It’s been a while since we’ve had the pleasure of mentioning Henry Rollins anywhere on @U2, but as sure as the changing of the seasons, Henry’s back talking about U2 again. In his defense, anxious journalists just love to bring up the name “U2″ to get a reaction out of the guy. And he’s always happy to play along. Like this, from that link:

Well I like Bono’s humanitarian efforts, because when some people go, “oh, he doesn’t mean it. He’s just doing a photo op,” I disagree. I think he’s very sincere. I just think the music, you know, knowing what I know about music… Bands make so much fun of U2. Ask any band on the bandstand, say U2 and the band starts laughing. Because the drummer can’t play. Bass player plods along. The guitar player, if he didn’t have Brian Eno, he wouldn’t have a guitar sound. It’s basically a Brian Eno guitar sound played by guy who’s got one trick. That’s why there’s no leads, because the guys got nothing in there. And lyrically, I mean, whatever. You like God, you go ahead with that. That melts your butter you go for it. To me those records are for people who’ve lost the will to fight.

And that wraps up our 2008 coverage of Henry Rollins. Until next time, this has been m2 reporting…..

Just stumbled on this while keeping up-to-date on material for an updated version of U2: A Diary (which I hope will happen, but don’t know for sure):

According to the Ardmayle blog, Paul McGuinness hurt himself a couple Sundays back in a fall off a horse. Ouch.

It happened before McGuinness gave a speech opening a new art exhibit by his godson, Rocco Tullio.

The things you learn on the Internets……

I know the ladies out there have a crush on our Hitman, but more and more guys are coming out and admitting they have a crush on him too - and it’s not just Boy George this time!

In Sunday’s Irish Independent, Brendan O’Connor admitted that he has a man crush on Larry as well. Here’s what he had to say about spotting him this past Saturday:

A LARRY MULLEN spotting in Eden. While the ignorant among you may think, “Jesus, O’Connor, give us a proper spot. He’s only the drummer. What about a spotting of Bono, or the other fellah, the Edge,” that’s where you’d be wrong. A spotting of the lesser-spotted Larry is the ultimate. You’d catch Bono out on the town any night between Wednesday and Sunday and the Edge is fairly common too. Adam Clayton and Larry are the real exclusives. And there’s also the fact that God, Larry looks good. If Irishmen were to admit to a slight man-crush, most of them would probably say Larry.

If nothing else, he gives great hope for Irish guys. He shows we can be good-looking in an old-fashioned, handsome, movie-star way. If Irish guys are attractive, it’s usually in the rugged or interesting-looking way, boxers’ noses and big jaws and stuff, or we have a great personality or something else useless like that. Larry just looks good like Brad Pitt looks good. Larry is eye candy.

And age isn’t diminishing him. And he always had the dignity to appear troubled by the worst excesses of U2 — like the Pop album.

I love the line “Larry is eye candy.”

To update a story mentioned here a week ago (or so), Edge has announced he will donate 2 Gibson guitars and other personal items to the upcoming “Icons of Music” auction on May 31.

In an interview with the Associated Press by phone while the band was in the studio, Edge said, “No one could ever come close to repaying the debt of those who have established this form (of music) that we all take totally for granted, this hybrid of European melody and African-American rhythm that’s given us jazz and R&B and rock ‘n’ roll. There’s something powerful about musicians giving instruments they own to an auction to aid musicians who are going through a particularly difficult time.”

The AP story also said that Aaron Neville is scheduled to perform at the May 31 auction, held at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City. Edge will host the auction.

If anyone is planning on attending the auction, let us know. We’re looking for special correspondents to cover this event!

As you may know, the Rolling Stones new flick, Shine a Light, directed by Martin Scorcese is hitting theaters this week.

Critics have already started comparing this film to the recent hit U2 3D, as both flicks feature major bands delivering energetic, inspiring performances.

I’ll admit, I’m not nearly as big of a Stones fan as I am a U2 fan, but I am a huge Scorsese fan, so I think I’ll probably check it out.

If you’re in the Seattle area like me, the Pacific Science Center is making it very easy to compare the two films, as they’re bringing back U2 3D for a limited run to play alongside Shine a Light: The IMAX Experience.

From April 18 to May 4, U2 3D will be showing Thursday through Sunday at 9:45 each evening.  For tickets, visit this page of their site.

For those who didn’t get what they wanted at auction last year will have another opportunity at bidding on items generously donated from fellow musicians…Julien’s Auctions is hosting the “Icons of Music” auction to benefit Music Rising. The auction is set for May 31 at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City. There are a few locations hosting a viewing of the items:

Museo de la Moda in Santiago, Chile - March 25 thru April 18
Newbridge Silverware Vistior’s Center in Kildare, Ireland - May 2 thru May 14
Celebrity Vault in Beverly Hills, California - May 22 thru May 24
Hard Rock Cafe in New York City - May 26 thru May 30

Session 1 of the auction begins at 1 p.m. on May 31, with session 2 beginning at 6 p.m. The site is advertising a “Special Performance” at 5 p.m. that day. Who knows - maybe Edge will teach the winning bidder how to play the guitar they just won!

For more information about the auction, check out the official site here.

If you wish to order the catalog for $50, click here.

According to Multichannel.com, some of the items up for auction this year include: “a signed Miley Cyrus guitar, suits worn by The Beatles while promoting A Hard Day’s Night, a Miles Davis owned and used trumpet – 400 lots in all.” The site also mentions that, “Startup Auction Network, a Tulsa-based Web and cable network headed by a passel of former TV Guide Network executives in Oklahoma, will do a six-hour interactive Webcast of the auction, working with Julien’s Auctions of West Hollywood, Calif.”

So, if you can’t make it to NYC, you can still participate. Check your local cable operator to see if you get the Auction Network.

I know, I know. Shame on me.

Instead of staying home and watching Bono’s second appearance on Idol Gives Back, I opted to head to a fine Irish establishment in downtown Seattle with some friends to compete in pub trivia (if you’re curious, our team “Brown Sauce” came in third).

Since I missed the show, I was delighted to find this brilliant blog by Village Voice writer Tom Breihan. He offers a fair, if not somewhat sarcastic recap of the broadcast, moment by moment.

And now I don’t feel so guilty for missing it…

In this week’s Economist newspaper (sold worldwide, as far as I know) Bono is mentioned very briefly in an article reviewing the latest book to be released by the singer’s long-time friend and guru, economist Jeffrey Sachs. The piece, which is titled ‘Sachs appeal,’ remarks that an indication of Sachs’ status as a modern intellectual is the fact that “when Time magazine featured him in its global list of people who influence the world, his profile was written by Bono - a rock singer” (the Economist does have a slight tendency for stating the obvious, admittedly).

Anyone know which issue of Time that was?

It’s been an interesting few days in the world of concert tickets.

Last Friday, news hit about Boston-based Fidelity Investments and their most famous fund mananger, Peter Lynch, over a ticket scandal. Reuters reported that “Once known as America’s most successful fund manager because Magellan at times generated returns more than five times that of the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, 64-year-old Lynch relied on two Fidelity traders to procure 61 tickets worth $15,948 for various events from 1999 to 2004, the SEC said. These included sold-out Ryder Cup golf tournaments, a Santana rock concert, and 11 tickets to see Irish rock band U2, according to the SEC.”

For this, Fidelity Investments was fined by the Security and Exchange Commision $8 million. For his part, Peter Lynch paid $20,000 to settle the charges.

For anyone arguing over the cost of a U2 concert ticket, I think $8,020,000 for 11 U2 tickets (plus a few other events thrown in) is hands-down the highest price we’ve seen yet.

In other ticket news…on Saturday, I tried to buy tickets for Billy Joel’s 7th show at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. His other 6 shows sold out in a matter of seconds. I know he’s popular in my neck of the woods, and the 7th show sold out in about the same amount of time. What surprised me about the ticket sale was that anyone could purchase up to 24 tickets in any transaction. Yes - you read that right, a 24-ticket limit. I’ve seen them go as high as 8 or 10, but never 24. Man, that’s got to be a scalper’s dream! I couldn’t score the tickets in the end, but it’s just as well - I need to save my money for U2’s next tour, which should happen before the end of this decade (hopefully).

U2 3D is going to be seen speeding around a NASCAR race track this weekend in California.

Well, not the movie itself — they’re not showing it at the California Speedway. But the NASCAR #19 car driven by Elliott Sadler will be advertising the movie on the car’s hood, sides, and something called a “decklid”. Here’s what Elliott’s car looks like without the U2 3D stickers:

As you can see, the U2 3D stuff will replace Best Buy’s logo — and that’s how this all came together. If you were reading the blog last month, you may recall Sherry writing about Best Buy’s involvement as a “presenting sponsor” of the movie.

As for the driver, he doesn’t sound like he knows much about U2, but like all other NASCAR drivers, he’s well-schooled in talking up his sponsors:

“U2 is one of those bands known around the world. I know so many people who have been to their shows and tell me what an experience it is to see that band live. Now, with this new 3D movie, it seems like everyone in the theater is going to feel like they’ve been to a U2 show when they leave. California is the perfect place to run this type of scheme. I mean, U2 and a 3D concert film…you don’t get much better.”

Of course, the success of this advertising plan depends on how well Sadler does during the race trying to keep up with the “Fast Cars.” If he doesn’t … you can insert your own “…Pay for Your Crashed Car” pun here.

(Thanks Nic O)