Rumored to have a budget of over $50 million dollars, Turn Off the Dark,  the Spiderman musical featuring music written by Bono and the Edge took another blow when lead actress Evan Rachael Wood backed out of the production this week. The show was already been delayed for a lack of cash flow and some are beginning to wonder if the show will ever actually be performed. The musical doesn’t have any exact dates planned, but it was thought that the show would open sometime this year. Alan Cummings also signed on to Turn off the Dark, but the loss of Wood could send the producers back to the drawing board. The musical features a number of songs by Bono and the Edge including “Turn Off the Dark”, “Bouncing Off the Walls”, and “If the World Should End”.

One of my favorite all-time U2 songs has to be “Running to Stand Still” off The Joshua Tree. The song about heroin-addicted lovers struggling to deal with addiction and their hopeless desire to want to change their lives for the better. The line “I see seven towers and only see one way out” references Dublin’s seven Ballymun Flats tower block complex that was once one of the poorest sections of the Irish capital. Only one of the towers still stands in Dublin and is scheduled for demolition.For the song’s sake it could reference any major city in the world with public housing and they’re association with drug addiction be it Chicago, Paris, Mexico City, Moscow, or Capetown. Drug addiction is something people struggle everywhere and for that matter almost everyone has something in they’re life they’re addicted to that is bad for them.

The message is one that is universal and is delivered with a beautiful arrangement that moves with the song’s tale perfectly. The simple haunting three chord song is garnered with a rising piano, a Memphis slide guitar, and a growing electric guitar that rises as the storm in the song begins forms “Under a black belly of cloud in the rain”. The song starts slow with Bono’s low story telling voice and builds into a desperate plea in the final verse. The song may be about someone who is hopeless tied to a drug, but there is a beautiful sense of hope in the song. “Running to Stand Still” transcends the stereotypical junkie song. The track should resonate with anyone who sees someone they love veering off in a dangerous path. “Running to Stand Still” great song should do

And so she woke up
Woke up from where she was lying still
Said I gotta do something about where we’re going
Step on a steam train
Step out of the driving rain
Maybe run from the darkness in the night
Singing ha, ah la la la de day
Ah la la la de day
Ah la la de day

Sweet the sin
Bitter, the taste in my mouth
I see seven towers
But I only see one way out
You got to cry without weeping
Talk without speaking
Scream without raising your voice
You know I took the poison from the poison stream
Then I floated out of here
Singing ha la la la de day
Ha la la la de day
Ha la la de day

Oooooh…

She runs through the streets with her eyes painted red
Under a black belly of cloud in the rain
In through a doorway
She brings me white gold and pearls
Stolen from the sea she is raging, she is raging
And the storm blows up in her eyes
She will suffer the needle chill
She’s running to stand still

In reaction to the terrible earthquake Bono and The Edge performed along with Jay-Z and Rihanna at the world-wide telethon “Hope For Haiti Now” a newly written song ”Stranded”. The telethon was organized by actor George Clooney featuring other performances from Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay, Madonna, Beyonce, and more. “Stranded” was one of the highlights of the night as the telethon raised $57 million dollars to aid the recovery in Haiti. Producer Swizz Beats co-wrote the song with Bono, The Edge, and Jay-Z with recording artist Rihanna adding vocals to the song’s chorus. The Edge told the media that Jay-Z and Swizz Beats approached them with the idea of doing something for Haiti and they came up with the base of the song before sending it back to Jay-Z. In other news the band is working on a new album that is yet to be named with a tour in 2010 already planned.

The BBC acknowledged today that they went a bit over the top in endorsing No Line on the Horizon in a particularly over-the-top way. They were doing an interview with Bono and some other members of the band and brought out a strange logo that read U2=BBC. It’s kind of strange that anyone would do this. Besides, U2 is popular enough that they don’t even need all this kind of publicity. People who want to get the CD know about it already. Others will find out from their friends or from the news. Meanwhile, the BBC had to apologize today for what many commentators were describing as a taxpayer-funded commercial for the band and its CD. That’s probably about right and networks should watch out for that kind of thing more in the future.

Although we thought we knew that the Spiderman musical was on its way, starting near the end of February, reports are beginning to confirm that the show is to be delayed. Alan Cummings, who seems to be on the inside of the discussions surrounding the show, says that it’s frustrating to have to wait, but that the money just isn’t there at the moment. The promotional pieces and the website are slated to open in February again. It’s not too surprising that they haven’t been able to put together the kind of stuff that they need yet, since it’s a U2 show. U2 is known for their big effects and sets, so that it will be an expensive show. It may take a little bit longer to get the show up, but it’ll be worth it!

The 2009 numbers have been tabulated and guess what! U2 had the highest grossing tour of the year. This isn’t a huge surprise. They toured for a little more than half the year and hit many of the biggest venues in the world. Even though they always needed a couple days between performances so that they could have their stage put up in the place. They have smoked out the competition, having sold more than 1.3 million tickets. If you divide that throughout the year, the average is a rather ridiculous number. This proves that while Dave Matthews might have been the “artist of the decade”, U2 is still the top group more recently. Yes, our guys don’t tour nearly as frequently or constantly. But when they do, people come out in hordes to see them!

Bono wrote an interesting article recently in the New York Times about the primacy of file-sharing in the music world right now. He cautioned the film industry not to approach it the same way as the music industry has. One of the problems with the music business’s version was that they decided to start prosecuting people who are actually customers and potential customers. Bono is, however, suggesting that governments monitor the web for this kind of thing instead, so that the artists aren’t harmed by internet piracy. Say what you will about this idea, but at least he’s thinking about this big problem. I’m not in the music industry, but I do worry about the fact that even very good musicians aren’t able to earn sufficiently for their work. Bono’s not worried about his own earnings, I think, but rather looking out for the less-fortunate musicians out there who are suffering.

Another controversy seems to be stirring up with the band. It’s kind of typical for a band that is so popular and has so much to get embroiled in controversy of some kind. This way, whomever is accusing them of something can get in the news and might become famous for a little while. We’re back to the issue of the Edge’s houses in California. People don’t like that he has these buildings on the mountains, an issue that has many nature lovers upset. But the Edge has great support from various people, from the government to NGOs that say his building will be good for the environment by preserving nature all around it. This is according to the video he released on his website in the last week. Hopefully the issue will be dealt with fully during the upcoming hearing and then they can get the job done.

Adam Clayton is angry! The U2 bassist is suing his accountant/assistant for the embezzlement of over $3million. He and his lawyers say that she slicked it off the accounts over the course of 13 months working with him. The suggestion is that she stole the money and spent it on cars and jewelry and other similar kinds of things. As a result, this will be the big story for a little while. The assistant finds herself with assets frozen because of this until the whole thing can be figured out. If this is true, it’s really too bad. If it isn’t, it’s too bad for her reputation. According to Clayton, she fessed up several months ago that she had been charging to her credit card, but remember, that’s an allegation, so let’s not prejudge it. They’ll figure out what happens.

This week, the big news is that U2 has been nominated for a Golden Globe for their song “Winter” for the movie “Brothers.” If you are interested in hearing this song, you can probably find it on YouTube or something, but a person will be hearing it all over this winter, I’m pretty sure. Either way, I’m sure they’re going to win this award, even though they are up against Paul McCartney and several other talented musicians. This is going to be a fun year for them though, because not only have they gotten this nomination (and possibly the Oscar nominations might be kind to them as well), but also they will be doing a great job heading into the next leg of their tour of the world. We hope to see them performing several times during that time. Maybe we’ll meet some of you there.