Well, nobody said Christian Existentialists from Ireland were particularly Green...

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The bells of hell

Go ting-a-ling-a-ling

For you but not for me.

Oh death, where is thy sting-a-ling-a-ling

Or grave thy victory?

Fuck 'em all, sings Brendan Behan's Brit soldier kidnapped by the old IRA in The Hostage. . The news David "The Edge" Evans and wifey are planning to build 5 mansions -- 10,000 square feet each -- in the hills overlooking Malibu is a fuck 'em all moment. Yes, rich Malibu people, it's a lovely place and 'tis a shame that the Mick is going to build a colony of "Green" mansions that might spoil the view, or, and this would be sillier, might not. And, for a guy signing autographed Epiphone Les Pauls to help the victims of Katrina, this seems a bit over the top. Since the Edge's style of Catholicism is different from the other Malibu Mackrel Snapping nutbag, Sideshow Mel "you're all Jews!" Gibson, I guess it's a case of overall nuttiness run amuck.

There are tons of fucking huge mansions in Malibu and the rich are very, very obnoxious. How could the Defeatists forget the family that still grieves their dead daughter, killed by Porsche a few years ago. Or, by the parents who gave her a 911 to drive on the Pacific Coast Highway? I referred to it as child abuse at the time, and still consider it a sub-species of that. On the other hand, sign cheap Epis and talk about Katrina, great, we love you man. But, if the lot alone will run $7.5M, wouldn't it be more meaningful to give the folks injured by that storm and your God the price of a couple of the damn things and maybe spread out a little more?

I haven't liked a lot of their stuff since Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum. This explains why -- I always thought that there was a fine streak of existential longing in U2. Now I know better...money extinguishes a lot of what's good in people. Bono is probably curing De Valera for ending the Free State, because then he would be in line of a Knighthood. The Edge is doing the Golden Age thing to the environment. Really, Thorsten Verblen ought to be here to consider conspicuous consumption amongs successful rock stars...This is beyond the whole Dylan outhouse debacle...he hasn't made a big deal about politics and charity since 1966; on the other hand, it looks like he writes a lot of checks for things. Maybe he remembers some things from his born-again period. Who knows...

I do know that the video for I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, shot in Glitter Gulch in Vegas, mocked and pushed and expressed a fair amount of angst, doubt and, well, faith in the face of hedonism and greed. Someone might re-shoot the damn thing or do a cover version on the road leading to these homes. Just because something is stunning doesn't make it worth doing.