Music: Pooh-bahs of Poverty

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THERE'S BEEN A FAIR BIT OF CRITICISM ABOUT THE LACK OF AFRICAN MUSICIANS ON THE LIVE 8 BILL. YOU'VE ANNOUNCED A SEPARATE AFROCENTRIC SHOW IN CORNWALL, BUT WHY NOT INTEGRATE THE AFRICAN ACTS INTO THE OTHER LINE-UPS? ISN'T CULTURAL AWARENESS AS IMPORTANT AS ISSUE AWARENESS?

GELDOF This is a political event, not a cultural event. In order to get political momentum, one guy with a banner is not enough. You need millions. The lingua franca of the planet, as we learned from Live Aid, is not English--it's pop music. From Guangzhou to Bogotá, they listen to 50 Cent, Eminem, U2 and Coldplay. Do they listen to the more esoteric individual cultures? No. That's reality. Do they listen to Muddy Waters? I wish they did. Then I'd put a bill up there with him and John Lee Hooker.

HE'S DEAD.

GELDOF It'd be difficult. [Laughter.] Even more difficult than putting Pink Floyd back together. Well, not that much more difficult.

YOU'VE ASKED THE POPE TO SUPPORT LIVE 8. IS THERE A CONTRADICTION IN ASKING THE WORLD'S MOST VISIBLE OPPONENT OF CONDOM USE TO HELP YOU ASSIST PEOPLE RAVAGED BY AIDS?

GELDOF The condom issue is relevant, but it's not the single relevant point. Ratzinger [now Pope Benedict XVI], from what I understand, put the spinal cord into John Paul's theology on the poor. His more profound theologies are to do with the psalm of the poor, if you like. I just invited him to sing a psalm up at Edinburgh.

DOES HE HAVE A BAND?

GELDOF Don't know. I wrote to him what I thought was a coherent letter and got back a signed photograph. [Laughs.] I pointed out to one of the Cardinals that I didn't require a picture, signed or otherwise.

RICHARD, YOU AREN'T PERFORMING AT LIVE 8, BUT YOU'VE MADE THE GIRL IN THE CAFE [WHICH WILL AIR ON HBO THIS SATURDAY]. ARE YOU SURE A ROMANTIC COMEDY ABOUT POVERTY AND THE G-8 IS A GOOD WAY TO GET PEOPLE TO ENGAGE IN THE ISSUES?

CURTIS Well, we're all limited in what we can do. You don't ask Bono to write an opera on the subject of something political, and as I was trying to address a passion of mine, it seemed apt that I should do it in the kind of way that I'd written films before. If I'd tried to write a serious political drama, I wouldn't have known where to begin. So I tried to write about politics from the point of view of a normal person.

GELDOF It's quite powerful. I saw it the other night, and my girlfriend was crying. She fell in love with Richard immediately. Mr. F_______ Sensitivity and all.

WHICH OF THE G-8 LEADERS DO YOU THINK REMAINS THE TOUGHEST NUT TO CRACK?

BONO The most important and toughest nut is still President Bush. He feels he's already doubled and tripled aid to Africa, which he has. But he started from far too low a place. He can stand there and say he paid at the office already. He shouldn't, because he'll be left out of the history books. But it's hard for him because of the expense of the war and the debts. But I have a hunch that he will step forward with something. And it'll take somebody like him ...

YOU'RE TRYING TO LOBBY HIM RIGHT NOW, AREN'T YOU?

GELDOF We'll see if it works.