Saturday, June 06, 2015

Bono gets a one-two punch from two top crime writers

(Design by Heads of State)
Poor Bono. Poor, poor Bono.

Here's the beginning of Adrian McKinty's fine new Sean Duffy story, "Shadowboxing" (available free at the Radio Silence site):
"Even the fulminating racists on the far side of the police barriers were temporarily awed into silence by their first sight of the Champ as he stepped nimbly—lepidopterously—from the bus onto the pavement in front of Belfast City Hall. He was bigger than ordinary men, physically, of course, but there was an aura about him, too. Ten years past his prime, heavier, grayer, and with what was apparently early-onset Parkinson’s, this was still the most famous man on the face of the Earth. He was wearing Adidas trainers, a red tracksuit, and sunglasses. He was flanked by two Nation of Islam handlers in dark jackets and bow ties, and a pace behind them was the Reverend Jesse Jackson, a celebrity in his own right in America but a largely unknown figure here, and finally to his left—to no one’s surprise—Bono."
And here's the opening of "The Gumshoe," from Paul D. Brazill's The Gumshoe and Other Brit Grit Yarns:
"In the beginning was the sound. The light came later.

"The sound was a horrifying wail that skewered its way deep into my unconscious brain until I awoke sharply—drowning in sweat, my heart smashing through my ribcage, my head about to burst.

"Some twat, somewhere, was playing a U2 song over and over again ... "
Do you think that, now that the whole world is catching on that Bono is a putz, it may be time to lay off him?

Nah.
© Peter Rozovsky 2015

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10 Comments:

Blogger Paul D Brazill said...

I first saw U2 in Leeds in 1980 and me and my mate Ronnie Burke kept shouting Nanu Nanu because we though the singer looked like Mork from Ork.

Thanks much for the mention.

June 06, 2015  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

Paul: My pleasure (I finished the book last night, and it was good.) I also commend your youthful irreverence. Was Bono taking himself seriously as a figure of world importance then? Did other people at the show regard your impiety as shocking?

June 06, 2015  
Blogger Paul D Brazill said...

Oh, they were just am up and coming young band then. Quite a way down the bill if I remember correctly. I enjoyed them.

June 06, 2015  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

Ah, so the self-importance and tax-dodging came later, did it? Here in America, at least, there used to be speculation in the press that he might win the Nobel Peace Prize, which has become something of a public relations prize in recent years, but still ... Bono? Jesus!

June 06, 2015  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bono is the new Sting.

June 07, 2015  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

But on a larger scale. Sting, as far as I know, was vain (and not much loved in Brazil during his rain-forest activism period, I was told by a Brazilian friend) and self-important. But he never fancied himself a Nobel Peace Prize contender. He's also a lot taller than little Paul Hewson, I think.

June 07, 2015  
Blogger Unknown said...

I am persuaded. I will be looking for and reading the stories.

BTW, Crimes in the Library, dormant for a while, has been revived, and I hope you and your many followers will stop by to visit and comment every now and then.

http://crimesinthelibrary.blogspot.com/

June 08, 2015  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

Yes, good stories cheap or free are one of the Internet's blessings.

June 08, 2015  
Blogger adrian mckinty said...

Peter

There are millions of people in America who still think U2 are 'cool'.

I will continue my lonely jihad against their music and their tax dodging as long as I am able.

June 10, 2015  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

I'll take your word on U2's standing with the American public; you're the preeminent Hewsonian among this blog's commenters, after all. But I have noticed the occasional snide anti-Bono comment in recent months, which I had not noticed before. There met yet be an anti-Bono underground out there, just waiting until it is safe to do so before revealing itself.

June 11, 2015  

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