What I am struck by is the amazing solidarity U2 has had over the years.  Make no mistake, they are an exquisite team.  Many people know of my relationship with Bono.  He is a man of faith who has used his celebrity to save countless lives in Africa.  He’s the front man with haunting vocals.  The Edge has that unique sound which keeps the band moving forward.  Larry Mullen’s drums keeps them in the now.  Finally, Adam Clayton’s bass allows the band to maintain that seemingly raw quality.  It’s no wonder they have been one of the world’s greatest rock bands all these years.

Karen and I had the chance to visit with Bono prior to show.  We talked a bit about politics, reminiscing about the days when he first came to Capitol Hill and how we could use the same bipartisan approach to fixing Ohio.  We caught up on family affairs and Karen had the opportunity to thank Bono for including us on a life changing trip to Rwanda last year, where we witnessed first hand the positive impact of debt relief and President Bush’s malaria initiative.

But back to the show.  The concert was a mix of new songs and old favorites.  As stated before, there was a tremendous energy even before the band stepped foot on stage.  U2 reciprocated by delivering an electric performance. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” was the crowd favorite on this night.  My wife and I always appreciate the thoughtful lyrics of “One”  and hope they add “Kite” to their set list.  The band used the entire stage well and the “stadium experience” was noticeable.

The only thing that kept it from being a perfect night was missing the opening act Snow Patrol.  Even the fact that we could not get a cab and were forced to walk back to our hotel could not dampen our spirits.

Greg Gutfeld is posting his wondrous inanities and many pointed yet not vitriolic salvos have been launched against the intransigent Hollywood left and vital ones aimed at the right — for forfeiting culture to the opposition. Movie and television reviews and historical treatises abound, and we’re even breaking news.

John Ziegler launched a massive story where Sarah Palin unleashed on the media for treating her so unfairly. It is easily the mainstream news media story of the week. Big Hollywood is the site to go to for the inside scoop on Ziegler’s forthcoming documentary, “Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected“.

Actor-singer-songwriter Joe Lima in a timely fashion came to bury Guevara, but also put usually reliable director Steven Soderbergh in his place for wasting so much studio money and movie watchers’ time with the execrable, “Che.”

I have been media whoring it to get the word out. On Friday I did The O’Reilly Factor, the Rusty Humphries Show and earlier in the day I spoke with fellow crusader Laura Ingraham, as well as Fox Business Channel’s Stuart Varney. Earlier in the week: Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld, the Dennis Miller Show as well as my weekly appearance with talk radio’s long distance runner, Lars Larson. My mind is numb right now I can’t think of the rest.

I am deeply grateful to all the new contributors of Big Hollywood and all the ridiculously articulate and insightful commenters — some who are now contributors (Bill Willingham, Stage Right and James Hudnall). I know of few sites with as literate and knowledgeable a readership. (So far!) I must even praise the dissenters in our midst. For the most part the lefties have been thoughtful and not simply drive-by rabblerousers.

Tell me Gary Graham didn’t say what was needed on day one. He broke the ice and history will prove that. (FTS!) He’s still doing radio interviews over his day one: “One Angry Dude.” Move over, Paddy Chayefsky. Gary had the guts to put his name behind what many think, but are afraid to write.

We are blessed to have box office guru Steve Mason posting predictions and raw numbers of what movies are doing throughout the week. Because Steve is ahead of the competition and a newsie madman extraordinaire even Hollywood’s leftiest executives, actors and directors will be bookmarking Big Hollywood to stay ahead of the curve.

My father-in-law Orson Bean hearkened to a time when the film industry inspired people even in the bleakest of times. Bill Whittle showed off his effortless brilliant writing skills. (I’ll challenge anyone at the Huffington Post to a writer’s duel: Bill versus the best you got. The winner gets $1000 in carbon credits.)

Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) wrote a most creative call to arms for Hollywood’s closeted conservatives. And former congressman and Fox News host John Kasich sent word he and his wife are stoked that “24″ is about to start up again. California Assemblyman and huge history buff Chuck Devore gave two thumbs up for “Valkyrie.” More elected officials and aspiring candidates to come. Love it or hate Hollywood, even politicians are consumers.

Comedian and author Evan Sayet had the courage to write a piece that will surely piss off his music idol, Bruce Springsteen. Fellow comedian Rodney Lee Conover also went after sacred ground, Opie Cunningham. Stand up comedian Tom Shillue stood up twice in week one for what is right. Groundlings vet and reality TV producer Melanie Graham did a drive-by on day one, too. Apparently, she finds Hollywood taxing. (Ned Rice, come out to plaaay!)

Libertarians like Reason’s Nick Gillespie and film producer Maura Flynn picked a debate with the social conservatives with their more libertine and permissive attitudes toward adult material on television. (What do you think, Dallas Jenkins?)

Sorry, prigs, prudes and hyper-moralists, this site is open to the entirety of views from the center-right-libertarian spectrum. Shhh, I lean in the libertarian direction on content. (My favorite comedy of recent years is “Grandma’s Boy” and I can’t wait until my sons are old enough to watch it with me.) Except I wouldn’t have cited Dan Savage as a valued critical voice like Maura did. Yeesh.

We even had esteemed screenwriter and self-confessed “flaming liberal” John Ridley debunk the notion that “Three Kings” was crafted as a neo-con critique of the first Gulf War. John is a mensch for coming into “enemy territory.” Accomplished conservative screenwriters Robert J. Avrech, Michael McGruther and Andrew Klavan (thanks for kicking things off, Drew) set high writing standards for Big Hollywood on week one. And for that I am eternally grateful.

What do nationally syndicated columnists Ben Shapiro and Debbie Schlussel do when they aren’t fiercely taking on radical Islamists? Apparently watching film and television with a very critical eye. Entertainment reporter Rebecca Cusey is also looking out for our collective welfare. Now I really don’t need the New York Times anymore.

I owe National Review’s Jonah Goldberg and Kathryn Jean Lopez steaks and drinks for bringing their thoughts and mass following to the site on week one. (Jonah deserves the assist for bringing in contributors Willingham and Hudnall. They were commenting on his Watchmen thread when other commenters recognized their familiar names in the Industry.)

S.T. Karnick popped in to remind us of a less politically correct time — 35 years ago — when Charles Bronson’s “Death Wish” debuted on the big screen.

Thanks to Roger L. Simon for offering an exclusive peak at his new book, “Blacklisting Myself: A Hollywood Apostate in an Age of Terror.” Simon’s is a cautionary tale that in leftist Hollywood it’s bad to be a conservative or a Republican. But it’s worse to be an ideological turncoat.

Burt Prelutsky has been at this game longer than most of us and has alienated himself from the majority who he considered friends while writing for “M*A*S*H”. We’re proud to have you here, Burt.

Established bloggers, journalists and my travel companions like Jamie Kirchick (Azerbaijan), Michael van der Galien (Azerbaijan), Scott Johnson (Israel), Andrew Leigh (the Starbucks at the corner of San Vicente and Barrington) and Ace of Spades (numerous bars) also brought their guts, know-how and audiences to the Big Hollywood fold. Paging Pat Dollard!

American Thinker editor Thomas Lifson and classical musician Endre Balogh both took big stabs at figuring out how to fix the broken entertainment industry. I think we’re building an army that is willing to follow your prescriptions. Thanks for the blueprints, guys.

Filmmaker Michael Wilson (“Michael Moore Hates America”) clearly learned his lessons well as he tells conservatives the solution is in our hands. Not in only complaining.

My #1 pick to hit is Alphonzo Rachel. He is the conservative movement’s one-stop spoken word-musician-actor-commentator billion dollar baby.

If I can ask a favor of those commenting: Please post in your true name. I won’t hold you to it, but it really makes for a better experience for everyone. It also helps diminish the drive-by morons who use anonymity as their weapon — like the angry commuters who give you the finger and call you an a@#$#$ when they pass you in traffic. (So what if I like playing Tetris on my Blackberry while stuck in gridlock.) If you are going to use anonymity to save your career (like the politically incorrect Veritas Obviam), then try and come up with a handle that sticks and represents where you’re coming from — like “Stage Right,” for instance.

Speaking of… Thanks J.R. Head for serving our country and serving this mission. Too bad things are so bad in Hollywood you don’t feel safe using your real name. Guess fighting a war is tougher than Hollywood these days.

And to get into the spirit of the awards season, I’d also like to thank Darren Rush and Alex Marlow for working their butts off to make this site rock. And to Larry Solov, my business partner and Oscar Zeta Acosta, for allowing us to be so merciless to the liberalism he holds dear. (Just read Gutfeld’s stuff and your head won’t spin so much.)

Weirdly, for a guy who is obsessed with the intersection of pop culture and politics, I am not immersed enough in film and TV to confidently weigh in. I burned out watching repeats of Alice in the ’80s. (I still have recurring dreams: What happened to Tommy Hyatt’s basketball career?) So I’ve brought in John Nolte, a sincere and principled consumer of the product. I consider his opinion on a movie now more important than the LA TIMES, NY TIMES and all the alt weeklies combined. I like to play John off MTV’s Kurt Loder and the Washington Times Christian Toto, as well as checking in with Rotten Tomatoes before I invest a few hours in something.

I made a New Year’s resolution to see more movies and watch more TV in 2009. I want to start paying attention a little bit closer. A couple of nights ago I even went to see the premiere of My Bloody Valentine 3D. I can’t tell you how guilty I was for having enjoyed it. And I got to see Tom Atkins on screen again. I love all the older actors. Character actors (the “regular Joes” of Hollywood) especially. I’ve gotten to meet a ton of them recently, too. Many are regular people. Some are even conservatives and Republicans, they’ll quietly tell you. It shouldn’t be an issue. But it is. And that’s why Big Hollywood’s here now.

I feel it is my obligation at Big Hollywood to help introduce as many new quality voices as possible to show America that this country is not going to give up without a fight. The left has done an amazing job to convince people like us that we are a goofy, evil and stupid minority. That we are jingoistic. That we represent outdated ideas. It’s simply not true. They’ve insulted our intelligence. Called us names. And done so while overseeing the crapification of what should be America’s proudest export: our entertainment product.

We’ve only dipped a little into the (R)olodex. There are tons more names and surprises coming. Rush Limbaugh and Mark Steyn approve of what we’re up to. They’re even talking about us overseas. The water is warm. It’s time to come in and frolic.

This week we stopped a little bit of the totalitarianism. Next week let’s stop a little bit more.