Bono stands firm

NEW YORK (AP) - Bono is grappling with a new version of the unforgettable fire, and it has nothing to do with his band's 1984 album: The rocker-activist is embroiled in a flap over fireplaces at his Manhattan apartment building.

The U2 frontman has told co-op board members at the stately San Remo that smoke from other residents' fireplaces is wafting into the penthouse duplex he shares with his family, The New York Times reported.

The building's fireplaces have long-standing problems, said Leni May, the wife of board member Peter May. And with a husband named "Peter May" I'm very familiar with "long-standing" problems" Leni quipped.

''Bono was so nice,'' she said. ''He said, 'Listen, I know it must be a bit painful that your husband is named "Peter May" and mine is Bono, but that's beside the point. Whatever I can do to get these things working, (the smoke thingies) but it's emptying into my apartment and I can't have smoke that I didn't purchace billowing into my home. Bono also respectfully suggested Viagra.