How to Be a Frontman by Bono

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Bono:Top Ten of Irish Greatest

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

The Ten Greatest

(in alphabetical order)

1 Bono (1960 – )

2 Noel Browne (1915 – 1997)

3 Michael Collins (1890 – 1922)

4 James Connolly (1868 – 1916)

5 Stephen Gately (1976 – 2009)

6 John Hume (1937 – )

7 Phil Lynott (1951 - 1986)

8 Pádraig Pearse (1879 – 1916)

9 Mary Robinson (1944 – )

10 Adi Roche (1955 – )

source:/www.independent.ie

Bono and Gavin Friday tell stories for boys

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- Lynne Kelleher (Irish Independent)

Talking about Gavin...

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

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

source:www.gavinfriday.com

source:/www.independent.ie/

Gavin Friday on Irish TV

Ireland's RTE-TV will air a new documentary about Gavin Friday this week, and it includes contributions from both Bono and Edge. It's called Ladies & Gentlemen, Gavin Friday, and it's set to air at 10:15 pm on Tuesday, April 6th. Irish directors Jim Sheridan and Neil Jordan, Hot Press editor Niall Stokes, and even Edge's brother, Dik Evans, also appear.

source:www.rte.ie

Adidas for Chernobyl Children’s Project International

Lifestyle Sports adidas Race Series 2010 Ambassadors Holly White and Brian Maher were on hand today to launch the Lifestyle Sports adidas Trainer Scrappage Scheme. This novel initiative allows people to trade in their old trainers at Lifestyle Sports stores across Ireland in preparation for the Lifestyle Sports adidas Race Series 2010. The Scrappage scheme rewards participants with a 25% discount off a new pair of adidas Supernova or Response trainers.
Adidas will process the collected trainers through their recycling system, resulting in a collection of an estimated 1,000 pairs of trainers to donate to the Chernobyl Children’s Project International. In addition to the trainers, Lifestyle Sports will donate tracksuits & t-shirts, valued at €30,000, to the charity.

Adi Roche, CEO, of the Chernobyl Children’s Project International commented: “We are absolutely delighted to be part of the Lifestyle Sports adidas Trainer Scrappage Scheme, especially in the lead-up to Chernobyl Week in April. The product donation from adidas & Lifestyle Sports will make such a difference to the many children and adults we work with throughout the Chernobyl regions. As this year is the 24^th Anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, we cannot thank Lifestyle Sports and adidas enough for choosing Chernobyl Children’s Project International to benefit from the scheme and for selling our charity pens, pins and magnets in-store in April as well.’
Ali Hewson is  Patron  and Board Member of Chernobyl Children's Project International.

Ali and founder Adi Roche with Chernobyl kids.

To know more about the project and/or donate, click here.

source:www.rundirectmagazine.com//www.chernobyl-international.com/

NTV interviews Bono on Africa, Trade and Debt

NTV host Smriti Vidyarthi gets up close with Bono during the Pan African Media conference in Nairobi.
 
 

Carla Bruni Sarkozy Interviews Bono

In the March 27 issue of France's Madame Figaro,Carla Bruni, wife of  President of France, interviewed Bono.Here`s some excerpts of that interview.

Carla: Your militancy for organizations, your devotion to others, all this work is impressive when as a rock star you could be content with the fantastic life of an artist. I was wondering if the enormous energy and sharp global awareness one feels in your writing came from your Irish blood...



Bono: It's clearly something like that. Moral indignation, yeah, that'd be us. The Irish are funny, but they have a melancholy that can turn into rage – good or bad. You find that in our politics. And in our art. The Irish are obsessed with politics. Every taxi driver, bartender, clerk, and especially the women. Artists express this indignation even when they try to avoid it.


Yeah, the Irish are funny. In literature, for example, their revenge on the English after political oppression was to take their language, twist it, wring it out, stretch it out, or shrink it. It's really flagrant in Joyce, Yeats, Wilde, and Beckett. But my Irish nature isn't the only thing that explains my active commitments. It's a form of egotism, actually. See, I find that the life of artists whose motivation depends a great deal on narcissism leads to a state of chronic unhappiness, of relishing one's own moroseness. Fighting for others got me out of that; it's like I'm working outside myself. Yes, that's it: working for others and with others saved my life.

 
For those who can read French, click here for the entire interview.
For an English translation, click here.
 
source:www.atu2.com//http://madame.lefigaro.fr/