Book Table Available at the U2 Conference
The following books will be available for sale by the NCCU bookstore at the conference. They will have a table in the SOE lobby and can take cash or credit card purchases.
In Other Words: Artists Talk About Life and Work
Anthony DeCurtis
Killing Bono: I Was Bono’s Doppelganger
Neil McCormick
U2 — A Diary
Matt McGee
Achtung Baby: Meditations on Love in the Shadow of the Fall
Stephen Catanzarite
Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog
Beth Maynard
U2: At the End of the World
Bill Flanagan
Walk on: The Spiritual Journey of U2 (Updated & Expanded)
Steve Stockman
U2 by U2
U2
One Step Closer: Why U2 Matters to Those Seeking God
Christian Scharen
Exclusive Engagement: The Heart of America Tour
BREAKING NEWS: We are thrilled to announce film director Dominic J. DeJoseph will screen his 2003 documentary, The Heart of America Tour: Africa’s Future And Ours, as a part of our opening night U2 conference kickoff at The Carolina Theater, October 2, 2009, starting at 9:20 p.m. (Doors open at 9:00 p.m.)
We are grateful to ONE for their kind permission to show this unreleased film. This film has been screened only once before in the United States, at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2003.
The Heart of America Tour is a 30-minute documentary chronicling a grassroots trip through the Midwest 
by Bono of U2, Ashley Judd, Chris Tucker and Agnes Nyamayarwo, as they meet with the people of the Midwest, senators, AIDS activists, church groups, and others to discuss the AIDS emergency in Africa. Produced by the DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) Foundation - now ONE.
Dominic and Agnes Nyamayarwo will conduct a brief Q & A following the film. After which, there will be a 10 minute break before the start of It Might Get Loud, the new Sony Pictures Classics film about the Edge, Jimmy Page and Jack White.
Dominic J. DeJoseph is an independent film and video director and founder of the production company, Black Shoe Films, though which he has directed music videos for R.E.M. and the RED(WIRE) website. In 2001, he directed a documentary featuring Wim Wenders and Bono called The One Dollar Diary as well as The Heart of America Tour documentary.
Dominic’s films and videos have screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, South by Southwest, SILVERDOCS and the Robert Flaherty Documentary Seminar, among others. His work has also been shown on MTV, IFC, and Documentary Channel. He currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.
This screening is part of our ticketed, Friday night reception and double feature film package.
(We regret to announce due to production problems, Meet Me In the Sound will not be ready to show at the conference.)
Order your Friday night ticket here.
Details about our pre-film reception at Bull McCabes Irish pub are here.
Friday Night Kickoff Reception at Bull McCabes
Let’s all kick off the conference weekend by gathering at Bull McCabes’ Irish pub in downtown Durham. From 6:00 - 8:30 p.m., October 2, the conference will host an open house reception, where you can pick up your conference badge, get some pub grub on us and meet the others who are attending the conference. Our main speakers - Anthony DeCurtis, Neil McCormick, Matt McGee and Agnes Nyamayarwo - will stop in too.
While you are there, make sure you say hi (and raise a pint) to Malachy Noone. He’s our friendly pub owner hailing from Sligo, Ireland, who worked for a time in Killiney hosting certain families looking for a quiet meal in a local hotel restaurant.
Bull McCabe’s is a cozy place with a great, not-too-fancy, pub vibe. Click here to get acquainted and see menus. While we will offer some light appetizers for our conference guests, you may wish to have some dinner. Malachy is offering a special price on three dinner entrees: shepherd’s pie; bangers and mash; and vegetarian lasagne.
At about 8:30, we will all head just two blocks away to the Carolina Theatre for our films. Doors open at 9:00 p.m.
For our conference crowd: if you have purchased a full conference ticket or a Friday night only ticket, you are welcome to stop in anytime from 6:00 - 8:30. Look for our check-in table: we won’t be hard to find. If you still need a ticket for the reception and films, go here.
Our shuttle bus leaves the Four Points Sheraton at 6:00 p.m. to take you to Bull McCabes. A second bus leaves at 8:15 to take you straight to the Carolina Theatre. Shuttles will take you back to the Four Points Sheraton after the movies, at about 12:20 a.m. See the shuttle schedule for the whole weekend.
For the night owls, Bull McCabe’s is open until 2:00 a.m., in case you aren’t quite ready to call it a night after the movies.
Bull McCabes is at 427 W. Main St., Durham. 919.682.3061. Need a map to the pub and the Carolina Theatre? Visit our location page and our custom Google map.
See you there!
Win a free trip to the U2: The Hype and The Feedback
We are giving away free trips to Durham, North Carolina to attend the first conference on U2. There just happens to be a U2 360° tour stop in the area the same weekend, and sure: we’ll send you to the concert too!
All you have to do is find us one more Gold or Silver level sponsor for the conference. We have a great group of partners already on board, and we’d love to have a few more companies or organizations join us.
The best way to connect to a business is by a personal connection. Do you work for someone who has a soft spot for U2? Or for arts and music education? Or for Africa? Or for AIDS treatments and research? Or cares about promoting Durham, North Carolina?
What you get: A paid trip to the conference and concert upon receipt by the conference of the sponsorship funds (your prize not to exceed 20% of the sponsorship level).
What the sponsor gets is described on this sheet. Please pass it on to interested sponsors.
Sponsors can make an initial contact with us through our contact form.
The deadline for securing a sponsor for the conference is midnight, September 26, 2009.
Conference Shuttle Bus Service
More information about other transportation options is under our TRANSPORT page. Please get the full scoop here.
Here is the schedule for our complimentary shuttle service that will run ONLY from the host hotel to conference events in Durham on Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday.
Greenway Transit Services will provide a low-carbon impact shuttle service for conference registrants staying at the host hotel, the Four Points by Sheraton. All shuttle service to conference events in Durham on Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday begin and end at the host hotel parking lot.
Schedule
Friday, October 2
6:00 PM depart: Four Points Sheraton to downtown Durham
8:15PM depart: Four Points Sheraton to downtown Durham
12:30 AM depart: The Carolina Theater to Four Points Sheraton
Saturday, October 3
7:30 AM depart: Four Points Sheraton to NCCU School of Education (SOE) building
8:15 AM depart: Four Points Sheraton to NCCU SOE building
4:15 PM depart: NCCU SOE building to Four Points Sheraton
5:00 PM depart: NCCU SOE building to Four Points Sheraton
****
Not Included – Separate Ticket Purchase For Shuttle to U2 Concert – Purchase Here
5:45 PM depart: Four Points Sheraton hotel to Carter-Finley stadium in Raleigh
Approx. 11:30 PM depart: Carter-Finley stadium in Raleigh to Four Points Sheraton hotel (bus will depart approx. 30 minutes after U2’s concert has ended and the stadium lights turn on)
****
Sunday, October 4
7:30 AM depart: Four Points Sheraton to NCCU SOE building
8:15 AM depart: Four Points Sheraton to NCCU SOE building
5:30 PM depart: NCCU SOE building to Four Points Sheraton
6:15 PM depart: NCCU SOE building to Four Points Sheraton
Double Feature Friday Night: The Heart of America and It Might Get Loud
Update 09.23.09: Breaking News!
We are thrilled to announce an exclusive engagement for screening The Heart of America Tour: Africa’s Future And Ours, followed by a Q & A with film maker Dominic J. DeJoseph and Agnes Nyamayarwo. This will be our first film of our Friday night double feature. More info. here.
Many thanks to ONE for their kind permission to show this unreleased film. (We regret that we are unable to show Meet Me In The Sound.)
Update, 09.22.09
To purchase a ticket for just this Friday night double-feature, including a pre-film reception at Bull McCabes Irish Pub, go here and select the Friday night only ticket option.
Information on the opening night reception at Bull McCabes is here.
————————————————————————————-
We will show The Heart of America Tour: Africa’s Future And Ours at the historic Carolina Theatre, in downtown Durham, as part of a great double-feature night of films.
The Heart of America Tour is a 30-minute documentary chronicling a grassroots trip through the Midwest 
by Bono of U2, Ashley Judd, Chris Tucker and Agnes Nyamayarwo, as they meet with the people of the Midwest, senators, AIDS activists, church groups, and others to discuss the AIDS emergency in Africa. Produced by the DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) Foundation - now ONE.
Following a brief Q & A time with film maker Dominic J. DeJoseph and Agnes Nyamayarwo, we’ll show It Might Get Loud. Maybe you’ve heard of it? It’s the new “documentary on the electric guitar from the point of view of three rock legends,” by award-winning director Davis Guggenheim, featuring Jimmy Page, Jack White, and that guitarist we all know as simply, “The Edge.” Visit the film’s website for more information.
Feel free to stop in at the reception and stay for one or both of the films, or just attend what suits you. Your full-conference registration ticket includes the Friday night events, and tickets are still available for just the Friday evening events.
If you still need a ticket, register here for either the full conference or Friday night only option. (We will have our registration packets ready for you Friday evening to pick up your badge and tickets to the reception and films.)
See you there!
@U2 PRESENTS: SUNDAY NIGHT AT THE (3D) MOVIES WITH NEIL MCCORMICK
@U2, our media sponsor, will host a post-conference event Sunday night, Oct. 4, 2009, at the Wachovia IMAX Theatre in Raleigh.
Come on out to “Sunday Night at the (3D) Movies with Neil McCormick.”
It’s going to be quite a show; with a live, in-person chat with Neil, prize give-aways, and who knows what else? After the film, there’s talk of heading to a nearby pub for more good cheer.
@U2 is handling all details regarding this event. Please read about location, prices, and more here.
This event is open to the public and tickets are sold by the Wachovia IMAX Theatre. Conference registration is not required to attend the Sunday night @U2 event.
See you there!
FULL PROGRAM POSTED FOR UPCOMING U2 CONFERENCE
This is the text of our 08.18.09 press release.
FULL PROGRAM POSTED FOR UPCOMING U2 CONFERENCE
Release date: August 18, 2009
U2: The Hype and The Feedback, the first academic conference on the world’s biggest band, has posted a complete program schedule of over 40 presentations on a wide range of topics on the music, work and influence of U2. ( www.u2conference.com/schedule.php )
As U2 take to U.S. stadiums this fall on their 360° tour, a celebration of their big ideas and epic cultural impact will bring together fans from around the world who relate to U2’s plea: “Let me in the sound!” U2: The Hype and The Feedback touches down October 2 - 4, 2009 in Durham, North Carolina, on the campus of North Carolina Central University, — the same weekend as a U2 concert in Raleigh.
“This will be the place to meet and hear people long connected to U2 and to covering their career,” says organizer Scott Calhoun, English professor and a U2 academician. “The whole weekend is for discussing U2, and the 360° tour makes a stop nearby too.”
Speakers to date include Rolling Stone contributing editor (and Ph.D) Anthony DeCurtis, the UK’s Telegraph columnist (and schoolmate of the band members) Neil McCormick, Ugandan AIDS activist Agnes Nyamawaro, who has worked with Bono’s ONE Campaign, and Matt McGee, founder of @U2 (www.atu2.com) and author of U2-A Diary. Attendees will also hear from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Curator Jim Henke via video.
An international line-up of paper presenters will talk about topics ranging from “U2 and the Politics of Irony” to “Bono Versus Nick Cave on Jesus” and “U2: An Elevated Brand,” as well as other topics addressing U2’s influence in rock history, the entertainment industry, and on humanitarian and social justice initiatives.
“We know U2’s appeal is without borders and everyone is welcome. Whether you come in tweed or leather, do vinyl or download, you’ll connect with people who want to talk about U2,” Calhoun promises.
Host school North Carolina Central University (NCCU) will kick off its centennial celebration this fall. Rich in history, NCCU is the nation’s first state supported liberal arts college founded for African Americans. The late historian John Hope Franklin once taught at NCCU and jazz great Branford Marsalis is currently an artist-in-residence.
Located in the Research Triangle, between Raleigh and Chapel Hill, Durham is a vibrant city for education, arts and culture, and was recently named by Forbes as the #3 “Best Place for Business” and by U. S. News & World Report as the #5 “Best Places to Live” in the United States.
“Durham has been well-served for a long time by NCCU’s efforts to educate students and the community through the arts and music,” Calhoun said. “In that respect, the institution closely parallels U2’s history which has been to create music that inspires everyone and honors the overlooked, the oppressed and the champions of freedom for all peoples, from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to Central America’s Mothers of the Disappeared, and more recently Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi. We’re thrilled we can bring the conference to Durham and be on their campus for the weekend.”
Register for U2: The Hype and the Feedback at www.U2conference.com
Contact: press@U2conference.com
Welcome to Zoo Panels, Y’All
For easier viewing, please download this as a PDF document: Panel Presentations U2 The Hype and The Feedback
BREAKOUT SESSION 1
Saturday, October 3, 2009 // 10:30 - 11:45 AM
1A. Welcome to Zoo Panels Y’All
Nothing Succeeds Like Failure: U2 and the Politics of Irony
Kevin Dettmar, W. M. Keck Professor and Chair, Pomona College
Common Aspirations: Media Theory and U2’s Zoo TV Tour
Corey Palmer, Huntington University
Uncertainty Can Be a Guiding Light: Why and How U2 Made Zooropa
Kevin Jackson, M.A.T. student in English Education, SUNY Cortland
1B. What You Don’t Know You Can Feel Somehow
Grace Makes Beauty…: The Rhetorical Strategies of Powerful Emotions in U2
Prof. Christine Chaney, Chair of English, Seattle Pacific University
The Meme of Surrender: Bono’s Lyrics of Recovery and Revelation
Andrew William Smith, Tennessee Tech University, Editor, Interference.com
U2 and the Poetics of Absence
Dr. Rene Rodriguez-Ramirez, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedra
1C. Been Around the Back, Been Around the Front: Looking for the Spiritual in U2
Bono Versus Nick Cave on Jesus
Dr. Greg Clarke, The Centre for Public Christianity, Sydney
The Quest for the Musical Jesus: Finding Jesus in the Music of U2
The Rev. Robert Derrenbacker, Jr., Ph.D., Thorneloe University, Sudbury, Ontario
Whither the Spiritual? A Content Analysis of Reviews of No Line on the Horizon in U.S. and European Magazines and Newspapers
John A. Ballard, College of Mount St. Joseph, and Anjelika Gasilina, Wittenberg University
1D. Get On Your Boots
Singing Truth to Power: Bono Meets Bonhoeffer
Dr. Mark Husbands, Leonard and Marjorie Maas Associate Professor of Reformed Theology, Hope College
Music for Marching: Forming an Army Through the Politics of Love
Dr. Darel Paul, Associate Professor of Political Science, Williams College
1E. We Get to Carry Each Other
Organization Presentations TBA
BREAKOUT SESSION 2
Saturday, October 3, 2009 // 2:45 - 4:00 PM
2A. All I Want Is …
With a Red Guitar … on Fire: The Convergence of Spiritual Longing and Sexual Desire in the Music of U2
Christopher West, Fellow, Theology of the Body Institute
‘O Can’t You See What Love Has Done?’ - U2, Paul Ricoeur, and the Hermeneutics of Personhood
Dr. Jeffrey Keuss, Associate Professor of Christian Ministry and Theology, Seattle Pacific University, and Dr. Sara Koenig, Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at Seattle Pacific University
Not Afraid to Die: The Grave as a Groove
Henry VanderSpek, Youth and Campus Coordinator, World Vision Canada’s Advocacy & Education Department
2B. I Like the Sound of My Own Voice
Boy, (Achtung) Baby, and Bomb: Anti-Language in the Songs of U2
John Hurtgen, Dean, School of Theology, Campbellsville University
Vertigo-Event-Context: The Interpretive Lyric/Music Binary in the U2 Corpus
Grant Horner and Richard Pressley, The Master’s College
All That You Can’t Leave Behind: The Conservative Voice in the Songs of U2
Stephen Catanzarite, Managing Director, Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center
2C. Heaven Knows This Is A Heartland
A Preacher Stealing Hearts at a Traveling Show: Bono and North American Evangelicals
Dr. Paul Rowe, Associate Professor, Political and International Studies, Trinity Western University and Matthew A. Kerr, Associate Pastor, Worship and Small Groups, Faith Baptist Church Huntsville, Ontario
Desire: U2 and the American Dream: The United States as Imagined in Music and Activism
Kristina Shull, Ph.D. Candidate in History, University of California, Irvine
2D. I Heard Opera In My Head
U2: Identities Covered and Revealed
Mark Mandarano, Artistic Director, Sinfonietta of Riverdale; Principal Guest Conductor, Moscow Chamber Orchestra; Adjunct Lecturer, Lehman College-CUNY
Deconstruction by Stratification: Vocal Layering as Commentary, Criticism, and Reinvention in the Music of U2
Christopher Endrinal, Assistant Professor of Music Theory, University of Massachusetts Lowell
U2 and Igor Stravinsky: Textures, Timbres, and the Devil
Dr. Dan Pinkston, Associate Professor of Music Theory and Composition, Simpson University
2E. A River in A Time of Dryness
Water: Hope in the Name of H20
Diane Yoder and Rob Triaglet, The African Well Fund
BREAKOUT SESSION 3
Sunday, October 4, 2009 // 10:30 - 11:45 AM
3A. Live is Where We Live
U2 Live: Where Leitourgia Has No Name
The Rev. Beth Maynard, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Sampling and Reframing: The evolving live concert performances of ‘Bullet the Blue Sky’
The Rev. Dr. Steve Taylor, Laidlaw College, New Zealand
3B. Silver and Gold
Botanizing on Asphalt: Representations of Laissez Faire Inherent in U2’s Music
Paul Viotti, Professor of Political Science, California State University, Chico
Pro Bono: Translating and Transforming Africa for the Consumerist West
Bruce Edwards, Professor of English and Africana Studies, Bowling Green State University, Ohio
U2: An Elevated Brand
Michele O’Brien, Cawley Nea\TBWA, Dublin
3C. North and South of the River
Irish Identity and Utopianism in the Music of U2
Ann Morrison Spinney, Assistant Professor, Music Department, Boston College
From ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ to ‘Angel of Harlem’: Irishness, American Blackness, and U2’s Authentic Performativity
Kimberly Mack, UCLA, Ph.D student in English
U2’s ‘Sunday, Bloody Sunday’ as Public Song-Memorial
Brian Johnston, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Communication, University of South Florida
3D. Every Poet Is A Thief
‘The Ground Beneath Her Feet’: U2, Salman Rushdie, and the Political Frontiers of Artistic Collaboration
Jordan A. Berard, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Ottawa
‘O may the moon and the sunlight seem / One inextricable beam:’ The Imaginative Experience in Yeats’ ‘The Tower’ and U2’s ‘Lemon’
Joe Bisz, Professor of English, CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College
U2 and Bertolt Brecht: The Rock Concert as Political Theatre
Simran Karir, PhD candidate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of Toronto
BREAKOUT SESSION 4
Sunday, October 4, 2009 // 2:45 - 4:00 PM
4A. Of Science and The Human Heart
Strange Bedfellows: The Influence of U2 in Antiretroviral Drug Funding and Distribution for Sub-Saharan Africa David J. Kroll, Ph.D., Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, North Carolina Central University, and colleagues
4B. If I Could, I Would
Teaching U2: The Classroom as Gathering Place
Tim Neufeld, faculty in Biblical and Religious Studies, Fresno Pacific University, California, and Jessica Mast, senior student, Fresno Pacific University, California
U2 in the Church - How it is Done in Denmark
Rev. Jens Moesgaard Nielsen, M.Th. and Rev. Joergen Lasgaard, M.Th., The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark
U2 as a Pedagogical Resource: Faith Integration and Social Justice
Brian Porter, Professor of Management, Hope College
4C. But I Can Change the World in Me
When I Look At the World: Viewing the Impact of U2’s Music on Listeners’ Consciousness and Activism Through the Lens of Narrative Inquiry
Rachel Seiler, LMSW, Ph.D. Candidate, California Institute of Integral Studies
I’m Still Waiting: The General Admission Queue and Fan Self-Organizing Culture at U2 Concerts
Dr. Barbara LoMonaco, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky Sun
Sometimes Melodies Are Not Songs, They’re Ideas: The Creative Life of Bono and Implications for Talent Development
Jeff Danielian, The National Association for Gifted Children
4D. I Saw You In the Curve of the Moon
U2: Fallen Angels
Deane Galbraith, University of Otago, New Zealand
Is this rock and roll?: Sources, Contexts, and Intertexts of U2’s ‘Until the End of the World’
Daniel Kline, University of Alaska Anchorage
4E. We Get to Carry Each Other
Organization Presentations TBA
U2 is a wee bit busy at the moment …
so we are doing the conference for them!
No, U2 aren’t hosting a academic conference about themselves. When would they have the time?? And who could they get for their main speakers??
Maybe you saw this headline on a press release issued by North Carolina Central University and picked up by many agencies, including ModernGhana.com: “Renowned Rock Band U2 To Host Academic Conference At NCCU.”
The headline should be, as we posted on our blog Monday, and on our Press page, and as reported by @U2: “First Academic Conference on Renowned Rock Band U2.” Just a few words difference, but kind of a big difference in meaning, eh?
North Carolina Central University is hosting the conference and we’re thrilled to be working with them. And we’ll all save some seats for the band if they should have some down time and want to stop by.