drinkin' in the day

[mp3]
the tossers - drinkin' in the day

that is a tune written by bono and his good friend simon carmody. it was originally recorded by ronnie drew of the dubliners. the above version of it is performed by the tossers, a chicago-based band who play music in the tradition of the pogues. it's folksy with a punk edge. this tune is very cheeky. bono and simon's lyrics remind me of "the fly" as a a dirty old man:

deny your friends and family / to serve you must betray / break and enter heaven / steal but never save / squander every penny / empty every heart / travel every darkened road / never finish what you start / always talk to strangers / make love with whom you may / for god will find good company / for your drinking in the day......

lyrics : drinkin' in the day

buy : tossers music

did you know that if you do a google search for "bono + tossers" you find lots of hits for people who think bono is just such a flaming tosser? yeah, i guess you did know that. (nme readers : discussing bono).

according to the silly little gossip news today, apparently bob geldof's daughter is in the "bono is a tosser" camp, too. awesome. peaches geldof even supports a band called "bono must die." classy.

myspace : peaches geldof (meatball mania)

myspace : bono must die

thank you for the day

august 2008 beach clip update: click here

[mp3]
daniel lanois - thank you

this song was co-written with bono. this is an acoustic version that danny lanois played during a podcast associated with the wall to wall guitar festival in 2005. it features a sublime guitar intro. a demo version of this song has apparently re-appeared with bono on vocals and a piano accompaniment on beach clip # 3. (ooh, more creepy fabricated fan drama!) via u2eastlink.

thank you : lyrics

also :

look who's coming to town

i'm hanging out with my family this weekend. a tiny little leprechaun named little mr. big seamus mcgillicutty made my coffee this morning. he slept in my niece's pocket. now he's off surfing. his surfboard is a toothpick, by the way.

that's all.

peace

the end of creepiness

i'm totally never gonna post beach recordings again. ever. i swear. (not really). in the meantime :

read : heather's interview with pete yorn (!)

believe : the chris martin miracle napkin

the who : "we are not bono and the edge"

bono + rupert murdoch = one (?)
yer man is delivering a lecture about the "power of one" to the news corp. staff this weekend. that is beyond belief awesomely hysterical.

keane : answering mail (not mine)
there's no bono bashing in this one, but larry mullen gets a mention and keane singer tom chaplin also points out that oasis is "shite."

article : michael franti has balls
he went to iraq on his own and played war protest songs to u.s. troops. no visa, no permission from the government. he also says he "almost felt like" he sold out by touring with u2 in 1992 and that he thought u2's guitarist's name was ed.

the strokes : obstinate

august 2008 beach clip update: click here

*updated*

mystery solved: ryan from the strokes' management has (pretty accurately) deemed u2's beach stalkers "creepy" and revealed that the beach clip drama detailed below in this post is actually easily explained : albert from the strokes was at bono and edge's house last week and played them a recording of his solo stuff. beach clip #5 is albert, not u2. the end. - thanks wasp2020.

[youtube]
albert hammond, jr. - in transit

this is an unreleased song that featured in the strokes dvd in transit. it sounds an awful lot like u2 beach clip #5, doesn't it? hmmmmmm........

[mp3]
in transit (obstinate) - the strokes (albert hammond jr.)

a few theories :

1) u2 have gotten so bad at songwriting that they now have resorted to covering the strokes.
2) bono was playing the strokes from his terrace and the stalkers recording it mistakenly thought it was u2.
3) whoever put the beach clips together is a big giant faker who put a strokes song in the mix and tried to pass it off as u2.

final analysis : who cares. the good news for u2 is that they have stalkers, and really, that's all that matters, right?

related :

colin farrell has a stalker

colin farrell's stalker has a myspace page
you must go listen to the song she has posted. bitch is crazy.

alternate reality

back at work. oh, how i love it here. i love it so much that i am officially renaming work "vacation" and when i have days off, from now on i will call those days "work."

new kasabian single : i like it

letter from britain: nightmare prevails in africa

good writing advice : be tight

more u2 beach recordings

august 2008 beach clip update: click here

*updated*

audio : 18 minutes of new u2
very demo sounding and of stalkerazi recording quality, but two things stand out: the third clip starts with (presumably) bono on the piano (yes! watch out chris martin); and the fourth clip sounds classic-rockish and melodic, and has a bluesy guitar solo. according to @u2, the source of the recording was a fan on the beach in eze, who taped the songs when bono was with friends out on his terrace listening to the music.

i have been at the beach this past week, too, but all the excitement we had were some gigantic jellyfish. (which i did not stalk, by the way, because i respect the privacy of jellyfish. obvs...)

peace

**updated again**

thanks to dav for pointing out the unmistakable similarity between the alleged u2 beach clip #5 and a song on the strokes website (click on home videos, choose "construction at new office"). let the conspiracy theories begin.......

blah blah blah

ipods are more popular than beer?
(and u2 is still cool? huh?)

jockey lands a "zidane" on horse

still on vacation, out of the fog, (not really) looking for bono, back to work tomorrow.......

check out the freak(s)

nice shirt, thom

geldof is not popular. at all.
can that be true? bob sold 12 tickets (total) to a concert? and does bono vox really mean whiny, self righteous voice? i knew i should not have dropped latin.

enjoy your monday, suckers. i have the day off.

peace

or maybe it is just fog...

there is a veil of mist hanging over the ocean that just will not go away. tiny droplets of water condensed and clouding the appearance of reality. so yeah, i guess these songs suit my hazy happiness for the day :

[mp3]
get off - dandy warhols

[mp3]
springboard - saturna

[mp3]
red eyes and tears - black rebel motorcycle club

dandy warhols / saturna / b.r.m.c.

also :

article : united nation seeks stars
this article implies that tony blair's best post-pm role would be similar to bill clinton's : acting like bob geldof and bono.

youtube : dance bono!

pass the hot fudge cake

robert hilburn has a great piece online for the la times that covers his personal relationships with rock's greatest icons, including interesting details of encounters with joplin, presley, lennon, cash, bono and a few others.

article : backstage pass

here's the section about you know who:

Bono, a Man in Full

"In reviewing any act, but especially a new one, a critic is looking for specific qualities: originality, purpose, depth, craft — and the potential to make memorable music for years to come. U2 had all that when I first saw them at the old Country Club in Reseda early in 1981. The music spoke powerfully of youthful awakening at a time when many were losing faith in rock.

I interviewed Bono a few months later and found a remarkably focused and articulate 20-year-old. He had an innate curiosity about life, and that extended to Los Angeles and its culture. His one request was to go to an old-fashioned drive-in restaurant. And so we went to Bob's Big Boy in Toluca Lake, where he had two servings of the ice cream hot fudge cake.

A few years later, with U2's popularity soaring, I caught them at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. Influenced by Bruce Springsteen's emotional performances, Bono was looking for his own way of embracing the audience. Riding the energy of the crowd, at one point he raced to the balcony and jumped over the rail and into the arms of fans below. Two fans leaped from the balcony behind him.

That night I wrote in my review: "When you have music as purposeful as U2's, you don't need a sideshow, especially a potentially dangerous one." A few days later, Bono phoned to say the sideshow was going to stop — that the rest of the band was on his case too.

Over the years, we kept in touch. On the morning after "The Joshua Tree" won a Grammy, we had a late breakfast in a coffee shop just off Central Park in New York. He was excited, not just about the success of "The Joshua Tree" but also about all the things he wanted to do — screenplays, books, plays.

I loved his enthusiasm but worried that it might mean the end of U2. He had written a few great songs, but nothing that would leave a musical legacy as rich as Cole Porter's or Hank Williams'. The point was, I told him, he was just beginning.

Bono was quiet. So, I was surprised eight years later to read about him recounting the conversation in Bill Flanagan's book "U2: At the End of the World."

"That reprimand rattles around Bono's head," Flanagan wrote. "He is still wrestling with it."

Things had changed when I interviewed Bono last year. It was at the Chateau Marmont a few days after the start of the band's world tour, and the subject was Bono's crusade to combat Third World poverty.

As he talked, I thought about how the singer had been ridiculed in the '80s for his spiritual and idealistic views. By the end of the '90s, when the band's popularity was secure, Bono began meeting with world leaders, encouraging them to tackle poverty issues. It wasn't a role he wanted, he told me, but one he felt compelled to follow.

"Look," he said with a smile, "I'm tired of Bono too, and I'm Bono."

On the way back to the office, I thought about how much he had grown and how much I admired him. I also realized there was nothing more I could tell him."

wake up, freaks

[mp3]
arcade fire - wake up

that's the sound of happy u2 fans.

new u2 tour dates.

unless my pro surfing career takes off in the next few months, my chances of an expense paid trip to any of u2's remaining destinations seem remote at best. but, still, i have faith. you see, i watched blue crush. twice!

for a less sexy, alternative option : a friendly tipster let us know that the ever-so-cool book u2 show is now a bargain book at b&n. check it out here. is it a substitute for actual flesh of u2? no. but it covers u2's live history in such depth that even the freakiest of freaks will learn new things. plus, it is a lot cheaper than a trip to australia.

things i read today :

article : follow the thread
analyzing the pros, cons and challenges of the fair trade movement.

article : mild mannered won't cut it
superman's a nice guy, but really, what's he doing for the world? "superman could simultaneously cradle a small child, smile patronisingly at a frantic parent and hold himself separate to hideous chaos all around him. but now we have bono for that...."

playing (on the playground): razorlight

i have been listening to the new self-titled razorlight album trying to figure out how in the world q magazine gave it 5 stars. that's 5 out of 5! huh? i like the little punky diddly doo guitars and the whole libertine-esque vibe, but that is criz-azy. 5 out of 10? maybe.

still, i am enjoying it. the most interesting part is that chris thomas produced it. you know chris thomas (wikipedia: chris thomas), the guy who was working with u2 to produce their last album until u2 drove him crazy with their need to overproduce every sound they emit. ever. they split amicably. the new razorlight album has been described as having a stripped down sound, but in reality there is a lot of polish on it. as a band, they are more rock 'n' roll than say, the killers or franz ferdinand, but they are not rawk rock by a long shot. there is plenty of sonic magic on the tracks, and there are some mini-epic sonic build-ups that some reviewers have compared to baby u2. it's a pretty vague resemblance, though, in my opinion.

however, the song america did pass my requisite "4-year old niece test" as she was able to echo the "oh oh oh, ohh!" aspect of its chorus on the first try. over the phone, no less. obviously we are talking about music for true (playground) elitists.

visit : razorlight / download : razorlight

things i looked at today :

nbc blog: clinton and gates in africa

sondre lerche at barnes & noble last night

steve nash feels zidane's pain

bono disagrees with bush!
oh, damn, wrong bono....

peace

new u2 music in eze?

august 2008 beach clip update: click here

there is a 16-second video clip up on youtube that was supposedly taken recently outside of bono and edge's house in the south of france. it has some music in the background. is this a new u2 song? is the band playing this? is it playing from the house's soundsystem? is this for real? and most importantly, do you think any of these stalkers got their head stuck between those bars in bono's windows?

you tube : u2 music in eze

via u2achtung.

bono made me do it: chopper

listening to that little mp3 of bono's radio appearance (replete with baby-having tips) on the mystery train a few days ago reminded me of a story bono told back in 2001 about the movie chopper, in which he claimed he and his wife watched that pretty harsh and sometimes gory movie in order to speed up her labor process. (there's a brief tidbit on that @ salon.com).

this leads me to the vague and not embarrassing at all memory of the fact that i went and rented chopper a few years ago because, well, bono made me do it. i have a really bad memory, so this is all you are getting:

1) eric bana is in chopper.
2) eric bana is sort of hot in some other movies, sometimes.
3) eric bana is not hot in this movie. at all.
4) eric bana's ear is cut off quite graphically in this movie.
5) it's the true story of some australian criminal guy.
6) i didn't like it.

that's it.

about 5.6 million of my brain cells are filled with flash memories of absurdly crappy things like this that i have read, watched or listened to because of that little bastard bono. that's (my) life.

anyway, not really related, but sort of : why do you blog?

good news for bono.....

brad pitt launches mission to become most annoying celebrity

u2, leonard cohen: tower of song

the new version of u2 and leonard cohen performing tower of song was played on air during the u2 marathon on wbwc last week. this version is ripped from that broadcast:

[mp3]
tower of song - leonard cohen / u2

[buy it on itunes]:
tower of song - u2, leonard cohen

it stays very true to cohen's original, with that burned down calypso feel and the groovy backing vocals. (don't edge and bono sound pretty?) as the backing band, u2 infuses the song with some (very restrained) muscle in the rhythm section, and some lyrical, yet minimalist slide guitar touches from the edge. the one verse that bono sings (3:20 into the song) arrives in stark contrast to cohen's tough gravel. bono sounds quite vulnerable, like a tiny, hungover little boy next to leonard. which, come to think of it...oh never mind.

go listen to more leonard cohen, including his original version of tower of song @ the fabulist.

buy the i'm your man soundtrack



by the way, i saw the movie : it's not that great.

peace

that name needs a copyright

edge : raw superstar
ha! (sorry).

justin timberlake : sugar and spice
this guardian review of justin's concert in london last week had an interesting tidbit about a new song he played : "there's a distinctly U2-shaped middle-eight at the heart of 'love stoned', a strong tune that mentions having a 'limo ass' (an ass that sits well in a limo, we presume, rather than a bum like a big car)."

syd survived : rock died
this times article points out that syd barrett was a freak, that coldplay and keane exist solely to bore us all into submission, and that u2 is vacuous. (photographic evidence suggests sexy may be a more accurate description than vacuous, but whatever.....)

i am at work today. doesn't that suck? ass? don't you wish i was at the beach instead? i do!

short, sweet and amusing

go here and listen to bono's phone call to the mystery train yesterday. short, sweet and amusing.

also :

article : africa beyond aid and bono

go here for the new killers single (full song)
it is not good. at all. bruce springsteen called, he wants you to stop name-dropping him, brandon.

peace

blowin' in the wind

there was a frickin' tornado in the town next to me last night. wicked!!

randomness :

coldplay is a band with chest hair.

zidane's headbutt inspires summer song.

soldier kills self while listening to the cranberries.

man loves u2, woman doesn't = true love

acoustic thom yorke : download the clock @ culture bully and cymbal rush @ myself, myself. wow, those songs sound better acoustic. i like guitars more than i like machines.

u2 world cup videos : stream

one - final highlights

where the streets have no name - pre-game highlights

oh, oh, oh, oh and, um, oh : wbwc.com is having a u2-marathon all day today. go listen online. now!

later peeps

beauty's beat

[mp3]
u2 - the ground beneath her feet (live)
acoustic version, bono and edge on the tfi friday show in 2000



lyrics : the ground beneath her feet
those are salman rushdie's words.

the edge/bono acoustic version of that song is beauteous. i may even have posted it before. who knows. i don't keep track of these things. that screen capture above is from the video for the song. i am a fan of that mouth.

i realized yesterday that today is the one-year anniversary of when i started this silly blog. i have posted some very random things and tried not to write too much about my job or people in my personal life, mostly so i don't get fired or go straight to hell. (i totally want the purgatory, baby!)

i have no clue why you people come visit me, but i'm glad you do.

peace

oh my eighties

so i bought the august issue of q magazine yesterday because there is an article in there on u2 and the making of the joshua tree. it's not really very revealing. at all. did you know bono used to dress like a cowboy? (like, a whole outfit, not just the hat). big news people. big news.

in scoopier news, the magazine also comes with an "80s covered" cd of 15 exclusive recordings from a random bunch of artists that some people think are cool. here's a few i liked:

[mp3]
catherine feeny - i'm on fire
bruce springsteen cover

[mp3]
placebo - running up that hill
kate bush cover

[mp3]
boy kill boy - it's different for girls
joe jackson cover

[mp3]
kelley stoltz - heaven up here
echo & the bunnymen cover

[mp3]
the futureheads - let's dance
david bowie cover

[mp3]
cord - spirits in the material world
police cover

also :

stereogum has an audio clip of the new killers single, and it indeed sounds like the killers pretending to be bruce and u2. pretending is the key word.

i also bought the nme yesterday because i like wasting money. brandon flowers and the other guys (who are they?) in the killers are on the cover. brandon is dressed like, guess what? a cowboy!! and mr. flowers has a few words to share about bono, including this:

"i'm still waiting on the 'bono talk.' i don't think we're getting it. he's scared to give it to us! could you imagine how good we'd be if we had it? it wouldn't be fair."

that is so awesomely amusing.

but what do they think of the haircut?

ny post : far-lefties see red over bono
(archived abstract)

**alternate link** - sf gate blog
(with an interesting comment section)

yeah, that's me, i won

blogger's world cup pool : final standings

81 points : scatter o' light
80 points : extrawack!
78 points : rock 'n' roll star
74 points : letter never sent / total positive
73 points : let's kiss and make up
71 points : simon metz / i am fuel, you are friends
70 points : the view from yoorp
67 points : [abridged]
65 points : analog giant
62 points : false 45th
54 points : spit up and shut down
53 points : veritas lux mea
49 points : spinachdip nyc
37 points : palms out sounds

um, okay, so i came in first place in the blogger's pool that i put together. which is a bit awkward if i do say so myself. some may wonder if i was able to fix my own pool. the answer is "no." if i was smart enough to arrange scandalous gambling schemes, then i would probably be italian and not irish.

i do have to come clean about the help i received from my 4-year old genius niece. she didn't actually make all of my picks, and in the end, she did start getting a few wrong. but if you want to take her to vegas with you, she is available for rent. you'll need to pay my way as well.

did anyone notice that b.f. from extrawack blew up like zizzou near the end of this tourney and almost jumped to the top spot? he also helped me pull the blogger's pool together with his music and soccer loving connections. thanks, bro! so if you are in the tri-state area anytime soon, the cool mofos in the new shades from smith and electric will be myself and mr. extrawack.

finally, i have to say that the band that espn used for its highlight clips was pretty hot, in an old man kind of way. i think if they give that singer a haircut, that band might be going places.....(although, probably not venezuela. ruh-roh, bono.)

articles :

zidane's always known how to bring the pain

after victory, reality bites for italy

it's official : tom chaplin is psycho

i thought i was over keane. really i did. but then i read this:

article : pop quiz - tom chaplin

maybe i have sunstroke from laying out on the beach all day, but i could swear that article says that keane singer tom chaplin feels his band is ripping off jimi hendrix and not u2. he couldn't have actually said that, could he? has he ever heard his band? dear god, son! that is priceless, yo.

go here to listen to tracks from keane's new album. listen very hard and try to spot the bad-ass jimi hendrix influence. be patient, though. because it may take you a long time to spot the hendrix vibe. like....forever!

don't fear, though, our keane boy still wants to kill bono. except this time he has an excuse: "yeah, yeah. it's weird. bono's such a huge figure. it is a strange sensation. i'm sure i wouldn't be the only person who felt that way. i think it's because he's quite small."

what the hell is this dude talking bout? as if killing small people is such a natural thing to want to do. like, "oh my, there's a small guy. everyone, let's kill him!"

psycho

dream it all up again

u2 live at the point depot, dublin, 12-30-89

god part 2 [mp3]
all i want is you [mp3]
one tree hill [mp3]
she's a mystery to me [mp3]
angel of harlem [mp3]
love rescue me [mp3]
with or without you [mp3]

just a few songs from an excellent, soundboard recording of this show, which was the third of a four-night dublin stand around new year's in 1989. the december 31, 1989 show is available on itunes as part of the complete u2 set, but it was this show from the night before that included bono's famous "dream it all up again" line during the beginning of love rescue me :

"i was explaining to people the other night, but i might've got it a bit wrong - this is just the end of something for u2. and that's why we're playing these concerts - and we're throwing a party for ourselves and you. it's no big deal, it's just, we have to go away, and just dream it all up again."

at the time, a lot of people thought that meant the band was breaking up. but few could have envisioned what it really meant - this guy turning into that guy, among other things.......

for a sweet snapshot of how the "dream" evolved, you can grab mp3s from an awesome 1993 zoo tv concert in dublin from merz : part 1 here / part 2 here.

also :

yahoo : bono has a question for you

article : have bob and bono changed the world?

one-named wonder (and sting)

pic : sting & bono in st. tropez

not another red card....

bono has eyes! (thanks to arden for the reminder.)

bono's playing the fool monte.
bono, pamela anderson & sting? hmmm.......fact or fiction?

related : pamela anderson at the clarence hotel

(red)

* world cup : blogger's paradise *

*update* - two matches to go, and the blogger's pool is likely to come down to the final match. i have no clue who to pick in the final. france looked a bit shaky against portugal, especially in the back line, but they seem to be on a roll. italy? france? italy? france?

an annoying awesome friend of mine who hates soccer always kids me during the games by asking, "hey is that guy the pele of that team?" he knows i'm just gonna snap back, "no, there's only one pele."

so during the france-portugal semifinal, he goes, "hey is zidane the pele of france?" and i said, "of course not."

zinedine zidane is the edge of france :



seriously, zizzou is the most beautiful athlete to watch. he makes brilliance out of simplicity and is the most selfless of superstars. i love how he makes one perfect touch when every other player would need to make at least two or three.

i wonder if he can play the guitar.

76 points : scatter o' light
73 points : rock 'n' roll star
70 points : the view from yoorp
66 points : extrawack! / simon metz
65 points : analog giant / total positive
62 points : i am fuel, you are friends / false 45th
60 points : letter never sent
59 points : let's kiss and make up
54 points : spit up and shut down
53 points : [abridged]
49 points : spinachdip nyc
48 points : veritas lux mea
37 points : palms out sounds

articles :

les bleus ride momentum to finals

ronaldo likely to escape critics
interesting how the english press has laid the blame for england's failings on portugal's swan-diving diva cristiano ronaldo. as if he's the one who kicked a guy in the nuts. classy brits.

blame rooney, not ronaldo

during the tourney, we were fascinated by : the announcers' hatred of beckham, the hotness of italy's men, the rampant red-carding, the fact that spain is france's perpetual b*tch, and on and on....

of course, my 4-year old niece megan has been making all my picks for me. she picked italy and france to get to the finals, and is already picking out which shades she wants if we win.....

reminder : first place prize is a pair of brand new sunglasses from smith or electric.

i'm laughing at clouds

busy, busy, back to work today. it was pouring so hard in nyc this morning that my pants are soaked from knee to foot despite the fact that i had an umbrella. yeah, oh poor me and all that. i know.

i'm working on an excuse to give the boss for why i will disappear for a few hours this afternoon. "france vs. portugal, bitch!" might not be my best excuse.

in the meantime, here's a whole bunch of randomness:

are you sick of celebrity activists? blame the media, not the stars, says geldof.

enough rope : andrew denton interviews chris martin
australian tv dude andrew denton is well-known for getting people to reveal lots of interesting things about themselves. he didn't have to work too hard with "foot-in-mouth" martin. i like the part where chris compares his support of fair trade to beyonce's support of loreal. oh, and how he makes fun of fat people and little kids. classy! (nice haircut, too.)



related : bono interviewed by andrew denton

recommended :

heather's pearl jam/tom petty concert recap, including video and fan-girl commentary.

merz has a bunch of ramones covers, including u2 doing beat on the brat.

article : a nation weeps
boys are not supposed to cry. but this morning's german papers are full of grown-up men showing their emotions following germany's dramatic 2-0 defeat last night by italy.

it better not be the corrs.......

from the "smoking section" in the current issue of rolling stone (via interference):

"You didn't hear it from us, but book a trip ASAP for the Aloha State in early December for a year-end blowout featuring KOL (Kings of Leon), Pearl Jam and (most likely) a Certain Band from Ireland"

related : pearl jam tour dates / u2 tour postponement / rescheduling non-announcement #1 /rescheduling non-announcement #2

where did i hide my credit card sugar daddy?

baby shark symbolism

this morning i was walking on the beach and a baby shark was swimming in the water. a teenage dude came up and speared it with a stick from the beach. i told him "if i ever was stranded alone on a desert island, i'd want you there, too." and he goes "but then you wouldn't be alone, would you?"

yeah, so that was a bit weird. i started to jog away (all cool, like), but i was drinking a coffee, so i spilled a little. and i think i pulled my calf muscle.

and that poor baby shark definitely died, too. yep, there is symbolism there. somewhere.

[mp3]
plug in baby - muse (live 2006)
paris, la musicale, june 9, 2006

[mp3]
stockholm syndrome - muse (live 2006)
paris, la musicale, june 9, 2006

get the entire paris set, including 4 new tracks @ muse-download.

and for a very cool mofo, who is celebrating a birthday, i have to post this video (below). i think maybe all that england soccer man crying screwed up her head, because apparently ms. honey is contemplating letting muse overtake u2 as her favorite band. i want to say, "what the fuck? get a grip." but i'll just post this instead:

video - pop music/mofo, mexico city, 1997:

i'm your man : not that great

i dragged an unsuspecting, documentary-loving fool to the film forum last week to see i'm your man, a film paying tribute to leonard cohen. i'm totally interested in leonard cohen, i swear. i love indie flicks. and of course, me seeing this film had nothing everything to do with the fact that bono, edge, larry and adam are in it.

movie trailer : i'm your man

article : u2 pay tribute to the original rapper

leonard cohen is a fascinating man. (wikipedia : leonard cohen). a jewish boy, studied as a buddhist monk, was of the beats, but not actually part of the beat generation. religion, sex, poetry - his writing is without par. but don't expect to really learn that or get a full appreciation of that from this movie.

for the most part, it is a performance film, with other musicians covering cohen in a live concert and then speaking about his impact in spliced in interviews. (u2 appear in a separate, very not-live performance at the end of the film. bono and edge wax poetic about leonard throughout.)

rufus wainwright does three covers, all of which are awesome. his interviews are off-the-cuff and very witty. nick cave is also stellar. but for the most part, this is just a collection of performances from random people not named leonard. it's almost like - who cares? there's just not enough leonard in this movie.

of course, from my very scattered perspective, i recommend this film to u2 fans. because while there might not be enough leonard, there is a generous portion of bono and edge. if and when you see this film, try to do so in the theater or on a ginormous big screen television.

why?



seriously, imagine seeing that on a very big movie screen. it may just be enough to cause a person to exhale way too loudly in a very quiet movie theater. um, hello bono's mouth. i'll leave it at that.

there is also a golden moment where edge goes off on a tangent explaining the origins of monasticism. i love the nerd factor that u2 brings to the table.

the film climaxes with a leonard cohen/u2 performance of tower of song. edge takes this song somewhere special. for real. just simple notes, but he makes it his own. we need the full mp3 of this! it is not a duet, really, bono and edge sing back-up and bono does sing one verse (you can hear it if you watch the above movie trailer.)

unfortunately, this final scene is completely ruined by the fact that leonard cohen can not lip synch. seriously, bono looks more convincing playing the synth during this song than poor leonard does singing. (bono, i love the nick rhodes moves. nice job!)

enjoy the sunshine