Rarities? Believe it when I hear it...

After 25 years of crafting rock anthems and stadium hits, Bon Jovi could fill a two-hour show with nothing but the obvious choices. But Jon Bon Jovi tells Spinner when the group hits the road this February in support of their new album, 'The Circle,' things might be different this time.

"I had a conversation just the other night with a reporter who came to a television broadcast and her thinking was maybe [play] some more of the obscure tracks, maybe some more of these album tracks you either play when you're in Europe or you don't play that often," he says. " I said, 'Gee, aren't I supposed to satisfy the needs and not be the selfish artist who wants to play these album tracks because you paid to hear me sing all the ones you hear on the radio, the hits?' And she's saying, 'No, you guys have also been around so long that most people in this audience have in fact seen you a bunch of times. So feel free -- believe me they know how 'Bad Name,' 'Prayer' and 'Wanted' go. You don't have to do them all the time every day.'"

That conversation obviously resonated with the frontman. "Granted, we're always gonna want to do those ones, but what if we don't play 'Always' and that was a monster hit ballad? What if you don't feel like playing ballads that night, so you don't do any of them? I think we've earned the right to have that freedom," he says.

That freedom could stretch to 'The Circle.' "This new album, I feel like it could be a great opportunity to do the album in its entirety. We've done that before when we did 'Lost Highway.' Because of the Nashville influence, it allows for that," he says. "The [new songs] were just made to be played in a stadium venue."

Guitarist Richie Sambora says whatever rarities his frontman wants to bust out, the band will be ready. "Jon's the quarterback, he's gonna call the set list and there are gonna be audibles and that happens all the time," Sambora says. "A lot of times we'll be sitting in the dressing room and Jon will say, 'Hey, let's just pick this song up, play 'These Days' or 'Keep the Faith' or something like that that we haven't played in 10 years.' Then we'll learn it on the spot, and take it on the stage that evening and play it. It's really gonna depend on the feeling of where we're at and what's going on."

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I remember getting "I Get A Rush" at one of the shows last tour, and I nearly fell out of my chair. And that isn't even a rare song!

So tell me, what rarity would you like to hear on tour? And what could you do without?

~ Hath

JonBon on NPR

On December 21, Jon was interviewed by Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air.

GROSS: That's Bon Jovi from their new CD, "The Circle." Jon Bon Jovi, welcome to FRESH AIR. It's a pleasure to have you here.

Mr. BON JOVI: Thank you. It's nice to be here.

GROSS: I think of this as kind of like your hard times album, like kind of songs for hard times.

Mr. BON JOVI: Well, it's a social commentary. And if we are, in fact, as a nation going through hard times, then I think you've hit it on the bulls-eye. But it was an opportune time when you just look out the window, read the newspaper or watched the news, every day was another opportunity to write a song about what people are going through today.

GROSS: You've done a lot of stadium concerts over the years, and I think you have a lot of them ahead of you. Are there times that you have to convince yourself before going out on stage that you have the energy that day and the - just the kind of energy and belief to go on stage in front of 70,000 people?

Mr. BON JOVI: You know, I think that there's a little misconception there for those who aren't behind the microphone to understand, and that's simply that whenever I perform, be it for 50 or 50,000, you want to be the very best that you can be. And sure, there are going to be those days that you're a little more physically tired, and that could just be jet lag or monotony.

You know, you have to condition yourself mentally, physically. The preparedness is half the battle, and leaving home for a year or so at a time, every time for a quarter-century now, you have to get yourself ready for it. And I'm the guy that has his fingernails embedded in the driveway as they're dragging me up it to leave.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. BON JOVI: But On that very first night, when I get to the hotel room for that first time, and, you know, you close the door with that suitcase, you go oh, right. This is what I do for a living. And then it all just comes right back, and it's riding a bicycle again.

GROSS: How do you prevent your voice from having been shredded after so many years of concerts? Particularly the stadium concerts, where I imagine it's very tempting to over-sing, because even though you know you're amplified, the room is so big.

Mr. BON JOVI: Yeah, it's true. It's like anything else. You know how to work the muscles properly. And like I said, there's a great physical commitment, and there are sacrifices that are made. And the cute, soundbite version is that no matter what the adage is, the last sentence of it is: And then the singer went home.

So everyone else can go out and do what it is that they want to do. They can always just stand there and beat on the drums and beat on the guitars, and it's a lot more physically demanding when your vocal chords are the size of a thumbnail, and that's what supports 150 crewmembers, as well as the band and, of course, the two-or-so million people every year that want to come out and see it. So you have to make sure that that instrument is well-tuned at all times.

GROSS: You know, in the interviews for the book and the DVD, you talk about how you travel with steroids for your throat, and then you always convince yourself not to use them.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. BON JOVI: Mm-hmm. It's like that glass case. You know, it says break here in case of emergency.

The full transcript is here. The podcast isn't up, and a note on NPR's site says it isn't available due to contractual reasons. If it ever surfaces, however, I'll snag it and put it up for you.

~ Hath

JonBon at the White House last Monday

Let's go ahead and call it: Jon Bon Jovi is the official troubadour of the Democratic Party.

The enduring New Jersey rock star was scheduled to play a little gig in Washington on Monday night -- as the entertainment at the White House staff holiday party, solo and acoustic.

With countless hours logged on campaign trails for Democrats over the past decade (Al Gore, John Kerry, Jon Corzine), he's become the go-to star for events large and small. He lent his pipes to the Lincoln Memorial concert before President Obama's inauguration, dueting with formidable Bettye LaVette. He headlined a concert to benefit Hillary Clinton as she sought to close out her presidential campaign debt. He's the dutiful non-performing wonk-celeb at events like the U.N.'s World Habitat Day.

How inside is he? The night Gore conceded the 2000 race, 'Jovi was the mastermind behind a cathartic, dance-floor-rockin', late-night party at the Veep's mansion. Last year, he came to D.C. especially for the 40th-birthday party of Gore adviser Mike Feldman, at Joe Lockhart's house.

Every White House has its crooner. In the JFK years -- and then later, in the Reagan era -- it was Frank Sinatra. Barbra Streisand and Fleetwood Mac competed for the title under Bill Clinton. Bon Jovi has rivals, of course: Beyoncé and Aretha Franklin got to belt the big patriotic tunes at the big inaugural events. Wyclef Jean has played mini-concerts on Capitol Hill and to celebrate Nancy Pelosi's ascension to speaker. Will.I.Am created the Obama love-bomb "Yes, We Can" video -- but we haven't seen him around town lately. Bruce Springsteen, a bigger star, is more on-message. But does he play small rooms for the cause? Nope: Bon Jovi's that guy.

Haven't seen any photos of the event (yet, I'm sure some were smuggled out) but if/when I get them, I will be sure to share!

~ Hath

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Online Updated

A new chapter, "I Didn't Mean to Miss Your Birthday" is up.

~ Hath

Richie Print Interview

Richie featured in Austrailian Musician magazine. He speaks with Powderfinger's Darren Middleton.

Here is the link to the full article.

~ Hath

Things I Owed You

I was just checking my to-do list, and holy crap have I been slacking!  Chalk it up to holiday craziness, okay?  Here's a bunch of random things that I had on my list.   I updated the main posts too.  If you see anything else I missed, let me know!!

~ Hath

Saturday Night Live

This is a link to a MediaFire directory with the MP4's from the show, and the MP3 rips from the two songs, Superman Tonight and When We Were Beautiful.  Some of the files bust the 50MB limit on my SkyDrive, hence the MediaFire locale.


The Genesis Project
Jon's speech from December 8th.  Video file (AVI and MP4 formats) and MP3 rip both up.

KLOS Christmas Show (Richie)
I have all the songs except "With A Little Help From My Friends".  Excellent set by Richie!  Decent quality from the YouTube rips that HayIRS left in the comments of the KLOS post.

David on the Today Show
David was on with the cast of Memphis.  I've got the video and MP3 rip up on the MediaFire.

Send Your Karma to Jon's House Today

There were a couple of blurbs this morning saying that one of Jon's sons was taken to the hospital in the wee hours this morning.  None of them say what for (thank goodness; medical specifics are really nobody's business unless the family wants to share) but they do say he was sent home, so hopefully it wasn't anything too bad.

Sending good wishes that everything's alright in the Bongiovi household today.  There's nothing scarier than a child needing to go to the hospital in the middle of the night.  I'm a veteran of that myself, countless times (thankfully never anything worse than strep or ear infections).  It never gets any easier.


~ Hath

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