Got 10G's?

RICHIE SAMBORA MEET & GREET/2 VIP TIX TO BON JOVI NYC

Richie has donated two "personal" tickets (so the seats are in the family section) along wtih the Meet and Greet opportunity.  According tot he listing, the seats are on Richie's side, at eye-level (whatever that means) but no specific seat information is available.  Winners will have to pick up tickets at will-call.

This is for the February 24, 2011 MSG concert.

The auction supports Precious Paws a pet shelter in California.

So far, the winning bid is up over 10,000 USD

Yes, you get to meet Richie, take a photo and have something signed.

And you thought the current ticket packages were insane?  Oh well, at least this is for a good cause.

~ Hath

GH Promo Show in Madrid

The Greatest Hits promo show in Madrid is tonight. We're looking forward to the reviews, videos, and everything else you can find!!


~ Hath

Rock Band 3 Tracks

Big thanks to BlushnScarlet for this email!

I have a teenage son and we play Rock Band. Long have I been lamenting for more than Prayer and Wanted. Well now with the release of RB3 and GH, they're releasing a Bon Jovi pack next week!! (Harmonix says that they get more requests for Bon Jovi than any other band). Anyway, in case there are other Rock Banders out there, here are the songs they're releasing on Tuesday:

• Bad Medicine
• Blaze of Glory
• Have a Nice Day
• I'll Be There for You
• It's My Life
• Lay Your Hands On Me
• Livin' On a Prayer (RB3 Edition)
• Runaway
• Wanted Dead or Alive (RB3 Edition)
• We Weren't Born to Follow
• Who Says You Can't Go Home
• You Give Love a Bad Name (RB3 Edition)

We pre-ordered it when it first was announced (Hathlet is jazzed for the RB Keyboard lol). We'll be hitting our local GameStop on the way home from school Tuesday!

~ Hath

Today Show Vote

OK, so we all received this text/tweet from Bon Jovi, yes?

BonJovi: What song do you want us to play live on @todayshow on Nov. 12th? Vote here: http://on.today.com/czqhQ9

I dutifully chugged on over to the Today Show link, only to find these as my choices:

Who Says, WWBTF and Bad Name Thankfully, who Says is NOT winning (Bad Name is).

Wouldn't it make MORE sense, and cause more hype/viewership/DVRing/etc, if the vote was "Which of the NEW songs should we play on The Today Show"?

I think it would.

SO, I'm putting a poll over there on the right, under the search box. And just for fun, because we all say we'd listen to Jon sing the ABC's, I included that one too :)

Now, you know, no matter what "we" pick on the Today Show site, Jon's gonna do whatever the hell he wants to do. BUT, I think it would be interesting to see what song my readers like best.


Ready?


Set?

VOTE!

~ Hath

Bon Jovi's back and ready to rock Jersey

An article from the NJ Courier (not all print versions have this article, apparently).

From the Meadowlands to the multiplex, Bon Jovi's "Circle Tour" has come 'round again. "Circle Tour" has come 'round again.

"Bon Jovi … The Circle Tour" will be screened in movie theaters across the country at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 8. The concert movie documents the band's four-night, sold-out engagement at the new Meadowlands Stadium last spring, which began with the inaugural concert at the stadium on May 26.

"The Circle Tour" went on to become the top concert of the summer in North America, according to Pollstar and Billboard. The tour promoted the band's 11th studio album, "The Circle," released in 2009.

Local venues for the movie include Ocean Township's Middlebrook Galleria Cinema 10, 1502 Route 35, and North Brunswick's Regal Commerce Center 18, 2399 Route 1.

The theater screening also will include Bon Jovi's video for the track, "What Do You Got," one of four new songs from Bon Jovi's "Greatest Hits," set for release Nov. 9. The other new tracks are "The More Things Change," "No Apologies," and "This Is Love, This Is Life."

The concert movie will be screened in more than 550 theaters nationwide. Tickets are $15 and can be bought at the box office or through www.FathomEvents.com.

The Central Jersey-based band also has announced its 2011 concert tour, promoting "Greatest Hits."

Bon Jovi will perform Feb. 24 and 25 at Madison Square Garden in New York and March 2 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

To promote "Greatest Hits," the group will perform Nov. 9 on "The Late Show with David Letterman" on CBS, Nov. 12 on "The Today Show" on NBC, Nov. 17 on "Private Sessions" on A&E, Nov. 21 on "The American Music Awards" on ABC, Nov. 23 on "Ellen," and Nov. 25 on "Heroes" on CNN.

Also on TV this month, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-nominated band will be featured on the popular show "Glee." In addition, Bon Jovi will be interviewed Nov. 22 on CNN's "Larry King Live."

Bon Jovi is led by singer/guitarist Jon Bon Jovi, a Sayreville native with a home in
Middletown. His bandmates are Woodbridge native Richie Sambora on guitar/vocals, and Colts Neck residents David Bryan on keyboards/vocals and Tico Torres, drums. The band also features bassist Hugh McDonald.

Seeing as how I'm not seeing the movie in New Jersey, and that I knew about the TV appearances, the one thing I took from this article is "at least SOMEONE is acknowledging that Huey is part of the band"!!

source

~ Hath

Mid-Day Motivator: Volunteer

Willow, like the "SLEEP" one from earlier this week, I think there'll be a fairly long line :)

~ Hath

Inside Bon Jovi: Greatest Hits

Keep an eye (ear?) out this week for this radio special. It is supposedly playing "on radio stations across the country" this week.

If you find listings, or the recording itself, please share!!

~ Hath

Cologne Pictures (WM, from Getty)

From Getty Images ( so watermarked, but still pretty ).  They're also all up in my Photobucket.

~ Hath

Cologne Press Conference

Rike, you are the STAR this week :) Thanks for finding this great press video (from which I snagged the above shot -- delicious!!)  Damn the guys look like they'd rather be having root canals.



~ Hath

GH Track by Track Interview

Thanks M, for dropping this my way!



An interview (video) with Jon and Richie talking about the tracks on the Greatest Hits record.  10 minutes of Jon and Richie -- how can you go wrong with that!  It's up on my Mediafire here.

Enjoy!

~ Hath

Cologne Radio Show

Yesterday's show was short, but jam-packed!  Here's the set list:

• You Give Love A Bad Name
• We Weren't Born To Follow
• Lost Highway
• It's My Life
• What Do Ya Got
• When We Were Beautiful
• Wanted Dead or Alive
• Who Says You Can't Go Home
• Keep The Faith
• Livin' on a Prayer
• Always

Encore:

• Bad Medicine

The individual song files are in the mediafire (Thanks Catte!), as well as a whole-show-as-a-single-file (thanks Rike!)

The Mediafire folder with all these goodies is here.

~ Hath

Aussie Interview

An interview posted today at ContactMusic was an excerpt from a radio interview that's been podcasted here:

The 48-year-old rocker admitted he and Richie Sambora, the lead guitarist in Bon Jovi, are sentimental about presents and don’t just use their fortunes to buy each other expensive gifts.

Jon has confessed that in his earlier celebrity days he used to try and impress his friends with grand presents such as cars, but now he realises that those closest to him value offerings that show more time and effort.

“You should see the hell I have to go through,” he revealed on the Australian Kyle and Jackie O radio show. “Richie makes me make him a card, make him a birthday cake - I have burnt my finger so many times.”

Jon revealed that he and his bandmates used to try and out-do each other on who could give the most grandiose birthday present. But he soon realised the “beat the gift game” was only ever going to have a short lifeline.

“Actually we were never really that frivolous, to be honest, I think for a while we played the hole ‘beat the gift’ trip – ‘you buy me a car, I’ll buy you a car,’ that kind of stuff, but those are the cute moments of youth,” he explained. “You know, you can’t play ‘beat the gift’ forever it just doesn’t really work.”

The musician has four children - Stephanie Rose, Jesse James Louis, Jacob Hurley and Romeo Jon – with his wife Dorothea Hurley. Jon believes eight-year-old Jacob is already showing signs he has what it takes to become a successful actor.

“I am the one pushing him towards that I don’t think he’s all that keen,” Jon admitted. “But he has the ‘it’ I can see it all over Jakey, he should do it. I just watch the kid walk around my house and know that he’s got it. He’s got it all, absolutely.”

Anyone else want to see the kinds of cards these guys make for each other?  I don't see them as the Martha Stewart type...  Coloring with the kids?  Sure.  Jon making a card for Sambora?  Man what I'd give to be a fly on the wall THAT day...

The podcast has been uploaded to my Mediafire for your enjoyment (thanks, Catte!!)

~ Hath

Mid-Day Motivator: Hot

A motivator from a new face!  Thanks JoviRealtor!!

~ Hath

Live Stream from Cologne Today!

Don't forget....

Tune in today for a live band performance from Cologne, Germany streaming from five radio stations. 

FFN
FFH
RADIO REGENBOGEN (click on "radio" tab)
RADIO HAMBURG
RADIO 7

source

Want To See Bon Jovi Live?

Yeah, it's THAT video, that is cropping up all over the place.  Makes me giggle.  We all know at least ONE person in our own sphere of the Fandom who's like the "I Don't Care" bear...



Some of the comments made me laugh too.

OH MY GOD. This almost made me fall off my chair. SO. FRIGGIN. TRUE. And so sad. :( I love it!!! Bravo!

I SAID: I DON'T CARE!

HAHAHAHAHAHA

TOTALLY TRUE...ONLY FANS KNOW THE FEELING...

LMAO this is so funny, I am a member of BSWJBJ and by the presale tickets but being in the UK GC tickets are enough to get front row, plus sitting outside in a binbag for hours with a number on my hand and name on a list lmao, but its all fun. Gotta love Jovi ! x

That was too funny. Sad that some people "don't care" what it takes to get there, but need to be front row. I'd love to be front row, but not for $1,750.00.

And this interesting take from KikoSavesTheDay:

So true...people will pony up three times--or more--the face value of the ticket but balk at spending $10 on the album. If they're stupid enough to pay $1000 for a bullshit seat but not $10 for the recorded music, they deserved to get fleeced. Artists that can get away with this are doing it because they want to compensate for the CD/MP3 sales they're missing out on. This is how piracy bites concertgoers on the butt.

~ Hath

Bon Jovi Lullabies

This blurb from VH1 Classic Rock Nights cracked me up. Thanks to Catte for sending it along.

What better way to put your baby to sleep than with Bon Jovi songs and now, thanks to the latest album from Rockabye Baby, you can! The CD features 12 of Bon Jovi’s greatest hits converted to lullabies and performed with soothing instruments like the glockenspiel, the vibraphone, harps, bells and more. To hear songs like “Livin’ on a Prayer” and “It’s My Life” as lullabies and to learn more, head to RockabyeBabyMusic.com.

Now, I checked out Rockabye, but no Jovi yet.  Some other great albums though, from AC/DC, GnR,  Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Coldplay, Green Day, The Cure, Nine Inch Nails and more!  Totally made me smile.

I don't know about you, but I really want to hear the full version of Head Like A Hole in Lullaby-eese.  My favorite NiN song EVAH.

But, back to Jovi.  I did find, on iTunes, an album called "Lullaby Rock -- Lullaby Renditions of Rock Classics, Vol. 3" that includes a lullaby version of Prayer.

Mmmm, I'm feeling sleepy already :)

~ Hath

BJCT: The Movie: In 5 DAYS!!

From update@bonjovi.com:

The Circle Tour: Movie Event is only 5 days away! On Monday, November 8th, Bon Jovi's historic run of shows at the New Meadowlands Stadium will be on the big screen for one-night only at a movie theater near you!

Buy your tickets here.

To celebrate the movie event, we are giving you a chance to win incredible Bon Jovi prizes including a flyaway trip to see Bon Jovi perform live at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on March 19th, 2011!

Enter now for your chance to win here!

~ Hath

Vote Bon Jovi Best Live Act

There's only ONE day left to vote for Bon Jovi as the "Best Live Act" for the MTV European Music Awards set to broadcast live from Madrid, Spain on November 7th, 2010 at 9PM (8PM GMT). Remember, votes are unlimited so be sure to vote as much as you can."

Bon Jovi will be bestowed with the Global Icon award and will also perform at the show.

This is the LAST day to vote, so vote now!

~ Hath

Bon Jovi's $15,000 Charity Donation

Stories like this make me smile...

Rockers BON JOVI have personally matched fan donations of $15,000 (£10,000) to support the annual British fundraiser Children In Need.

The band played a show in London earlier this week for 100 lucky fans who had won tickets in a BBC contest ahead of this month's telethon, which raises cash for underprivileged kids.

And the generous stars dug deep to hand over their own donation of $15,000, according to Britain's Daily Express.

The smiling bandmembers then posed with a giant cheque as proof of their pledge.

The Telethon is on November 10th.
source

~ Hath

GH Promo Show in Germany

The GH Promo Show in Germany is tonight -- we're looking forward to all the goodies from that event! I'd really like to know if This is Love, This is Life sounds as good live as I think it will...


~ Hath

Interviews

Jon Bon Jovi did a radio interview with one of the German stations.  On the site, the questions are spelled out, but the answers are short audio clips.  You can find the interview here.

My favorite is the first one:

What can the viewers and listeners on 4 November expect?

Oh, you know, a buncha hit songs played by guys that are out of tune and in [a] cranky mood.  The usual.

And an interview with Richie on Guitarworld. Like Catte (thanks Catte!) my favorite is this:

What do you think of Jon Bon Jovi’s skills on the guitar? Is he just a simple strummer, or is he capable of busting out a mind-blowing solo? —Kenny Griffen

Jon’s been getting better on the guitar. Over the past couple of years, he’s really been working on his technique. He never really played any leads until the last tour, and now he’s at the point where the two of us are even doing a couple of dual-lead solos onstage. He’s always been a terrific rhythm guitar player—very underrated, too, if you ask me.

He also got asked (again) the question about the next solo record. Richie! Take the hint, darlin'!

I love both of your solo albums. Any plans for another one, and if so, what can we expect? —Rudra Patel

Right now, I’m a little booked up. [laughs] This Bon Jovi tour is going to last 18 months, so my dance card is filled for the time being. I have written a few new songs, though, and I’ve actually recorded a couple of them. I worked with the production group called the Matrix—they’ve produced everybody from Korn to Avril Lavigne. There’s kind of a new sound I’m starting to explore, but it’s going to take a while for me to see things through as a new album, since I’m on the road till August 2011.

That article can be found here.

~ Hath

Bon Jovi Streaming Live!

So, we know about the band streaming the November 10th PC Richards event.  And we were all thrilled. 

Then we saw this article that says that

VEVO, the popular music video application available on iOS devices, announced that it will broadcast live concerts to iPhone and iPod touch users during November. The concerts will be broadcast through a partnership with CBS Interactive's "Live on Letterman" show. Concerts include Brad Paisley on Wednesday, November 3 at 8pm EST, Bon Jovi on Tuesday November 9 at 8pm EST, and Rascal Flatts on Monday, November 15 at 8pm EST. VEVO is a free application and is available in the iTunes App Store.

The Bon Jovi live stream is one of the events they're streaming. But look again. They're streaming the November 9th event -- The Live on Letterman appearance.

Will they also stream the November 10th event, as posted on Bon Jovi's YouTube account? Will we get TWO nights in a row of streaming goodness on our iPhones/iPods?

Maybe for those of us who can actually use Vevo.

You see, youtube.com/BonJovi is powered by Vevo. In the past, some of our non-US friends have had issues viewing videos through that provider.

But earlier this afternoon, we got this text from BonJovi:

BonJovi: We will be showing the performance twice more after it airs live on the Bon Jovi YouTube channel for those of you watching around the world!

Maybe Vevo is suspending it's elitist practices to let everyone see the November 10th stream?  Never fear; I'm sure someone will stream both events, and someone will share them, and hopefully I'll end up with them, which means you'll end up with them :)

~ Hath

When Lightning Strikes

My good friend T and I collaborated on a brief story, which is over on her Pennies for Pearls site.  Called "When Lightning Strikes" it's a short story featuring David from The Joker, and Jon from T's TC Davis story line.

The character references are important, because in this short story, they find themselves thrown together, not quite sure what to make of each other.  In Jon's world, David is engaged to his eldest daughter.  In David's world, Jon has a toddler.  A bit confusing for them, but they sort it out.

This was for a challenge over at T's board: T's Place.  We had a great time writing this over IMs over the weekend, and hope you enjoy giving it a read!

It's PG for language, and can be found here.

~ Hath

BBC Radio 2 ~ Simon Mayo (II)

Thanks to Rike for the heads up, and Catte, for working at home :)

Three more songs up on the Mediafire folder for the BBC2 event:

• Bed of Roses
• Make a Memory
• Only Make Believe 

These are up on YouTube as well.

Bed of Roses


Make a Memory / Only Make believe



~ Hath

Bon Jovi LIVE on YouTube Nov. 10th!

Yep, you read it right...

Bon Jovi fans have the exclusive opportunity to shape the set list of the November 10th Best Buy Theater webcast performance right here on YouTube!

On November 9th in the U.S. and Canada Bon Jovi will release their brand new GREATEST HITS album, which will transport listeners back in time through the band's worldwide monster hits, and offer a bridge to the future with the debut of four brand new tracks. In celebration of this release we want to know: which Bon Jovi song from their vast catalog inspires you the most?

You can submit your song requests from all over the world right here. You can submit with either a text request OR (even better) with a video request explaining why that Bon Jovi song is your particular favorite. Other fans will then be able to vote on all of the suggestions and the most popular picks will rise to the top. So get your video cameras ready and tell us what to play! Tell everyone the song title FIRST and then go on to tell us why it's your favorite.

You can submit your favorite song now through Monday, November 8th at 5pm ET.

On November 10th, tune in to our live streaming concert right here on the Bon Jovi channel on YouTube to hear YOUR top picks of our greatest hits.

And it will stream? VERY cool. Be sure to tune in, and vote, vote, vote!

~ Hath

Mid-Day Motivator: Pain

Coarse Language Warning

Kiwi, another winner -- I think you hit the nail on the head with this one :)

~ Hath

German GH Promo Show Information

Many, many, many thanks to Rike for posting this on one of the boards we both belong to:

4-November 8pm Local Time (3pm NYC time):

• FFH (Hessen) ~ scroll down a bit and click on Hit Radio FFH einschalten
• FFN (Niedersachsen) 
• SALÜ (Saarland) ~ click on ISDN, DSL or best
• RADIO 7 (Baden Württemberg)
• RADIO REGENBOGEN (Baden Württemberg)
• RADIO HAMBURG (Hamburg) ~ click 'zum player' on the right side

5-November :: 8pm Local Time (3pm NYC time):

• Lokalradios NRW  
• SAW (Sachsen-Anhalt) 

6-November :: 8pm Local Time (3pm NYC time):

• Lokalradios NRW 

I have no idea which of these work in your countries, or what the time difference will be for you.  BUT, I'm sure you can figure it out!!!

Thanks again Rike!!

~ Hath

Update: I edited the post for readability, and to correct a couple things -- that'll teach me to fire one off and run to a meeting!

Wanted Wednesday ~ Pittsburgh 1995

Please rise, for the singing of our national anthem...

Yes, yes, I've said it before, I'm a sucker, a total sucker, for the long intros. And at 3:40, this really feeds my need. By the time the opening bars of the actual song come through, I'm spent.

The mix is great, though Richie's mic is a bit louder than normal (which is in no way a detriment to the performance by the way).

The "Let's Ride" always gets me right in the gut, and Richie doesn't disappoint here. The solo is strong, and Tico is phenominal (though when isn't he?)





You can download this track here.

And, thanks to hAnD90, we can see a video of (some of) this amazing performance. This YouTuber cut a couple parts of the video with the actual Wanted video. He did a great job with that, and don't worry, you get to see most of the performance.

The last few seconds, when they're closing out the song are especially lovely -- can you use "lovely" to describe that?



~ Hath

Note: I'm now on Windows 7 / IE8, and the player I usually use doesn't seem to work for me anymore.  I've got a second one that works for me, but I don't know what works for the rest of you :)

BBC Radio 2 Event

Yes, the podcast isn't up yet, but when do we wait for the official anything?  You can listen to it here, or...

Here in my mediafire folder, the super-awesome Catte has uploaded the show for you all to enjoy.

There's one continuous file, which is all the Jovi stuff spliced together out of the program that's up on the BBC site.  Then there are the individual songs:

• You Give Love a Bad Name
• We Weren't Born To Follow
• It's My Life
• What Do Ya Got
• Work For the Working Man
• Who Says You Can't Go Home
• Wanted

M, you sent me an email last night, asking if I wanted it; thank you SO much for thinking of me!

~Hath

Don't go away mad...

Yet another great article from the UK -- this time from the Telegraph.  You can read the whole article here, but this is the part that resonates:

It’s curious, though, that in our post-everything age, in which every trend has been endlessly revived and revisited – especially if it’s from the 80s – Bon Jovi have never, at any point, been cool. That may be because they’ve never gone away for long enough to generate much in the way of nostalgic affection. It may also be because their singer can come across as a bit of a berk.

I don't agree so much with the not-being-cool thing, because I think they're pretty cool, but the other part. They've never really gone away -- not for a long long time. They're always in our faces.  Now, this isn't a bad thing, but even the band can admit that too much of a good thing is like getting high and coming down.  In other words, a bummer.

The interview where Jon was talking about "what's next", and made no mention of heading back into the studio for the next Bon Jovi project was refreshing, and not just because that means my accounting software will finally show more black again.  It means they're taking time to regroup, probably individually.

Let David do his Broadway thing (after all, there'a ALWAYS room for another Tony, right?)

Let Tico do work for his foundation, and enjoy his young son.

Let Richie work on his projects, both his solo efforts and those with Nikki, and relish the summer with his daughter.

Let Jon enjoy the summer with his kids.  Take a breather.  Relax.  If you're getting bored, then it's time to do something else before you start to really hate your job.  That would suck for all of us.

I've talked with some of you out there, and admittedly, this was suggested to me by someone I'll call T. T threw out the statement that if they went away for a year or two, when they decided to come back / tour again / put out another record, it would do great. Give us a chance to miss you before you jump down our throats again.

Don't go away forever, just take a vacation. Let us miss you.

And let us build up our bank accounts.

~ Hath

ITV Taping

One of my Jovi Friends, Neurotica, was lucky enough to get a ticket to yesterday's ITV taping in London.  She blogged the experience on her blog.

A couple highlights:

nice surprise of the night. An acoustic set in middle of crowd. Crew brought it in two chairs to the part of stage that extends into the crowd. Two mics were set. Jon with his Takamine (my second favorite inanimate object), Rich with his double neck guitar. Richie was having technical difficulty with his ear piece:

Richie: I have mic, but I don’t have ears (he said to tech)
Jon: they are on the side of your head

Then the magical Prayer started. I’ve heard this song a million times. Saw it live in many renditions (nothing beats the stompy start in my book lol)... but it never ceases to send chills down my spine and this time it was no different... WELLLLLL that is until Jon f'd up the song: “Tommy used to work on the docks... he got his string in hock...” stops and looks at Richie saying he f'd up the song, then looks at crowd and says I swear we were good at soundcheck

A really great read, she has a way with words -- check it out!

~ Hath

Mid-Day Motivator: Sleep

Aw, Kiwi, I think you'll have a LONG line queued up for that!

~ Hath

A Portrait of the Artist

Another great article from the Guardian:

What got you started?

I was just another long-haired teenage kid with visions of grandeur, strumming a tennis racket or a broom in front of his bedroom mirror.

What was your big breakthrough?

Every step along the way has felt like the big time: from playing our first high-school dance, to getting a record deal, to releasing a monumental album like Slippery When Wet, to playing our first stadium. It just never ends.

What has been your biggest challenge?

To be sure that I never sold out or sacrificed my art for commerce. We never had rappers when that was popular, or hung out with grunge guys, or tried to be a boyband. What Bon Jovi did, we did our way.

What have you sacrificed for your art?

Quite a few body parts. My knees, ankles and lower back hurt a lot; I moan and groan every time I get out of a chair.

What's the worst thing anyone ever said about you?

Where do I begin?

If you could send a message back to your critics, what would it be?

Have a nice day.

What one song would work as the soundtrack to your life?

In My Life by the Beatles. It summarises the fact that life has been a page-turner for me. And I can't wait to get to the next chapter.

What's the greatest threat to music today?

We are at a crossroads in the music business: with the rise of the internet, the world we live in has changed, and the past is not coming back. But I see the glass as half-full: the internet and social networking are new avenues for the next Bob Dylan to be born on.

What work of art would you like to own?

For years, I've had a hankering for the portrait of Benjamin Franklin by Joseph Duplessis. Franklin is credited with so many inventions: the postal system, lightning rods, the constitution. He was a rock star before there was such a thing.

Is there an art form you don't relate to?

There's a lot of them. I don't work well outside the lines; my report card once read, "doesn't play well with others".

What's the biggest myth about rock stars?

That if you didn't throw up today, you don't really rock. I haven't thrown up yet.

Interview by Laura Barnett

In short

Career: Has released 11 studio albums with his band Bon Jovi, and two solo records. Bon Jovi Greatest Hits was released on Mercury on 1 November.

High point: "I don't think I've achieved it yet."

Low point: "The summer of 1991. I'd been living out of a suitcase since 1983, and I couldn't remember what I loved about music."

Bon Jovi Live Is An Unstoppable Force

I thought this was a nice 10-year pictoral retrospective...

A quarter-century after the appearance of signature hits “Wanted Dead or Alive,” “Livin’ on a Prayer,” and “You Give Love a Bad Name,” Bon Jovi is not only still touring, but the group actually tops the list of best-selling concert tours. According to Pollstar’s mid-year 2010 report, Bon Jovi is the top-grossing concert tour in North America (followed by James Taylor/Carol King, Taylor Swift, and Paul McCartney, among others).Bon Jovi is also second worldwide, bested only by AC/DC.

To see what the fuss is about, and to get fans fired up about Bon Jovi’s upcoming Live on Letterman webcast, KFRC assembled a collection of stellar live shots from the past decade. Check ‘em out, and see how Jon’s (and Richie’s) hairstyles have evolved (or not!) over the years.

Watch Bon Jovi perform a Live on Letterman concert webcast on Tuesday, Nov. 9 at 8pm Eastern (5pm Pacific)!

Some NICE shots, shown here. The rest of the photos from this group are in my Photobucket account.

~ Hath

BBC Radio 2 ~ Simon Mayo

The Simon Mayo show on Simon Mayo Show BBC Radio 2 airs today. The program is on at 5:00 pm local time. Consult the World Clock to see what time that is where you are (it's 1pm EST for US East Coasters).

~ Hath

Mid-Day Motivator: Sex

Thanks Queenie!

~ Hath

Greatest Hits DVD (not available in US/Can)

BON JOVI GREATEST HITS DVD features the band's biggest worldwide smash hits in a career-spanning set of original promo videos, alongside the greatest ever live performances of each and every one of these legendary tracks.

The phenomenal live footage includes the band's groundbreaking rooftop show on top of London's O2 Arena (never before been released on home video) as well as an exclusive performance of storming new single WHAT DO YOU GOT?, not available anywhere else.

17 ORIGINAL VIDEOS + 17 LIVE PERFORMANCES
THE ULTIMATE VIDEO COLLECTION

This DVD includes Livin' On A Prayer, It's My Life, You Give Love A Bad Name, Bad Medicine, Who Says You Can't Go Home, Have A NIce Day, Always, Lay Your Hands On Me, We Weren't Born To Follow, Keep The Faith, Blaze of Glory and MORE!

This DVD collection is available around the world, minus US and Canada. Look for it when you purchase your Greatest Hits album in November!

Not available in the US or Canada.

But Jo-o-o-o-o-onnnnnn!

THESE are the songs we know ALL the words to, so you can't use the "you get crap set-lists because you only know the chorus" excuse. What's the excuse now?

Never fear fellow Americans, and friendly Canadians, we can still get it from Amazon.co.uk. THEY have a region-free version. Seriously though, WTF?

According to a couple of the reviews on Amazon:

15 of the 17 live tracks were taken from the 5 live DVD's that they have released over the last few years, (Madison Square garden/Live From London/This Left Feels Right - Live/The Crush Tour/ Lost Highway - The Concert). In addition, all of the music videos are full frame, and as a result have 2 thick, vertical bars on either side of the screen. The picture quality is also fairly grainy throughout, even on the newer vidoes, which probably explains why there is no Blu-Ray release for this. On the plus side, there are exclusive live videos for 'We Weren't Born to Follow' and 'What Do You Got?', as well as the standard music videos for both of these songs.

~ Hath

Lefsetz Letter: Bon Jovi’s Endless Tour

I'm all for the acoustic suggestion...

At least Bob Dylan changes the arrangements.

Isn’t this how we got into trouble? Do you really expect fans to overpay forever to hear the same damn songs?

In other words, you need new material that people want to hear or the tickets have to be cheap. You might stop at Quiznos or McDonald’s every day, but you only go to Bermuda once every couple of years. Very few people love one vacation destination so much that they go there exclusively, in other words, one year Bermuda, one year Jamaica, one year the Virgin Islands…and then maybe even Hawaii. Then again, who can afford to go on vacation anymore?

Last time around Bon Jovi didn’t sell out, and blew out and gave away tickets. What in hell makes the band think business will be better next year? What are the indicators? When a product fades in the marketplace, the only way to juice sales is to reboot, refresh… Instead, we get Bon Jovi doing "Wanted Dead Or Alive" and "Livin’ On A Prayer" one more time.

I guess they could always do albums.

Then again, after "Slippery When Wet", then..?

If you’re a major act going out next year for a big ticket price, you’d better reevaluate.

First you can drop the price. Dylan doesn’t charge much. If it’s about your greed, needing to make money to keep up your payments, you’re in trouble. It’s got to be about the music.

And since you are a musician, you’ve got to do a different show.

What if Bon Jovi went out acoustic. Every number with wooden instruments as CSN&Y used to say. Maybe the venues would be smaller, but people would overpay for this, it’d be a special event.

I’m not even sure social networking can goose the same show anymore. People have seen this. Win a contest to get on stage, write a song to open up the gig… That’s so 2010, and soon it’s gonna be 2011.

Cut the hubris. 2011 is the year to do something different, or stay home.

If you don’t, be ready to be victimized by the Web. Yup, that’s what happens. You can no longer give away tickets quietly, if there are empty seats people snap pictures and put them online DURING the show. As a result, demand is driven down for future dates.

It’s tough being a star.

But things are good if you’re a musician.

Do people really want to overpay to see Steely Dan one more time? Donald Fagen is better off building the Dukes Of September, at least it’s new, it’s vibrant, it’s not cast in amber like the shows of too many overpriced acts living on their laurels.

source

Reminder: Pre-sale/VIP for North American Tour Dates

Just a reminder about the Pre-sale/VIP for North American Tour Dates happening today.

Good luck!

~ Hath

JBJ: Fat, Drunk and Bored

Uh sure, Jon; whatever you say there, chief.

Over the weekend, this article from the Guardian caused lots of conversation/speculation. It's a long one, so settle in.

Jon Bon Jovi: 'I'm overweight. Drinking too much. Bored to tears'

Jon Bon Jovi – long-serving rock god, philanthropist, ageing yet viable pin-up – has truly stupendous teeth. They are white and they are straight and there are lots and lots and lots of them. They are semi-threatening when bared, but blindingly, staggeringly glamorous otherwise. They work brilliantly onstage. Jon Bon Jovi deploys them (quite knowingly, I am sure) to amazing effect. He'll unleash them on you with no warning; smiling suddenly and broadly (maybe with irony, maybe flirtatiously, maybe just because he's tickled by something), and you'll find yourself mesmerised by the beauty of the man's gnashers. He's got superstar teeth, no question.

This is lucky, because from where I'm standing, the rest of him looks a bit like a crumpled middle-aged man in a lumberjack shirt.

I meet him in the conference room of an expensive chain hotel located in the midst of São Paulo's endless urban sprawl. It's early October, the night before Bon Jovi – the band Jon named, fronts and owns in any meaningful sense – will perform a sell-out stadium gig for 60,000 Brazilian fans. I have been ushered into the long, anonymous, overly air-conditioned room, past swathes of security guards dressed in seven shades of stern; it's all quite portentous. I'd expected to be confronted by oodles of barely suppressed tension and leather-clad, pouty-mouthed, large-haired sexiness; the visual shorthand of rock gods in general, and Jon Bon Jovi in particular. But once inside, I can see nothing but a nondescript man in a chair. It's not until the nondescript man in the chair tells the stern security guards that they should leave ("I'll be more comfortable without you. Go!"), turns around and unleashes the full power of his teeth upon me that I recognise him as Jon Bon Jovi at all.

Bon Jovi are two weeks into the South American leg of a lengthy world tour. The Circle tour (named after the band's 2009 album) began in May of last year and has rolled on ever since, through North America and into Europe (incorporating a sell-out 12 nights in June 2010 at the O2 Arena in London), back to North America again before this South American section (the band's first visit in 15 years). It's scheduled to carry on long into next year, via Japan and Australia and back to North America with a few more dates in Europe, possibly.

So Jon is ragged with travelling. He's only just flown into São Paulo; he doesn't make much sense for the first few minutes of our interview. His sentences start and trail off into nonsense, and he blames this on me. Is he enjoying the South American gigs, I ask (I'm not that bothered, honestly; I'm just making polite conversation in the name of easing us both into the bigger questions); and he rambles on a bit, catches himself not making sense, tells me (impatiently) that he's: "Trying to answer me in a way that [I'll] understand…", has another bash, loses his track again, and suggests that I'm just: "Not going to appreciate what [he's] saying!"

Then he stops short, meets my eyes, flashes the teeth.

"But no, no! Let's start over! I don't want to do it like this! Go back to the start, go back to where you say: How are you doing? And I'll say: I'm tired! That's what I'll say."

Jon Bon Jovi has been a rock god for more than half his life. He was born John Francis Bongiovi in1962 in Perth Amboy, New Jersey; his father was a Marine turned hairdresser, his mother a Marine turned florist. His childhood was all very blue-collar and secure, and Bongiovi grew up safe in the conviction that he would inevitably be a rock god.

You never thought it wouldn't happen to you?

"Never for a minute did I doubt that it wasn't going to."

Why were you so sure?

"Naiveté [he pronounces it the French way] of youth."

As a teenager he sang and played in local bands and revelled in his physical proximity to Bruce Springsteen and singer-songwriter Southside Johnny. "These guys who were 25 minutes away and doing it, literally doing it. You know, they were sitting literally on that stupid-ass boardwalk in Ashbridge Park. There wasn't a day gone by that you didn't stumble into one of them. There was 10 Asbury Dukes [Southside Johnny's band] and seven E Street guys [Springsteen's band]; there was only three bars to go to. Chances are, one of those 17 guys is going to be in the same bar you're in."

When he was 21 he formed Bon Jovi with guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboard player David Bryan and drummer Tico Torres; in 1986, their third album, Slippery When Wet, featuring career-defining single "Livin' on a Prayer", turned Jon Bon Jovi into a superstar.

In the intervening 24 years, the group has never faltered, never split up; never stopped writing, recording or touring.

They've released 11 studio albums together, albums which have sold somewhere in the region of 120m copies worldwide. Bon Jovi have performed more than 2,700 concerts in 50-something countries for the delectation of some 35 million fans; it was the number-one best-selling touring act of 2008. At this point in time, only U2 and the Rolling Stones are capable of outselling Bon Jovi on tour.

Jon Bon Jovi is giving this interview in the interest of promoting a forthcoming Greatest Hits album, the second the band have produced in their lifetime.

Why now for a Greatest Hits, I ask. Is it a creative pause, an opportunity for reflection, a celebration of the past 25 years?

"A commitment," he says dryly. "Nothing more than a commitment."

Two and a half years ago he cut a deal with Lucian Grainge, the CEO of Universal, his record company. Grainge allowed him to go and make a somewhat self-indulgent country album in Nashville. "I rang him and said: 'I want to do this.' There was silence on the phone, and then: 'I guess at this point you can do whatever you please, but… would you do me a favour when you lose all my money and give me a Greatest Hits?' I said: 'You got it – that's a deal.'"

The country album, 2007's Lost Highway, ended up selling more than either Bon Jovi or Grainge had anticipated; but still, Bon Jovi had agreed to the Greatest Hits album, and so it'll be out tomorrow, at which point it will undoubtedly sell and sell and sell.

You have an endless capacity for commercial success, I say.

He pauses; he's not sure whether or not I intend the comment as a dig. Bon Jovi have come to define a certain kind of rock: soft and girlish and people-pleasing; lacking in rawness, edge, credibility. Critics don't like them, on principle.

"Weeeeeell… If that's how you see it. Thanks…" he says eventually.

It's not just how I see it – there are numbers to back it up.

"There are numbers. Big numbers. But you know what the big numbers are, actually? They are the sum of a lot of little numbers. And the truth is, this is our first tour of South America in 15 years, and we didn't come for 15 years because the records didn't do as well here as they did in America. It's not that we have this planetary appeal, that when every record comes out, you are that big, everywhere. Europe turns its back on you for certain records and then embraces others, as does America."

Is commercial success important to you?

"No. But it allows you to continue to do it. And it also becomes a platform for so many other things that have become a part of my life. I don't know that I would have had the same entrée to presidential politics had I not been as successful in my day job."

Was I surprised to learn that Jon Bon Jovi is a political activist? Kind of. Deep-held political conviction and unapologetic party bias do seem to contrast with his inoffensive, edge-free variant of rock.

But he is deeply politicised, a card-carrying Democrat. In 2004 he toured extensively on behalf of John Kerry, performing duets with Richie Sambora at rallies. In 2009 he campaigned hard on behalf of Obama; he held a fundraiser for the then-presidential candidate at his own home. After Obama was elected, Jon Bon Jovi performed live at his inauguration ceremony.

He says his politicisation began in his teens.

"You were born in the Kennedy era and you came of age and Uncle Ronnie's telling us that everything was going to be OK, because Gorbachev tore down those walls! It was a romantic time, politically."

You believed in it?

"I believed in the 1980s, sure!"

But what about Uncle Ronnie, Ronald Reagan?

"I voted for him! 1980. First time I could vote."

You voted for Reagan?

"Sure! I was 18, and how could you not be impressed?"

But you're a raging Democrat!

"Staunch. It was a… realisation. It happened shortly thereafter. I woke up. I got educated. Got out of school, started to see the world, started looking at things a little differently. And with time… and experience, comes…" he falters "…more experience. Ha! I almost dared to say 'wisdom', but…"

You don't think you're wise?

"Oh. I don't know about that."

Now, as a consequence of the work he has done on the US president's behalf, he is said to be friends with the Obamas.

"Friends with…? No. I don't want to say I'm friends with 'em. That's too strong a word. I have met a lot of them."

Hillary Clinton?

"Bill! Al! Obama! Got emails from the White House today!"

Saying what?

"Saying I'm being vetted for a committee position by the White House."

Bon Jovi denies, repeatedly, that he has any political ambition. He's said in the past that he wouldn't want political office, because sooner or later you have to give the private jet and the apartment back; if you're a rock star, you're allowed to keep them. Now he says: "It's a thankless job! It's a really shitty job! And I tip my hat to the pure conviction of the people who do it. Some of them do have such purity of conviction."

But you seem to have purity of conviction, I say. You believe in the Democratic party. You believe in social justice. Four years ago you launched the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to tackling poverty in the US, and you have spent significant time making sure it ticked over ever since.

"You do!" he says. "You do have purity of conviction. Because you see what an unjust world we're living in…"

Do you feel obliged to do good work, as a rich and privileged man?

"I don't know if I'm fully committed to that," he says (how versed he is in the semantics of politics!). "But I think that when you come to terms with who you are, regardless of your economic status, taking the time to help others in whatever way moves you can really be fulfilling for the soul."

Are you constantly looking for ways to fulfil your soul?

"Not necessarily. I think I'm doing a pretty good job of it."

Jon Bon Jovi would make a natural politician – not least because he is a very bossy man. He is certainly the boss of Bon Jovi. His bandmates describe him in those terms in the course of interviews for the 2009 film When We Were Beautiful, a documentary that follows Bon Jovi as they toured Lost Highway. Jon Bon Jovi described himself as the "CEO of this major corporation".

You make it happen, don't you, I say. You make the phone calls and compile the set lists and break the balls.

"Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!"

Does it grate on you that the others – Richie, David, Tico – are less involved, less responsible, more passive? According to several sequences in When We Were Beautiful, they spend significant time lounging on yachts and rolling round golf courses while you graft. Isn't that annoying?

"No. And you know why? There's a number of reasons why. When you look up at the marquee: whose name is on it? And I was willing to accept that reward, with that payment. I was that kid with the report card that said: 'Doesn't play well with others…'" He laughs. "I couldn't be in a situation where someone else was controlling my destiny. I'm probably not really a candidate to be in the army. Or working at the factory. Or… I have to sink or swim on my own merits."

Are you a control freak?

"I love Team! I'm a big proponent of Team! And I share the wealth and all the accolades. But…"

You have to be team leader?

"Yeah."

I wonder if he's team leader of his domestic situation, too. Jon Bon Jovi has been married to his wife Dorothea since 1989; they met while they were still at school. They live in Manhattan with their four children: Stephanie Rose, 17, Jesse James, 15, Jacob, eight, and Romeo, six. Jon Bon Jovi wears silver dog-taggish pendants inscribed with their names on a chain around his neck.

So is he the boss at home?

"I am wise enough to realise that women are much smarter than any man, and that women control the world."

You really believe that?

"I know that."

Are you a feminist?

"Yeah! Yeah! And… this idea that the pay scale is unequal is beyond my comprehension. Every man knows… and if he doesn't say it, he's a liar… that they get their wisdom from their mother, their wife and their daughters."

He's made oblique references to marital meanderings in the past. He has said: "I've not been a saint. I have had my lapses." Now, when I ask him what sort of a husband he is, he says: "One that runs away a lot more often than not. Ha ha! Not the perfect one! Trust me! Not on any level!"

We talk on. Bon Jovi are slated to fly to London and perform their new single "What Do You Got", a lament to the conflict between celebrity and personal intimacy, live on The X Factor on the night this article is published. Jon and I discuss the phenomenon of that kind of talent show, the pressure it places on the contestants ("It's a lot to ask of those kids"), the fact that Jon thinks he wouldn't have stood a chance competing in such a process ("I would have failed it miserably! Sure! So would [Bob] Dylan!") and his friendship with Simon Cowell ("I enjoy Simon. I enjoy him immensely"). We talk about fame, about the pitfalls of celebrity. He tells me he was always careful to avoid: "Getting sucked into that LA scene, the Hollywood scene, from supermodel to actress to get my photograph taken. It was a shallow pool to swim in. I am not a fame junkie – I have never been a fame junkie."

And we talk about ageing. Jon Bon Jovi is 48 years old. As a young man, he was absurdly good looking. How aware was he of that then?

"In as much as you guys would say I was cute. Uh huh."

You still are cute, I say – and I mean it. As crumpled as Jon Bon Jovi looked when I first met him, through the course of our interview he has woken up and sort of re-engaged with his own face. He still has significant cheekbones, handsome features, those teeth…

He giggles.

"Well. I think your eyesight's going."

Did you enjoy being a pin-up in your youth?

"Now I can say: 'Thank you – that's a wonderful compliment.' At 26, 27, I was pissed off about it. Because I thought: Goddammit! I'm working so hard! I'm trying so hard! I'm trying to do what I want to do, while I'm trying to please you!"

And all we could talk about was how handsome you were?

"Right."

Are you a vain man?

"I'm vain inasmuch as I think I'm terribly out of shape right now. If you want to be perfectly honest, I'm 10lb overweight and I'm drinking too much and I'm bored to tears."

You look OK, I say again.

"You're very kind. OK. I'm not the fat Elvis. At 48, I look OK. But you know… I'm coming to real good terms with getting older."

What are the advantages of age?

"You become that thing that you looked at your parents and the older people in your life, and said: 'No! I don't want to live to be that old! I don't want to!' But it's actually… much better than dying. And there are too many people that are my age, that are dying. God, I didn't want to be that! That would be awful! You can see why people get fat, grow old, give up! Because every day is: get up, do the same mundane shit. When you don't know anything more, and you don't see anything more, and you're not willing to open up your eyes and take a step in another direction… that treadmill would make any young man old."

It sounds a bit like he's quoting his own lyrics.

We wrap up with a return to politics.

How does he feel Obama's doing?

"Not great. Not great. I want the guy that made the great speeches! I think he's in there. I want the guy to come out now. I think he's figured his way around the hallways." He giggles. "I think he knows where all the light switches are! And: 'OK! So this is what I came to do.' And just stand up and say: 'Fuck it!'"

Do you think he will?

"I hope he will. I hope he will."

Twenty-four hours later Jon Bon Jovi stands on stage at the Morumbi Stadium in São Paulo and delivers three and a quarter hours of roaring, supremely commercial rock for a crowd of rapturous, teary, official-merchandise-happy Brazilians. All evidence of the crumpled middle-aged man has left him. He looks truly rock god now: all leather and upper-arm definition and bouffant hair; though, of course, it's his teeth that steal the show. They are more compelling even than his rock-star strut (though heaven knows Jon Bon Jovi struts well) or the cheap, vast rhetoric of his lyrics (sample: "With an iron-clad fist, I wake up and French kiss the morning." Can one French kiss with a fist, iron clad or otherwise, I wonder). It's a deft and practised performance, and never mind that the band didn't soundcheck (they don't these days) or that the set list wasn't decided upon until the very last minute (Jon Bon Jovi had asked the Brazilian press for suggestions during the conference held shortly before the opening number was performed). He attempts to finish with "Livin' on a Prayer" as the encore, but the crowd demands more, so he throws in "Bed of Roses" for good measure. He makes great use of strategic pauses, dewy eyed, head-noddy moments in which he surveys the crowd with a sort of entitled awe and exchanges meaningful looks with Sambora, Bryan and Tico.

But, but… I don't really buy it. There is nothing technically wrong with Bon Jovi's show, nothing at all. It doesn't flag, it's utterly slick, no one falters. And I'd forgotten how much I like a lot of these songs. Yet I get a sense that Jon Bon Jovi is dialling this concert in. Going through the motions. He emanated much more conviction, sincerity and engagement when he and I talked politics the evening before; much, much more. I think politics is where Jon Bon Jovi's true passion lies these days. I think he might even be a little wasted on the rock. Furthermore, if it ever came to it, I'm pretty sure I'd vote Jon Bon Jovi.

Bon Jovi's Greatest Hits album is out on Mercury on 1 November, along with the DVD of Bon Jovi's Greatest Hits

Well, that was quite a lot, wasn't it?  After a sort of snarky start, he got into the swing of it, but with what seemed like (to me at least) canned, rehearsed answers.  I like how the interviewer wasn't blowing smoke up his arse, and the exchange about them being a commercial success, and Jon perhaps taking it as a dig was great.  They ARE a commercial success.  And if he thinks we don't know that, then maybe he isn't as smart as I think he is.

As for the "bored" statements -- we've talked about this before, almost ad nauseum.  The fandom has been saying for months to quit with the vanilla set lists and the same-ol' same-ol'.  As the "CEO of a major corporation" there has to be a modicum of "I'm the boss, and this is the way it is and if you don't like it screw you" and WHY it doesn't carry over to the performances is beyond me.  Yes, the fandom today is largely "new", the non-diehard fans.  BUT, if he pulled out some rocking songs from the past that HE enjoys, maybe he wouldn't be bored, and maybe, just maybe, you turn a casual listener into a die-hard.

In any event, I think the article was a great read, by a seemingly unbiased interviewer.

Happy Monday.

~ Hath