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Bono's tour stops in Greater Lafayette
Singer trying to raise awareness of crises in Africa
By Tim Brouk, Journal and Courier
REMINGTON -- After tasting Indiana truck stop cooking, rock mega-star Bono got a taste of what Hoosiers think of the AIDS crisis in Africa, a cause the frontman of U2 is bringing to the Midwest through Sunday. A part of "The Heart of America Tour -- Africa's Future and Ours," Bono and two buses full of activists, singers and actors stopped unannounced just before 1 p.m. Thursday at the Hoosier Heartland Travel Center, just off Interstate 65 about 30 miles north of Lafayette.
VISITING WITH BONO: Rock star Bono examines a tattoo on the arm of truck driver Harold Clement on Thursday at Hoosier Heartland Travel Center in Remington.
(Photo by Michael Heinz, Journal and Courier)
Dressed in a heavy, black leather coat, black collared shirt and green army hat and without his trademark wrap-around sunglasses, Bono cleaned a plate of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, beans and franks, and macaroni while talking to a handful of people sitting at the counter of the Heartland restaurant for about 30 minutes.
Bono said it was important to visit places in the Midwest including truck stops, churches, coffee shops and schools to drum up support for his cause.
"The real reason we're here is a certain tenacity, a tough mindedness lives here and that's what we need if we want to sort this problem out," said Bono as he emerged from a large bus and into the bone-chilling northern Indiana wind.
"Politicians think people in the Midwest, working people who have their own problems, care less about what's going on in the rest of the world. That's nonsense. The poorest neighborhoods know the difference between not having much and having nothing. It sounds like that should be obvious, but it's not to the politicians back East. They call this 'fly-over country.' They say these people are only interested in themselves. We're here to prove the politicians wrong."
A love affair with America
Launched Sunday from Lincoln, Neb., the tour also includes actor/comedian Chris Tucker, actress Ashley Judd, Ugandan AIDS activist Agnes Nyamayarwo and the Ghana children's performance group Gateway Ambassadors. Judd's bus was headed for a news conference in Indianapolis, and Tucker was asleep in a bus in the truck stop's half-full parking lot.
"He can't take the pace of touring. He's a lightweight," Bono joked. "I've forgotten how much I love being on those buses. I'm used to buses. My whole education has come through the windows of buses, trains and planes.
"I'm America's fan and sometimes critic, but my love affair with America started driving through these states. We (U2) started in a Winnebago, playing to audiences up to 17 people. It's a beautiful country and a beautiful landscape, and what lies behind the landscape is something I'm really interested in."
Bono, 42, born in Dublin as Paul Hewson, brought the AIDS in Africa issue to truck driver Harold Clement. He told the Addison, Ala., native how the United States and many European countries have the money and drugs to help combat HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but do not share with the poorest continent in the world. Bono said more than 2.5 million people in Africa are expected to die of AIDS in 2003.
Clement told the Irish singer that the politicians' stance on the issue doesn't match his.
"You know what I got to say about politicians back East? They don't give a damn about anybody but themselves. America does care," Clement said.
Bono commented on Clement's "amazing tats" on his thick forearms and joked that he dated the woman on the Harley-Davidson tattooed near Clement's right wrist.
"That's my wife," said Clement, whose broad smile showed no hard feelings.
Aid, not trade
The tour is sponsored by the nonprofit group Debt, AIDS, Trade, in Africa (DATA). The organization and Bono believe wealthy countries such as America have unfair trade rules that keep Africa poor and marginalized.
"Africans don't want aid. They want trade," Bono said. "Africans want the same rights as American farmers. At the moment, they're not allowed that. In order to get loans from the World Bank and the IMF (International Monetary Fund), they have to forego all thoughts of protection. That's unacceptable. That's not a level playing field. I don't think any farmers in America think that's a great idea."
Bono said responses from his stops have been good so far. He will visit seven states in seven days before the tour ends Sunday.
"It's gone beyond all our expectations, and we've really been reaching people along the way at places like here," Bono said. After stopping in Indianapolis Thursday afternoon, Bono will speak in Cincinnati and Louisville, Ky., before wrapping things up in Nashville, Tenn.
As teen-agers, Bono formed U2 in Dublin, Ireland, along with guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. On the band's path to rock superstardom -- in America, their current draw is only rivaled by the Rolling Stones -- Bono has been involved in several political causes.
One of the most well-known was singing for Bob Geldof's star-studded Band Aid lineup in the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in 1984, raising money to aid starving Ethiopians. Bono insists Heart of America is not a "cause du jour."
"We've had bipartisan support from Congress on this, and we intend to keep it that way," Bono said. "I'm no hippie with flowers in my hair. I come from punk rock, and we're here to get a deal and get a check out of the United States government, get a check from the U.K. and France and deal with the fact that 21/2 million Africans are going to die for no good reason. ... This is an emergency."
As he finished his meal, Bono shook hands and signed autographs. Hoosier Heartland Taco Bell worker Debbie Blume landed the singer's signature and described him as "down to Earth, nice, courteous and kind."
Rollend, N.C., trucker Fenton Roney recognized Bono from U2's performance during the last Super Bowl and spoke with the singer for a few moments.
"He was all right. It was the first time I met a rock star," Roney said. "He was a cool dude."
Hoosier Heartland waitress Charlotte Stoner served Bono some coffee and ice water, but admitted she didn't recognize the rocker.
"I used to work the midnight shift, and a lot of rock guys come through here," said Stoner. "I'm sorry I didn't know who he was."
As Bono and his entourage of a camera crew, photographers and assistants were leaving the restaurant, Lafayette's Vivian Amos had to speak to one of her favorite singers.
"I thanked him for his music because it has ministered to me in many a dark hour," Amos said. "I just said 'God bless you.' "
As the silver buses got back on their journey to spread awareness of the dire straits of millions of Africans, Clement was still all smiles.
"I idolized him, and I love what he does," Clement said. "It was the greatest thrill of my life to meet him."
More about tour
For more information of The Heart of America Tour and Debt, AIDS, Trade, in Africa (DATA), log on to www.datadata.org
Living conditions in Africa
According to www.datadata.org, Africans are facing serious times. Here are some facts of their current living conditions.
?HIV/AIDS has dropped the average life expectancy in sub-Sahara Africa from about 62 years to 47 years, which was the life expectancy in the United States about 100 years ago.
?Sub-Sahara Africa spends $40 million on debt repayments every day.
?The prices for two of Africa's main exports, cocoa and coffee, have declined by 34 percent and 67 percent respectively every year since 1997.
Getting the story
Bono, frontman for Irish rock group U2, launched the weeklong The Heart of America Tour on Sunday to promote awareness of the AIDS crisis in Africa. The Journal and Courier arranged to meet with the Debt, AIDS, Trade, in Africa (DATA) motorcade in Remington on one of several unscheduled stops the group has made throughout the Midwest.
Bono's tour stops in Greater Lafayette
Singer trying to raise awareness of crises in Africa
By Tim Brouk, Journal and Courier
REMINGTON -- After tasting Indiana truck stop cooking, rock mega-star Bono got a taste of what Hoosiers think of the AIDS crisis in Africa, a cause the frontman of U2 is bringing to the Midwest through Sunday. A part of "The Heart of America Tour -- Africa's Future and Ours," Bono and two buses full of activists, singers and actors stopped unannounced just before 1 p.m. Thursday at the Hoosier Heartland Travel Center, just off Interstate 65 about 30 miles north of Lafayette.
VISITING WITH BONO: Rock star Bono examines a tattoo on the arm of truck driver Harold Clement on Thursday at Hoosier Heartland Travel Center in Remington.
(Photo by Michael Heinz, Journal and Courier)
Dressed in a heavy, black leather coat, black collared shirt and green army hat and without his trademark wrap-around sunglasses, Bono cleaned a plate of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, beans and franks, and macaroni while talking to a handful of people sitting at the counter of the Heartland restaurant for about 30 minutes.
Bono said it was important to visit places in the Midwest including truck stops, churches, coffee shops and schools to drum up support for his cause.
"The real reason we're here is a certain tenacity, a tough mindedness lives here and that's what we need if we want to sort this problem out," said Bono as he emerged from a large bus and into the bone-chilling northern Indiana wind.
"Politicians think people in the Midwest, working people who have their own problems, care less about what's going on in the rest of the world. That's nonsense. The poorest neighborhoods know the difference between not having much and having nothing. It sounds like that should be obvious, but it's not to the politicians back East. They call this 'fly-over country.' They say these people are only interested in themselves. We're here to prove the politicians wrong."
A love affair with America
Launched Sunday from Lincoln, Neb., the tour also includes actor/comedian Chris Tucker, actress Ashley Judd, Ugandan AIDS activist Agnes Nyamayarwo and the Ghana children's performance group Gateway Ambassadors. Judd's bus was headed for a news conference in Indianapolis, and Tucker was asleep in a bus in the truck stop's half-full parking lot.
"He can't take the pace of touring. He's a lightweight," Bono joked. "I've forgotten how much I love being on those buses. I'm used to buses. My whole education has come through the windows of buses, trains and planes.
"I'm America's fan and sometimes critic, but my love affair with America started driving through these states. We (U2) started in a Winnebago, playing to audiences up to 17 people. It's a beautiful country and a beautiful landscape, and what lies behind the landscape is something I'm really interested in."
Bono, 42, born in Dublin as Paul Hewson, brought the AIDS in Africa issue to truck driver Harold Clement. He told the Addison, Ala., native how the United States and many European countries have the money and drugs to help combat HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but do not share with the poorest continent in the world. Bono said more than 2.5 million people in Africa are expected to die of AIDS in 2003.
Clement told the Irish singer that the politicians' stance on the issue doesn't match his.
"You know what I got to say about politicians back East? They don't give a damn about anybody but themselves. America does care," Clement said.
Bono commented on Clement's "amazing tats" on his thick forearms and joked that he dated the woman on the Harley-Davidson tattooed near Clement's right wrist.
"That's my wife," said Clement, whose broad smile showed no hard feelings.
Aid, not trade
The tour is sponsored by the nonprofit group Debt, AIDS, Trade, in Africa (DATA). The organization and Bono believe wealthy countries such as America have unfair trade rules that keep Africa poor and marginalized.
"Africans don't want aid. They want trade," Bono said. "Africans want the same rights as American farmers. At the moment, they're not allowed that. In order to get loans from the World Bank and the IMF (International Monetary Fund), they have to forego all thoughts of protection. That's unacceptable. That's not a level playing field. I don't think any farmers in America think that's a great idea."
Bono said responses from his stops have been good so far. He will visit seven states in seven days before the tour ends Sunday.
"It's gone beyond all our expectations, and we've really been reaching people along the way at places like here," Bono said. After stopping in Indianapolis Thursday afternoon, Bono will speak in Cincinnati and Louisville, Ky., before wrapping things up in Nashville, Tenn.
As teen-agers, Bono formed U2 in Dublin, Ireland, along with guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. On the band's path to rock superstardom -- in America, their current draw is only rivaled by the Rolling Stones -- Bono has been involved in several political causes.
One of the most well-known was singing for Bob Geldof's star-studded Band Aid lineup in the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in 1984, raising money to aid starving Ethiopians. Bono insists Heart of America is not a "cause du jour."
"We've had bipartisan support from Congress on this, and we intend to keep it that way," Bono said. "I'm no hippie with flowers in my hair. I come from punk rock, and we're here to get a deal and get a check out of the United States government, get a check from the U.K. and France and deal with the fact that 21/2 million Africans are going to die for no good reason. ... This is an emergency."
As he finished his meal, Bono shook hands and signed autographs. Hoosier Heartland Taco Bell worker Debbie Blume landed the singer's signature and described him as "down to Earth, nice, courteous and kind."
Rollend, N.C., trucker Fenton Roney recognized Bono from U2's performance during the last Super Bowl and spoke with the singer for a few moments.
"He was all right. It was the first time I met a rock star," Roney said. "He was a cool dude."
Hoosier Heartland waitress Charlotte Stoner served Bono some coffee and ice water, but admitted she didn't recognize the rocker.
"I used to work the midnight shift, and a lot of rock guys come through here," said Stoner. "I'm sorry I didn't know who he was."
As Bono and his entourage of a camera crew, photographers and assistants were leaving the restaurant, Lafayette's Vivian Amos had to speak to one of her favorite singers.
"I thanked him for his music because it has ministered to me in many a dark hour," Amos said. "I just said 'God bless you.' "
As the silver buses got back on their journey to spread awareness of the dire straits of millions of Africans, Clement was still all smiles.
"I idolized him, and I love what he does," Clement said. "It was the greatest thrill of my life to meet him."
More about tour
For more information of The Heart of America Tour and Debt, AIDS, Trade, in Africa (DATA), log on to www.datadata.org
Living conditions in Africa
According to www.datadata.org, Africans are facing serious times. Here are some facts of their current living conditions.
?HIV/AIDS has dropped the average life expectancy in sub-Sahara Africa from about 62 years to 47 years, which was the life expectancy in the United States about 100 years ago.
?Sub-Sahara Africa spends $40 million on debt repayments every day.
?The prices for two of Africa's main exports, cocoa and coffee, have declined by 34 percent and 67 percent respectively every year since 1997.
Getting the story
Bono, frontman for Irish rock group U2, launched the weeklong The Heart of America Tour on Sunday to promote awareness of the AIDS crisis in Africa. The Journal and Courier arranged to meet with the Debt, AIDS, Trade, in Africa (DATA) motorcade in Remington on one of several unscheduled stops the group has made throughout the Midwest.
