U-toons: October *

[TOON]

By Robert M. Wolpert

Experience: U2 on CD:UK*

By Jonathan Hammill
2004.10

Waking up to "You’ve won U2 tickets" at 8 a.m. has got to be the quickest recovery from the side effects of a good night out I’ve ever known. That’s exactly what greeted me when I logged on first thing Saturday morning to check my e-mails. The previous night I entered a competition on U2.com to win tickets for U2′s live appearance on "CD:UK," a chart program that goes out every Saturday morning in England.

After a two-hour journey we arrived at the studios. Once I proved that I was a competition winner, we were let in to the studios and took our places at the front of the U-shaped stage. We saw Kings of Leon record two songs before the stage was changed to square shape, allowing 20 fans to go in the round. These 20 were chosen at random.

During the10-minute wait we were worked up into a state of near frenzy by the warm up DJ before Adam walked across the stage, closely followed by Larry, Edge and then Bono. The band mimed "Vertigo" before launching into several very live performances. First was "Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own." This is the song that Bono sang at his father’s funeral and I could hear the emotion in his voice as he performed. Next up was "City of Blinding Lights," a song with classic guitar riffs and drums that will make it a crowd favorite next year when U2 takes the new album on the road. Finally, we were treated to "Miracle Drug," a song U2 was inspired to write about author Christopher Nolan. Bono’s introduction to the track was:

"We all went to the same school and just as we were leaving, a fellow called Christopher Nolan arrived. He had been deprived of oxygen for two hours when he was born, so he was paraplegic but his mother believed he could understand what was going on and used to teach him at home. Eventually, they discovered a drug that allowed him to move one muscle in his neck, so they attached this unicorn device to his forehead and he learned to type. And out of him came all these poems that he’d been storing up in his head. Then he put out a collection called ‘Dam-Burst of Dreams,’ which won a load of awards and he went off to university and became a genius—all because of a mother’s love and a medical breakthrough."

This song is the best I’ve heard so far off of the new album and I can imagine it closing the new live shows. The album is worth buying for this track alone, it sweeps you along and makes you feel the four-year wait for this album has been justified.

There was time to hear "Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own" played again for the TV special and I couldn’t help feel that the next four weeks until "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" is released are going to very long. U2 is back, and the rest of the world is about to discover it, too.

Interview: Paige Pedlar: Author of "Who Will Cuddle Them When They Sleep?"*

By Devlin Smith
2004.10

Last December, Paige Pedlar, then 6, and her mother were watching a special about AIDS in Africa on television. That night, after watching the program that focused on AIDS orphans, Paige asked her mother who comforted these children when they had nightmares. "My honest response was ‘No one,’" Paige’s mother Anna recalled on the website Cuddlethechildren.com.

Little could Anna have guessed that answer would inspire her daughter, a native of Whitby, Ontario, Canada, to become a champion for AIDS orphans in Africa. The day after watching the television program, Paige wrote a book on the crisis titled "Who Will Cuddle Them When They Sleep?" Soon, she was selling copies of her book door-to-door to raise money for the orphans.

The book soon fell into the hands of Joanne Ashley, a retired nurse and HIV/AIDS educator who was also a member of Rotary Int’l. Ashley shared the book with fellow Rotarians in District 7070 who agreed to take on this project. Paige’s book was soon published by Essence Publishing and is now available for purchase through the Cuddletheorphans.com website. Proceeds from the sale of the book benefit the Stephen Lewis Foundation, an organization helping woman and children affected by AIDS in Africa; Ve’AHAVTA, a Canadian Jewish humanitarian organization; the Rotary Foundation; and toward future sponsorship of an orphanage.

This past May, Paige’s book brought her to the attention of some very important figures. She, her mother and younger sister were invited to meet Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and Bono at Parliament Hill in Ottawa. In addition to posing for pictures with Martin and Bono, Paige also swapped books with Bono, receiving an autographed copy of his "Peter and The Wolf" in exchange for an autographed copy of her book.

Today Paige is a busy 7-year-old, balancing the responsibilities of school and home with appearances to discuss her book and talk about AIDS in Africa. She took the time to answer a few questions from Interference.com about "Who Will Cuddle Them When They Sleep?"

Where did you get the idea to write "Who Will Cuddle Them When They Sleep?"

From a TV show I saw with my mom.

Had you ever written a book before?

Yep, but I never got this far.

How long did it take you to write and illustrate the book?

About two weeks.

Why did you decide to start selling your book?

To help save the AIDS orphans because I was sad for them and they need money to buy medicine.

What do you hope people learn from reading your book?

That there is people in the world that need help and they’re very sick so we need to help get them money.

What has been the best part about being a published writer?

Meeting Prime Minister Paul Martin and other famous people like Bono.

In May, you met U2 singer Bono. Did you know who he was before you met?

No, but I knew he was a singer.

What was it like to meet Bono and Prime Minister Paul Martin?

Cool.

Bono gave you a copy of his book "Peter and The Wolf." What did you think of his artwork?

It was pretty good.

Do you have plans to write any more books?

Yes, I’m writing a fairy tale.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell our readers about "Who Will Cuddle Them When They Sleep?"

Please help me save the babies.

Thank you to Anna and Paige Pedlar for your help with this interview!

Song Analysis: Lemon*

By Emily Tipple
2004.10

We have all heard the song, the one that opens with a few rhythmic clicks, followed by a repetitive, electronic loop. Bono’s voice comes through in a bizarre distortion, with one simple word—lemon.

So we may have all heard the song off U2’s “Zooropa,” but what is it about? Popular rumors suggest it to be a song for Bono’s mother, written by him after viewing an old home movie in which his mother wore a particular shade of yellow. Others believe “Lemon” references John Boorman, the director of films including "Deliverance" and "Hope and Glory" who once described his craft as “turning money into light.” It is easy to buy into these explanations, they are both plausible, but can a song like “Lemon” really be so simple?

Listening to the song and reading through the lyrics, I have always felt “Lemon” is so much more then a longing for one’s mother or an off-handed reference to a director. “Lemon” is about imagination, dreams and the driving will to discover that place where those dreams meet reality.

Lemon, See through the sunlight
She wore lemon
But never in the day light
She’s gonna make you cry
She’s gonna make you whisper and moan
But when you’re dry
She draws the water from the stone
I feel like I’m slowly, slowly, slowly slipping under
I feel like I’m holding onto nothing
She wore lemon
To color in the cold grey night
She had heaven
And she held on so tight

On the outside, lemons are a bright fruit, but inside they are bitter. Likewise, dreams are also colorful, but often are the cause of much heartbreak. In this case, “she” is the dream. She is pushing Bono and U2 to chase the impossible. Through all the hardships and failures, she is there, giving comfort and light in the darkness of imagination. In a moment of pure honesty and desperation, Bono’s true voice breaks through in a plea, grasping for a reason to keep moving forward.

A man paints a picture
A moving picture
Through the light projected
He can see himself up close
A man captures color
A man likes to stare
He turns his money into light
To look for her
And I feel like I’m drifting, drifting, drifting from the shore
And I feel like I’m swimming out to her
Midnight is where the day begins

Hard work has paid off, the dream is realized. Bono has described himself as an artist, using words to paint a picture. U2’s imagination is the screen on which those ideas turned itself into reality, something that is alive and moving. And now that the dream has been realized, where do they go? Instead of “holding onto nothing,” Bono now sings of chasing her, of finding a new reason to go on. At the time, ZooTV was turning money, success and stardom into light. ZooTV was the midnight, where a new goal, a new dream was started.

A man builds a city
With banks and cathedrals
A man melts the sand so he can see the world outside (You’re gonna meet her there)
A man makes a car (She’s your destination)
A man builds a road to run them on (You gotta get to her)
A man dreams of leaving (She’s imagination)
But he always stays behind
And these are the days when our work has come asunder
And these are the days when we look for something other
Midnight is where the day begins.

There is a sense of urgency now. That first flicker of an idea has become reality and a desperate search has begun for something new, something else to reach and strive for. Success is being broken (or melted) down and reexamined in order to keep the reality from falling apart. In the end, “Lemon” takes U2 full circle, and at the same time marks the start of a new beginning.

This is just one interpretation. Music is subjective, each listener will hear a different tale, maybe even finding themselves lost somewhere in the music and lyrics. But, perhaps, “Lemon” is the story of a young band starting out with big dreams and big ideas. After U2’s success and stardom gained from “The Joshua Tree,” they sought to “dream it all up again” and “Lemon” describes that journey from dreams to realization and back again. After all, as we learned from "The Fly," “ambition bites the nails of success.”

Experience: U2 on ‘Top of the Pops’*

By Andrew Fletcher
2004.10

Oh my God, I really don’t know what else to say. I’ve been brought up better than to commit blasphemy but I think on certain occasions it might just be appropriate. I don’t know if I should have waited longer before writing this account, then I might be able to actually string a coherent sentence together. I am also aware that for a heterosexual male I might sound a bit gooey (all gooeyness should be left to the PLEBA girls, I know) but, sorry, sometimes that’s the affect these things have. I know also that you don’t want my personal details but, hey, you are going to get them anyway.

On Wednesday, after I had gone longer than usual without checking Interference, I saw the relevant article announcing U2.com’s giveaway of tickets to U2’s appearance on “Top of the Pops” (I have to confess that I don’t check U2.com very often). Right, I thought, my mother always taught me you don’t get anywhere without trying so what did have to lose by entering. I hadn’t watched “Top of the Pops” for years so when I was asked to name the current presenters I had to thoroughly research it, even having some difficulty using various search engines and, as a result, missed the first couple of minutes of the final debate. Then I thought how nice it would be if I actually won but thought in a British sort of way that there was no chance that I would.

A little before 9 o’clock Thursday night I got an e-mail informing me that I was one of the 75 lucky winners. I had been under the impression that any winners would be informed by the afternoon so had spent part of the day a little disappointed but planned to go down to the studio anyway, thinking that, at the very least, I would see more there than I would sat in front of a television set. As a result, I didn’t actually check my e-mails until nearly midnight but, when I did, one of my housemates said that it was the first time he had ever seen my little face truly light up. We were promised a performance with two songs but one would have been more than enough for me. After that I decided to look through the usual suspects on the Net to try and find out all I could about the taping but all I really saw was Devlin asking anyone if they’d like to write an article about it for Interference.com so I emailed her and explained that I’d been very lucky but that it would be an honor to write for Interference.com, then I went to bed.

This wasn’t an entirely successful venture. I would by lying if I said I had got much sleep, it was very much akin to the night before Christmas when you were a kid. I’ve been desperate to see U2 live again after the Elevation tour left London in Aug. 2001 (I’ve kicked myself constantly over not getting tickets for Glasgow) but I thought that I would have to wait until next June for another chance to see the band perform and, suddenly, I was seeing U2 tomorrow.

Then I got up and hoped that my Vertigo T-shirt had finally arrived so that I could wear it in case I was on the TV, but it hadn’t (if U2.com and Fan Fare don’t want free publicity it’s no skin off of my nose). My housemate and I drove down to London, this, apart from the weather, was fairly uneventful, but then we had to get on the Tube. I have used the Tube many, many times and problems have been few and far between. The last time I had a major problem was on the way to Elevation when it sat outside of Earl’s Court station for over 30 minutes and I nearly had a seizure. Today it was slow and I had a real sense of déj

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