(06-28-2005) U2 start possessions court battle - BBC*

[HelloAngel]

U2 start possessions court battle

Irish rock band U2 are taking a former stylist to court in Dublin in a battle over possessions they wish to reclaim.

Among the items - worth around £3,500 - are a pair of trousers and a hat once worn by the band's lead singer Bono.

Lola Cashman, who worked for U2 in the 1980s, tried to sell the items and wrote an unauthorised biography of the chart-topping group.

It is unclear whether the four members of U2 will be in court to attend the preliminary hearing.

Entry to the Dublin court has been restricted due to the interest the case is likely to generate.


Homecoming

The Irish Courts Service has listed the case of Adam Clayton, David Evans (The Edge), Paul Hewson (Bono) and Laurence Mullen - a firm trading as U2 - versus Lola Cashman at the Circuit Court in Dublin on Tuesday.

The band recently returned to their home city to perform three homecoming concerts at Dublin's Croke Park, which attracted more than 150,000 people.

Some fans had camped out overnight to secure their place at the venue.

U2 are due to take part in the Live 8 concerts on 2 July, playing the London leg of the event in Hyde Park.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4629447.stm

For more on the case, including a picture of Bono arriving at the courthouse today, click here.

 

[bono_man2002]

PLEBA girls, what have you done with the B-man's trousers!

 

[Dutch Partygirl]

150.000 people?? Yeah uhuh...

 

[BonosBaby12]

Hmmm somewhere in this world one lucky girl is wearing the B man's pants! lol

 

[BEVERLY56]

Does that means he is running around w/o? No wonder he always wears the same black ones in concert. Perhaps we could take up a collection.

 

[beau2ifulday]

That's quite sad that they had to end their time in Dublin with something like this.

 

[Mullen4Prez]

PLEBA girls, what have you done with the B-man's trousers!

l
o
l

 

[biff]

Here's a report about today's court proceedings, from the BBC.
There are also pictures, which I can't seem to post, one of Bono arriving at court, and one of Cashman also arriving.


Bono in memorabilia court fight

Bono was at the courthouse in Dublin
U2 frontman Bono has accused the band's former stylist of blackmail in a court battle to try and stop her selling off possessions they want back.
Among the items - worth about £3,500 - are a pair of trousers and a hat once worn by the band's lead singer Bono.

Lola Cashman worked for U2 in the 1980s and wrote an unauthorised biography of the band.

Bono hit back at claims they had given items to Ms Cashman as gifts, saying they rarely gave away possessions.

'Iconic status'

"They sound like trivial items, they're really not. They are important items to the group and we take them seriously," he told the Dublin Circuit Civil Court.


Lola Cashman worked with the band in the 1980s

"You may have wealth and power, but when someone is trying to push us around and blackmail us and threaten us with books, at a certain point you have to say 'Stop right there'," he said.

Bono - real name Paul Hewson - said the band occasionally gave memorabilia, but it would be to charity auctions.

He said he was particularly keen to have his Stetson hat returned because it had iconic status.

"It would be like the Edge (the band's guitarist) giving one of his guitars away. It is not something which will happen," he told the hearing.

Excessive price

He also told the court he had defended Ms Cashman against criticism from band members who had difficulties with her.

But after working with her for two years contract negotiations broke down because her price was considered excessive.

Bono said Ms Cashman had bought trousers of different sizes for him during the Joshua Tree tour.

"Sadly I put on weight all the time. Oscillate is a word you could use," he said.

He added: "It's not particularly embarrassing because it's likely I would fit them again, whether they were a smaller size or a larger size."

The star dismissed suggestions he had been in a euphoric mood after the last date of the tour in Arizona and prepared to give away items to Ms Cashman.

'Raunchy'

Ms Cashman told the court she had been brought into the tour personally by Bono to help update the band's image and had thought of the Stetsons to give the band a more "raunchy" look.

And the stylist said there had never been any suggestions since she left the band's employ that she had wrongly taken anything.

A former assistant stylist and assistant wardrobe person both told the court they had not been given items.


The court heard Ms Cashman shipped the items to her London home from Arizona where the band had been touring.

Polaroids

U2 are seeking about 200 Polaroid photos which were taken by Ms Cashman as well earrings and a souvenir sweatshirt.

Bandmate Larry Mullen was also at the courthouse with U2 manager Paul McGuinness.

The band recently returned to their home city to perform three homecoming concerts at Dublin's Croke Park, which attracted more than 150,000 people.

U2 are due to take part in the Live 8 concerts on 2 July, playing the London leg of the event in Hyde Park.

The case was adjourned until Wednesday.

Here's the link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4629447.stm

 

[nbcrusader]

What people will do to make a buck.

 

[Vorsprung]

You mean....U2 had a stylist in the 80's???

 

[Carek1230]

I admit I made the awful mistake of buying Lola Cashman's book, altho I did not pay full price for it, I bought a used book. It was one of the worst books I have ever read and I am angry with myself that I spent a couple bucks on it. I wouldn't even loan it to anyone, I won't recommend it, it was terrible. I didn't finish it. I won't. I don't believe Ms. Cashman did anything to improve the "style" of U2, the boys can take full credit for having done that themselves! A plea to anyone out there wondering about her book: DO NOT READ IT, IT'S CRAP!

 

[BEVERLY56]

This from CNN.Com this morning - basically the same article.

CNNtoGO


Bono sues ex-stylist over clothes

Wednesday, June 29, 2005; Posted: 4:46 a.m. EDT (08:46 GMT)

Bono arrives at Dublin Circuit Court on Tuesday.
Image:


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YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS

Manage Alerts | What Is This? DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) -- Bono wants his hat back. And his earrings. His sweat shirt, too.

The Dublin-based rock group U2 has launched a lawsuit against its former stylist Lola Cashman, who has a range of memorabilia from her work on the band's 1987 "Joshua Tree" world tour.

In a stiflingly hot Dublin Circuit Court packed with fans, journalists and lawyers, Bono testified on Tuesday he was "saddened and disgusted" when Cashman tried in 2002 to auction off some of the items -- including a Stetson cowboy hat, sweat shirt, trousers and earrings worn by Bono during the tour.

Bono dismissed Cashman's claim that he ever gave her the Stetson, insisting it was a hallowed symbol of U2 in the late 1980s -- and his giving it away "would be like the Edge giving away his guitar. It just wouldn't happen."

Several other veteran employees of the U2 entourage testified that the band never gave away parts of their working wardrobe.

"It never entered my head to ask for anything. It would have been completely inappropriate," said a former assistant stylist, Judy Reith.

But Cashman, testifying after Bono left the courtroom, insisted Bono gave her the hat and earrings as gifts in the giddy aftermath of one concert in Arizona in December 1987.

"Bono was running around off stage in his underpants with his hat on," Cashman said, describing the moment when he allegedly handed over both the hat and earrings.

"To me it symbolized all I had achieved in my work, working on this amazing tour."

U2's lawyers stopped the 2002 sale by telling Christie's auction house in London the goods weren't Cashman's to sell. Cashman retaliated by filing a still-unresolved London lawsuit against U2 alleging defamation of character.

Cashman's senior lawyer in Dublin, Hugh Hartnett, accused Bono of mounting a "legal stunt" to try to thwart Cashman's own defamation claim.

"How on earth can it be a legal stunt to protect your reputation?" countered Bono, whose testimony often took lengthy tangents that ranged from the comical to the philosophical.

Bono testified that the Stetson was an important icon of U2's history because it features in so many of the band's photos and performances from the period, including the 1988 concert film "Rattle and Hum."

When Hartnett pressed him to defend his characterization of the Stetson as an icon, Bono conceded that the term was more appropriately used for religious objects -- but insisted that the hat was, indeed, an icon of sorts to many U2 fans, and its place in band history mattered.

"You attempt as a songwriter to place your work, not just on the road, not just in people's cars and homes, but into the popular consciousness. It's what songwriters do. We want our songs to be remembered as part of an era," he said.

When Hartnett suggested that U2-related items wouldn't have been considered iconic in the late 1980s, Bono inspired laughter from the packed courtroom with his quip: "Oh no, we had delusions of grandeur from the very beginning."

Relations between U2 and Cashman have been souring ever since she left the group in 1988 amid arguments over whether she overcharged for expenses.

They reached a new low in 2004 when Cashman published a tell-all book titled "Inside the Zoo With U2: My Life With the World's Biggest Rock Band."

In her story, she tells of drastically revamping the hair and dress sense of Bono and the other members -- guitarist The Edge, bassist Larry Mullen and drummer Adam Clayton -- and tells, in particular, of Bono's efforts to cloak his 5-foot-7 height and fight the flab.

U2, currently on the European half of its "Vertigo" world tour, completed a three-night concert stand Monday night in its hometown with an 80,000-seat sellout performance at Dublin's Croke Park stadium.

 

[bono_man2002]

You mean....U2 had a stylist in the 80's???

 

[ybird3k]

BBC : -

"U2 win memorabilia court battle
Rock band U2 have won their court fight for the return of memorabilia - including a Stetson hat - which they accused a former stylist of stealing.

The judge at Dublin's Circuit Court said he preferred the evidence frontman Bono gave over Lola Cashman's testimony that the items had been given as gifts.

Judge Matthew Deery ordered Ms Cashman to return the items, which also include earrings, within seven days.

Neither Ms Cashman or any band members were in court to hear the decision. "

yay