biff
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
Published Monday | December 17, 2007
U2's Bono makes low-key drop-ins at Dundee eateries
BY ERIN GRACE
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
So a rock star walks into a bar . . .
And Scott Piotrowski, bar manager at the Dundee Dell, gets this call at home early Sunday afternoon from a friend.
"Bono's at the Dell."
"Bono who?"
"Bono — U2 Bono."
Piotrowski, in disbelief, calls the day bartender at the Dell to check.
"Bono's sitting at table four," she tells him.
Piotrowski rushed the six blocks from home to work. He's a fan. Bono's a megastar.
Yet even megastars put their pants on one leg at a time, the off-duty Piotrowski reminded himself, and Bono probably wanted to eat his breakfast pizza in peace.
"I didn't want to bother him," Piotrowski said Sunday. "I walked in, I looked at him. I go, 'Yep, that's definitely him.'"
Piotrowski noticed that a lot of people were leaving Bono alone. He did, too.
Posing Sunday at the Dundee Dell with Bono are, from left, Peggy Dineen, Meghan Patton, Julie Swartz and Shannon Zitek.Four young women also heard that Bono was at the Dell, met there and sat at a table nearby.
"We left him alone while he was eating," Peggy Dineen said. "As he was getting his coat, I took his picture and he waved. My cousin Meghan (Patton) asked if it was OK if we took snapshots. He said, 'Absolutely.'"
Meghan's husband, Chad, took one of Bono with Meghan and her sister, Shannon Zitek, along with Peggy and her sister, Julie Swartz. (The pairs of sisters are cousins.)
Dineen, 30, an account representative for Leopard Inc., has been a U2 fan for years. She attended the group's concert in Omaha and found its recording studio while visiting Ireland.
"As Bono was leaving Sunday, he gave Meghan a hug and a kiss on the cheek," Dineen said. "I said Merry Christmas, and he leaned down and kissed me on the cheek. He left and we all set down — and applauded."
Some other people asked for autographs. Piotrowski heard Bono tell an employee that the best meal he'd had in Omaha was the Dell's breakfast pizza.
Sunday night, Bono showed up for dinner at Trovato's, just a stone's throw from the Dundee Dell.
It was karaoke night, but the U2 frontman stayed in a back room, where he dined with friend Susie Buffett and several others. Nobody bothered him for autographs, but several customers made furtive trips to the bathroom.
Buffett serves on the board of DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa), a group Bono helped form in 2002 to raise awareness of poverty and AIDS in Africa.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10211469
U2's Bono makes low-key drop-ins at Dundee eateries
BY ERIN GRACE
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
So a rock star walks into a bar . . .
And Scott Piotrowski, bar manager at the Dundee Dell, gets this call at home early Sunday afternoon from a friend.
"Bono's at the Dell."
"Bono who?"
"Bono — U2 Bono."
Piotrowski, in disbelief, calls the day bartender at the Dell to check.
"Bono's sitting at table four," she tells him.
Piotrowski rushed the six blocks from home to work. He's a fan. Bono's a megastar.
Yet even megastars put their pants on one leg at a time, the off-duty Piotrowski reminded himself, and Bono probably wanted to eat his breakfast pizza in peace.
"I didn't want to bother him," Piotrowski said Sunday. "I walked in, I looked at him. I go, 'Yep, that's definitely him.'"
Piotrowski noticed that a lot of people were leaving Bono alone. He did, too.
Posing Sunday at the Dundee Dell with Bono are, from left, Peggy Dineen, Meghan Patton, Julie Swartz and Shannon Zitek.Four young women also heard that Bono was at the Dell, met there and sat at a table nearby.
"We left him alone while he was eating," Peggy Dineen said. "As he was getting his coat, I took his picture and he waved. My cousin Meghan (Patton) asked if it was OK if we took snapshots. He said, 'Absolutely.'"
Meghan's husband, Chad, took one of Bono with Meghan and her sister, Shannon Zitek, along with Peggy and her sister, Julie Swartz. (The pairs of sisters are cousins.)
Dineen, 30, an account representative for Leopard Inc., has been a U2 fan for years. She attended the group's concert in Omaha and found its recording studio while visiting Ireland.
"As Bono was leaving Sunday, he gave Meghan a hug and a kiss on the cheek," Dineen said. "I said Merry Christmas, and he leaned down and kissed me on the cheek. He left and we all set down — and applauded."
Some other people asked for autographs. Piotrowski heard Bono tell an employee that the best meal he'd had in Omaha was the Dell's breakfast pizza.
Sunday night, Bono showed up for dinner at Trovato's, just a stone's throw from the Dundee Dell.
It was karaoke night, but the U2 frontman stayed in a back room, where he dined with friend Susie Buffett and several others. Nobody bothered him for autographs, but several customers made furtive trips to the bathroom.
Buffett serves on the board of DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa), a group Bono helped form in 2002 to raise awareness of poverty and AIDS in Africa.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10211469