News: February 2006 Archives

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February 25, 2006

Bono Rocks Brazil's Carnival

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Thousands of Brazilians took a break from samba to rock with U2 frontman Bono during Carnival celebrations in the northeastern city of Salvador.

Bono performed an impromptu duet of "Vertigo" with Brazilian popular singer Ivete Sangalo as Carnival got underway in Salvador on Thursday, a day earlier than in Rio de Janeiro.

While the highlight of Brazil's carnival celebrations is Rio's annual samba parade on Sunday and Monday nights, many people prefer Salvador's carnival, where giant sound trucks with bands on top jam the city's streets night and day.

The U2 singer is attending Salvador's Carnival as a guest of Culture Minister and pop star Gilberto Gil. The O Globo newspaper reported Friday that music producer Quincy Jones was also attending Carnival as a guest of Gil.

Bono sang the duet from Gil's private box that faces the avenue as Sangalo and her band performed from atop a sound truck.

U2 played two sold-out concerts in Sao Paulo's Morumbi soccer stadium Monday and Tuesday nights.

Bono is among 191 nominees, including politicians and peacemakers, for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. The Irish singer was proposed for his fight against world poverty.

Bob Geldof, former leader of the Irish punk group the Boomtown Rats, is also among the nominees. Geldof was nominated for organizing last year's Live 8 benefit concerts.

Posted by Jonathan at 03:06 PM | Comments (13)

February 16, 2006

U2 back in Mexico after bodyguard beating

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Irish rockers U2 played to 90,000 Mexican fans at one of the world's most famous football stadiums on Wednesday on their first tour here since a rumpus eight years ago over the beating of one of their bodyguards.

With a red, green and white Mexican flag wrapped around his leather jacket, lead singer Bono greeted an ecstatic crowd in Spanish before kicking off the concert with the group's single "City of Blinding Lights."

Like fans across the world, Mexicans held up cell phones to share the concert with friends and relatives.

Thousands of people had lined up outside the capital Mexico City's Azteca Stadium, the only venue to have hosted the football World Cup final twice, before the concert.

U2's last tour of Mexico, in 1998, ended badly when a security guard working with the band was beaten in an scuffle with the entourage of the son of then-President Ernesto Zedillo. The bodyguard ended up in the hospital.

"I don't know if they're here for the money or if they have forgiven us but the most important thing is that they are here. It doesn't matter why," said Fernando Sanchez, 40, outside the stadium.

While Zedillo met the band in his residence and reportedly apologised, and although U2 frontman Bono says he held no grudge against the country, Mexico was noticeably absent from the band's North American tour in 2001.

The Azteca holds some 100,000 people for football games but its capacity has been cut to around 70,000 for the U2 gigs.

A much-criticised investigation into the death in Mexico of a friend of lead singer Bono, British singer Kirsty MacColl, added to speculation that U2 deliberately snubbed the country.

In 2000, MacColl was swimming off Mexico's coast when she was struck and killed by a boat belonging to a Mexican supermarket magnate.

An employee of the boat's owner was given a prison sentence, commuted to a fine, for manslaughter but MacColl's relatives want the businessman to be prosecuted.

At U2's weekend concert in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, Bono dedicated the song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" to MacColl, prompting President Vicente Fox's spokesman to say that the government was following the case.

Despite the long stage absence, Bono is a frequent visitor to Mexico and has described its beach resorts as his "refuge."

He is friends with Mexican actor Jaime Camil -- who appears in a 2005 film about a desperate attempt to bring U2 to play Mexico -- and with actress Salma Hayek, who participates in Bono's "One" campaign against global poverty and AIDS.

Hayek and Bono were photographed arm-in-arm outside the band's Mexico City hotel on Monday.

Posted by Jonathan at 04:07 AM | Comments (9)

February 09, 2006

U2 Plus Five Is No. 1

Top Noms Kanye West, Mariah Carey Carry Home Three Trophies Each

By J. Freedom du Lac, Washington Post Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 8

Neither time nor Time magazine covers can slow down U2. The Irish rock band with the crusading lead singer has defied the odds by releasing relevant albums for a quarter-century. Wednesday night the music industry saluted the band accordingly by awarding U2 with the album of the year Grammy for the soulful song cycle "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb."

The quartet won five Grammys in all -- its biggest-ever jackpot -- including best song ("Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own") and best rock album. Noting that there might be some concern his head would swell after all the honors, Bono, U2's notoriously self-assured singer, said: "It's too late!"

But better "Late" than never? Not quite. The acclaimed rapper Kanye West was denied a bid for the music industry's top honor for the second consecutive year as his superlative "Late Registration" met the same fate as 2004's "College Dropout." Nominated for eight awards, West was shut out in the major categories, including record and song of the year, for "Gold Digger." But he still took home three statuettes: best rap solo performance ("Gold Digger"), best rap song ("Diamonds From Sierra Leone") and best rap album ("Late Registration").

Mariah Carey, also nominated in eight categories, was unable to add an exclamation point to her comeback story, as she also lost out in the major categories. Carey, who last (and first) won a Grammy in 1990, still bagged three awards, for female R&B vocal ("We Belong Together"), R&B song (ditto) and contemporary R&B album ("The Emancipation of Mimi"). But none was presented during the 3 1/2 hour telecast, so we never did get to hear her crow about her comeback.

Green Day's ode to loneliness, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," won record of the year, besting "We Belong Together" and West's heavily favored "Gold Digger." Thus, one of the Grammys' most perplexing streaks was kept alive: No hip-hop single has ever won record of the year.

Throwback soul singer John Legend, who tied West and Carey with eight nominations, won for best R&B album ("Get Lifted") and male R&B performance ("Ordinary People"). He was also named best new artist, which isn't the kiss of death it used to be. (It should make for interesting banter between Legend and his friend and collaborator West, who somehow lost the best-new-artist award last year to Maroon 5.) U2's honors didn't stop with the four band members: Steve Lillywhite won for non-classical producer of the year for his work on "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" as well as on the Jason Mraz album "Mr. A-Z."

The focus during the no-host telecast on CBS was squarely on the music, as the scripted jokes were few and far between. There was this, though: To bring out Paul McCartney, Ellen DeGeneres said: "Our next performer needs no introduction." Period. She then walked off the stage and let McCartney be, for a performance of "Fine Line" and, interestingly, perhaps the noisiest of Beatles songs, "Helter Skelter."

McCartney, who'd never before played on the Grammys, reappeared later for an awkward "mash-up" with hip-hop star Jay-Z and rap-rockers Linkin Park. They threw "Yesterday" into the ill-conceived mix, and there's no question that McCartney is wondering today how he'd gotten himself into that mess.

Madonna, looking yoga-fit in a blue leotard, briefly performed a video duet with the animated dance-rock band Gorillaz before taking over the stage to play the delightful clubland hit "Hung Up."

Carey gave a relatively measured reading of "We Belong Together" before turning her multi-octave weaponry loose on the gospel song "Fly Like a Bird" with Hezekiah Walker. Sugarland's "Something More" literally offered something more: Control-room chatter bled into the live broadcast, marring the country-folk trio's otherwise sparkling performance. After an impassioned "Vertigo," U2 teamed with Mary J. Blige on "One." Unfortunately, the pitch-impaired soul singer sucked the air out of the soaring song.

The most interesting performance came courtesy of West, who was assigned the task of making the ubiquitous "Gold Digger" sound fresh. He recast the insanely catchy song as . . . a marching-band halftime special! West and his sidekick, Jamie Foxx (who channels Ray Charles in singing the "Gold Digger" hook), dressed as drum majors for the high-octane performance. The outspoken West, who has been known to give network censors the vapors, introduced it all by saying: "Start the five-second delay now."

One of the biggest headlines of the night had nothing to do with an award. It was the return of Sly Stone, the reclusive funk-rock icon who hadn't performed since 1987 and hadn't been seen in a major public setting since his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

Following an all-star tribute to his band of nearly four decades ago, Sly & the Family Stone, the J.D. Salinger of pop shuffled onto the stage sporting a dyed-white mohawk and wraparound Dior sunglasses, a metallic silver overcoat draped over his back.

Looking tentative and frail, and wearing a cast on his hand, Stone stood hunched over a keyboard during a freewheeling version of "I Wanna Take You Higher." He played a little, sang less, raised his hand to acknowledge the crowd -- and then disappeared before the song was over. Will we ever see him again?

Fittingly, the segment was introduced by comedian Dave Chappelle, who knows a thing or two about dropping off the radar. "The only thing harder than leaving show business is coming back," Chappelle said.

Another major shocker: In an interview backstage, West came on all humble about having lost album of the year. "It's all good. Because U2, those are my boys right there," said West, dapper as always in a lavender Yves Saint-Laurent suit and white leather gloves. "U2 deserves it."

West added that he'd return to the studio to make an album that the Recording Academy couldn't deny. "It gives me another goal, to go back and work on 'Graduation,' to show them I really deserve album of the year."

It was a big night for longstanding academy favorites like R&B great Stevie Wonder, who took home two awards (R&B duo with vocal and male pop vocal), giving him 24 in his lifetime. Only Quincy Jones (27) and the late classical conductor Sir Georg Solti (31) amassed more Grammys in their trophy cases.

McCartney, however, gleaned no gold for his night's work. His three nominations all drew blanks.

Bluegrass star Alison Krauss won three statuettes with her band, Union Station: best country album, country performance by a duo or group with vocal and country instrumental. Krauss has won a total of 20 Grammys, making her the all-time female leader. (Aretha Franklin, whose reading of "A House Is Not a Home" won for best traditional R&B vocal tonight, now has 17.) No doubt endearing herself to the show's producers, Krauss also delivered one of the shortest acceptance speeches of the night: It took her less than 30 seconds to say "Hi" to he folks back home, and then thanks. Krauss was similarly stingy with her words backstage, where she was asked what makes her such a big Grammy favorite. "I don't know," she said. "I'm not going to ask questions."

Kelly Clarkson didn't, either. Or maybe she did, but we just missed it: The first "American Idol" winner said so much, and so much of it was . . . indecipherable. Upon accepting the award for best female pop vocal for "Since U Been Gone," Clarkson cried, talked and squeaked, sometimes all at once.

When Clarkson was called back to the stage later to accept the award for best pop vocal album ("Breakaway"), she didn't cry. But she may have set a Grammy record for most words spit out during a single acceptance speech. "I don't know what's going on, but thank you Jesus and God and everybody that's supported me," she said before motormouthing her way through a dizzying riff on . . . well, who knows? We just couldn't keep up.

We did, however, ask her later whether she'd intentionally left "American Idol" off her thank-you list. The show's snarky judge, Simon Cowell, recently said some unflattering things about Clarkson. But she said there was no slight intended. "I forgot to thank my dad, the rest of my family! But I did thank the fans, and that's 'American Idol.' "

As is often the case, politics was in the air at the awards show. But not all of the soapboxy statements came from the usual suspects.

The usually mild-mannered composer Burt Bacharach, for instance, took aim at the Bush administration in an interview after his politically inspired "At This Time" won for best pop instrumental album.

With his two preteen children standing by his side, Bacharach said: "I've never seen times like we've got right now. I'm really upset. This is the future I'm leaving behind for these kids, and I'm concerned. I think we've really made a mess of it. If the president had just gotten up and said, 'I made a mistake. I take full blame for it. There are no weapons of mass destruction; our information was wrong. Bear with me and we'll get through this together.' But to be stonewalled -- " Bacharach shook his head. "I never like to be lied to by a girlfriend or an agent. And certainly not the president of the United States."

During the telecast, Bruce Springsteen performed a chilling version of his acoustic ballad "Devils & Dust" and then referenced the American troops, saying: "Bring 'em home."

More than 1,000 individuals were nominated in 108 categories, but only a handful got any serious airtime. Just 11 awards were presented during the telecast from the Staples Center. The rest were handed out during a swift-moving ceremony at the Convention Center next door -- 97 awards in less than 2 1/2 hours.

The awards America forgot, or at least didn't get to see, included best Hawaiian music album (for the compilation "Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Vol. 1"), historical album ("The Complete Library of Congress Recordings by Alan Lomax"), spoken-word album (Sen. Barack Obama's "Dreams From My Father"), long-form music video (Martin Scorsese's superlative Bob Dylan documentary "No Direction Home"), New Age album ("Silver Solstice," by the Paul Winter Consort), gospel performance (CeCe Winans's "Pray") and Tejano album (Little Joe y La Familia's "Chicanisimo"). There was also, of course, the polka album award, which went to "Shake, Rattle and Polka!" by Jimmy Sturr and his Orchestra. No surprise there: Sturr pretty much owns the category, with 15 wins over the past 20 years.

The early awards segment included some entertaining, even priceless, moments that didn't make the telecast. When Dianne Reeves was announced as winner of the jazz vocal album award for her work on the "Good Night, and Good Luck" soundtrack, presenter Giselle Fernandez waited a beat and then said, "We will accept . . ." before Reeves, who was rushing to the stage, shouted, "NO YOU WON'T!!"

Posted by Jonathan at 12:56 AM | Comments (0)

February 03, 2006

The Edge and U2 Offer Aid to New Orleans

By SOLVEJ SCHOU, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES - With a long-held affection for New Orleans, a city he calls "very unique and very special," U2 rocker The Edge felt compelled to try to help it recover from Hurricane Katrina. The result: Music Rising, an organization that provides instruments to musicians blasted by the storm.

The city especially took hold of his heart in 2001 after he and the band, while playing there, suffered a tragedy back home. A storage area in Dublin where they kept a lot of instruments was wiped out in a flood.

"Luckily," he recalls, "my main guitars were with us in New Orleans ... the Gibson Explorer that I've had since I was 17-years-old, and the amplifier I've used on every album for every show since we got a record deal."

Four years later, after Katrina blew through New Orleans, the memory of that good fortune led him to create Music Rising, along with Gibson Guitar, the Guitar Center Music Education Foundation and the MusicCares Foundation.

For The Edge, aka David Evans, that relief work topped off a packed year of touring, family trauma and five Grammy nominations for U2's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb." The Grammys will be handed out Wednesday.

The normally soft-spoken guitarist, 44, grows passionate when he talks about Katrina's impact and his efforts to help with Music Rising.

"When I heard about the hurricane, the devastation of the city and the area, I pretty soon started thinking about the musicians, started to think about the cultural loss, not just to New Orleans, not just to America, but really to the world," he told the Associated Press.

Does that mean he's planning to follow band-mate Bono's worldwide activist footsteps?

Not likely, he responds.

"Bono is kind of a one-off character in music. His skills as a communicator are amazing, and his powers of persuasion are equally amazing," he said, smiling. "I would never think of trying to take on quite that level of commitment."

True, but New Orleans' mark on the modest musician - known for his humility as well as his thunderous melodies - runs deep.

In the early '90s, a visit with Bono to a small New Orleans club had an unexpected impact.

"We walked in and the place was jumping. There was this little funk band, but they were all playing brass instruments, which is something I'd never heard of or seen before," he recalled.

There, the pair saw a 12-year-old trombone player named Trombone Shorty.

"We were just mesmerized by him," The Edge said. "I ended up with Bono, after a few tequilas, and we ended up dancing with a bunch of girls on the top of the bar. It was one of those sort of nights."

The birthplace of jazz, and a major influence on rock and roll, New Orleans captivated his attention, he said.

He returned last November and found a different, less fun-loving city - one torn apart by natural disaster and a lack of aid.

"Going through the streets of New Orleans and seeing the homes of musicians I knew and respected, seeing Fats Domino's home completely destroyed ... It does bring it home in a very personal way," he said.

At a recent Music Rising event in Hollywood, the native Irishman showed up in his customary beanie, black leather jacket, jeans and sneakers, and chatted easily with some New Orleans transplants.

Affable and humble, he even asked for their e-mail addresses and talked about music "gear" - more a regular Joe than guitarist for one of the biggest bands in the world.

U2, its long history including 11 studio albums and 16 Grammy wins, rocked the music world last year with its "Vertigo 2005" tour, and was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

As for its 2006 Grammy nominations - including Album of the Year and Song of the Year for Bono's emotional ode, "Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own" - The Edge said he has no expectations.

"Being in the country the whole year, I almost felt like people would have been sick of us by now, that the last band they would want to see is U2."

"I would be surprised if we won everything we were nominated for," he said, adding that "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" was "a very strong record, I think maybe our strongest ever in terms of the overall range of the album."

But the middle-aged musician acknowledged that newer Album of the Year nominees such as Gwen Stefani and Kanye West - whose albums he likes - may have an advantage.

"I think in some ways people will go for something new, that's just arrived, me included," he said, a glint in his eye.

The band plans to start working on new songs after returning from an upcoming tour in South America, he said.

And watch out Rolling Stones: U2 won't stop touring any time soon.

"We grew up on the road ... It's such an integral part of what we are. I don't think we could give up touring. I don't think we could do what the Beatles did, just pack it in."

Posted by Jonathan at 03:05 AM | Comments (4)

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