Last Call for Help
And it’s not really much of a call for help, because I’m not sure these are the kinds of things anyone knows or can discover. But I’ll post them, and if nothing else, I’ll add them to the unsolved mysteries category in a few days.
- 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.
- Here’s a photoset on Wire Image of an Island Records party for U2 that has a date of September 9, 1987 — but you can tell from looking at the photos this is not 1987! I’m guessing it’s much earlier than that, but have no clue when it was.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. Sigh….
- 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.
Oh, by the way, I’m essentially finished writing. I’ve completed my TO DO list, and plan to spend Monday and Tuesday reading & editing the manuscript. I have to submit it to Omnibus before I go to bed Tuesday night.
midnight mass:
Recorded from Dublin Radio first broadcast December 31st, 1983.
@ “Black Catholics”: this must have been 1979, because this is the year when the BCs first showed up, not even as a real punkband, but more like a ‘gang’ who were generally attacking other bands (not only U2). therefore its indeed possible that Flanagan and Waters are both right: it seems U2 were attacked by the BCs more than once.
all of the info is taken from different irish punk related websites. I also contacted one of them for further info, no reply so far.
Olá Matt,
On Bono´s Driving to Midnight Mass recording, maybe you can check U2Source.com. Here´s the direct link:
http://www.u2source.com/2007/07/11/bono-driving-to-midnight-mass-in-dublin/
Cheers from Brazil
MT
Hey Matt,
Unfortunately, I don’t have multiple confirmations on this, but the copy of Midnight Mass that I received had this date on it:
December 31st, 1983 (first broadcast in Dublin).
This came with the “notes” on the cassette provided by Sue Fell (longtime UK U2 fan). Sue’s entire tape collection was well annotated and based on recording she made (or traded for) in the UK.
Of course, “first broadcast in Dublin” is not the same as “date recorded”.