Cuba Travel Blog Coming Soon...

On 14th June this year, Keith and I went to Cuba for our holidays... the first time we have ever been to the Caribbean. But definitely not the last! I am currently working on writing about it, and will be posting very soon. It may have to come in instalments, but it WILL come eventually.

Missing In Action... But Now I am Back!

I've been neglecting my blog lately. I am not just sitting on my laurels though. I have been busy writing other stuff and have been doing a lot of creative stuff sort of behind the scenes, as it were! I need to get my novel finished so have been looking at that and also writing some other fiction. Also, I have been writing up an account of my recent trip to Cuba. That will be up on my blog in the next couple of days.

A lot of other stuff has been happening in my life too lately. Work is madness and sometimes stressful - mainly, it has to be said, because of the moods and despression of friends that I work with, rather than how I actually feel myself. Some people cope with certain situations better than others, and I am the kind of person who for the most part lets things roll off my back, and am not easily fazed by people. But it's hard when you see people you are close too, feeling so demoralized.

On Monday, we had my nan's funeral. She was 97 so you could say she had a fair crack of the whip, but still.... it has been a sad time and Monday was emotional. It was weird though, because in the process of burying her, I unearthed a lot of stuff that was buried in me. We went to the church I was practically raised in - attached to the school I attended until I was 11 years old and moved up to high school. It looked so much smaller than I remembered, but it was so eerily familiar even though it has been 32 years since I last set foot in it. The smells transported me right back and I became that child who took communion, lit candles for the souls I didn't know and knelt in front of a bishop who anointed my head and welcomed me into the Catholic "Club" when I was Confirmed.

Strange, mad times! You can read a poem I wrote on my Blog about the experience of this church by clicking here.

Anyway, I have lots of projects either on the go or in my mind, and hopefully I will find the time to get them all off the ground.

Meanwhile, I intend to post on my blog more, so get ready!

And I have had an idea for another blog site - U2 related. Watch this space!!!

Staring at the Sun!

You know when sometimes you see something so beautiful you have to capture it forever? This is the sight that confronted me when I looked out of the aeroplane window on my way back from Dublin on Tuesday. The day had been gloriously hot and sunny, and the feeling that summer is here was very much with me. The sunset was breathtaking. I paid a price for this shot though... I had dark spots in my vision for literally hours later. Burnt retinas are no fun! I think they are just about back to normal though.

Dublin was fantastic. It was so good just to go there for the day, although that felt so weird as I had never done it before. It was exciting to have so much to do and so little time to do it... kind of a challenge. As the quote goes though, the "best laid plans of mice and men" were changed at the last minute, and we spent most of the afternoon down at Hanover Quay. We paid a visit to U2's place... saw all the band arrive, and lots of staff, technicians, musicians, producers, directors, come and go. But no luck with talking to any of the guys this time. Everyone is so busy at the moment and we understand that. We got a few words from Brian Eno though.... not about the record, unfortunately. He popped to the Spar shop for something and on the way back he just nodded and smiled and said how nice a day it was.

Bono peeped his horn at us as he drove into the garage, but never made an appearance. And we know there must have been a good reason for that.

So.... we ambled up the street to Milano, a lovely Italian restaurant, where we had a delicious dinner with a bottle of wine. A much welcome end to our whirlwind trip.

You can read Sue's account of our day here.

U2 Interview Archive

Dan Eliot has a fabulous website that has dozens of U2 interviews from the early days right up to the present. They are listed in categories, and also by collection. My "Real Thing" interview is there, for anyone who does not want to download it. Dan has done all the hard work and all you have to do is listen.

Go HERE for Dan's site.....

Shooting Peacocks Up The Arse!

As promised, here are links so that you can download the interview that I did with Bono in June 1997. It is in 2 parts.

I'll just give you some background to set the scene. This was at about 9pm, and my co-editor and I were in my living room, drinking the first of two bottles of red wine, staring at the telephone. When the phone rang, we jumped about 3 feet in the air. As you can hear, we were excited and nervous to start with, especially when we heard Bono's many "Helloooos". I was convinced that it was a friend of mine winding us up - because many of our friends knew we were expecting Bono to call, so I thought someone had thought it would be a hoot to "hijack" the phone!!

Anyway, it turned out to be the real Bono, and once he calmed down we got on okay. He was phoning from Chicago, and the time there was about 3pm, but I think Bono had not long got up!!

We were so thrilled to get almost 40 minutes of his time. He seemed really to enjoy the chat, and even though we thought when he said "Hold on, someone at the door" at the end of the first file here, he was going to use that as an excuse to leave, we were delighted when he came back and carried on chatting for ages after. The pause for the door was a couple of minutes, but of course I have cut that out.

Lots of wonderful, quotable Bono-isms in this, including the title of this post. Lots of gems.

A few embarrassing things came out of my mouth, but hopefully you will all be too polite to even notice them!!! At one point I tried to say the word "technologically" but it's hard to do when you have the best part of a bottle of wine in ya!!! LOL I think I got away with it.

For anyone confused by the the two "interviewer voices"... mine is the first voice on answering the phone to Beth. I say "yes we're here." and I think my speech is faster than my co-editor's. I've always been a motormouth!!! I also tell Bono that there are some questions from subsribers to the fanzine that we will drop in from time to time.

He he, I also tell him we are drinking wine, which causes a nice reaction from him. He had no wine.... he was munching bananas!

But anyway, I digress. Just download and enjoy. And please let me know what you think.

As I said, I may get a transcript up here soon, which may pick out anything you might miss on the sound.

So anyway, here are the files

Real Thing Interview 26th June 1997 # 1

Real Thing Interview 26th June 1997 #2

Oh, and it's been a long time since I listened to this all the way through. I just did so today and had to laugh at the excited squealing we did when Bono had hung up the phone. Well, at least I hope he had hung up!!!!

Down a big black hole...

This last week I have been uploading songs to my iPod ready for my holiday, which is coming up on June 14th. On looking through all my CDs to decide what to put on there, I came across the CD of my interview with Bono, which took place on 26th June, 1997. God, that was so long ago, but I remember quite clearly the way I felt during the time I was negotiating getting the interview.

I was doing the fanzine "The Real Thing" with co-editor, Jackie Harper, and had written to Principle Management asking them if there was any chance. I can't even remember what date we originally asked, but I do know it was a long time before we actually got the interview.

On July 26th, 1996, something quite amazing happened. I picked up the post from my doormat (remember when you used to get REAL post?) and there was a letter from Dublin. I opened it and almost died on the spot! This is what it said...

I unfolded the enclosed letter with great excitement. Below is a scan of it, and, for anyone not used to Bono's scribble, there is a transcript below it.

"Debbi

Just a note to say that we're down a big black hole at the moment recording the U2 album.... hoping to come out of it soon.... with some digital light and a bunch of new tunes.... meanwhile we're not making much sense and incapable of talking to anyone excluding each other....... comminicating by grunt..... feedback and drums might not make for a good chat.

See you down the road.

Bono"

As you can imagine, I was so excited to get this letter, and it put my mind at rest that at least Bono actually knew about us trying to get the interview. It gave me hope.

However, it was to be almost one year until we finally got the interview. Of course, the album that had the band down a big black hole was Pop, and when we talked to Bono they had already started the Popmart tour in America.

Once I figure out how to do it, I will be posting the interview, and maybe a transcript, time permitting.

Time Flies...

I'm a bit late posting this, because I meant to post on Bono's birthday. Not just because it was his birthday (though that is a good excuse) but because exactly one year ago on that day (May 10th) I was in Dublin with my friends, enjoying the luxury of the penthouse suite at The Clarence and sipping much champagne!

You can read about my exploits here, here and here!

Enjoy