Rob Partridge, who was the British publicist for U2, Bob Marley and other bands passed away this past week of cancer.  He was 60 years old. He has been a big name in the publicist world since 1978, when he helped publicize a big concert in England. He was born in Devon, in southern England, in 1948. Bono paid tribute with the following words: “Rob Partridge was the first person in the British music industry to sing our praises. He not only had an eye for upcoming talent, he was a nurturer … a person who would educate you about the kind of obstacles you were going to meet and how to get over them … a rare human being.”  Clearly he will be missed!

Since the last post written, there has been no more new news posted on U2.com.  My assumption: they are in the studio, fervently working on a new album that will (without a doubt) teach your ears to hear correctly for the first time (much like the Matrix where Neo has to learn to see for the first time…remember? yeah, it’s gonna be like that) as well as teach your eyes to see only in Bono-vision.

U2 is hard at work in the studio again recording their 12th full length album. Though the tentative name of the album is “No Line on the Horizon,” Edge insists that anything can still change. Here’s a little more of what he said: It doesn’t sound like anything we’ve done before…” This is where a skeptical, anti-U2 person might say something like, “‘Doesn’t sound like anything we’ve done before’ huh? What does that mean, that the music will be good?” I, however, am clearly a U2 fan. This album will be good because U2 is good and Bono is cool and Edge is an awesome guy and anything U2 touches is gold.

Bono, frontman of U2, will write 6-10 opinion columns for the New York Times in 2009.  He will write about a bunch of topics, and the details have still not been worked out.  But is the Times the place that Bono belongs?  Sure, why not?  It’s an open forum, and it’s going to be less than once a month on average, so it’s not a big deal.  It’s not like he’s gotten a huge public forum. He will have a busy year, because he will probably go on tour with U2 and the group will be releasing at least one album next year.  So it will be a big year, but at least he wont be bored!

The Canadian music producer Daniel Lanois is saying that U2’s work-in-progress album is “fantastically innovative” and “some of their best work”.   He says that Bono is singing and writing better than he ever has, and has really broken a barrier into even better music.  They just finished a couple weeks of recording and now are on the road together, where Lanois says that his ability to produce their records gets even better.  “You just get a sense of what works with an audience.”  This is definitely good news for any U2 fan.  We’ve heard stories about how difficult it’s been to record this newest album, but now that we hear that all the hardship is paying off, we can look forward to next year’s release.  They aren’t yet sure when it will come out but it shouldn’t be long.

Plans to build the tallest tower in Ireland were cancelled today, to the disappointment of U2.  The top floors of the building in Dublin were to be a recording studio for the famous Irish band. Unfortunately, with the economic downturn, especially in real estate issues, the building was considered ill-advised at this time. They plan to go back into building the tower in the next year or so, but they will have to renegotiate with various people to do so.  The building was designed by architect Norman Foster and was to be triangular.  U2 fans everywhere will have to wait, then, to get their U2 tower.

No no, I’m not talking about the presidential election.  I’m not even talking about any other government election.  The voting that you have to do is for your favorite band, U2, which is up for the MTV music awards.  They have been nominated for “Best Act Ever.”  They are against such competition as Green Day, Tokio Hotel, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears… and Rick Astley. Who knows which one of these groups might win, but of course U2 deserves it more than these other groups.  Do your part today! Go vote at the MTV website.

The word has finally gotten around the world that U2 is simply one of the best, most rocking rock bands in the world. Proof, you ask? Ahem. The film “U23D” (that’s U2 in 3-D) was voted “Best Movie” at the MTV Premios in Latin America (Premios means awards, as in accolades for awesome U2). Anyways, it’s good to know that U2’s fan base is expanding. Learn more at U2.com!

Bono and The Edge are set to honor both BB King and Paul Allen on October 26th at the Kodak Theater in LA. BB King will be receiving the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Founders Award while Allen will be presented with the 2008 Herbie Hancock Humanitarian Award. Awards plus Edge/Bono? These are two of the luckiest guys in the world!

Much of the world has always wondered why the Edge never spoke about his guitar and were almost angry that he didn’t. So when he finially broke his guitar silence, the entire world shut down to hear him speak. Stating that he fell in love with his guitar and that no one else was using the gibson explorer at that time, listeners nodded their heads and collectively sighed “That’ll do Edge…that’ll do.” To read more about the Edge and his amazing guitar stories, visit U2.com.