Bon Jovi: Jon doing good in ATL

Hey Jon, I'm in Atlanta too!  Just down the hall. Stop by and say hi before soundcheck.

Jon Bon Jovi gets serious with at-risk youth 

By Melissa Ruggieri 

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

6:39 p.m. Friday, May 13, 2011

Jon Bon Jovi is used to being on stage in sold out arenas and stadiums.

On Friday, the rock icon worked a much smaller crowd, sitting in a circle with about a dozen youth gathered in a back room at the Goodwill Career Center on Buford Highway.

Bon Jovi came to Atlanta a day before his band’s scheduled performance at Philips Arena as part of his involvement with the White House Council for Community Solutions. The 25-member group was formed in December by President Obama to identify and address community needs.

Along with fellow council member Michael Kempner, CEO of the New Jersey-based public affairs and public relations firm MWW Group, Bon Jovi, a longtime philanthropist and creator of the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, has embarked on a series of listening sessions with youths from community-based organizations.

“We get to amplify their voices,” said Kempner.

The Friday meeting with young adults from Atlanta-based Chris Kids and Visions Youth Leadership Academy, as well as civic leaders including Atlanta City Council member Michael Julian Bond, was the second session for Bon Jovi and Kempner. The first was last month in New Orleans and more, scheduled during days off on Bon Jovi’s tour, are planned in Houston and New York.

Now with two listening sessions behind them, Kempner and Bon Jovi, who happily posed for photos with the group after the meeting, are hearing some similar requests.

“It’s all about trust. In both cities, we’ve heard they want a role model to believe in them, and there’s a real need for life skills,” Kempner said.

“They love the idea of being mentored,” Bon Jovi added, “and want to remind you that behind the facade, they’re kids. These kids are determined to buck the system and that is just exemplary.”

One member of Friday’s group, Giovan Bazan, 20, spent 11 years in foster care in California and Georgia, where he said he was abused and neglected.

By the time he became a teen, normal rebellion, coupled with his challenging home life, led to repeated visits to juvenile detention centers.

Now the young man, sharply clad in a black suit and red satin tie, lives in a Chris Kids apartment and works as a youth support specialist for the State Office of Department of Family and Children and is a project coordinator for Georgia Youth Empowerment.

At Friday’s session, Bazan said he told Bon Jovi and Kempner about the importance of a strong support system for teens and the need to scrutinize prescription medication doled out in the foster care system.

But his immediate goal is, simply, to make his voice heard.

“My whole thing is that there are so many people who have so much passion,” Bazan said. “But you can do the biggest thing in the world and if nobody knows about it, it doesn’t matter.”

Bon Jovi: Last Night Dolls & Boobs

Jon is on his way to crazy town (welcome Jon, there's a big population here) according to folks last night.

Two songs stick out, Wanted and a song I wouldn't normally post Who Says (You can't say it's Alright One Million Times).

Thanks to "Carla" aka Carol aka @blushnscarlet for the pictures and the videos

Let's do Who Says first, Jon stopped singing Who Says (that would be a headline if he did it permanently)!!! Watch Jon's interaction with the security guard up in the front of the pit:



And now Wanted.  The fans are getting creative on this legs of the tour, first the Nurse at the Ottawa date and now the Dolls in Columbus.



Some pictures:

Bon Jovi: Columbus Review

CONCERT REVIEW | BON JOVI

Rocker draws from Ohio for inspiration

Wednesday, May 11, 2011 12:29 AM

BY KEVIN JOY

FRED SQUILLANTE | DISPATCH

Jon Bon Jovi performs for his adoring fans last night in a two-hour-plus show at Nationwide Arena.

SLIDE SHOW

View photos from the concert in Nationwide Arena

Who ever said Bon Jovi was only about New Jersey?

Shortly into a two-hour-plus show last night in Nationwide Arena, the band's 49-year-old frontman paused to explain what spawned his 2009 tune Work for the Working Man - whose sobering verses speak of lost employment, wiped-out pensions and waning hope.

Inspiration, he said, came from a 60 Minutes episode detailing the plight of Wilmington, Ohio, residents (a couple named John and Angela Pica in particular) after DHL Express moved its shipping operations and left thousands jobless. Extended applause followed after the song.

It was a moment of solemnity during an otherwise upbeat affair that served as a veritable time machine, taking a capacity crowd back through nearly three decades of familiar, fist-pumping favorites.

Right from the start, Jon Bon Jovi wasted no time in cueing up jukebox favorites, from You Give Love a Bad Name and I'll Be There for You to the synth-tinged Runaway that first propelled the working-class heroes to a life of fame.

Clad in leather pants and vest, the still-boyish singer had no trouble eliciting shrieks and call-and-response vocals from the rhinestone-clad female crowd - which could easily have doubled as a casting call for The Real Housewives of Columbus.

Suave without seeming too much like a Chippendales retiree, their midlife idol transcended his age - strutting like a rooster, ascending an impressive set of stairs made of rotating video screens whose stilts resembled something from the Terminator movies and making time to acknowledge folks in the cheap seats (including packed rows behind the stage with limited views).

At one point, he simply stood on a catwalk and allowed adoring fans to snap pictures. Only during the ballad Bed of Roses did his slow-motion, Romeo-style shtick veer into cheesy territory (big surprise: the ladies didn't mind.)

Newer hits such as It's My Life and Have a Nice Day - which share plenty of pulsating hallmarks to the band's early fare - blended well in the mix, which also included a medley of the Doors' Roadhouse Blues and Bob Seger's Old Time Rock 'n' Roll sandwiched between 1988's Bad Medicine.

The only thing detracting from the party was the notable absence of guitarist Richie Sambora, whose April re-admission to rehab left the group scrambling for a replacement (a Canadian named Phil Xenidis filled the spot adequately, if not quietly).

There was no mention of his nonattendance an audience member tossed onstage a rag doll that resembled Sambora during the concert's close.

Bon Jovi picked up the tiny replica, trying momentarily to get it to strum his guitar.

"I'll do it myself," he mumbled to the audience's cheers before launching into Wanted Dead or Alive, the second of a three-song encore that closed with Living on a Prayer - the group's signature hit to perseverance and pride, even to those who aren't from Jersey.

I'll add pictures in a bit, info on Wanted in another post.

 Here we go, if there is a will there is a way.

Bon Jovi: Jon, Bobby's crazy hair and Lorenza Ponce at last nights benefit

Here's some pics of Jon last night from the Steven Spielberg benefit in Philly.

Jon commits a Faux Pas by wearing the same outfit to 2 different events.  Really Jon you don't own more than 1 nice suit???  Or dress shirt.  Ok maybe ties aren't tops on the what do you give your dad when he's a rock star list.  But really?

Lorenza looked lovely as always!

WTF is up with Bobby's Hair?  He still hasn't washed the stuff out from the movie he's shooting? 

Bon Jovi: Mohegan Sun honors Bon Jovi

His Name is T-I-C-O!! Jesus give the man some respect will ya? The spelling error is not mine (for once).

Mohegan Sun honors Bon Jovi

From left to right: David Bryan (keyboard and vocals),
Bruce "Two Dogs" Bozsum, Bon Jovi, Tom Cantone
and Ticco Torres.

Bon Jovi became the highest grossing artist in Mohegan Sun history with his final show this weekend in the arena.

So Mohegan Sun honored him backstage Saturday night prior to the show. David Bryan (keyboard and vocals), Bruce "Two Dogs" Bozsum, Bon Jovi, Tom Cantone and Ticco Torres posed for a picture before going on stage.

Bon Jovi: Rumors

So a German site is saying Richie is more than gone from the tour:

05/06/2011 - Sambora Bon Jovi in out 

(Translated by Google with Spelling mistake)

Ritchie Sambora , guitarist and founding member of Bon Jovi has now officially left the band. After repeated problems with alcohol Sambora now undergoing hospital treatment for addiction.

Successor is Philip Xenidis , previously as (uaTriumph, Tommy Lee, Rob Zombie) has made ​​a name studio musicians ( Maddin )

Now @luceknight asked Phil X on twitter if he was playing through the European dates this summer:

Now another site is saying the Phil X is on board for the summer.

Bon Jovi Recruit Triumph Guitarist for tour

Phil X will stay on tour with Bon Jovi for the remainder of the summer, which includes a performance at Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park, a show at Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium and Manchester's Old Trafford Cricket Ground.

What do you think? Do you think Richie will be back at all for any part of the tour this year?  Vote in the poll at the top of the page.

Bon Jovi: Got $1500 laying around and nothing to do in Philly tonight?

Dan Gross: It's a Shoah thing: Spielberg's in town for fundraiser

By Dan Gross

Philadelphia Daily News

FILMMAKER Steven Spielberg is expected to tour the National Museum of American Jewish History today while in town for his USC Shoah Foundation Institute's fundraiser tonight at the Loews Hotel, honoring Comcast CEO Brian Roberts.

Spielberg's Righteous Persons Foundation donated $1 million toward the museum's construction efforts in 2008, and the Haddon Heights native also donated his first 8mm film camera to be displayed at the museum, which opened at its new home in November.

Jon Bon Jovi will perform at tonight's benefit for Shoah, which works to preserve memories of Holocaust survivors and those of other genocides. Tickets for the gala, at which nearly 700 guests are expected, started at $1,500.

Bon Jovi:

Congratulations, Bon Jovi is the highest grossing act ever to perform at the Mohegan Sun. Here's some background info and video done in March.

Behind the Scenes: Bon Jovi at Mohegan Sun
By Teresa Garofalo

Bon Jovi's been around a long time. The band has played almost 3,000 concerts in more than 50 countries since the late 1980s.

The band's "The Circle" tour was the top-grossing concert tour of 2010. They're still on the road now, several months into their Live 2011 tour.

Bon Jovi's tour this year included two stops at Mohegan Sun, in Uncasville, Conn.: one in March and one Saturday night. NBC 10 went behind the scenes in March to see how the stage is set up.

The trucks roll in before dawn, and the crews get to work. Crew chief Make Savas said at this point in the tour, they have it all down like clockwork.

"Starts at 5 a.m., and we're set up around noon. So, it takes about six or seven hours to knock it out," Savas said.

Savas said the first step is "mark out."

"Mark the floor with chalk, set up the rigging points, the metal cables that hold everything up," Savas said. "They lift that up, and that's the lighting and video rig above your head. While that's being done, they actually build the stage at the other end of the floor. It's on 200 wheels, so they'll roll the stage in with about 30 people pushing it."

About 80 crew members travel with the band, and another 80 are hired locally, just for the day.

The set pieces are the same ones they use at larger venues. It takes 16 semi trucks to carry it all from place to place. Backline crew chief Mike Rew said it's a tight fit setting it up at Mohegan Sun.

"We are lucky we got to put our whole show into the venue. It barely fits, but we got everything in there," Rew said.

The band had special robotic video screens invented and built just for "The Circle" tour. The massive, computerized apparatus lifts the screens into different configurations, even turning them sideways, until they're flat.

"We took the robots that make cars in Detroit and stuck five video screens on five robots. They can move back and forth, and they can spin around 360 degrees and make a shelf for Jon to talk on, which brings him up about 30 feet in the air," Rew said. "It's pretty intense technology."

Once the set is ready, the crew begins an extensive series of sound checks. A couple of people work on tuning dozens of guitars. Most of them belong to guitarist Richie Sambora. He travels with more than $1 million worth of instruments.

"Between 35 to 40 guitars, of which he plays about 15 a night. He switches it up depending on what he's feeling like playing. The guy's a guitar god, as we say, and he likes the different sounds of different guitars," Rew said.

Once the crew's preparations are finished, all that's left is the band's own sound check in the early evening.

And then the show begins.

"It's arena rock, man. We're one of the few acts that can still sell out stadiums and arenas all over the world," Savas said.

Ticket sales for Saturday night's tour earned Bon Jovi a distinction at Mohegan Sun. The band is officially the highest-grossing act ever to perform there.

Bon Jovi: Wanted and stuff

So some German website is saying Richie is out of Bon Jovi.

I HIGHLY doubt that based on the way Alec was never mentioned again after he was fired/left the band.

Jon wouldn't mention Richie like he has been.

Thanks to @mezjovi for the awesome video.



And if you really want to cry watch this weeks edition of BJTV, which is at Jon's Birthday (why are they 2 months behind?).

Bon Jovi: Happy Mother's Day

I know it's late but I don't want to forget the Mom's out there with some Jon Bon Jovi mother's day e-cards I made.

If you're from Hallmark or American Greeting's Call me! 

Otherwise I hope all of the Mom's out there (and all of us who are dare I say blessed to have a Mom) have a great Mother's Day.