There has always been some difficulty with the name. An r frequently slides between the last two letters, especially in conversation, the extra letter making him seem like some merry, mischievous, vaguely magical creature out of Tolkien: Geldorf, the elf with the spiritual mission.
The real Bob Geldof is, in fact, a fullhearted rock musician with a stalled career and a tempestuous conscience who launched, almost casually, a musical mobilization to aid starving people in Africa. What he pulled off, and what he inspired, still seems something like a fantasy. A single record by a group of British rock stars organized...