This is old news around here (Portland). Whenever U2 comes to town this is discussed and Bono mentions it from onstage now and again. I was at the concert where the briefcase was ripped off; supposedly what happened were some groupie-types got themselves backstage and made off with the goods. I've appended an article from today's Oregonian that has more detail. - Greg Jaimie Vernon wrote: > Is it just me or do these guys seem to have no sense of propriety > where their copyrights are concerned? They've lost master tapes for > one album and the final mixes to another and now this is revealed: > > Friday, October 22, 2004 CANOE - Jam! Showbiz > > Bono finds his missing 'October' lyrics -------------------------------------------------------- Oregonian article follows: > A lyrical quest for Bono ends where it began Portland is at center > stage as fans set out to right a wrong after discovering long lost U2 > material > > Friday, October 22, 2004 DYLAN RIVERA > > Danielle Rheaume was trading e-mails with work mate Cindy Harris > about their favorite band, when Harris made a startling claim. > > I've got some of U2's things, Harris wrote her last October. I'll > tell you about it sometime. > > "No, tell me about it now -- I have to see it!" Rheaume said she > wrote back. > > Rheaume suspected the items Harris possessed might include legendary > lyrics thought to have been stolen in Portland in the early 1980s. > The loss had forced U2 to hastily rewrite its second album, > "October." > > The next day at work in Olympia, Rheaume knew she was right. > > Harris produced a zippered, clear plastic bag -- the kind bed > comforters come in. The bag held a black binder, a blue hand-sized > spiral notebook, photos and documents. A work visa bore lead singer > Bono's given name, Paul Hewson. The notebook contained scrawled ideas > for song titles, including future hits such as "Sunday Bloody > Sunday." > > From that moment, the then-26-year-old Rheaume, a Bono fan since age > 8, resolved what to do with the collection: "I began my quest to get > it back to him." > > For years, Rheaume said, she had a feeling she would meet Bono one > day. The papers were certainly her chance, because he had sought them > so long. > > But first, she faced a puzzle: how to return belongings to an > international celebrity who pays a staff to help fend off strangers? > > U2's early loss > > Several books about U2 mention a Portland concert on March 22, 1981, > after which Bono's briefcase disappeared. The band, then a niche > college-radio upstart, was touring to support "Boy," its first album. > It played to a handful of people at the Foghorn Tavern in the Gateway > area. Three women later joined the band backstage. > > They must be groupies, the band figured, according to "Into the > Heart," a book of stories about U2 songs. The women flirted and > eventually departed. Later, the band suspected they were thieves: > Bono's briefcase was gone. > > "Bono was devastated," Eamon Dunphy wrote in "Unforgettable Fire," a > U2 biography. "It wasn't the money, the passport, the personal > knick-knacks. It was the words he had written. And the breach of > trust." > > The loss, several books say, also left the singer scrambling to > re-create months of work. > > Bono ended up re-writing songs in the studio. Band members said the > session was their worst studio experience. The effort also generated > U2's least popular release. > > Two years later, when the band performed at Portland's Paramount > Theater, now the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Bono asked if anyone > had seen the briefcase. He repeated the question at the Rose Garden > arena in 2001. > > Belongings recovered > > After Harris moved into a rental house in Tacoma in 1983, she said, > her husband found a beat-up brown briefcase sitting alone in the > attic. > > Harris quickly concluded the briefcase belonged to U2, but she did > not hear about the reported theft for several years, she said. Her > husband wound up using the briefcase. Harris put its contents into > the plastic bag, hoping to preserve them but unsure what to do. > > "I had started a family, and I thought it would be impossible to ever > get ahold of them and let them know that I have these items," > recalled Harris, 44. > > But when Rheaume came along, awed by the collection, Harris felt her > friend could return it . > > Rheaume carefully organized the items, placed them in a safe and set > about contacting the band. > > She e-mailed a London friend who worked for a fan Web site > (www.U2log.com). The friend got Rheaume in touch with a woman at U2's > management firm. For months, Rheaume said, she pleaded for a chance > to deliver the collection. > > The management firm suggested U2 might fly Harris and Rheaume to > Ireland. But that didn't work out. > > An East Coast band appearance? Not that one, either. > > Rheaume grew frustrated. > > Then, last summer, she suggested a meeting to coincide with Bono's > lecture Wednesday for the World Affairs Council of Oregon. The > management firm agreed. > > Rheaume said she was anxious for the delivery to happen this time. > But she said a Bono aide reassured her: Don't worry, it will happen . > > > Sure enough, Rheaume and Harris met Bono at the Benson Hotel lobby > Wednesday afternoon. Rheaume finally had her moment. One by one, she > showed Bono the photos, lyrics and letters. > > She also found out why it took so long to reach the rock star: He had > told his staff the women were taking good care of his long-lost > belongings. > > That night, as Rheaume and Harris sat in the ninth-row Rose Garden > seats Bono had given them, he announced the lyrics' return and > thanked the women. > > "I," Rheaume said, "was on the edge of my seat." > > PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A long-lost briefcase full of notes and lyrics > that were intended for the 1981 U2 album October has been returned, > 23 years after it was stolen at a Portland concert. > > U2 frontman Bono made the announcement Wednesday during an appearance > before the World Affairs Council of Oregon, saying the returned > notes were "an act of grace." > > Bono had to rewrite the October lyrics in the studio, and band > members called it their worst recording experience. Though the record > was generally well-received, it didn't earn the praise of the band's > debut album, Boy, or third album, War. > > The briefcase was returned by Cindy Harris, 44, who said she found it > in the attic of a rental home in Tacoma, Wash., in 1981. She said she > did not know the notes had been stolen until many years later, and > then she had no idea how to reach the band. > > Her friend Danielle Rheaume spent much of the past year contacting > U2's management. > > According to Into the Heart, a book of stories about U2 songs, the > briefcase was stolen by some women who joined the band backstage at a > now-defunct Portland nightclub. > > The band returned to Portland a few years after the theft and Bono > asked the audience if anyone knew about the briefcase. He repeated > the question when the band played at the Rose Garden arena in 2001. > (More on U2) > > Jaimie Vernon, Bullseye > > > > -- Greg Cagle gregc at gregcagle dot com