Bono In Conversation

[the soul waits]

I'm halfway through the book right now, not sure what to think of it yet, but I tend to agree with posters who said that he's holding back..

[starsgoblue]

What exactly do some posters think he's holding back? And how much of himself and his own private life is he supposed to divulge anyways? I'm not being mean but I'm curious about what kinda stuff people were looking for....

[U2Girl1978]

I thought the book was great and I'm glad he didn't divulge everything. Let the guy have some privacy at least. He deserves it. Noone needs to know everything about him.

[girlwcrimsonnls]

Maybe saying he didn't divulge enough is the wrong expression. To me it was like alot of stuff either wasn't surprising/revealing or paraphrased already in other interviews, which makes sense since the conversations that take place here happened over 2 years.

Funny enough though I wanted to read more about his relationship with the rest of the band but they are hardly metioned outside of chapter 3.

[the soul waits]

Oh, I'm not talking about his private life at all, I'm not the slightest bit interested in all that.

I mean the topics raised, like his Faith, his views on life in general and on politics, were skimmed over at times, or Bono tended to go off on a tangeant in an attempt to derail the conversation. In fact, that's what the writer pointed out to him several times too.

All in all, a good book, but I didn't learn anything about him that I didn't already know or expected.

One exception : I have to admit that I was quite surprised to read that he isn't a man to self-reflect and even calls that "navel-gazing" in a pejorative way. He strikes me as someone who tends to flee into stuff to do, beit business, music, his work for Africa, etc...to avoid a moment of silence with himself.
At the risk of sounding like an amateur-psychologist here, I believe that's where the stem lies of his views on depression.

[biff]

Originally posted by the soul waits

One exception : I have to admit that I was quite surprised to read that he isn't a man to self-reflect and even calls that "navel-gazing" in a pejorative way. He strikes me as someone who tends to flee into stuff to do, beit business, music, his work for Africa, etc...to avoid a moment of silence with himself.
At the risk of sounding like an amateur-psychologist here, I believe that's where the stem lies of his views on depression.

And yet he's an artist who writes very beautiful and moving words and music, which must involve a high degree of reflection. A very complex and enigmatic fellow indeed!

[the soul waits]

Yes indeed, that's totally true. That's why I was so very surprised to read that about him. His lyrics are so soulful.

[biff]

And that's why the image he chooses to project of himself just doesn't add up. He's a puzzle with a bunch of pieces still missing.

[Kaleanae]

I've been ready the book for three days now, I almost done (I read in between classes at the university) It is interesting, I like his stories when he was a young man and when he went to El Salvador. I always wanted to know what he was doing in there because I'm from there and I was living in El Salvador in the time of the war.

[tkutish]

I loved the book - I thought Bono came off as extremely articulate and intelligent. On a less intellectual note, I also love the cover photo.
I really liked the Q & A format. It was more interesting than a straight narrative.

[beli]

Bono on Bono
REVIEWED BY CHRISTOPHER HART

BONO ON BONO: Conversations with Michka Assayas

Towards the end of these witty and entertaining conversations, Bono’s interlocutor, the French journalist Michka Assayas, hints that there will always be something enigmatic and mysterious about this “Bible-reading band man”. Wrong. Bono is about the least enigmatic person you could imagine: an extrovert, utopian,unreflective, candid, verbose, fidget-brained show-off. He has never had the enigmatic cool of one of his rock heroes. What you see is exactly what you get. Even while he irritates our consciences with Drop the Debt and Live 8, or just irritates us by publicly comparing Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to
John Lennon and Paul McCartney, there is no doubting that behind the perpetual shades there is fundamentally a good, plain man.

He is guilty of some preposterous Oirishry: how Bono can still dare to refer to the Irish as “the white niggers” beggars belief. Although he still has a house in Ireland he obviously spends a lot of time in New York or the south of France, where most of these interviews take place, praising his homeland to anyone who will listen. (Like the Irish boomerang: never comes back, just keeps singing about how much it wants to.) On the other hand, he is sharp on the hypocrisy of Irish Catholics over the Troubles: one moment looking slightly uncomfortable about the latest IRA atrocity in England, the next singing A Nation Once Again down the pub, hats being passed around, and everyone putting in for the Provos. “I hated that about us Irish, our duplicity.” He had the guts to stand up and say so, too, earning him the accolade of “little shit” from Gerry Adams, MP for Belfast West.

Bono hints darkly that he himself has “done a lot of stupid stuff” in the past, and without grace and forgiveness would be “in deep shit”. But these protestations remind you of nothing so much as St Augustine worrying in his Confessions that he suckled too greedily as an infant. Bono, like St Augustine, was never really a bad-ass mutha. He played in an international chess championship when he was 12 (“What a pain in the arse!”) and he thinks “ cigarette smoking is dumb”.

On his musical heroes — Dylan, Elvis, Johnny Cash and Prince (yes, Prince) — he is original and observant. One Bono mot on Elvis is downright brilliant. Rock’n’roll, he says, was born of gospel and the blues: “One hand on the positive terminal, one hand on the minus terminal. And Elvis’s dance was really electrocution.” Able to reconcile his religion with the music, he remains well aware that in the violence and raw sexuality of rock ’n’roll, “Demons can appear to be exorcised, but they’re not really, they’re usually being exercised.”

He may have a name like a dog-biscuit (although it’s an improvement on a previous moniker, Steinvic von Huyseman), but Bono is no daft, wide-eyed puppy. Cool and enigmatic he will never be, but his heart is warm, his mind is sharp, and his conversation is a rich, unstoppable noise.

(c) The Times 2005

I agree with this.

[biff]

Originally posted by beli


I agree with this.

And I completely don't. So, you wanna duke it out?

[beli]

Originally posted by biff


And I completely don't. So, you wanna duke it out?

Okay

Or we could compromise and you can have Bono and I can have Adam.

[biff]

Originally posted by beli


Okay

Or we could compromise and you can have Bono and I can have Adam.

Okalie-Dokalie. Shall you arrange that, or shall I?

[beli]

Originally posted by biff


Okalie-Dokalie. Shall you arrange that, or shall I?

I already did. I'm in Europe right now. Aren't you? If youre not here, then who was that sheep I let in backstage?

[biff]

Well, I'm not sure. I guess I need to ruminate on that. Ha ha ha!
(Sorry for the pun.)

[beli]

Originally posted by biff
Well, I'm not sure. I guess I need to ruminate on that. Ha ha ha!
(Sorry for the pun.)

Im easily amused this morning.

[the soul waits]

Originally posted by beli


I agree with this.

Beli, would you care to elaborate more on your opinion of Bono?
I hope you don't mind my asking, i always enjoy your posts and am interested in what you have to say.

[blueeyedgirl]

No don't get her started, she'll never stop!

[beli]

Disclaimer: I have never met Bono so I'm basing my opinion solely on how he presents himself in the media.

Bono, I don't view as enigmatic at all. To me he reminds me of unschooled businessman. I don't mean that as an insult, quite the opposite in fact. There's two types of entrepreneurs. The ones that went to all the right schools and had many advantages and developed/continued an empire. Then there are people like Bono who watch closely, copy, extrapolate.

I believe Bono to be shrewd, quite the tactician. He has a reputation for being a bit of a goober at times but I believe that's just for issues he's not fussed about.

Bono has taken lyrics from other songwriters, poets, authors. Bono has taken his image from other rockstars. I also believe he has employed many people who are world class at what they do. He's hanging out with the smart kids as the expression goes.

I believe Bono continually works out what is the best thing to steal at the time and does so. Not that thats a bad thing. I just don't believe he is a reflective sort.

I think Bono is very clever, in a highly observant kind of way. He reminds me a lot of some mining magnates here in Perth. I think he was destined to turn a buck.

His work for Africa is indeed to be admired. Bono is rehashing things that others have said before, and said for many decades. But he is drawing attention to the issues and that is noble. Very, very, noble. I am a person who values honour and admire, deeply admire, Bonos stance on social justice issues.

In a nutshell. Tactician, yes. Enigmatic, no.

I don't want to say much more than this or I will be flamed by the Bono Brigade. lol.

PS U2 are my favourite band, by a long long shot. No other band even comes close to how much I admire U2.

peace