An Open Letter to
Bono of U2
(please forward)
To: Bono, U2
From:
Philip Sudo
Re: Zen Guitar
Dear Bono--
I'm writing to introduce myself and my work,
Zen Guitar. I'd welcome the opportunity to pass the words
and music your way.
But first I'd like to thank you for your album All
That You Can't Leave Behind. It's been the most-played
record in my collection since I was diagnosed in April
with cancer. Listening to that record makes all the difference
between life and death when you're lying in bed with
chemotherapy running through your veins. When I heard
that Joey Ramone was playing it as he passed away from
cancer, I completely understood. It's music that ascends
one to the angels.
In
recent months, I've caught your show in Charlotte, in which
you introduced the Edge as a "Zen Protestant";
heard your interview on "Charlie Rose," when you
said the way to tell if a band has any integrity is to look
at the way they run their business; read your
Harvard address, where you said, "If I am honest
I am rebelling against my own indifference"; watched
your live broadcast from halftime of the NBA finals, in which,
as a prelude to "Where the Streets Have No Name," you
knelt and prayed,
What can I give back to God?
What can I give back to God for these
blessings?
What can I give back to God through these
blessings?
I know you believe in good causes--some, like African debt relief, that have "a
hard melody line to follow." I also know that you like
to pick a fan out of the audience to play your guitar. Here
I humbly offer Zen Guitar as a good cause with a naïve
melody line and say that should you ever pluck me and my
book from the crowd, I shall join you in our mutual song:
The song of life, love, and liberty; sorrow, loss, and pain;
the song of hope; the song of faith; the
song of joy.
yours in the rafters,
PTS 30 aug 01
P.S. I heard you've got a place on the Upper
West Side of Manhattan. That makes us neighbors. I'd love
to sing together on "One Sound One Song" sometime. It'd be a
beautiful day.
open letter to the Edge
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