November 22, 2004

Many who know me, know my love of the band U2. Yes, their tunes are catchy - but did you ever really listen to them? Their songs are cries for the helpless, modern psalms for the spiritual, and praise for those who stood against oppression. Yes, Vertigo is a cool song, but I am more of a Pride or Running to Stand Still Girl.

I wrote papers on their songs in Dr. Wrabley's classes at Pitt. I was going to use Love Come Tumbling in my movie (when I eventually finish that screenplay). I saw them in concerts and knew every word to every song. U2 became a part of me, their albums the soundtrack to my 20's.

It was 2004 and I was working at the Office of Emergency Management under the Brooklyn Bridge. It was about 6am when the first call from the PD assigned out front, Yeah, there are some trucks that need to block the entrance for the U2 concert tonight. The what? Some more phone calls later and it was confirmed: U2 was playing under the Brooklyn Bridge. I was off for the afternoon, so the cards were in my favor.

Trucks of equipment, a stage, fans began to congregate. I was getting so excited. We would be able to get right up front. But would I meet them? After all these years? Would it happen?

Limos rolled up, was it them? Anticipation...it was Christy Turlington and Ed Burns. I could have called it a day right there. Ed Burns, the man behind the reason why I write, was there to see the show. People that I work with who were not even fans were excited as well. Who wouldn't be, it was a small show to preview U2's new album. We watched as U2 made it over the Manhattan Bridge on a flatbed truck ...and...waited...

Finally, the limo came, it was them. Adam, Larry, the Edge and Bono. In front of me. After all those years. I would be that close.

I had seen U2 perform, and Bono was at the top of his performance. He hadn't sounded that good in years! They opened with Vertigo and went into All Because of You. I remembered at that moment the significance of the date. Michael Hutchence had died on that date seven years prior. Bono and Hutchence were apparently dear friends. 

After about 5 new songs, the Irish Flag came out, I was at the front of the stage, and they took it back to the beginning. Back to The Bottom Line, where it all began for them in NYC. They played Out of Control as if they were four fresh-faced Irishmen from Dublin. It was something I will never forget. The perfect U2 moment...for the time being. 

The show ended and I was waiting around. I was still determined to meet them. What felt like an hour went by and there they were, taking pictures. I was able to get in the back of one, but still not too close. Patience finally paid off. Almost everyone had gone, I was ready to go back for a night tour so I could spare the time. I can't remember who was standing in front of me, but it happened. I met him.

Bono shook my hand. Then I said, you were so on tonight. This show was for Hutch! And then he hugged me. He thanked me. Then he walked away. I am still looking for a picture of that moment. The moment I had been dreaming of for what seemed like an eternity. It was over like that.

Bono wasn't the first celebrity I had even met, but it had the most impact on me. I had yelled at Ethan Hawke, chit chatted with Cyndi Lauper, held flowers for Steve Buscemi and played the umbrella dance with Kevin Bacon on Spring Street. Nothing compared. 

It will be a memory that I will cherish. When I hear those songs I will go back to that chilly November night, the Manhattan skyline in the background.

Vertigo

All Because of You

Miracle Drug

Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own

City of Blinding Lights

Original of the Species

She's a Mystery to Me

Beautiful Day

I Will Follow

Out of Control

Vertigo(reprise)

Tears Fall Down My Face

Michael Hutchence Memorial - Sydney 2000

27 years ago on November 22nd, the music world lost an enigmatic soul. Michael Kelland Hutchence was more than an 80s pop icon. To his fans, he was a free-spirited artist who helped to change the music and video world. He was a musician, actor, father, husband, brother, and son. And yes, he had his demons, but don't we all? 

Michael will forever be remembered as the sexy bad boy with cinnamon curls and caramelized skin. INXS wasn't a stranger to the Australian pop scene in the early 80's. It really was not until Kick in 1987 that they broke through and became known internationally. But like with any band, it was Michael, the lead singer who got all of the attention. Even today, mention Kirk Pengilly or Andrew Farriss and people will just look at you quizzically. 

From Kylie to Helena to Paula, Michael's exploits were tabloid fodder and paparazzi dollars. Once the star began to fall, everyone wanted to know his next move. His death, shocking and heartbreaking, became even more tragic when Paula Yates also died soon after, leaving their daughter without parents. It is also his death that most will remember. For me, it doesn't matter how he died. He's gone. End of story. 

While I love their earlier albums just as much as Kick, X, or Welcome to Wherever You Are, the X tour and subsequent Live Baby Live at Wembley Stadium in 1991 is when Michael was at the very top of his career. My God, they filled Wembley!  This show and tour was a testament to not just INXS, but to Michael's ability to entertain an entire stadium full of fans. 

His loss was not just felt in the world of his fans but in his music family. The band tried to go on, but the night I saw them in Sydney in 2000 was just not the same. The night I met Bono under the Brooklyn Bridge, which just happened to be November 22nd, we hugged over the memory of Michael. 

But you tore a hole in space
Like a dark star, falls from grace
You burn across the sky
And I would find you wings to fly
And I would catch you
I would catch your fall

 Michael Hutchence and Bono - Fly Away

Fairytales and I Love You

November 22nd still hangs in my heart so heavy - the day Michael's smile faded into obscurity and his legend would be tarnished with the actions of his final years. But still, we grieve, we mourn, and we celebrate the rock god of our adolescence.

It's been 27 years since INXS lost their magnetic north. The band has most recently ended their reign, never coming back from that loss of their lead singer. INXS exists now only in our memories. And what glorious memories they are.

Fancy dinner parties, ballerinas on the Charles Bridge, red desert sunsets, beautiful blondes, brunettes, Mad Max underworlds, and motorcycles in Hong Kong painted the video world of INXS. Live Baby Live gave us the Michael we all know. He enthralled the 74,000 fans in attendance at Wembley, making us sway back and forth like high school lovers when we heard the first notes of Never Tear Us Apart and The Stairs. He was a musician, actor, son, brother, friend, and father. What he gave to us and to his fellow band mates are incredible memories, cemented forever in some of the best times of our lives. 

Again, I must thank my flat mates in Sydney for taking that very hot trek to see Michael's memorial. Who knew how many cemeteries there were in suburban Sydney. It was a nod to my past and the musical memories he gave me. I had to thank the man I crushed on for years. It was hard to think how quickly his bright star could quickly be diminished. In our hearts, he lives on as the charismatic lead singer. In our memories, he is the sad ending of a paparazzi nightmare. In our ears, his voice will be forever golden.     

It's so strange
How my life's changed
I know nothing
About the people that I touched

~Michael Hutchence - Possibilities

Behold the Man … Gavin Friday’s Ecce Homo

To this writer and music lover’s dismay, many still have not heard of, nor listened to, the man – Gavin Friday.  His punk roots began not with the Virgin Prunes (my opinion), but when he showed up, uninvited, to a party attended by Bono and Guggi and then was caught trying to lift things from the house. [1] Now that is punk. 

After Virgin Prunes, Gavin went solo in 1989 and has ventured into many artistic venues – painting and acting among his wonderful music. His four prior albums and countless soundtrack credits are songs you know, you just don’t realize that you know them. Do yourselves a favor – please check out Gavin’s work. It’s thought provoking, question asking, fun having, sexy, angry, sweet, synth pulsing poetry. It's also inspiring music and art. It was 1995’s Shag Tobacco that inspired a story I wrote in one sitting just before 1999/2000 – filled with love, doubt, desire, and angels. 

 

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On Ecce Homo:  There are love songs and fight songs, reflections on loss and reveries of nostalgia, anthems for solidarity and excoriations of the powerful` and if I’m honest that pretty well sums up this release. ~Gavin Friday

 

Ecce Homo … clever Gavin Friday, borrowing from Pilate and from Nietzsche. This album is too an inspection of what it is to be human and being and an offering of Friday’s own self-reflection. The follow up to 2011’s Catholic, as is any Gavin Friday album, is not afraid to tackle subjects directly with poetic and emotive lyrics. This is why those who know Gavin are ready for more already. 

The album is classic Friday. The songs are a mix of driving synth and mellow acoustic guitar, to driving beats, poetry rap, and even an aria. You can hear the inspiration of Bowie and Bolan, feel the reflection of loss, and stand proud at the questioning of power and zealots. 

Friday has done it again. 

Ecce Homo will be a welcome and satisfying return for fans of Gavin Friday and indeed all those who love their music firmly left of the mainstream and who are unafraid to be challenged by complex subjects. It is your writer’s sincere wish that we do not need to wait so long before it’s followed up. Colin Rice When the Horn Blows, Album Review 

Track listing and summary of Ecce Homo:

Lovesubzero - The deceivingly slow burn start that shifts into a driving pulse is classic Friday. This song feels like it was left off Shag Tabacco and has matured well for almost 30 years. Think Dolls part 2.

Ecce Homo – Brilliant lyrics with non-subtle undercurrents of the give and take of religion, love, war, and politics. The video is simply stunning and raw with emotional imagery.

The Church of Love – We pray in our own way, no Pope, no Rome. Our love is its own.

Stations of the Cross – A chance to take a breath. The first slow song on the album. A conversation in angst as we walk through the stations.  Making my life so complicated. It’s you you you. 

Lady Esquire – Catchy repetition. Rings the doorbell of perception – I’d love to see Cillian Murphy reprise the role of Kitten for this video.

 

When the World Was Young – a song of reflection of youth.

The Best Boys of Dublin – a song about Gavin’s dogs. It’s so heartfelt and simple.

Lamento – Please being back Westworld and use this song. It’s Gavin’s beautiful heartbroken and empowered poetry mixed with and Ennio Morricone-inspired ending.

When the World Was Young (reprise)

Cabarotica – Young sexual awakening. He had me at stardust crush...

Amaranthus (When Love Lies Bleeding) – Besides being a gorgeous plant, this is a gorgeous song of love and loss. 

Daze – A comment on our connected, 24/7/365 constant state of being on. We’re in a daze all “days” for sure. Had a Run Lola Run vibe

Behold the Man – Preach Gavin ...preach. Populism is all it seems.

 

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[1] Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr. (9 October 2007). U2 by U2. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-077674-9.