Circle Tour: A Fact-Finding Mission

Jon Bon Jovi's new tour is bringing the veteran rock star to venues he doesn't usually visit on the road.

A shelter for hardcore alcoholics in Seattle. A tour of Skid Row in Los Angeles. Perhaps a squatters village in Sacramento.

That's because this tour in support of Bon Jovi's latest release, "The Circle," is also a fact-finding mission. The singer plans on visiting as many homeless shelters and programs as time allows in hopes of getting ideas and inspiration to shape his own work with the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, a Philadelphia-based charity that fights homelessness by building affordable housing, establishing community kitchens and cleaning up vacant lots in blighted neighborhoods.

"I've spent the last quarter of a century touring, going from arena-stadium to hotel back to arena-stadium-hotel," he says. "This time, because of my foundation's work over the last six years building affordable housing, on my days off and when the opportunity arises ... I will go do shelters and try to learn more about the issue and how to combat it."

Among those stops: Skid Row in Los Angeles early next month with Steve Lopez, the Los Angeles Times columnist who wrote "The Soloist," about a schizophrenic, homeless and wildly talented cellist named Nathaniel Ayers. The book was later made into a movie.

"Skid Row is an eye-opener," Lopez said in an e-mail. "I don't know Jon Bon Jovi, but I suspect he may come out of this with a keener sense of how many people are suffering in this economy, and of how many people on Skid Row are dealing with a combination of financial, physical and mental health issues, many of them veterans."

Such themes dovetail with the latest album, which features "Working for the Working Man" and other songs inspired by the economic meltdown and political turmoil around the world.

Before he kicked off the tour with two shows at Seattle's KeyArena last week, Bon Jovi toured one of the city's most well-recognized homelessness programs, a building run by the Downtown Emergency Service Center that provides homeless alcoholics, many of whom have serious mental illnesses, a place to live — and drink alcohol.

The program saves taxpayers more than $4 million a year in social service and jail costs and creates a safe atmosphere where residents may be more likely to get sober, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association last year.

The singer didn't specify what aspects of the program he might incorporate into his future work at the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, which has built more than 150 units of affordable housing in seven cities since 2006. Various problems of homelessness require different solutions, he said.

Thinking back on a quarter-century of hanging out in hotels around the world, does the 47-year-old wish he started working on the homelessness issue earlier?

"I don't think I was ready for it," he said. "When you're a boy in a rock band, you want to go out and see the world and do all the great things you're supposed to do when you join a rock band. Now there's another aspect to it. There's just more to be said and done, and the difference that can be felt on the trail that you've made."

~ Hath

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Meet The Newest Jovis...

That's right, it's a robot. A "ABB IRB 7600" robot, to be exact. Five of them will dance with Bon Jovi for at least 60 concerts, on The Circle Tour.

Each robot has a 6 ft x 9 ft LED video panel attached to their articulated arm. The robots and screens are integral to the concert production, moving to the rhythm and beat of the music while displaying real time video footage of the show and digital animations, according to ABB. At various intervals the five robot arms move into a formation where the LED panels become a continuous, five-panel screen.

The robots will accompany the nearly two-year long tour, which currently features approximately 60 concerts in North America and Europe, with additional dates likely to be scheduled.

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It's a great read!

~ Hath

Memphis Soundtrack: Rhino Records March 30

Following critically acclaimed and sold-out engagements on the West Coast, the musical MEMPHIS made its Broadway debut October 19, 2009, earning accolades for its score, which features music by Bon Jovi's founding member/keyboardist David Bryan and lyrics by Bryan and Joe DiPietro (I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change).

The Original Broadway Cast Recording of the celebrated new musical MEMPHIS, distributed by Rhino Records, will be available for purchase at all retail outlets including www.rhino.com on Tuesday, March 30, 2010, for a suggested list price of $18.99 (CD) and $9.99 (digital). The collection contains 19 songs and a bonus track/acoustic version of "The Music of My Soul" with piano and vocals by Bryan.


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I have to say, I'm very excited to hear David singing "The Music of My Soul". On the version of the soundtrack I have, we got the BoxSet version of "Memphis Lives in Me". This song, by far my favorite on the soundtrack record, will be absolutely gorgeous with David's voice.

Can't wait!

~ Hath

Songs & Visions

Another of M's Goodies :)

Wembley 1997

Set List

• Keep The Faith
• Sympathy for the Devil
• Bed Medicine/Traveln' Band
• Proud Mary
• That's Alright Mama
• Heartbreak Hotel
• Hey Jude

Featuring

• Mary J. Blige
• Jon Bon Jovi
• Toni Braxton
• Chaka Khan
• k.d. lang
• Robert Palmer
• Seal
• Rod Stewart
• Stevie Winwood
• Eikichi Yazawa

Running Time: approx 28 Minutes

MP4 and MP3 available on my MediaFire.  A mess of screen caps too (in a single RAR file in the MediaFire directory).

~ Hath

Bon Jovi Replaces Fan's Guitar

A California Bon Jovi fan was beside herself when a thief stole her prized rock memorabilia is getting a little rock redemption. Serene Branson reports.

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What a great story. I could have done without all the smarmy song title references, lol, but damn, guys, you done good.

~ Hath

PS: Thanks M, for dropping this in my inbox.

Another Dorky Goddess Vid

This one features some of my favorite Dynamic Duo shots (all eras, not just puppy), set against another beautiful studio track, this one from R.

This track is Wanted, with just guitars, and Jon and Richie. It's not the record track, but a "throwaway" I imagine, from 1987.

It's beautiful, and the clarity of the guitars is literally swoonworthy. The MP3 for this song is up on the MediaFire as well.

Enjoy!




~ Hath

Goodies for you...

Up in my Random Bits and Bobs folder on the MediaFire, I've uploaded a few things I owe you:

[1] The MP3 from Jon's track from Prayer

[2] The interview from Jon's visit to the shelter on Eastlake

[3] The Richie interview where he talks about the set lists and staging

I also found this video posted from a JoviFriend from another board. It's just *sigh* Joviriffic and too good NOT to share



Hmmm, what else....

Oh, someone was able to snag the whole of "This Is Our House" from one of the recent shows (it's the new "Jukebox Hero" apparently lol) and that's here on the MediaFire too. The quality isn't the best because, well, there were a zillion people in the arena when it was playing over the speakers, but it's better than the blurb I got at Gillette during the Pats' game.

I'm working on more of M's goodies, he's sent me some lovely ones I need to spend some time with and split into sections to upload, those should be coming soon.

That's it for now...

~ Hath

Thank You!

Thanks to everyone who's been helping out with the uber-project that is the Bon Jovi Circle Tour Blog.

Thanks to your emails, texts, comments, phone calls, and hard work, we have now amassed videos for ALL songs for BOTH Hawaii shows. Videos and MP3s for most are up on the Mediafire drive, and the rest should be up in the next couple of days.



We couldn't do it without all of you! Thanks so much!

Love and stuff,
Hath

Ray Davies Collaborations

Ray Davies confirms Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi collaborations

The singer has enlisted the Jersey boys on his forthcoming album of duets, featuring new versions of classic Kinks songs

Ray Davies's forthcoming album of duets will feature Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi. The Kinks singer is recording new versions of old songs, replacing his recent choral obsession with celebrity cameos.

Davies works fast. It was only in October, at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th anniversary concert, that he began putting the idea into motion – name-dropping Metallica and telling the press he had "chatted" with the Boss. A few months later, at least two songs have already been recorded: a new version of the Kinks' Better Things, featuring Springsteen, and a rendition of the 1972 single Celluloid Heroes, with Jon Bon Jovi.

Both were recorded in January, at a studio in New York City. "Bruce took about two or three hours and Jon about the same," Davies told the New Jersey Star-Ledger (via TwentyFourBit). "They were well-prepped and I was very impressed. I'm thrilled to have done the tracks with those two guys."


I know we've heard Jon's rendition of Celluloid Heroes from various bootlegs before; it'll be great to hear a studio track!





~ Hath

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Prayer -- Jon -- A Capella

Really, do you need anything more than that? Thanks to TM for sending me this on Facebook :) It's the studio track of just Jon singing Prayer, from the SWW sessions. Don't know where she got it from, but it's absolutely amazing!

If she has the Richie track, I'd love that (hint, hint!!)

It's Prayer, no music, no background, just JON.

I made it into a video (I know it's an amateurish slide show, don't slam me on it lol) and the MP3 she sent is up in my MediaFire.



~ Hath

Note ~ As part of "blog appreciation day" I'm moving from SkyDrive to MediaFire. This post got corrupted and re-posted rather than just updated. So, this isn't anything new, just my computer being a beyotch today...

Online Updated

A new chapter, "Explanations" has been posted.

Enjoy!

~ Hath

Holy TALKBOX Batman!

In trolling through my Google Alerts (and other emails, thanks, Elena!!) I came across a site hosted by a girl named Emily who was fortunate enough to attend the Lanier bash this past Christmas.

She and her sister got some AMAZING photos.  Absolutely gorgeous.

Tons of Jon, David, and Teek, but I had to pass those over to look at THESE....

Holy Talkbox.

Check out the rest of Emily's pictures here.  Steer clear from the commentary though.  Read Becky's "rant" lol to find out why.

~ Hath

You're Putting THAT in Your Mouth?

Uh, load up on the Binaca, baby. Someone over at @BonJovi on Twitter posted this picture, which scared the hell outta me:

The ever-lovely FictionMistress believes that is salt-crusted branzino, and quite yummy. I'll take her word for it.

Ick.

~ Hath

KTF UK TV Clips

Wow, that was a lot of initials :)

Seriously, though, I have the absolute BEST devotees ever. One of them, M, is sending me all sorts of goodies. The first up? An hour-long "newsreel" of Keep The Faith era UK television clips.

It's up on my Mediafire drive, in a three-part RAR file.

If you don't have WinRAR, click here to download it.

Thanks, M!!!

~ Hath

Update 22-Feb @4:15pm: I'm having issues with the RAR files as well. I'm working on it, though... Will update ASAP ~ H

22-Feb @4:50pm: Alright, I guess 7th time is a charm. I uploaded NEW files, re-downloaded (on 2 different computers) and was able to get the file out. Let me know if there are still issues, and I'll sort out an alternate delivery method. This is NOT to be missed! Thanks for your patience..... ~ H