Malt joy and ginger despairJAN 12 2009

For whatever reason, Bono writing a series of op-ed columns for the NY Times seemed like a bad idea. But I really enjoyed reading his first effort about the new year and Frank Sinatra. The advice is probably a little trite but you can't say that Bono doesn't have a way with words...the piece is more poetry or lyric than prose.

I think about this now, in this new year. The Big Bang of pop music telling me it's all about the moment, a fresh canvas and never overworking the paint. I wonder what he would have thought of the time it's taken me and my bandmates to finish albums, he with his famous impatience for directors, producers -- anyone, really -- fussing about. I'm sure he's right. Fully inhabiting the moment during that tiny dot of time after you've pressed "record" is what makes it eternal. If, like Frank, you sing it like you'll never sing it again. If, like Frank, you sing it like you never have before.

(thx, mau)