New & Noteworthy

HotPress reports that Liam O Maonlai & Co. are still together, although bassist Peter O’Toole is taking a short break for personal reasons. Of course, you can’t blame music writers for jumping to conclusions — the last time this band took a “time out” was the early ’90s, and it turned into a decade-long hiatus. Last year, HHF regrouped for a short American tour with the Prodigals, the Saw Doctors and Black 47. Audience response was good (and Liam’s neo-hippy look was a hit), hence the newly streamlined grouping and the second grab at the brass ring.
The official statement from the band is that they are “still very much together.” In other words, these Flowers are pretty resilient, when things get hot.
By the way, there’s good buzz on the new album, “Into Your Heart.” If you can’t wait for the October release, go to www.hothouseflowers.com and watch the video for the first single, “Your Love Goes On.” Oh, and admire Liam’s funky white suit.

Getting the Led out of ‘Live Aid’
After years of insisting that there would never be a “Live Aid” DVD release, no way, no how, never, never, never, Bob Geldof has finally changed his mind and green lighted the project. The all-star fundraising concert, which took place in both London and Philadelphia on July 13, 1985, will be released as a multi-DVD set, featuring the cream of the ’70s/’80s music scene. Look for Madonna, Howard Jones, U2, Dire Straits, Queen, Sting, Boy George, Genesis and, well, you name it to pop up on the DVD. What you shouldn’t look for: metal gods Led Zeppelin.
Now that the DVD is going to hit the shelves, other stuff is starting to hit the fan, as it were. The surviving members of Led Zeppelin have decided that their Live Aid performance — with Phil Collins sitting in for deceased drummer John Bonham — just wasn’t up to snuff. After carefully reviewing the footage from the concert, they decided that their set was “sub-standard” and have refused to allow its inclusion in the DVD.
But since the proceeds from DVD sales will go to the Live Aid Foundation, to raise money to combat poverty, disease and starvation in Sudan, the Zeppelin alumni are eager to do their bit. Plant and Page have pledged the profits (how’s that for alliteration?) from their own “Page and Plant” DVD to the campaign. And bassist John Paul Jones will be doing the same with the proceeds from his upcoming U.S. tour.
For years, Geldof resisted the idea of putting out either an album or a film of the concert, citing the mountains of red tape involved when dealing with so many different artists, record labels, agents, music publishers and so on. But after hearing that bootleg copies of the concert were doing a brisk business on internet auction sites, he decided to take the plunge.
Unfortunately, the Led Zeppelin pullout could be the first of many. After all, two decades have gone by since Joan Baez proclaimed, “Children of the ’80s: This is your Woodstock!” and a number of those bands, like Bananarama and Culture Club, have gone the way of the dinosaur. (Good luck getting permission, Sir Bob!) But whatever happened, the DVD should hit stores in October, in time for the Christmas shopping season.

Briefings
Even with two of the original four members jamming in that big Cavern Club in the sky, Paul McCartney is still the most boring Beatle. Which I know sounds kinda mean, but come on — the guy’s latest project is an animated film and song for children, which will each go under the name “Tropical Island Hum.”
McCartney says that the challenge of composing songs for children keeps him “interested in the possibilities of life.” Plus, it allows him to channel his inner rugrat.
“In animation it’s good to have a bit of child-like quality about yourself,” he told www.iol.ie. “That’s just something that’s in me.”
Despite his position as the wealthiest musician in the world (with assets estimated at $1 billion), Paul is just a simple bloke at heart.
“I’m still fascinated by the things that fascinated me as a kid,” he said. “Sometimes people grow out of that, but I’ve been lucky not to.”

When it comes to measuring the success of Irish actor Brendan Gleeson, it’s safe to say that the career of the craggy-faced character actor from Belfast is off the charts. Soon, it’ll be easier to list the movies he’s not in (very few) rather than the movies he’s in (seemingly everything).
Gleeson’s next big challenge will be playing Mad-Eye Moody in the upcoming film “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” He can currently be seen in M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller, “The Village,” and in the Brad Pitt skirt-fest, “Troy.” He’ll also be in “Kingdom of Heaven,” alongside Liam Neeson and Jeremy irons, which hits theaters next spring. Not bad for a former schoolteacher who didn’t start acting until the ripe old age of 34.

When it comes to the future of his band Oasis, Liam Gallagher has been all over the map lately: labeling them a pop outfit and smacking his brother around, proclaiming them the best band in the world and smacking his brother around, firing the drummer, and smacking his brother around, etc. But his meds seem to have put him in a happy place at the moment. Thank goodness.
“Oasis are rocking,” he enthused. “Every band has the odd bust-up and we sacked our drummer, but that’s no big deal. It happens. But we are strong and ready to take on the world.”

Add Halle Berry to the list of people who are bummed that Pierce Brosnan is hanging up his tuxedo and bowing out of the “Bond” franchise.
Halle, who costarred with Pierce and an orange bikini in the last 007 film, “Die Another Day,” thinks that the hunky Irish actor was born to do the whole shaken-not-stirred thing. And she obviously thinks that the producers, whose hemming and hawing prompted Pierce to bolt, have lost the plot. Literally.
“I’d love it to be Pierce again,” she told reporters. “I’m so sad it’s not him.”

It might not be quite as earth-shaking as pointing out that the Emperor has no clothes, but “Arthur” star Kiera Knightley certainly got a bit of attention recently with her clear-eyed view of a hunky royal.
The 19-year-old actress, who shot to fame in “Bend it Like Beckham” and “Pirates of the Caribbean,” told London’s Daily Mirror that she’s sick of tabloids constantly running stories about her and high-profile men. She’s devoted to her boyfriend, Irish model Jamie Dornan, and has eyes only for him. Which means, enough with the rumors linking her to guys like, say, Britain’s Prince William.
“[He] definitely isn’t my type,” she declared. “He’s too horsey-looking.”

Colin Farrell has worked hard to cement his reputation as Hollywood’s Lusty Leprechaun. So now it can be revealed that he relies on a lucky charm.
The Dublin hottie told Teen Hollywood that he always wears his lucky underpants on his first day of work on any film. He says that the skivvies — boxer shorts emblazoned with shamrocks, if anyone’s interested — never fail to bring him good luck. The boxers were a gift from his older brother, Eamonn, and Colin vowed to uphold the tradition throughout his career.
“They’re my lucky charm,” he said. “If I don’t have them, I won’t come out of the trailer.”
The actor admits that, thanks to his busy career, the shorts have seen a fair share of action. (Oh, get your mind out of the gutter.) But even if they devolve into worn-out rags, he’ll keep them close at hand.
“They’re starting to get a bit old now,” he said. “But I could never part with them.”
Colin had better keep a close eye on his underwear drawer. Because when it comes to his fans — well, sure, aren’t they always after his lucky charms?

This being the silly summer season, (translation: a slow news time) Britain’s Company magazine took a poll to identify the world’s most — and least — sexy men. Leading the yuck-list, to no one’s great surprise, is faded pop star Michael Jackson, followed closely by “American Idol” hatchet man Simon Cowell (hey — I’ve got a crush on him!), Justin Timberlake, Liam Gallagher, Robbie Williams and David Beckham. (Were the voters on drugs? Robbie? ROBBIE?)
The cute-list was headed by Brad Pitt, who was followed by Orlando Bloom (what, they didn’t have a separate wimpy-teen-idol list?), Nigel Hartman, and, yes, David Beckham and Justin Timberlake. Robbie Williams also popped up on the sexy list in the No. 8 spot, which put him two notches below Colin Farrell and four above George Clooney. Whatever that means.

Well, it’s been almost a month since Bono spouted some self-conscious, self-deprecating self-criticism, and that’s too long by anyone’s standards. So he took a little time out from searching for that stolen copy of the band’s new album to ruminate on the band’s vast catalog of music. Or rather, to point out the shortcomings of some of U2’s best-loved songs.
“When I look at our first 10 years, I just hear unfinished work, lyrics we never finished because we ran out of studio time,” he said.
“I hear ‘Bad’ and see what’s not there. I just see a list of failures.”
Well, failures or not, the records certainly sold like hotcakes the first time around — and gathered plenty of green as part of the group’s two greatest hits albums. But, says Bono, that doesn’t mean they were very good. Take the popular concert stalwart “Where the Streets Have No Name,” which has been a mainstay of the live performance set list since 1987.
“[The opening] is one of the most banal couplets I’ve ever heard,” he said. Which is saying a lot, since it’s a toss-up between “Street’s” “I want to run, I want to hide / I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside” and the legendary “Party Girl” lyric, “I know a boy, a boy called Trampoline / Do you know what I mean?”
Bono is philosophical about what he perceives as the band’s failures, insisting that what they lacked in literary prowess, they made up for in spirit.
“Feelings are stronger than ideas or words in a song,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “You can have 1,000 ideas, but unless you capture an emotion, it’s an essay.” And nobody stands on line all night for tickets to see someone read an essay.
Speaking of the written word, the singer said that if he hadn’t made a go of music, he’d probably have been a speechwriter.
“I’m always writing speeches or articles for causes I believe in,” he said. “But that’s not songwriting.” One has only to cast one’s memory back to Bono’s famous Grammy speech introducing Frank Sinatra (“Frank walks like America — cocksure!”) to note, that’s not speechwriting, either. Or put it this way: Peggy Noonan, your job is secure.

Jim Sheridan will bring his Oscar-winning touch — and his family’s story of immigration — to the small screen this year. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Irish director and his daughter Naomi, a screenwriter, have signed on to develop a TV series about an Irish family’s struggle to run a restaurant in the United States.
The father-daughter team, along with Naomi’s sister, Kirsten, collaborated on the script for Sheridan’s last film, the semi-autobiographical “In America.” The three were nominated for an Academy Award, and the film also garnered a best actress nod for Samantha Morton and a best supporting actor nomination for Djimon Hounsou.

This is for all of you aspiring Roses of Tralee out there: Being named the Rose is an honor, indeed — but you might not want to give up your day job.
The Sunday World reports that the current title holder, one Orla Tobin, had a bit of a rude awakening when she discovered that she’d be footing the bill for her own clothes and makeup throughout her reign. According to the Rose, it was a good thing she held on to her job at the Bank of Ireland — or she’d have gone hungry.

We’re not sure whose idea this was, but the long-defunct Irish band the Virgin Prunes will release five of their old albums on CD for the first time. So far there are no plans for the original embers — who include Bono’s buddies Gavin Friday and Guggi — to get back in the saddle. Or, more accurately, back into their frocks and high heels. Ach, don’t you miss adolescent glam rock?

Why, oh, ‘Y’?
You know, it’s hard to get people to take you seriously when your first name is spelled funny. I don’t mean to sound like an old stick-in-the-mud, but enough, already, with sticking y’s in where they don’t belong, or skipping them altogether and substituting a handful of e’s, deleting letters, phonetic spellings, etc. If I meet one more Sindee, Brytnee or Cristal, I will screme. Although, come to think of it, I might consider changing my own spelling to something decorative, like Eyeleene. Or Ilen. Or Julia. (Actually, that last one is the name I really wanted. But no one asked me.) Ah, no — I’ll just continue muddling through with the E — mostly because forces me to spell my name out loud constantly.
Anyway, yes, there is a point to all this. It seems that former Westlifer Bryan McFadden has taken another baby step toward musical legitimacy. The singer has announced that, from now on, he is Brian McFadden. Note the subtle but significant change from “y” to “i” in the first name.
Bry . . . whoops, Brian . . . feels that fans and journalists will take him more seriously with the name change. Hey, it worked for . . . hmmm . . . Prince (symbol). And, er, . . . Cat Stevens (Yousef Islam). Oh, and Pamela Anderson Lee. Right? (Wait, she changed her name back after the divorce.) Well, you see where I’m going with this.