February the month of love some would say. In honor of the upcoming Valentines day weekend - ah yea next weekend. We found this wonderful story from Charlene Ross editor over at SKIRT! Hey now fellas we ready cosmo too.
Why not we could all learn a couple of things. Plus we are not a complete staff of guys we do have a couple of female writers. Anyway. Back to the story.
Charlene’s 2.1.10 article happened to be on her experience kissing Bono. She of course not the first nor the last that kissed Bono and said her life changed for ever. We thought about the story for a couple of days, Dre contacted her and we have clearance to post the full story. - We want to hear from you ! Have you ever kissed one of the boys ? Do tell ! Share your experience with us. kissedu2 at u2tourfans.com or leave a comment below. P.S we added some photos from our collection - They are not tied to the original story.
My Life Changed Forever the Night that Bono Kissed Me
Hmmm…well, that statement might be a tiny bit misleading but it is certainly not a lie. My life did change forever the night that Bono kissed me. But his kiss was not the reason why. In fact I suppose it would be true to say that Bono kissed me because of the reason my life changed forever.
This is my February love story…
When Dave and I had been together for about 4 years I was ready to get married. No, scratch that, I was desperate to get married. Well, not to get married, but to marry him. I. Wanted. To. Marry. Him.
Bono and Wife A year and a half into our relationship Dave was promoted and moved to New York. We carried on our relationship long distance for a year. He asked me to move to New York with him without any promise of a future and I did because I missed him so badly.
In less than six months we were back in California because of a new and better job. We went house hunting. He bought the house that I chose and we lived in it together, again without promise of a future of anything beyond that. After a year of playing house I was ready for a ring.
I’d had some false hope… I was convinced he was going to ask me on a trip to his hometown of Chicago for homecoming weekend. He didn’t.
I was equally disappointed on a romantic vacation in Hawaii when my fantasy proposal at a restaurant on a sunset beach never materialized.
If I remember correctly both of these disappointments led to me crying like a crazy person in the middle of a restaurant when my dream moment did not happen. It’s amazing he didn’t run away from me as fast as he could without ever looking back.
So when he asked me to get a few days off of work so we could go to San Francisco over the 4th of July holiday I knew he was going to ask. He hated San Francisco but I loved it. Why else would he want to go there if not to propose?
But here’s the thing about Dave… he loves surprises. Once he told me we were going to Napa for wine tasting, which we did, but only after going to see Paul McCartney in Berkley. When he was living in New York and I was still in California I took a couple days off work because he was coming to LA and had planned a trip to the Sequoias for us.
The day before he was supposed to arrive I received a Fed Ex envelope with a ticket to Chicago where we met for a romantic weekend. (That was the weekend he asked me to move to New York which is why I was convinced a year later when we went back he was going to ask me to be his wife.)
Girl trys to grab a kiss So three days before we were supposed to leave for San Francisco when he said to me, “How would you like it if instead of going to San Francisco, we went to Paris and Italy instead?” I excitedly answered “What!?”
Dave worked at Island Records – U2’s record label. He explained to me that he had arranged a business trip with some radio programmers and trade magazine writers to go to Paris to see a new band called Quicksand to generate some publicity and airplay for them.
Then as a special bonus we were all going on to Verona to see U2.
I was thrilled… and crushed. There would obviously be no proposal on a business trip.
The trip was a whirlwind. We were only in Europe for 5 days. We took the redeye and arrived in Paris the following afternoon.
Dave played tour guide to a group of 15 in a city he had never been to. Paris was a day and a half of sightseeing, big group dinner, followed by another day of sightseeing, big group dinner, concert and very little sleep.
The next morning all 15 of us got up, walked to a bus stop, boarded a bus that took us to the airport, flew to Milan, took 4 cabs to the train station, took a train to Verona and then took more cabs to our hotel. We were exhausted but Dave had to leave immediately to go to the venue where U2 was playing to set up our ticket and pass situation.
Bono and Adam grab a kiss When we arrived at the stadium we met Dave and he told us we would be watching the show from the sound board. The sound board was huge – kind of like a mini stage in the middle of the floor area.
Coincidentally there were also many people not only from the management company, but other industry bigwigs as well. Tom Freston, the president of MTV; Carter Alan the Boston DJ who is credited as being the first DJ in the US to play U2; Bill Flanagan from Musician Magazine who was writing a book about the tour were all on the soundboard with us. Pearl Jam was the opening band. Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington were there. I may not have been getting engaged, but this little girl from Reseda was surely living the rock and roll dream.
(For those of you unfamiliar with Reseda please re-watch The Karate Kid where Ralph Macchio’s character is looked down upon by Elizabeth Shue’s parents and called “that boy from Reseda.” That pretty much sums up Reseda, where I am actually pretty proud to be from.)
But let’s go back to that soundboard in Verona, Italy…
The show was amazing. I’d seen the band perform a couple of times on this tour before, but never like this – in Italy, amongst the powerful and famous with a laminated backstage pass hanging around my neck. When the first part of the show was over and the band changed for their encore they would entertain their audience with videos recorded by audience members in a video confessional booth before the show. The best videos would be edited during the concert and blasted on the big screen. Again, I’d seen this before and was explaining what it was to the radio programmer next to me because the people on the screen were talking in Italian and we had no idea what they were saying. And then the third person on the screen was Dave. And. I. Just. Knew…
Some times a kiss is just a kiss “Charlene, we’ve come over 5,000 miles and we’ve been on planes, trains, and automobiles to get here, and what I want to know is…will you marry me.”
I wasn’t even standing next to him. I crossed the soundboard, threw my arms around him, and said yes.
Under the guise of generating an awareness of a new band and being looked upon favorably by taking a bunch of programmers and writers to see the most famous band in the world, the real purpose of this trip was an incredibly large romantic gesture just for me.
After the concert we were all put on a bus that took us back to U2’s hotel. There was a private party for the band by pool area witha generous buffet and free flowing wine. Naomi Campbell was engaged to Adam Clayton at the time and we chatted with them for a while. One of the guys in our group had snuckhis camera into the concert and we all posed for a photo with the Edge. Immediately after that shot his camera battery died. (This was over 16 years ago – before tiny digital cameras and camera cell phones.) Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington and some of their gorgeous model friends played ping pong in flimsy summer dresses. (Picture every male head on that patio going back and forth, back and forth withthe ball from model to model.) I met Bono who congratulated me on my engagement and kissed me right on the lips. I am not exaggerating when I say that I think I drank 12 glasses of red wine and did not feel one tiny bit drunk (nor did I wake up with a hangover). It was without a doubt the happiest day of my life.
Two days later when we flew home Dave bought me a Gucci watch I had been coveting for a long time in the duty free shop. I joked with him on the plane that I didn’t know what was the best part of the trip – the designer watch, the kiss from Bono, or getting engaged. Sixteen years later the watch sits in a box; it’s no longer my style. The taste of Bono’s kiss (which yes, okay was really only just a peck) has long been washed away from my lips. But my lovefor Dave, my husband of 16 years next month, has only grown stronger. So I guess we all know the answer about what was best. (Definitely the kiss from Bono – right!?)
Editor Comment: After reading this story I was reminded of a story I have read at least twice. The possibility of finding love. “A Bridge A Cross For Ever” just wonderful story about true love, true friends and in the end love wins. - Thank you Charlene for allowing us the chance to share this story with our readers. Dre