U2‘s Taste of Apple

Nov. 3, 2004

U2, whose new tune “Vertigo” has been heard in those snazzy ipod commercials for the past few weeks, are said to be getting involved in quite the deal with Apple Computers (makers, of course, of the ipod itself). With their new album (their 11th studio album), How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, out this week for you to buy, it’s a good time to buy an ipod, too - buy one of the special edition black ipods this week (the week of U2’s album release), and it’ll supposedly come preloaded with the entire new U2 album; rumor has it that the special edition ipod might also contain a kind of digital version of U2’s greatest hits. All of this remains to be seen, however, since both U2 and Apple are jockeying for a high-profile official press conference to let you officially know all of this...

The Latin America version of the MTV Video Music Awards took place last week, with a very diverse roster of both award-winners and performers. The stage show featured live tunes from the likes of the Black Eyed Peas, Lenny Kravitz, Julieta Venegas, Molotov, the Beastie Boys, and rapper Pitbull, while MTV awards were given out to Maroon 5 (Best International Rock Artist and Best International New Artist), Avril Lavigne (Best International Pop Artist), the aforementioned Peas (Best International Hip-Hop/R Artist), Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz (Best Pop Artist), Belinda (Best New Artist: Mexico), Airbag (Best New Artist: Argentina), Mexican group Cafe Tacuba, and Venegas, who took top honors with three of the awards, which, instead of the Moonmen that the U.S. VMA winners receive, were replicas of a large tongue pierced with the MTV logo. The awards show was taped and will air on MTV on October 30 at 11 pm...

Hey, look, kids, it’s yet another awards show! The Billboard Digital Entertainment Awards are set to hand out their first awards ever on November 5, in honor of “vision and innovation” in digital entertainment. Awards will be presented in 26 categories, including honors for music and film, games, tv, and video. The Rolling Stones are finalists for two of the awards for their Four Flicks music DVD; also up for nods are the Dave Matthews Band (for Dave Matthews Band in Central Park), the Sex Pistols (for The Filth and the Fury: The Sex Pistols), Coldplay (for Coldplay Live 2003), Phish (for their download internet site) and Prince (for his NPG Music Club). Companies get to make a play for honors, too - among the nominees this year are Apple and XM Satellite Radio. For more info, check out www.digitalentertainmentawards.com...

UK band Delays previewed a half-dozen new songs from their upcoming album at a rockin’ show in London last week - new tunes tried out on the crowd included “Segue,” “Lost In A Melody,” “Out of Nowhere,” and “Lillian.” A “full of mirrors, like in the Bruce Lee movie” video has already been filmed for “Lost In A Melody,” which is slated to be the album’s lead single. Delays are currently on tour in England, and are donating a share of their ticket sales from the various shows to cancer research...

MINI BUZZ:
Neil Young’s 18th Annual Bridge Benefit took place this past week, with proceeds benefitting The Bridge, a school for challenged kids run by Young’s wife Pegi. Sharing the stage were legends Paul McCartney and Tony Bennett, as well as The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Sonic Youth...
Simple Plan are launching their new album, Still Not Getting Any in New York City’s Times Square this week, where the band will appear on MTV’s TRL show, will play live outside the MTV studios, and will sign copies of the disc at the Virgin Megastore...
The Magnetic Fields are getting set for their new single and some upcoming tour dates - the single, “I Thought You Were My Boyfriend,” will hit radio on November 1, as remixed by NY house producer Rob Rives; meanwhile, The Fields will be playing a string of UK dates to promote the new tune...
Jewel, continuing her rise from folk fave to glam diva, served as ribbon-cutter for the new Harry Winston Jewelers in Caesars Palace in Las Vegas this week, cutting a $150,000 all-diamond ribbon and modeling $12 worth of, er, jewels on her person...
While Australian modern popster Kylie Minogue has been busy actually performing - her upcoming 4-concert tour in the UK in 2005 has been upped to 10 shows due to ticket demand...

New this week and coming to a multi-media store near you... ON CD: Anti-Flag’s New Kind of Army... John Mellencamp’s Words and Music: John Mellencamp’s Greatest Hits... John Wesley Harding’s It Happened One Night and It Never Happened At All... Keno’s World War Peace... Le Tigre’s This Island... and Shivaree’s Breach EP... ON DVD: 311 - Live in New Orleans 311 Day... David Byrne’s Live at Union Chapel... Devo’s Live in the Land of the Rising Sun... and Morcheeba’s From Brixton to Beijing... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves about this column or your fave artists? Send ‘em to Kristi at expressmodernrock@hotmail.com!