The delayed Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark Broadway show featuring music by U2’s Bono and the Edge will have to find a new Mary Jane. Producers have confirmed that Evan Rachel Wood, the actress originally cast in the role of Peter Parker’s love interest, has left the musical, Variety reports. Wood exited the production due to a “scheduling conflict”; financial troubles pushed Turn Off the Dark’s opening well beyond its original February 25th preview premiere date. Variety writes that Spider-Man will likely begin its preview run in late summer and open around Halloween, though those dates remain unconfirmed by the show’s production team.

“She’s the greatest actor of her generation, she’s the one to watch,” Bono said of Wood after her casting was announced. “She happens to sing like a bird, it’s like a true voice. She’s a very pure spirit and a very bright mind and she brings the part of MJ to life, really.”

As Rolling Stone previously reported, a “cash flow problem” temporarily shut down production on Spider-Man in August, just two months after it was revealed that Wood, who previously worked with Turn Off the Dark director Julie Taymor in Across the Universe, would play Mary Jane and Alan Cumming had been cast as the musical’s villain, the Green Goblin. Singer Reeve Carney of the band Carney was later added to play Peter Parker, or Spider-Man without the mask on, in the show.

The budget for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has reportedly grown to about $50 million dollars, making it one of the most expensive shows in Broadway history. The official Spider-Man on Broadway site hasn’t been updated yet to reflect Wood’s departure. Fans who previously bought tickets to Spider-Man’s received refunds after the show was delayed.

- RollingSt

Bono’s rosary beads and Larry’s Bible in U2 auction

Fancy owning a piece of U2? Well, fans of Bono and the boys can scoop a number of unique items in an online auction expected to raise £36,000.

Whether it’s a pair of used shoes, backstage passes or candid Polaroid shots of the rock legends, fans can get their hands on all things U2.

But the items, auctioned on the New York website gottahave-rockandroll.com, come with a hefty price tag.

Former U2 stylist Lola Cashman has put the 16-item collection up for auction in the US, including Bono’s rosary beads and a Bible belonging to Larry Mullen for the combined price of £6,300.

Cashman was previously involved in a high-profile court case dubbed Stetsongate, for selling items belonging to the rock legends she had collected while joining them on their Joshua Tree tour from 1987 onwards. After losing her appeal against a judge’s decision that the items were not hers to sell, she is now auctioning off band items that were personally inscribed to her.

All the items up for grabs hail from the band’s early days, with the rosary beads expected to make up to £3,500.

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/music/bonorsquos-rosary-beads-and-larryrsquos-bible-in-u2-auction-14709148.html#ixzz0hcxMu2f2

U2 delighted Scottish singer Amy MacDonald when they revealed they were big fans and asked to meet her recently.

U2 send fan letters to their favourite singers.

The ‘One’ hitmakers delighted Scottish star Amy MacDonald when they sent her a hand-written request for a meeting at a recent awards ceremony.

Speaking ahead of her performance for the Absolute Radio sessions at London’s Hard Rock Cafe, Amy told BANG Showbiz: “I met U2, they sent me a letter to my dressing room, we were doing an awards ceremony. It said, ‘To Amy, come and say hello to your fan club’ and was signed by all of U2! I was like ‘Wow’.

“I’ve still got the letter, I had it framed.”

Despite enjoying every minute of the encounter, the ‘Don’t Tell Me That It’s Over’ singer admits she couldn’t wait to say goodbye to the rockers – because she wanted to tell her loved ones all about it.

She added: “I was there in the dressing room, Bono was pouring me a glass of wine and we were having a conversation abut my videos – they knew all my music, I couldn’t believe it.

“I couldn’t wait to get out of there so I could tell everyone – I was like, ‘Yeah, alright, can I get out of here now and go phone my mum?’ ”

Listen to Amy’s Hard Rock Cafe performance on Geoff Lloyd’s Hometime show on Absolute Radio today (08.03.10).

- ContactMusic

“Of the dozens of art world events happening as part of Armory Arts Week in New York right now, one of the most buzzed about was last night’s New Museum’s opening of a controversial show that features highlights from the personal collection of Greek billionaire Dakis Joannou, curated by artist Jeff Koons.”

…

U2’s the Edge, in his telltale black beanie and a plaid shirt, seemed to offer the most distraction from the artwork for star-struck onlookers. “He’s still so cute after all these years!” said one young female gallery wanderer, within earshot of the musician. Standing near a tall rock-like sculpture by artist Dan Colen, decorated with graffiti-style writing and wads of chewed gum, the Edge, who’s real name is David Evans, told us that he was impressed by the size of Jaonnou’s collection. “It’s incredible to see it all in one exhibition,” he said. Though he wouldn’t call himself a major collector of art, Evans told us he does own works by Jean Michel Basquiat and Damien Hirst, whom he calls a friend.

Read the complete story at The Wall Street Journal

U2 Pop

U2 are a profoundly polarizing band. They are simultaneously easy to love (they make wonderfully glorious rock anthems, put on ridiculously great concerts and have been consistently good for 30 years) and extremely difficult to love (they’re constantly experimenting and circling back, and Bono’s politics sometimes eclipse everything else about the band).

Musically speaking, the band was probably at its most polarizing on this day in 1997, when they released Pop. After dropping the watershed album Achtung Baby in the beginning of the ’90s and embarking on a game-changing worldwide stadium tour, the group spent the next few years experimenting with just about everything. The odd, electronic Zooropa set the table (as did the truly odd Original Soundtracks, the album credited to the Passengers that was actually just a U2 record), but Pop was an entirely different reality for the group. With dance music making a bid to take over the airwaves and influencing rock artists left and right (even the Rolling Stones were sampling), U2 decided to go all the way with Pop.

The album’s first single, “Discotheque,” set the tone. It was essentially a club song based around a thumping disco beat that featured shimmery guitars and keyboards and nary a mention of a blue collar uprising. Instead, the group decided to party. Was it ironic? Perhaps. Probably. Actually, nobody was entirely sure. The rest of the album stretched even deeper into the dance music abyss (especially the house-influenced “Mofo” and the beat-mining “Miami”).

Pop became one of the most-debated albums of 1997 and holds an odd place in the band’s history (as in, they tend not to bring it up). Still, there were tremendous songs lurking under all that electronic slop — like the effervescent “Staring at the Sun.”

- Kyle Anderson MTV

There is arguably no place more central to Ireland’s capital than the River Liffey, snaking its way through the city and dividing Dublin into north and south sides before emptying into the Irish Sea at the city’s edge.

This photo taken Feb. 26, 2010 shows graffiti covering buildings at U2's former Windmill Lane studios situated in Dublin's Dockland's area. Many of Dublin's most iconic sites can be found situated close to the River Liffey. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison) (AP)

It is along the Liffey riverbanks that many of Dublin’s most iconic sites can be found: the majestic Custom House, the quaintly preserved pedestrian Ha’penny Bridge, the Guinness Brewery. In paintings, postcards and memories, the riverbanks form the perfect microcosm of Dublin and its lifeblood, thriving with traffic, pedestrians and the buzz of the capital.

Many visitors to Dublin use the Liffey as a landmark to point them in the direction of major tourist sites. But that limits their riverbank wandering to the city center, from famed O’Connell Street down to the cobblestoned warren of the Temple Bar tourist quarter and nearby museums.

Those who venture farther, however, following the river to Dublin Port, will find a new, modern Dublin along the shore, replete with dining and entertainment options in a sleek, trendy setting. Mixed in among these neighborhoods on the north and south sides, they can also find elements of the old Dublin tucked away, along with memorials and reminders of the city and country’s rich history.

Following the Liffey on the north side away from the city center, visitors will come upon the International Financial Services Centre with tenants like KPMG and JPMorgan Chase. Adjacent to these financial powerhouses, however, is a beautifully restored building called chq — the latest incarnation of a former tobacco store with vaults underneath. Read the rest of this entry »