U2-A Diary

The manuscript for the second edition of U2 – A Diary is due in two weeks. Yikes! I still have some research and writing left to do, so here’s one last call for help with the remaining list of unsolved mysteries — most of which date back to before the first edition was published.

If you have info about any of these, please leave a comment below or send me an email. Thanks!

1.) Mike Scott visits U2 in Dublin

In the 2007 book, Strange Boat – Mike Scott & The Waterboys, it’s mentioned that Mike Scott visited Bono in Dublin (in 1986, presumably):

It would be cool to at least get a month and year when that meeting happened. (UPDATE: With great thanks to Mike Scott himself (via his Twitter account and email), this has been solved and several other dates and facts have also been added to the 2nd edition. Thx Mike!)

2. STREETS commercial offer

Still don’t have a date for the famous “$23 million offer for ‘Streets’” story that I mentioned in this post. Probably never will get that answer. (original discussion)

3. Bono playing chess

Did Bono and Garry Kasparov ever have the chess match they were supposed to have in 1993? (original discussion)

4. Dick Evans birth

I know Dick Evans was born in 1959, but have no idea where. (UPDATE: Thanks to Cathy S., I’ve narrowed this down to early 1959 in East London, but still don’t have exact date or hospital/location.)

5. Mt. Temple Comprehensive opens

I would love to know the exact date that Mt. Temple opened in 1972. I know it was September of that year, but not even the school has been able to track down the exact date.

6. Clarence Hotel purchase

I would love to know the exact date that Bono and Edge (with Harry Crosbie) purchased the Clarence Hotel? It’s listed in the first edition of the book as November, 1992, but I’d love an exact date. (original discussion) (UPDATE: In a previous post, Anne linked to a story about the purchase from September 1992, so that helps get more accurate. But an exact date would be still be great to know.)

7. Bono, Ali, & Horse Races

Which year did Bono go to Cork with Ali and her family, bet on a horse race, and win big to help a friend pay for his wedding? The story is told in Michka Assayas’ book, but no date is given. (original discussion)

8. Buying Trabants

Pg. 31-32 of U2 At the End of the World (UK hardback edition) talks about Paul McGuinness going to Eastern Europe to buy the Trabants for Zoo TV. This had to be sometime in 1991, but I’d like to at least narrow it down to a specific month if possible.

9. Polygram dinner

Pg. 35 of U2 At the End of the World (UK hardback edition) talks about a dinner meeting they had with Alain Levy, the top dog at Polygram. Would be nice to have a date on this.

10. Song called “This I’ve Got To Stop”

U2 by Mark Taylor says Bono wrote two songs in October, 1985, when he was doing the Sun City stuff — “Silver and Gold” and a tune called “This I’ve Got To Stop.” I’ve found no other info on the second song.

11. Edge’s cooking classes

On pg. 105 of The U2 Reader by Hank Bordowitz, Howie B makes a comment about Edge attending cooking classes “every Monday at 4 o’clock.” This would’ve been in August, 1996, during the Pop recording sessions. I’d love to know if Edge really took cooking classes, or was Howie B just making a flip comment?

12. Driving To Midnight Mass

I’ve never been able to find out when Bono recorded the “Driving to Midnight Mass” poem. In an old OTR column on @U2, I wrote that it was recorded around 1983/1984 for a Chicago radio station, but at the moment I have no idea where I figured that out. (UPDATE: Thanks to Connie P.’s help, and contact with the man who produced the clip for WXRT-FM in Chicago, I’ve been able to confirm the exact date of this recording. Awesome!)

13. Island Records party

Here’s a photoset on Wire Image of an Island Records party for U2 that has a date of September 9, 1980 — but U2 was on tour in the UK on that date, so I have no idea when it was.

14. Early unknown gig

In this old article, a guy named Charlie Rafferty mentions seeing a U2/Virgin Prunes gig at St. Brigid’s Hall in Finglas. There’s no record of that show anywhere from what I can tell. (UPDATE: I’ve been able to confirm that a gig did happen at this venue, likely in late 1979, but don’t have anything more specific than that.)

15. Adam visits Goldeneye

Sometime in 1993, Adam went to Chris Blackwell’s “Goldeneye” property with Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, and Kate Moss. I can’t link to the article that mentions this because it’s behind a subscribers-only wall. But no date is given, and no mention of how long they were there. Could be anytime. (UPDATE: With great thanks to John O., this has been confirmed as happening in December 1993. They went to Blackwell’s estate to celebrate the new year.)

16. Early unknown gig

At an early U2 gig, a group of punks called the “Black Catholics” attacked U2 while the band was performing. There are different versions of the story. In Bill Flanagan’s book, it happened during a gig at the Project Arts Centre. In Bill Graham’s book, it happened at the Baggot Inn. Neither one gives anything close to a date, not even a year. Maybe it happened at both gigs and they’re both correct…. (UPDATE: Yes, both are correct. I understand that this happened on more than one occasion with the most serious happening at the Baggott Inn. Do not have a date.)

17. Jesse Jackson for President

According to this interview, which took place in January 1989, U2/Bono was asked to endorse Jesse Jackson at some point in 1988. I can’t find anything more on that.

Replies are welcome in the comments if you know anything about these unsolved mysteries!

In a little less than two months, I’ll be submitting the manuscript for the second edition of U2 – A Diary. There will also be a section of updates/corrections to the material in the first book, which gives me a chance to fix things I got wrong and add things that I missed.

Here are almost 20 “unsolved mysteries” — some of which are in the first edition, but without as much exact information as I’d like, and some that are so mysterious that I wasn’t able to include them at all. If you have info about any of these, please leave a comment below or send me an email. Thanks!

1. The “Pride” death threat against Bono

There’s an old NME article that says it happened during The Unforgettable Fire Tour. But in U2 by U2, the band says it happened during The Joshua Tree tour. I’ve written about this unsolved mystery twice: When Did Adam Stand in Front of Bono during “Pride”? and In the News: The Pride/Bono Death Threat Story.

2. Joshua Tree unauthorized ad

Sometime after The Joshua Tree came out, Sony put the advertisement at right in some Irish/UK music papers. Sony never asked permission and U2 forced them to pull the ad quickly. I’d like to get at least the month in which this started appearing. (original discussion) (UPDATE: Solved in comments below, thx to Donal’s research!)

3. Hot Press 1979/1980 Awards

There are many articles online that reference the fact that U2 “swept the competition”, winning five awards in the 1979 Hot Press Reader’s Poll — which would’ve been published in January, 1980. But I can find no record of what those five awards are. (original discussion) (UPDATE: This one is solved, thanks again to Donal M.!)

4. STREETS commercial offer

Still don’t have a date for the famous “$23 million offer for ‘Streets’” story that I mentioned in this post. Probably never will get that answer. (original discussion)

5. Bono playing chess

Did Bono and Garry Kasparov ever have the chess match they were supposed to have in 1993? (original discussion)

6. Dick Evans birth

I know Dick Evans was born in 1959, but have no idea where. (UPDATE: Thanks to Cathy S., I’ve narrowed this down to early 1959 in East London, but still don’t have exact date or hospital/location.)

7. Mt. Temple Comprehensive opens

I would love to know the exact date that Mt. Temple opened in 1972.

8. Clarence Hotel purchase

I would love to know the exact date that Bono and Edge (with Harry Crosbie) purchased the Clarence Hotel? It’s listed in the first edition of the book as November, 1992, but I’d love an exact date. (original discussion) (UPDATE: In the comments, Anne links to a story about the purchase from September 1992, so that helps get more accurate. But an exact date would be still be great to know.)

9. Bono, Ali, & Horse Races

Which year did Bono go to Cork with Ali and her family, bet on a horse race, and win big to help a friend pay for his wedding? The story is told in Michka Assayas’ book, but no date is given. (original discussion)

10. Buying Trabants

Pg. 31-32 of U2 At the End of the World (UK hardback edition) talks about Paul McGuinness going to Eastern Europe to buy the Trabants for Zoo TV. This had to be sometime in 1991, but I’d like to at least narrow it down to a specific month if possible.

11. Polygram dinner

Pg. 35 of U2 At the End of the World (UK hardback edition) talks about a dinner meeting they had with Alain Levy, the top dog at Polygram. Would be nice to have a date on this.

12. Song called “This I’ve Got To Stop”

U2 by Mark Taylor says Bono wrote two songs in October, 1985, when he was doing the Sun City stuff — “Silver and Gold” and a tune called “This I’ve Got To Stop.” I’ve found no other info on the second song.

13. Edge’s cooking classes

On pg. 105 of The U2 Reader by Hank Bordowitz, Howie B makes a comment about Edge attending cooking classes “every Monday at 4 o’clock.” This would’ve been in August, 1996, during the Pop recording sessions. I’d love to know if Edge really took cooking classes, or was Howie B just making a flip comment?

14. Driving To Midnight Mass

I’ve never been able to find out when Bono recorded the “Driving to Midnight Mass” poem. In an old OTR column on @U2, I wrote that it was recorded around 1983/1984 for a Chicago radio station, but at the moment I have no idea where I figured that out.

15. Island Records party

Here’s a photoset on Wire Image of an Island Records party for U2 that has a date of September 9, 1980 — but U2 was on tour in the UK on that date, so I have no idea when it was.

16. Early unknown gig

In this old article, a guy named Charlie Rafferty mentions seeing a U2/Virgin Prunes gig at St. Brigid’s Hall in Finglas. There’s no record of that show anywhere from what I can tell.

17. Adam visits Goldeneye

Sometime in 1993, Adam went to Chris Blackwell’s “Goldeneye” property with Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, and Kate Moss. I can’t link to the article that mentions this because it’s behind a subscribers-only wall. But no date is given, and no mention of how long they were there. Could be anytime.

18. Early unknown gig

At an early U2 gig, a group of punks called the “Black Catholics” attacked U2 while the band was performing. There are different versions of the story. In Bill Flanagan’s book, it happened during a gig at the Project Arts Centre. In John Waters’ book, it happened at the Baggot Inn. Neither one gives anything close to a date, not even a year. Maybe it happened at both gigs and they’re both correct….

19. Jesse Jackson for President

According to this interview, which took place in January 1989, U2/Bono was asked to endorse Jesse Jackson at some point in 1988. I can’t find anything more on that.

Replies are welcome in the comments if you know anything about these unsolved mysteries!

Ages ago, during the writing and researching of U2-A Diary, I put out a call for help on this blog with this post: When Did Adam Stand in Front of Bono during ‘Pride’? Sadly, I never did get enough solid information about that question and had to leave it out of the book.

Now, out of nowhere, the Arizona Republic has published an article that basically asks the same question: When did this happen? But unlike my rushed attempt to get answers, reporter Richard Ruelas did some digging with concert promoters, local law enforcement officials, and even the FBI. The results?

Neither Tempe police nor Arizona State University police could find a report about the incident. The Phoenix office of the FBI also came up empty. Special Agent Manual Johnson, the FBI’s spokesman, said he was at those shows as a fan but could not locate any report of a threat.

Fey, the now-retired concert promoter who lives in Denver, said he did not recall ordering extra security for any of the four Tempe shows as a result of a threat.

Ruelas’ article is a great read, but it assumes, as many do, that the incident happened during the Joshua Tree tour. Heck, Bono even says so in the official book, U2 by U2. But 10 years earlier, in this interview with NME, Bono said it happened during the Unforgettable Fire tour.

And that was always one of the biggest challenges of researching and writing my book: U2′s stories often changed from telling to telling. Sometimes, like in this case, there’s almost no way to reconcile the different stories to find a definitive version of events.

So, for now at least, this one remains an unsolved mystery.

(I’m starting a new category called “Unsolved Mysteries” so I don’t have to keep repeating the same unanswered questions over and over each time I post a new list of questions.)

This is the current list of “unsolved mysteries,” or questions that I’m unable to answer, even with the sensational help of my wonderful blog readers. Each of these questions has been mentioned already in the Calls for Help category. So, at the end of each one, I’ll include a link to the original post where we probably already discussed the question/mystery to some degree in the comments.

I’ll update this post as mysteries are solved and/or added.

1. Sometime after The Joshua Tree came out, Sony put the advertisement at right in some Irish/UK music papers. Sony never asked permission and U2 forced them to pull the ad quickly. I’d like to get at least the month in which this started appearing. (original discussion)

2. There are many articles online that reference the fact that U2 “swept the competition”, winning five awards in the 1979 Hot Press Reader’s Poll — which would’ve been published in January, 1980. But I can find no record of what those 5 awards are. I have an e-mail in to my contact at Hot Press, but some backup help would be appreciated! (original discussion)

3. According to this article, Larry played drums on June 1, 2006, at a going away party for a guy named Stephen Galligan. No disrespect intended, but who is Stephen Galligan? (original discussion) Solved by Donal! Thank you!

4. Still don’t have a date for the famous “$23 million offer for ‘Streets’” story that I mentioned in this post. Probably never will get that answer. (original discussion)

5. Still don’t have the date that Waterboys singer Mike Scott married Irene Keogh. Edge and Adam attended. (original discussion) Solved thanks to Chris!

6. Did Bono and Garry Kasparov ever have the chess match they were supposed to have in 1993? (original discussion)

7. Still don’t have when and where Dick Evans was born.

8. Still don’t have the exact date Mt. Temple opened in 1972.

9. Still on the hunt for the exact date of the “Two Hearts Beat As One” video shoot. March 1983, which every source claims, seems kinda impossible considering the band’s tour schedule that month. (original discussion)

10. In this 1986 article on @U2, Edge talks about going to Paris to see some of the Heroine film. (see the COLLABORATING sub-heading) He also says “Bono and Adam were on their way back from picking up some awards in Italy.” Earlier in the article, he mentions “it wasn’t until September last year” that he was able to start work on this soundtrack. So I’m guessing this meeting in Paris and the awards in Italy were around September, 1985. Except I have no information at all on any Italian awards U2 won at that time. Help??? (original discussion) Solved thanks to Loris and Marco!

11. Exact date that Bono and Edge (with Harry Crosbie) purchased the Clarence Hotel? I’ve narrowed it down to November, 1992, but would love an exact date. (original discussion)

12. Which year did Bono go to Cork with Ali and her family, bet on a horse race, and win big to help a friend pay for his wedding? The story is told in Michka Assayas’ book, but no date is given. (original discussion)

13. Pg. 31-32 of U2 At the End of the World (UK hardback edition) talks about Paul McGuinness going to Eastern Europe to buy the Trabants for Zoo TV. This had to be sometime in 1991, but I’d like to at least narrow it down to a specific month if possible.

14. Pg. 35 of U2 At the End of the World (UK hardback edition) talks about a dinner meeting they had with Alain Levy, the top dog at Polygram. Would be nice to have a date on this.

15. U2 by Mark Taylor says Bono wrote two songs in October, 1985, when he was doing the Sun City stuff — “Silver and Gold” and a tune called “This I’ve Got To Stop.” I’ve found no other info. on the second song.

16. On pg. 105 of The U2 Reader by Hank Bordowitz, Howie B makes a comment about Edge attending cooking classes “every Monday at 4 o’clock.” This would’ve been in August, 1996, during the Pop recording sessions. I’d love to know if Edge really took cooking classes, or was Howie B just making a flip comment?

Replies are welcome in the comments!