Dear Friends of the U2 Conference,

I’m sorry to bring this news to you, but it’s a bad news / good news sort of announcement.  So please read on.

We have a great conference in the making.  We have a great topic, a great line-up of featured speakers, and great papers accepted for presentation.  What we don’t have right now is a great (or even good) economy.  The travel and tourism industry is being hit hard and all around us we are seeing events either being scaled back or canceled.  The reality of a weak economy is hitting academic institutions and their plans for conferences as well.

Cedarville University, the hosting institution for the U2 Conference, informed me late last week that they don’t feel good about going ahead with it in New York City this May.  The forecast for how many people would be able to come just didn’t look encouraging enough.

I would like to make this conference as affordable as possible for all of you who want to be there.  My team is working on a new plan to make this a reality.  I guess you could say we are going away for awhile to dream it all up again, in search of another time and another place.

With U2 on tour in the United States later this year and into next year, it opens up some possibilities for having the conference in a city close to their concert dates.  Waiting until the fall of 2009 or the spring of 2010 also allows some time for the economy to improve.

If you have any suggestions, you could post a comment here or contact me.

If you haven’t signed up for e-mail alerts from the U2 Conference, please do so.  That’s the best way to get the latest news from us.

Thanks for reading and please stay tuned,

Scott Calhoun

Conference Director

PS: Sorry - I forgot to add that refunds will be issued for registrants.  And for those who were selected to come make a presentation, please keep an eye out for an e-mail coming your way.  Thanks!

This just in from featured speaker Neil McCormick. Neil has posted his full review of U2’s new album, No Line On The Horizon, at the Telegraph’s blogsite.  He had a little help from Bono with writing the review. : ) Go check it out.

We have another title for another one of our featured speakers’ presentations. This time it’s for Cathleen Falsani’s talk:”Get Up Off Your Knees: U2’s Influence on Faith-Based Social Justice Movements.”

Cathleen will open our second day of the conference with this presentation.  Our developing conference schedule is here.

More about Cathleen:

A die-hard, rabid and unapologetic U2 fan since the autumn of 1982 when she heard the first chords of “Gloria,” Cathleen Falsani is also the religion columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, where, since 2000, she has covered her diverse “God beat” from locations as far a field as Vatican City, Vedic City, Ireland, Germany, the Caribbean, the West Wing, and the dugout at Wrigley Field.  Her first book, The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People, includes a lengthy spiritual profile of Bono, and was named one of the best non-fiction books of 2006 by The Christian Science Monitor. Her new book, Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace, is out now and The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers is forthcoming in the Spring of 2009. Her work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Christianity Today, the Chicago Tribune, Kansas City Star, and elsewhere. She has been a commentator on CNN, Fox News Channel, NPR, WGN-Radio and The Tavis Smiley Show. In 2005, Cathleen was named the James O. Supple Religion Writer of the Year by the Religion News Writers Association.

Conference registration is open, and is open to the public.

The titles for our featured speakers’ presentations are starting to come in.  How about this for starters?  ‘We are meant to be one of the great groups.’ : How U2 Saved Rock and Roll.

That one is from Jim Henke, who will open our program Thursday morning. With a title such as this, what do you hope to hear from Jim?

Jim Henke is Vice President of Exhibitions and Curatorial Affairs at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and the first American journalist to interview U2. Henke began his career at Rolling Stone magazine in 1977 and served as the magazine’s music editor for nearly a decade. While at Rolling Stone, Henke co-edited The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll and The Rolling Stone Album Guide.  Henke’s recent books include Lennon Legend, a biography of John Lennon, published in 2003, Bob Marley Legend, his biography of Bob Marley, published in 2006, and The Jim Morrison Scrapbook, released in fall 2007.  Henke once gave Bono a book about Martin Luther King Jr., which Bono later said helped inspire him to write ‘Pride (In the Name of Love)’.

Conference registration is open, and is open to the public.