U2 France

by Liz Smith

Here’s a scoop! American Idol will soon go to Africa to become its usual sensation there. This pearl of wisdom dropped from the lips of the one and only Bono.

Asked if he is a fan of America’s hottest TV show and if he watches it, Bono laughed; "No, but I will now!"

The rock king of U2, one of the world’s most active philanthropists, fighting AIDS, poverty and injustice all over the world, was the guest last week at a symposium put together by Time Warner.

The audience was stellar - director/actor Sydney Pollack, stars par excellence such as Robert Duvall, Kevin Bacon, Timothy Hutton, Christine Baranski, Roberta Flack, Jane Seymour, Russell Simmons, Steve Buscemi and Meryl Streep’s "find," the fabled performance artist Sarah Jones of Bridge and Tunnel fame.

Lots of other type "stars" as well - Jonathan Alter, Richard Cohen, Ron Delsener, Kenneth Cole, Maria Cuomo, Campbell Brown, Terry George, Chris Blackwell, Jeff Greenfield, Agnes Gund, Charlie Rose, Jeff Koons, Ray Kelly, David Lauren, Sheila Nevins, Lou Reed, Jeff Bewkes, Rick Stengel, Moby, Billy Norwich, Marshall Rose, Faye Wattleton, Elie Wiesel, Roger Waters, Brian Williams, Sherrie and David Westin of Sesame Workshop and ABC. And many more I didn’t see.

Time’s Jim Kelly interviewed Bono, who came out wearing possibly the worst set of garments I’ve ever seen on a superstar. This guy gets down, seriously! But he is a brilliant talker and an inspiration. He was asked what motivates him to do all that he does and he answered simply: "It’s not charity; it’s justice."

Among Bono’s pearls of wisdom was this one - that America is an idea. "Ireland, where I come from, is a country; not an idea. But America is an idea!" Bono made excellent arguments for his dealings in trying to convince the president of the United States and the leaders of other nations, some of them dictators, to help in his various crusades. He refuses to be an ideologue, and he works with those with whom he disagrees, trying always "to find the one thing I have in common with them."

He named Desmond Tutu as his greatest inspiration, saying he asked this incredible leader how he had time to accomplish all he does and still maintain time for prayer and meditation? Tutu rebuked Bono, pointing out, "If we did not take time for prayer and meditation we could not accomplish anything."

There was an amusing exchange when Kelly put up a photo of Pope John Paul II trying on Bono’s sunglasses. Bono said the pope kept looking at him during the meeting. He felt perhaps his glasses were rude and a distraction, so he took them off. "The pope then kept looking at my glasses, so I gave them to him."

Later when Bono asked for a copy of the photograph, someone from the Vatican told him, "That photograph will never see the light." But there it was - and it was very appealing. Bono said he especially liked it because it shows the late pontiff in an unguarded, charming moment - "almost devilish, if you will!"

Asked about his own religious convictions, Bono noted that a Catholic father and a Protestant mother had raised him. He cited his admiration for and the appeal of the Christian ideal - "you know, someone born in a manger, laid on the straw!" But he didn’t claim any special devotion, merely noting that the pope had given him several rosaries, "which I wear."