Irish eyes

It being St. Patrick's Day and all, I propose a toast to a Mr. and Mrs. Paul Hewson of Dublin. Her given name is Alison. He hasn't used his in years.

Some—for whom Bono is just another self-righteously earnest and unbearably loud über-spokesmouth—will no doubt wonder why I propose such a tribute. I am, after all, hardly given to praising lefties, even if they are well-meaning, genuine, Paul Wellstone-like lefties, as opposed to nasty tricksy KennedySchumerBoxerLeahy social-engineering pod people.*

Put simply, it's about a marriage: A boy marries his secondary-school sweetheart, becomes a legendary rock star, and twenty-three years later they are still going strong. That may not be quite unique amongst our celebrity class, but it is altogether too unusual.

She first met Bono at the age of 12. They went to the same school, Mount Temple Secondary Modern, and Bono, or plain Paul Hewson, was in the year above.

“He worked very hard at being the heart-throb,” she says. “He came up to me within the first day and asked, did I know where his class should be going? It was just an excuse to talk to me, and I thought, 'What an eejit.'

“I remember that on the fourth day at school I saw him walking across the courtyard and it was, bing. That is the guy for me.

“But we waited until we were 15 before we actually started going out. We broke up after six weeks because I had promised my best friend I'd just get him out of my system. That completely bemused him.”

He was to be “pretty much” her only proper boyfriend. They married in 1982 in Dublin, in a wedding dress made by her mum; her parents are about to move nearby so that they can be more involved with the children. […]

I ask her if, when the band took off in the early Eighties, she became worried that she would lose him to a supermodel. “Of course,” she says. “We sat down and we talked about it. I told him, 'This is how it is going to be.'

“Our marriage has worked because we like each other, because we talk to each other, and we are passionate about what we do. We allow each other to pursue our goals.

“I wouldn't want to be married to someone who wasn't happy with what they were doing in life, and B wouldn't either. I have learned a lot about what it means to be married, how great it can be if you persevere. We're very close. He says I'm very good with the dog whistle.”

(Link via U2log)

In 2002, Bono talked family with Larry King (who, as far as celebrities go, is infinitely more annoying).

KING: How do you explain an enduring marriage in a world of rock, where temptation must be rampant?

BONO: Wow! Rampant temptation.

KING: Rampant temptation.

BONO: Some of my favorite words. I happened to meet — I have a great mate. You know, I have a great friend in Allie. And you know, I like being in her company, and…

KING: So, you've never — you've never been tempted away, and it's kept it together and children and…

BONO: No, I'm tempted all of the time, like about half-an-hour ago. Aren't you?

KING: Yes, but what — but I put it away. But where do you put it?

BONO: Well, if you don't know that by now…

(LAUGHTER)

BONO: How many kids do you have, Larry King?

KING: I have three grown and two infants.

BONO: You exercise restraint. That's what you do.

KING: Yes, you do.

BONO: And you know, that's it, but I mean, I'm just — I'm in love.

So here's to the Hewsons.

*Okay, so I am well into my third decade as a U2 fan. Details, schmetails.

Don't get me wrong. I like Bono. I've Rattled and Hummed to him for years. But I also know that, deep down, he has the brain of a singer.

Anthony, I think you make a good point: there is a big difference between the well intentioned (and WRONG) and the uber nut-jobs on the left. I have some very well-meaning, intelligent-in-other-areas, friends that would fit that description as well. There is no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

If we applied a zero-defects standard to our rock stars, we'd end up only listening to bands that play insipid musical drivel. It would be the "popular" equivalent of Christian music.

But I'm so tired of their music. They've turned into Led Zeppelin, the dinosaur that every station plays at the expense of younger, newer bands.

The Led Zep analogy is a good one.

But that being said, I still very much like their new stuff—enough to pay good money indeed to see them in Chicago this May. And as far as younger, newer bands go, the only one that I've taken a liking to is Coldplay.

Which speaks utter volumes about how unhip I've become. Sigh.

(And Gerard: I was a singer, once. :)

A couple admitted subjective questions:

Is it really the consensus of reader's that there is a finite number of channels for new bands?
Further is this an issue of quantity over quality?
Now for the really subjective question... If it only take 33 minutes for U2 to sell out 16k venue here in town, could it be that the listeners are ultimately determining what they want to hear?

I think HTDAAB is one of their best efforts, a great mix of old and new. IMO, the music to the lyrics, the concepts and the message reveal a band at the peak of their abilities.

Full disclosure: I managed to score four tickets for their show here at the end of the year.

Tom Bombadil
Who is Tom Bombadil?