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What to Watch on Saturday: Your pick of zombies or witches

America's Most Wanted (8pm, Fox) - In one of a series of special presentations of "America's Most Wanted" to air on Fox, host John Walsh spotlights fugitives from all 50 states.

From the Sky Down (8pm, Showtime) - Irish rock band U2 recall the recording and release of their 1991 album, "Achtung Baby," in this documentary directed by David Guggenheim.

Possessing Piper Rose (8pm, Lifetime) - A family experiences horrific nightmares after they adopt a 4-year-old girl whose dead birth mother seems intent on repossessing her from beyond the grave. Rebecca Romijn and David Cubitt star.

The Good Witch's Family (9pm, Hallmark) - Good witch Cassie (Catherine Bell, left) welcomes her long-lost cousin Abigail (Sarah Power) into her home. Abigail is up to no good, there seeking revenge for a childhood grudge. This is the fourth installment in the "Good Witch" series.

Zombie Apocalypse (9pm, Syfy) - A zombie plague decimates most of America's population and spurs a small band of survivors to seek refuge on the island of Catalina.

Zombies: A Living History (9pm, History) - The concept of zombies and references throughout history are explored, including the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible; Viking legends; and voodoo rituals of Haiti.

It's the Black Eyed Peas' world, we just live in it

Say this for the Black Eyed Peas: Their party-down chants might be the epitome of lowest-common-denominator brain viruses; but they sure do aim high, nevertheless.

"We went into this knowing we want to be a group like U2, to have that kind of longevity," said Jaime "Taboo" Gomez in a recent interview. "Bono can step out and do his own thing, Edge can step out -- but they always come back and give the world that U2 experience. The rest of our career, whether we're branching out into movies or clothing lines, shoes, books, whatever, whether it's Black Eyed Peas as a whole or individual expressions of ourselves, so be it."

For lots more, and details about the Peas' Raleigh show, see the story in Friday's paper.

ADDENDUM (2/20/10): See this very nice photo gallery from the show, and here's a review.

The bottom line on U2

If you want to have some fun, ring up a giant concert promoter -- Live Nation, say -- and ask to see the contract for a huge concert -- U2, say -- at a public facility. O.K., maybe "fun" isn't quite the right word. But the indignantion that such questions induce can be quite entertaining.


Entertainment value aside, however, the law says that such information must be divulged when it is asked for. It's interesting to see all the details, financial and otherwise, spelled out about a show like U2's Oct. 3 concert at NC State's Carter-Finley Stadium. And that's why we're here, to jump through the hoops of Freedom of Information Act requests to get those documents in order to pass the data on to you. N&O reporters have been asking to see the U2 contracts for months, and they finally hit paydirt this week. Check the results here.

Also, here's an interesting piece about the finances of the whole U2 tour.

I Was Totally Destroying It's double life

Like a lot of bands, I Was Totally Destroying It doubles as an occasional tribute band. But IWTDI's tribute-band alter ego is loads cooler than most. They call themselves I Was Totally Destroying U2, and they've got their target subject down perfectly -- especially frontman John Booker's conjuring of Bono's histrionics.

"I put on that stupid leather jacket and the shades, and it helps get the character going," Booker says. "I have a blast with it, and the whole thing is a lot of fun. It also helps fund I Was Totally Destroying It, which we need. We just had a crazy tour. A window got smashed out in the van."

The next I Was Totally Destroying U2 show is scheduled for Jan. 2 at Raleigh's Tir Na Nog. In the meantime, you really should catch IWTDI's original-band incarnation because the group's new album is fantastic. A fine place would be tonight at Duke Coffeehouse, as part of Durham's Troika Music Festival. See the story in Friday's paper; and for some audiovisual content, check their bit from the 2008 edition of Eight Great Local Acts or their recent Studio B performance.

ADDENDUM (3/10/10): Brazilian spot for Vivo phones.

NC State Fair versus U2

Supposedly, Thursday's attendance at the NC State Fair was 108,929 -- trumpeted as "a new record for Food Lion Hunger Relief Day." Maybe Anoop Desai (who performed that evening) was a bigger draw than anyone thought. But I drove by the fairgrounds at midday with no trouble at all; barely even had to slow down, in fact.

So what I want to know is this: How is it possible that yesterday's six-figure crowd apparently caused nary a traffic ripple, when a crowd of fewer than 60,000 for the Oct. 3 U2 show resulted in the mother of all traffic jams?

North Carolina: Come for the tunes, stay for the barbecue

So U2 apparently isn't the only band from elsewhere that digs North Carolina barbecue. Check out this excerpt from a recent tour-diary entry by the Nashville rock band The Ettes:


It is dark, and we shall soon arrive in North Carolina for a brief
night's rest. We come to western N.C. whenever we can, to chill, stare
at mountains and eat barbecue. What is important for you to know is
while there is indeed a difference between Memphis, St. Louis and
Carolina barbecue, Carolina is the best. Growing up we would say,
"God's favorite color is Carolina blue!" referring both to the Tarheels
of Chapel Hill, as well as the actual clear blue skies surrounding the
Blue Ridge Mountains.

So much for my 'career' in concert reviewing... my take on U2 at Carter-Finley

Tags: Best Blog | U2
So I sat out to 'review' the U2 concert from a longtime superfan's perspective in this week's Garner-Clayton Record and The Herald of Johnston County. You can read it here.
Obviously I'm not much of a concert reviewer. Seriously, how
hard is it to review a concert? Said band played 'X' number of up-tempo
songs from their new album, transitioned into some of their older
stuff, acted like they were leaving/the show was over/came back for
four more songs, mixing a couple of their absolute best ever with a new
one or two. Show's over, everybody goes home happy.
But guess what? I'm no good at it; horrible, in fact.
So this is what my
'review' of the U2 concert turned into. It's probably the only time Hal
Stewart's old lucky socks and Bono have been appeared in the same
story.

U2 traffic: also huge

U2's Saturday night concert wasn't just an epic show, it also involved one of the most epic traffic jams in local history. I can tell you that it was incredibly chaotic and poorly organized, among the worst pre-concert set-ups I've ever experienced. After sitting in traffic for an hour, I was finally waved into a parking lot that was already full; I essentially had to improvise a parking place of my own and hope I didn't get towed (I didn't, thankfully).

But I was lucky compared to some folks, who didn't even make it into the show. See some of the horror stories here.

Duke prof gets a U2 shout-out

Ariel Dorfman, the novelist who has taught at Duke for 25 years now, got a shout-out Saturday during the big U2 show in Raleigh.

Near the end of the show, Bono, the mega-band's singer, dedicated the evening to Dorfman, according to this report

In 1998, Bono and playwright Harold Pinter contributed to Deadline, a fictional film set to two of Dorfman's poems.

Bono as head of state

Back when he was the most controversial member of the U.S. Senate, Jesse A. Helms was also half of the oddest couple in American life. The late senator from North Carolina and U2 frontman Bono formed an unlikely political alliance late in the senator's career, to fight AIDS in Africa. Bono and Helms met for dinner before U2 played Chalotte in 2005; And this past Saturday, his widow Dot Helms dropped in on Bono before the band's show at Carter-Finley Stadium. Helms' former chief of staff Jimmy Broughton sends along this picture and report:

She was delighted to see him as Bono and Sen. Helms developed a strong and genuine friendship. Bono walked into the room backstage and greeted Mrs. Helms warmly and said that it was because of "Jesse" that more than 3 million children are alive and on anti-retroviral drugs today in Africa. He's said that before and it's quite genuine. Bono then talked about being in Washington, D.C., last week and seeing some of the Senator's colleagues. Mrs. Helms thanked Bono for his gracious comments when her husband died and also wanted to make sure senators were still helping as "Jesse did." Bono said he's been impressed with some of the new senators and continues to work with those who served with Sen. Helms. He mentioned Vice President Biden and how much he and Sen. Helms worked together to start the process on global AIDS relief. Mrs. Helms commented on how much Biden and the Senator liked each other -- classmates, did not have to always agree to be friends, etc. It was a great meeting and Mrs. Helms really enjoyed it.

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