U2 and the academia waltz

So if you've already got tickets for U2's Oct. 3 Raleigh show, here's your chance to make a full weekend of it. Presenting U2: The Hype and the Feedback,  "A conference exploring the music, work and influence of U2" that happens the same weekend at Durham's NC Central University. Among the nearly 50 papers scheduled to be presented are "U2 and the Poetics of Absence," "Nothing Succeeds Like Failure: U2 and the Politics of Irony," "Bono Versus Nick Cave on Jesus" and, of course, "Bono's Sweat."

The conference is the brainchild of Scott Calhoun from Cedarville University in Ohio, who describes himself as, "English professor by day, U2 fan round-the-clock." He's been working on pulling this conference together for a couple of years now, and had narrowed sites down to either Durham or Oxford, Miss. The proximity of U2's Raleigh show the same weekend proved to be the deciding factor, which begs the obvious question: Since U2 will be in the Triangle that same weekend, any chance that Bono and company might show up at the conference?

"Well, we'll do our best," Calhoun says with a laugh. "We've certainly extended an invitation, so who knows? We do want to make sure our Saturday programming ends early enough so that everyone can get over to Raleigh for the show."