Yahoomc: The moment has arrived!
Yahoomc: Bono is joining us LIVE!!!
bono_live: Help! I'm at Adam Clayton's 40th
birthday, and, as they say in Dublin, I have drink taken!
bono_live: Everybody, the whole band, is here, and a lot of
friends, a lot of people we've grown up with, a lot of
people from the family, Elana Christensen, Daniel Lanois...
bono_live: Just a lot of people here, and I might not be making
much sense because we have been
celebrating since midday and it's now about 10 PM, so
patience..!
bono_live: Adam, oddly enough, is the only one not drinking! He's
resting, having a bit of a sleep.
bono_live: Edge is about two feet from me now, he's down on his
hands and knees with a screwdriver
drinking to make sure that the telephones work.
bono_live: Gavin Friday is here, Googie, Dick Evans, all the
people from the family, if you like.
magnus_sjoeholm asks: I was a bit surprised when I heard that
the film really was on it’s way. I must
have heard about this title and you writing it, several years
ago. Has it been a long process from idea
to finished product or is it just as it always is? Have you been
involved a lot during the process or
did you just leave the script and left?
bono_live: Originally the Million Dollar Hotel was to be a
stage play.
bono_live: Set on the roof, in the lobby and one room of the
Million Dollar Hotel.
bono_live: The Million DOllar Hotel, if you don't already know,
is a real place, still operational.
bono_live: In the twenties it was the swankiest hotel in Los
Angeles.
bono_live: In the Golden Era of Hollywood, it was the place to
be.
bono_live: Now it's a halfway house for a lot of different kinds
of folk.
bono_live: People who have come to LA and who need reasonable
accomodation at a reasonable price.
backstage_guest: sebastian
bono_live: There are some people who would not fit in with most
hotel management policies - they're pimps,hookers...
bono_live: Some of the outcasts.
bono_live: I discovered it in 1988.
bono_live: Began the story on the roof. WHile I was talking with
Edge.
bono_live: The idea was about a character who jumps off the
roof...
bono_live: The first line of the movie is "After I jumped, it
occurred to me. Life is perfect. Life is the best. It's full of
magic and beauty, opportunity."
bono_live: And from that opening line began the script.
yahoomusic: How did Wim Wenders get involved?
bono_live: Usually I'm used to singing our own
songs.
bono_live: To write a song for somebody else to sing was a new
experience for me.
bono_live: My thinking was, if you are going to give your song to
somebody else to sing make sure it's Frank Sinatra.
bono_live: Or Miles Davis.
bono_live: Well Wim Wenders is both.
bono_live: In the audio visual world he's Frank Sinatra and Miles
Davis.
bono_live: I hooked him by asking for his advice on the
script.
bono_live: WHat did he think?
bono_live: Did he think I had something going here?
bono_live: And the more he read, the more he felt disappointed
that he wasn't involved.
bono_live: It was a trap, and I set it.
bono_live: And he fell into it.
Sinatra121215 asks: Bono, what did Frank Sinatra mean to you
and do you ever think there will be
fitting tribute to him?
bono_live: I love Frank Sinatra. I loved singing
with him. I wrote a song with Edge for him called Too Shots Of
Happy One Shot of Sad.
bono_live: He never covered the song.
bono_live: But I sang it into his ear one night in a Mexican
restaurant in Palm Springs.
bono_live: He could outdrink, outtalk, out maneuver most Irish,
and most Irish people, in fact most people.
bono_live: He's the reason I swore and used bad language at the
Grammy's in 1990-something, after he fixed me a very, very,
very,very strong drink,
bono_live: There will never be a tribute that could equal the
man.
bono_live: Interestingly enough, I rode with him once in a
limousine.
bono_live: We were being filmed from the passenger seat.
bono_live: When Frank leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Bono,
roll down the window about an inch".
bono_live: I rolled down the window about an inch and I looked at
him.
bono_live: Like, What are you getting at Frank?
bono_live: And he said, you need some fill, not just key
lighting. It's an Irish face.
bono_live: And I burst out laughing to think that Frank Sinatra,
even in his late seventies as he was then, was art directing an
Irish pop star.
bono_live: And he was actually trying to make me look -- he was
lighting me!
joyce_ic asks: What do you sing in the shower?
bono_live: Joyce, I do sing in the shower. I sing
in the bath. Like my father and his father.
bono_live: I wake up pretty much every morning with a smile on my
face.
bono_live: Sometimes I struggle to keep it there.
bono_live: BUt in the shower, which is a natural echo chamber, I
sing like I never have sung on a record.
bono_live: But the way I always try to sing on records.
bono_live: Completely bollocks naked!
amibugginyou asks: Hi Bono, I was just wondering, was there
any particular reason for not releasing
Ground Beneath Her Feet as a single? And is there a chance that
any other song from the MDH
soundtrack (Stateless perhaps) will be released as a single?
bono_live: The record label, as much as they love
Ground Beneath Her Feet, as much as they love the
soundtrack to the MDH, are afraid that people will think it's the
next U2 album.
bono_live: So, we've had to make it's release very discrete.
bono_live: I understand this.
bono_live: Having been through passengers in 1997 or 1998, but
never the less, I'm disappointed because the Ground Beneath Her
Feet is such an extraordinary song.
bono_live: I think it would do well in the pop charts.
bono_live: But on another level, it's incredible to me and the
band that it's so popular without being
commercially released.
bono_live: That there is so much interest in this soundtrack
album.
bono_live: In fact the soundtrack album has had better reviews
than any U2 album.
bono_live: It's something all of us are very proud of, but we
understand it's got to be a quiet release because the next U2
album is going to be very noisy.
bono_live: It's bursting with vitality and life force.
yahoomusic: When should we expect the next U2 record?
bono_live: Our problem is that we love starting things and hate finishing them. We have 15 of the best U2 songs ever written. But we get bored with the technical side of things, like finishing the lyrics. But in the next two months we've committed to choosing the best 10 or 12 songs and to have them out by September-October of this year.
rockstar_79 asks: I've heard that the forthcoming U2 album is
a return to a more acoustic style. Any
truth to that, or are you going to make us wait and see?
bono_live: We have no reverse gears on our
tank.
bono_live: So the idea of "a return" to basics is not on the
cards.
bono_live: We advance towards simplicity.
bono_live: We advance towards a stripped down sound.
bono_live: That is the essence of U2.
bono_live: On pop we're interested in assimilating the music we
were all listening to in clubs, at home, at
house parties...
bono_live: with the music U2 made as a band.
bono_live: On this record, it's not about assimilation, it's
about differentiation.
bono_live: Stressing the differences between dance music, club
culture, and being in a band.
bono_live: There is stuff that we can do that no DJ can
touch.
bono_live: And vica versa.
bono_live: It was a DJ, Howie B, who was listening to us rehearse
on the last tour, who kept reminding us how unique the band
was.
bono_live: ANd how we didn't need to connect with a hip hop or a
dance audience. That within both, there was a U2 audience.
bono_live: That U2 was an original of the species at a time of
karaoke, at a time of parody and pastiche.
bono_live: That gave us the confidence to make this next
record.
bono_live: A record I don't have a name for.
bono_live: But I dare anyone to make a better rock record this
year.
bono_live: What do you think Edge? Edge says, Right on!
bono_live: Daniel Lanois, what do you think? I'm going to put you
onto Daniel Lanois? As Bob Marley would say, he's the dread at
the controls.o
bono_live: Don't ask too personal questions....
bono_live: D. Lanois: Hello! We're here celebrating!
bono_live: I guess we have something to live up to after that
comment! We're well on our way!
bono_live: We certainly are going to give it our best, we have a
lot of inspiration already in play, and now we need to flesh them
out.
bono_live: It's usually a combination of fun and hard work.
bono_live: We've had fun, we have more hard work ahead of us.
yahoomusic: Are you going for a very specific sound on this album?
bono_live: Personally, I'm very selfish about the
approach. I wanted to make sure we heard Larry on the record.
bono_live: The presence of hand played drums is very important in
these times of canned beats and easy access to them.
bono_live: What's become a rare commodity is the presence of
humanity and the feeling of people in a room playing off each
other.
bono_live: We want to make sure we get that. Of course, the
technology is there and is part of the
technologoy.
bono_live: But when you got four people in a room who can give it
hell, we want to get it on the hard drive!
bono_live: Bono has gone to the bathroom, here's Edge!
Yahoomc: Edge is joining us now...
bono_live: Edge: Hello?!?
bono_live: Edge: I'm very, very excited about the work. I think
it's some of the best things we've done in many, many years. And
I'm just dying to finish the record and get it out there.
bono_live: Adam is 40 today, he's the first grown up in the
band!
bono_live: We got him a piece of art, made by an Irish artist,
Louis Lebrocquay.
luvu2abe asks: Hey Edge, was imitating Neil Diamond the highlight of Popmart for you?
bono_live: Edge: Good question! The highlight of
the tour was playing Sarejevo. I met Neil Diamond in the lift in
New York.
bono_live: I was leaving the 23rd floor heading for the ground
floor, he got on at 17.
bono_live: And I was dumbstruck.
bono_live: We both got out at the ground floor, but I traveled 17
floors with him in the elevator and couldn't pluck up the courage
to say anything to him. Not a word!
sah383steve asks: Hey Edge, your singing is good nowadays. Lessons?
bono_live: Edge: LOL! I had about 20 years
lessons watching Bono.
bono_live: I'm back to the beanie hat at the moment.
crissyboylan_90210 asks: Edge, do have a new signature hat these days?
bono_live: I'm back to the beanie hat at the
moment.
Yahoomc: Bono is rejoining us now...
Bonofyd asks: Bono, first I'd like to thank you for all that
you do for humanity. I'm sure it's being
noted... Anyway, how is the World Debt gig going? Any progress?
Anything I can do?
bono_live: With regards to debt cancellation that
I've been involved with the last couple of years, it has gone
beyond my own wildest dreams.
bono_live: In the United States on Wednesday of this last week, a
committee of six Republicans and five Democrats recommended
unanimously, to drop the debt for the US of 41 of the poorest
countries in the world.
bono_live: Which is an increase of five from where we stood the
week before.
bono_live: Italy, Canada, Norway, the UK, everybody is rising to
the challenge.
bono_live: Of the Millenium year.
bono_live: I can assure you that by the end, by December, we will
definitely have cancelled billion of debt.
bono_live: If things keep going this way, maybe twice that.
bono_live: The way you can help is by calling your local
congressman, politiican, MP, and telling them this is important
to you.
bono_live: By beautiful wife Ali has just walked into the room.
I'm going to pass you to Anton Corbin, who, more than anyone
knows, has designed the way U2 look, and sadly - feel!
bono_live: Here he is!
bono_live: Anton: Hello everybody!
yahoomusic: Hey Anton do you have a website?
bono_live: Anton: The website is designed, but
I'm a little slow in making the text for it. It will be up by the
first of April.
bono_live: The address is www.corbijn.co.uk
yahoomusic: are you working on any film projects at the moment?
bono_live: I am just doing photography, I have a
large exhibition coming up of 25 years of photography. Bono is
doing the opening.
bono_live: On the 8th of April, in Holland, in a museum called
Groninger Museum in Groninger.
keerwallis asks: Anton, which is your favourite photo of the band?
bono_live: It's hard, because different periods
have different favorites. But the museum will have a separate
room of 18 years of photography of Bono and the band.
bono_live: I think the highlight is a photo of Bono in a golf
cart in Mexico with a haircut like Robert Deniro in Taxi
Driver.
The_Ryan_King asks: Anton, will U2 have a new look on this tour?
bono_live: We are still discussing that.
bono_live: But I've worked with them now for 18 years. Which is,
I think, in music photography unique. I've never heard of a
photographer who worked for this long a time with a particular
band.
bono_live: And I'm very grateful for it. They've allowed me to
grow within their framework.
bono_live: Adam is here!
bono_live: Hi this Bono, Adam won't actually pick up the
phone...
celia_from_eze asks: I'm reading Rushdie's book at the moment
: what stroke you most : the pop
world in which it was set or the identfication of great pop
artists with the myth of Orpheus ?
bono_live: Good question. What I was surprised by
in the novel was not the minutia, the detail, of the so called
Pop Life, which was pretty good considering Salman Rushdie is not
known to hang out at raves or own a Marshall stack.
bono_live: But what he captured was the heady confusion between
the real and the surreal, between the imagined and the
actual.
bono_live: Of a songwriter's and performer's world.
bono_live: This is really impressive.
bono_live: And believe me, I would love to tell him if he
flunked.
bono_live: Somebody has just walked in and poured me a glass of
wine...one of the most beautiful women I've ever met...she
happens to be my wife....I'm a lucky man!
nooga01 asks: Bono, you've had great success in your campaigns
lately. Does it make you feel
uneasy that your voice is stronger that any politician, who is
elected to look after their people?
bono_live: Well, I have a new found respect for
politicians. I think they work very hard. They're not as corrupt
as I thought. They'd make much more money if they went into
business, a lot of them.
bono_live: ANd - shock, horror - a lot of them genuinely see
their role as public service.
bono_live: The boring thing about them is their lack of
imagination.
bono_live: THat's where we come in.
bono_live: At first I thought musicians, artists, novelists,
painters should not be in the same company. Now I think we need
each other.
bono_live: In fact, as an Irishman, I've learned the importance
of such connections in the success of Ireland coming out from
under the hoof of colonization and Great Britain.
bono_live: It was painters, poets, that gave us a sense of who we
were.
bono_live: We are part of the family.
bono_live: Politicians shut us out at their peril.
ms_pitstop asks: Will you be running for mayor of Dublin when
you retire from your position of
international rock god?
bono_live: I wouldn't move to a smaller
house!
bono_live: Adam is unable to come to the phone himself, because
he's dressed in pajamas somebody gave him as a birthday gift. The
Hugh Hefner Playboy look is not something I'd recommend!
bono_live: But he's beaming from ear to ear...
PopUlrick asks: is Israel Goldkiss a symbolic character that
represents in the film the person of
Jesus Christ? Because the film says , speaking of israel, that
his life was like shit but his death
seemed to bring everybody together?
bono_live: It's an interesting question. But
Israel, Izzy as he's known in the movie, is more Barrabas than
Jesus. Tom Tom is the Christ-like character, the accidental
Christ.
bono_live: Tom Tom played by Jeremy Davies, is the one who loves
Eloise, played by Milla Jarovich so
purely, that the bruises and callouses of abuse that she has
suffered in her past, seem to melt away under his gaze.
Miss_Terious_Ways asks: Did you have any specific actors in mind when writing the script?
bono_live: No. In fact, when Wim Winders called
me and said Milla Jarovich would be his choice for Eloise I was
nervous.
bono_live: I thought to myself, she's too beautiful, she's a
model, she's a super model, she won't be believable in downtown
LA on 5th and Main. She'd look like she was just slumming it.
bono_live: It's a credit to her as an actor that that question
never comes to mind.
bono_live: She has the thing that makes a woman so beautiful.
She's not vain.
bono_live: Almost an impossible achievement for an actress.
bono_live: Who looks that good.
poloshore asks: How did Mel Gibson get involved?
bono_live: Mel Gibson heard about the script
through somebody who worked in his office, and he offered to be
our bodyguard, our 365 pound gorilla.
bono_live: His company, Icon, were prepared to pay for the making
of the movie.
bono_live: The cream on the cake was when Mel Gibson, not just a
star but a great actor, offered to play the role of Skinner, the
detective.
bono_live: For considerably less than he's normally paid.
bono_live: A minor role, it's a much more michievious role than
you've ever seen him on the screen.
etrit asks: Your work for erasing debt is honorable. Are you
going to get involved in freeing political
prisoners as well, such as Kosovars in Serbia, Chinese
dissidents, and others?
bono_live: I've never thought of myself as a
celebrity.
bono_live: I like to believe that I'll be a rock n roll star as
long as I don't become a celebrity.
bono_live: So, if I'm going to throw a punch in a worthy
direction, I think carefully about it.
bono_live: The debt issue was an issue that affected almost a
billion people on this earth who live on less than a day.
bono_live: I'm involved in Amnesty International. We are, as a
band, involved with Greenpeace, but it is rare that you have a
chance to affect the lives of so many people.
bono_live: I couldn't walk away from this one.
bono_live: I think I'm getting too much credit for the
success.
u2conga asks: Bono, what do you think of Pinochet returning to Chile?
bono_live: Pinochet, I have a lot of thoughts.
And having played in CHile in 1998. And having addressed Mr.
Pinochet directly from stage with the Mothers of the Disappeared
standing behind me, live on national television, we asked him a
simple question.
bono_live: Where, tell us at least where, are the bodies buried?
We know you can't bring them back to life. But you alone can tell
us, can tell us, can tell these mothers where their sons are
buried.
bono_live: God alone is your judge, but you alone can give them
can give them a corner of peace. Why won't you?
yahoomusic: Are you still involved with Amnesty?
bono_live: Amnesty International is a very
practical and simple way of being politically effective.
bono_live: You send a stamped addressed postcard of your point of
view to a political prisoner, saying we know where you are and we
won't forget you.
bono_live: The more that arrive, the better the conditions that
the prison rewards the prisoner.
bono_live: It is a remarkable thing to think that we can, if we
get up off our ass, change the world.
bono_live: Make it better.
bono_live: For more people.
bono_live: It's laughable people will point their finger at you
as you walk down the street, it's extremely
unfashionable and unhip, but it's true.
paceyloverinthehouse asks: bono, do u believe that aliens exist ?
bono_live: I'm going to pass you onto Helena
Christiansen who is the nearest thing....
bono_live: Helena: If we exist they probably do too. Do we exist
though?!?
yahoomusic: What did you get Adam for his birthday?
bono_live: I got him a pajamas. Really
comfortable pajamas, and silk slippers.
bono_live: He got three pairs of pajamas, and three hammocks.
HE's a very lucky guy!
hargreae asks: Helena, what's your favorite U2 song?
bono_live: It was on Red, Hot and Blue, and October. Oh, God, I can go on, but I must say Night and Day, that was the most beautiful version of that song ever.
randy_greencorn asks: Helena, what have you been up to lately?
bono_live: Well I had a baby! So that's what I've
been up to lately. And I have been up - all night long!
bono_live: Five months now!
bono_live: This is my first night away from him.
y_boland asks: Helena - have you ever had a broken heart like normal girls?
bono_live: LOL! Oh, yes, have I ever!
bono_live: I mean suffered.
bono_live: But it's a good thing, especially when you do meet the
one you do feel is your soul mate, it mends all the broken
hearts.
ethan_strange asks: Helen....How do you describe the U2 guys all togheter....crazy kids?
bono_live: Helena: They can be both. They can be
totally crazy, like kids hanging around, they are very honest and
real guys.
bono_live: It's always a joy being around them, their wives and
friends, a great bunch of people.
bono_live: THey can also be serious, and you can have wonderful
conversations with them. They are very intelligent and very
knowledgeable.
bmohin asks: Do you believe in love at first site?
bono_live: Helena: LOL! Yeah, I do. If it happens, then I definitely believe in it. Sometimes it just happens. It took two hours with my boyfriend, so I think that's pretty much at first sight.
babyirisheyes asks: What did you name your baby?
bono_live: Helena: Mingus.
bono_live: Mingus Lucien Reedus.
bono_live: Helena: Mingus is for jazz musician, CHarles Mingus,
the bass player.
bono_live: Helena: I'm heading home, thank you, this is the first
time I've ever had anything to do with the internet!
bono_live: Bono: Hi all!
bono_live: I just passed Adam, I said, Adam, you're 40, do you
have anything to say?
bono_live: And he said, obscurely, How long do I have to sing
this song?
kid_cyber_rock asks: Did you reaaly write the "sweetest thing"
because you forgot your
anniversary?
bono_live: It's close to the truth, not exactly the truth.
rafiki_84047 asks: bono, do you ever sell your art
bono_live: No. I love to paint. I don't think
it's just the fumes, but it might be.
bono_live: My best friend, Googie, is one of the best painters in
Ireland right now.
bono_live: My father was a great painter.
bono_live: Tonight we had one of the greatest painters, Louis
Lebraquay, who gave Adam this incredible tapestry he
designed.
dirtgirl asks: bono, have you given up anything for lent?
bono_live: Do you all know about the Christian
practice of Lent? After the carnival - carne means meat, flesh,
the celebration of the flesh, then Lent comes, the denial of the
flesh.
bono_live: You give up something you love in order that when
Easter comes, after 40 days, it comes back at you with new
appreciation. I was following Lent until this afternoon.
bono_live: I have fallen off the wagon the world wide web. I'm
sure God will forgive me, I hope the rest of you will be as
gracious.
bono_live: Thank you!!
yahoomusic: And Thank You Bono!
yahoomusic: That was absolutely amazing!
yahoomusic: That's all we have time for today!
yahoomusic: Thanks for all of your wonderful questions!
yahoomusic: there were sooo many of them...we're sorry we
couldn't have answered them all.
bonorome asks: BYE BONO
tweezer63 asks: Hey YahooMusic -- can we get a copy of the
chat..?
yahoomusic: You know you can tweezers!
yahoomusic: the transcript for the event will be posted in the
next couple hours
yahoomusic: in the transcripts section of Yahoo! Chat
yahoomusic: Thanks for checking out our chat with Bono
yahoomusic: and be sure to check out the movie,
yahoomusic: Million Dollar Hotel
yahoomusic: co-written and produced by Bono
yahoomusic: and directed by lengendary Wim Wenders
yahoomusic: The Soundtrack to the movie
yahoomusic: will be realesed in the US
yahoomusic: on March 14
yahoomusic: on Interscope Records
yahoomusic: The soundtrack features songs by Bono
yahoomusic: and by U2
yahoomusic: for more information on it
yahoomusic: visit the website
yahoomusic: www.milliondollarhotel.com
yahoomusic: you can listen to the audio
yahoomusic: and get additional info
yahoomusic: on the Million Dollar Band
yahoomusic: and guest performers
yahoomusic: such as Brian Eno
yahoomusic: Daniel Lanois
yahoomusic: Milla Jovovich
yahoomusic: and others!
yahoomusic: thanks for joinung us chatters
yahoomusic: we hope you've had as much fun as we have!
yahoomusic: as always stay tuned to yahoo! chat for all the
biggest and best celebrity chats