A day-by-day history of U2, now in its second edition.

Unanswered Questions, vol. 5

By on September 30, 2007 in Call for Help with 8 Comments

Here are some unanswered questions that I jotted down over the past few months while re-reading the books on my U2 bookcase.

BILL FLANAGAN – U2 AT THE END OF THE WORLD

I have the UK hardback version, so my page references will be wrong for those of you with any other version.

1.) Pg. 31-32 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.

2.) Pg. 35 talks about a dinner meeting they had with Alain Levy, the top dog at Polygram. Would be nice to have a date on this.

3.) Pg. 42 – Edge talks about seeing The Jam in Dun Laoghaire in 1980, but gives no date. This page talks about a “UK Tour” from October 26 to November 19, but there are other UK dates scattered throughout the year. I’d love to have an exact date on this. I emailed the site and never got a reply.

4.) Pg. 105 – mentions Bono meeting T-Bone Burnett in 1985 and writing a song together (“Having a Great Time, Wish You Were Her”), but I need at least the month they met and/or recorded.

MARK TAYLOR – U2

This is one of those CD-sized books that came out in the 90s. It’s actually pretty good for what it is. I don’t have page numbers for these references, but….

5.) The book says Paul Hewson started a disco club at Mt. Temple called “The Web.” Say what? I’ve found no other info. on that.

6.) It also 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.

HANK BORDOWITZ – THE U2 READER

This book is a collection of news articles covering U2’s history.

7.) On pg. 105, 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?

8.) On pg. 257, there’s mention that Bono attended a concert in Dun Laoghaire by The Damned. As best I can tell, this should be late 1980s or early 1990s.

That’s enough for now………thanks in advance for any help! Previous calls for help that have now become mysteries can be found in this post.

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There Are 8 Brilliant Comments

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  1. bjoern says:

    4) just a quick note: that was 1984 but couldn`t pin down a month yet

  2. bjoern says:

    3) hmm, the show was at a place called Top Hat for sure. Look what they have got to say here: http://www.mcd.ie/home/fn.php?c=4060821&ar=thejam

    ‘Iconic 70’s British band “The Jam” last played in Ireland at the Top Hat Dunlaoghaire with U2 as their support band back in 1979!’

    that would actually give us a new U2 gig as well 🙂

  3. Donal says:

    # 3 – Edge attends “The Jam” gig.

    This “Jam” fansite has a comprehensive listing of all Jam gigs. The only one that matched is a gig they did at the “Top Hat” Dun Laoghaire on October 20th 1978.

    http://www.thejamfan.net/welcome.htm
    Click on “Gigs” along the top, and then select 1978 on the left hand side.

    According to this website,there are only 2 Jam gigs in Ireland over their whole career, the second being in Galway the day after the Dun Laoghaire gig.

  4. gunter says:

    5.)
    if my memory serves me right, Eamon Dunphy is writing in his book (Unforgettable fire) about a disco club Bono initiated in his school days, called “the Web” or “The spiders web”…i will look up page/chapter tonight.

  5. gunter says:

    5.) (cont. from post above)
    The story about the disco “The Web” is placed in Pauls(Bono) chapter near the end.
    In order to attract the attention of his classmate Zandra, Bono started a disco club in an old schoolhouse of a church. Zandras father was the pastor of this church (sorry, i forgot the name), and Zandra was at that time the girlfriend of Reggie Manuel,one of Bono best friends. This must have happend in the year of 73/74, before Maeve became Bonos new girlfriend. The end of the relationsship with Zandra also meant the end of “The Web”.

  6. Matt says:

    Thanks for that, Gunter. The Dunphy book is the only place I’ve found this mentioned, and given all the errors in the book, that’s the reason I’m hoping for another source to corroborate what he wrote. 🙂

  7. Matt says:

    Bjorn & Donal – thanks for your research on these and other questions. Really appreciate it!

  8. jim says:

    The jam palyed the Top Hat in Dun Laoghaire in 1978. I was there. It was the only time they played Ireland. I’ve seen elsewhere that U2 were support. Can’t remember the support band but pretty sure not U2. U2 did support the Stranglers in the Top Hat. As far as I rtemember this was also 1978.

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