News

Where the streets have no name: the desert quest to find the location of U2′s fabled Joshua Tree

2013-05-05T02:41:59Z

by Will Stabley, Stabley Times
(Originally posted March 1, 2013)

36.33088, -117.74527 marks the location of a dead tree and a metal suitcase. The inland California desert is sprinkled with countless Joshua Trees, but only one is singularly iconic. Made famous by U2 in 1987 in the photo sessions for the album of the same name, that one particular Joshua Tree has gone on to be immortalized in posters and banners for the past quarter century. U2 fans have pinned down its location over the years through trial and error, gradually determining that it's nowhere near Joshua Tree National Park, but instead hundreds of miles to the north, somewhere between Yosemite and Death Valley. It's located where the proverbial streets have no name, far enough out into the middle of nowhere that the only accurate way to convey its location is by the global coordinates above. So I head north out of Los Angeles into the desert the hopes of finding what I'm looking for.

]]> I won't be the first to visit U2′s Joshua Tree. Fans have been there, enshrined it, documented it, marked the spot - and about a decade ago, they noted that the aging tree fell over and died. It's now disintegrating in the desert wind, and I know that if I'm to ever see that tree, it must be before it disappears entirely. Nature waits for no one, after all. So I take Highway 14 north into the Mojave Desert, past Red Rock Canyon, into nowhere. I stop at a lonely gas station for a beverage, where an elderly guy whittling on the front porch shouts "Harvey you've got a customer," and the lights turn on inside. So places like that exist after all. The 14 becomes the 395, and at the southern tip of Owens Lake a right turn takes me onto a road technically called 190, but around these parts the name doesn't much matter. I drive twenty-three miles east, until the coordinates tell me that it's time to abandon my car and finish the rest of the journey on foot.

I walk southward from the road, and if I've got this right it'll only be a couple hundred yards. A single tire track, perhaps from a motorbike, seems to mark a trail through what would otherwise be nondescript roadside desert. Down into a bit of a dip, then back up... and after a few football fields, there it is. The most famous tree of its generation. Dead as it can be.

I've spent my life staring at this tree. Joshua Tree was the first album I owned, and that tree was on the inside of the album artwork. That tree was also on a poster in my bedroom growing up, and on another poster in my college dorm room. Heck, it's on a poster on my office wall right now. So I recognize its particular branches immediately, even lying on the ground, pale brown, decomposing. I already knew it was in bad shape, as I'd seen recent pictures. I realize, however, that I'm still not quite prepared for the emotional comeuppance of seeing this tree dead. But then I see that fans have assembled small desert rocks to spell out messages in the surrounding sand: one reading U2, another in the shape of a heart, still others spelling out song titles. Then I spot a suitcase with the band's logo painted on the side.

If driving hundreds of miles into the desert to find a dead tree isn't odd enough, then getting there and finding a metal suitcase tucked underneath the tree's corpse makes this journey suddenly feel like an impossibly avant grade dream. What's inside? Do I dare open it? Who's going to stop me? I undo the two metal clasps, and inside is the greatest treasure a U2 fan could hope for: a haul of artifacts left by fans over the years. U2 t-shirts from every era, sunglasses with fan messages scribbled on them, and notebooks full of messages left by visitors over the years.

"Hello U2 fans," one page of a slightly withered notebook reads. "Back for my second visit to the beloved tree." Beside it is a jar of sand that says it's from a venue the band once played in Moscow. Near the bottom is a weathered Joshua Tree cassette, which I open with some temerity in order to pull out the full album artwork and see if I can match up the skyline of the interior photo with what I'm staring in the face.

Sure enough, this is the right spot, the right tree, the right mountain line behind it. U2 stood here twenty-five years ago, in front of a random Joshua Tree in a random spot in the desert, and instantly immortalized both - which leads to the question of just how they chose this spot in the first place. The album cover photo itself (the one without a tree) was taken in Zabriskie Point in Death Valley, about an hour from here, so the band and photographer Anton Corbijn must have been driving around the desert in search of a suitable tree with a suitable background and just happened to settle on this one. Then it occurs to me that back when the tree was still alive and standing, it was visible from the road. U2 itself didn't have as hard of a time finding this tree as its fans have.

Reminding myself that this tree is about music, I pull out my phone and start playing Joshua Tree. I'd planned to use headphones, but with no one around, it seems more fitting to simply let the music play out loud from the speaker. I sit on the still-sturdy trunk of the dead tree which gave this album its name, and my favorite album gains a new dimension. High on a desert plain, where the streets have no name, I've found what I'm looking for. Feeling unprepared at having nothing to place inside the suitcase, I pull out my business card - the only item I have on me that I can part with - and on the back I scribble the first thing that comes to mind: "3/1/2013: this is my favorite day."

Suddenly, as if a scene out of the wrong movie, a fighter jet buzzes by directly overhead in an occurrence that's so overwhelmingly improbable that my first instinct is to conclude that the desert isolation has me hallucinating. I take a picture of the jet in the sky, just so I can check later and see whether it's real or imagined. Fearing that I may have indeed been out here in the heat and dirt for an hour too long, I decide to head back - but not before taking a moment to ponder this plaque next to the tree.

When I get back to the car I notice that the mile marker sign on the side of the road is blank, as if to signify that this is where the streets literally have no name. On the chance that writing on a road sign with a pen is less than legal, I won't admit to being the one who did this.

That night at a small town motel an hour away, now fully hydrated and bereft of the sand in my shoes, I look back through the hundreds of photos I've taken. It occurs to me that Joshua Trees tend to live a couple hundred years, and this one died barely a decade after the U2 photo shoot. That means the band chose one of the oldest trees in the desert, one that was perhaps even older than the United States itself, without knowing it. The odds that this band would end up outliving this tree are remarkable. Now that I've stood where they've stood, sat on the tree that I've been staring at on the poster my entire life, the next time I see them on tour, the next time I hear them perform these songs centered on this tree and what it stands for, will be all the more ethereal.

I realize after the fact, only by looking through the photos, that a new still-budding Joshua Tree has sprung up several feet away. I must have been so mesmerized by the deteriorating tree I was looking for that I failed to notice another tree next to it, still standing. Then again, we see what we want to see.

My photos also reveal that the fighter jet was indeed real. Perhaps the pilot is also a fan and wanted a closer look. Or perhaps he was simply left wondering why a lone man was rummaging through a metal suitcase while sitting on a dead tree out in the middle of the desert. My card is now a part of that suitcase's treasure trove. Perhaps one day I'll hear from a future Joshua Tree visitor who stumbles across it.

Bush: Bono 'Became a Pal'

2013-04-27T05:52:21Z

By Dan Weil, Newsmax

When he was in the White House, George W. Bush and rock star Bono worked together to eradicate AIDS in Africa -- to the point that the U2 leader became the president's buddy, Bush tells Fox News.

"He was skeptical of me, and frankly I was skeptical of him," Bush said. "And we became pals because we shared a common desire to help others on the continent of Africa.

"Bono's the real deal," Bush added in an interview with his former press secretary Dana Perino.

Assessing his presidency, Bush said, "I know I gave it my all. I know I didn't sell my soul. I know we dealt with some pretty tough problems. . . . I know our White House was a joyful place."

]]> Bush also discussed a 2008 press conference in Iraq during which someone threw shoes at him, Politico reports. Bush ducked the missiles and carried on with the press conference.

"In order for democracy to function, there has to be a vibrant press," he said. "And in Iraq, when the guy threw the shoe, I wanted to do two things. One, I didn't want to leave, I didn't want to give him a slight victory . . . But I also wanted to say to the young Iraqi press corps, I want to answer your questions."

Bush said he follows current events closely. "I know what's in the news. But most of these opinion pages are pretty predictable," he said.

Mick Jagger to call Bono for Glastonbury advice

2013-04-05T20:25:52Z

SIR MICK JAGGER is planning to call U2 frontman BONO to ask his advice ahead of THE ROLLING STONES' headline performance at Glastonbury in June (13).

by Express.co.uk

The Irish rockers famously axed a slot at the legendary music event in 2010 after singer Bono sustained a serious back injury, but they returned to headline the following summer (11).

The Rolling Stones are following in the band's footsteps by playing their first ever slot at the festival this summer (13), and Jagger wants to talk to Bono about his experience there.

He tells the BBC, "'Don't do it!' might be his advice, but it's a bit late for that. It is quite a difficult gig. U2 had terrible weather and that didn't help. You have to learn from their experiences."

The Rolling Stones will complete a North American tour before taking to the stage at Glastonbury, but Jagger insists the veteran rockers will have some time off after wrapping the U.S. shows.

He adds, "You gotta pace yourself. We have enough time before we come back to England, so we'll be well recovered."

(Hear Mick Jagger talk about this on BBC.co.uk)

U2's Bono and Ryanair Michael O'Leary highlight errors in Ireland's property tax evaluations

2013-03-17T21:09:10Z

Are property taxes in Ireland favoring the rich?

By Paddy Clancy, Irish Voice Reporter

Bono and Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary could save thousands in a controversial tax based on how their homes have been valued on the Revenue Commissioners' new website.

Eyebrows have been raised by the new property tax, with homeowners expected to accurately assess what to pay the government based on the value of their houses.

The tax is assessed based on the value of a home. It is €90 if the property is worth under €100,000. The amount payable increases with every extra €50,000 the home is valued at. If it is worth more than €1 million the tax is €1,800 and for every extra €1 million the tax goes up another €2,500.

]]> The tax will be introduced in July, but this week the Revenue Commissioners have issued an online website to assist householders when making personal assessments of the tax due. That's why eyebrows have been raised.

U2 singer Bono's home at Vico Road, south Dublin, a detached house built before the year 2000, is among a group of homes priced on the site at between €550,000 and €600,000. That would mean Bono paying just €1,034 a year in the new tax.

But his mansion is estimated to be worth several million euro. It is estimated that the real value of Bono's house is about €2.5 million, putting the tax due at a minimum of €2,775 a year - two and a half times more than is assessed on the website.

O'Leary's country pile in Gigginstown, Co. Westmeath, is also reckoned to be grossly undervalued and would leave him liable to tax of only €157 for a full year.

Terraced homes in Howth, Co. Dublin, once a major attraction during the property boom, are still valued at between €300,001 and €350,000. But real estate agents maintain their true value is much less with one home in the area going for €130,000 earlier this year.,

Ronan Lyons, economist with Daft.ie, Ireland's number one property website, said the system is vague because it doesn't allow for the different sizes of homes.

He said the Revenue Commissioners didn't have all the key information for the assessment website like the numbers of rooms and the square meterage of a house. That meant a "relatively vague" value of the property appeared on the site.

He said, "That presents issues in Dublin and the rest of the country, where values are vastly different. In the case of a large, new detached property that is beside another and appears on paper to be the same, may be a much smaller property."

Revenue Commissioners have begun distributing tax forms to 1.8 million householders nationwide this week. Property owners who believe the revenue estimate is wrong will be able to appeal.

U2's Bono spreads positive message on fight to end world poverty at TED Talks

2013-03-05T06:54:20Z

Bono predicts that the number of people living on a dollar a day will be non-existent by 2030

By Amanda Driscoll, IrishCentral Intern

During the TED conference of 2005, U2 frontman Bono delivered the disturbing news that 11 million AIDS orphans and 6,500 Africans were dying every day from AIDS due simply to their lack of access to drugs that are available in the pharmacies that we take for granted. At that time, Bono asked people to actively take part in the fight against poverty rather than just donating to charity.

This year, at the Ted conference of global innovators, Bono delivered positive news on the fight against poverty, telling his audience that the number of people living in extreme poverty has steadily declined and that by 2030, no one in the world will be living on less than $1 a day.

]]> The Huffington Post reveals that Bono's figures on the decline of poverty show how soul-crushing poverty declined from 43% in 1990 to 33% in 2000 to 21% in 2010 and had further good news to share regarding the reduction of malaria deaths by 75% in the past 13 years.

But the rockstar urged those at the TED conference not to become complacent with such good news, saying: "We can't get this done until we accept that we can get this done. Inertia is how we screw this up. Momentum is how we bend the arc of history down towards zero."

Bono used a Wael Ghonim quote to conclude his speech, saying: "We're going to win because we don't understand politics. We're going to win because we don't play their dirty games. We're going to win because we don't have an agenda. We're going to win because the tears that comes from our eyes actually come from our hearts. We're going to win because we have dreams. We're going to win because we are willing to stand up for our dreams."

Before finishing his speech to a standing ovation, Bono reaffirmed Ghonim's quote to his audience:"He's right," Bono said, "We'll win if we work together as one, the people. The power of the people is so much stronger than the people in power."

U2 singer Bono lauds poverty decline at TED in Long Beach

2013-02-27T06:49:14Z

By Kelly Puente, Staff Writer

LONG BEACH - Global activist and U2 lead singer Bono took to the TED stage Tuesday with an inspiring message about the fight against poverty.

The rate of those living in extreme poverty - living on less than $1.25 a day - is rapidly declining as the world makes gains in technology, noted the Irish musician, who refers to himself as an activist and "factivist."

The number of those living in poverty has been cut in half in the past two decades, dropping from 43 percent in 1990 to 21 percent in 2010.

"Have you read anything, anywhere in the last week that is as remotely as important as that number? It's great news, and it drives me nuts most people don't know this," he said. "The rate is still too high and there's still work to do, but it's heart-stopping, mind-blowing stuff."

Bono is one of dozens of speakers scheduled this week at the annual TED conference at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. The sold-out invitation-only conference, whose name stands for technology, entertainment, design kicked off Monday and will run through Friday for its fifth and final year in Long Beach. The conference will move to Vancouver, Canada, next year.

]]> This year's event features several teenage inventors and entrepreneurs under the theme, "The Young. The Wise. The Undiscovered." Titles include "yo-yo master," "roboticist," "beatboxer and inventor" and "renegade gardener."

In addition to Bono, attendees will also see musician Peter Gabriel, Tesla Motors co-founder Elon Musk, and a teenage nuclear scientist who at 14 achieved nuclear fusion - with a reactor born in his garage.

TED, a nonprofit devoted to "ideas worth spreading," was started in 1984 as a conference to bring together creative minds. The event has since gained worldwide attention with speakers including Microsoft founder Bill Gates, former President Bill Clinton, primatologist Jane Goodall, former Vice President Al Gore and scientist Richard Dawkins.

The conference in 2009 moved from its home in Monterey to Long Beach, where it generates a local economic impact of about $1.1million each year, said Bob Maguglin, a spokesman for the Long Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau. TED, with about 1,400 attendees, isn't Long Beach's largest convention, but it does bring to the city a unique notoriety, Maguglin said.

"TED's impact on Long Beach was far greater than economic," he said. "While in Long Beach, the TED conference expanded its scope, garnering global attention to its mission and exposing its phenomenal speakers to millions of new viewers, elevating Long Beach's image as a convention destination."

Maguglin said the vacant 2015 TED dates have been filled by a medical association conference out of Maryland with 3,500 attendees and an estimated $2.7 million impact for the city.

At $7,500 per ticket, TED's high-price, invitation-only access has spurred spinoff events such as BIL, a quirky, "unconference" open to the public.

BIL 2013 kicks off in Downtown Long Beach next weekend.

Despite the exclusiveness, TED's popularity has expanded worldwide through its famous 18-minute talks available for free on its website. The TED website features nearly 1,500 talks with more added each week. In November, TED Talks surpassed one billion views.

Bono, whose nonprofit ONE raises awareness for extreme poverty, was the first winner of the TED prize in 2005 for his humanitarian efforts.

Taking off his trademark sunglasses Tuesday, the rocker-turned-factivist was excited to share some positive facts on the war against poverty. Since 2000, he noted, 8million AIDS patients have been receiving retro viral drugs, malaria deaths have been cut by 75 percent and child mortality rates have dropped by 2.65million deaths a day.

While the world has made progress, the progress is jeopardized by corrupt governments, Bono said, adding that everyone must play a part in the fight against corruption. Social media and new technology, he said, are key in the push for more transparency and openness.

"We'll win if we work together as one, the people," he said. "The power of the people is so much stronger than the people in power."

To watch Bono's and other TED Talks, visit www.ted.com.

Bruce Willis Buys U2 Bassist Adam Clayton's NYC Apartment (House of the Day)

2013-02-17T07:11:25Z

AOL Real Estate

We never imagined that Bruce Willis and U2 bassist Adam Clayton would ever have anything in common. But it turns out they do: this stunning co-op on Manhattan's exclusive Central Park West. The New York Post first reported that Willis was in contract to buy the home, but Zillow and other reports followed up, saying that it was originally listed by Clayton back in October for $8.695 million. Willis scored the three-bedroom, four-bathroom home for $8 million.

Best known for playing John McClane in the "Die Hard" movies, Willis is currently on theater screens in the fifth installment of the film series, "A Good Day to Die Hard." So we're guessing Willis took that big fat paycheck to splurge on the fabulous apartment. And fabulous it is: It's a pre-war "art deco gem," the listing said, with a gourmet kitchen (high-end appliances included, naturally) that has slate countertops and terrazzo floors. There are huge spaces, including a living room, formal dining room and gallery hallway. There's plenty of space: When Clayton owned it, the space was originally two separate units that he converted into one, according to Zillow.

]]> Willis' new place is in his old stomping grounds, as he used to live on Central Park West with ex-wife Demi Moore. But not to worry, he's still in his usual celebrity environment. This pad is in the famous El Dorado building, which has been home to U2 lead singer Bono and Alec Baldwin. Oh, how we are the company we keep. (If you missed out on this dream home, Madonna's Upper West Side apartment is still on the market -- and the price has come down!)

U2 Eyeing Multiple New Music Releases Starting in September

2013-01-18T05:45:27Z

Album working title is reportedly '10 Reasons to Exist'

by Marc Hogan and Kyle McGovern, Spin Magazine

U2's long-rumored new album has at least a tentative release date. The rockers hope to release "something" from the follow-up to 2009's No Line on the Horizon by September, drummer Larry Mullen Jr. told Irish broadcaster RTE.

"I'd say we will be finished by the summer -- and hopefully we will have something released by September," Mullen is quoted as saying on RTE's The Dave Fanning Show. "Hopefully what we will be able to do is release September this year and shortly afterwards, release again. That's what we want to do."

What's more, the Guardian has picked up a report in the usually dodgy Sun in which Bono reportedly says the new album is tentatively titled 10 Reasons to Exist. The band is "in fine fettle" and "really want to make a new record," he's quoted as saying. The Sun has been accused of fabrication by just about everyone, but when the Guardian picked up its report that Paul McCartney would be fronting a reunion of the surviving Nirvana members, that's what actually happened.

]]> U2's publicist didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Talk of U2's 13th studio album dates back to 2009, right around the release of No Line. Bono told Rolling Stone that he was planning "a sister release to No Line on the Horizon, a Zooropa to its Achtung Baby," that was supposed to see light within a year of Horizon. The singer confirmed a title (Songs of Ascent) and a first single ("Every Breaking Wave," which was dropped off No Line at the last minute), and said, "We're making a kind of heartbreaker, a meditative, reflective piece of work, but not indulgent."

As fansite @U2 points out, the Dublin foursome's U.K. label, Mercury Records, confirmed through a tweet last July that a new U2 album was scheduled for 2013. A month before that announcement, Bono appeared on an Irish late-night talk show and gushed about the band's recent recording time. "We've had the best three weeks in the studio since 1979," he said, adding that the group knew they had to do something significant for lucky number 13. "I think they [the other band members] are very aware that U2 have to do something very special to have a reason to exist right now."

That "something very special" might be a reference to U2's collaboration with Carl Falk, the co-songwriter of "What Makes You Beautiful" and "One Thing," by U.K. boy band One Direction. Falk told the Sun in April 2012, "There's a long way to go but we are doing something with U2."

Bono, the Edge, Mullen, and Adam Clayton have also been busy with a number of other album-length projects -- so much so that in 2010 the Guardian reported that U2 had a trio of unreleased albums, ranging in styles from traditional rock'n'roll to dance to the "meditative psalms" originally planned as Songs of Ascent. Bono admitted that despite being adventurous enough to try a "club-sounding" record, U2 hasn't really embraced digital culture. "We're not as 21st century as we think we are," he said. "We'd be putting out more new songs online, involving our audience in the choice, if we were really modern. [Instead] we're just sitting here arguing about them, except no one else knows about them."

Clayton, the band's bassist, spoke to Rolling Stone in June 2011 about the upcoming release, saying, "when the record is finished, we'll know what it is," in response to a question about U2's work with producer/Lady Gaga collaborator RedOne and the possibility of putting out Bono and the Edge's songs for the Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark musical as an LP. Clayton continued, saying, "The work we did with RedOne was very, very exciting. But again, I'm not sure it was the essence of what U2 is good at, and U2 is very elastic, we can do many different things, but I think we have to get down to the essence of the band." He added, "I think that's what people like about us, and we have to do what we do best and we have to focus on that, and the work we did with Danger Mouse came closest to that. And we're curious. We want to be in the clubs and make pop music as well as the thing U2 does, and we did that thing with RedOne, but in the end, it doesn't feel like the right fit." Clayton also said that the band made "great progress" with Danger Mouse back in January 2012. (The Guardian identified the Danger Mouse tracks as belonging to U2's "rock album.")

Bono mentioned the Danger Mouse sessions in a 2010 interview with the Age, confirming that they had 12 songs with the New York producer. He also said, "At the moment that looks like the album we will put out next because it's just happening so easily." The arena-friendly frontman went on to confirm that the clubby material also featured work from EDM superstar David Guetta and the Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am.

As for the Songs of Ascent, Bono said in an interview posted on the band's website in January 2012 (via @U2) that they haven't abandoned that project completely. "We're working on three albums at the moment and we haven't decided what order we're going to put them out but The Songs of Ascent have the kind of beautiful intimacy that we're speaking of now." That was a year ago, though.

All of this is to say that, at some point, there will be a new U2 album coming out and it might be titled 10 Reasons to Exist.

'Bono's eyesight is deteriorating,' says John Lennon's son

2013-01-09T21:01:13Z

Julian Lennon says the U2 singer's eye condition is worsening

NME

Julian Lennon, son of The Beatles' John Lennon, has revealed that Bono's eyesight is deteriorating.

The U2 frontman has admitted in the past that he requires his trademark sunglasses because he suffers from an eye condition which makes him over-sensitive to light, but now his friend Julian Lennon has confirmed the condition is worsening.

He told the Irish Daily Star: "Bono actually has a condition with his eyes. I don't know the exact issue but the brightness of the sun hurts them and it's a deteriorating issue."

However, Lennon admitted that he thinks the 'Where The Streets Have No Name' singer is lucky to suffer from a condition that can easily be made into a trademark style.

]]> "It's part of his image," he said. "In some senses it was lucky but not really of course. Maybe it's part of his process now and without the image he can't be Bono."

U2's Bono recently called Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' the "most perfect song in the world". The frontman made the claim in a new book by Alan Light, called The Holy Or The Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, And The Unlikely Ascent Of 'Hallelujah'.

Bono and U2's search for God

2013-01-04T04:44:04Z

The Washington Times,

WASHINGTON, January 1, 2013 -- Humans have praised God through many means throughout our history. Science has ventured tentatively into these waters, but God remains a mystery, and some would argue that this is the way that it is meant to be.

My views on this are well documented: I believe that science has a role to play in our spiritual development - as Jacob Bronkowski said, knowledge is our destiny, and science's raison d'etre is surely to obtain that knowledge. Science and Religion don't have to be in opposition, they are sides of the one coin, and ultimately, if we foster the advance of both of them, their description of that coin must converge.

But because it is the new year, and perhaps a time to eschew controversy in favor of community, let me talk about music. Except in the most puritanical religions, music has always been one way that we have agreed we could seek to commune with God, and share our experience of that seeking. Gospel and hymns are the traditional forms of praise, but pop music is also gathering its own rich tradition.

To the surprise of many, U2, arguably the world's most popular rock band, is not afraid to release songs which have a spiritual emphasis. They wear their Christianity on their sleeves if you know where to look.

]]> I have included some excerpts below from two of their earlier songs which are particularly clear in their message.

They touch on our need for God, and their popularity seems to suggest that they have a universal appeal, irrespective of your own particular religious belief.

Released in 1981, Gloria is one of U2's very first singles. Not to be confused with Thems' (with Van Morrison at the helm) ode to carnal love of the same name, U2's Gloria is a barely disguised hymn to God. Here is an excerpt from it:

"I try to sing this song

I, I try to stand up

But I can't find my feet

I try, I try to speak up

But only in you

I'm complete

Gloria, Gloria

Oh Lord, loosen my lips

I try to sing this song

I, I try to get in

But I can't find the door

The door is open

You're standing there

You let me in"

A superficial glance at the lyrics could confuse it with a love song. Perhaps Bono is simply singing to a girl named Gloria? Undoubtedly that meaning exists in the song, but the real meaning is revealed by the chorus "Gloria in te Domine / Gloria exultate" translates to "Glory in you, Lord / Glory, exalt" which is a reference to Psalm 30:2. The song also contains references to Colossians 2:9-10 ("Only in You I'm complete") and James 5:7-9 ("The door is open / You're standing there").

Similar feelings are expressed in the song 40, from their 1983 album, War. The song is called 40 after Psalm 40. Indeed the chorus is loosely based on the first two verses of Psalm 40:3, which reads "He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God..."

In it, Bono refers to an inability to "find my feet", to "stand up" or to "speak up", which is an acknowledgement of our fallen state and a cry for help to God:

"I waited patiently for the Lord

He inclined and heard my cry

He brought me up out of the pit

Out of the miry clay

I will sing, sing a new song

How long to sing this song?

He set my feet upon a rock

And made my footsteps firm

Many will see

Many will see and fear"

Again U2 are making it clear how important it is to defer to the Lord - it is only "He" that will bring humanity "up out of the pit" or out of the darkness, and out into the light. It is only in God that we can find a firm foundation in our lives.

The question of "How long to sing this song" is one we are probably all asking ourselves here at the beginning of the new year. Ever since Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden of Eden humanity has stumbled in the darkness, trying to one day find our way home; and it seems that the further we have come, the more lost we have become - and so it would be easy to lose heart.

Today humanity is facing greater challenges than it ever has in its history, and it can seem overwhelming. 'How long?' asks Bono. Who can truly say? All we can do is have faith, and just put one foot in front of the other for a bit longer - and if we do that we will yet come out the other side.

My only caveat is that with the strength of our faith we continue forward rather than retreat - though retreat might seem like the safer way to get home. Though going forward seems fraught with uncertainty and danger, it is only in going forward that as a species we will fulfill the potential that God has given us. As a community, as a people, as a species, let us not hide our light under a bushel.

Surely a wonderful future awaits us if we but hold the course - a beautiful day no less. Happy new year!

This article is the copyrighted property of the writer and Communities @ WashingtonTimes.com. Written permission must be obtained before reprint in online or print media. REPRINTING TWTC CONTENT WITHOUT PERMISSION AND/OR PAYMENT IS THEFT AND PUNISHABLE BY LAW.

Bono reveals title of next U2 album

2013-01-04T04:35:40Z

Review by John Balfe, entertainment.ie

It wasn't just busking on Grafton Street that Sir Bono kept himself busy with over the festive period - the U2 frontman also gave a rare radio interview to occasional cohort Amanda Brunker over Christmas.

During the interview, Bono told Brunker that plans for the next U2 album were already well underway. "They're mad for it at the moment and really want to make a new record", he said, speaking of his bandmates . "And they don't care if it takes 10 years, they just want to get it right."

"Within the band we've been calling it 10 Reasons To Exist but I will tell you we might have at least six of them."

The eventual album will be the band's thirteenth record and their first since 2009's No Line On The Horizon.

You can listen to the full interview here.

Bono busks again on Grafton Street Dublin, Christmas 2012

2012-12-28T04:33:51Z

Glen Hansard along for the song on a night of nights

It has become an annual ritual, the great Bono busk in Grafton Street on Christmas Eve. This year the U2 front man was accompanied by Glen Hansard of "Once" fame and singer Lisa Hannigan.

It looks like a few thousand revellers who had gathered all day to see the great man joined them and Grafton Street was a throng of happy faces.

Bono did not disappoint, belting out 'Desire' among others. The fans joined in and it was another Bono night to remember.

]]> Here's footage of Bono and Glen Hansard busking on Grafton Street:

New limited-edition U2 t-shirt launched to mark human rights day

2012-12-14T04:44:03Z

Hard Rock project will benefit Amnesty's human rights work

Amnesty International,

Hard Rock has launched a new limited-edition U2 t-shirt to mark international human rights day (10 December) and raise funds for Amnesty International.

U2 joins a legendary roster of rock icons - including The Who, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Jon Bon Jovi, Shakira, Ringo Starr and John Lennon - as part of Hard Rock's "Signature Series", which has helped to raise millions of dollars for charitable causes worldwide.

The "U2 Signature Series: Edition 30" t-shirt is being produced through a partnership between EDUN LIVE and Hard Rock, and will be available online and in Rock Shops at Hard Rock Cafe locations in London, New York and Dublin, with 15% of the retail price benefitting Amnesty. It will be available in Hard Rock Cafes, Hotels and Casinos worldwide from February 2013.

The U2 Signature Series t-shirt is printed on a navy blue EDUN Live t-shirt made from 100% African cotton (image available).

The shirt, which costs £20.45, features an image of an electric guitar with angel wings, emblazoned with the words "JUSTICE," "HUMANITY" and "EQUALITY." A barbed wire is seen wrapped around the neck of the guitar. The back of the t-shirt bears the signatures of each member of U2 - singer Bono, guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen, Jr.

U2's The Edge said:

"I hope this t-shirt generates loads of cash for Amnesty International and their tireless work towards the release of prisoners of conscience all around the world.

"Plus there's a guitar on it - so it's a win-win as far as I'm concerned."

Amnesty International Campaigns & Communications Director Thomas Schultz-Jagow said:

Buy the t-shirt at hardrock.com

]]> "We are thrilled that U2, Hard Rock and EDUN have generously offered to support Amnesty International in this high-profile way.

"We have a history of working with all three, and the combined power of us all coming together on this project will make a huge difference by raising awareness of our human rights work around the world."

Hard Rock International's Senior Director of Brand Philanthropy Annie Balliro said:

"We are proud to support Amnesty International and aid in the fight for human rights worldwide through the Signature Series programme.

"Hard Rock is honoured to have U2, legendary musicians and dedicated activists, join with us to raise funds and awareness for such an important organisation."

Bono talks at World Bank Headquarters

2012-11-17T22:37:43Z

As written in the Wall Street Journal's blog from November 14, "even Bono is worried about the fiscal cliff."

As taken from their website:

The lead singer of Irish band U2 says spending cuts that hit in January would devastate programs to help the world's poor, leading to more than 60,000 deaths.
"There's real jeopardy," Bono said Wednesday at a discussion at the World Bank with bank President Jim Yong Kim. "I'm still terrified of people wrestling the wheel of this mad lorry that they're driving off the cliff."

Sequestration -- a package of automatic spending cuts set in motion last year -- would slash funding for U.S. programs grouped in the federal budget as "international affairs" by 8.2%, or $4.7 billion, in the current fiscal year. Bono said that includes about $2 billion from anti-poverty programs, such as treatment for HIV/AIDS, on which he focuses at his anti-poverty advocacy group, ONE.

"We know there's going to be cuts," he said. "We understand that. But not cuts that cost lives."

You can watch the full 55 minute video of Bono above.

Bono's Beautiful Daughter Quietly Stuns In NYC Appearance

2012-10-26T20:51:44Z

By Wendy Geller, Stop The Presses!

U2 frontman Bono may be one of the world's highest-profile musicians, but you wouldn't know it from the low profile his family tends to take. Case in point: The rocker's 21-year-old daughter, Eve Hewson, who's been building an acting career in an understated, non-splashy fashion. Not too many people are familiar with Hewson's stunning looks--have you seen her before?

The beautiful blue-eyed brunette--the second-oldest of Bono and wife Ali Hewson's four children--stunned onlookers in New York at a screening of her new film, This Must Be The Place, which co-stars Sean Penn and Frances McDormand.

The movie competed at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and will go into limited release domestically on November 2. Hewson plays the teenaged Mary, a friend to Penn's portrayal of an aging Dublin rock star seeking revenge for his father's torment at the hands of a Nazi guard.

]]> The Irish-born Hewson, who lives in Brooklyn, made her feature-length acting debut in the 2008 drama The 27 Club. She also features prominently in Irish band the Script's music video "For The First Time."