On the road with U2’s Adam Clayton, staying fit & healthy with world’s biggest band

Adam Clayton sits down  to discuss all things health and fitness in the world’s biggest band. It’s a fascinating interview with insights you rarely hear from within U2 and it was a real pleasure to be able to interview Adam to find out about his health and fitness regime as U2 finish up the North American leg of their eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE Tour.

Speaking about the physical challenges performing to thousands of fans every night, Adam told me what he faces.
“It's a bit of a surprise how something that you never even used to think about, you now have to manage… Now I feel it… Holding an instrument for those 2 ½ hours, I know that my shoulder and back and neck all need work…"

"They get a bit seized up and that's just an occupational hazard to be managed. There is a point where you shouldn't really be able to do this at this level, but with modern medicine and physio techniques, you can really keep on doing it."

It might be a far cry from the rock n roll image, but health – both mental and physical - and fitness is a vital part of Adam’s lifestyle these days, especially when he is on the road with the band.

Once the current tour ends in Dublin in November, there will be time though for reflection for Adam and the band on 2019 and beyond.

“This is the end of a four-year cycle of work and we really have no plans going into next year. We have got to the point where this is a full stop at the end of this project. We're looking at next year as being a year of regrouping.”




You can also contact with any health and fitness questions on realhealth@independent.ie or on Twitter @KarlHenryPT

The Real Health podcast with Karl Henry is in association with Laya Healthcare.

Ali at the annual fundraiser in aid of Chernobyl Children International

Ryan Tubridy and Ali Hewson. Photo: Brian McEvoy

It won't be long before U2 kick off the first leg of their Experience + Innocence tour in May - and Bono's better half Ali Hewson said she imagines they could take a leaf out of the Rolling Stones' book and continue touring well into their 70s.

"I really don't know - I hope so. Why not?," she told the Herald.

Despite being part of one of Ireland's best-known celebrity couples, it seems the mum-of-four's household is subject to the same pressures as any other.

Asked if she would be in Tulsa for their opening gig on May 2, she said: "I will be there at some point but I'm not sure when.

"We've got all sorts of exams in our house at the moment so I'll be there for some of it. I will catch it."

She was one of the guests at the InterContinental Hotel for the annual fundraiser in aid of Adi Roche's Chernobyl Children International (CCI).

Hosted by ex-TD Liz O'Donnell and agent Noel Kelly, the bash is one of the organisation's biggest yearly fundraisers.

Although it's coming up to the 32nd anniversary of the nuclear accident next month, Ali said it was just as important to keep the charity in people's minds.

"Year after year we come across the most awful disasters," she said. "But this is something that the CCI is committed to staying with and are seeing these kids through."

More than 250 guests turned up at the lunch to show their support, including Ali's godchild Anna Gabriel (25), who was rescued from an orphanage in Belarus at the age of four and adopted by a West Cork family. She was born with serious problems, including being completely deaf. Her legs were also deformed and she had an extra finger on both hands.

She said she was "plucked out of misery just in time" and has thrived thanks to the care of her adoptive family.

At the end of her speech, she received a standing ovation from the crowd, which included RTE's Ryan Tubridy, Joe Duffy, Claire Byrne and Dave Fanning.

Tribute was also paid to the late Dolores Riordan, who wrote and recorded a 2002 single Time Is Ticking Out in aid of the charity.

Bono thinks Oasis rock

Bono thinks Oasis rock. Superstar, Bono – the frontman of rock band U2 – has said he’s been introducing his 17-year-old son Elijah to the music of the 1990s, including bands like his friend Noel Gallagher’s old group Oasis. The 56-year-old rocker has took it upon himself to give his kids – two daughters, Jordan, 27, and Eve, 25, and two sons, Elijah, 17, and John, 15, his children with his wife Ali Hewson – a musical history lesson. Bono is great friends with former Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher and he has been playing Elijah the Manchester group’s most famous tracks and introducing him to other classic 90s indie rock.

He shared: “I mean he listens to … I mean Elijah’s been, I’ve just been going through the 90s with him. Noel Gallagher, Stone Roses, Oasis, all that. He’s rediscovering that and I’m rediscovering it with him. On vinyl.” And the ‘With or Without You’ singer – whose real name is Paul Hewson – also credited his four children for helping him through “house parties”, as he admits they’re better at planning the events than he is.  Asked where he keeps his record player and what he uses it for, Bono said: “It’s in our kitchen. So is Edge’s. At home we do have house parties, though some of the better ones are now done by my sons and daughters. But we’ve been playing all kinds of things. “Yesterday we listened to the new Eagles album. I’m not talking about the Californian band, but I think they’re from Leeds, maybe. I think they’re from the UK, which was really great.” Bono is currently gearing up to head out on tour in support of the 30th anniversary of U2’s seminal album ‘The Joshua Tree’ – a tour on which the Irish stadium legends will be supported by Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.
The singer has apologised to fans who will have to travel far and wide in order to make one of the exclusive shows, but has promised the concert will be “special”.

Speaking on UK station BBC Radio 2 on Chris Evans’ ‘Breakfast Show’, the ‘Beautiful Day’ songwriter said: “Originally we were just going to do a few shows, and I apologise to people in Scotland and Wales who have to come down to Twickenham (in London), or indeed in Dublin we could only do one show.  “We were only supposed to do three or four or five, we’re doing I think nearly 40 now across America and Europe. But as I say we don’t do birthdays, we’re more weddings and bar mitzvahs actually, but this seemed to be something to do. And yeah, we’ll see what happens, but it’s a special album of songs for sure.”


http://www.fashion.ie

Bono And His Daughter Talk Family, Celebrity And Finally Finding Home

A heartfelt father-daughter interview with Bono and Jordan Hewson.For "Talk to me" The Huffington Post.

U2 lead singer Bono was just 14 years old when he lost his mother to a brain aneurysm. He found himself living in an all-male household on the north side of Dublin that lacked the warmth and closeness of a tight-knit family. It would be years before he finally understood what “home” truly felt like.

The artist sat down alongside his daughter, Jordan Hewson, for HuffPost’s parent-child interview series, Talk To Me, and looked back on the moment he left that house and found the family he always wanted.

“The house, it was just that. It was no longer a home for me,” he said. “And I guess U2 kind of became that surrogate family. I’ll be honest with you: I’ve only really ever understood the feeling of home when you entered my life.”

It was 1989. Bono was at the recording studio when his pregnant wife Ali Hewson arrived to pick him up and head to the hospital. Despite being in labor, she did the driving.

“She had packed me a small little flask of whiskey, some novel I was reading, some newspapers,” he said. “She was the together one. I was recording. So up ‘til the last minute I was probably in denial.”

While at the hospital, Bono couldn’t resist turning the monumental moment into an opportunity to make music. He brought a portable tape recorder and recorded his daughter’s heartbeat as she was in the womb.

“I was going to make a song recording your heartbeat as the rhythm. And I noticed the heartbeat going slower,” he said.

He told the nurse immediately, who dismissed him at first. But eventually Bono told his wife’s doctor, who realized something was wrong.

“You were rushed into existence,” he told Jordan, remembering that she was born on his own birthday. “They suggested that you should be near my heart or your mother’s heart. You were so vulnerable, five pounds. So you slept on my chest for two weeks.”

It was his knowledge of music and tempo that helped him that day, but Bono’s love for music isn’t the only thing driving him anymore. Bono has also become a fierce advocate in the fight against AIDS. He helped create ONE and (RED) to combat the systemic issues that make it so difficult to escape poverty and disease in some areas of the world.

Jordan, meanwhile, has co-founded Speakable, which develops civic engagement tools that news companies can embed in their stories.

During their interview Bono took an introspective look at the twisted way society views celebrities, who are often “over paid and over-regarded,” but have a unique opportunity to affect change.

“If celebrity has anything to offer, it’s that you can use celebrity to shine a light on issues and put a spotlight on people whose voices are not heard.” he said.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Eve Hewson on her dad: "He is also very tall, very handsome and very intelligent. "

#EveHewson posted it on her Instagram account:

"Even though our facial expressions would suggest otherwise, we really were very happy and proud to see dad become the first Man Of The Year at the Glamour Awards last night. In a year where men are celebrated, rewarded and even granted the presidency of the United States for bragging about sexually assaulting women, encouraging violence against women, for planning to take away a woman's right to her own reproductive health and for being just plain WRONG on SO MANY LEVELS, it is important to take a moment to celebrate the men out there that are getting it right!
I am so proud to have this man as my father I could burst. He works harder than any man I have ever known and he works harder FOR WOMEN than any man I have ever known. He deserves all of the awards and all of the love and the world needs more men like him.

He is also very tall, very handsome and very intelligent.
Did I mention that he's very tall?" 

#povertyissexist #bonoisverytall @u2

Like father, like daughter: Jordan Hewson made it easier to donate to causes online

Speakable founder Jordan Hewson

Jordan Hewson founded her company on one premise: Millennials aren’t taking action on the issues they care about because the process is difficult, confusing, and time-consuming.

So Hewson created Speakable, a company that uses technology to make civic engagement more accessible. Since 2015, Speakable has been working on its first product, the Action Button, which goes live Thursday.

The Action Button links publishers to NGOs and nonprofits like Amnesty International and Planned Parenthood, and has been in beta testing with Huffington Post until now. Starting today, the Action Button will go live on articles on Huffington Post, Vice, and the Guardian.

Here’s how it works:

On articles pertaining to issues that a reader could take action on — like getting girls an education in third-world countries, or the Syrian refugee crisis — the Action Button will appear at the bottom of the page
The button is powered by an algorithm that matches vetted NGOs with a relevant article
Readers can choose one of three ways to take action, like taking a poll, signing a petition, or donating to a cause
The options don’t require readers to leave the page, even if they choose the donate option
Hewson said the idea stemmed from her experiences as a millennial and someone who’s passionate about the nonprofit space. As far as she knows, the Action Button is the first of its kind.

“Nothing like this has ever existed,” Hewson told Business Insider. “You’ve never been able to take action on news before.”

Hewson has worked in the nonprofit and NGO space for years, spending three years as a campaigner for Global Citizen, a social-action platform that aims to
fight poverty and inequality. Hewson is also the daughter of U2 frontman Bono, who helped create the ONE foundation and has worked to fight poverty and AIDS in Africa.
Hewson says she realised while she was working at Global Citizen that taking action on issues had to be easier, otherwise it wouldn’t happen.

“Millennials especially are demanding more from digital content,” Hewson said. “They don’t just want to read headlines, they want to change headlines. Our hope for the company is that if we can make it faster and easier for people to take action, they’re much more likely to do it. If it can be part of your daily online behaviour, it can be as easy as ordering an Uber or buying a dress.”


http://www.businessinsider.com.au/

THE ROTARIAN CONVERSATION WITH THE EDGE AND GARVIN EVANS

Editor's note: After the May 2016 issue of The Rotarian went to press, we were saddened to learn of the death of Garvin Evans, who along with his son, U2 guitarist The Edge, appeared on the cover of that issue. Evans was a longtime member of the Rotary Club of Dublin North. We are grateful that we were able to share his remarkable story with our readers.


The boys of U2 are home. It’s Friday, 27 November, two weeks after the terrorist attacks in Paris. Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. had been in Paris that terrible evening, rehearsing at the venue where they were scheduled to perform the following night. Instead, they had to be evacuated. This band has always been known for its political and social activism, and its songs’ messages against war and terrorism. Tonight, those themes feel particularly relevant.

At 3Arena, once a railway station in the Dublin Docklands, thousands of fans are happily mashed together on the standing-room-only floor. They’re drinking beer and buzzing restlessly as they wait for their hometown heroes, who are wrapping up their six-month iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Tour, to take the stage. When the plaintive opening “ohhh-OH-oh ” notes of “The Miracle of Joey Ramone ” sound, followed by The Edge’s scorching, staccato guitar riff – ba-DA-dah, ba-DA-dah – the crowd goes insane.

The Edge’s father, Garvin Evans, 84, was in the arena to hear his son play in the first of four Dublin shows earlier this week, and he will be here again for what was meant to be the final show of the U2 tour. (The band will return to Paris for two rescheduled shows.) The following day, Evans, a tenor, will be singing in a local production of Messiah.

Evans is a big fan not only of U2 but also of Handel, Welsh hymns, golf (he’s an honorary life member of the Royal Dublin Golf Club), really good claret, and Tuesdays, “when three or four of us go to a pub and have a Guinness. ” He adores his three kids, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. He is secretary of his Presbyterian church and sings in the choir. He is also a longtime member of Rotary and the reason The Rotarian is visiting Dublin: to speak with him and his son about what they have in common and how they’ve inspired each other to try to make the world a better place.

Frequent Rotarian contributor Julie Bain meets them in the five-star Merrion Hotel in Dublin’s city center. Both men arrive early and looking spiffy, Evans in a black and red plaid tie and The Edge, born David Evans, in his signature knitted cap 
and buttery-soft black leather jacket. Evans, born in South Wales, displays a bit of the characteristic Welsh reserve, and so does his son, who was born in London in 1961 before his parents moved to Dublin in 1962. (His mother, Gwenda, died in 2012.) 
The two don’t hug, but they are clearly affectionate and loving. Here, they discuss the topics that are most meaningful to them.


ON IRISH PRIORITIES
EVANS: I’ll never forget my first day in Dublin. I arrived on a Saturday morning. Before lunch I had bought a house [in the northern suburb of Malahide], subject to my wife’s approval, which she gave. And then I did the important thing and went and watched the East of Ireland golf championships up in Baltray. I tell you, it didn’t take us long 
to integrate.

THE EDGE: Without doubt, Dublin is home to me. It’s pretty amazing I can still come home to the house I grew up in. That’s a great reflection on the Irish people, because they don’t really buy in to the celebrity system so much. Are you a person of integrity, and do you have a sense of humor? Are you good fun? Those are things that matter to the Irish, not how big your house or your car is. The Irish would never allow us to get too big for our boots.

EVANS: Dave was born with a smile on his face and was intensely curious about everything. He hasn’t changed a bit.

THE EDGE: We all drift off from time to time, but the healthy thing is to be purely yourself, meaning the same person you were as a kid. It’s consistency. I put a lot of effort into not allowing the success of the band to become in any way detrimental to my values or ideas. We try to avoid the excesses. And if you’ve been blessed, you do what you can to give back.


ON ROTARY
EVANS: Back in the 1950s my late wife’s uncle was a Rotarian, and he arranged for Gwenda to go on an exchange program to Sweden. I found out a little bit about Rotary in those days and became intrigued. So when I was approached in 1968, when The Edge was just seven, to join this fledgling club to be known as Dublin North Rotary Club, I jumped at it.

I am, alas, the only founding member of the club still alive. I have been club president twice, been awarded two Paul Harris fellowships, served as district Rotaract extension officer, and two years ago as district secretary for Rotary Ireland, when Verity Swan became the first woman district governor for Rotary Ireland. [Evans’ two other children, Richard and Gillian, participated in short-term Rotary Youth Exchanges.]

THE EDGE: I was aware of Rotary, but I was quite ignorant about what was going on. I knew my dad wore this funny pin on his lapel from time to time. You pick up tidbits as you grow up, and I understood as time went on that it was mostly about charitable activities and outreach in the community and kind of general social enterprise-type activities.

My own world of involvement with philanthropy and activism started through the band. Having achieved a certain level of success, we had this platform and opportunity to do things. It was a very pleasant shock to see how my world and my dad’s world had come full circle when I discovered that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which our band has been associated with for a while, had partnered with Rotary to take on polio. I suddenly got a full sense of what Rotary was about. I went to a dinner with my dad [honoring his 40th year in Rotary] and saw the level of commitment and the immense value of Rotary that evening. That’s when I finally got it.

EVANS: As a child I was very aware of the dangers of polio. Every summer in Wales, it was dreaded. It wasn’t until Dr. Jonas Salk developed his vaccine that we were able to come to grips with it. And even then you had to get it to the people. That’s what Rotary is about.



ON PHILANTHROPY
THE EDGE: It’s hard to differentiate between activism and philanthropy, because whether you’re giving your time or money, you want to take advantage of whatever platform you have to get the best results. For me that often turns out to be music-related, obviously. And it’s often very personal. That’s why after Hurricane Katrina I was co-founder of a new charity called Music Rising that was focused on preserving the music culture of New Orleans.

I had met so many of the musicians from that area, and we were able to get a lot of them back to work by replacing their equipment and instruments. Then the next phase was to get the schools and churches re-equipped. Then we managed to establish a new course of study at Tulane University focused on the music of the area, which I’m extremely proud of. It’s a legacy project because it means that these great musical traditions are being documented and understood in a much more in-depth way.

EVANS: Incidentally, I had the interesting experience of playing golf with Bill Clinton in 2009. We shared a buggy, and he talked a lot about Music Rising. He was quite aware of it and very impressed because he said he used to go to New Orleans in his younger days and jam with the musicians. So it got through to the presidential level! You never know.


ON MUSIC
EVANS: I’m a tenor, and I still sing in choir, although I don’t do as much solo work as I used to. But I really enjoy most types of music, apart from country and western. And traditional Irish music doesn’t send me wild.

THE EDGE: I remember growing up, there were a couple of standout musical experiences that I associate with home and my parents. We had a piano and a record player in the living room, so that room was infused with music a lot of the time. We had a collection of my dad’s classical records, some great Frank Sinatra records, and some obscure things like Herb Alpert. Then at a certain age, my brother and sister and I started to acquire a couple of our own LPs. Our very first purchases were the Beatles. We bought A Hard Day’s Night and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Those are the early influences that I associate with home.

But the other one that made a huge impact was church singing. We had a 
decent enough set of voices in our Presbyterian church in Malahide. But it was when I would go with my parents back to Wales, we would go to chapel and have this 
experience of hearing an entire Welsh congregation singing hymns in perfect four-
part harmony. Literally the hairs on the back of my neck went up because it’s so 
unbelievably powerful.


ON CANCER
THE EDGE: Not many people knew that my youngest daughter was diagnosed with leukemia when she was seven. There are certain personal things that you just don’t want to bring into your public life. At that time, it was extremely difficult for the family, and I did not want to add any sort of media coverage around it. We met many families in far worse situations. Our daughter’s chances of survival were always very high. But it was an ordeal nonetheless. She had a lot of chemo over a very long period of time.

When your child is ill, as a parent the first thing you try to do is fully understand what’s going on. So I dove into the science of cancer treatment. I stumbled upon the Angiogenesis Foundation through a friend who told me about William Li, the CEO. So initially I was just asking Dr. Li a thousand questions about everything he knew about cancer treatment and how angiogenesis inhibitors could be part of a cure. [A new class of cancer drugs starves cancerous tumors of oxygen and nutrients by blocking angiogenesis, the growth of blood vessels.]

As time went on, I got more and more impressed by what they were doing and decided to commit to being a board member. I’ve been on the board for almost 10 years now. About 100 drugs are in the R&D pipeline now. It’s a revolution in medicine.

EVANS: I have a spinoff of this, because I’ve had cancer for the last 10 years. I had chemotherapy yesterday, actually.

THE EDGE: Dad is here in part because of the revolution in angiogenesis treatments.

EVANS: Absolutely. I’ve had, let me see, colon cancer, liver cancer twice, lung cancer, 
and, at the moment, pleural cancer. I’m living with it. And I’m fortunate that 
the anti-angiogenesis drug I’m on is keeping the cancer at bay, and it has very little 
side effects.


ON PARENTING
THE EDGE: The thing about a father-son relationship is that you often end up not exactly doing what you were told but imitating what you saw happen. My father’s instinct for philanthropy, for activism and engagement, had an effect on me. And he definitely influenced what I do and say to my kids. When it comes to parenting techniques and philosophy, it’s funny to observe the echoes of what my mom and dad were like as parents reflected in me. I recognize that influence in tiny, trivial things. That’s the moment when it crystallizes and you think, “Oh, wow! There’s a lineage, a heritage here, and I’m part of that. ”

EVANS: Well, Gwenda and I were never Victorian parents. When Edge wanted 
to choose the band over college, we talked about it and we said, “Let him do it, let him get it out of his system. If it works, great. If it doesn’t work, at least you can 
never turn around and say we thwarted his ambitions. ” So we were pretty laid 
back about it. I think I could sum up our approach in these words, as advice to all parents, really: Never stand in the way of your children’s dreams – they might just come true.

By Julie Bain
The Rotarian
1-May-2016
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"Papa Making History" Hollie Evans

"My Papa making history in one of the most beautiful places on earth"- Photo taken by Hollie Evans, Edge's daughter.

 U2's lead guitarist The Edge became the first rock star to play in the Sistine Chapel on Saturday, performing an unplugged set with the backing of a young Irish choir.

The musician, was invited to play in the 15th century chapel for the participants of a conference on regenerative medicine, which took place inside the Vatican.

"When I was asked to perform in the Sistine Chapel I didn't know what to say, because usually there's 'this other guy' who sings," The Edge told the audience, referring to U2's lead singer Bono. "So it took me at least, well, 30 seconds to agree to it."

At a conference on regenerative medicine at the Vatican to find cures for cancer, The Edge, from U2, performed a song in the Sistine Chapel. This video was captured by an attendee on a cell phone.


http://www.nbcnews.com/

Edge's father, Garvin Evans, passed away

EVANS John Garvin (Malahide) - April 16, 2016 - Peacefully after a long and courageous battle with illness met with typical joie de vivre, in the wonderful care of the staff of the Bons Secours Hospital. Widower of the late Gwenda Evans. Very sadly missed by children Richard, Edge and Gillian, brother Peter, daughters-in-law Miranda and Morleigh, son-in-law Tim and sisters-in-law Ann and Heulwen. Very proud Tadcu of Hollie, Arran, Blue, Molly, Tim, Sian, Jacob, Levi and Eva and adoring Hen Tadcu of Luna and Finn. Sadly missed by dear friend Norma, Anne, extended family and his wide circle of friends. Funeral in Howth Presbyterian Church at 11.00am on Wednesday, April 20. Family Flowers only. Donations, if desired to Rotary International (www.rotary.org)."I know that my Redeemer liveth"

http://notices.irishtimes.com/

Another view on Bono: Eve tells us about her "embarrassing dad"

"He may be a rock icon to millions but to me, Bono will always be my embarrassing dad"

Eve Hewson- Eva Fehren Debuts Portraits of Women That Inspire(Photos: Herring & Herring / Courtesy of Eva Fehren)

Eve Hewson is making waves in Hollywood, but there was nothing showbiz about growing up with the U2 legend (By Patricia Danaher)

The name Bono brings several images to mind: there's the rockstar strutting across a stage, the bemused artist defending the automatic download of his album on to iPhones, or the political activist paying his last respects to his late friend Nelson Mandela. One image that Paul Hewson's famous moniker certainly wouldn't suggest is that of a dad in a dressing gown embarrassing his children on the school run - but according to his actress daughter, that's exactly what the real Bono is like.

"Like any dad, he would do things that were really annoying," Eve Hewson tells me with a groan. "He used to blast The Backstreet Boys in his car in traffic on the way to school and then get out in his dressing gown and dance with his glasses on. We were just mortified. But now I think he's a really fun dad. We tease him all the time, but he teases us back too!"

John, Jordan and Elijah - photo taken last month in London

Venerated superstar he may be, but 24-year-old Eve says that she and her siblings - sister Jordan (26) and brothers Elijah (16) and John (14) - are not afraid to share their opinions with Bono.

"My sisters and my brothers are like micro managers with my dad and we don't shy away from telling him what we think," she tells me, grinning affectionately.

"We like to tell him what to wear and what to listen to and things like 'that shot's not good' and 'this verse isn't good'. We are very involved.

"He used to drive us to school and we would play whatever songs they were working on at the time. Like I say, we would be very involved and then upset if the version we liked didn't make it on the album. There would be a fight and we'd be like: 'Why, dad, why? You have to listen to us!'"

Today, we meet at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York. Eve - full name Memphis Eve Sunny Day Hewson - arrived early for our interview and, refreshingly, not surrounded by a massive entourage. She's here to talk about her acting roles - Eve can currently be seen starring opposite Clive Owen on television and Tom Hanks on cinema screens - but she is very at ease when asked to talk about her family.

She said recently that her upbringing was very down to earth and that the Hewson children "didn't grow up caring about the flashy things; my parents are not very sceney". Instead, she tells me, Bono and wife Ali involved their children in their business and charitable endeavours.

"Both of my parents were good about involving us in whatever they were doing and we were definitely around when One (Bono's campaigning organisation to fight global poverty) and Edun (the ethical clothing line founded by Ali) started. That's been great in helping me develop my taste and opinions."

When it comes to music, Eve says that she has cultivated her own tastes. She admits to being a terrible singer herself, albeit one who's not shy of a spot of karaoke.

"I love great pop music. I have a Nano iPod and my iPhone and I'm listening a lot to 5th Harmony [a girl group who came out of American X Factor]. They are the best. I also have some bad hip hop music and I love this young new artist Tori Kelly, who is really good."

Eve has no problem admitting how much of a U2 fan she is, and she's still smarting at the hostile response to their last album, which received a huge backlash after it was released by automatic download to every Apple iTunes account. Bono later apologised to those who felt that the automatic download was intrusive.

"I've heard every U2 song literally hundreds of times and been at so many concerts, but I was still really looking forward to going to their concerts in Dublin last week," Eve says.

"Songs of Innocence is in my iPod too. I love that album and I am so proud of my dad. I listened to probably 700 versions of Every Breaking Wave - that song started about eight years ago and it was almost on another album. I would probably say that this was the most personal album my dad has written and I was disappointed with the way people received it. That was really unfortunate because I feel it took away from how incredible the album really is.

"They wanted to go back to the roots of what inspired them as musicians and it really is very emotional. We all cry when they play it on tour because it's about my dad's mum who passed away when he was 14, and who we've heard so much about, but we have never met.

"He doesn't really talk about her that much, but he put a lot of his memories of her in those songs. I am really proud he went there and sort of looked back on his childhood."

Visibly moved at talking about her father's connection to his past, Eve tells me a touching story of something she and her siblings recently did for him.

"We actually went to his old house, 10 Cedarwood Road, which he sings about on the album, last Christmas as a surprise. My sister and my brother and myself knocked on the door and we asked if we could come in and take pictures in his old bedroom, as a gift for him.

"So that's what we did, a little photoshoot with his best friend Gavin Friday, who grew up on the road with him. He came and showed us where they used to hang out and it was funny, when we got out of the car, Every Breaking Wave started playing on the radio!

"We filmed my brother walking down the street with Gavin. He's my godfather and he came into the house with us and we took pictures in the kitchen, in the bathroom and in dad's bedroom. Then we took a picture of the four of us outside of 10 Cedarwood Road and blew it up for him for Christmas. He wept when he saw it.

"We also showed him the video of us going there. That was a really nice moment."

The Hewson children later did the same thing for their mother. No doubt the photos are treasured souvenirs of home for the couple when they are in New York. Eve told in a recent interview how when she moved to the city to study at the prestigious Tisch School of the Arts six years ago, her parents also took their leave of their home in Killiney.

"I didn't invite them, they just came," she said. "My sister had moved here a year earlier, to study at Columbia, and I don't think my mum could cope with losing two kids to the US. So they conveniently decided to renovate the house and had to be out of it for a year."

Bono, Ali (below with Eve) and the boys spent the year in the penthouse overlooking Central Park that they bought from Steve Jobs, while Eve shared a student dorm near to her college. She says her parents were not initially crazy about her choosing to become an actress, but now they are her number one fans. And with good cause.

Having landed early roles opposite Sean Penn and James Gandolfini, Eve is currently starring in the second season of the hit TV series The Knick. The series is set in 1900 at New York's Knickerbocker Hospital and in it Eve plays Lucy Elkins, a wide-eyed nurse in thrall to Clive Owens' drug-addicted surgeon. The role led to Eve's first on-screen sex scene, something which she has said was a scary prospect but "then we did it, and I realised it's not a big deal at all - It looks real, but that's nothing like what is actually going on."

Eve also plays Tom Hanks' teenage daughter in Steven Spielberg's Cold War thriller Bridge of Spies, currently in cinemas. Recently, it was announced that she's to play Maid Marion in Robin Hood: Origins, which is due for release in 2017.

Despite her rising Hollywood profile, she says that she hasn't considered moving to Los Angeles and is very happy to call New York home for now.

"I live in Brooklyn and all of my friends have moved from Dublin to New York, so we all live together in the Greenpoint/Williamsburg area.

"I have a tiny apartment and it's filled with pictures and paintings from flea markets and Playbills and Polaroids from my friends. It's like a little commune and everybody lives two blocks away from each other, so it's nice.

"I am close to my older sister Jordan and she lives a few blocks away from me with my best friend from home. My parents work in New York a lot, so they are always in and out."

Eve dated One Tree Hill star James Lafferty for four years, but they broke up a few months ago. She was since rumoured to be seeing fellow actor Max Minghella, but says she's single. Head-turningly pretty, today she is wearing wide striped trousers and a sleeveless shirt from Misha Nonoo. However, she reveals that, without a stylist, she's much more of a tomboy.

"I am a terrible shopper and I am the kind of person who goes into a full sweat in the closet in the changing room. I love clothes and I love fashion, but for some reason, shopping stresses me out. I can never seem to find anything that fits right or looks good.

"My friends are also more tomboys than fashionistas, so they're not big shoppers either. I go shopping with my mom and she's the best with that sort of stuff."

So what is in store for Bono's movie star daughter when she comes home to Ireland this Christmas? By Eve's description, the Hewson's Christmas sounds very like that in any other Irish household. Well, other than her dad's busking on Dublin's Grafton Street on Christmas Eve, that is. Let's hope he wears more than a dressing gown.

"Christmas in our house is like a three-day event with all sorts of rituals. On Christmas Eve we all have lunch in town and we go and do a bit of Christmas shopping. My dad sings on Grafton Street and does his busking thing. Then on Christmas Day, we go to Church and then our relatives come over and we have a big six-hour lunch/dinner and we all play games and hang out with our cousins.

"Then the next day, we do that most Irish of rituals on St Stephen's Day - we all go off to the horse races. I can't wait."



http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/

Humanitarian award for Adi Roche and Ali Hewson

Adi Roche and Ali Hewson will receive the Princess Grace Humanitarian Award from Prince Albert in Monaco tonight in recognition of their work in helping thousands of children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Ms Roche, peace campaigner and a former presidential candidate and Ms Hewson, Irish activist, businesswoman, and wife of U2 frontman Bono, have raised more than €100m for Chernobyl Children International.

The charity was established in response to the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, 95km north of Kiev, near the Belarus border. More than 8m people continue to live in Chernobyl and contaminated areas of Belarus and Ukraine — many of them children.

Chernobyl Children International has brought around 25,000 children to Ireland for medical treatment and recuperation. The children stay with host families during the summer and the charity also flies surgeons to the Ukraine to carry out life-saving procedures on infants.

Ms Roche, from Clonmel, Co Tipperary, but now living in Cork with her husband Seán, established the charity in 1991 after doctors in Chernobyl appealed to anti-nuclear groups to help them get children out of the area. Two years later, Ms Hewson got involved with the charity and they have worked hard to keep it going during difficult financial years in 2012 and 2013 so it could continue with its life-saving programmes. The charity’s financial situation stabilised last year and while Ms Roche is a full-time executive, she works for the organisation on a voluntary basis.

The Ireland Fund of Monaco’s Princess Grace Humanitarian Award will be presented at a gala dinner in Monte Carlo.

Update:

Ali Hewson and Adi Roche were awarded the Princess Grace Humanitarian Award

Ireland’s leading ladies were centre stage at the Ireland Fund of Monaco Ball.
Bono’s wife Ali Hewson jetted into the city to receive the prestigious  Princess Grace Humanitarian Award from Prince Albert and was joined by the U2 frontman.

Joined by peace campaigner Adi Roche, both women were recognised for their work in helping thousands of children affected by the Chernobyl disaster.


Opting for a floor-length off the shoulder black gown, Ali paired the look with an oversized clutch.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/http://www.goss.ie/

Larry Mullen speaks about his return to U2 following the death of his father

RETURN:U2 drummer Larry Mullen performs onstage during the U2 iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE tour opener in Vancouver at Rogers Arena on May 14, 2015 in Vancouver

U2 DRUMMER Larry Mullen has opened up about the death of his beloved dad just days before the band’s world tour kicked off in May — insisting the “circus” had to go on despite his loss.

Larry (53) jetted back to Ireland from rehearsals in Vancouver in Canada for the funeral of his dad Larry Sr, from Artane in Dublin, who passed away suddenly at age 92 at the Bons Secours Hospital in the capital.

But grieving Larry Jr then had to dash back to Canada just in time for the opening of U2’s Innocence and Experience Tour to go ahead as planned.

“It’s part of life. It happens,” Larry said.

“We’re circus people. That’s what we do. We just get on with it.”

He said his only regret was that his dad never got to see the new tour.

LEGENDS: U2 perform erform onstage during the U2 iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE tour opener in Vancouver [Wireimage]

“The only regret I have is that he’s not going to see this show because he would enjoy it,” he said.

“I’m proud of his involvement and proud of him. And I know he was proud of me. It’s all good.”

Larry’s mum Maureen was killed in a car crash in 1976, when the star was 15, but his dad was survived by his second wife Alice and Larry Jr’s sister Cecilia.

Larry continued to live with his dad after the death of his mum — but he has admitted that he and Bono, who also lost his mother at an early age, both found another “family” in U2.

Bono’s dad Bob Hewson passed away in 2001 during the band’s Elevation tour.

Bandmate Adam Clayton lost his mother Jo shortly after the band’s 360 tour ended in June 2011 while The Edge’s mother Gwenda Evans died in June 2012.

http://thestar.ie/

Larry Mullen Jnr pays emotional tribute to dad at funeral mass

U2 founder Larry Mullen Jnr paid an emotional tribute to his father at his funeral mass in Dublin today.
Larry Snr passed away at the age of 92 in the Bon Secours Hospital in Glasnevin on Sunday after a short illness.

Today his remains were walked from his home on Rosemount Avenue in Artane the short distance to Our Lady of Mercy Church, with Larry Jnr (53) carrying the coffin with other family members.

Larry jnr's bandmates are rehearsing for the opening gig of their new world tour at the moment, and in his eulogy he thanked them and the U2 crew for helping him make it home from Vancouver in Canada for the funeral before he flies back to join them on stage.

"Nice one on the timing dad," Larry smiled from the altar as he described how his father had been sick only for a short time but was a man who was "truly ready to go".

“He wasn’t sick very long, however he received bad news on Friday. He decided to exit his mortal coil on Sunday,” Larry explained.

"I had an opportunity to speak to him on Saturday and he was overwhelmed by the care, love and support shown to him," he added.

He said his father had spent his adolescence in a seminary before leaving in the 12th month of his final year at the age of 21, followed by ten years of wanderlust trying to readjust.

“Then meeting my mother, who was herself orphaned, and by all accounts complicated,” said Larry.

“They had three children quickly in their marriage. They lost their youngest daughter Mary at nine, followed four or five years later by the death of his wife, devastating the life of Larry,” he added.

“To my dad, I just want to acknowledge that there are no regrets between us. I love you, and you know that. No regrets,” he ended.

Today was also the monthly poetry day in the church. An event that Larry Snr regularly participated in.

Before the funeral mass the mourners were told that the event was cancelled as a mark of respect.

Larry Jnr’s sister Cecelia also spoke at the mass, saying her father was a private man, but a family man.


“This has come as a huge shock to our family,” she said, adding that he was an extraordinary man.

http://www.herald.ie/

Larry Mullen's father has died

The father of U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. has died at the age of 92.

Laurence Joseph Mullen Sr., who was from Artane in North Dublin, passed away at Bons Secours Hospital on Sunday, May 10.

His passing was confirmed in a death noticed posted on RIP.ie. It reads: "In his 92nd year. In the loving care of the staff and doctors of the Bons Secours Hospital

"Loving husband of the late Maureen and loving father of the late Mary.

"Sadly missed by his beloved wife Alice, loving children Cecilia and Larry Jnr, Larry’s partner Ann, grandchildren Becky, Sam, Elvis, Ava and Ezra, sisters Breda, Joan, Kit and Nora, extended family and friends.

"Rest in Peace."

U2 are scheduled to open their Innocence + Experience tour in Vancouver, Canada, this Thursday, May 14. It is thought that Mr Mullen Snr's funeral will take place in Dublin either tomorrow or Thursday morning.

Larry and all members of U2 are expected to attend the funeral, meaning plans for the first night of their world tour will most certainly need to be rearranged. 

Larry was only son of Laurence Joseph and Maureen (née Gaffney) Mullen. Larry, who is the father of three children, has an older sister, Cecilia, and had a younger sister, Mary, who died in 1993. His mother died in a car accident in 1976. 

Our condolences to the Mullen family.

http://www.rte.ie/

Sons and Fathers

'From father to son / In one life has begun

A work that's never done / Father to son.'

(Dirty Day, U2)

Sons and Fathers, a  new collection of essays, features  53 famous sons reflecting on their relationship with their dads. Bono, Larry, Edge and Adam have all contributed, as well as Paul McGuinness, his own son Max, and Gavin Friday - and proceeds from the book's sales will go towards the Irish Hospice Foundation, and Hospice Africa Uganda.

Bono and Bob Hewson 

"Bono planted the seed for this book with his gift of the tender drawings he made of his father towards the end of his life, when words had ceased," writes Sharon Foley, the CEO of the Irish Hospice Foundation, in a preface which explains the genesis of the project. Bono's father Bob Hewson had been cared for in a hospice during his final days, and the singer afterwards offered his drawings to help raise money for the foundation.

"I had taken to drawing him as he slept," Bono writes in his own essay, "... to meditate on what a special, talented man I had been given for a father."

The book itself reads like an expanded meditation on that unique and often testing bond between a father and son. Bill Clinton contributes (agonisingly, his own father died three months before the president was born; "I always missed the most important person I never met," he confesses)... along with the likes of Paul McCartney, Julian Lennon and Daniel Day-Lewis.

In a moving reflection, Sting reveals that he'd waited all his life to get a compliment from his father - and finally received one as his dad lay dying. "'We have the same hands, Dad, look.' I am a child again, desperately trying to get his attention. He looks down ... 'Aye, son, but you used yours better than I used mine.'" As Colm Tobin puts it in his introduction, "It is the job of the son to live in the shadow of his father's dreams, sometimes to fulfill them ... or indeed outshine." 

Bono describes the father/son relationship as a dance, but it's more akin to boxing than ballet. "We danced until his death, the ancient ritual of son versus father," he says.

And this dance - played out in so many intriguing contexts within the book - seems universal, which is perhaps why the collection feels as powerful as it does. For Paul McGuinness, the context was World War Two; his dad flew missions for the Royal Air Force's Bomber Command.

"What it was like," he asks, "for a kid of twenty-one to fly off in a Lancaster bomber with primitive navigational equipment, responsible for his crew's lives, responsible for finding their destination, being shot at by enemy aircraft, dodging flak, seeing other planes hit and destroyed, is unimaginable. He must have been terrified. I'm sure he was affected by it for the rest of his life," he reflects.

For Edge, the formative moments came in altogether more peaceful surrounds, in the countryside, while... fishing. "It was an important time for my father and me but the connection made between boy and nature has also remained," he recalls. "I still love to go into the wilderness to reconnect with - exactly what I don't know. Maybe the idea of a primal existence and a more natural pace of life... Maybe it's to finally catch the one that got away."

Adam's dad Brian Clayton is "a practical man", in his son's eyes. "He is not naturally affected by music or art and I think," Adam writes, "he believes that getting in touch with his feminine side was listening to my mother."

Nevertheless, when Adam wanted to get his hands on a decent bass (to succeed his first, ineffective guitar), it was Brian who - on one of his regular trips to New York - was commissioned to head into Manny's of 48th Street to track down a Fender Precision. "I often think of what it was like for him to enter that music shop," Adam, says, "and, armed with only a little information, engage with a salesman and hope to be treated fairly and respectfully. I wonder how it was for him to carry it back to Dublin explaining to work colleagues that it was an electric bass for his son Adam, 'who couldn't really play it'."

U2 and their fathers

Larry admits to struggling with his own contribution - which felt too much for him like writing an obituary, while his dad is still "very much alive" (and in his 91st year!). "Anyhow," he says, with characteristic economy of words: "I know he could write a far better piece about himself than I ever could. He still has a way with words. I still play the drums."

The cut-and-thrust between boys and men doesn't seem to diminish as these particular men grow older. (Neither does their fame prevent parental admonishment.) Larry admits that having bought his dad a laptop 10 years ago, he still receives "touching messages that usually include solid advice and the occasional well-intended blow to the solar plexus." You're never too old, it seems.

As Bono reflects in the book's foreword: "It's a mysterious thing, the relationship between fathers and sons ... " We certainly gain some telling glimpses here into the mysteries which have shaped some of these highly influential - and highly influenced - figures. As well as gaining a chance, perhaps, to reflect more upon our own.

Bob Hewson once told his boy: 'Your problem, son, is you're a baritone who thinks he's a tenor.' But Bono's own meditation on Bob yields an ever deepening conclusion:

"I have no scientific evidence to back up the claim that sometimes a close relation, in passing, bequeaths us a gift. Something to get us through. I can't explain this, but I do know that ever since my father died, my voice changed. I can sing those B's and A's with an ease I never had before. I am now a tenor pretending to be a baritone."

www.u2.com//http://hospicefoundation.ie/

'The Child is father of the Man', as Wordsworth once put it. It's a work that's never done.

Sons and Fathers can be pre-ordered here.