No longer going to "Linger" in Ireland

Shock is too strong a word, especially on a day when there are deaths - Michael Jackson & Farah Fawcett - in the world of popular culture. Still, I have to admit I was pretty surprised to read that Dolores O'Riordan is moving to rural Ontario. Why am I so surprised?

Well, first of all, this is the first time I've heard any pop star/movie star/whoever say they were leaving Ireland due to the pressures of fame in Ireland. Irish people have had a reputation of leaving famous people alone, but maybe that's more myth than reality? I don't know, but O'Riordan clearly believes it is. I guess.

Somehow Bono and his family manage to endure the pressures, which I would have assumed would be far greater than those that Dolores O'Riordan has to put up with. In fact, I would have bet that if she didn't make a big deal of it her children could have lived pretty anonymously here. Maybe she just wanted to go live in the woods, I don't know.

Another reason I'm surprised - and I'm really surprised by this one - is that O'Riordan is turning her back on a nice little tax break that people who write music or books or film scripts get here. Now, admittedly, there are rumors that those tax breaks are going to be eliminated in the next budget, but as of now they're still in place and O'Riordan is turning her back on them to pay full tax in Canada.

Unusual decision.