Tried to post this a while ago...no luck. Will try again.
This is a great little story, from a great radio station in Chicago WXRT. Thought you guys might enjoy.
Tales from Behind the Mic: Terri Hemmert
Ever wonder what life's like for a DJ? Terri Hemmert shares a story about U2, The Unforgettable Fire and Chicago's Peace Museum
Tales from Behind the Mic
It was 1983, and the Peace Museum here in Chicago was about to present the largest exhibit of its' history... Give Peace A Chance. As you can guess by the title, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were going to be well represented in this exhibit on folk and rock music and the peace movement. So the museum staff contacted this Beatle fan about helping to curate the exhibit. Sounded like a good idea to me, so I came aboard as a volunteer and this would lead to some fantastic encounters with Yoko. That's another story for another day.
Of course I enjoyed working on the John and Yoko items... the guitar from the Bed-In For Peace, the acorns for peace, a lithograph by John of their very public honeymoon in bed... Yoko was very generous. I also lent the museum my certificate for the tree planted in my sister Joni's memory at the John Lennon Peace Forest in Israel. I also solicited photos of XRT listeners loved ones for the Imagine room.
But the more I worked on the exhibit, the more concerned I was that we were focusing on the 1960's when there was so much going on in the early 80's. So we started incorporating artists like Laurie Anderson, The Clash, The Talking Heads, Bob Marley and Stevie Wonder. Then, not long before the opening of the exhibit, this up and coming band from Ireland, U2, released their new album, War. What incredible timing! XRT had been playing U2 since they were putting out singles and I felt this album was so strong it would make them superstars. I'm seldom right when I predict stuff like this but with U2, I was on the mark for a change.
So I thought it would be fantastic to get a manuscript of one of the anti-war songs in Bono's hand and maybe one of the U2/War white flags. A reasonable request, don't you think? Well, not so fast. I started making phone calls with my request and was met with total disinterest. At one point I almost gave up, but hung in there because I knew if we could get something from this band it would show museum visitors that music about peace isn't in the past... it's alive and well in the present. So I kept calling till I reached Ellen Darst, U2's road manager. For once I got a human being who was actually interested! I explained what we wanted and she said she'd check with "the boys" and get back to me. She later called back saying the band wanted to meet with me... they were very interested.
So May of 1983, Marianne Philbin, the Director of the Peace Museum at the time accompanied me to the Hilton Hotel coffee shop to meet with "the boys." They were exhausted because they were touring the Midwest by bus and weren't even staying overnight in Chicago. They were due to play the Aragon later that evening but took the time to hear what we had to say. Marianne brought catalogues of past exhibits including The Unforgettable Fire, an exhibit about the atomic bombings of Japan at the end of World War II and Martin Luther King Jr, Peacemaker. Bono and the lads were so interested in the concept of a museum for peace. We had a wonderful meeting and they promised to deliver. Did they ever!!! They donated their stage backdrop from the tour, one of the white flags Bono used on stage and the manuscript I requested at the very beginning of this process. So we were thrilled that they were so generous. Give Peace A Chance was an enormous success!
But that's not the end of the story. The next year, 1984, U2 released the incredible album The Unforgettable Fire with not one but two songs about Dr. King. They also worked with the Peace Museum about setting up an exhibit in Dublin using pieces from these exhibits. In interviews they have credited their encounter with the Peace Museum for giving them a sense of focus with their ideals and helping propel them on to activism that continues to this day. Bono even wrote a poem about the Peace Museum. They continue to support the museum's work and recently donated a guitar they used on stage, autographed by all four. They wanted the museum to auction it for a fund raiser and that happened this summer at a benefit at Buddy Guy's Legends.
The more the story gets told, the more it gets messed up. I recently saw a book that said The Unforgettable Fire album was influenced by a trip they made to a museum when they were on tour in Japan. Wrong. I know because I was there. I will never forget that afternoon with U2 at the Hilton Hotel coffee shop.
And the moral of the story is... don't ever give up when you have an idea, follow it through. Sometimes it even grows to something much bigger than you imagined. Remember, I was just looking for a manuscript and a flag. Mr. Lennon was right when he invited us to Imagine
This is a great little story, from a great radio station in Chicago WXRT. Thought you guys might enjoy.
Tales from Behind the Mic: Terri Hemmert
Ever wonder what life's like for a DJ? Terri Hemmert shares a story about U2, The Unforgettable Fire and Chicago's Peace Museum
Tales from Behind the Mic
It was 1983, and the Peace Museum here in Chicago was about to present the largest exhibit of its' history... Give Peace A Chance. As you can guess by the title, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were going to be well represented in this exhibit on folk and rock music and the peace movement. So the museum staff contacted this Beatle fan about helping to curate the exhibit. Sounded like a good idea to me, so I came aboard as a volunteer and this would lead to some fantastic encounters with Yoko. That's another story for another day.
Of course I enjoyed working on the John and Yoko items... the guitar from the Bed-In For Peace, the acorns for peace, a lithograph by John of their very public honeymoon in bed... Yoko was very generous. I also lent the museum my certificate for the tree planted in my sister Joni's memory at the John Lennon Peace Forest in Israel. I also solicited photos of XRT listeners loved ones for the Imagine room.
But the more I worked on the exhibit, the more concerned I was that we were focusing on the 1960's when there was so much going on in the early 80's. So we started incorporating artists like Laurie Anderson, The Clash, The Talking Heads, Bob Marley and Stevie Wonder. Then, not long before the opening of the exhibit, this up and coming band from Ireland, U2, released their new album, War. What incredible timing! XRT had been playing U2 since they were putting out singles and I felt this album was so strong it would make them superstars. I'm seldom right when I predict stuff like this but with U2, I was on the mark for a change.
So I thought it would be fantastic to get a manuscript of one of the anti-war songs in Bono's hand and maybe one of the U2/War white flags. A reasonable request, don't you think? Well, not so fast. I started making phone calls with my request and was met with total disinterest. At one point I almost gave up, but hung in there because I knew if we could get something from this band it would show museum visitors that music about peace isn't in the past... it's alive and well in the present. So I kept calling till I reached Ellen Darst, U2's road manager. For once I got a human being who was actually interested! I explained what we wanted and she said she'd check with "the boys" and get back to me. She later called back saying the band wanted to meet with me... they were very interested.
So May of 1983, Marianne Philbin, the Director of the Peace Museum at the time accompanied me to the Hilton Hotel coffee shop to meet with "the boys." They were exhausted because they were touring the Midwest by bus and weren't even staying overnight in Chicago. They were due to play the Aragon later that evening but took the time to hear what we had to say. Marianne brought catalogues of past exhibits including The Unforgettable Fire, an exhibit about the atomic bombings of Japan at the end of World War II and Martin Luther King Jr, Peacemaker. Bono and the lads were so interested in the concept of a museum for peace. We had a wonderful meeting and they promised to deliver. Did they ever!!! They donated their stage backdrop from the tour, one of the white flags Bono used on stage and the manuscript I requested at the very beginning of this process. So we were thrilled that they were so generous. Give Peace A Chance was an enormous success!
But that's not the end of the story. The next year, 1984, U2 released the incredible album The Unforgettable Fire with not one but two songs about Dr. King. They also worked with the Peace Museum about setting up an exhibit in Dublin using pieces from these exhibits. In interviews they have credited their encounter with the Peace Museum for giving them a sense of focus with their ideals and helping propel them on to activism that continues to this day. Bono even wrote a poem about the Peace Museum. They continue to support the museum's work and recently donated a guitar they used on stage, autographed by all four. They wanted the museum to auction it for a fund raiser and that happened this summer at a benefit at Buddy Guy's Legends.
The more the story gets told, the more it gets messed up. I recently saw a book that said The Unforgettable Fire album was influenced by a trip they made to a museum when they were on tour in Japan. Wrong. I know because I was there. I will never forget that afternoon with U2 at the Hilton Hotel coffee shop.
And the moral of the story is... don't ever give up when you have an idea, follow it through. Sometimes it even grows to something much bigger than you imagined. Remember, I was just looking for a manuscript and a flag. Mr. Lennon was right when he invited us to Imagine
Thank you Su2z! You helped me more than you will ever know! Even if our ideas are different-they are just as important to US as anyone else's!! Thanku for sharing ur story-even if you did have to be very persistant!! Congrats on meeting the boys and the success of ur peace museum!
