Winter 2002
 
Thursday, February 28th
so....we're grammy winners! "best rock song". one of the few categories that U2 was in and didn't win! it was an amazing evening. and what a show! every performance was really great. some of our favorites were mary j. blige, alicia keys, the "o' brother where art thou" tribute, outkast and us. we probably liked us the best, but the others were really incredible too. what a day, though. we had to arrive at the staple center in LA at 8AM for rehearsals. we got to watch U2 rehearse, too. then we headed to a nearby hotel to get dressed, do our hair and make-up and have some lunch. we met the reverend al green and gold medal winner sarah hughes outside the hotel and took some pictures with them. back to the venue at 1:30 to attend the pre-show awards where we were excited to see our friend, mr. paul buckmaster, win a grammy for "best string arrangement accompanying a pop vocal" for "drops of jupiter". then it was on to the red carpet for an insane amount of interviews. we met many people on that carpet as well as running into our old buddy, rob thomas. we shook hands with the backstreet boys, billy joel and tony bennett. it was pretty great. after that we went backstage to our dressing room to change clothes for our performance. the rest is pretty much what you saw on television. we played, had the time of our lives and then heard our names announced as winners of the "best rock song", shat our pants, walked out and excepted our award from don henley and trisha yearwood. bono was right in front of us and gave us a wink and a thumbs up. celine dion was so incredibly supportive and genuinely excited for us. bonnie raitt was as nice as could be and was surprised that we were all big fans of hers. bonnie raitt! she's so beautiful and talented and modest and oh, we could talk all day about her. we shared a dressing room with the dave mathews band, who are as nice a bunch of guys as you'll ever meet. after the show we were taken through the press gauntlet, which featured reporters from all over the world and just about every american television show imaginable. then is was off to the sony party at morton's. we really didn't stay out too late, because we had to be up early for jay leno rehearsals. we'll be live on the tonight show tonight performing our new single, "she's on fire", which is starting to do quite well for us. tomorrow we'll all fly home for a week off before reconvening in san francisco to finish writing and to start recording our next album, which won't be released until much later this year.

pretty exciting stuff. and that doesn't even touch on the prior week!

we arrived in los angeles on sunday morning from san francisco where we'd spent the prior week writing songs in a rehearsal studio. we went straight into grammy rehearsals with paul buckmaster and the orchestra all day sunday. monday we attended the movie premier of "we were soldiers", the mel gibson movie that we wrote a song for the "songs inspired by..." cd, which is in stores now. it's a great movie and attending the premier and the party afterwords with the actors was a real treat.

before heading to san francisco we were in salt lake city for the olympics. aside from the honor of getting to perform in front of a live crowd of about 20,000 and a television audience of about a gazillion, we also got to attend some events. it was more of a working vacation trip for us. this has definately been a month that we'll not soon forget!

that's about all for now. jay just popped his chin in to say hello. he's always so nice to us. this will be our third performance on the tonight show in six months.

once again (we did thank you all from the podium last night in case you didn't hear) we really do appreciate all of the support from you, our fans. we wouldn't have been up there accepting that award if it weren't for you. we hope that this is just the beginning! stay tuned...

pat, rob, jimmy, scott and charlie

Friday, February 15th
happy valentine's day yesterday! sorry we haven't written, but we're in new york for press and television for a few days and we've been working very long hours. we arrived in new york city on tuesday evening and went straight to the hotel for a meeting/dinner with our managers and attorney to discuss our plans for the next few months . we decided to change our band name to U2 thinking that it might confuse the grammy voters (and U2). so now we're actually nominated for 13 grammy's and are sure to win one! that'll be great.

wednesday morning we had to be in a recording studio at 6AM where we were linked up via satellite to radio stations around the country for interviews that lasted until mid-afternoon. after that we payed a visit to our record company and then returned to our hotel for print interviews and a photo session or two. then we met with the people who are designing our stage and production ideas for the grammy's. we'd tell you about it, but it's top secret. it's going to be great, though...don't you worry.

thursday morning we had to be at the Rosie O'Donnell show at 7AM for soundcheck and taping. britney spears was the guest on the show. we met her backstage and took pictures with her. she's very nice and pretty and all that. Rosie and her staff are the best. that was probably our final appearance on her show before she retires in may. we'll miss her. from there we went to the hotel for on-camera interviews with CNN, VH1 and Access Hollywood and photo sessions for USA Today and the San Francisco Chronicle. then we headed over to VH1 to tape an episode of "Fresh", which will air in late march. then we headed to a recording studio to pre-record an AOL online chat and live acoustic performance that will air sometime soon. after that we went back to the same building we were in earlier that day for the rosie show to tape the Carson Daly show which will air sometime later this month. Carson's show is taped on the Saturday Night Live stage, which was pretty exciting for us since we have yet to be invited to appear on the actual Saturday Night Live show. Incubus was in the dressing room next to ours. they were there to tape a performance for a later air date. we chatted with them for a bit before heading back to the hotel.

this morning (friday) we taped an appearance on the CBS morning show, which we're pretty sure will air on monday. you should check your local listings to be sure, because we really have no idea when any of this stuff will air! after that we had to do a photo session for the associated press. then we met with our stylist for the grammy's and went shopping all afternoon!

tomorrow we fly to salt lake city where we'll perform on sunday night immediately following the medal ceremonies. you should be able to see bits of that on television as well. hey, and don't forget about our feature story in the next issue of rolling stone magazine, which comes out next week.

was that more than you wanted to know?! sorry...
we'll talk to you soon.

tired,
pat, rob, jimmy, scott and charlie

Thursday, January 31st
we're en route to milan from paris today for the final day of our european tour. last night was the actual final concert of the tour in paris. it was sold-out and a very good show at a great venue right down the street from the moulin rouge. pat had fun borrowing cameras from the fans in the front row and snapping photos of himself with the crowd in the background. Garou, a very famous french pop star, visited us backstage before the show and made a few pictures with us. we had a photo shoot in paris yesterday afternoon with a very famous french photographer and on the way out of the hotel to take the photos, we ran into alanis morrisette and her band in the lobby. there is a wonderful energy here. the city is beautiful and the people have been very kind to us. we love paris and can't wait to come back.
 
the few days before that we were in milan, italy where we played a show that was also very good (there really wasn't a bad night on the tour for us. the shows were all packed with very enthusiastic fans and we played well and had a good time every night. we're hoping to return for another european tour early this summer after we finish recording our next album in san francisco.). we had great meals in milan and were treated to a night out at a popular nightclub where we were joined by a handful of famous models (including the guess jeans girl). we're pretty sure they were set up to make us look good...which they did. it was a fun night. we're returning to milan today to perform live on an italian MTV show called "supersonic" tonight. we were guests on italian TRL the other day. we did alot of press in the two days that we were there. we also got to visit the famous "dolce and gabbana" clothing store and pick out a few new things to wear. we would really like to thank them for their generosity.
 
we started out the week with two shows in germany - munich and stuttgart. both shows were sold-out. we had a great time there, even though we had to do a ton of press. the shows and the great crowds made up for the extra work that we had to do during the day. and did we mention our visit to stockholm before that in a previous note?...can't remember. if so, we'll mention it again, because it was our first ever visit there and we had a wonderful time and a memorable show.
 
so, that's about it for europe this time around. we fly back to the states tomorrow for a week off before heading to new york for some press and then on to salt lake city for the olympics and then to los angeles for the grammy awards. thanks again to all of our new friends/fans in europe and the UK for making this tour such a success for us. we really had a great visit and can't wait to tour here again soon. keep in touch with us through our website and we'll look forward to seeing you all again when we return.
 
happy february everybody. and even though we're all excited about the grammy's, don't forget about the bammie awards in california! those awards are voted on by the fans and there should be a link or something on our website, so you can go and vote for us. being a california band we'd be very excited and proud to bring home a bammie award or two. we are the most nominated band this year, but need your help to win! thanks. we'll talk to you soon.
 
pat, rob, jimmy, scott and charlie
 
Thursday, January 24th
we arrived in munich, germany late last night for a bunch of press and a show tonight. we spent the past two days in stockholm, sweden doing press, a concert on tuesday night and a television show yesterday. the show was a smaller venue (about 700) as it was our first ever appearance in sweden. it was a great crowd, though. eagle eye cherry and carola (a very famous swedish singer kinda like the european version of a celine dion) were in the audience.
 
before arriving in stockholm we had played a concert on sunday night in tilburg, holland, which is about an hour outside of amsterdam. it was a very nice, 2,000 seat venue which was sold-out. we had a really great time and the crowd couldn't have been any better. by the way...thanks to all of you european concert goers for sending us such amazing letters! we've been swamped with mail since we began this tour earlier this month and we've really enjoyed reading it and hearing your stories and revues. we realize that most or you are seeing us live for the first time on this tour and it makes us feel really great reading your letters. we're already talking about when we can return again.
 
anyway, charlie got his passport all straightened out at the US embassy tuesday morning (the embassy was closed monday for martin luther king day). he had to stay behind in amsterdam to deal with it while the rest of the band traveled on to stockholm. but almost worse than charlie losing his passport was us losing scott! you have to understand that we travel with a large group of people when you count the band, the entire crew, a few managers and sony personel. when we arrived in stockholm scott decided to exchange some currency while waiting for everybody's bags to be gathered. well, the bags came quickly and nobody had seen scott wander off, so the entire party (minus charlie and thomas the tour manager who stayed behind in amsterdam) headed out the door and climbed into three awaiting vehicles and departed to the hotel. when we arrived at the hotel....no scott. everybody thought he was in somebody elses car. scott didn't have anybody's european cellphone numbers on him, so he jumped in a cab and headed to the hotel listed in his tour book, which under everyday normal circumstances would have been the smart thing to do, but on this particular day our management had upgraded the entire party to a nicer hotel, which wasn't listed in the tourbook. so when scott arrived at the wrong hotel and was finally convinced that we were not staying there he was told where we were probably staying and jumped in another cab and then found us. not happy was he.
 
so, to recap the tour so far....the crew's luggage was stolen in glasgow (not found), charlie's passport was lost en route to amsterdam (not found) and scott was lost in stockholm (found).
 
we'll talk to you soon.
 
pat, rob, jimmy, scott and charlie
 
Saturday, January 19
we're in amsterdam for a day off today. we flew in late last night and will remain here until monday when we fly to stockholm. charlie's passport turned up missing when we arrived at the airport in amsterdam, so he was held up for an hour or so until everything got sorted out. the band and crew were all out on the town checking out the sights just as soon as we arrived at our hotel. most everybody slept late today and were seen sending out laundry, taking canal boat tours, shopping and walking around town today.
 
we haven't been able to send mail (as in personal letters or "notes from the road") due to a problem with our computer, but we got it figured out today and will try to stay in better touch. sorry to those of you who were expecting to hear from us via email this past week or so. the problem is solved and you should now have received your week old letters!
 
anyway, alot has gone on this week...
 
the shows have been great! we started out in manchester last sunday night and weren't really sure what to expect, so we played a fairly short set. we were surprised when the audience sang along with just about every song! during the soundcheck earlier in the day we started coming up with a concept for a new song, which had to be written and ready to record by the time we arrived in london on tuesday morning. we traveled to glasgow by tour bus after the show.
 
the show in glasgow on monday was equally surprising with the crowd once again singing along the entire night. we added a few more songs to the set (sorry manchester!...we'll make it up to you) and had a really great time. unfortunately, our crew bus was robbed during the show and alot of their belongings were stolen...entire suitcases and such. so, that kinda put a damper on an otherwise wonderful evening. on the ensuing bus ride to london we finished writing and arranging the new song, which was inspired by some lyrics that pat had written that were inspired by the new mel gibson movie that he previewed in los angeles on the day of the grammy nominations. hey, need we remind you about the five grammy's that we're nominated for! yep...
 
we woke up parked on the crosswalk outside of abbey road studios in london. and yes, it's "the" crosswalk that the beatles walked across on the cover of their abbey road album. and yes, we took a picture of us walking across the road on "the" crosswalk. and yes, the studio we recorded in was "the" actual studio that "they" recorded in. it was pretty amazing! you could totally recognize it from pictures. not only did the beatles record all of their stuff their, but many, many other amazing artists have recorded there as well. pink floyd recorded "dark side of the moon" and "i wish you were here" in that very room. you could feel it. in the studio across the hall, the famous conductor and multi-grammy award winning john williams was conducting the london philharmonic orchestra as they were recording music for the next star wars movie. this was happening at the same time that we were recording our new song, which ended up being an epic, almost 9 minute long song when all was said and done at 5AM the following morning. the tapes were then shipped off to mr. brendan o'brien in atlanta for mixing and mastering. we'll see how long the song is when we get the mixed tapes back tomorrow night in amsterdam! anyway, we're all really excited about the song. it's a very different direction for us, but still somehow very "us". we brought in a bagpipe player and three female singers for the recording. oh, and a monkey. we'll keep you posted on when and where you'll be able to here this new song, tentatively titled "FALLOUT". just kidding about the monkey.
 
so, we got home from the studio at about 6AM wednesday morning and performed a sold-out show at shephard's bush in london wednesday night. another good one and a great crowd. pat took a cellphone from a fan in the front row during the middle of the song "free" and chatted with whoever it was on the other end of the line for awhile before returning the phone and getting back to the song. after the show we were presented with gold plaques for sales of over 100,000 records in the UK!
 
thursday was press day. lot's of interviews at the hotel and photo taking and such. in the evening we played one of those famous "live at the BBC" shows. and yes, we were actually "live at the BBC"! in front of about 300 contest winners. this is where the beatles "live at the BBC" and zeppelin's "live at the BBC" were recorded. the two previous shows recorded before ours were elton john and sting. next will be sir paul mccartney. needless to say, it was an honor to be there and record our very own " train, live at the BBC", which will air in the UK on saturday the 26th of january. pat and jimmy were taping a radio interview before the show and met enrique inglesias who was there for his own interview. he was incredibly nice and tall and handsome and congratulated us on our grammy nominations before turning into an ugly toad and hopping out to his limo. i mean, does that family have good genes or what?! a really nice guy, though. it's a bummer about the "toad" thing. immediately after our "live at the BBC" show was finished a few of us headed over to a local club to catch our good friend, pete yorn, at his first ever UK show. he was good as always. one of the guys from the band Travis was there, too.
 
friday was photo shoot day. a writer from "rolling stone" magazine has been following us around ever since abbey road on tuesday. he was a super nice guy and probably found out a bit more dirt than we intended him to, so it could turn out to be an interesting story. we apologize in advance to all of our mothers. the issue containing this featured story should be on newstands sometime before the grammy's. so, the photo shoot was for that and some local london magazine. it was freezing cold outside and we had to take photos with no jackets on! it kinda sucked, but the photos will probably look cool...no pun intended. the photographer seemed to really know what he was doing. or maybe we were just freezing our arses off! after that we headed over to MTV and VH1 for some interviews before heading on to heathrow to board a plane to amsterdam. we saw ron wood at the airport. yes, "the" ron wood of "the faces" and "the rolling stones". so, in less than one week we feel like we've had some sort of six degrees of separation contact with both the beatles and the stones! we bad...
 
ok. that's all for now. some of us are headed out to watch some american football tonight. the bears (jimmy's team) play live at 10:30PM over here. the steeler's (pat's team) play tomorrow night during our show in tilburg. pat thought we should cancel the concert, but found out that the show was sold-out and that we're very popular here in holland and so decided that the show must go on! rob's 49er's got knocked out of the playoffs last sunday. scott and charlie think pat, jimmy and rob are absolutely crazy and should consider seeking some sort of therapy. hmmm...
 
talk to you soon.
pat, rob, jimmy, scott and charlie
 
p.s. GO BEARS!! GO STEELERS!!!
 
Saturday, January 12
Happy New Year! we've just arrived at our hotel in manchester, england to begin our tour of europe, which begins tomorrow night in manchester. we're really excited to be over here. this is our european tour that was supposed to happen in october, but was postponed due to the events on september 11th. our record has been doing very well in europe and we'll be playing to alot of people who have never seen us before. we spent the past few days in atlanta putting together a show that we're really excited about, so let the games begin! and besides touring europe...this coming tuesday we get to work in the legendary abbey road studios to record a song for an upcoming mel gibson movie compilation cd. don't think we're not excited about that! it's a really cool song, too. well...we haven't exactly "written" it yet, but you can bet your bottom dollar (whatever that means) that it's going to be cool as hell!
 
anyway, we ended 2001 on a good note with two very fun shows at the house of blues in chicago. thanks to our friends better than ezra, glen phillips and bleu for joining us and making both nights that much more special. we debuted a new cover song, "come together" by the beatles, which kevin (better than ezra) and glen joined in on new years eve. we played it better the next night, though. it seemed to go over well, so we'll probably try it out some more in europe. we may even slip in the new song that we haven't written yet! it's gonna be good, though. don't you worry.
 
oh yeah...and the grammy's! we're pretty excited about that, too. it's a real honor to be nominated in the catagories that we're nominated in (best song, best rock song, best record, best performance and best string arrangement) with such great artists. U2 will probably win them all, but we're thinking that maybe we can sit next to them during the ceremony and get them really drunk and maybe they'll give us some. we hear they're pretty nice like that.
 
what else...
 
did you know that we'll be performing at the olympics in salt lake city on february 17th? yep.
 
ok. we've gotta go for now. we've got a song to write! right after we go to the movies to see "lord of the rings".
 
cheers,
pat, rob, jimmy, scott and charlie