Tell us something about yourself, who are you and what do you do for a living?
Hello there. Jeff here. Where is here? Here is sunny Los Angeles. What am I doing? I am listening to "Touch" [Boy: Deluxe Edition] and I am answering some questions here. What do I do for living? I work as a financial analyst. By day and by night I am usually playing with one or more of the 11 guitars that I have at home.
How did you become a fan of the band at such an early stage in their career?
A friend had tickets to see J. Geils Band at the Sports Arena in San Diego (where I grew up). He had a spare and invited me along. Now J. Geils were fun and all but there was this band that opened... for weeks after I kept asking my friend... "WHO was that band... with the spastic singer jumping around... and the bass player with the giant curly hair and that guitarist with the funny shaped guitar (Explorer)... and the drummer that looked younger than us (we were 15 at the time). He said "You something, I don't remember". Soon after I was in a record store, ask the clerk that was wearing a J. Geils shirt if she went to the show. She said "Yes". I asked if she remembered the opening band. She said: "Oh, that was U2. Weren't they intense?" I agreed that they were indeed "intense" and she walked me over the the import section and found me a copy of the "11 O'clock Tick Tock" single (vinyl).
What are your favorite U2 songs to play on guitar?
"Until The End of the World" is great fun to play. You can tell that Edge loved that riff the moment he stumbled upon it. If you've heard any of the Achtung Baby session recordings he tried to fit that riff into a few songs, with it later surfacing on "...End of the World".
Which The Edge's riff do you wish you had written?
"Where the Streets Have No Name". It's not only my favorite U2 song but my favorite song by anyone.
Does anyone in your family or one of your friends like U2? If so, did they introduce you to U2, or did you "convert" them?
My sisters liked U2 but are not as fanatical about them as I am. A lot of my friend love U2. I didn't have to convert them, they already knew the joy and love of U2's music.
What is your favorite show you have attended? Why is it special?
San Jose on April 20th 2001. Me and a few friends had been takings signs to the previous few shows (Portland, San Diego and the first show in San Jose on April 19th) that said "Please Play Kite". At that point they hadn't played it. In San Diego, Edge saw my sign near the end of "Until The End of the World" He smiled and gave me the "Thumbs Up" sign, and then ran up to play piano for New Years Day. But they didn't' play it that night in San Diego. Then came the April 19th San Jose show. Again I was at the tip of the heart stage, and again at the end of "...End of the World" Edge smiled and and gave me the thumbs up. But again, they didn't play it! So I changed my sign for the next night. My new sign read: "Please Play Kite" on the front and on the back it said "You promised us in San Diego, Mr The Edge!!!!" So on April 20th 2001 San Jose show... Edge and Bono are dueling at the tip of the heart. At the end, Edge sees my sign, I flip it over and he sees the back side ("You promised us in San Diego, Mr The Edge!!!!"). He smiled again, nodded this time, gave a thumbs up and ran up to play NYD. And then after New Years Day, Bono starts to talk about what a great night the show was the night before... and that now they are going to do something new.... And then the strings from "Kite" started and the place erupted. It was a happy happy moment.
But that was one of two for the evening. The other was after "Angel of Harlem". Bono was right in front of us and a few people were calling out titles of songs to play. I was calling out "Stay!!!!, Stay!!!!" Bono was looking at me and then whispered in Edge's ear. Edge looked at me. Bono said something to AJ who then feverishly began going through a notebook looking for lyrics! AJ handed set the lyric sheet on the tip of the heart and Edge began to play "Stay...". Bono put his finger to his mouth, as if to say "hush, no one needs to know I'm reading the lyrics; our little secret!" The got a great response for playing it and it was the first time that a song from Zooropa was played at a US show! If you listen to the bootleg, at the end of "Stay..." you will hear Bono say to me, "It's a good tune".
So yeah, I'd have to say that San Jose # 2 on April 20th 2001 was amazing! Ask anyone that was there and they will say the same. And made that much better as it was the first time that U2 played "Kite" and the first time that they played a "Zooropa" song at a US show. And the fact that the energy of the show and in the arena was great.
Do you regret attending any of the shows you have attended?
I have never regretted attending any of the shows that I've attended. I've only regretted not having enough money to go to more!
How do you feel about U2 setlists, are they diverse enough for hardcore fans like you?
I would love if U2 did their setlists a bit more like Springsteen and Dave Matthews do. Both Bruce and Dave play different sets every night. But U2's shows are have a bit more production elements than Bruce and Dave so I understand that they do need to stick to a bit of a script.
That said, I am not complaining. I have never walked away from a show thinking "What, Mysterious Ways again!" But I am just saying that more variety could make each show that much more special and exciting for the fans and the band alike. U2 have so many great songs, it's a shame to not play more of them, right?
Which is your favorite U2 bass line, and why?
I love the bass line in "Some Days Are Better Than Others". To me, it's right up there with "Mysterious Ways" and "New Years Day". The bass line on "A Man And A Woman" is quite good. Adam Clayton even told me that it was his favorite bass line of his on "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb".
What are your hobbies and interests away from U2, musical or otherwise?
Music is everything to me. So learning to play songs on drums and guitars is something I enjoy doing. I write and record my own songs. So anything to do with music is good fun to me. I also play the part of Dallas Schoo for "The Chedge" (Charles Alm) the guitarist with a great U2 tribute band called 'The Joshua Tree' (from Los Angeles, CA). Great gig. Great band. I get to learn more about playing guitar and the technical aspects of guitars and gear. And every once in a while I play acoustic for a song or two at the shows.
Here's a picture of me playing "One" with Joshua Tree last december. I'm playing Chas' Line 6 Variax 700 acoustic. (The lighting is a bit odd but it is finished in silver sparkle, just like The Edge's!)
Always great fun to play with such a great band. Just getting my practice in to hopefully get to play a song with the real U2 one day? How fun that would be!
Cheers!
Jeffrey
Thanks for this interview anstratdubh1979!
Note: Our crew members randomly pick fans of the month, you can't sign up for it.
Congrats and keep the great guitar work up 
I always thought you should have had FotM ages ago 
Like you can only have 12 a year? It'd take over 3000 years to interview them all lol 