Where Poets Speak Their Heart

Chilean Chancellor Soledad Alvear has announced activities to celebrate the centenary of poet Pablo Neruda. The activities include a wide range of cultural activities, such as lectures and meetings, around the world. Also, with the purpose of recognizing the influence of Pablo Neruda’s life and work in the artistic world, the Chilean Government will deliver 100 medals to the most relevant personalities in the cultural scene. Bono will receive a medal and a diploma signed by the Chilean President Ricardo Lagos on July 12th. Other medals are destined to Ernesto Sabato, Arthur Miller, Mario Vargas Llosa, Jose Saramago, and Mario Benedetti among others.

Bono in Bill’s Book

Reader Dave W. sent in these quotes from Bill Clinton’s book My Life. Bono gets three mentions, which – as Dave notes – is three more than Oprah, who got cut from the manuscript.

Page 688: “When the event was over [a speech on the Trinity College Green near the Bank of Ireland], Hillary and I walked back into the majestic Bank of Ireland to greet Bono, his wife, Ali, and other members of the Irish rock band U2. Bono was a big supporter of the peace process, and for my efforts he gave me a gift he knew I’d appreciate: a book of William Butler Yeats’s plays inscribed by the author and by Bono, who wrote, irreverently, “Bill, Hillary, Chelsea — This guy wrote a few good lyrics — Bono and Ali.” The Irish aren’t known for understatement, but Bono pulled it off.”
Page 917: “By this time debt relief had an amazing array of supporters, led by Bono. By then Bono had become a fixture in Washington political life. He turned out to be a first-class politician, partly through the element of surprise. Larry Summers, who knew everything about economics but little about popular culture, came into the Oval Office one day and remarked that he’d just had a meeting on debt relief with “some guy named Bono — just one name — dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and big sunglasses. He came to see me about debt relief, and he knows what he’s talking about.”
Page 924: Even Jesse Helms was supporting it [debt-relief], thanks in no small measure to Bono’s personal outreach to him.”

U2 For Glasto 2005?

The NME is reporting that U2 is #1 on Glastonbury organizer Michael Eavis’ wish-list for Glastonbury 2005:

Eavis said: “I’d like to get U2 headlining for next year and I’ll be making a phone call to them.”

He told Virtual Festivals: “I know they like to do their own thing but, then again, so does Paul McCartney, and they don’t come much bigger than him.”

McCartney, Oasis, and Muse are headlining this year’s festival, which takes place this weekend in England. Eavis also mentions a desire to re-court Prince, who has come close to headlining the festival twice in the last two years but has pulled out before the lineup was announced.

From Nancy to Bono, with love

Nancy Sinatra talks to Stuart Clark in the latest issue of Hot Press magazine. Clark asks her about U2’s ‘Two shots of, one shot of sad’, which she’s recorded on her new album ‘To Nancy, with love’. She says it was quite emotional to sing and that she changed some of the lyrics to reflect her perspective on her father Frank. Nancy also recounts meeting Bono:

“Just the once, which is because he

Mute Records announce Virgin Prunes re-release

Mute Records have announced the release of 5 remastered Virgin Prunes CDs.

Formed from ‘Lypton Village’ the same creative gang that spawned U2) in Dublin in mid-1977, for a time the Virgin Prunes were “the most overtly subversive rock group ever to come out of the genre”.

The 2004 Mute re-releases are the first Virgin Prunes CDs to be remastered under the careful guidance of by the band’s former frontman Gavin Friday.

Virginprunes.com will be previewing the new CD artwork and expanded tracklisting over the coming months starting today, with the cover of ‘A New Form of Beauty’.

Featuring Guggi in war paint, this whacked out Hunky Dory-type headshot may well remind you of a certain Boy… It’s all in the eyes.

The release date for the 5 CDs is set for September 27th.

Bono breaks Irish smoking laws

Swearing in the USA, drinking in the day and smoking in The Clarence. When will those rock stars behave like ordinary decent folk, eh? According to Irish news rag ‘The Star’, Bono breached his country’s radical new smoking laws last week when he lit up in his own gaff.

The paper claims Clarence hotel staff reminded their ‘boss’ that smoking isn’t allowed on the premises. Bono had been entertaining the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the hotel’s Tea Rooms.

Says Bono: “It was the wee small hours. I was in the company of people from out of town who didn’t know about the ban and for a moment nor did I. I was quickly reminded by the staff and a few friends. I apologized then and I apologize now.”

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Steve Lillywhite says “U2 single finished”

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Here’s the Edge pictured by Aaron Govern outside Hanover studios on Wednesday. Aaron writes: “Speaking to Edge he confirmed that the band would complete the album ‘by the end of June – first week of July at latest’. [ … ] When I asked Edge if this would be the last album they would record there, he said that it may not be because ‘it wasn’t expected to be knocked down for another two or three years yet.'”

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Let’s Talk Africa

In his continuing efforts to educate people about the AIDS crisis in Africa, Bono has contributed to an HIV/AIDS awareness film titled “Positive Youth.” Developed by Concern and the Dublin AIDS Alliance, the film seeks to teach Irish teenagers about the global pandemic and sexual health. The film premieres in Dublin today.

Bono also speaks about AIDS in Africa in an interview in the new issue of Dazed & Confused, available on newstands this week. The special issue of the magazine focuses on South African news and culture.

Bono does Wilde for Amnesty

Bono will be contributing to a charity video for Art for Amnesty.

Art for Amnesty (in collaboration with Channel 4 and PBS) are releasing the video in October, on the 150th anniversary Oscar Wilde’s birthday. Artists participating will be reading 150 of Wilde’s witticisms on various themed subjects.

David Bowie, Colin Farrell and Stephen Fry are also said to be among the artists approached for the project. Bono will be reading his piece together with Gavin Friday.