Heartland Update & Season's Greetings
Hello all. Just wanted to take a moment to let you know that Heartland updates will be on hold for a few weeks while I am preparing to move to a new house and to get through the holidays. Those of you who I have outstanding mail trades with, not to worry, my mail service here will continue through the end of the month, and I have already contacted others with my new address. I'll be back by the new year to continue updating U2 news, trading database and other features of the site. I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for visiting the website and hope that you and your family have a happy, safe, enjoyable holiday season. Let's get ready for an exciting U2006, with Vertigo Tour and the Grammys coming up soon (U2 are faves at this year's ceremony - again)! See you again soon!Regards,~ Bonojunkie =X
Washington – Rocker-activist Bono helped cajole world leaders into embracing African debt relief. Now, U.S. officials hope U2's lead singer can help salvage global free-trade talks.Early this month, Trade Representative Rob Portman briefed the Irish singer and top staffers of his advocacy group on the U.S. agenda in talks taking place under the auspices of the World Trade Organization. The half-hour telephone call was the latest attempt to get the singer to help push for a deal. His organization, DATA -- "debt AIDS trade Africa" -- fights poverty and AIDS, particularly in the developing world."We just want them to be involved. That's our objective," said a Portman spokeswoman. A DATA spokesman said the group is pressing the U.S. to stay committed to the talks and "to make sure African farmers are part of this deal."Mr. Portman was in Geneva for more meetings with major WTO players this week. But the global initiative remains stalled, underscoring the importance of his overtures to Bono, which are part of a larger strategy among Bush aides as they head to Hong Kong next month for crucial negotiations. The Hong Kong talks are the next step in the Doha Round talks, which began in Doha, Qatar, in 2001.
Heartland Site Updates - Fan Photos
Hi all... the Tour-Fan Photo links have all been repaired under the Gallery section. Hope you enjoy browsing the bird's eye view of U2 shows gone by from different fan perspectives. Heartland would love to add your photos to this section, please email Bonojunkie with your pics!
Heartland Site Updates
Hi there. There's been some new additions in the GAMES section of the site, including a new crossword puzzle and 4 new jigsaws. Looks for new photos to be uploaded into the galleries, and some new goodies in the MULTIMEDIA area as well. Enjoy!~bonojunkie
Saturday night & Sunday morning in Pittsburgh
My Pittsburgh photopage is available through the Heartland calendar link on 10/22/05.by Ed Masley - (c) Post-Gazette, 2005
U2 lead singer Bono, at center, acknowledges fans during their sold-out concert last night at Mellon Arena. Long before he'd sprayed the crowd down front with the foam from a bottle of champagne during a spirited encore performance of "Party Girl," with an audience member joining The Edge on acoustic guitar, it was clear that Bono had come to Mellon Arena last night in the mood to celebrate. This is the year of U2's Hall of Fame induction after all, not to mention the 25th anniversary of "Boy," the band's debut. But Bono was clearly more thrilled at the thought of the quarter of a million Africans he said were still alive this year because of U.S. aid, more thrilled that 2 million people and counting [sic - actually he said 5 million] have joined the ranks of "One," a Bono-led campaign "to make poverty history." By 2008, he said, those numbers should grow to 5 million. "And that's bigger than the NRA, ladies and gentlemen," he announced with a grin.Throughout the concert, he offset impassioned performances of U2's greatest hits and new material with a message of hope while advancing a social agenda based in human rights and bringing an end to not just poverty but war. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was scrolled across the giant screen above the stage at the end of a moving rendition of "Miss Sarajevo," in which he asked "Is there a time for human rights? Is this the time?" And in the most dramatic gesture of the night, after singing a line of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again" in the middle of "Bullet The Blue Sky," he dropped to his knees, arms raised above his head, a blindfold covering his eyes.It's rare to see a pop star work so hard at advancing a social agenda in the context of a big arena show. Not even Springsteen goes to these extremes. But it made for a natural fit with the music -- at times on an obvious level (an electrifying "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and an anthemic "Pride (In The Name Of Love)" in particular).They dug as deep as "I Will Follow," which sounded as fresh as ever, and blew the dust off "The Electric Co.," going on to touch on many of the early songs that still in many ways define their legacy -- "With Or Without You," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," "Where The Streets Have No Name."But this was not an oldies show. They set the stage with two songs from their latest album -- "City of Blinding Lights" and "Vertigo" -- and a third from their previous effort, "Elevation." And even after "I Will Follow," it didn't hurt the show's momentum any when they kept coming back to those two latest albums. In fact, if anything, they spawned a number of the concert's highlights, from an anthemic "Beautiful Day" and a stripped-down, soulful performance of at least one critic's pick for U2's finest hour, "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of," to such lesser-known treasures as "Miracle Drug" and "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own," which Bono sent to his dad in a moving elegy.That speech about his dad was merely one of several very human moments in a huge arena show. And that human connection more than likely has as much to do with all those bodies they keep packing into the Mellon Arena as all the millions they sold of "The Joshua Tree."
In an excerpt from the new issue of Rolling Stone Magazine:
First off: Where do you get those sunglasses?
Bulgari. A lot of people think that, when they see a "B" on the side, that it's just my own megalomania. Only half the time it is. I'm the Imelda Marcos of sunglasses.
Why do you wear them all the time?
Very sensitive eyes to light. If somebody takes my photograph, I will see the flash for the rest of the day. My right eye swells up. I've a blockage there, so that my eyes go red a lot. So it's part vanity, it's part privacy and part sensitivity.
