The Edge, U2’s guitarist extraordinaire has emerged to announce that he will be hosting the Icons of Music Auction II on the coming May 31, 2008. This auction is expected to feature some of the most sought after music collectibles ever to provide much needed help to MusicRising.org, a charitable campaign that was also co-established by The Edge himself. This organization was created with the aim to assist musicians who originate from the Gulf Coast Region to get back on their feet after the terrible Hurricane Katrina and Rita tragedies. Aaron Neville, renowned for winning the Grammy four times throughout his career, will also be doing his part to support the auction by performing at the high profile event.

Among items belonging to The Edge that are up for auction include a 1976 Gibson Explorer Guitar and a blue colored Gibson Les Paul. Bidders are also expected to take home a bass guitar belonging to Kurt Cobain, Slash’s Gibson Les Paul guitar as well as a Johnny Cash guitar.

U2, the ambitious owners of the Dublin’s Clarence Hotel is waiting for the approval of the extension plan of the hotel from the planning authorities. But the conservationists are against the expansion of the hotel as it will cause destruction to the decorative building of Clarence hotel constructed in 1937 and destruction of another 19^th century buildings of Georgian style and Dollard House, a monumental building constructed in 1886.

 The U2 guitarist Edge said that he and Bono the other co-owner do not have any optional plans if the planning board rejects the original plan. The owners wanted to quadruple the size and to make it an eight–storey building with 140 bedrooms. The new hotel design is done by the renowned architect Norman Foster. The plan proposes to re-use the fire-places, skirting boards, floor boards etc. The new hotel will have a big glass atrium at the heart of the hotel which will be open to the public. But many people as well as U2 fans feel that the plan disregard the conservation policies of the Dublin City Council.

First Bono went to all the trouble to gain permission for his multi million dollar Hotel Clarence revamp and now it looks like the likeable U2 front man is keeping his hands full with what might possibly be his very own art gallery. The artist that will be responsible to design this exquisite structure is none other than Tadao Ando. The Japanese architect first met up with Bono in Osaka, Japan two years ago and since then they have been in awe of each other’s work. Bono likes Ando simply because of his heartfelt efforts in combating climate changes as well as making it a point to highlight Africa’s poverty at the upcoming G8 summit in the land of the rising sun. Ando has expressed his respects for Bono and further adds that the Irish man deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for his commitment to battle AIDS.

The location of the new art gallery has not been decided but rumor has it that the concrete, steel and glass structure might just be located on the docklands.

The lead singer and the front man of the U2 band, Bono, who is always in the limelight now wants to inflate his media territory by purchasing the €125 million publishing company. Bono whose private equity company Elevation Partners is taking huge steps towards acquisition of California based Entrepreneur Media that comes up with  monthly magazines, kits and website for die hard wannabe business persons. This is not a new business venture for the U2’s leading man as his company Elevation Partners already has 40% stake in Forbes Media Group which his company had bought last summer by paying a whopping sum of €190 million. The Entrepreneur Media has been in the business of publishing for the past 30 years and there is strong news that is filtering through that Bono is very much interested in signing the deal which will make him one of the biggest media empire owners. But there has been no official confirmation of the same from ant Bono faithful so far and fans are also in dark about this matter.

Is Bono the Entertainer set to be the next Trump as Bono the Entrepreneur? Recent news reported that the affable U2 front man will be appearing before planning officials in a bid to win approval for a $237.2 million development plan to expand his Clarence Hotel.

Prior to this, Bono, along the Edge and a group of unnamed investors have cooperated with architect Sir Norman Foster and have plans to redevelop and enlarge the renowned Clarence Hotel. They are especially interested to build a massive glass atrium in the shape of a Viking long boat.

The Dublin City council has given the green light to Bono and friends but they still require final approval by An Bord Pleanala, an Irish government board in charge of planning appeals. If all goes well, the Clarence Hotel will be the first structure by Sir Norman Foster to be build in the Republic of Ireland.

After enjoying a most refreshing Easter break, U2 is back at their studio in Dublin in order to prepare for their next album. At the helm of this project are producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. Fans are on the verge of begging for the album to be released this year. The album has yet to be given a title, but there’s still time to decide and it is expected that U2’s 2009 concert tour with organizers Live Nation will tide fans over till then.

In related news, U2 is set to release remastered and re-edited versions of their first three albums: “Boy” (1980), “October” (1981) as well as “War” (1983). Universal Music will reissue these albums on B-sides, 180 gram vinyls and in double CD format. Also included are rare unreleased tracks and live versions of their concerts.

U2 is also touted to play at the Slane rock concert come 2009 along with other renowned acts such as the Verve and Led Zeppelin.

A concert is being planned to be held at Derry towards the end of the year to commemorate the civil rights movement and it could bring in some of the most well known names in the music industry including U2 lead singer Bono.

The concert will be organized by civil rights 1968 commemoration committee. Bono has always been an admirer of Martin Luther King who was one of the founding members of the American civil rights movement. The committee would conduct the event throughout Britain and Ireland. There would be lectures and conferences as well musical concerts. The committee says that it is important that the events during the year 1968 be remembered and reflected upon. The civil rights movement have had a tremendous influence in the society and brought about a massive change in the society. The program would focus on the relevance of the movement today and a discussion on the ideals that it stood for.

 Though the organizers have not yet confirmed the name of the artists who would be performing at the concert, there are rumors that Bono would be actively involved in the show.

The U2 front man and most popular among U2 fans Bono has been accused by the Irish top actor Stuart Townsend for not rising to the occasion to help the Irish people in their support to save the hill of Tara. There is something going awfully wrong with the relationship of old mates Bono and Stewart as the Irish actor has gone on to say that Bono, the humanitarian as he is called worldwide, is not interested in campaigning for his native Ireland and is only interested in serving people who are overseas.

Stuart said that he did not know the reason why Bono is not supporting the people of Ireland and says that he thinks that Bono is committed to the betterment of the down trodden in Africa and preserving of heritage is not in his mind. He has called for Bono not to turn back on Tara Hill and join in the fight to preserve the ancient hill spot.