“He’s very tightly handled…”

That’s Bono the title line refers to — he’s the “tightly handled” one. So says the mayor of Grand Rapids in this WOOD-TV (such unfortunate call letters!) story about the challenge of covering Bono’s visit to Grand Rapids tonight.

Hey — we can relate.

@U2 has a staffer in the neighborhood and has been trying for weeks to get a press credential to cover this. We’ve been credentialed in the past by U2 themselves, by DATA, by the King Center, by the National Civil Rights Museum, by the World Affairs Council, by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, etc., etc.

But asking the Economic Club of Grand Rapids to credential us for a speech? We may as well have been asking them to turn water into wine. Not a chance in you-know-where.

Oh, well. Life goes on. We can all guess what Bono’s gonna say tonight, anyway, right? Something about using buckets of water to put out fires…. :-)

Last 4 posts by m2

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3 Responses to ““He’s very tightly handled…””

  1. Tassoula 4 May 2006 at 11:03 pm permalink

    You can also watch a clip of Bono’s speech by following this link (cut and paste into your browser if it doesn’t work):

    http://video.woodtv.com/

    Thanks to reader Andrew K. in Michigan for the tip!

  2. pol 5 May 2006 at 7:28 am permalink

    I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to attend Bono’s speech last night in Grand Rapids. The evening can be summed up like this:

    This is a man who is backed into a corner. Obviously shaken by the budget cuts that occurred in Washington yesterday, Bono stepped onto the podium with just a little more rawness to his message. As usual, he was articulate and graceful. But there was something in the way he delivered his message last night (the message he admittedly has said many times before but needs to be heard many times again)that cut just a little deeper into the belly of mass apathy. Last night, I would not have wanted to stand in this man’s way.

    Pol Makidon

  3. Chadwick Walenga 5 May 2006 at 7:26 pm permalink

    i wasn’t lucky enough to be inside. i stood outside for a few hours and hung out with some people hoping to snap a photo. there were only about 12 of us, which is pretty lame if you think about it. it was fun finding out who had been to the same show as you.

    security was tight, and the people who came out for a smoke break weren’t very cordial in telling us outside what was going on.