U2-A Diary

Quick heads up for those of you who are on Twitter:

U2 – A Diary is also on Twitter!

You can follow progress on the book here: @U2diary.

I’ll be sending out tweets when new blog posts are published here and generally using it to help keep you updated on how the work is going, as well as asking for help when needed, too.

(There’s also a Facebook group for the book, but I don’t use it much….)

I should probably be flattered by this, and actually … I think I am. There’s someone on eBay selling this item advertised as a “U2 – A Diary Collectible Flip Top Lighter Promo.” You can see the auction on eBay.

Only thing is … it’s not real. But you knew that.

Right?

I don’t know how the Omnibus legal team feels about it, but like I said … I’m kinda flattered that someone would even think something like this would sell.

There’s a wire service story running today about the death of Rob Partridge. It’s short, and I don’t think that URL will work forever, so I’m going to reprint it below in its entirety:

Man who signed U2 dies from cancer

The music PR who got U2 their first record deal has died after a two-year battle with cancer.

Rob Partridge signed the band to Island Records in 1980 when they were unknowns struggling for recognition. He remained the band’s publicist for many years and a friend of frontman Bono.

As Head of Press and later Media Director for the label, he dealt with artists like Bob Marley, Grace Jones, Tom Waits and Marianne Faithfull.

I don’t think that story really does justice to how important Rob Partridge was in U2′s development.

When I was researching U2 – A Diary, I spent a lot of time digging into the band’s early years — the late 1970s and early 1980s. That’s one of those gray periods with a lot of uncertainty about what exactly happened, when things happened, and how they happened. I managed to find some new articles and made some contacts with people that helped a lot.

At almost every turn, Rob Partridge’s name came up.

The short obit above talks about how he got U2 signed to Island Records, and that’s true. You may remember U2′s late 1979 tour of London clubs. It was pretty much their first and last chance to get a record deal from one of the major UK-based labels. This is the two-week tour that I describe on ppg. 25-26 of the book. It’s when they were called “Capital U2″ at one concert, “V2″ at another, and “The U2′s” at another. Edge cut up his hand two days before the first show. Only nine people showed up for one club date. And whenever record label execs announced that they were coming to a show, U2 were terrible. When it was just an audience of fans, they supposedly played terrific shows.

Here’s the diary entry for the final gig of that London tour:

December 15
- Windsor Castle, London. U2 wraps up its brief, inconsistent tour. Luck hasn’t been on their side: U2 thinks they’ve played their worst shows with record executives in the crowd, and great shows when almost no one is watching. The band is unaware that Rob Partridge of Island Records caught one of the good shows, and is spreading the word to others at the label.

Somewhere on that tour, Rob Partridge showed up unannounced at a gig and caught U2 at its best, while the other (announced) record execs caught U2 at its worst. It’s not at all a stretch to say that U2 wouldn’t be around today if not for Rob Partridge seeing one of those good shows. No other label was beating down U2′s door, and they were ready to throw in the towel after the early 1980 tour of Ireland — the one that ended with Island signing U2 to a major contract.

I knew Rob would have some amazing stories to tell about those days, so I tracked him down in July, 2007, and sent him an email asking for an interview. He wrote back, told me he was in treatment for cancer, and asked if I could check back with him in a couple months. I said I would and offered to say some prayers for his health. I waited until November of last year to try him again, but never got a reply. It’s one of my few regrets about researching the book that we never connected, but he obviously had far more important things to focus on.

Rest in peace, Rob Partridge … one of the most important people in the U2 story.

I’m not even sure this is their formal book review, but Goldmine magazine said some awfully nice things this week about U2 – A Diary:

Painstakingly researched and lovingly compiled, as only a passionate fan like author Matt McGee could, “U2 A Diary” is a thorough, comprehensive look at the history of one of the biggest bands in the world.

As the title indicates, the book is organized in diary form, and it trudges through the mountains of U2 minutiae with the nimble, sure-footed nature of a Sherpa. Incredibly detailed, and brimming with insights, “U2 A Diary” is a book to get lost in, as it traces the majestic trajectory of one of the few bands that still matter today.

I did an email interview with the writer, Peter Lindblad, a little while ago, and the quotes above are part of the first article/post from that interview. Peter says they’ll be publishing the rest of the interview in the near future.

Anybody gotten lost in the book yet? :-) It is quite lengthy. Heck, I’ll be impressed if anyone has even finished reading it at this point!

My friend Declan emailed this link to me: U2 *A Diary* Rare Promo Pack + PR*

Yep, someone is selling a little press kit about U2 – A Diary on eBay UK. How crazy is that??!! I believe this is a press kit that Omnibus put together while taking the book around to the various publishing industry trade shows, trying to convince booksellers to order lots of copies. :)

That link won’t last forever, so here are a couple screenshots for the archives.

And then here’s some of the description:

I’d feel all proud about this, like “I’m famous” … except no one has placed any bids. ;)