Althouse: "That is very bourgeois for such a dedicated leftist. Glad he got stuffed by his own side. I always laugh when liberals get caught in their own traps."

June 19, 2019

"That is very bourgeois for such a dedicated leftist. Glad he got stuffed by his own side. I always laugh when liberals get caught in their own traps."

That's one of the comments on "'He's finished!' U2 guitarist The Edge's dreams of building $100million family compound on an untouched Malibu mountainside are shattered after he loses a 14-YEAR legal battle" (at the The Daily Mail). He spent $9 million for the land and $10 million for the litigation.

The top-rated comment: "U2 the hypocritical band They put their money offshore to evade Ireland taxes. Fly separately in private jets, each have a limosine back stage, then the band walk out and tell fans global warming is bad and preach for 10 minutes. Glad this environment was protected from another U2 hypocrite."

The rejected plan was to build 5 houses, which he called "Leaves in the Wind" to convey the message that these things — bigger than 12,000 square feet each — would barely be noticed. Later, the houses were scaled back to the 9,000-square-foot range.

The quote "He's finished!" comes from a Sierra Club lawyer.

70 comments:

Big Mike said...: That’s always been the most irksome thing about liberalism; the “do as I tell you, not as I do” preachiness.; 6/19/19, 6:44 AM
whitney said...: He's like all these environmentalist billionaires running around in private planes from conference to conference so they can figure out new and better ways to tell us to reduce our carbon footprint. It's a joke....on us!; 6/19/19, 6:46 AM
gilbar said...: People! People!
Keep in mind, that our Betters, like Mr Edge, are BETTER than us!
they NEED their perks, they NEED their comforts
It's a hard job, telling the rest of us what to to, and they deserve a few mountains, and jets; 6/19/19, 6:49 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Gah! I made a U2 tag and undertook to apply it retroactively. There were a lot of old posts, but in the past, my tag "Bono" was used to cover the subject. Can't use Bono on this one, so I got into a boring enterprise.

I liked U2 back in the days when "Within You, Without You" was on MTV all the time. Ha ha. I mean... "With or Without You." That is, the 80s.

Why won't these rock musicians stay in particular decades? In the 60s, the people from the 50s were separate. They were "rock and roll oldies." Now, these musical acts stay around for half a century.; 6/19/19, 6:52 AM
FleetUSA said...: I guess his lawyers convinced him to keep paying as it was a "can't lose" case. That's called throwing good money after bad.; 6/19/19, 6:55 AM
David Begley said...: Before today, I had never heard of this guy. Where does he get off calling himself The Edge?

Glad to see lawyers and architects separated $10 million from him.; 6/19/19, 6:56 AM
gilbar said...: in the early 1980s, i went a saw Muddy Waters; who was then SUPER OLD.
It was great, like going to a museum. I mean; here was a guy, a pioneer from 25 or 30 years before. And he was Super Old, he was like SIXTY EIGHT years old, and he died a year or two later.

Fast forward to NOW.
How long ago were the Eighties? 35 years?
What do people list to now?
HOW OLD is Mr Edge and Bo No?

At least when i saw Muddy Waters, i realized i was seeing the ancient past; 6/19/19, 7:01 AM
cubanbob said...: Was the land zoned for development when he bought it? If it was and his plan was within the zoning in place at the time, then basically
he was robbed. Schadenfreude aside, If my zoning assumption was correct then he should be entitled to a takings value.; 6/19/19, 7:05 AM
David Begley said...: His real name is David Evans. What’s wrong with that name?

Maybe I should call myself The Cutting Edge.; 6/19/19, 7:07 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: The annals of rich liberals - quite amusing!

Y'all ever been to Malibu, CA? It's a spectacular beach town. Multi-million dollar beach mansions.

Ever been there in the 60s & 70s, before the rich Hollywood liberals moved in? It was a blue collar, affordable, spectacular beach town.

Good movie about surfing there in the 60's - Big Wednesday. with Jan Michael Vincent and Gary Busey.; 6/19/19, 7:08 AM
Xmas said...: The California Coastal Commission is just awful. You can find all sorts of stories about them killing building projects for petty and nonsensical reasons.

My mom's response would be to turn the property into a pig farm.; 6/19/19, 7:09 AM
Phil 314 said...: To second Cubanbob, we seem to hate over regulation (if that’s what happened here) unless it hurts “one of them!” Then we love it.

We love it when the vindictive state is in OUR side.; 6/19/19, 7:10 AM
Rob said...: . . . and the horse he rode in on.; 6/19/19, 7:11 AM
Birkel said...: Before we go all Winston Wolf in this situation, maybe we could mourn the building codes that have limited construction not just of fancy mansions but also school buildings and hospitals.

Or the lack of new housing.
So housing prices in California are so high people cannot afford to live there.

I don't care about The Edge.
U2s music was meh.

I do care about my fellow Americans.; 6/19/19, 7:12 AM
Birkel said...: Glad to see several comments above that aren't drunk on schaudenfreude. (Sp?); 6/19/19, 7:14 AM
Gunner said...: Sierra Club was bribed into supporting highly polluting unlimited illegal immigration by one lefty donor. Who would ever take them seriously?; 6/19/19, 7:18 AM
narciso said...: Yes that was milius passion project, re the documentary. And he was heartbroken when it flopped; 6/19/19, 7:20 AM
Automatic_Wing said...: For all their open-borders enthusiasm, the good citizens of Malibu are pretty good at keeping outsiders out.

Stay out of Malibu, Lebowski!; 6/19/19, 7:21 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Muddy Waters was superb in his old age.

I saw him in small clubs in Chicago and on big stages. He always delivered.

He only became more profound and moving as he aged.

The blues is not for young men.; 6/19/19, 7:23 AM
JPS said...: I'm sorry for him. I'm always sorry when people don't get to build their dream house, unless they're really awful people, which as far as I can tell he's not.

This despite the fact that I disagree with his and his bandmates' politics, and I'm still trying to figure out whether they've made anything good since that song they dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi (which is sort of awkward these days).; 6/19/19, 7:24 AM
Fernandinande said...: That’s always been the most irksome thing about Chrisianity; the “do as I tell you, not as I do” preachiness.

He's like all these Chrisitan billionaires running around in private planes from conference to conference so they can figure out new and better ways to tell us to increase our piety. It's a joke....on us!

The annals of rich Christians - quite amusing!; 6/19/19, 7:30 AM
rhhardin said...: Zoning is a taking and ought to require compensation.; 6/19/19, 7:32 AM
wild chicken said...: I always saw living at Malibu as the ultimate privilege. Kim Novak had a place there, and rode her horse on the beach. I moved to Montana where there is no beach, so no one to envy really.

I think edge needed a variance and I'm glad he didn't get it. Those cliffs and hillside can take only so much.; 6/19/19, 7:35 AM
Birches said...: Trying to build in California. What a maroon. I think his houses are ugly, but he'd probably get permission to build in any Red State.; 6/19/19, 7:35 AM
gspencer said...: To some degree each one of us is a hypocrite. But lefties lead the parade.; 6/19/19, 7:36 AM
Birches said...: U2 hasn't been relevant since 2000 or 2001, so I guess they had two good decades.; 6/19/19, 7:38 AM
tim maguire said...: Fernandistein said...Chrisianity...Chrisitan...Christians...!

Third time's a charm.

U2 was my favourite band for many years. I also haven't cared about them for many years. Which means they've been around way too long. I like that Bono learned the right lessons from the failure of Bandaid. IMO, he's been good for 3rd world philanthropy. I know nothing of what The Edge has been up to.; 6/19/19, 7:41 AM
readering said...: No opinion on who was right here on law. But emblematic of way California laws hurt the ability to build housing. Has contributed to homeless crisis. Edge not homeless but over 100,000 of his fellow CA residents are.; 6/19/19, 7:42 AM
Chris N said...: Alas, I was turned down to build my Catholic estate, The Manger, in downtown Dublin. It was going to show, not tell.; 6/19/19, 7:55 AM
Birkel said...: Question readering will never ask:

Why do Democrats pursue policies that hurt people?; 6/19/19, 7:56 AM
Seeing Red said...: Bono. Yuck. He always looks like he needs a bath.

He flies around the world guilting money from others so he can look good.

The last thing I heard about him was an African country needed water wells. The wells were $1m each.

$24m for clean water! How can a country say no?

But he’s worth multi-millions and so are his band mates and “friends.”

The country needed the wells NOW!

Do u think he, his band mates and friends could come up with a measly $24m among them because the country was desperate?

No. He spent time flying around schmoozing to get countries to give money.; 6/19/19, 8:06 AM
readering said...: Answer: people are selfish.; 6/19/19, 8:18 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Exhibit 1: Rich liberals begin to realize the mob is coming for them too.; 6/19/19, 8:28 AM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: I LOATHE U2.

My Pal Matt, who is a total leftwinger, he hates U2, too.

Celebrate with me. U2 sucks.; 6/19/19, 8:28 AM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: Bono's voice = fingernails on a chalkboard
Edge guitar = boring boring boring
The other assholes - esp that cute drummer, he's a dick.; 6/19/19, 8:33 AM
Ray - SoCal said...: Environmental Lawsuits are used in Ca for developments by unions as leverage to get union workers used.

Large Sunnyvale semi affordable housing project has this issue.

It makes it very expensive to build in Ca.

It’s amazing Tokyo has affordable housing in contrast.; 6/19/19, 8:46 AM
Swede said...: I like U2's music.

And that's about it.

When they start talking about other things, I move on.; 6/19/19, 8:47 AM
n.n said...: He should construct an underground bunker, and develop the land above to resettle the refugees from social justice zones. Then someone will construct a time machine to discover the anthropogenic causes of this monotonic divergence.; 6/19/19, 8:55 AM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: Saw U2 live twice. Both were great shows.

If I had to limit my musical choices to artists who weren't insane liberals, I would be stuck will a record collection that consisted of Ted Nugent and Kid Rock.; 6/19/19, 8:56 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: If I had to limit my musical choices to artists who weren't insane liberals, I would be stuck will a record collection that consisted of Ted Nugent and Kid Rock.

Try outlaw country.; 6/19/19, 9:00 AM
ConradBibby said...: "Why won't these rock musicians stay in particular decades? In the 60s, the people from the 50s were separate. They were 'rock and roll oldies.' Now, these musical acts stay around for half a century."

Which is fine if the act doesn't just stand still musically but actually evolves and tries new things. Neil Young and Paul Simon have been around forever but they didn't just stay in the same lane all the time. U2 is a good example of a very talented band that made it big with a particular sound and formula but then never moved on to the next thing. I loved them for the first decade or so but then it got really stale.; 6/19/19, 9:11 AM
J. Farmer said...: If only the residents of Malibu were as gung-ho about keeping undesirables out of the county as they are about keeping them out of their zip code. Diversity for thee but not for me.; 6/19/19, 9:15 AM
J. Farmer said...: @ConradBibby:

U2 is a good example of a very talented band that made it big with a particular sound and formula but then never moved on to the next thing.

Is that really true, though? Their 90s output seemed markedly different from their 80s output. How much do Achtung Baby or Pop sound like War or The Joshua Tree?; 6/19/19, 9:19 AM
Michael Fitzgerald said...: Bay Area Guy, Malibu is not a spectacular Beach town, at all. It's a stretch of tract housing off a homely stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway. If there wasn't a sign, you wouldn't know you were passing through Malibu and not Mar Vista. That and a couple of bland strip malls, that's Malibu. A skin tag of a town.

Now Cape Cod, there you find actual wonderful beach towns. Venice is more of a beach town then Malibu, albeit a beach town covered in scabies, scumbags and bums, but that's the state of the state.; 6/19/19, 9:27 AM
Wince said...: In the end, looks like Edge will have to scale-down his building plans. Been around these guys periodically for almost four decades and watched the ride they've been on. Like everyone, there is a human dimension that I respect, even when I disagree. Spent a day last summer with Bono and Edge on Cape Cod for a back porch performance. Came away with an appreciation that they are still working musicians, Edge especially, who came early to use the cottage as a practice space.

Every Breaking Wave (Edge on piano)

Every sailor knows that the sea
Is a friend made enemy
And every shipwrecked soul knows what it is
To live without intimacy

I thought I heard the captain's voice
But it's hard to listen while you preach

Like every broken wave on the shore
This is as far as I could reach; 6/19/19, 9:43 AM
F said...: Q: Why did “the Edge” want to live in Los Angeles? He grew up in Dublin, though he was born in the UK, and the band used to record in Ireland (with notable exceptions, like Berlin). His connection to southern California seems non-existant, so why build a $100 million family compound there? I have a theory: its because his creative days are over and now he is looking to (1) give his children the ultimate leg-up beyond his hundreds of millions of dollars by living in proximity to the major players in the music industry. (2) He can still make money via licensing his old music to TV and movie producers, so living near those people may allow him to become even richer without doing anything new. I guess he is part of the “global elite”. BTW: I am a huge fan of his work from the 80s and 90s. The Edge was the music writer for the band, its all him. Bono write the lyrics and the other two just played drums and bass.; 6/19/19, 9:45 AM
AZ Bob said...: The Edge has been smeared by a broad Bono brush.; 6/19/19, 10:02 AM
bagoh20 said...: I never got the attraction of U2. They were not especially talented musicians, the music was boring, and lyrics uninspired, yet I've had to endure it blaring at me most of my life. Unfortunately, it paid very well, and apparently the money did not go to a good place.; 6/19/19, 10:04 AM
Wince said...: Why did “the Edge” want to live in Los Angeles?

I think he's had access to a place there for many years.

I have a theory: its because his creative days are over...

One reason I said "working musician" was watching Edge rehearse and play a new song publicly for the first time.

Summer of Love

Edge seems less distracted by other things and remains the creative force.; 6/19/19, 10:19 AM
PM said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/19/19, 10:24 AM
PM said...: Whitney: "He's like all these environmentalist billionaires running around in private planes from conference to conference so they can figure out new and better ways to tell us to reduce our carbon footprint."

Some great articles out recently on the amazingly large footprint created by cryptocurrency mining. Naturally, tech, those Do No Evil folks, are rushing to start their own versions.; 6/19/19, 10:26 AM
Fernandinande said...: Third time's a charm.

Well, there were only three posts braying about liberal hypocrisy where I could replace liberal with Christian.

The "Edge" guy is a pretty serious Jesus freak, and is probably violating the tenets of his Jesus freakery at least as much as the tenets of liberalism, which isn't surprising since Christians are generally at least as hypocritical as liberals.; 6/19/19, 10:37 AM
SGT Ted said...: Leftisms leaders are all about living a rich mans life while advocating that others be forced via the State to fund it. Even the most hypocritical Christians don't advocate State violence to fund their mega-churches.; 6/19/19, 10:56 AM
Roughcoat said...: One-name celebrities are self-evidently egotistical. You gotta be some kind of egotistical SOB to go by a self-invented emblematic single moniker.

The only one-name celebrity I really ever like was Capuchine.; 6/19/19, 11:09 AM
Sam L. said...: I am SOOOOOOOOO not bummed about this. Karma????? Coulllllllllllllllllllllddd BE!; 6/19/19, 11:49 AM
TheThinMan said...: Am I the only conservative here on this guy's side? If the land is not to be built on, the land conservation trust needed to buy it up, or at least should have stopped the sale. So they let him go ahead and buy the land, got their taxes on the $9 million sale, then I assume taxed the shit out of it every year for 14 years while at the same time they wouldn't let him build on it. They pretended it was his particular plan, but when he addressed all the faults they had with it, they still said no. He got seriously fucked.

Bono is the one who lectures the audience between songs; not The Edge. But I've got to hand it to Bono: when every celebrity had Bush derangement syndrome and ranted about him onstage and off, Bono had a friendly relationship with him, meeting for prayer breakfasts in the White House and collaborating on world AIDS and hunger projects. When Trump surprisingly won the election, U2 shelved the album they were about to put out because they knew they as they toured and gave interviews, the rabid media would not be allow them to stay apolitical. If U2's get-along attitude with Republicans didn't secretly destroy this deal, it certainly didn't help.; 6/19/19, 12:20 PM
Anthony said...: "Why won't these rock musicians stay in particular decades? In the 60s, the people from the 50s were separate. They were 'rock and roll oldies.' Now, these musical acts stay around for half a century."

Which is fine if the act doesn't just stand still musically but actually evolves and tries new things. Neil Young and Paul Simon have been around forever but they didn't just stay in the same lane all the time. U2 is a good example of a very talented band that made it big with a particular sound and formula but then never moved on to the next thing. I loved them for the first decade or so but then it got really stale.

Disagree. They evolved quite radically, so much so that they lost me completely after Achtung, Baby (which I think is their best album). Strong foursome for most of the 1980s with two really good albums (War and Boy), and a really nice little EP (Wide Awake in America) which has the best version of Bad ever (it is impossible to turn it up too loud). Most people think of Joshua Tree as their best, but I'm Meh on most of the tracks, except One Tree Hill and Streets Have No Name (not to mention Running to Stand Still which is simple yet very powerful, and easy to play on geetar, which I believe Brian Eno plays on the track).

They went alternative/industrial on Achtung with more intricate production and less just plain guitar-bass-drums, but I think it worked brilliantly.

After that, Meh. Way over-produced on everything.; 6/19/19, 12:29 PM
J. Farmer said...: @TheThinMan:

I am with you. The real hypocrites in this are the limousine liberals of Malibu (e.g. Rob Reiner) who decry efforts at stopping illegal immigrants but use every zoning and regulatory trick in the book to keep undesirables (i.e. poor whites, blacks, and Hispanics) out of their neighborhoods and off their beaches. Malibu seems ripe for a nice patch of low-income housing courtesy of federal subsidies.; 6/19/19, 12:30 PM
Chris Lopes said...: "We love it when the vindictive state is in OUR side."

Actually we hate it then too. In a perfect world, this Edge person would be able to build whatever edifice to his ego wanted. It's his money and his land. The People's Republic of California doesn't see it that way, hence the legal battle.; 6/19/19, 12:36 PM
Yancey Ward said...: At least he fed the hungry children of his corporate lawyers.; 6/19/19, 12:38 PM
Yancey Ward said...: U2 is one of the all time great bands, but their creative days are long past- really nothing since the late 90s has appealed to me, and I was a big fan from the early 80s. Only saw them in concert once, in Albany in June of 2001- a great show. Often considered going to seem them again, but never did so.; 6/19/19, 12:50 PM
Jim at said...: U2 = preening, pretentious twits.

Their early stuff was good, but anything after Joshua Tree blows chunks.; 6/19/19, 1:05 PM
Scott M said...: In Bono's defense, he's actually done a lot of work in Africa and, finally, came to the conclusion that pouring aid into a blighted area doesn't do anything long-term. For that, you need immediate security and then an enduring freedom for the locals to pursue their own goals...capitalism, in other words.; 6/19/19, 1:09 PM
daskol said...: He should change his name to The Edge-Edge to keep up his popularity with the mosaics.; 6/19/19, 1:37 PM
Bill Peschel said...: I'm a fan of albums, not artists. Some artists were amazingly creative throughout their lifespan (XTC and the Beatles). Some early in their career (Elton John). Some go up and down (Neil Young).

U2 has their hits, but I especially liked "Achtung, Baby." It probably helped at the time by the amazing videos ("One" and "Better than the Real Thing" especially), and making the acquaintance of a co-worker who was a rabid U2 fan, and through his newspaper connections got us press passes to the ZooTV show in Columbia, S.C., which got me within a few feet of Bono during their opening number.

So I'm not particularly pleased with the outcome of his legal battle. Yeah, it's nice to see liberals hoisted by their own rules, but those rules damage everyone. I'd rather see the rules dumped to benefit everyone, but I don't have a vote in the battle, do I?; 6/19/19, 2:01 PM
Birkel said...: Yeah, readering, you failed as predicted.
Yours is not a question but a conclusion.
And it's a conclusion that cuts against your preferred politics.

So you're just spouting unthinking nonsense.
Good job.; 6/19/19, 2:26 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: "Edge"
"Cliffside"
"Vertigo"; 6/19/19, 3:20 PM
0_0 said...: Bono is worse, but they all have moved into the Manor Farm house with Napoleon.; 6/19/19, 6:55 PM
Aussie Pundit said...: Am I the only conservative here on this guy's side?
I agree with you.
It's hypocritical that California of all places is stopping a rich celebrity from building a huge mansion. So these were going to be big houses. So what? What's the actual problem there?

By the way, U2's politics have not been uniformly left-wing.

Also, their music in the 80s and 90s was awesome.; 6/19/19, 7:17 PM
Aussie Pundit said...: But I've got to hand it to Bono: when every celebrity had Bush derangement syndrome and ranted about him onstage and off, Bono had a friendly relationship with him, meeting for prayer breakfasts in the White House and collaborating on world AIDS and hunger projects. When Trump surprisingly won the election, U2 shelved the album they were about to put out because they knew they as they toured and gave interviews, the rabid media would not be allow them to stay apolitical. If U2's get-along attitude with Republicans didn't secretly destroy this deal, it certainly didn't help.

Right. This isn't a moment for schadenfreud.

This may have happened because U2 is not left-wing enough, and were perceived to be too cozy with some Republicans.; 6/19/19, 7:19 PM