U2-A Diary

Last night at about 11:00 pm, I finished the manuscript and all associated documents for the 2nd edition of U2-A Diary! I’ll be sending Omnibus a little more than 40,000 words and the new book should be 400 pages total when it comes out this summer.

But I have one last question for U2 fans.

I’ve written a short, three-paragraph Introduction that covers only the new material – 2008 through 2010. The Introduction is sort of a big picture, high-level assessment of the material in the diary. I reviewed these past three years and found the major themes/events to include

• relatively poor album sales compared to past U2 albums
• poor sales/response to U2′s singles
• shut out at all the major awards, even the Meteor Irish Music Awards in their own country
• Bono’s back injury
• the long-running Spider-Man problems
• huge success for the U2 360 tour

The Introduction as I’ve written it basically says that this was a difficult three years for U2 and that there were more negatives than positives.

The question to you: Is that accurate/fair? Or, were the past three years better for U2 than I’ve painted them? Your feedback is appreciated! Please leave a comment below and I’ll process them for posting as quickly as possible.

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!

Did you know that Bono nearly died 15 years ago today? Not exactly the cheeriest of episodes to bring up, but it’s true. Here’s the U2-A Diary entry for January 16, 1996:

January 16

Bono and his family are on the receiving end of police gunfire as their plane lands in Negril, Jamaica, where they plan to meet up with Adam. Local police had been tipped that a plane loaded with drugs would be landing in Negril around the same time and open fire – but not until after the Hewsons, Chris Blackwell and Jimmy Buffett had all gotten off the plane. The police apologize for firing at the wrong plane.

Scary stuff. Can you imagine? Wow………

Here’s an interview that I’ve never seen before. I discovered it over the weekend while researching the book. It’s from the French TV show, Les Enfants du Rock.

The YouTube page says this aired in 1987. I can tell you that it was recorded on June 4, 1986. Bono and the band were in San Francisco on the Amnesty tour and they visited painter Rene Castro that day. Castro took them out for a walk to see one of his murals on Balmy Alley, which is where this was taped.

I do have the Castro visit in the first edition of U2-A Diary, but the TV interview is new to me … so that’ll be added to the second edition via the addendum we’re including. Cool. Happy to find this.

Can anyone find an article confirming if, when and/or why BP Fallon was removed from his role as pre-show DJ during the Zoo TV Tour? My searches have come up empty.