because Larry formed a band and no matter what had transpired since that time, it was still Larry’s band.  It was a really cool and unique moment, and a great way to close a show in a city that the band loves to play in. 

Just back from the local shopping mall where the Kid’s Gap store had a front display of (RED) children’s clothing. They even had baby onesies too - so now the whole family can be decked out in (RED) gear from Gap. I was told by the sales person that Gap sold the children’s (RED) line online, but I hadn’t seen that. Made me happy to pick up an ADO(RED) onesie for my little ‘chop. (By the way - the onesies are priced at $15 each).

Sometimes when I spend too much time on the Internet reading what U2 fans think (myself included), I want to stab myself in the neck have to laugh.

When it comes to what type of music the band is “possibly” making, you hear a lot of “U2 should do this” and “U2 should do that” and “Larry needs to play some adventurous samba beats” or something … as if U2 doing exactly what YOU want them to do is going to make the music come out just the way you like it.

I’m pretty sure a month or so ago, nobody was saying “U2 should head to North Africa for a few weeks with Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, an oud, some Sufi and Gnawa musicians, take in some Parissa, and get inspired by Tinariwen.”

But all of a sudden that kind of seems like exactly what we all knew they should be doing all along. Something nobody expected. One of the hardest thing for the band to do as musicians at this point is not only to surprise us, but also to surprise themselves. And they sure seem to be trying on that front.

Of course, we have no idea what the end result will be. Isn’t that the point? Maybe it’s just me, but so far so good, boys.

On a related note: did anyone else notice that Bono makes more sense when translated from English to French and back again than when his quotes are just straight from the source English?

—This post brought to you by Scatter O’ Light.

So I was singing along to U2 one day and as can happen to me when I’m in one of those moods, I decided to start singing my own lyrics to the song that was on. Sometimes these efforts flow and sometimes they don’t, but this one seemed to take off.

We know that Bono can create his own lyrics during live performances at times. He tends to weave in either current events or something having to do with the location that the band is playing at.

With it being summer time in the Northern Hemisphere, there are plenty of picnics going on. Imagine Bono and the boys playing at your family picnic. Seeking to make this picnic even more of a special day, Bono ad-libs new lyrics to Love and Peace…just for you.

I invite you to put on the song now, picture yourself at your picnic and sing along with Bono:

Lays chips

Lays chips

Lay the salt and pepper near the dip

Leave your pudding in the pack

We’re gonna eat, not gonna snack

Yes we are…

Lay down your knife

Lay down your fork

Let’s use our hands

To eat that pork

As you enter this meal

I pray you depart

With an apple dumpling

And a strawberry tart

I don’t know if I can take it

It’s not easy on my jeans

Here’s my zipper you can’t break it

I need some release, release, release

We need

Ham and Cheese

Ham and Cheese

Lay down

Lay on the couch

You had too much to eat

And now you say ouch

I don’t know if I can make it

I’m not easy on my jeans

Where’s the loo, I can’t take it

Had too much baked beans, baked beans, baked beans

I ate

Ham and cheese

Ham and cheese

Baby don’t fight

We can talk this through

There’s more than enough

Have some Irish Stew

You can cook or I’ll phone

Take aways are fine

But all of this waiting

Just makes me want to dine

I’m about to dig in

And I wonder can I get hold of?

Is it all I talk of?

I feel deprived of…

Gotta get more of…

Ham and cheese

Ah, memories! I decided tonight to pull out the old U2 World Service magazines (aka Pre-Props) that Geoff Parkyn edited and wrote many many years ago. It’s been a great trip down memory lane re-reading the early interviews with Joe O’Herlihy, Dennis Sheehan and Willie Williams. (Well, in Willie’s case, Geoff referred to him as his first name, Peter.)

Anyway, in Issue 12, dated Autumn 1984, Geoff mentions some of U2’s early song titles on page 11 of the magazine:

Here’s a list of some early U2 songs that never made it onto record - perhaps you can recall some others? Street Missions, Concentration Cramp, Night Fright, Inside Out, Hang Up!, Judith (No Man’s Land), Father Is An Elephant (?), The Dream Is Over, Jack In The Box, The Magic Carpet, Walk Away, The Speed of Life, Alone In The Night.

Some of those songs still haven’t seen the light of day through fan circles - then again, who thought to record live U2 concerts back in the days of The Hype and Feedback? Can anyone answer Geoff’s question of 23 years ago and recall any other songs that haven’t seen the light of day from U2’s early days?

Forbes Magazine has just released it’s Top 100 Celebrities list for 2007, and dropping down from #4 just a few years ago to number 22 is U2. The magazine bases its top 100 list on not only the total combined earnings, but also the amount of buzz they are able to create.

Forbes stated that U2’s pay was $30 million for 2007, ranking them 40th in Pay ranking. They are ranked 6th in regard to Web ranking, 11th in Press ranking, and 46th in TV ranking. Average all that together and that’s how you get 22.

Forbes states:

These guys barely even have to try. U2’s ‘Vertigo’ tour was cut short last spring. The super-band rescheduled 10 dates in Australia, Japan and South America that were played last November. Even these leftovers grossed more money than most bands could ever dream of seeing: $113 million in ticket sales. U2 frontman Bono still generates headlines for his crusading work on behalf of debt relief in Africa.

For the record, the top 5 are: Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, Madonna, Rolling Stones, and Brad Pitt. To see the full list, visit the Forbes site here.

(As a side note, Bono’s venture capital firm Elevation Partners purchased a “minority stake” in Forbes in August 2006.)

U2’s studio version of the John Lennon classic Instant Karma is now out and floating about. It is new and it is U2 (we like) and it is available for purchase as of June 12 in the U.S. as part of the benefit cd Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. It will be released later this month outside of the U.S.

Entertainment Weekly’s reviewer says U2’s version “brings the lameness” and that Bono’s vocals are “curiously dispassionate.” Meanwhile, David Fricke’s review in Rolling Stone gives U2 high marks for energizing the song “like true fans.”

Have you heard it yet? (Click here for a listen to the full version of U2’s take on Instant Karma.)

Personally, I was expecting a little more oomph out of that chorus, but overall it sounds like “four guys in a room” playing a pure rock ‘n’ roll melody, and I am definitely a fan of that.

What is your review of it?

—This post brought to you by Scatter O’ Light.