No line, indeed

Dear Bono,

I know you care. No one would doubt that. And hey, I respect that. It takes a lot of guts to care and be seen to care, what with the risk of looking the fool in front of everyone you know. Maybe that's the reason behind those D&G shades.

I know you care because in the liner notes to many of your albums, including your new one, you ask us to support Greenpeace. As we know, Greenpeace is an organization dedicated to preserving and protecting our natural world. One of its tenets is recycling. I know because i went to its web site and looked.

Which is why i was so disappointed with the packaging for your your band's new album, No line on the horizon. As i struggled to release the disc from its protective plastic film, i wondered: Such an innovative band. They care sooooo much. Yet their art comes in such environmentally hostile, not to mention mundane, packaging.

I was disappointed not because I know how many jewel cases end up in landfills each year or how how many toxic chemicals were used to manufacture them. No, I was disappointed because the impression it had on me: that a band so concerned with its image, that understands the power of symbols and simple messages would be so inattentive to this, its most visible product. The medium, it seemed, was at odds with the message contained within.

If it's any consolation, Bono, i really like the new album. Even if the critics apart from the suckups at Rolling Stone are pretty much so-so.