U2 frontman Bono releases memoir 'Surrender'

NEW YORK, United States - U2's Bono on Tuesday released his memoir "Surrender," detailing the journey from his youth in Dublin to fronting one of the world's most prominent rock bands.

The introspective book is organized across 40 different U2 songs, including 40 original drawings.

The 62-year-old artist born Paul David Hewson is a long-time humanitarian well-known for lending his voice to a variety of causes, including the fight against poverty and AIDS.

In his more than 500-page book, Bono delves in to those ambitions but also his growth as a teenager struck by tragedy -- his mother died suddenly when he was 14 -- and an account of his heart operation in 2016.

He also waxes on the perplexities and finer points of songwriting, and "the pseudo-religious part of being a rock star, how we put the messy in messianic."

"U2's music was never really rock 'n' roll," he writes in the book. "Under its contemporary skin it's opera -- a big music, big emotions unlocked in the pop music of the day." 

The rocker is promoting the memoir with a 14-date book tour entitled "Stories of Surrender," which kicks off in New York this week and includes stops in Chicago, London, Berlin, Paris, Madrid and, of course, Dublin.

"When I started to write this book, I was hoping to draw in detail what I'd previously only sketched in songs," Bono said in a statement when the book's publication was announced earlier this year.

"Surrender is a word freighted with meaning for me. Growing up in Ireland in the seventies with my fists up (musically speaking), it was not a natural concept," he continued. "I am still grappling with this most humbling of commands. In the band, in my marriage, in my faith, in my life as an activist."

"Surrender is the story of one pilgrim's lack of progress... With a fair amount of fun along the way."

Agence France Presse

U2 singer Bono talks development aid with French president Macron

PARIS - Irish rock star Bono, founder of the ONE campaign against poverty and disease, met on Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron, who stressed his wish to increase development aid, according to the U2 frontman.

"I never had many conversations quite like that, a president very open to finding new, innovative ways to solve the problems affecting the world's poor," Bono told reporters after the meeting at the French presidential palace.


"We talked about the refugee crisis and how most Europeans now understand that what happens in Africa matters to them," the Irish singer and humanitarian added.

Macron "reconfirmed" his commitment to increase development aid to 0.55 percent of GDP by 2022, the singer told journalists, a move he described as "really important for all our campaigners".

The French government has decided to cut its aid development budget for 2017 as part of wider cost-cutting measures, a move which has been criticized by Bono's ONE group.

Bono also met with French first lady Brigitte Macron, a former teacher, discussing "how to deal with 30 million girls not going to school".

The U2 singer is no stranger to the Elysee Palace having already met Macron's predecessors Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande.

Emmanuel Macron will continue meeting on Wednesday with Barbadian singer-songwriter Rihanna, ambassador for the Global Partnership for Education, to discuss France's funding of international education after she brought up the matter on Twitter last month.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Bono 'dressed as Hasidic Jew' during bike crash: Edge

NEW YORK - How did U2 frontman Bono escape notice when he crashed his bicycle last month? If his bandmate is to be believed, it's because he was disguised as a Hasidic Jew.

U2 guitarist The Edge was asked in a US radio interview why no pictures emerged when Bono -- one of the world's most recognizable singers -- suffered a serious accident in New York's Central Park.

"When he's going cycling, he likes to dress up as a Hasidic Jew, so I think that probably helped," The Edge told KROQ in Los Angeles.

The Edge sounded serious but the radio hosts laughed and did not follow up to ask if he was joking.

Hasidic Jewish men, who are a common sight in New York, generally wear dark suits and brimmed hats and maintain facial hair. The Edge said that Bono was wearing a helmet.

U2 on Wednesday announced a tour of North America and Europe starting in May. The Edge gave the interview to KROQ amid the tour announcement to reveal that U2 would not play the Los Angeles station's annual "Almost Acoustic Christmas" charity concert next week due to Bono's injuries.

The Irish superstars played a surprise show on Monday in New York to support efforts to fight AIDS. Bono was absent, with Bruce Springsteen and Coldplay's Chris Martin filling in.

The Edge said that Bono was "so upset" but had been told by doctors not to move for several months.

Bono returned to Dublin after five hours of surgery in New York. The Edge said that Bono showed the band his X-rays and that his bones "looked like a miniature Eiffel Tower."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com