"Skag-head" & Nico's doctor post

PATTY CULLITON ([email protected])
Fri, 27 Nov 1998 12:35:09, -0500

I'm going to sound like a broken record, but I am stating these facts
for an obvious reason... Some of you folks, including Nico (who is a
friend of mine) know that I know Bono fairly well in the general
scheme of things (I've had several long conversations with him, lunch
with him, coffee with him, etc.) and I have to say that I don't
believe any of what this doctor told her. First of all, I've had a
conversation with Bono about this exact subject. We were talking
about bands and being in the music business in general. I was giving
him some guff about smoking (I told him that he wasn't being fair to
us because he was shortening his life and we need him around as long
as possible!). And then it morphed into talking about drink and
drugs. And he said three things about it that I can remember now
(this was a few years ago) - 1.) They do drink, 2.) He doesn't need
drugs because he has the things in his life that drugs usually fill a
void for to people - specifically his bandmates and his family, -and
this last one is the one that stood out to me the most -- 3.)
Creatives that are on drugs aren't able to maintain a level of
superior quality in their work.

Now I don't know about you - but the way I see it, there's no fucking
way that they could have written the Joshua Tree, toured the Joshua
Tree, filmed a movie and recorded a new album within the space of two
years if the person who writes everything, and is the top of the
chain of command in the organization, was floating around on a cloud.

Lastly, I'm sure some of you can relate to this next part (and some
of you will think I'm goofy) -- but many, many of my conversations
with people - including strangers will morph into talking about U2 in
some way, whether it's about all the traveling I've done on their
tours, or whether it's about Central/South American politics. And if
I had a nickel for every bullshit story that someone's told me about
their alleged encounter with the band, or their cousin's alleged
encounter with the band - I'd have been able to finance the PopMart
Tour instead of Michael Cohl. I've had every cab driver in Dublin
tell me they are the band's regular driver; I've had some knucklehead
I worked with tell me Bono hit on his cousin (at a show Ali was at);
I've had a couple people named John try to tell me that I Fall Down
is about him and his old girlfriend Julie. I shit you not.
Celebrities are the fodder for more bullshit than a cattle farm.

Nico, you are my friend and I don't want that to change. But I have
to say your doctor friend is either full of shit or mixing up his
celebrities. Understandably, I have to base my opinions on firsthand
experience and not on distant hearsay.

In The Name Of Love, Patty

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Fri Nov 27 1998 - 09:48:45 PST