Bono's Blog: Solar Fields, Sexist Poverty and a Modern Marshall Plan

Poverty is sexist: it hits women and girls the hardest, which is doubly ironic, because investing in them is the best way to end poverty

If you are allergic to fanfare you’d better bolt your doors and shutter your windows on September 25, because there is going to be a lot of it that day in the vicinity of the United Nations, when world leaders ratify the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. This is a genuinely big deal, of large consequence — let’s hope — especially for the poorest people on the planet, but you will be forgiven if some of you are rolling your eyes, or yawning, or worse.

At a time when Europe and the rest of the world are flailing in response to the massive refugee crisis in the Middle East, this hardly seems a time for grand commitments of any kind, unless it’s a commitment to stop stumbling over our own two feet.

It’s a fair and pressing question. If we can’t handle what’s happening in Syria — if we can’t even get the nomenclature right, insisting on calling these desperate refugees “migrants,” as if they had just packed their suitcases and moved north for a change of scene — how can we possibly handle the more chronic, endemic humanitarian crises of extreme poverty and hunger and sickness? Who, exactly, do we think we are, launching another fanciful campaign?

But pause for a second before you projectile vomit, and consider that the emergency in Syria shows exactly why we need to pursue — and achieve — these Global Goals. The evidence of that is all over the Sahel, the band across the north of Africa, where three extremes — extreme poverty, extreme climate, extreme ideology — pose a stark and constant threat. A failure to make progress there could trigger a series of crises that would dwarf what we’re seeing in Syria.
Boko Haram, in northern Nigeria, is well known now in the rest of the world, by virtue of its being horrific and violent, but it’s hardly the only group of extremists that’s active in the Sahel; Al Shabaab, The Lord’s Resistance Army, and Al Qaeda in the Maghreb are as well. CIA analysts — who are not, as a rule, dewy-eyed development types — have looked at northern Nigeria and said that the best way to stop the militants in the long run is to end extreme poverty in the area and create a better, more inclusive education system, one that Muslims feel they have some stake in. When the CIA and anti-poverty activists agree, things must be very right or very wrong!
Especially when the demographers join in. By 2050, we’re told, Africa will have 2.5 billion people, twice the population of China, and more than one third of the youth on earth will be African. Which is exciting news for all of us who find Africa, hands down, one of the world’s most energizing places. But hundreds of millions of unemployed or underemployed young men, if it comes to that, is not a recipe for stability — either there or here, wherever “here” is for you.

Of course the Global Goals are just that: goals, aspirations. Not blueprints or battle plans. As Amina Mohammed, the very impressive Nigerian Assistant Secretary General to the UN who’s shepherding the goals, would surely agree, they’re the what, not the how. So what’s the how?

It’s going to have to be a lot of things, of course. But one of them, a big one, might be an idea we’re hearing from African leaders in business, civil society, and government: a modern Marshall Plan, inspired if not actually based on what America did in Europe after World War II. According to Akin Adesina, the new President of the African Development Bank:

“The future of feeding a projected 9 billion people in the world by 2050 depends on Africa, which has 65% of all arable land left. Africa cannot eat potential. To seize this potential requires a scaled global partnership, a modern day Marshall plan, but led by Africa.”
Similarly, “A comprehensive, coordinated approach” is what Tony Elumelu, the Nigerian entrepreneur and philanthropist, has called for, a plan for trade, transparency, employment, infrastructure — all the elements of opportunity.

But what would a Marshall Plan even look like these days? Not exactly like Secretary of State (and General) George C. Marshall’s Plan, which was brilliantly suited to its own time, less so our own. The Second World War left not only cities but entire economies in rubble; the Marshall Plan helped them rebuild. A modern Marshall Plan would, by contrast, have to focus on countries that were not industrialised to begin with, but are working hard to build the foundations.

To succeed, it would have to employ a bunch of means all at once — ganging up on the problems of extreme poverty and unequal opportunity. Aid is one of those means — an essential one. Our ultimate goal is the end of aid — growing economies, shared prosperity, self-sufficiency. But the way we’re going to get there — if you can handle the cognitive dissonance — is actually to increase the aid, for now, to the countries that need it the most. The poorest countries get only a small share, 30 percent, of the aid that the world provides. Investing foreign funds can leverage domestic funds to improve basic health services and education for the poorest citizens, especially women and girls.

Poverty is sexist: it hits women and girls the hardest, which is doubly ironic, because investing in them is the best way to end poverty.

People have gotten smarter since the 1940s — smarter even since the early 2000s — in making sure that aid budgets get spent on what works and get results. A generation of techno-minded “factivists” are on the march, fighting corruption, campaigning for connectivity — and the access to information and opportunities it provides — and keenly aware that if they can mobilise their own domestic resources, soon they will no longer need the wealth of their partners to unlock prosperity in their own neighbourhood.

A 21st-century Marshall Plan would also have to get some private-sector skin in the game, not just foreign aid. The U.S. in the 1940s gave loans to struggling businesses, which is still a good idea, but this doesn’t just have to come from governments; there are successful companies across Africa and around the world that could be making investments in the ones that need capital. The private sector has got as much to gain as anyone from helping lagging industries to flourish, growing businesses to grow further, and developing economies to become developed ones. And the private sector, in many ways, has more leverage than multilateral aid agencies in making that happen. It’s got even more leverage when it works in concert with those aid agencies and with national and local governments.

I saw this last month just outside Kigali, in Rwanda, where a combination of government assistance, through President Obama’s Power Africa initiative, and private investment, through Gigawatt Global, has created a crazy futurist solar field that’s boosted Rwanda’s generation capacity by 6 percent and has basically blown my circuits with its possibilities; this array just has to be seen. Europe’s already on board with the idea of clean, green energy, promising to help 500 million people get access to it. The world ought to put its weight behind risk-takers like Gigawatt and help them scale in places like northern Nigeria. The sun shines there, too.

A modern George C. Marshall Plan could even draw investment from defense budgets, because military planners are starting (just starting) to think like a health insurance plan that pays for your preventative medicine instead of just waiting for you to get deathly ill. The military does love its machines, but it would rather not put its human beings into places where they are likely to get shot or worse. They know the original Marshall Plan was not just a postwar plan, it was an anti-war plan — designed to stop Soviet expansionism and keep the Cold War from getting hot in Europe.

Peace and stability are of course a precondition for building anything lasting — or anything at all. There’s a reason the Marshall Plan got started only after the war — not in the middle of it. Clearly we’ve got to end the fighting in Syria before development is even a remote possibility there. But that shouldn’t — can’t — stop us from preventing the dry regions of the world, full of tinder and lit with sparks, from exploding into flames.

The Marshall Plan should be a model but it needn’t be our only inspiration. There is plenty of that in Africa itself, from the solar fields in Rwanda to tech startups in Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania. There are success stories virtually everywhere on the continent — the brilliant work of a rising generation of African entrepreneurs and activists and artists and officials.

Partnership, not paternalism, is required here — and was the key to the success of the previous edition of the Global Goals, the Millennium Development Goals.
It should egg us on to consider the role the MDGs played in increasing the number of children in schools and dramatically reducing child deaths, maternal mortality, and the most degrading, debilitating sort of poverty.

I’ve been fighting with the world most of my life, and I’ve learned that change mostly comes slowly and incrementally. But sometimes, when a situation demands it, we think big, act audaciously, and we get it right — or at least partly right, which is no small thing. Now needs to be one of those times. We’ve got to get it right, right now, because the humanitarian disaster in the Middle East — and the blundering toward a humane response in Europe and elsewhere — are a kick to the collective gut, a brutal reminder of what it means to get it wrong. Syria will not be the last conflagration, but when we think and build as big as our goals, we have a chance to prevent the fire next time.

Bono

Lead singer of U2 and co-founder of ONE and (RED)

https://medium.com
http://www.one.org/

What nobody tells you about growing older ...

(Adapted from Deborah Lindsay Williams's article in www.thenational.ae)

U2’s latest album is called Songs of Innocence, a title borrowed from William Blake, whose radical ideas frequently got him into trouble and whose genius was not fully recognised until well after his death in 1827. U2 seem pretty convinced about their own genius and although I’m sure that music critics no longer consider U2 to be “relevant”, I do know that the band made the 20,000 seat arena seem almost intimate.
As we left for the concert, my younger son told us that rock-and-roll is “music for old people”, and indeed, there were more than a few bald heads in the audience. The songs from this album seem of a piece with my own middle-aged musings about family, growing up and what the second half of a life can hold. U2’s music is embedded in my memories of growing up, from those days when people “bought albums” instead of downloaded songs and when a concert ticket set you back $30 (Dh110) instead of $200. That’s what my generation has instead of Proustian madeleines: snippets of rock lyrics that send us spinning back to our youth.
When I saw the Rolling Stones play in Abu Dhabi, I was amazed that men old enough to be my father had the stamina necessary for a rock show. Clearly, U2 must be working out with the same personal trainers.
Bono showed no signs of the intensive surgeries he had after his recent cycling accident – he never stopped moving. His scrupulously choreographed enthusiasm was infectious: the audience stayed on its feet the entire time, clapping and singing. Perhaps U2 has taken not only a title from William Blake but also inspiration: even on his deathbed (at the ripe old age of 69), Blake continued to write and draw and paint. I don’t know how Bono recovers between shows but both Blake and U2 remind me that there should be more to midlife than Panadol and sensible shoes. There will be inevitable aches and pains – my feet were killing me after two hours of concert-induced standing – but there needs to be singing and dancing and loud music, too.


http://www.thenational.ae/

Noel Gallagher on U2's show: It's a psychedelic experience

Noel Gallagher, currently touring the US with his High Flying Birds, was at the second show in San Jose last night.

Afterwards he spoke to U2.com. Here's what he thought of the show.

'I thought it was as great a leap forward as it was when I saw ZOOTV the first time, which itself was a great leap forward from Rattle and Hum. If it's at all possible to get a great leap forward from that, then tonight was it.

It was theatre.

It starts off as a punk rock gig but then it gets intimate, there's a lot of truth in it about where they come from and the people that they are.

At points it's quite touching when you see footage of people like Bono's mum and his kids, stuff like that, walking up the street they grew up on.

Visually the band were explaining it to me for a good six months but I still had no idea about this screen they were talking about, it didn't make much sense to me at all - most things don't with Bono at four o clock in the morning. But tonight, I don't like to use the phrase, but this is a game changer, not only for them but for shows in general. It is something competely different.

You don't expect to have that screen in that position and doing that thing... and the beauty of it all is that it still does not take away from what a great band they are.

It was always going to be a contentious thing what they did with the album release but I think it paid off tonight because the stories of the songs have been told visually and it works, I really do think it works in a visual sense.

For people who haven't seen it, they play inside of a video screen and it's something else, it's like watching a television but you kind of forget sometimes that they are actually there on stage and they are playing live. It's a psychedelic experience.

I've been a fan since hearing 'New Year's Day' in 1983 and I've seen them loads of time. With the greatest respect in the world when I saw the 360° Tour I thought that was the end of something, and not in a bad way. I thought, this is so staggering and huge and tall, so amazing, I thought this was the end of something and I wondered what the beginning of the next thing will be - and here it is.

It was staggering - and only the fourth show. I can't wait to see it again.'

www.u2.com

4 Character Strengths Sustain U2’s Success

U2 went from a band people laughed at to become one of the greatest bands in history. Today, U2 has been awarded more Grammy awards than any other band and it surpassed the Rolling Stones’ record for the highest revenue-generating concert tour. How did such a remarkable transformation happen and how has the band continued its success for more than four decades? Bono, the band’s lyricist, lead singer and leader-among-equals has said the way U2 works is more extraordinary than its music. He’s referring to U2’s culture -- in other words, the predominant attitudes, language and behavior of U2’s members. Here are four character strengths that reflect U2’s culture and help explain how the band achieves sustained success.

1. Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence

U2 has an appreciation of beauty and excellence. The band members have high standards for their music and concert performances. They never feel they’ve achieved perfection but always strive to become better. This attitude drives U2 to learn and grow.

U2 is willing to try new things and take risks. For example, the band teamed up with Apple (AAPL) to provide an instant download of its last record, Songs of Innocence, to 500 million users of iCloud. Although the unsolicited free gift received criticism from users who are not fans, the move was a big hit with the band’s followers. The surprising and generous move shows U2 is willing to experiment. This is a healthy sign that bodes well for U2’s future. 


2. Love

Achieving excellence and perfection is difficult. It requires hard work, perseverance and resilience to overcome obstacles. The character strength of love helps U2 get through the inevitable professional and personal challenges. Love means people value close relations with others; sharing and caring are reciprocated. 

The members of U2 share their economic profits equally among the four band members and their manager, which differs from many bands where the most popular band members make the most money. 

The guys in U2 have an inspiring history of caring for one another. When Larry Mullen’s mother was killed in an accident a short time after the band was formed, Bono reached out to help him get through a time of grieving. Bono’s mom had died a couple years earlier. He empathized with Larry. Some years later, when the band was offered its first recording contract with the condition it replace Larry with a more conventional drummer, Bono told the recording company executive to shove it. Through sickness, divorce, addiction, and death threats, the members of U2 know they can count on their bandmates to be there for them. They have each other’s backs.

3. Humility

If any member of U2 strongly opposes a proposed decision, they band will not implement it. This gives each member of U2 a voice in decisions. The band recognizes that it takes more time to make decisions this way, and it can be frustrating, but it believes this approach produces superior results. 

This consensus-oriented decision-making approach reflects humility. It recognizes that no one has a monopoly on good ideas and the best results come about when everyone is encouraged to share their opinions and ideas.  

4. Spirituality

The character strength of spirituality exits in a group when its members hold common strong and coherent beliefs about the higher purpose and meaning of life. U2 is influenced by the Christian belief of loving and serving others. The band’s music is about human rights, social justice and matters of faith. Bono says this makes U2 different than most bands. He has described U2 as traveling salesmen whose ideas are communicated in songs. Bono “walks the talk,” too. He and his wife Ali are philanthropists who support the poor, particularly in Africa. 

These four character strengths -- appreciation of beauty and excellence, love, humility, and spirituality -- help U2 perform at the top of its game. Entering its fifth decade, look for U2 to continue to evolve in new directions. Given U2’s outstanding culture, the band’s best may be yet to come.  



http://www.foxbusiness.com/

Songs of Innocence

So the epic tale of U2’s recording odyssey through 13 studio albums and 35 years reaches the present day — and, as ever, the only direction is forward.

‘Songs of Innocence’ finds the four lifetime friends in unfailingly dynamic form. These new songs, some of the most autobiographical of their lives, brim over with energy and inventiveness. They, and the band, are road-ready, as U2 prepare to take these new-born sons and daughters for a spin around the world, in the company of some much-loved older siblings from their incredible catalogue.

Now that the mists have cleared from the endless attention over the album’s ground-breaking digital release, what emerges is the much more important element: the sheer vitality of its content. That’s been underlined by the unprecedented demand for the iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Tour 2015, set to start in Vancouver on May 14.

Two and a half months of North American shows will culminate in an awe-inspiring eight dates at Madison Square Garden in New York, in late July. Then the tour relocates to Europe for a sold out itinerary of more than two months that will include six nights at London’s 02 Arena.

While other bands trade entirely on former glories, the lifeblood running through U2’s veins is the need to stay new and relevant, to themselves as well as their audience. That was central to both the creation and execution of ‘Songs of Innocence,’ as Edge explained when he spoke to Rolling Stone.

He described what the band have learned about the digital age, after the free release of their new album to half a billion people, in a month-long digital exclusive via iTunes. “We're in the dawn of it,” he said. “The thing it's easy to forget when you live in modern times is that they're modern for about another 30 seconds, more so than ever.

“In a few years we'll look back on this time like we look back on VCRs and rotary phones. When the radio arrived, everyone thought that was the end of sheet music. I think music has become devalued and disposable in the commercial world – but not to music lovers or the people who make it, and not all big tech either. Apple – and U2 – fight hard for artists to be paid.

“In the future, technology has to be a better servant of music, and not its slave master. We can take advantage of the benefits of technology, and we do, but it's also beholden on those of us who have been so well rewarded by music to figure out a way to preserve the ability for artists to create and thrive.”

There may have been a five-year gap between 2009’s ‘No Line On The Horizon’ and ‘Songs of Innocence,’ but the spectacular U2 360° Tour didn’t reach the last of its 110 shows until July 2011. The new record’s evolution took in a variety of studios, with production credits going to Danger Mouse, Paul Epworth, Ryan Tedder, Declan Gaffney and Flood.

There were no fewer than seven settings for this new experience, with sessions at Electric Lady Studios, The Church, Shangri-La, Strathmore House, Pull Studios, Assault and Battery and The Woodshed. When the album emerged in September 2014, reviewers heard a rich synthesis of all of the band’s varied influences from different times in their career, made whole by the experiences gained across four decades of invention.

“’Songs of Innocence’ reconnects U2 with the strident, searching, wide awake band of their nascency,” wrote Mojo magazine’s Tom Doyle, “reminding not only us but themselves of their against-the-odds beginnings. The result is their best and most thematically complete album since ‘Achtung Baby.’ By turning towards their past, U2 have found their way back to the future.”

Those themes of looking homeward, and of the 1970s Dublin that the group grew up in, were evident from the robust, uncompromising and infectious opener, ‘The Miracle (of Joey Ramone).’ It was a tip of the hat to the lead singer of the Ramones, one of the very reasons U2 chose their career path in the first place. “I was young, not dumb, just wishing to be blinded by you,” sang Bono in tribute. “Brand new, and we were pilgrims on our way.”

Elsewhere, there was further acknowledgement of another guiding light for the young U2, The Clash, in ‘This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now,’ dedicated to Joe Strummer. ‘Every Breaking Wave’ rolled to the shore with an assured restraint in the spirit of ‘With Or Without You’; ‘Volcano’ bubbled like lava.

‘Iris (Hold Me Close)’ was yearningly anthemic, named for and inspired by Bono’s late mother, who died when was he was only 14. Swedish pacesetter Lykke Li contributed vocals to ‘The Troubles,’ while ‘Cedarwood Road’ typified that cohesion that occurs when every individual on a record is doing something great. Again, its reference points were real and personal, with a lyric about the cherry blossom tree in the garden of the Hewsons’ neighbours, when Bono was growing up.

“It’s us trying to figure out why we wanted to be in a band in the first place,” Bono told the Irish Times. “The relationships around the band and our first journeys – geographically, spiritually and sexually. It was tough and it took years. Put it this way: a lot of sh*t got dragged up.”

This series of album essays has travelled a million miles around the world and back, on a road that continues to stretch ahead enticingly. The ‘Songs of Innocence’ track ‘Song For Someone’ contains the lyric: “There is a light, don’t let it go out.” U2 never have, and never will.

Paul Sexton

http://www.udiscovermusic.com/

U2's Songs of Innocence shines

U2's album "Songs of Innocence"

Musically, U2’s Songs of Innocence deserves to be decontextualized from both the positive and negative hype surrounding it so that the songs themselves can emerge. On first listen, the production is prominent. However, upon each return visit, more and more treasures are to be found. Magnificent musicianship and seamless songwriting carry the album through its various portions. Songs like "Every Breaking Wave," "Song for Someone," and "Iris (Hold Me Close)” get better with every listen, as the poignant lyrical and musical touches reverberate with sonic subtlety.

To create a flow on an album that covers so much ground is an accomplishment also worth noting. These songs don't require a previous fan relationship with the band, but it's exciting to see that a band that keeps reinventing itself and deconstructing its own mythology also still can provide its own signature sounds. Enjoying the musical surface of the album is fulfilling, but even more so is listening enough that you fully get to appreciate Bono's vocals and uniquely open lyrical style, the Edge's classic riffs, Adam Clayton's distinctively rhythmic bass patterns and Larry Mullen's perfect touch on the drums.

It may be hard to compare this album to any other one from U2, but it stands strong in its own right.

http://www.examiner.com/

LITTLE BOOK OF A BIG YEAR BONO’S A TO Z OF 2014

On the first day of the new year, Bono decided to dedicate some time and words to his fans. He wrote a letter (Shall I say confession? New Year's Resolutions?) posted at U2.com.
Here are some parts: 

"...On the day of my 50th birthday I received an injury because I was over indulging in exercise boxing and cycling, which was itself an overcompensation for overindulging on alcohol coming up to the big birthday. I promised myself I would be more mindful of my limits, but just four years on, it happened again - a massive injury I can't blame on anyone but myself, mainly because I blanked out on impact and have no memory of how I ended up in New York Presbyterian with my humerus bone sticking through my leather jacket. Very punk rock as injuries go. .."

"A IS FOR ALI 

If her name were Zena I'd start the alphabet with her anyway; everything for me starts with her. Watching Ali this morning as she and a low bright winter sun clean our kitchen from the night before... I'm writing on a long table that was last night ringed by family and friends home for Christmas and New Year… the sea and sky were ink then with spots of little festive lights, infiltrating our winter evening. I didn't want the night to end, which has not always been the case for me during the last six weeks."

"B IS FOR BONO 

Talking about yourself in the third person is a little weird... But Bono embraces it. Bono thinks solipsism for an artist is like an overactive thyroid for a comedian; it's hard to fix if it's paying your way... "



"C IS FOR CLAYTON 

Adam's bass playing on Songs of Innocence was as fresh and original as his work on our first album, BOY, which was genius as far as I'm concerned. Songs like The Troubles or Volcano, or This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now depend on Adam... to glue together elements that might otherwise fly off in different trajectories. 

Adam is also the happiest he has ever been in his life since he married Mariana... she is so special and they share a passion for contemporary art that has them great friends as well as lovers. The only thing that bothers me about Adam Clayton is he seems to buy better gifts than I do. He bought Ali a snowflake pendant that she hardly ever takes off despite all my attempts to ply her with things that shine. 

Truth is Ali is too modest and old-school frugal to wear anything showy. Yet another lesson there. (Note to self. Look up "frugal.") "

"Above all else E IS FOR EDGE 

This year during the recording of SOI the band ended up sharing houses in London. I had the room under the Edge… this was a mistake. The dude doesn't sleep. When we record, he's often playing guitar right through the night. I offered him sleeping tablets. He said he'd rather the album be crack than valium. 

Edge is not just one of my dearest friends, he, like the missus, remains a mystery to those who know him best.... a paradox… a true gentleman but with the rage of rock'n'roll under quite thick skin.... though he is U2's lightning conductor, he moves like a very calm breeze...you might not notice it but for the ripples in the sand, the subtleties in his playing, his songwriting hooks… some of them not obvious at first turn out to be eternal. He is the only one who doesn't know that he is the most influential guitar player in a quarter century.
Edge is very proud, as is the rest of the band, of our involvement in Music Generation...making sure in Ireland that any future Edges can get their hands on a guitar. By November, 19,000 kids had had access to instruments and lessons thanks to the brilliant Rosaleen Molloy who runs the scheme. " 

"L IS FOR LARRY MULLEN 

The cover of the U2 album is, I think, our best. 

There was a moment when we did the Graham Norton show - a moment that, to keep the pace up, got left out of the final edit, but that really knocked us all out. When Graham asked Larry why he and his son would agree to appear on the album cover (the Mullen Juniors are very protective of their privacy), Larry talked about how he and his son have at times had a stormy relationship - and that beautiful photograph by Glen Luchford meant so much to the two of them in their new closeness. "I'm not sure who is holding onto who," Larry said. "Check my son's hand... He's a tough kid but not so tough that he can't hold onto his father as his father holds onto him". 

"M IS FOR MANDELA 

It's one year on, but I and more importantly the world miss him. "Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings". "

Read the complete post here.

http://www.u2.com

Bono: Ebola is What Happens When Promises Are Broken

Diseases do a lot of different things, all vicious, but there's one thing they've got in common: they find our vulnerabilities and exploit them.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa -- and the world's inept initial response to it --shows how fragile we are on all fronts. Because the epidemic isn't just a failure of health systems in poor countries, or of leadership and coordination by wealthy ones, it's also a failure of our value system. If governments the world over had kept their promises to fight extreme poverty and diseases, the three countries most affected would have had stronger national immune systems.

The grand promises our elected officials make on our behalf become our grand betrayals when they don't follow through. I've been witness to a lot of despair over the years, but the photograph of a lonely child dying in her own excrement on a concrete floor of a clinic in Monrovia while untrained staff are too scared to hold and comfort her will stay with me forever.

I started writing this last week and find myself finishing it from a New York hospital where I've just had surgeries for getting smashed up in a bike accident. The quality of care is excellent ... for a jumble of broken bones that are a long way from life-threatening. The contrast with images like the one above couldn't be starker -- or more jarring.

Ebola is what happens when promises are broken. More than 14,000 people hit, more than 5,000 dead. While the numbers are starting to go down in some places, we should have no illusions. Ebola is a killer playing a long game. If we take our eyes off it, if we get bored, we'll get punished. As US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said, as Ebola moves locations and changes shape, the world's response has got to change with it.

"The world" in this case means not just governments, but everyone who has a responsibility to hold governments accountable -- i.e., citizens, i.e., you and me. The policy geeks at ONE have just released an interactive "Ebola Response Tracker" that shows the good the bad and the ugly when it comes to promises made and kept, or promises made and not kept, since Ebola started to spread.

This tracker isn't just a tool, it's a weapon. It's a sharp one, too, and it's meant to be wielded at governments.

But let's be honest, it's hard to get something like an Ebola Response Tracker trending. It's a lot easier to get Matt Damon trending. So ONE has also released a short film with Matt Damon as well as Ben Affleck, Ellie Goulding and Angelique Kidjo, and, most importantly, Ebola-fighting health-care workers from Liberia, the real heroes in this fight. This film seethes in silence at the initial slow response to Ebola, and demands we sort out the root causes of this disease. As we set our sights on Ebola -- whether through the brilliant Africa Stop Ebola project, which tells people how to protect themselves, or the revamped Band Aid 30, or the rumored African We Are the World -- we have to think not just short-term, but long. Not just about ending this crisis, but preventing the next one.

It would of course be a crime if we funded our efforts against Ebola at a cost to other diseases. When GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance -- which inoculates children -- meets for its replenishment next year, it's really a meeting to decide if the world will accept that the solutions to these problems are very much in our hands, decided by economic priorities. Wonkish talk, statistics, and debates about aid aside, the dead honest truth is that focused investments like these can really create a tipping point.

We've got to see the underlying causes of the Ebola crisis -- extreme poverty and a lack of investment in basic health, and health systems -- as every bit as urgent as the painful images on TV, and the realities they represent.

The answer is certainly not just songs and PSAs, though they can help. It's not just more doctors and nurses going to West Africa, though that's essential, or just governments doing more to step up, though we have to make sure they do. The answer is leadership to tackle the structural causes, the big issues of poverty, corruption, injustice. These problems are tenacious, but yield to our efforts -- we've seen that already. Extreme poverty has fallen by half since 1990 and could nearly reach the "zero zone" by 2030. If the world really gets focused, we can have not just an absence of Ebola and other killers, but an abundance of opportunity, good governance, economic growth, and brighter futures, even in the places that today are the poorest.

In the next month the United Nations will give the world a first look at the update on the new Millennium Development Goals -- the old ones have been our marker for progress in the fight against extreme poverty over the past 15 years. The goals for thenext 15 years will be agreed upon in 2015, at an historic summit of world leaders. You'll see numerical targets and thresholds, but what these goals will really communicate is our generation's value system and our aspirations for the next.

When you see the fanfare and hear the rhetoric, the sound of world leaders knowing they're making history (and rather enjoying it), try not to roll your eyes. Instead try to picture a world where the sort of images we've just seen in West Africa are shocking because they are so rare. Or better yet, a world where there are no images like these at all.

Ebola has taught us that our value system needs a shot in the arm. The real villain is not a virus or microbe, it is when good policies, well thought-out, are not funded or followed through.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

U2's Songs of Transcendence

A heartfelt article by Cathleen Falsani. Award-winning religion journalist, author, and commentator. And U2 fan!!!

Sunday evening I did something I haven't done in close to 30 years: I went to an actual record store and bought a brand-new U2 album on vinyl, took it home, pulled out the turntable, put on my headphones, sat on the floor, and stayed up way too late reading the liner notes and listening to the songs over and over again.

Lord, how I've missed this particular ritual.

When I was a teenager, late Sunday nights were when I indulged my secret pleasure by listening in bed (clandestinely so as not to incur the wrath of my parents for being awake well past my bedtime) to the "King Biscuit Flower Hour" on WPLR, the classic rock station in New Haven that was one of two (the other being a horrendous pop-40 station) that came in clearly on the FM stereo in my upstairs bedroom.

I listened, religiously, every Sunday night for years, hoping to hear a song by one of the British New Wave bands of which I was fond, or, if I was particularly lucky, by my favorite band on the planet: U2.

Sometimes weeks would go by without hearing a U2 song on those late Sunday nights, my ear pressed to the transistor radio secreted next to the pillow on my twin bed. But then, like a bolt of lightning -- I'd hear Bono's voice or Edge's guitar begin to keen. It was a wee bit magical, although in retrospect today I might call it sacred.

All the waiting and listening was worth it. Always.

There was an intimacy then to the conversation that transpired between U2's music and my young heart. It was never about the sound alone -- I didn't care if it had a good beat or if I could dance to it -- what touched me, leaving indelible fingerprints on my soul, were the stories, confessions, and prayers wrapped inside the sound.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

By the time I reached my room at the top of the unreasonably long, winding basalt staircase that led to the pensione's third floor late one night last month in Rome, I was out of steam and both my iPhone and iPad were out of juice. I plugged both devices and left them to charge while I took a quick shower to cool off after a day of hoofing it around the Eternal City in 90-degree weather.

By the time I'd finished my ablutions, put on my pajamas, and climbed into my narrow twin bed (one of the many charms of Roman hotel rooms), the pad and the phone were successfully resuscitated, the soft blue glow of their illuminated screens punctuated by texts and alerts that had been queuing during the dormant hours after the batteries ran out.

Sitting cross-legged on top of the duvet, I scrolled through messages and Facebook alerts that announced a surprise: earlier that day in California, U2 had released its long anticipated new album, Songs of Innocence, and delivered it for free to a half-billion iTunes users worldwide.

It took a few moments for that news to compute in my mind. There was an entire album of new U2 music and it was just waiting for me to download it from the (great) Cloud (of witnesses) to listen.

Thanks be to God for a strong WiFi signal.

Thirty seconds later ...

I was chasing down the days of fear
Chasing down a dream before it disappeared
I was aching to be somewhere near
Your voice was all I heard
I was shaking from a storm in me
Haunted by the spectres that we had to see
Yeah, I wanted to be the melody
Above the noise, above the hurt
I was young
Not dumb
Just wishing to be blinded
By you
Brand new
And we were pilgrims on our way
I woke up at the moment when the miracle occurred
Heard a song that made some sense out of the world
Everything I ever lost, now has been returned
The most beautiful sound I'd ever heard
Cue the waterworks.

Dave Fanning Declares War On U2 Begrudgers

Bono may have said sorry during the week, but not everyone thinks that there was a need! in fact the 2fm star has some choice advice for the begrudgers... -

Over a month has passed since U2’s Songs of Innocence was made available to over 500 million iTunes customers – and the controversy over the strategy rages on, with Bono apologising earlier this week to those critics of the band, who took umbrage at receiving the gift!

In a characteristically forthright broadside, longtime friend and supporter Dave Fanning has added his voice to the many supporting the band. “In this day-and-age, if you don’t make a big noise when you release something, you’re fucked,” he told Hot Press. "Like, Stephen Spielberg spends 100 million on making a movie and then he spends 500 million promoting the movie. People don’t complain about that!

“At this stage, 38 million people have downloaded the U2 album on their phones, or their computers or whatever – so that whole thing worked a treat,” he added. “It was brilliant!! And as for those who weren’t able to hit 'delete' – I say fuck off! Just fuck off! I’ve never heard such a load of rubbish.

“Should I give out to The Sunday Times because last week they had an eight-page rugby pullout? ‘How dare they put this into my Sunday Times! I’m going to complain!’ I just throw it in the bin! Get over it!”

http://www.hotpress.com/

Why U2 once mattered, and why U2 matter still

by Cahir O'Doherty  for @irishcentral

U2's Edge and Bono performing in Washington. Decades of Irish art and history contained in their songs. Photo by: Getty Images

They were solitary Irish upstarts, a fledgling rock band in the post-punk new wave era - which they only lightly reflected – because they were pursuing their own signals from the outset. 

 Because they were Irish they were ignored at first, which gave them enviable space to learn and to grow. In the early 1980’s U2 were in search of something. 

Greatness, obviously, but their appetite was so insatiable it made you look twice. Compare an early 80’s interview with U2 with any other rock band of the time and you’ll see how distinctive they were. 

 Hailing from a Republic on life support they were consciously and unconsciously in search of some grandeur. The saw how the romantic Irish landscape could encourage you to dream, but they also saw how quickly Irish society could throw its nets around you. Their sound grew out of the contrast, I suppose. Edge’s big booming messianic chords, the band’s calling card, were there almost from the beginning, fueled by their hunger and also fueled by their less discussed interest in born again Christianity. 

 Like a lot of young Irish people of that era U2 were looking for a future, they were also looking for parole, and they were looking for a song to guide them to a new plateau. No previous generation had done it. At the time I thought they were the strangest rock band I’d ever seen. 

To me Bono looked like a mix of bug eyed religious maniac and mountain goat. In those days he always seemed to be in search of a flag to raise and a summit to taper on. I was instinctively leery of his mullet and his ready answers. U2 was the band that your older brothers liked. I would watch Bono’s odd physicality (he seemed to either dart about or more often move in slow motion, a trick I think he learned from the other great Celtic band Simple Minds) and contrast it with the other stars of the 80’s. 

 I don’t think I really understood U2 until I heard the wall of sound guitar of Pride (In The Name Of Love) the week it was released. That song drew a line under the past. It became a national event in Ireland at the time. It quickly became a mission statement of the Irish youth of that era, who knew it the moment they heard it. It also became a sort of national anthem even before the album it came from, The Unforgettable Fire, was released. The black and white video that promoted Pride (In The Name Of Love) was a snapshot of the band and of all the young Irish of the era: all hesitation and defiance. Rarely do you see such a confluence of art and life. When the helicopter flies up over Dublin city at the end of the song it looks as if no one really lives there and nothing is going on. That was about right, frankly. 

 Although they have often listed the bands and singers who have inspired them, it’s hard to find a trace of U2’s influences in their early sound. That’s because in the end U2 have always been best at being themselves, their forays into alternatives (avatars and sounds) have rarely paid dividends. There are so many things to criticize. Ireland’s small and you could argue U2’s juggernaut hurt emerging acts. Ireland has a band, you’re not it, go home, was and to some extent still is a common attitude there. The band’s power chords and the big rousing choruses became less and less convincing over time too. 

To this day it’s still their reflex even when the mighty dreams the band once dreamed have long ago been tempered by experience. Formed by the era they erupted in, the shockwaves have carried on for twenty-five years in ways that to tell the truth have sometimes been as imprisoning as they were inspired. Certainly the bands ironic embrace of corporate symbols like the golden arch in the PopMart tour wasn’t all that ironic. 

They’re not who they were, and none of us are, but U2 are even less so. Facebook deals worth millions, speed dials to the world’s top leaders, homes in France and elsewhere. Rock stardom brings you riches if it doesn’t necessarily bring you your dreams. But the reason that U2 still matter now, the reason they will always matter, is that just like an angels trumpet blast they heralded a great change. 

They embodied that change too. Their history is inseparable from the nation they sprang from now. They were trailblazers – artists often are – but they were the shape of things to come too. It worked both ways. For years Bono looked for a messiah but ended up deciding there’d already been one and that one was enough. That was one of his early and most heartfelt quests, but U2 is bigger than Bono, thankfully. The point of every great journey is come to home and finally understand the place.

 http://www.irishcentral.com

Heroes: Matt Nathanson on Bono

"I've always been intrigued by and drawn to Bono," says singer-songwriter Matt Nathanson. "He's the guy who seems to drive change in U2."

"Bono doesn't do anything halfway. He'll drive right into a wall to make his point."

Since releasing his debut album, Please, in 1993, Matt Nathanson has established himself as one of the most creative and popular purveyors of modern folk-rock. But the San Francisco-based singer-songwriter didn't grow up spinning The Anthology Of American Folk Music; surprisingly, he spent most of his youth idolizing bands like Kiss and Def Leppard, and he credits four guys from Ireland with opening his ears to other musical sounds and genres.

"It was in 1983, and I heard New Year's Day from the War record," Nathanson recalls. "I really liked it, but I didn't commit to the band till I bought Under A Blood Red Sky on cassette. I remember MTV was playing Sunday Bloody Sunday from that Red Rocks show. I think that was the first time I actually saw Bono do his thing, where I became fully aware of his passion and power. I remember watching him and going, 'What the hell is this? This is great!'"

A year later, Nathanson bought a copy of U2's The Unforgettable Fire. The band's experimental collaboration with producer Brian Eno sealed the deal for him. "I remember listening to it at Christmas and just losing my mind," he says. "I was tripping on how weird it was, how it resolved itself but satisfied me completely. It seemed like it was beamed down from another planet. And everything Bono was doing – his sound of his voice, his approach to lyrics, the way he just kind of jumped out of the tracks – it really opened me up and got me to start transitioning from metal to other types of music."

It's interesting that U2 – and, in particular, Bono – would make such an impression on you when you were a metal-crazed teen.

"There was something I got about him pretty quickly. Bono doesn't do anything halfway. He'll drive right into a wall to make his point. He'll be sticking his head out the window while he drives into that wall. [Laughs] Nothing gets in his way. There's a fearlessness about him that drives the whole band. I think that's something to be admired and emulated. It's certainly how I've tried to go about the music I make."

"Bono, over the course of U2's history, has been the engine that powers the band. Part of that's the role of being a frontman – you have to go heart to the hoop. It isn't about subtlety. You're not going to command the world stage by fading into the wallpaper. In my view, he's always sort of pushed the evolution of the band.

"The other guys are all brilliant and crucial to the success of U2. They're one of those bands you can't picture with any other members. It's all of them or none of them. But I've always been intrigued by and drawn to Bono. He's the guy who seems to drive change in U2. If they're doing to do something new, he's leading the charge."

Matt Nathanson © Brendan Walter

When was the first time you saw them live?

"I saw them on The Unforgettable Fire tour, and I was floored by how they connected on an immediate level with the audience even when playing some of their newer, more experimental songs. Bono's need to connect in the early days of U2 was pretty remarkable. It really hooked me. I kind of divide the band into three periods: There was sort of the post-punk passion period, then were was a passion theater period, and next was the full-on theater period we're in now. It doesn't mean there's no passion in it anymore; it just means that the spectacle has overtaken a bit from the bombast.

"And I mean 'bombast' in a good way. They grabbed you. But what I think happened somewhere in the '90s was, they realized that they had to pull it together more. They were playing these huge places – one night be incredible and the next was hit-and-miss. There were still incredible moments in their show, but it became more about delivering a consistent experience to people."

Bono has always delivered a specific worldview in his lyrics. Did that affect you early on?

"When they did The Joshua Tree, that's when they really started to embrace America – and a certain idealized view of America. It was there in their music, their appearance and their whole thing. And you know, as a kid, I didn't know who Cowboy Jack Clement was. I didn't know what happened at Sun Studios. That just wasn't my history. I didn't even know Elvis! [Laughs] But Bono would talk about them in interviews, and I got interested in all of that.

"He kind of got raked over the coals for it after a while. I was hanging out with Chris Isaak recently, and we were talking about Sun Studios – he recorded a great record there. Chris is such a fanatic about Scotty Moore and Elvis and all those guys. I told him that what got me to learn about that whole scene was reading interviews with Bono around the Rattle And Hum period. Suddenly, I wanted to learn all about Sun Studios and what went on there.

"So, yeah, Bono got lambasted for it, but I think that he and the band were just discovering their influences. They were excited and they wanted to share it. So it cracked things wide open for me. He and the band were the ones that shined that light on what had gone down in American music – for me, anyway."

U2 in 1985: (from left) Adam Clayton, Bono, The Edge and Larry Mullen © Neal Preston/Corbis

Nick Stewart describes how he signed U2 to their first major deal.

'I arrived at Island Records in August 1979 where my first signing as an A&R manager was a Manchester band called The Distractions. U2 were my second.'

In North Side Story, the exclusive book commissioned from Hot Press for U2.com's  2014 subscribers, Nick Stewart describes how he signed U2 to their first major deal. Now running his own music consultancy, we asked Nick to come up with the 15 tracks he'd always want to keep on his U2 Playlist .

1. 11 O'Clock Tick Tock 

It was a pretty wild and woolly night in Dublin, when I first saw U2 on their home turf in January 1980. The National Stadium, used for boxing in the normal course of things, was packed; when the band came out, the stage was stormed and Bono was briefly submerged  under a crowd of frenzied fans. Order was restored. The Edge kicked hard into the opening chords of 11 O’Clock Tick Tock. I can see it and hear it 34 years later, as if it was yesterday. I wasn’t sure what I was watching or just how big it could be, but I sensed it was destined to become significant. It certainly thrilled me. The song was then recorded by Martin Hannett (Joy Division, A Certain Ratio & The Durutti Column) at Strawberry Studios in Manchester  and became the bands’ first single on Island. 

2. I Will Follow 

I always thought this had to be a hit in 1980 when it first came out. It had a lot of the early U2 trademarks – soaring vocal, powerful guitar, pounding rhythm section and  bags of energy. While it received some radio play and press support, it failed to enter the charts, but remains a favourite at concerts. 

3. The Unforgettable Fire 

The choice of Brian Eno as producer for this album had raised a few eyebrows in Island Records, but an extraordinary and groundbreaking album emerged and took U2 to a new level. Overlaid with a new aural landscape of  mystery and imagination,  Eno combined with the band to produce a new sophistication of writing and playing matched by the drama and power of Bono’s vocals. The gamechanger. 

4. Pride (In The Name of Love) 

For my money, not only one of U2's greatest singles, but one of the great vocal performances on a single of all time. After this, nothing seemed to be the same again. Bono had joined the ranks of Cocker, Stewart, Daltrey and Plant as a pre-eminent rock vocalist. 

5. Where the Streets Have No Name 

The opening track of The Joshua Tree begins with a mood synth, slowly building over the first forty-five seconds, as The Edge's pounding rhythm guitar starts to creep in. At 1'10", Adam's bass line propels the track to a new level alongside The Edge’s driving guitar work. At 1'47" – most singles are more than halfway through at this point – Bono bursts in with "I want to run, I want to hide" and we’re off on the whirlwind journey that was to be the enormous success of The Joshua Tree. One of the greatest opening tracks to any album, ever. 

6. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For 

With The Joshua Tree, U2 became the first act to sell 1 million CD’s and with this track, and  of course, the rest of the album, they conquered the world. The album was brim full of great tunes, fabulous ideas and swept all before them. The Joshua Tree rightly stands as one of the great rock albums of all time. 

7. When Love Comes To Town

I’ve always admired the way the band forge alliances with great artists. There’s nothing remarkable about this track, but I just love the interplay of the vocals from Bono and BB King and then the guitar playing of BB King and The Edge. 

8. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses 

Achtung Baby was famously described as the sound of four men chopping down The Joshua Tree; this was the sound of the crash as it fell to the ground. The Berlin location - the record was made as the wall was coming down - unleashed some fiery  'wild horses'  all over this timeless album. See 'From The Sky Down',  the documentary made for the reissue of Achtung Baby  in September 2011, for a fascinating peek behind the making of the album. 

9. One 

If there was ever such a thing as a grungy ballad, this would qualify as a prime example. It’s not what one expects, which makes it all the more mysterious. Destined to become a timeless classic and a staple of Valentine-themed CD’s. 

10. Love Is Blindness 

A sepulchral organ begins the final track on Achtung Baby and all is despair and darkness. The Edge’s guitar, jags and quivers its way through the track, in a way unheard before or since. One of the great gems of their catalogue.

11. The Wanderer (With Johnny Cash) 

Bono said it had to be Johnny Cash singing this song. He was right as J C's haunting delivery gave it terrific resonance. As a result  it remains one of the great works in U2’s canon, because everything about it is perfect and is one of my favourite U2 tracks of all time, as Cash is a particular hero of mine. 

12. Miss Sarajevo (Featuring Luciano Pavarotti) 

The Passengers album remains the great unrecognised album from U2 as it contains so many extraordinary, largely unheard moments. This magisterial track, however,  was heard  all over the world. Bono’s gentle soft vocals give no real clue of the drama to come. When LP makes his entrance the sound  is liable to make strong men weep and is, along with The Wanderer, another  exceptional collaboration. 

13. Beautiful Day 

Gorgeous song, gorgeous production, gorgeous record along with "Pride" their greatest single. Rightly, this stops traffic and gets radio's turned up.

14. Kite 

I've always believed this song to be about Bono losing his father and it's one of the most heart-wrenching songs the band ever recorded. It would certainly be my U2 Desert Island Disc and the one track I always refer people to, to prove the power and the magic of the bands songwriting and playing. 

15. City Of Blinding Lights

'Atomic Bomb' is a much underrated U2 album and I love the atmospheric and all-embracing sound of this track. It's the stand out track on an album I play as often as any other.

www.U2.com//http://u2hellas.blogspot.com.ar/