Bob Geldof - Renaissance Man

What an individual. He has tackled a lot in his lifetime, and his actions agree with his words. Somewhat difficult to find these days.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Observer/magazine/story/0,11913,1061031,00.html

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Bob Geldof was born in 1951. His mother died of a brain haemorrhage when he was seven and he was brought up in Dun Loaghaire, outside Dublin, by his father, a travelling salesman, who was away a lot. The Geldofs were poor and Bob had to fend for himself. 'From an early age, I was independent,' he says. 'I'd come home at night and there was no one there. I'd make the tea and do the shopping and get the coal and light the fire. There was no TV because we didn't have the money, no phone so I couldn't be interrupted. I'd just listen to Radio Luxembourg and read. That's why I grew up scruffy. An eight-year-old boy doesn't iron his shorts or give a fuck about his hair.' Geldof has since talked often of how 'poverty and loneliness' are his greatest fears, but, in retrospect, does he think his bad start may have given him the self-assurance of the self-made? 'No,' he says bluntly. 'It didn't give me anything. I felt panicked, lonely and afraid all the time.'

snip>

Geldof is still incensed about the Third-World debt. The way he sees it, if a third of the debt can be cancelled, as it has, then what's the sudden moral and ethical problem with the other two-thirds? However, on a recent trip to Ethiopia, he took the unfashionable step of praising President Bush and Tony Blair for being 'relatively pro-active'. 'You're going to think I'm off my trolley when I say this, but the Bush administration is the most radical in a positive sense since Kennedy. Clinton was a good guy but he did fuck all.' Over the years, Geldof has hobnobbed with many world leaders, but there's still a part of him that feels uncomfortable about being complicit with government. Any government. 'I might actually agree with a lot of what they're saying but, being a Paddy, I find it an almost national obligation to oppose.'



The Boomtown Rats are soon releasing a compilation record.

As for the Bush support, I think it's the old catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

I love Bob but he needs to spend some time here under the regime 24/7 before he can say something like that.
Fuck all.

ABSURD.

Rock Stars who fixate on dropping third world debt as the end all and be all of problems for third world victims of disease and poverty are misguided. The political, social, and developmental structures for many of these countries are such that dropping their debt will only further line the pockets of the ruling classes and dictators. The money will not automatically flow to procuring health-care, fresh water, housing, etc as the Rock Stars seem to think.

and was the force behind "Live Aid". I just think he said something stupid here.

"I'd come home at night and there was no one there. I'd make the tea and do the shopping and get the coal and light the fire. There was no TV because we didn't have the money, no phone so I couldn't be interrupted. I'd just listen to Radio Luxembourg and read. "
In Ireland as well. Our paths crossed in '72-'74 when i was a 'hippy' in London. We were into squatting (in abandoned homes/buildings) all over London then. Big crowd of us. I handled the 'electrical work'.

I like the guy.