Category: Uncategorized

U2 is back in the studio again at Abby Road Studios – made famous by The Beatles and are working with producer Rick Rubin.
From U2.com:

Tuesday, September 5th
London, Abbey Road Studios: birthplace to most of the Beatles records, and countless other classic albums from Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ to Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’.
Larry and Edge have flown in from Dublin, Bono from France and Adam, already in the city, has taken the short drive across town. Waiting in the control room is the instantly recognisable figure of Mr Rick Rubin, a producer whose musical pedigree stretches from Justin Timberlake to The Mars Volta, from Johnny Cash to Metallica. Rubin met up with the band earlier in the summer down in France and word is that some of what was written and demoed then will be recorded properly in the coming days.
Whatever the heritage of the famous Studio 2, it wasn’t the spirit of the sixties blasting out when U2 showed… it was seventies punk. Barely had the band arrived than they were into a cover of ‘The Saints Are Coming’, a 1978 hit for The Skids.
‘The saints are coming, the saints are coming.
I say no matter how I try, I realise there’s no reply’
Larry tells us they spent most of the day on this and were still working in the small hours of Wednesday. Green Day are arriving in a few days to work with them on a cover, a collaboration to benefit Music Rising.

Wednesday, September 6th 06
Back in the studio this afternoon, a late kick-off but now working on a new U2 track. Taping, as we used to call it, is briefly interrupted when Paul McCartney and Beatles producer George Martin drop by. U2 and McCartney were last in a London studio together in the summer of 2005, rehearsing ‘Sergeant Pepper’. Then playing Live 8 to a billion people next day. Bit of a moment to see Macca sliding down the bannister of the stairway from the control room to the studio floor. This place is like his second home. Then U2 got back to making music… and on into the night.

Thursday, September 7th 06
U2 were again at work by early afternoon, this time on a track that sounds like a U2 classic with an instant hook and a mesmerising chorus.
‘Bono had demoed it in Dublin,’ explains Larry. ‘Then brought it to the band and even in its most basic form you had the feeling that something special was going on.
‘It felt that maybe this time we were not going to be pushing a rock up a hill as we do a lot of the time with new material.’
Another late night finish but the vibes are good.

Friday, September 8th 06
Bono often talks of U2’s approach to creating new material as ‘songwriting by accident’. But there’s nothing accidental going on today. Adam, Larry, Edge and Bono are seated around the control room chatting to Rubin who sits on a sprawling leather sofa. They play back their latest take and go through it passage by passage.
Bono has three quarters of the lyric written out on a large pad of white paper – alternative stanzas scribbled alongside the main theme. Two key lines in the verses are missing – to which Bono is la’ing and humming on each take – and it needs some kind of pay-off at the end. It’s a song with no name at the moment.
Larry suggests hearing the first half of one verse segued into the second half of the next. Edge comes up with a missing line – using the world ‘apologise’. If you’re a rap star, says Rick, who knows about rap stars, you get extra points for getting a four-syllable word in your song. Lyrical ideas fly round the room with Bono scribbling them down. Every now and then he goes to the mic, the engineer brings the track up and he tries out a new line. Edge lays down some backing vocals. Larry and Bono swap Oasis anecdotes while Rick talks bass-lines with Adam. Edge scribbles another pair of lines on the back of an envelope.
By early evening Abbey Road has emptied of musicians, engineers and producers but U2 are on a roll. By ten pm many of the missing elements in the song have been added. Everyone listens back again. Nowhere near finished but now with a complete lyric, a new opening and a different ending.
‘It’s been a good day,’ says the singer. ‘This is one that could take the roof off! Let’s call it a night.’

If you haven’t heard David Barnes, be sure and check him out.

From Mike:

For those of you who don’t know Rabih, who wrote the following piece, he is not a professional writer or journalist, but always had a good handle on poetry. This is not poetry, but possibly poetic in its timing and clear, clean approach and timing. It went to my blog right away.
Regardless of your feelings on 9/11, this is a very good read.

—

My Dear Friends from America,

I’m writing to tell you that my thoughts and feelings are with you and the American people on this special day that marks five years since September 11. Today is day of remembrance, of meditation, of emotion. Though the whole world was affected by the events of 9/11, and in many ways a new world order came to be as a result, on this day my thoughts are with the three thousand and more families whose lives were changed. Everything can be rebuilt but the loss of a loved one is forever. On this day I also take a moment to stand up straight and give salute to the oh so brave men and women who against all odds rushed to the scenes that people were fleeing and risked their lives to give a helping hand. I recall the words of our Lord: “Greater love has no one that this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Theirs is story of courage, of bravery, of unquestionable love. They are real heroes.
Today is an important day for us, the alive and the capable. An important day for you, especially as Americans. It is a day of judgment and accountability. As we reflect on the memory of the lost ones, as we stand before their graves, we ask ourselves: What have we said and what have we done so that those who died did not do so in vain? Has it been right? Has it been enough? It is a great feeling of inner void to stand before those who have sacrificed their all, willingly or not, and to look into the eyes of the heroes who gave their all, realising that we could have contributed more. September 11 lies two weeks before memorial day of the fallen soldiers of the Lebanese Forces. Every year I stand somberly as I count my overdues. Those of you who have had the chance — or have made it point — to visit Normandy Memorial Site in Northern France, which lies only a few hundred feet from one of the D-Day beaches, would perhaps know what I’m talking about. For two hours, I did not utter a single word. At times I found it hard to stand up as the overwhelming sense of respect kept bringing me to my knees. There is no raised Lebanese flag and no Lebanese soldier in the earth of this site. They fell for a war not fought in my country or for the liberation of my country. They fell in a war that ended almost two generations before I was born. But they laid their lives for principles that define my being: freedom, sovereignty, dignity, justice, human rights, and peace. That is enough for me to hold myself and my conscious accountable before their deeds, as I believe any responsible and aware citizen of the free world should. Those who died in September 11 were not in a war. They were not in battle for a just cause. They did not volunteer to die. Death was wickedly brought upon them by those — independent of race and religion — who chose to revolt against the principles of the free world. They are the victims and the martyrs of those principles, and as such we owe them a lot. Today is a day when we question what have we done? What have our governments done? I am not the person to judge, right or wrong, the results of the American government, the Lebanese government, and the many other nation’s governments “war on terror”. Only time will tell. But as I reflect on this day, I ask whether we would have accomplished more and given back more, had our governments, motivated by our individual and collective intentions, instead fought for “a commitment for justice and peace”. These are my thoughts at least, which I share with you.
The reality is that September 11 happens everyday in many countries of the world. We are all responsible for stopping September 11 and not letting it happen ever again, for the memory of the fallen, for ourselves, and for our children and their children.
My thoughts and prayers are with you, America.
Sincerely,
Rabih El-Khoury

Be sure and listen to the latest podcast from encounter.
We celebrated our one year anniversary yesterday and Brian gave another relevant message over gaining a cutting edge with our faith.

As of right now, if you do a search for encounter in the iTunes music store, we’re the featured podcast along with ABC. So subscribing is even easier.

And if you’re not into podcasting, feel free to just listen to or download the Mp3 of the message at: encounterthis.com/podcast
Enjoy!

Ground Zero
Originally uploaded by Jdblundell.

Today is 9/11. Five years after tragedy struck the World Trade Center and Pentagon. What do you remember about that day?

Not much going on so far – but I’m blogging LIVE from the Ellis County Commissioners Court meeting this morning.