i don't think so

friday drive


not really related: fabulously wealthy u2 bass player dude's driving video

also: edge apparently "chatting" in new q mag

it might get loud (more)

it might get loud website now has some more info and images.


"IT MIGHT GET LOUD isn't like any other rock'n roll documentary. Filmed through the eyes of three virtuosos from three different generations, audiences get up close and personal, discovering how a furniture upholsterer from Detroit, a studio musician and painter from London and a seventeen-year-old Dublin schoolboy, each used the electric guitar to develop their unique sound and rise to the pantheon of superstar. Rare discussions are provoked as we travel with Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White to influential locations of their pasts. Born from the experience is intimate access to the creative genesis of each legend, such as Link Wray's "Rumble's" searing impression upon Jimmy Page, who surprises audiences with an impromptu air guitar performance. But that's only the beginning.

While each guitarist describes his own musical rebellion, a rock'n roll summit is being arranged. Set on an empty soundstage, the musicians come together, crank up the amps and play. They also share their influences, swap stories, and teach each other songs. During the summit Page's double-neck guitar, The Edge's array of effects pedals and White's new mic, custom built into his guitar, go live. The musical journey is joined by visual grandeur too. We see the stone halls of Headley Grange where "Stairway to Heaven" was composed, visit a haunting Tennessee farmhouse where Jack White writes a song on-camera, and eavesdrop inside the dimly lit Dublin studio where The Edge lays down initial guitar tracks for U2's forthcoming single. The images, like the stories, will linger in the mind long after the reverb fades.

IT MIGHT GET LOUD might not affect how you play guitar, but it will change how you listen. The film is directed by An Inconvenient Truth's Davis Guggenheim, and produced by Thomas Tull, Lesley Chilcott and Peter Afterman."

ps ~ davis guggenheim also made this obama video.

photo (Alba Tull, Steel Curtain Pictures)

itmightgetloud.com

spain ?! (help)

i'm going to spain at the end of september, staying a few days into october, about 7 or 8 days total. will be in madrid for a work related thing for a few days.

guess who else will be in madrid (super-awesome coincidentally)?



not sure what else to do during this trip. i have already checked out two spain travel books from the library and am slightly overwhelmed with options. which is good. i have probably 4 days / 3 nights extra to side trip out of madrid. this is with me assuming those other 3-4 days work related in madrid really don't involve too much work, heh, and allow for me to actually do the madrid scene adequately enough that i might want to go somewhere else, too.

so if i leave madrid - go where? barcelona? fly? train? go to dublin instead? (hee. not really even kidding. at all.)

anyone with tips?! advice? access to bono's daily planner and social calendar? please comment or email me. gracias.

[mp3] arms of love - r.e.m.
robyn hitchcock cover, from the man on the moon single

[mp3] munich - r.e.m.
editors cover. editors are opening for r.e.m. right now, but not in madrid, unfortunately.

tell me lies later

photo: bono at madonna concert in nice, aug. 26

please: note that his hair is back to being super short.

also: kanye west's democratic convention-related concert wednesday night in denver is co-sponsored by the ONE campaign and the RIAA. bono is NOT expected to be in denver. variety says a ONE campaign bus will travel from denver to st. paul for the republican convention the following week. ONE is sponsoring a daughtry concert at the RNC.

and: arctic monkeys to record new tracks with josh homme. this is awesome.

clearly: the cribs > modest mouse.

finally ...

radiohead: tell me why mp3 + video

no, reaally, reaally finally ... peep this:



i need to own that poster. IMMEDIATELY!

be patient, dear (goldcure Q&A)

i've been filled up with sin
i let it in
nice and slowly

[mp3] too long - goldcure
[mp3] make it stop - goldcure

two tunes from goldcure's new album, portuguese prince.



goldcure is adam buhrman, craig haskell (pictured above), gavin inverso and john allison. the band is based in austin, texas, and they cite their musical influences as U2, the beatles, bob dylan, ryan adams, prince, radiohead, the stones, wilco, the beach boys and neil finn. but there are other things behind hooks or tunes or influences or portuguese princes that interest me about these guys.

we sort of randomly did a little Q&A and it was heavier than i expected and so i am grateful to the boys in goldcure (and their producer stephen doster) for being so kind and sharing their inner thoughts...

Before Goldcure, Adam and Craig were in the band Lillylock Timber and put out an album titled "Don't Apologize" in honor of Craig's late brother. Can you tell me a little bit more about that and what types of lyrical themes that record was exploring?
Craig: The theme of "Don't Apologize" is forgiveness. The lyrics are my response to a letter that my brother Brian left me the morning of his death. His hand penned apology also included Mark Knopflers' written words in "Brothers In Arms". The song begins "These mist covered mountains are home now for me, but my home is the lowlands and always will be" Knopfler later writes, "Now the sun's gone to hell and the moons riding high so let me bid you farewell, every man has to die".

Brian had always been the motivator behind my music. In his letter, he tells me to "Be pure" and to "Turn your emotional scars into inspiration". These two requests I can not claim to have fulfilled, and for that I now apologize to him.

In the months following Brian's death I released what I was able lyrically as my emotions remained numb and poor as an outlet. "Don't Apologize, just close, close your eyes" became the chorus of a song spoken directly to Brian. I open the song stating "I don't need a problem to feel I've got something to solve". This to me paraphrases the search that Brian and I had been on together. A search that admitted life's unknowns in and of themselves are all of our problems. Goldcure is a band of individuals still on that search. Our intention is not to claim we have found them but to be defined by our refusal and inability to stop looking.

Where did the band name "Goldcure" come from? What does it mean?
Gavin: The word Goldcure came from a doctor in the early 1900s working with opiate and alcohol addictions. He found a so called “cure all” remedy which was coined the “gold cure.” Though he found much success in treating his patients, the cure was later found to be a placebo. The people were actually healing themselves.

I read elsewhere online that “Craig allowed Adam's brother Steve to expose his heart in the pages of 'Finding God at Momo's Music Club,' a paper Steve submitted toward his Master of Theology from University of Oxford.” This really fascinates me. Can you tell me any more about this?
Adam: It's an interesting paper. My brother Steve decided to move to Austin for the summer to do research for a couple specific papers he needed to write. He saw this place with so much creative energy, and such a deep culture, especially in music and the arts, and he decided it would be the perfect environment for him to write and talk to people in "the scene." This move really directed him to write the paper that you mentioned. Part of his research involved interviewing some of the significant local indie musicians, particularly the ones finding most of their creative outlet at the music club, Momo's. Steve started an ongoing conversation that has potential for even greater things to come out of it. It involves music and art, life and justice, Martin Luther King and history. Steve interviewed many different musicians, and Craig's turned out to be a very significant interview that many people seemed to relate to.

Here's a link to Steve's paper if you want to check it out:
Finding God in Momo's Music Scene: Theological Conversation and the Prospect of Authentic, Transformative Community in Post-Christian Society

Okay, so getting to the new album -- I have read descriptions such as “anthemic” and “polished” in describing you guys and your sound. Some people see those as dirty words. You don’t seem to. Why?
Adam: I guess I can understand why someone would say the album was polished, but I would be a little worried that they missed the point. One of the reoccurring themes that surfaces on Portuguese Prince is identity. It's about trying to be free in a world with so much uncertainty.

"Anthemic," on the other hand, is a word that has so many important connotations. They involve people coming together in an energized way. Anthems represent the voice of the people; they unify, and at their best they can actually provide the necessary fuel for positive movement, whether it be some kind of personal thing, or a social justice thing, or whatever. I mean almost every person I meet has these important songs that they've discovered that help frame their life, and they carry these songs with them wherever they go. I would call that a sort of personal anthem. I think that is beautiful and powerful.

As far as Goldcure goes I don't think we set out to write "your next personal anthem." We are only trying to write the best music we can, and put something out there that is worth being put out there. We recognize that at times one of our characteristics can be "anthemic" and we never saw that as something to remedy.

As far as being polished I will defer to our producer, Stephen Doster.

Stephen: I will say this, Goldcure was very well prepared and well rehearsed before we went in the studio. A lot of thought was put into the song selection and the arrangements. I would like people to know that Portuguese Prince was recorded and mixed entirely on analog tape without any digital cutting and pasting whatsoever anywhere on the record. That's not to say there were no overdubs, but we based the production on performance. For instance there is not twenty different guitar solos, there is one—the drums were performed live. It was recorded on twenty four track two-inch tape.


Who are some of your current favorite bands?
Band: M. Ward, My Morning Jacket, Dr. Dog and David Bowie

Who was the first artist that you truly loved as a kid and why?
Adam: In kindergarten I convinced my entire class that Michael Jackson was my father. That soon came to an end when my teacher called my real parents in to expose my fantasies.

What is your definition of a perfect live concert experience?
Adam: The music and the crowd create this massive energy like you're on a rocket ship holding on for dear life.
Craig: Yeah, that sounds right.

Can you tell me a secret?
Adam: Some of our members have been known to wear a bit of women's clothing.



goldcure on myspace

hotness

redux

american prayer - dave stewart (barack obama video)

previous post about bono, dave stewart and american prayer is here.

the video that dave put together in support of obama is now online:



more info is here.

chris martin sings in japanese (plus alicia keys plays piano for coldplay)

[mp3] only one flower in the world - coldplay
smap cover. this is a minute-long live version of a song by japanese "idol" group SMAP. it's from tokyo, japan, august 10, 2008, at summer sonic. basically just chris at the piano singing in japanese.

also - video of alicia keys + coldplay performing clocks at summer sonic:



related: roadie #42, blog #22


previously: alicia keys + hottest man on planet*


* planet ca-ra-zy

they (almost) have the font right

this is at a kroger store in cincinnati, ohio. the store has four self-serve checkouts that are labeled U1, U2, U3 and U4. thanks to christy for emailing that pic in. she says, "i’m not sure what the U stands for, but I always seem to go to the U2 one!"

crizazy talk

ONE's new ad "Voices" features Matt Damon with different Americans' voices - among them Michelle Obama, Cindy McCain and Mayor Bloomberg.

it might get loud

updates: press conference video with jack, jimmy and edge / movie premiere + reviews / more details

it might get loud: edge, jimmy page, jack white documentary debuting at toronto film festival in september.

Directed by Davis Guggenheim, 'It Might Get Loud' tells the stories of the three guitarists and their journeys as they developed how they played the electric guitar to create their own trademark style.

The movie focuses on a single day when the trio met and discuss with one another the stories of their history, what motivates and inspires them to write and play their instrument.

New music from each musician is played throughout the documentary, and feature scenes in London, Nashville and Dublin.


u2 unconcerned about really crappy audio leak that uninformed media and immensely stupid fans seem to be interested in

Hot Press understands that there’s absolutely no concern in the U2 camp over four tracks from the band’s new album which leaked onto YouTube over the weekend.

Indeed, there is some surprise that the story has been afforded such a high level of exposure, given that the ‘recordings’ were of such poor – or rather non-existent – quality.

The culprit is believed to be a Dutch fan, who heard the songs – supposedly titled ‘Moment Of Surrender’, ‘For Your Love’, ‘Sexy Boots’ and ‘No Line On The Horizon’ – blaring out of Bono’s French Riviera retreat in Eze-sur-Mere and recorded them with his mobile phone.

“Even by bootleg standards, the audio quality is really, really bad,” an insider tells Hot Press. “You really couldn’t hear anything – it was like something that was playing four or five rooms away being recorded. It really is a bit of a non-event.”

Following copyright violation complaints from U2’s record company, Universal, the tracks were taken down by YouTube who’ve subsequently launched an investigation into the matter.

Universal’s prompt response is, however, an indication of just how jealously any information on the album is being guarded. With Radiohead’s In Rainbows album – which was officially available to download for however little fans wanted to pay – having suffered 2.3 million illegal downloads, there is clearly a lot at stake for both the band and the record company.

As for the song titles, Edge has already spoken about a track ‘Get On Your Boots’, not ‘Sexy Boots’ – though the title might have changed in the meantime. Similarly, Bono has played ‘No Line On The Horizon’ a few months ago – but whether or not that will be the title of the album remains uncertain.

video: glen campbell covers all i want is you

u2: the hype and the feedback
may, 2009 conference in nyc will explore the music, work and influence of u2.

pssst, photo guy, turn around and take a picture of bono's shoes, please

bono and queen rania of jordan outside the bruni family estate, where they had lunch with french president nicolas sarkozy and his wife, carla bruni-sarkozy, in cavaliere, france, on monday.

dreaming of dreaming

[mp3] dreaming of dreaming - secret machines
new "non-album b-side" from the secret machines. [myspace]

related: remember the walrus?

u2 beach clips: now fick the fack off

a lot of googler/people are landing on this old post (and this and this one), looking for the new version of these. u2! sexy boots! mp3! eze! download! beach clips! don't be ridiculous. i am warning you it's not worth your while. but if you must, just go here.

xo

ps - surf is way up at our beach today. later, yo ...

i will haunt you like a ghost

[mp3] broadripple is burning - margot & the nuclear so and so's
daytrotter session version. the part of me that loves the overdramatic enunciating slow drive alt countryin style can't get enough of this version of this song.

if my woman was a fire
she'd burn out before i wake
and be replaced by pounds of whiskey
cigarettes and outer space
then somebody moves
and everything you thought you had has gone to shit
we've got a lot
don't ever forget that

this song is haunting me. (not literally). buy the daytrotter sessions ep by margot & the nuclear so and so's on itunes. download more free tracks from their daytrotter session here. another mp3 and a cool q&a with them is here. and their myspace is here. apostrophe included.

white house dj battle

from blender.com: a poll of obama and mccain for their top 10 songs.

BARACK OBAMA
1. Ready or Not Fugees
2. What's Going On Marvin Gaye
3. I'm On Fire Bruce Spingsteen
4. Gimme Shelter Rolling Stones
5. Sinnerman Nina Simone
6. Touch the Sky Kanye West
7. You'd Be So Easy to Love Frank Sinatra
8. Think Aretha Franklin
9. City of Blinding Lights U2
10. Yes We Can will.i.am

JOHN McCAIN
1. Dancing Queen ABBA
2. Blue Bayou Roy Orbison
3. Take a Chance On Me ABBA
4. If We MakeIt Through December Merle Haggard
5. As Time Goes By Dooley Wilson
6. Good Vibrations The Beach Boys
7. What A Wonderful World Louis Armstrong
8. I've Got You Under My Skin Frank Sinatra
9. Sweet Caroline Neil Diamond
10. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes The Platters

ab fab: guess the swimmer

you can play on nbc.com



[mp3] ruby isle - night shot
[mp3] ruby isle - hey hey hey (that kid's okay)
from the album night shot [myspace]. this is music to look at abs to.

who knows who

as swimming records fall, value is questioned
seriously, enough with yer cheater swimsuits already! and that stupid fast pool. or something.

listen:

muse + the streets

franz ferdinand: lucid dreams

and:

sexy boots? really?

new boots: potentially as awesome as the historic haircut of april, 2006

(click)

oh aay aay

there's a new in-studio vid on u2.com. best sounding one yet.

not it:



also:

coldplay on npr "is spinal tap prog?"

kings of leon: sex on fire

and:

[mp3] soft targets - something else
textured bitterpopsweetness. "every day it's something else." this song takes off in the second half. [myspace]

being here

[mp3] being here - the stills
new single from the upcoming album oceans will rise [buy].

"Wet matches don't light, which is terrible news when it don't stop raining. Oh well. We'll make it." - say the stills

"i wish i was home and not here in salt lake city, but i am happy you are in ny." - says me

and ps - "i did not cause this. or this."

the edge birthday song

reprise

spiralling

keane is offering up a free mp3 download of a new song from their upcoming album. the song is disco-poppy and is called spiralling. the album will be called perfect symmetry.

get the new keane song here.

previously: tom chaplin is psycho
(comment there by rachel is bono's favorite. EVER.)


also: the monster made it on the colbert report.



and: the monster might be a pig

totally unrelated photos: the bonos / edge, too

last night eddie vedder made me cry

and, for real, people, what more can you ask than that?

this guy's got some photos.

united palace theater. small enough to appreciate being in it to see someone so ... huge. but big enough to fit lots of idiots, even if eddie did (wishful thinkingly) say early on "sounds like we left all the assholes in boston!"

just how many people "fuckin love you, eddie"? quite a few. it does always lead to some hysterical mumbling asides from the vedder. such as "i'd say i love you, too, but it's dark in here and i can't see who i would be addressing and i don't want to make any of my other boyfriends mad."

i can't believe that "no more" was the song that made me cry. i mean, really? this song has always been one of those "isn't that a nice thought" tunes and all, but, i don't know, something about hearing the song's verses live really got to me. (lyrics)

No more innocents dying
No more terror rising
No more eulogizing
No more evangelizing
No more presidents lying

it's also the personal story. and just, the knowing.

anyway, the concert was fun and heavy and all that. the into the wild songs are actually worth taking out on tour. and i am not the level of pearl jam fan that i need some crazy rarities played to appreciate it. whatever he played, i was into. arc with all those echoes and emotions. it's not normal. porch is so great acoustic and let my love open the door was definitely the show stopper. and i do appreciate that vedder covers a random james taylor deep cut like millworker.

this is the setlist and what the "cool" kids (heh) thought.

party in eze

via

(thanks ss)

strange overtones

david byrne and brian eno are offering up a free mp3 download of their funky, cool new song "strange overtones". click here to get it.



their new album everything that happens will happen today is out soon. eno did the music, byrne did the lyrics, vocals.

they are also going on tour.

oh, bono

(LINKS were alive then dead on the RS site, but all links are now working again, so this comment must be real)

exclusive: bono remembers u2's boy

a wordy* and apparently real (?) comment on rollingstone.com.

*

me = biting tongue. not bono's. sadly.

coldplay does their best depeche mode (video)

a cover video.

says coldplay, "this is our attempt at a video cover version. made out of love for depeche mode and the genius of anton corbijn."


viva la vida (official cover) video:




they are "covering" a version of depeche mode's 1990 enjoy the silence video, by anton corbijn



back when coldplay was scheduled to shoot their version, chris martin had said, "We're trying an experiment with [Anton]. It could be a disaster, but it could be OK."

i wonder whose idea this was.

sidenote: if you have never watched the dvd the work of anton corbijn, you need to buy, steal or netflix that shizz. like, IMMEDIATELY. seriously.

[mp3]
depeche mode - enjoy the silence (live)
from the touring the angel: live in milan dvd/cd (info)

[mp3]
coldplay - viva la vida (helix eternal mix)
helix eternal myspace is here

more of the whatever this is

new u2 in studio vid: the bono, the lanois and the bells

and:

making capitalism more creative (by bill gates)
"To take a real-world example, a few years ago I was sitting in a bar with Bono, and frankly, I thought he was a little nuts....

brian eno & david byrne let us know everything that happens will happen today

u2 goes drm free on rhapsody store / u2 to go drm free around the world

edge: get cracking

also:

[mp3] silver wind - the upside down
from the upcoming album human destination. these guys are all deep voice breathy and synthy/guitary. i appreciate the way they describe themselves on their blog: THE UPSIDEDOWN is Psychedelic Rock & Roll band from Portland Oregon. We tour around in our van Steve (or SteveVan if you prefer) and melt people's faces. People really seem to like that. We like seeing them liking it.

finally:

this article frightens me
in a nation in which 66% of the voting-age population is overweight and 32% is obese, could senator barack obama's skinniness be a liability?

click

placeholder

(credit: not sure who took this, but thanks for doing so)