U2NEWS: August 23, 1998 Part I


Who needs bathrooms? ([email protected])
Sun, 23 Aug 1998 09:34:15 -0600


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Releases:
Kirk Franklin's "Lean On Me" album(features Bono amongst others) released
September 1998.
B.B. King's Greatest Hits(includes 7" version of "When Love Comes To Town")
August 25, 1998
CONFIRMED: U2 "POPMart" DVD/VHS October 12, 1998 NA/
September 28, 1998 EUR.
RUMOUR : U2 New Album(Title To Be Announced) 1999

Concerts/Live Events:

Television/Radio Events:
VH1: They are working on a U2 special. Airdate TBA.
MTV:
MuchMusic/MuchUSA:
   

Net Events:
The U2-Internet Amnesty International Fundraiser site is
 http://www.potomac.com/deseree/ai/Default.htm
Vote for U2 at DotMusic's Top Albums of All Time (AB is #3, JT is #16)
Vote for U2 under "Juiciest Boy Group" at
http://www.muchmusic.com/events/juicy/
(Don't ask me...I didn't make up the category name...)

Fan Club/WIRE/U2 nutzoid meetings:
Lemon-Aid: A U2 Summer Cookout, August 22, Fall River,
Massachusetts. Email [email protected] for more information
--------------
A SORT OF HOMECOMING, August 28-30, Las Vegas, NV
Email [email protected] for more information.
--------------
Wire Gathering in Kansas, September.
Email [email protected] for more information. You can also check out
http://members.theglobe.com/hawkeye79/wire_gathering.html
--------------

NEWS dates:
EBN on MTV Video Awards added August 22
Virgin Superstore/Megastore NYC rumour added August 22
A further note on the Billboard "Best of" article added August 21
Happy Anniversary added August 21
Public not happy with music sales added August 21
City of Angels DVD added August 21
Edingburgh Festival Review added August 21
U2NEWS Poll change added August 20
BillBoard reported U2 Best of added August 20
Negativeland saga continues added August 20
U2 producer worked with REM on their new album added August 20
"Best Of CD" added August 20
Irish Rock'N'Roll Walking tour added August 19
U2 Interview from BBC's Across The Line added August 19
Top 100 poll added August 19
U2/Simpsons videotape cover added August 18
Bono pub in Bosnia added August 18
Howard Stern/3EB/U2 added August 18
People Magazine pic added August 17
Bono and Bingo added August 17
Better description of the Edinburgh Festival added August 17
Q magazine's Top 100 Richest Artists added August 17
History of Slane Castle concerts added August 17
Slane Castle article added August 17
Old sells better than the new added August 17
Missed a few articles last week added August 17
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Condensed from Rocktropolis.com:

EMERGENCY BROADCAST NETWORK HOOKS UP WITH MTV
VIDEO AWARDS

  Multimedia performance group Emergency Broadcast Network, best known for
their work creating audio- visual havoc for U2's Zoo TV tour, will deliver
their unique manipulation of sound and vision to audiences worldwide at the
15th annual MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 10.

  EBN, who specialize in concurrently scrutinizing and paying tribute to
television and its impact on our lives through the splicing of randomly
recorded audio and video soundbites, will take on the task of presenting
the audio- visual lead-ins to the 15 award categories.

   EBN, who are also a band (their debut album, Telecommunication
Communication Breakdown, surfaced in 1995), have also been featured on
MTV's electronica video show, AMP.
   
-Kevin Raub
------------
RUMOUR:

An employee of another music company, that works close to the Virgin Music
Superstore on Broadway, NYC, is reporting that they have overheard rumours
of a possible performance by U2 to coincide with the release of the POPMart
DVD.

AGAIN THIS IS A RUMOUR.
------------
A quick note on the Billboard "Best of U2" rumour:

The U2 mention is in Melinda Newman's weekly column on page 10. She did
state that Island Records employees have not confirmed the rumor.
------------
>From U2NEWS History:

August 21 1982 Bono marries childhood sweetheart Alison Stewart at a
ceremony at the Old Guinness Church of Ireland, in Raheny, Dublin. Adam
Clayton is his best man. They honeymoon on Island Records owner Chris
Blackwell's "Goldeneye" estate in Jamaica. Bono writes "Two Hearts Beat
as One" during the honeymoon.

(Prarit's note: Happy Anniversary!)
------------
Condensed from The Irish Times:

Accountants cut off music power supply
   

Money men have made the trade so bland, music buyers have switched off.
Brian Boyd reports on an unharmonious industry

<snip>

In today's climate it is debatable if a band like U2 would be signed, such
is the music industry's cautious outlook. Even if U2 were signed today, they
would probably be dropped by their record company after their first album.
U2 didn't go into profit until their third album broke into the US charts
and since then they have made more than a �100 million for their record
company. The record company invested and continued to invest in U2 for a
number of years even when they weren't showing signs of a major breakthrough.

It's no coincidence that U2's label boss, Chris Blackwell is one of the old
school type of industry movers - he got into the business out of a love of
music and an ear for what would sell. Mr Blackwell believed in and funded
"artistic freedom" and since U2 he has gone on to sign Pulp, The Cranberries
and Tricky - again all three bands would be considered high-risk entities by
the people who run record companies today, particularly in that it took Pulp
10 years to make a commercial breakthrough - these days bands are given just
one album to do the business or else they're history.

(Prarit's note: The entire article can be found at:

http://www.irish-times.com/irish%2Dtimes/paper/1998/0821/sev1.html )
   
------------
>From DVD news:

City Of Angels:Spec.Ed (DVD/LBX/AC3)

Audio commentary by director Brad Silberling
Second audio commentary by producer Charles Roven and screenwriter Dana
Stevens
Selected scenes with audio commentary by director of photography John Seale
and production designer Lilly Kilvert
Isolated music-only track with audio commentary by composer Gabriel Yared
Making Angels" behind-the-scenes documentary
Deleted scenes with commentary by the director and editor Lynzee Klingman
Special effects documentary featurette
Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris" and U2's "If God Will Send His Angels" music videos
Alanis Morissette interview
Theatrical trailer
------------
Thanks to Mark Duffy for the following note:

The footage starts with a section showing the background images produced by
Catherine Owens and the art pop work of Roy Lichenstein, Keith Harring etc
to a soundtrack of 'Last Night On Earth' & 'Numb' remixes (short snippets.)

It continues with mixed footage of live Mexico performances and video
imagery (belly dancing women amongst others) with extracts from
'Discotheque' 'Mofo' 'Gone' 'Please' 'Hold Me Thrill Me, 'Bullet' and
'Mysterious Ways'.

It ends with a full version of 'One'
------------
U2NEWS Poll has changed.

Question: Do you want to see a "Best Of" U2 album released?

You can register your opinion at:

             http://www.cableregina.com/users/u2news/poll.html
------------
>From Ken, a current subscriber:

The current issue of Billboard is probably the source of the U2 Best
of rumors. In one of the regular columns in the 8/22 issue, the columnist is
mentioned many of the greatest hits/best of albums coming out this fall. She
then refers the rumor of U2 releasing their best of album by Christmas.
Whereas I would think that this is unlikely, I did hear from a friend that he
had a friend who met the Edge in New York in June of 1997 and that Edge had
mentioned to him that a Best of album could come out in 1998. I can't account
for the reliability of my friend's friend, though.

(Prarit's note: Keep in mind that that last bit is RUMOUR. The release of
a Best of U2 is also a RUMOUR.)

I would think it unlikely that Paul McGuinness would put out an album at the
same time they are trying to sell the Popmart concert video, unless they were
trying to finish their commitment to Polygram in light of the changes there.

I met both Mr. McGuinness and Howie B. in Osaka in March (which I had
mentioned in an e-mail I sent to you when the rumors of the new album
started).

(Prarit's note: The email was mentioned and quoted in a previous digest. I
have to get that cgi-bin search program up and running...)

Everything they mentioned to me seems to be coming true, as Mr.
McGuiness told me that the Mexico City video would be released. As for their
recording of late, this seems to confirm what Bono had stated in an interview
from February in Perth, Australia, where he said that he wanted the band to go
into the studio to work on ideas for songs and then to return to the studio at
a later time to record the completed songs in very quick fashion. He likened
it to what they were able to do at Motown in the 1960's. I would expect this
to be released in early to mid 1999 and would go along with Howie B.'s telling
me that they would definately be on the road in 1999.

(Prarit's note: Thanks for the recap, Ken.)

If this is the case, I don't believe that Paul McGuinness, being the great
businessman that he is, would want to flood the market on U2 material. This is
why I didn't really believe the Rather Go Blind rumors and also why the best
of U2 album could be premature, as well.
------------
>From Muzic.com:

Negativland Versus The RIAA, Part 2

Samplers beware. The recent incident where several CD plants refused to press
Negativland�s upcoming release, The Weatherman�s Dumb Stupid Come-Out
Line (Seeland), due to suspicions that it contained unauthorized samples of Pink
Floyd and The Village People (see yesterday�s news) is bound to be repeated as
The Recording Industry Association of America, steps up its efforts to enforce the
copyright law.

According to Frank Creighton, senior vice president and director of
investigations for the RIAA�s antipiracy division, the music industry's lobbying and
enforcement arm, "We have stepped up our enforcement and aggressiveness
against domestic CD plants to send a message." And that message is that
manufacturers are legally responsible for the contents of CDs they produce."
Penalties for violating the law are stiff, and can range from $500 to $100,000
per violation.

Still, nobody should be that surprised by the current turn of events. "For the last
ten years we have had an ongoing program with all the domestic CD
manufacturers that involved going out to these CD plants and giving them a dog
and pony training session during which we explained the law ," says Creighton.
The RIAA added further clout to their approach Creighton continues, making
"a formal announcement at Replitech, the big CD replication symposium held
out in L.A., during the first week of June, that we are here to tell you that we are
no longer going to turn the other cheek and say, 'I know that you didn�t mean to
do that and just let it go. We are saying the next bad disc we find on the streets,
we are going to come knocking on your door.'"

 If the RIAA has any good news for audio collage artists like Negativland, it's
that their current tough enforcement effort is not currently directed at wiping out
the use of uncleared samples and Creighton claims, "Our biggest problem are people
out there using complete soundtracks either in a compilation format or a counterfeit
format where they are copying the complete disc and packaging. If the sample issue
was our biggest problem I would be a very happy man." But that doesn�t offer
much comfort to Negativland, who contend that as of now their planned release may
never see the light of day. In any event Creighton maintains that, "The bottom line is
that sample is owned by a record company and authorization for that sample needs
to be obtained from that copyright owner."

For their part, Negativland insist that the material in question is being used in
accordance with the copyright law, which provides that under certain circumstances,
copyrighted material may be used for such purposes as criticism, comment, news
reporting or scholarship and they have appealed for support in a future class action
suit against the RIAA. It�s a threat that doesn�t seem to concern Creighton very
much.

"To my knowledge, the RIAA didn�t stop anything of Negativland�s from being
manufactured. And if for some reason, based on the training we have given one of
these plants, they have looked at a particular recording and based on what they knew
decided not to manufacture it -- that is their individual business decision and does
not involve the RIAA."



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