Who needs bathrooms? ([email protected])
Sun, 13 Dec 1998 08:53:42 -0700
The strip is drawn by Jon Langford (of the 20-year-old rock group the
Mekons) under the pseudonym Chuck Death. A friend from his hometown of
Newport, Wales, Colin B. Morton, writes the text.
"Some people have a problem with the comic strip," Mr. Langford said.
"Morrissey picked up a copy and threw it across the room and said his chin
was too big. He was quite angry. But others, especially less popular bands,
have used the comic as a T-shirt and view being included in it as an
honor."
The criteria for being included in "Great Pop Things" are usually
arrogance, a lack of self-awareness and being a pop-culture phenomenon,
which has made for lots of comics about Morrissey, Madonna and U2. Unlike
Morrissey, U2 has never responded to the barbed, mocking insults the comic
has hurled at them. "That's one of the things that gall me," Mr. Langford
said. "We relentlessly pillory them for being one of the most obnoxious and
pompous of rock bands. But they've never gotten back to us. I'm sure they
could break our legs if they wanted to."
The strip originally ran in Record Mirror in England in 1988 and, according
to Mr. Langford, his inspiration has never ebbed. "Just when we think we've
run out of ideas, David Bowie will say he's going to relaunch 'Ziggy
Stardust,' " he said. "Or the Sex Pistols will reform and we'll go, 'Wow,
we can get five strips out of that; that's like 500 bucks.' There's no
bounds to the ridiculousness of pop people."
But does Mr. Langford feel hypocritical in making fun of all these popular
and semipopular musicians when he is one himself? "They've got more money
than me, but they're not as good-looking or talented, so I should ridicule
them," he explained, not without sarcasm. "So it was partially inspired out
of greed and hatred."
-------------
>From Pierluigi:
Italian Chart Info:
Albums:
1. Bluesugar - Zucchero [up from 2]
2. Best Of... (2 cd) - U2 [down from 1]
The 1cd version is at # 7 [up from 8]
Singles:
Sweetest Thing at # 5 [down from 3]
-------------
Rollingstone Online has an interview with The Edge available at:
http://www.rollingstone.com/aolny/features/u2best/u2best.html
The only problem is that when I try and download the file, it gives a
404 - File Not Found error....
I'll let everyone know when it's up and running.
-------------
There's a long Kirk Franklin article avaliable at :
that has a Bono mention in it -- oh yeah :), the article is entitled
"With Or Without You".
(Whoops! Thanks to Ian Barker for this article!)
-------------
>From Derek Mark Mcallister(Thanks as always!):
"The Marian Finnucane Show, Radio 1; December 8th 1998.
I have just been listening to a discussion on Irelands Radio 1
show. Sad to say it but the now world famous U2 wall beside
Windmill Studio's has been demolished by Dublin County Council.
Ordinary Dublin folk of all ages 15 to 50 rang in to say how
dissapointed they were that the wall was knocked. The callers from
the UK even got pissed off with the City managers who were in
studio to answer the calls from the general public.
They got a roasting from many people who said it was a disgrace not
just to knock the wall but then turn around and say it was
"complete vandalism of the area".
I am glad someone mentioned one point and that was that not only
was it to add insult to injury that they knocked down the wall but
these are the same people who will not give U2 some type of honour
from the city they have always toasted. Two middleaged women said
it was about time Bono and the boys got "freedom of Dublin" or
honoury university derees!!, mind you I agree that they should be
honoured with something by Dublin City.
Many of the "Arty" types in Dublin rang to say how saddened they
were to see such an impressive work of art dissappear for good.
I wonder where the next big unofficial memorial will spring up,
Bono's house, Edges house, or the nearest structure to the old wall
down on Windmill Lane?, who is to know but I am sure it will all
reappear again.
Anyhow, there was no word from the band on "The Marian Finnucane
Show" nor was there any comment from spokespersons on behalf of the
band.
-------------
>From The Financial Times:
$11BN BID FOR WORLD'S LARGEST MUSIC GROUP
EXPECTED TO TRIGGER FURTHER MERGERS IN SECTOR
BYLINE: By Alice Rawsthorn
Seagram, the Canadian drinks and entertainment group, has secured
shareholder approval to conclude its $ 10.95bn (�6.6bn) bid for PolyGram,
the world's largest music company. It plans to close the deal on Thursday.
It will then start merging PolyGram, which includes U2, All Saints and
Elton John among its artists, into Universal Music, Seagram's existing
music arm. The dramatic expansion of Universal, by far the smallest of the
"big six" multinational music groups, threatens to shake up the $ 38bn
global music market at a time of sluggish sales and rising piracy.
The increase in Universal's worldwide market share, from roughly 6 per cent
to 24 per cent, may trigger more mergers among the big six.
After winning control of PolyGram, Seagram is expected to shed about 3,000
jobs from its 15,500 music workforce, which it hopes will save $ 300m a
year. Most of the job losses will be in North America, where Universal's
distribution operation will be pooled with PolyGram's.
Seagram has already drawn up plans to restructure the US record labels into
four groups, most to be run by former Universal heads. It will have to make
large pay-offs to departing chiefs. Danny Goldberg, head of PolyGram's
Mercury Records, for instance, is believed to have three-and-a-half years
left on a contract worth $ 3m to $ 4m a year.
The cuts should be less severe outside North America, where Universal's
business is significantly smaller. Universal's distribution, currently
sub-contracted to Bertelsmann, will be transferred to PolyGram's existing
plants.
However, Seagram will have to complete several smaller transactions
triggered by the PolyGram deal. It must decide whether to sell the
remaining assets of PolyGram's film arm, or merge them into Universal's
film business. Further sell-offs could include PolyGram's minority stakes
in the Really Useful Group - to Lord Lloyd Webber, the founder - and in
London Records, which is controlled by the family trust of Roger Ames,
PolyGram's worldwide head of music.
The complex and costly process of integrating PolyGram comes at a time when
Universal's film business is in disarray following the departure of Frank
Biondi, president of Seagram's entertainment division, and Casey Silver,
chairman of its movie studio.
-------------
MuchMusic aired a segment on "Babe" Part II in which it noted that
the camera used in some of the filming was a one of a kind camera
owned by U2.
-------------
Condensed from The Irish Times :
December 5, 1998
Paul McGuinness, manager of U2
Mary, Mary (Townhouse, (pounds) 14.99) by Julie Parsons is the
psychological thriller of the year. Someone called it Silence of The Lambs
set in Ballsbridge. Michael Colgan and I liked it so much we have bought
the film rights for our new film company. The Untouchable (Picador,
(pounds) 5.99 in UK) by John Banville, I have to choose because I read all
about the British intelligence services and this novel is a great coda to
all the Anthony Blunt and Cambridge Apostles over the years. The central
character is unsympathetic but fascinating.
-------------
(Thanks to David Comay for the following)
>From Entertainment Weekly :
December 4, 1998
U2 POPMART LIVE FROM MEXICO CITY
Review by Rob Brunner
U2 POPMART LIVE FROM MEXICO CITY (1998, PolyGram, unrated, $19.95)
The best concert movies--The Last Waltz, Stop Making Sense--bridge
the impersonal distance typical of the live rock experience,
creating an intimacy never possible when you're just a face
in the arena. U2's PopMart tour attempted to combat such stadium
anonymity with an overwrought stage show (a huge video screen,
a giant lemon on a stick) designed to project to the backs
of the world's biggest venues. But unless your living room is
the size of the Mexican stadium where this show was shot last
December, the TV version of the PopMart behemoth will seem
numbingly excessive, despite energetic versions of "Where the
Streets Have No Name" and "New Year's Day." B- --Rob Brunner
-------------
Thanks to John Hlavaty for the following:
Most recent album and single chart news:
U.S.:
"Best Of + B-Sides":
#2-5-21-28
"Best Of":
#57-45-68
"The Sweetest Thing":
9 total weeks on the Modern Rock charts, last
five weeks: #17-13-11-11-10(!)
Reached #66 on the revised Hot 100 chart
last week.
U.K.:
"Best Of + B-Sides":
#1-2-15-21-23
"Best Of":
#8-9-4-8
"The Sweetest Thing":
#3-4-10-18-31-38-out of top 40
Canada:
"Best Of + B-Sides":
#1-4-11-19
"Best Of":
#5-8-6
"The Sweetest Thing":
Part 1:
#1-3-3-3-6
Part 2:
#3-4-2-7-7
Ireland:
"Best Of":
#1-1-1
"The Sweetest Thing":
#1-2-4-9-11
Australia:
"Best Of":
#1-1-1-1-3
"The Sweetest Thing":
#6-6-10-10-15-19-21
With "The Sweetest Thing" finally entering the
top 10 on the U.S. Modern Rock charts, U2 has
once again had a top 10 hit around the world. :-)
I do not have access to all of the U.S. Hot 100. Last
week the song reached #66 on the chart. It
remains out of the top 50 this week.
-------------
Okay, there's a URL circulating for the Y2K party. Before I give it
to you a few things. One, I am not responsible if you book and U2
doesn't play. Two, I am not even sure if this is the correct Y2K
party. Three, I am not responsible if they sit you in front of a huge
TV screen to watch U2 play from Wembley(or some other place).
I am not responsible if this link is to a travel agency. I am not
responsible if you end up watching the Spice Girls while U2 play
somewhere else. In other words, buy these tickets at your own
risk.
What really bothers me about this site is that you would figure
that a site representing a party this big would use better HTML
than I'm capable of programming....
-------------
Thanks to Wendy and Dave for the following:
>From Music Week in the UK
U2�s The Joshua Tree, is to feature in a second series of Classic Albums to
be broadcast on ITV next year. The programmes, which are expected to be
shown next spring, follow the highly-acclaimed first series which was
broadcast by the BBC last summer and helped boost sales of the six albums
it featured including Jimi Hendrix�s Electric Ladyland, Paul Simon�s
Graceland and Fleetwood Mac�s Rumours.
Nick de Grunwald, executive producer of the show at production company
Isis, who came up with the idea for the first series while producing The
Making Of Sgt Pepper, says, �The BBC were taking a long time coming back to
me. ITV came in and really loved the whole thing.� The new series will
again set out to dissect six classic albums to find out how they captured
the spirit of their age so effectively. �We�ve again gone back to the
original multi-track recordings and isolated different musical components
like the voice,� says Grunwald, who adds that the remaining three albums to
feature in the series will be announced shortly.
-------------
>From Yahoo:
Sunday December 6 4:25 PM ET
B.B. King set to launch LatAm blues tour
SANTIAGO, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Bluesman B.B. King will launch his
third tour of Chile on Monday, and will also haul his guitar through
Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.
The 73-year-old King, smartly dressed in a dark suit, tie and white-
collared blue shirt, discussed his Latin American tour with reporters
in the Chilean capital on Sunday.
``I am lucky. I have a job (in which) I didn't have to stop work at 65,''
he said. ``I have played 88 different countries around the world, and
each day I hope that I can play some more for other people.''
King said he would play older tunes as well as some from his self-
produced ``Blues on the Bayou'' CD, which MCA Records released
in October.
Reuters/Variety
-------------
Uhm....simply put, this is _the_ funniest thing I've seen online in
a while. Thanks to [email protected] for the link.
Hope you all get the joke:
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Underground/4512/feelgood.JPG
-------------
(Thanks to DJ Gibi for the following)
>From www.calendarlive.com:
Music News & Reviews
December 5, 1998
Pop Beat
'Limited Edition' or Marketing Ploy?
CDs being sold as collectibles to Garth Brooks fans and
others are not always such rarities.
By GEOFF BOUCHER, Times Staff Writer
Buy it. Buy it now. In fact, buy six--someday they might
be worth something.
That's the unstated pitch some record companies are
using to sell readily-available albums by presenting them as
collectibles or fleeting "limited editions."
And they're dangling some big names--the Beatles,
Frank Sinatra, Queen and, most prominently, the season's
seemingly ubiquitous Garth Brooks.
The new Brooks album, "Double Live," hit store shelves
last month with six different covers, including one
embossed with a shiny "first edition" seal that suggests a
certain limited-edition quality, even though a million copies
of each cover were sent out.
"I know for a fact that some fans went out and bought
12--two of each cover so they keep one unopened," said Pat
Quigley, president of Brooks' label, Capitol Nashville.
"Collectibility works very well for us. . . . Garth has devoted
fans."
Indeed, the fans scooping up extra copies helped the
album enjoy the best first-week sales in music history with
1.08 million copies sold.
But some industry insiders are decrying the multiple
covers and similar tactics as crass maneuvers to exploit
and mislead fans.
"It's like the salespeople say in meetings, 'Yeah it's a
limited edition--limited to what we can sell,' " said Rick
Wietsma, an executive vice president of WEA Inc. who
oversees the production of albums on the Warner, Elektra
and Atlantic labels. "There are things being put out now in
packaging designed to make people think it's unique or
limited and that's really not the case."
True limited-edition albums, usually produced only by the
hundreds or thousands, are issued every year as
promotional tools or collectors' items aimed at the most
devoted fans. The packaging is often elaborate or
unusual--wood crates, metal shells, perfumed boxes,
padded fabric casings--or the music itself is culled from
rare performances or catalogs.
But now mass-manufactured albums are arriving on
shelves with the earmarks of collectibles. For example, a
new repackaging of Frank Sinatra's "Duets" albums is
labeled "limited edition," the same phrase that appears on a
new Queen box set, even though both collections are widely
available. And last month, the copies of "The Best of U2:
1980-1990" that went on sale in Canada were numbered,
prompting some U.S. fans to start a quest for them, even
though they are otherwise identical to the stateside version.
The term "limited edition" is routinely tacked onto the
titles of albums collecting the works of veteran artists to
add to the appeal of the product, but rarely is the term
meaningful, says Gary Johnson, co-owner of Rockaway
Records, a Los Angeles shop that caters to collectors. "It's
a nebulous term, granted, but they even put it on stuff that
comes out with 50,000 copies," Johnson said.
In the case of Brooks, 1 million copies of an album
stamped "first edition" drew cynical responses from the
music industry.
"That doesn't seem to be a bonus for the fan, that seems
a little more like greed to me," said Jeff Magid, who
oversees production for Geffen Music. "The intention is to
sell two or three instead of one."
Quigley acknowledges that his label "has been bombed"
by industry criticism for the multiple covers and other
marketing tactics for the Brooks album, but he added that
fans "deserve marketing" and that music "needs to be more
of a collectible if it's going to grow in pop culture."
The strategy isn't completely new--in fact, copies of a
new remastering of the Beatles' so-called "White Album"
bear serial numbers, just like the original 1968 vinyl
release--and the assorted specialty packagings through the
years have been gobbled up by a vast collectors market.
But the most coveted albums, the ones that qualify as
true collectibles, were produced in small numbers and were
never marketed as keepsakes, points out Pete Howard,
publisher of ICE, a newsletter for music fans.
"I'm a serious collector myself, and I know if something
proclaims itself a collectible, it usually isn't," Howard said.
"Not to be a snob, but collectors snicker and sneer at
something that was made to be a collectible."
Quigley disagrees.
He says the Brooks first edition albums will become
valuable in the years to come, joining the collectors' market
that sees vintage Elvis Presley and Beatles records fetch
hundreds of dollars. But Johnson, who can get $600 at his
store for a mint copy of Presley's 1957 Christmas album,
doubts that today's commonly sold compact discs will ever
ascend into the realm of collectibles.
Johnson and Howard point out that the sheer number of
albums produced today--along with the durability of
compact discs compared to vinyl LPs--makes it unlikely
there will ever be a scarcity. "Unlike those old records, no
one is going to wear them out as often or throw them away
and make them rare," Howard said.
Still, what's the harm of adding a serial number, special
seal or some other flourish to compact disc packaging to
entice fans? One problem is that some of the special
packages mean extra production costs and, sometimes, a
higher price, said George Scarlett, vice president of product
management for the Tower retail chain. A recent KISS
album, for example, was released with four different covers,
which meant an additional $4 was tacked on to the album's
price tag, Scarlett said.
"It was hard for our customers not to see it as a rip-off,"
Scarlett said. "But I'm sure we had fans who bought all four.
It's a way to get people to buy more than one, and no
merchant on Earth is going to gripe about that. But as a
consumer, I like fun collectibles, I like unique collectibles.
But mass-market collectibles? That sounds like price
gouging."
Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved
-------------
Thanks to Henry Wagner for the following:
Subject: WORLD: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESENTS 10
MILLION PLEDGES TO SUPPORT HUMAN RIGHTS TO KOFI ANNAN
* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *
News Service: 239/98
AI INDEX: ACT 30/27/98
3 DECEMBER 1998
MEDIA ADVISORY
MEDIA EVENT/ PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESENTS 10 MILLION PLEDGES
TO SUPPORT HUMAN RIGHTS TO KOFI ANNAN
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declration of
Human Rights, Amnesty International Secretary General Pierre
San� will present 11 million pledges supporting the Declaration
to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in the Palais de Chaillot,
Paris.
Media arrangements:
18.30 hrs, 8 DECEMBER 1998,
Grand Foyer, Palais de Chaillot, Place du Trocadero, Paris
All media need accreditation to the Human Rights Defenders
Summit and Kofi Annan handover event.
For accreditation or further information and a press pack,
please contact:
Sophie Lussier, summit Press Office --
tel: +33 1 4923 1187/1123 or fax: +33 1 49 23 0048
Raphael Sachetat, Amnesty International (AI),
tel: +33 1 4923 1141/1171/1111
Mark Ogle, Susan Kobrin (AI)
tel: +33 1 4923 1141/1177 or mobile +44 468 182 474
For the past year, Amnesty International members around the world have
collected pledges in support of the UDHR from approximately 11 million
people from all walks of life in 120 countries. The pledge reads "I will
do everything in my power to ensure the rights contained in the UDHR
become a reality throughout the world." Well-known signatories include:
Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac, Yoweri Museveni, Kim Dae-Jung, Yasser
Arafat, the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,
the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, U2, Mick Jagger, Harrison Ford, Puff
Daddy, and the whole national football teams from France, the
Netherlands and South Africa, as well as millions of ordinary
individuals. The pledges represent powerful worldwide support for the
UDHR and a demand by ordinary people from around the globe that their
governments live up to the promises they made in 1948.
ENDS.../
Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street,
WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom
****************************************************************
You may repost this message onto other sources provided the main
text is not altered in any way and both the header crediting
Amnesty International and this footer remain intact. Only the
list subscription message may be removed.
****************************************************************
-------------
>From CNN:
MILLENNIUM GIG TO RIVAL LIVE AID
(DEC. 3) WENN - FIRST - INTERNATIONAL MUSIC NEWS -
EXCLUSIVE THE gig of the new millennium - a global concert on
New Years Eve 1999 to rival LIVE AID. U2, DAVE STEWART,
STING, BON JOVI, SINEAD O'CONNOR, DIANA ROSS, CELINE
DION, PETER GABRIEL and ALANIS MORISSETTE are among the
50 performers already keen to take part in the 24-hour event - live
on the internet. And 80 national and international TV broadcasters
have already pledged to broadcast parts of the show live themselves.
The event has quietly been put together during the past year by
American Live Aid producer HAL UPLINGER and London based
Japanese entrepreneur HIROSHI KATO.
WARCHILD, the British charity which aids children around the world,
maimed and orphaned by the ravages of war, are one of the most
important sponsors. And THE POPE and NELSON MANDELA
are among a specially selected group of world leaders invited to
relay special messages on the day. Kato said last night (03DEC98)
in an exclusive interview with WENN, "The concert will take us out
of the 20th and into the 21st century. It will have QUINCY JONES
producing and performing from the Antarctic, Dave Stewart producing
a global choir of 200 children, live on millions of PC's all over the world."
-------------
(Prarit's note: No other story on confirmation on this yet -- until
there is, this is a RUMOUR.)
>From MuchMusic:
U2 PLAYS GIG OF THE MILLENNIUM
U2 are among the 50 performers set to play at what promises to be
the gig of the new millennium - a 24-hour global concert to rival Live
Aid, broadcast live on the Internet on New Years Eve 1999. Eighty
national and international TV broadcasters have already pledged
to broadcast parts of the show live themselves. Other performers
include STING, SINEAD O'CONNOR, PETER GABRIEL and ALANIS
MORISSETTE, and the POPE and NELSON MANDELA are among a
specially selected group of world leaders invited to deliver messages
on that day.
-------------
Prarit.....
[email protected]
http://www.members.home.net/u2-news/u2.html
This page is brought to you by the letter "U" and the number "2".
-- Prarit....[email protected] U2 news: http://www.members.home.net/u2-news/u2.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Sun Dec 13 1998 - 07:56:14 PST
