Bono insults Coldplay’s Chris Martin

Bono, in a BBC radio show promoting his band’s new album, called Coldplay frontman Chris Martin a ‘wanker’ (a swear word in Britain) and a ‘completely dysfunctional character and a cretin but he happens to be a genius melodist.’ Is this similar to to negative political campaigns where the guy who wants to win says nothing about how good he is but everything about how bad the other guy is? One article I read online theorized that Bono is worried that Coldplay will become the most popular band and that U2’s stardom will be diminished. I would believe that before I believe Bono’s own explanation that it was too early in the day (although it was noon in Britain) for his lack of verbal control.

U2 is doing an awful lot of what I see as unusual press for this album. I heard they were the musical guest for an entire week of David Letterman’s late night talk show and they are practically partners with the BBC such that there is a section on their site for U2 information. I’ve seen TV commercials for the album and Comcast digital is offering U2 videos via its On Demand feature.

One article referred to Bono as a “multi-millionaire humanitarian.” Isn’t that an oxymoron?

Bono Heckles Mwenda

I like U2’s music, really. Well, Zooropa didn’t get my attention, nor did one other around that time. When I think they are being condescending to Americans or consumerism, which was my take on that album, I get turned off. And, as you saw in a recent post of mine, Bono’s outspokeness can be a problem. It was an interesting coincidence that Bono was mentioned in an article I was reading in the Parade section of the Sunday paper over the weekend that had nothing to do with him.

“They Can Kill Me, But They Can’t Kill My Ideas” was about Andrew Mwenda, founder and managing editor of a weekly newspaper in Uganda. He and his staff risk their lives to put together stories, such those that expose the government corruption, so that the country’s citizens are informed and able to use correct information to make sound decisions. He has been arrested or detained many times, his house has been looted and he has been threatened with a gun literally to his head. He says that when these things happen, he knows he is doing a good job. As a Ugandan citizen and a person who has spent many years reporting on the workings of the government, one would assume that when he says he feels “that foreign aid was undermining African democracies”, he has a fund of knowledge to base that on. Apparently Bono, not a native of Uganda and not someone who has had to struggle to survive, believes otherwise. The article notes that when Mr. Mwenda stated his opinion at a conference in Tanzania in 2007, he was ‘heckled’ by Bono. So we have a man risking his life daily to create a product that informs and assists the pople of his country under attack by a musician. I’m sure it was one of the milder encounters he has experienced as Bono wouldn’t have killed him for his opinion. But, if Bono knows so much and is so passionate about his desire for the world (or maybe just the US) to save all of Africa from itself, why is  he parading around the world singing songs that do not inspire anarchy or change rather than in a government position where his opinion might get action?

http://www.parade.com/news/2009/02/they-can-kill-me-but-they-cant-kill-my-ideas.html

U2 & the Presidential Inaugural Concert

I had thought Bono would promote his own political agenda during U2’s Presidential Inaugural Concert appearance, and so he did. “This is not just an American dream. Also an Irish dream, a European dream, an African dream … an Israeli dream … and also a Palestinian dream.” How dare he, not even a US citizen, take that stage and say the US should help with the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict. He should have gone up there only to do what he is asked and paid to do, sing hit songs. He should not stand on a stage in front of millions of Americans who are suffering with job losses, retirement and savings fund losses, a bad economy, a continuing racial divide, the hard choice of what necessities their income is going to be directed to, and ask them to shift their focus to a conflict that does not concern them.

Bono has so much money he’s never known that choices are faced by millions in every country every day. He’s made millions of dollars from fans that go to U2 concerts and buy their merchandise, so much more money than many families, American, Irish or other, have. The US ‘superpower’ country made him and his 3 bandmates into rich superstars and all he can do is come here asking for us to do more. The US is not the world’s mother, having to go into every conflict and solve it as though they are parenting little children. The US spends its military resources and time in countries that benefit us. Israel and the Palestine have no resources we need. Go to the UN and ask that collective of countries to help.

The purpose of the Presidential Inaugural Concert was to bring America together, to impart the feeling that a good change is coming, that all Americans should come together, work together, strive together. It was for America to feel good about America, to know that our next president is going to bring the concerns of the US citizen to work with him every day. Many people were asked to sing, many people could have also used that stage as a pulpit, but only one selfish person did not understand that it was not the time or place to voice his social/political views.

8 albums for a desert island

In no particular order…

1. U2 Boy

2. Robbie Robertson Storyville

3. Peter Gabriel Secret World Live

4. Peter Gabriel Passion

5. U2 Joshua Tree

6. Dave Matthews Band The Central Park Concert

7. Waldo de Los Rios Sinfonias

8. Dave Matthews Under the Table and Dreaming