Bono Between Clinton and Obama

The following letter appeared in Time.com

There are professors who pretend to be populists and populists who pretend to be professors. But there have never been a head and heart so perfectly matched as the pair within William Jefferson Clinton. It’s an impossible equilibrium: wonky intellectual meets “Oh, hell” card player, oxygen and hydrogen. He defies the laws of physics as his daily exercise, but without him the universe just wouldn’t be as friendly to humans.

Especially those who have it the toughest. And there was no tougher place to be on Jan. 12, 2010, than Haiti.

Bill Clinton, 63, has been in love with this tiny, captivating country for a long, long time. In love with Haiti as it is — and in love with the idea of what Haiti could be.

That’s why he was a brilliant choice to coordinate U.S. support earlier this year, along with President George W. Bush. And a brilliant choice by the U.N. to be its envoy to Haiti in 2009. Involved long before the earthquake struck, he will be there long after the buildings are back up, working alongside Haitians to make sure things do not return to normal but are better — much better — than before.

That’s a much harder job than bricks and mortar. He knows that the catastrophe in Haiti is not, in fact, a natural one.

Tackling extreme poverty is something Clinton is no stranger to — he has worked in Africa for many years, kicking off debt cancellation, which resulted in an additional 42 million African children going to school. He had a huge hand in slashing the price of AIDS drugs for people who couldn’t afford them.

Where I’m from, he’s a mythic figure. Ditto Haiti, ditto Africa — a huge crowd puller wherever he goes. Rock stars can’t be President (lucky for you), but we’ve all got reason to be thankful that Presidents can be rock stars.

Today ABC news published:

President Barack Obama  and  U2 lead singer Bono have met in the Oval Office to discuss the administration's development work in Africa.

The White House says the social activist singer joined with Obama, along with members of his national security staff, to talk about ways to make sure U.S. foreign aid is effective. They also discussed opportunities for using innovation and technology to drive economic growth in Africa.

source:www.time.com//abcnews.go.com/

Killing Bono: Behind the Scenes

Killing Bono, the upcoming movie, has an official blog. There we can see a video with some "behind the scenes"

Bono and Penelope Cruz in New RED Video

Watch Bono, Penelope Cruz, Hugh Jackman, Don Cheadle, Gwen Stefani, Gabourey Sidibe, Common & so many more friends of (RED) show the power of what 40 cents can buy.  The Lazarus Effect film pPremieres on May 24th on HBO at 9pm. RED campaign: "The Lazarus Effect Campaign: 40 cents = 2 lifesaving pills"

Bono ,Atlantic Council Honouree

It may not have been the Grammys, but that didn't mean Bono couldn't steal the show.
The U2 lead singer and humanitarian joined several honorees, including former President Bill Clinton, in receiving awards from the Atlantic Council Wednesday night at the Ritz-Carlton in Foggy Bottom.
Bono, whose efforts in raising awareness and resources to help fight poverty and disease in Africa, earned him the the council's first Distinguished Humanitarian Leadership Award.
The council honored Clinton with the Distinguished Humanitarian Leadership Award for his work to expand NATO and end genocide in the Balkans.
The former president says that cooperation between nations in times of need is vital.
"Divorce is not an option," Clinton said, in reference to country's interdependency on each other.
Bono called Clinton, a "cat from Arkansas," an extraordinary man.
The Atlantic Council holds its yearly awards to highlight standout efforts involved with the different aspects of U.S.-European relations including politics, business, military and humanitarian leadership.
Others who were honored include Deutsche Bank chief executive Dr. Joseph Ackerman for his work to stabilize the economy during the economic crisis and French Air Force Gen. Stephane Abrial for his work in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

source: www.wtop.com

Teen U2 as you've never heard before

The Herald.ie has revealed that ....
"A SECRET song composed by U2 around 30 years ago is to be revealed in the new film Killing Bono.
The Herald can revealed that the song, Secret Mission, was recorded by the band shortly after they formed but it has never been heard by the public before"

In fact the song is called "Street Mission" and it appeared for the first time  in The Complete U2 (2004) in the Early Demos session,recorded at  Keystone Studios,  Dublin , 1978

The article goes on...

"It was written before U2 ever existed. They never officially released it, they recorded it when they were teenagers and called themselves The Hype.
"They were probably 16 or 17, it's one of their first ever songs. You can hear where they were going with it though. It has that early punk angst that you would find in a teen band -- but there are hints of where they were going with October in there also.
Gribbin said the majority of people involved in the film have close ties to the legendary band.
"There's a strong U2 connection with the team actually making the film. One of the producers was U2's agent when they first got signed, so they obviously know and trust him," he added.
He approached them saying they needed an early song for that first school gig scene, and they were happy to oblige.
The singer, who performs under the stage name Joe Echo, said that he hopes his version does U2 justice"


Strange to see U2 so young but very appealing for the upcoming movie...

source:www.herald.ie

“U2360° At The Rose Bowl”.

More news about the launching of “U2360° At The Rose Bowl”.

 

DVD – Blu-Ray 
Direction: Tom Krueger
Release date:  June 3 ( USA) , June 7 (rest of the world)
Formats: DVD y Blu-Ray

• U2 360° At The Rose Bowl (2DVD Super Deluxe Box Set) – $39.95
• U2 360 At The Rose Bowl (2 DVD Deluxe Edition) – $21.95
• U2 360 At The Rose Bowl [DVD] – $14.95
• U2 U2 360 At The Rose Bowl [Blu-ray] – $21.95

U2 360° At The Rose Bowl (2DVD Super Deluxe Box Set) – $39.95
2 DVDs,  24 pages booklet with info, Poster, Set-list,tour programme, y Vynil 7″.
U2 360 At The Rose Bowl (2 DVD Deluxe Edition) – $21.95
concert plus extras:
- Squaring The Circle: Creating U2360 Documentary
- U2360° Tour Clips
- Bonus Track ‘Breathe’ (Live At The Rose Bowl)
- Berlin Timelapse Video

Vids:
- Get On Your Boots
- Magnificent
- I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight (Animated)
- I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight (Live At Barcelona)
- The Making Of ‘Get On Your Boots’ Video
- The Making Of ‘Magnificent’ Video

Tracklist:
1. Get On Your Boots
2. Magnificent
3. Mysterious Ways
4. Beautiful Day
5. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
6. Stuck In A Moment You Can’tGet Out Of
7. No Line On The Horizon
8. Elevation
9. In A Little While
10. Unknown Caller
11. Until the End of the World
12. The Unforgettable Fire
13. City of Blinding Lights
14. Vertigo
15. I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight
16. Sunday Bloody Sunday
17. MLK
18. Walk On
19. One
20. Where The Streets Have No Name
21. Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
22. With Or Without You
23. Moment Of Surrender

The Edge's stage setup revealed

Are you a U2 fan, a guitar aficionado or a wanna be guitarist? Have you ever thought how on earth Edge conveys this or that sound? The mystery is now revealed...

Dallas Schoo, Edge´s assistant,provided musicradar.com   with an extensive, comprehensive list of The Edge's live setup on the 360° Tour. From guitars and amps right down to strings, slides and straps, it's all detailed for the first time.The article has a very interesting chat with Schoo and loads of info about Edge´s gear .For those who love technical stuff, it´s a must-read!!!

Gibson re-created every scratch and dent on a copy of Edge's '75 Les Paul.

source:www.musicradar.com

Bono Wants You!!!

The ONE Campaign, which Bono co-founded, is launching “Development: Mission Critical” and already has enlisted more than 50 combat veteransof Iraq and Afghanistan  who “have seen the importance of development firsthand by serving on humanitarian missions,” to fight poverty according to a campaign release. Those projects erase ungoverned spaces where terrorism thrives.

Bono met secretly with Defense Sec. Robert Gates at the Pentagon in 2008 and talked Africa.
“As leading military leaders and security experts have argued, effective development not only can save millions of lives, but can also help strengthen our national security, prevent future strife and add to America’s global leadership,” the ONE Campaign says. Only two percent of civil wars occurred in the countries with the highest standards of living between 1997 and 2001, they note.

So Bono is expected to ask vets to join him in lobbying for a bigger U.S. foreign assistance budget.
Bono will announce this and more about the military’s role in humanitarian work at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank, on Wednesday. Bono will receive a humanitarian leadership award, while Adm. Mike Mullen will introduce the recipients of the Distinguished Military Leadership Awards, General Stéphane Abrial, supreme allied commander, transformation, and Gen. James Mattis, USMC, commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command.

Former President Bill Clinton and Dr. Josef Ackermann, of Deutsche Bank AG, also will be recognized.
But not all will cheer Bono's efforts to mix the military into humanitarian more, not less, than it already is.
For more on why some of the leading global aid groups want a firewall from military objectives, see: Mixing fighting and food in Afghanistan


source:tweet.papermashup.com/

Larry Mullen Jr : Actor!!!

All U2 fans knew that sooner or later  this would come true: Larry Mullen Jr, actor.
According to PopGoesTheNews.com:

" The drummer for Irish rock band U2 was gunned down this afternoon in the small town of Orangeville, Ont. when he brandished a gun while running out of a bank – and these exciting photos show how it all went down!"


Larry is making his debut as an actor in Canada where he´s filming the movie Man On The Train which also stars Canadian actors Donald Sutherland and Graham Greene.

"The 48-year-old Dublin-born rocker is taking a break from the band's hectic tour and recording schedule to make his acting debut in the film, which is a remake of a 2002 French movie about a gangster who develops a friendship with a retired poetry teacher (Sutherland) in a small town after he holds up the local bank."

The Ireland-Canada co-production is being directed by Mary McGuckian.

So while Edge and Bono are out and about in New York, Larry is working as an actor in Canada. Wish to see their faces as they knew he was becoming an actor!!! I wonder what kind of surprise we could expect from Mr Clayton...

source:http://popgoesthenews.blogspot.com/canadiantabloid.blogspot.com//www.orangeville.com

Bono and Edge: Out and About in NY

 Actor Edward Burns, Ali Hewson, musician Bono, model Christy Turlington Burns, Morleigh Steinberg and musician The Edge attend the premiere of "No Woman No Cry" during the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival at Village East Cinema on April 24, 2010 in New York City.

Both were spotted (with wives) at Tribeca Film Festival the past week for the premiere of debut movie by Christy Turlington Burns No Woman, No Cry ( a gripping documentary that tells the powerful personal stories of pregnant women and their caregivers in four countries as they try to  to avoid becoming one of these troubling statistics)

Edge had been seen before at the festival  for the premiere of  Nice Guy Johnny and on Thursday night  he showed up at the Green Day´s musical  American Idiot ,reported by   MTV.

Bono was  spotted having some rest at St Barthelemy  and on last Thursday  he and Edge and Gavin Friday were present at Guggi´s new exhibition at the Yoshii Gallery on Madison Avenue in New York.The main piece in the new series is titled War and Peace. "I'd taken random sections from Tolstoy's War and and Peace and used them. I've always liked how Russian looks written down -- it has had an effect on me since I was young," he said. "There is writing in Russian on a worn blackboard, a darkened grey and crimson blackboard. It is my most minimal work., he said to the news.

And finally (??) next week, the Atlantic Council will honor Bono and others at its annual awards dinner, also in New York City. Bono will get the Council's first Humanitarian Leadership Award on April 28th.

source:www.independent.ie//www.atu2.com//www.mtv.co///www.tribecafilm.com//ww.everymothercounts.or//www.acus.org

So...New Album Soon?

Producer, Mixer and Recording Engineer Declan Gaffney is mixing tracks for U2, according to London Artilery Studios posted in  twitter.

In 2009 he mixed half of U2’s album “No Line On The Horizon” as well as being the sole mixer and co-producer of the lead single from that album. His relationship with U2 continued throughout the year as he mixed all u2’s live broadcast appearances, including 5 appearances on the David Letterman show, a live show from the roof of the BBC Broadcasting House, U2 360 live from Sheffield and u2 360 live from LA Rose Bowl, the largest ever internet streaming and first live broadcast on Youtube (over 10 million viewers). He was given the role of Sound Production Consultant for the U2 360 stadium tour and contributed the original piece “Little Tin Galaxy” to the show as well as setting up and recording live link ups between the the International Space Center and the U2 show.
So far in 2010 he has Produced, Mixed and Engineered the collaboration between Jay-Z, Rihanna, Bono and Edge for the Hope For Haiti lead single “Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)” and mixed the live broadcast of the track for the MTV Haiti Telethon.
As a remixer he works with Matt Paul as part of the Fish Out Of Water. Their 2009 remix of “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” was released as a B-side to the single and their “Get On Your Boots” Remix appears on the Official U2 remix album Artificial Horizon.

So it seems that what Paul Mc Guiness has anticipated may come true...New U2 album soon?? Let´s sit and wait!!!

Achtung Baby is the Best/Most Influential Album of the Past 25 years

SPIN's editors rank the most influential releases since the magazine's beginning in 1985.

Here´s a excerpt of what SPIN has published:

"After the critical and commercial sweep of Joshua Tree, the Irish conglomerate followed its bombastic muse with the ponderous 1988 docu-fiasco Rattle and Hum, which featured a Bono mot that would haunt many of us for years to come: "Okay, Edge, play the blues!" Flailing and directionless, the band retreated and reconsidered whether it was time to fold up their flag for good.

Instead, three years later they emerged with the album -- Achtung Baby, cheekily titled as a nod to German reunification -- that would energize their career and genetically engineer rock music into the hybridized mutant we know today. Initially recorded at Hansa Studios, a former SS ballroom near the reopened Berlin Wall (and later completed back home in Dublin), Achtung was an effort, stoked primarily by Bono and the Edge, to "deconstruct" the band and rewire it with jolts of beat-generated clutter and collage, nicked from industrial music, hip-hop, dance remixes, and the Madchester scene. That method almost collapsed the band -- bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr., as well as coproducer Daniel Lanois, were left bewildered and cranky.
But the frisson found expression in U2's most immediately dynamic music since 1982's War, and its most emotionally frank songs to date, capturing that particular early-'90s rub of boundless possibility and worn-down despair. Bono's lyrical flights had a battered grit, like a defrocked cleric stirred to regain his flock without the usual trick bag of bullshit. "One" became an indelible anthem because it admitted "we're not the same" but urged that we've gotta "carry each other" nonetheless. The squalling swagger of "The Fly" resonated due to the rock star at its center confessing he's a liar and a thief. And for "Mysterious Ways," the Edge somehow concocted a jubilantly snarling riff that transformed Bono's gospel come-on so it didn't feel gross the morning after..."

The rest of SPIN's top five:

2. Sign 'O The Times, Prince
3. The Queen Is Dead, The Smiths
4. Nevermind, Nirvana
5. OK Computer, Radiohead

Another U2 album that made the list: The Joshua Tree at number 62  and they  also appear in other categories on their readers´poll.

The Edge and Morleigh at 8th Annual Can-Do Awards Dinner

The Edge and his wife Morleigh Steinberg were present at  the 8th Annual Can-Do Awards Dinner (Food Bank  for New York City) held at Abigail Kirsch’s Pier Sixty at Chelsea Pier in New York  last April 20th.

 Emeril Lagasse, Bank of America ,Wakefern/ShopRite and  St. John's Bread and Life were honoured . Stanley Tucci was the MC  together with Mario Batali (Food Bank board member) and  Susan Cahn.

Other celebrities that participated of the event: Mike Diamond( Beastie Boys), Mariska Hargitay, Katie Lee, John Cusimano , Rachael Ray,   Chris Canty ( New York Giants), Calvin Pace (New York Jets),Salman Rushdie and Helena  Christensen  among others.

source:www.foodbanknyc.org//u2miracle.com

Good News for Killing Bono

Paramount Pictures International has snapped up U.K. and Irish rights to Nick Hamm's Irish comedy Killing Bono, starring Ben Barnes, for sales and finance banner The Salt Company.

Based on journalist Neil McCormick's autobiography, the movie stars Barnes and Robert Sheehan as hapless brothers Neil and Ivan McCormick who set up a band in Dublin in the late '70s. Sadly for them, so did their classmates and rivals, who go on to become U2.

PPI president Andrew Cripps described the script as "very commercial" and "well written, funny and highly entertaining."

Krysten Ritter, Peter Serafinowicz, Stanley Townsend, Ralph Brown, Luke Treadaway and Pete Postlethwaite round out the cast.

The film was shot on location in Northern Ireland with additional photography in Dublin and London. Producers are Ian Flooks for Wasted Talent, Hamm for Greenroom Entertainment, Mark Huffam for Generator Entertainment and Piers Tempest for Salt.

Script is written by Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais and Simon Maxwell.

The film is backed by Isotope Films, Matador Pictures, Cinema Three, Regent Capital, Molinare, Silver Reel, Sony Music Entertainment U.K. -- which will release the soundtrack worldwide -- and Northern Ireland Screen.

© Hollywood Reporter, 2010.

source:www.hollywoodreporter.com

Bono's Top Tips to Being a Frontman

Named by QMagazine as  one of the  100 Greatest Frontmen, Bono revealed the ten top tips to beign a frontman. OK, rookies, sit down and read!!!

1. Front is important but so is back. Get the right people to watch yours -- band, missus, management, your mates.

2. Lie about your height, even if you're 5'10" like me.

3. Don't imagine the audience doesn't know who you really are -- they really do...in a very intimate way. You live in their ear after all, just next door to the brain, down the hall to the bedroom of their heart. Especially if they sleep with earphones. Very, very intimate. They have heard the sound of your spirit snap and stretch. (Truth is, you probably don't know who you are.)

4. Remember who pays your wages but don't tell them.

5. A messianic complex is essential. Don't hold back, but realise at some point you will find yourself riding to a gig on a donkey. (I know this because my Father in heaven told me so.)

6. If you have another frontman onstage, give him your microphone immediately. And you use the spare.

7. Be reasonable in your expectations of yourself and your audience.

8. Never tell a journalist that you're really shy underneath it all.

9. Understand that fame doesn't blow up the ego, it implodes it. The emptiness that follows is a great thing to try and fill...especially if you fill it with a hit. This is what your record label will call finding yourself again. They don't know that... [see next tip]

10. ...You need just enough low esteem to get where you need to be. The plane doesn't fly without petrol.

11. The blogosphere -- like a Saturday night in A&E -- can put you off like democracy. Use it sparingly. And never be sure if you're the doctor or the patient.

12. Red wine is the poetic drink -- the only real drink for singers. Even if you're not drinking, it should be red wine you're not drinking. If you've never had a drink in your life, it's the chateau bottle that is at the centre of its own absence. Except for champagne and Tom Jones, who lives on the stuff.

13. You will meet Ronnie Wood at some point. You will also meet Mani. They both have a lot to say. Listen to them! They are troubadours. They can teach you things. What's weird is that it's sometimes difficult to remember what they say, which might mean you're taking rule 12 too far.

14. History is made at night and electrically. Generally speaking all encounters with your audience will occur by the light of the moon or some artificial equivalent. Live at night when you are performing. But try the morning for writing.

15. Be careful.

© Q Magazine/Bauer Media, 2010.

source: www.qthemusic.com

U2 Has the Best Fans Ever!!!

 Who else but U2 fans can make this awesome promotional video? U2Spain has produced this super cool (as good _or better_ than a professional one) video called "We´ve come back".With high definition images and excellent sound quality, it makes us doubt of the previous corporate commercials.

Thanks U2Spain on behalf of all the U2 fans and congrats on a work extremely well done!!!



source: www.u2spain.babelfm.com

Bono:Africa Reboots

pic by  Calef Brown

Another issue of his column as Op-Ed Guest Columnist in The New York Times, Bono talks about his trip to Africa last March.

I spent March with a delegation of activists, entrepreneurs and policy wonks roaming western, southern and eastern Africa trying very hard to listen — always hard for a big-mouthed Irishman. With duct tape over my gob, I was able to pick up some interesting melody lines everywhere from palace to pavement ...


Despite the almost deafening roar of excitement about Africa’s hosting of soccer’s World Cup this summer, we managed to hear a surprising thing. Harmony ... flowing from two sides that in the past have often been discordant: Africa’s emerging entrepreneurial class and its civil-society activists.

It’s no secret that lefty campaigners can be cranky about business elites. And the suspicion is mutual. Worldwide. Civil society as a rule sees business as, well, a little uncivil. Business tends to see activists as, well, a little too active. But in Africa, at least from what I’ve just seen, this is starting to change. The energy of these opposing forces coming together is filling offices, boardrooms and bars. The reason is that both these groups — the private sector and civil society — see poor governance as the biggest obstacle they face. So they are working together on redefining the rules of the African game.

Entrepreneurs know that even a good relationship with a bad government stymies foreign investment; civil society knows a resource-rich country can have more rather than fewer problems, unless corruption is tackled.

This joining of forces is being driven by some luminous personalities, few of whom are known in America; all of whom ought to be. Let me introduce you to a few of the catalysts:

John Githongo, Kenya’s famous whistleblower, has had to leave his country in a hurry a couple of times; he was hired by his government to clean things up and then did his job too well. He’s now started a group called Inuka, teaming up the urban poor with business leaders, creating inter-ethnic community alliances to fight poverty and keep watch on dodgy local governments. He is the kind of leader who gives many Kenyans hope for the future, despite the shakiness of their coalition government.

Sharing a table with Githongo and me one night in Nairobi was DJ Rowbow, a Mike Tyson doppelgänger. His station, Ghetto Radio, was a voice of reason when the volcano of ethnic tension was exploding in Kenya in 2008. While some were encouraging the people of Kibera, one of the largest slums in Africa, to go on the rampage, this scary-looking man decoded the disinformation and played peacemaker/interlocutor. On the station’s playlist is Bob Marley and a kind of fizzy homespun reggae music that’s part the Clash, part Marvin Gaye. The only untruthful thing he said all evening was that he liked U2. For my part, I might have overplayed the Jay-Z and Beyoncé card. “They are friends of mine,” I explained to him, eh, a lot.

Now this might be what you expect me to say, but I’m telling you, it was a musician in Senegal who best exemplified the new rules. Youssou N’Dour — maybe the greatest singer on earth — owns a newspaper and is in the middle of a complicated deal to buy a TV station. You sense his strategy and his steel. He is creating the soundtrack for change, and he knows just how to use his voice. (I tried to imagine what it would be like if I owned The New York Times as well as, say, NBC. Someday, someday...)

In Maputo, Mozambique, I met with Activa, a women’s group that, among other things, helps entrepreneurs get seed capital. Private and public sectors mixed easily here, under the leadership of Luisa Diogo, the country’s former prime minister, who is now the matriarch in this mesmerizing stretch of eastern Africa. Famous for her Star Wars hairdo and political nous, she has the lioness energy of an Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala or a Graça Machel.

When I met with Ms. Diogo and her group, the less famous but equally voluble women in the room complained about excessive interest rates on their microfinance loans and the lack of what they called “regional economic integration.” For them, infrastructure remains the big (if unsexy) issue. “Roads, we need roads,” one entrepreneur said by way of a solution to most of the obstacles in her path. Today, she added, “we women, we are the roads.” I had never thought of it that way but because women do most of the farming, they’re the ones who carry produce to market, collect the water and bring the sick to the clinics.

The true star of the trip was a human hurricane: Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese entrepreneur who made a fortune in mobile phones.
I fantasized about being the boy wonder to his Batman, but as we toured the continent together I quickly realized I was Alfred, Batman’s butler. Everywhere we went, I was elbowed out of the way by young and old who wanted to get close to the rock star reformer and his beautiful, frighteningly smart daughter, Hadeel, who runs Mo’s foundation and is a chip off the old block (in an Alexander McQueen dress). Mo’s speeches are standing-room-only because even when he is sitting down, he’s a standing-up kind of person. In a packed hall in the University of Ghana, he was a prizefighter, removing his tie and jacket like a cape, punching young minds into the future.

His brainchild, the Ibrahim Prize, is a very generous endowment for African leaders who serve their people well and then — and this is crucial — leave office when they are supposed to. Mo has diagnosed a condition he calls “third-termitis,” where presidents, fearing an impoverished superannuation, feather their nests on the way out the door. So Mo has prescribed a soft landing for great leaders. Not getting the prize is as big a story as getting it. (He doesn’t stop at individuals. The Ibrahim Index ranks countries by quality of governance.)

Mo smokes a pipe and refers to everyone as “guys” — as in, “Listen, guys, if these problems are of our own making, the solutions will have to be, too.” Or, in my direction, “Guys, if you haven’t noticed ... you are not African.” Oh, yeah. And: “Guys, you Americans are lazy investors. There’s so much growth here but you want to float in the shallow water of the Dow Jones or Nasdaq.” 




Mr. Ibrahim is as searing about corruption north of the Equator as he is about corruption south of it, and the corruption that crosses over ... illicit capital flight, unfair mining contracts, the aid bureaucracy.

So I was listening. Good for me. But did I actually learn anything?

OVER long days and nights, I asked Africans about the course of international activism. Should we just pack it up and go home, I asked? There were a few nods. But many more noes. Because most Africans we met seemed to feel the pressing need for new kinds of partnerships, not just among governments, but among citizens, businesses, the rest of us. I sense the end of the usual donor-recipient relationship.

Aid, it’s clear, is still part of the picture. It’s crucial, if you have H.I.V. and are fighting for your life, or if you are a mother wondering why you can’t protect your child against killers with unpronounceable names or if you are a farmer who knows that new seed varietals will mean you have produce that you can take to market in drought or flood. But not the old, dumb, only-game-in-town aid — smart aid that aims to put itself out of business in a generation or two. “Make aid history” is the objective. It always was. Because when we end aid, it’ll mean that extreme poverty is history. But until that glorious day, smart aid can be a reforming tool, demanding accountability and transparency, rewarding measurable results, reinforcing the rule of law, but never imagining for a second that it’s a substitute for trade, investment or self-determination.

I for one want to live to see Mo Ibrahim’s throw-down prediction about Ghana come true. “Yes, guys,” he said, “Ghana needs support in the coming years, but in the not-too-distant future it can be giving aid, not receiving it; and you, Mr. Bono, can just go there on your holidays.”

I’m booking that ticket.

In South Africa, with Madiba, the great Nelson Mandela — the person who, along with Desmond Tutu and the Edge, I consider to be my boss — I raised the question of regional integration through the African Development Bank, and the need for real investment in infrastructure ... all the buzzwords. As Madiba smiled, I made a note to try not to talk about this stuff down at the pub — or in front of the band.

“And you, are you not going to the World Cup?” the great man chided me, changing the subject, having seen this wide-eyed zealotry before. “You are getting old and you are going to miss a great coming-out party for Africa.” The man who felt free before he was is still the greatest example of what real leadership can accomplish against the odds.

My family and I headed home ... just in time, I was getting carried away. I was going native, aroused by the thought of railroads and cement mixers, of a different kind of World Cup fever, of opposing players joining the same team, a new formation, new tactics. For those of us in the fan club, I came away amazed (as I always am) by the diversity of the continent ... but with a deep sense that the people of Africa are writing up some new rules for the game.

source:www.nytimes.com

Celebrities And Gap's RED Campaign Take Over Next Month's French Vogue

In what Amy Odell of The Cut calls "a surprising, very Hollywood direction for a magazine that loves models so much," next month's French Vogue will have three covers, featuring stars like Meryl Streep, Bono, and guest-editor Penelope Cruz.

Penélope Cruz guest-edited next month's French Vogue, which has three different covers. On one, she appears alongside Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Kate Winslet, Naomi Watts, and Gwyneth Paltrow (who can smile the biggest, apparently); all ladies appear to be wearing tees from Gap's (Product) Red collection. On another cover, she poses as the other half of Bono's face, and on the third, she toplessly embraces Meryl Streep. This is a surprising, very Hollywood direction for a magazine that loves models so much.

source:/nymag.com/daily/fashion//http://jezebel.com/

U2 Photos in Auction for AWF

African Well Fund's U2 live photo auction in e-bay is on.  All proceeds will be going toward the AWF's "Build A Well For Bono's Birthday" fund raiser. The auction will feature over 30 photos taken by fans and professionals, ranging in size from 5x7 to 16x20, and capturing U2 live moments from the War Tour in 1983 through the 2009 leg of the 360 Tour. All auctions end next Sunday, April 25th. The photo gallery is on the AWF website.

First Stills of Killing Bono

Ben Barnes is Neil Mc Cormick , Robert Sheehan ,his brother Ivan and  Martin Mc Cann as Bono.

The movie has not date for premiere but we hope to see it soon.

source:/www.benbarnesfan.com

Bono in South Park

As it happened in 2007, Bono made  a guest appearance in the famous show. To celebrate 200 episodes, South Park  gathered 200 celebrities, among them Bono who had already appeared  episode 9, season 11,called "More Crap". This episode was  broadcast last night.

No New Album in June, But U2 Music for the World Cup

Brian Hiatt  (Rolling Stone Associated Editor ) has posted on Twitter  that  Paul McGuinnes told him that there won´t be a new U2 album by June,  “However, before the end of the year is increasingly likely."

ESPN´s coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup will use specially recorded  music by Soweto Gospel Choir recorded and filmed in South Africa, with music and live concert footage from U2's concert at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. last October.

 This collaboration will appear in every programme throughout ESPN's presentation of the World Cup including soccer highlights, match and studio coverage.
 ESPN's announced : U2 will be featured in these four spots.

• Robben Island communicates the historic nature and importance of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, through the prism of soccer. This spot was filmed on location at Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa. It is the site where eventual South African President Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for decades, alongside other political prisoners, during the country's apartheid era. (Set to U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" with Soweto Gospel Choir).
• UNITED conveys the passion for the FIFA World Cup that unites disparate cultures (set to U2's "Magnificent").     
• The Power of 10 celebrates the honor and burden that comes with wearing the most sacred jersey number in soccer (set to U2's "Out of Control").     
• Passion captures the excitement that the FIFA World Cup invokes -- highlighting the documented "baby boom" that occurred nine months after Germany hosted the 2006 event (set to U2's "Desire").

There's also a fifth spot (actually the first one to air on ESPN) that uses "City of Blinding Lights." You can see that on ESPN's YouTube channel. Footage from the U2 360 concert in Pasadena last year will also be used in "every program throughout ESPN's presentation of the 2010 FIFA World Cup including soccer highlights, match and studio coverage."


Just like in 2006...

 



source:www.atu2.com//www.u2.com//www.espnmediazone3.co

Taking a Break, Guys?

Seems that after the monster 360° tour, U2 needs a deserved break. Edge and Bono have been spotted this week by paying a visit to their favourite celebrity hangout, Lillie's Bordello.They seemed to be relaxing in the Grafton Street venue's exclusive library area last week alongside a group of friends that included Guggi and Simon Carmody.The group were believed to be toasting Bono, who certainly had plenty to smile about, given that he looks set for a multi-million euro windfall if the sale of smartphone maker Palm goes ahead(His private equity company, Elevation Partners, is a major shareholder in the company).
 

 

source: www.herald.ie

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Gavin Friday"

Parts of the documentary on Gavin Friday´s life and career that was broadcast in RTE last week.

It Was 40 Years Ago Today That The Beatles Broke Up

It was forty years ago today that Paul McCartney announced he was leaving the Beatles, thereby bringing an end to the most successfull band of all time.The announcement wasn’t a bolt out of the blue as there had been lots of speculation over the fate of the Beatles in the previous 12 months, in light of solo projects that were being undertaken and rumours of increasing disunity within the band.

Lennon had made his wishes to leave the band clear to the other members before McCartney’s announcement, so was annoyed when it appeared that Paul had taken the lead in dissolving the band. Paul’s announcement came via a press release for his first solo album “McCartney.”

At this point, it wasn’t clear whether McCartney was signalling a temporary or lasting split. When asked the reason for the split and whether or not it was permanent, he said:
“Personal differences, business differences, musical differences, but most of all because I have a better time with my family. Temporary or permanent? I don’t really know.”
After relations with other members of the band soured further, McCartney made his feelings more clear in a letter to Melody Maker on August 29:
“In order to put out of its misery the limping dog of a news story which has been dragging itself across your pages for the past year, my answer to the question: ‘Will the Beatles get together again?’ is no.”
A new publication remembers that event: The Beatles break-up 40 years on: Rare photographs in new anniversary publication, Hello Goodbye .

A very good article on The Beatles and Ringo Starr especialy can be read here: Beatles Break-Up: Forty Years Later, Ringo Rules

The band that changed the face of contemporary music and culture is the one most appreciated by musicians all over the world, and probably the one that has influenced the most diverse astists from Sonic Youth to Robbie Williams and Oasis.

We all know about  the fascination that Bono has had with John Lennon and The Beatles and how U2 was much influenced by the Liverpudlian. Just have a look...



Bono had a cameo  appearance in the film Across the Universe, a musical film featuring songs by The Beatles. It was the U2 frontman´s first ever acting role. he sang two Beatles song in the movie: I am the Walrus and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.



Bono said to RS in 2005:

"What were the first rock & roll records that you heard?
Age four. The Beatles -- "I Want to Hold Your Hand." I guess that's 1964. I remember watching the Beatles with my brother on St. Stephen's Day, the day after Christmas. The sense of a gang that they had about them, from just what I've been saying, you can tell that connected, as well as the melodic power, the haircuts and the sexuality. Which I was just probably processing."

And....


"Who else had a big impact on you, musically, when you were that age?
Before I got to the Who, the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, and those kinds of things -- I really remember John Lennon's Imagine. I guess I'm twelve; that's one of my first albums. That really set fire to me. It was like he was whispering in your ear -- his ideas of what's possible. Different ways of seeing the world. When I was fourteen and lost my mother, I went back to Plastic Ono Band."

And even more...

"Imagine" is the first really powerful thing to you?
Imagine and Bob Dylan. "Blowin' in the Wind" -- all that stuff -- and the folksy thing. Which is, I suppose, what set me up for John Lennon.
Dylan set you up for John Lennon?
Because it's folk. If you're interested in folk, in words and whisperings, that quiet thing. I was in my room listening on headphones on a tape recorder. It's very intimate. It's like talking to somebody on the phone, like talking to John Lennon on the phone. I'm not exaggerating to say that. This music changed the shape of the room. It changed the shape of the world outside the room; the way you looked out the window and what you were looking at.
I remember John singing "Oh My Love." It's like a little hymn. It's certainly a prayer of some kind -- even if he was an atheist. "Oh, my love/For the first time in my life/My eyes can see/I see the wind/Oh, I see the trees/Everything is clear in our world." For me it was like he was talking about the veil lifting off, the scales falling from the eyes. Seeing out the window with a new clarity that love brings you. I remember that feeling.
Yoko came up to me when I was in my twenties, and she put her hand on me and she said, "You are John's son." What an amazing compliment!

Surely there are huge connections between The Beatles and U2, but no weird-surprising ones, but the expected connections between bands that have the same musical core and sensitivity.  In a way, U2 has taken up The Beatles legacy and has made it their own way.In U2, as in other bands, The Beatles live on...

U2 has made several covers of Beatles´s songs, especially live.The most remembered must be  "Helter Skelter" from the "Rattle and Hum" album and film ( recorded it live at McNichols arena in Denver on November 8, 1987). Paul Mc Cartney said that this was the best cover version of their song. In March 2008, Rolling Stone Magazine voted Helter Skelter by U2 to be the best Beatles cover ever.




 U2 joined Paul Mc Cartney for the  thrilling performance of Sgt Pepper´s Lonely Hearts Club Band at Live Aid.

sources:www.classicpopicons.com//www.liverpoolecho.co.uk//www.huffingtonpost.com//www.rollingstone.com

2010 Hot Press Readers' Poll results

U2 is one of the main protagonist of the 2010 Readers´Poll of the Irish music magazine Hot Press.
The band is first in five categories:

• Best Polling Act
• Best Irish Group
• Best Irish Album (No Line On The Horizon)
• Best Live Act
• Love of the Year: U2 360 Tour

Bono took second in the "Irish Male" category, and "I'll Go Crazy..." was second for "Irish Single." Bono and Edge combined to take third in the "Irish Songwriter" category.


source: www.hotpress.com

How to Be a Frontman by Bono

From Jim Morrison to Dave Grohl, Robbie Williams to Chris Martin and Liam Gallagher to Joe Strummer, readers of Q' have been voting on who deserves to feature in 'The 100 Greatest Frontmen.'

The editors point out that 'if anyone knows what this frontman lark is all about it's Bono' - and returning the compliment Bono has written his own 'Top Tips To Being A Frontman'. Here's some highlights, for the rest you'll need to pick up the new Q which is just on sale.

'Lie about your height even if you're 5'10" like me.'

'Don't imagine the audience doesn't know who you really are - they really do... in a very intimate way. You live in their ear after all, must next door to the brain, down the hall to the bedroom of their heart...very, very intimate.'

'Be unreasonable in your expectations of yourself and your audience.'

'Never tell a journalist that you're really shy underneath it all.'


'History is made at night and electrically. Generally speaking all great encounters with your audience will occur by the light of the moon or some artificial equivalent. Live at night when you are performing. But try the morning for writing.'

source: /www.u2.com//www.news.qthemusic.com/

Bono:Top Ten of Irish Greatest

The poll was set up in conjunction with Ryan Tubridy's radio show and the results will be announced on 'The Late Late Show' later this year.
The final five greatest Irish have been chosen but RTE just released 10 names to keep us guessing.
The five will be named on 'The Late Late Show' on September 17.
They will then be the subject of one of five hour-long documentaries. Once these have aired, the public will be given the chance to reassess them and decide which one deserves the accolade of Ireland's greatest figure. The result will be announced in October.

The Ten Greatest

(in alphabetical order)

1 Bono (1960 – )

2 Noel Browne (1915 – 1997)

3 Michael Collins (1890 – 1922)

4 James Connolly (1868 – 1916)

5 Stephen Gately (1976 – 2009)

6 John Hume (1937 – )

7 Phil Lynott (1951 - 1986)

8 Pádraig Pearse (1879 – 1916)

9 Mary Robinson (1944 – )

10 Adi Roche (1955 – )

source:/www.independent.ie

Bono and Gavin Friday tell stories for boys

The Irish Independent has published more news on the documentary that will be broadcast tonight in RTE One at 10.15pm (Irish time).


U2 SINGER Bono has told how he turned to painting canvasses with childhood friends Gavin Friday and Guggi to escape fame when he first became a superstar.

A new documentary about his best friend Gavin Friday follows the extraordinary friendship between a group of northside Dublin boys that has endured for five decades.

Bono tells how his boyhood pals, Gavin and artist Guggi Rowan, brought him back down to earth when his fame began to explode around the world in 1983.

He said: "I remember being on the road in America and you go through that self-consciousness that fame gives you.

"People know who you are and you get a bit weird. Guggi and Gavin called me out on that and said, 'You're very boring at the moment'. I would go, 'Yeah, yeah -- you're right'.

"We started to paint together. It was also to encourage Guggi, who we knew had not found a way to make the canvasses really matter."

The bond between the boyhood friends is traced back in the RTE documentary 'Ladies And Gentlemen, Gavin Friday'.

Bono, Friday and Guggi all lived on the Cedarwood Road in Glasnevin. The three became friends at the around the age of 10.

"When I started out hanging out with them, I found kindred spirits and there was a special bond between me and Guggi and Bono", said Gavin.

They were joined by Guggi's brother, Strongman, The Edge and his brother Richard Evans, Larry Mullen, Adam Clayton and David Watson.

Gavin, who was born Fionan Hanvey, was a painfully shy child, whose charismatic personality only came alive on stage as the frontman of glam-rock band, The Virgin Prunes.

He recently celebrated his 50th birthday with a star-studded concert at New York's Carnegie Hall.

    * 'Ladies And Gentlemen, Gavin Friday' is on RTE One tonight at 10.15pm.

- Lynne Kelleher (Irish Independent)

Talking about Gavin...

Rubyworks are delighted to announce the signing of singer, composer and artiste Gavin Friday to the label.
Gavin has been working on songs for a new studio album since 2008; co-writing with Cork based keyboard player Herbie Macken. The pair first collaborated for the Patrick McCabe play ‘The Revenant’ for the Druid Theatre Company in 2007.
Recording for the new album started last summer in Dublin, with producer Ken Thomas (Sigur Ros, Moby, M83) at the controls. The record was mixed and completed in the UK in earlier this year; and is currently being scheduled for a late summer release. It will be Gavin’s first solo album since 1995’s ‘Shag Tobacco’.

Gavin is in the process of putting together a new live band with a view to returning to the concert stage later in 2010.
This is great news for the ones who like this creative artist!!! Good luck with the new entrerprise!!

source:www.gavinfriday.com

source:/www.independent.ie/