U2-A Diary

I don’t really know if this will help promote the book or not, but I’ve created a page for U2 Diary on a site called Squidoo. Here’s the link:

U2 Diary on Squidoo

The content is similar to what you’ve read here, with the addition of some Flickr photo and Amazon links and stuff like that.

If you’re so inclined, I’d be grateful if you’d go sign-in to Squidoo and give the page a 5-star rating. (See the top of the page, just below the header.)

Just a quick note to say thanks to Kevin at U2exit.com and Angelo at Noodles U2 for writing about the book and linking to U2diary.com.

Welcome to the folks who came here from there!

Anyone able to help with any of these questions below? If so, answer in the comments. And provide a source if you can. Thanks!

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When did Bono first meet Gavin? If not an exact date, at least the month and year. Or maybe just the year.

When was Dick Evans born? Where?

When did Bono meet with Dylan to write “Love Rescue Me”?

When was Rattle and Hum released on video?

When did the ZOO TV 3-part TV show air on MTV?

What’s the name of the theater in Mexico City where U2 and Mary J. Blige shot “One” video?

When did Bringing It All Back Home air on BBC/RTE? Sometime in 1991, I think, but when?

Sorry for not replying more quickly. I have more than a dozen unanswered e-mails that I hope to get through this weekend, and then I’ll be without my home computer for a bit next week. So thanks for your patience if you’ve written in….

How about a little background into the research and writing process, and then an update on tonight’s mini-milestone? Sound good? Cool.

I continue to re-read every U2-related book on my bookshelf. It’s a long-but-enjoyable process, and has really helped me remember some interesting facts from the old days that had slipped my mind.

I’m doing this in spare time, of course. The day job keeps me quite busy. Some books take about 2 weeks to re-read; others take much longer.

As I re-read each book, I have a colored highlighter with me. When I come to an interesting factoid or quote, two things happen:

1. I highlight it.
2. I dog-ear the page for quick access later.

And when I’m done with the re-read, I go back through all the dog-eared pages and compare what I’ve highlighted to what’s already in my manuscript. If there’s some additional information to add, I write it in. Each little bit of info makes the book better, and more complete.

With most of the books I’ve re-read so far, maybe 1/3rd or 1/2 of the pages are dog-eared. Not so with The Rolling Stone Files … that one was probably 2/3rds dog-eared. It’s a testament to the generally great material, especially band interviews, they’ve published over the years. Shame the book only goes up to the Zooropa tour, though. It really needs an update with all their more recent U2 stuff.

Tonight, I’ve just finished adding facts and events from U2 At the End of the World, which came close to the Rolling Stone book in percentage of dog-eared pages. And that’s such a thick book, it took me probably 5-6 weeks to battle through it.

Next up: BP Fallon’s U2 Faraway, So Close. With this and Flanagan’s book, the Zoo era should be well covered. I hope.

Current word count: 118,532 (316 pages in MS Word)