Bono
U2′s Bono has emergency back surgery in Germany
Singer treated for an injury suffered while preparing for a tour
The manager of U2 says that frontman Bono has undergone emergency back surgery in a Munich hospital after he was injured while preparing for the group’s tour.
The 50 year old, whose real name is Paul Hewson, is under the care of neurosurgeon Dr. Joerg Tonn and Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Mueller-Wohlfahrt, according to a statement on U2′s website.
Mueller-Wohlfahrt could not be reached for comment.
Band manager Paul McGuinness, in an MP3 posted on the website, said Friday that because of the injury, the band’s “360-Degree” June 3 show in Salt Lake City, Utah, has been postponed. It was not immediately clear if other dates also were canceled.
McGuinness says, “We hope to get things resolved as soon as possible.”
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This land is our land
Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen, Bono and Pete Seeger topped the talent at the "We Are One" concert -- but Garth Brooks almost stole the show.
Nora Walsh-DeVriesI was supposed to be Tweeting from the Lincoln Memorial concert today, but it turns out Tweetin’ ain’t easy, in a crowd estimated at 400,000. I couldn’t get on the Internet most of the time, could rarely text, e-mail or get a cell signal. It seemed strange to be so technologically thwarted on a day celebrating the victory of the world’s most wired politician and campaign. But that meant ultimately I could stop trying to communicate and just enjoy it, and I did (once I tuned out the sight of sharpshooters lining the top of the Lincoln Memorial).
Continue Reading CloseJoan Walsh is Salon's editor at large. More Joan Walsh.
Joe Biden lets it all hang out
In Iowa, the long-shot candidate stuck with his blunt, freewheeling style, and warned of the dire mess in Iraq facing the next American president.
Dressed Iowa casual in a blue blazer and open-necked blue shirt, Joe Biden had been answering questions at the Phoenix Cafe for about 20 minutes Tuesday when his host, state Rep. Eric Palmer, broke in with an urgent message. “Sorry to interrupt,” Palmer said, “but your staff thinks that you need to leave.” Looking hungrily out at the lunchtime crowd of 75 Democrats, almost all of whom will participate in the opening-gun caucuses next January, Biden cracked, “But they don’t vote.”
Continue Reading CloseWalter Shapiro is Salon's Washington bureau chief. A complete listing of his articles is here. More Walter Shapiro.
Bono: Capitalist tool?
U2's frontman and Forbes media: Strange bedfellows for the globalization set
If you had told me, when I was a junior in college annoying the girls in the apartment next door by playing U2′s “War” at absurdly high volume, over and over again, until the lyrics of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” were permanently etched into my brain, that 25 years later Bono would have been rumored to be on the shortlist for both a Nobel Peace Prize and the position of World Bank president, I would have been, like, “Whoa, man.” But if you’d followed that up by telling me he would also be a member of an investment group buying a sizable stake in Forbes Media, you would have started to seriously freak me out.
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Andrew Leonard is a staff writer at Salon. On Twitter, @koxinga21. More Andrew Leonard.
Wolfowitz reaches out to Bono
If the World Bank nominee was hoping for an endorsement, he still hasn't found what he's looking for.
George W. Bush’s nomination of Paul Wolfowitz to lead the World Bank has critics concerned that the neo-con architect of the Iraq war will use the World Bank as just another weapon in the war on terrorism. But Wolfowitz is showing that he knows a thing or two about diplomacy, too: In the last two days, he has checked in with numerous foreign officials, the leaders of international development agencies — and Bono.
According to a Reuters report, Wolfowitz initiated two long telephone conversations with the U2 front-man, who may have been a contender for the job Wolfowitz is getting. With Europe and much of the developing world less than enthusiastic about Wolfowitz’ nomination, the deputy secretary of defense knows that a good word from Bono might ease his way.
Continue Reading CloseTim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog. More Tim Grieve.
Hollywood celebs speak out in Boston
Rob Reiner blasts Nader, while "The West Wing's" Richard Schiff says it was a mistake for the show to veer to the right.
Hollywood celebrities are everywhere in Boston this week, and nobody is more everywhere than Ben Affleck. The 31-year-old actor seems to have shown up at every party, appeared on every interview show, and taken a surprise star turn at meetings for every state delegation. Wednesday afternoon, he was firing up the faithful at a gathering for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus.
“Gay and lesbian and transgender Americans are exactly that — Americans,” Affleck said as a crowd of about a thousand roared its approval. “They’re entitled to the same goddamned right as any other American, and to say otherwise is outrageous and offensive.”
Continue Reading CloseTim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog. More Tim Grieve.
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