Bon Jovi: Jon at a book signing

God this hiatus is getting old.

Jon went to a book signing last night in NYC for author Paul Schmitz's book: Everyone Leads: Building Leadership from the Community Up



It's also available in Kindle form.

And here are some pictures.

Bon Jovi: Soul Kitchen Success!?!

I was always told to determine a restaurants success it had to be open 5 years not under 30 days.  But maybe in this economy 30 days is the new 5 years.  *shrugs*
 

At Bon Jovi restaurant, service is key

Dianna Marder, Inquirer Staff Writer

On a recent Thursday night, at a small restaurant with a new concept and only two weeks under its belt, customers lined up well before the doors opened for dinner.

The menu of "seasonal, regional American cuisine" offered rainbow beet salad, butternut squash soup, chicken in Creole sauce, pork chops with cranberry butter, cornmeal-crusted catfish, and grilled salmon with sweet potato mash.

But no prices.

Cash ($10 minimum per person, please, for a three-course meal that includes drinks and dessert) or vouchers earned through volunteer work are the only payments accepted.

Using this "community restaurant" model started in Utah, the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Kitchen in Red Bank, N.J., about 90 miles from Philadelphia, is in the vanguard of redefining how hunger can be addressed.

More than a dozen small eateries have been created nationwide using this model, though nothing like it yet in Philadelphia. "At a time when one in five families are living at or below the poverty line and one in six children in New Jersey are food insecure, this is a restaurant whose time has come," Bon Jovi, 49, said on the restaurant's Oct. 19 opening day.

Dishes are prepared by paid chefs, using organic ingredients grown on-site or provided by Whole Foods Market in Middletown, which is where the rocker lives.

Most servers (four to six per evening) are volunteers from the wealthier nearby towns. Those who cannot pay the $10 minimum can put in an hour here or in one of two nearby food pantries to earn "gift vouchers."

The Soul Kitchen, centrally located in Red Bank's hip Arts and Antiques district, is in a former auto-body shop that sparkles with glass bay doors, sunny yellow walls, black tables and chairs covered in butcher paper, and floor-to-ceiling shelves decorated with jars of honey, pickled peaches, grains, and gadgets.

'Community kitchen'

The 25-seater has become a mecca, with guests waiting up to an hour to share a table with strangers, in keeping with the "community kitchen" concept.

"The response has been even better than we could have hoped for," Bon Jovi wrote on the kitchen's website (jbjsoulkitchen.org).

So far, about 15 percent of patrons have paid with vouchers. The rest have paid in cash, which is what is needed if this restaurant is to stay afloat. Many are tourists making a side trip in the hopes of seeing Bon Jovi himself. But the musician has made a point of staying away, so as not to be disruptive.

Tony and Michelle Dragicevich, who said they retired early to travel the world running marathons and attending Bon Jovi concerts, came in from New Zealand to run in Sunday's New York City Marathon and eat at the Soul Kitchen.

Cathy Greene was driving north from South Carolina to visit family and made a point of stopping here.

The three elderly Saunders sisters, from nearby Ocean Township, said they had seen a community restaurant like this on an episode of The Bold and the Beautiful. And Pat Labunski, of Red Bank, said she heard about the kitchen from her daughter in Seattle.

As Mimi Box, executive director of the JBJ Soul Foundation, tells it, Jon Bon Jovi was performing in Philadelphia one winter and saw a homeless man huddled against a wall.

That led to a partnership with Sister Mary Scullion and Project Home in 2006. Bon Jovi calls Scullion, who serves on his foundation's board of directors, his "philanthropic mentor."

'It's not just Jon'

"When Jon gets involved, it's not just Jon - his family, his colleagues all join in," Scullion said. "And he brings strong business acumen to the work."

The foundation started when Bon Jovi was an owner of the Philadelphia Soul Arena Football team; it was renamed the JBJ Soul Foundation in 2009, after the team's ownership was restructured.

Often working with Habitat for Humanity, the foundation has helped create affordable housing in North Philadelphia, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and elsewhere.

In Camden, it helped create two homeownership programs and an entrepreneurship effort through which young people develop websites. And earlier this year, the foundation helped Covenant House in Philadelphia open a shelter for youth.

"Jon has a lot of input into the work we do," Box said. "He becomes a voice within the community."

Next, the foundation turned to food insecurity. Box picks up the story:

This time Bon Jovi is watching television. He sees a news story on a community kitchen in Denver called SAME (so all may eat) and learns the idea came from Denise Cerreta of Salt Lake City, who started OWEE (one world, everybody eats).

"We visited Denise and saw her model and talked about what makes it work," Box said.

"Every organization has to tweak the model to fit the needs of that community," Box said. "Denise cautioned us that to make the project work, it has to be at the intersection of a population that could support the kitchen as well as a population in need."

Red Bank scores on both counts. Its poverty rate, especially among 5- to 15-year-olds, is twice that of the rest of the state. So there are certainly sufficient individuals and families to welcome an opportunity to buy a meal in exchange for work.

But Red Bank is also home to artsy newcomers whose one-of-a-kind work draws shoppers from nearby moneyed towns. Colts Neck, eight miles away, is home to many of the country's wealthiest 1 percent (and their horses).

A renovated train station with service to Manhattan and the Count Basie Theatre for Performing Arts is steps from the Soul Kitchen.

"When we've perfected the model here," Box said, "we'd love to expand."

Scullion, who has dined several times at Red Bank's Soul Kitchen ("great vegetarian chili with homemade corn bread; perfect catfish") is ready, if and when that happens.

Project Home had a Back Home Cafe on Fairmount Avenue, but it did not succeed, Scullion said, "because it didn't have the necessary foot traffic." The organization's Home Page Cafe, inside the Free Library of Philadelphia's Logan Square building, serves coffee from Starbucks and pastries from Metropolitan Bakery and is "going great," she said.

"It's important for us to find a location in a community that can support a program like this," Box said, "for people who don't just want a handout."

Non Jovi: Things you don't bring to a concert

I saw this on TMZ and thought if you replaced Uncle Kracker with Jon and the song Follow Me with Who Says You Can't Go Home, this might be the most Epic "What did you do to get thrown out of a concert ever" moment.



Schmildo.

Bon Jovi: Jon Bon Jovi Famous 'Fins Fan?

Seriously? 

Famous Fin Fan: Jon Bon Jovi

Jon Bon Jovi may be best known as the founder and lead singer of rock band Bon Jovi, which was named after him, but there is more to this football fanatic than just music. Bon Jovi was one of the founders and the primary owner of the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League. In 2008, they finished 13-3 and won their first ArenaBowl championship, defeating the San Jose SaberCats, 59–56, in ArenaBowl XXII.

Throughout his career, Bon Jovi has released two solo albums and 11 studio albums with his band, which to date have sold over 130 million albums worldwide. The band was declared the second-richest band for 2011, behind only U2. As a solo artist, Bon Jovi has received numerous awards for his work, including a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for his solo hit, “Blaze of Glory.” He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Monmouth University in 2001. Bon Jovi is also White House counsel; in 2010 he was appointed by President Obama to solve problems in poor communities in the United States.

How far back does your love of football go?

Bon Jovi: I played football when I was young. I started in Pop Warner football when I was little and then played again once I got to junior high school. That’s when I realized I wasn’t big enough for football. In Pop Warner, weight class was the key. I was a little linebacker, the defensive captain. When I didn’t make weight (95 pounds) the day before the first game, they sent me up to the “Midgets” and that weight group was for kids all the way up to 120 pounds! I was too small. So I sat on the bench, hoping to play second-string tackle. Then in eighth grade when I started junior high, I decided, I’ll give it another shot … but it wasn’t happening. Thank God I found music!

What are your earliest memories as a football fan?

Bon Jovi: As a spectator, I can’t remember not being involved in football. My earliest memory is of the Miami Dolphins, Bob Griese and the Miami Dolphins — first losing the Super Bowl, then going back and winning the Super Bowl. I remember writing on my football in chalk — “Griese’s Gang.”

Why were you a fan of the Dolphins?

Bon Jovi: As a kid, the appeal of the Miami Dolphins hit home with me — they were larger than life. I just loved the Dolphins. Griese, Paul Warfield, Mercury Morris, Jim Kiick, Larry Csonka, Nick Buoniconti and the head coach was still Don Shula then. I remember it to this day. I could probably still rattle off exactly where each one of them went to college, what positions they played, their stats — they were my team when I was very young.

If you remember Jon was invited a few years back to buy into the Dolphins by their new owner, he (the owner of the 'Fins not Jon) had multiple celebs sign up for small pieces of ownership rights including Gloria Estefan, Marc Anthony & J-Lo pre divorce and he even sold the naming rights to the Stadium to Jimmy Buffet's Landshark Lager. Jon declined at the time, but maybe Jon will potentially profit from the J-Lo/Marc Anthony divorce by getting their share of the 'Fins (but not the twins).

It seems suspicious that a week when Jon is allegedly meeting with Pats owner Bob Kraft that this story comes out. Maybe Jon was breaking the news that it wouldn't look good to be on the Pats sidelines when he might be an owner of one of their Division Rivals?

Or maybe it was Jon reminding Mr Kraft that well, The Giants are forever.

Bon Jovi: Lea Michelle from Glee & NYE Impressed with Jon.

In addition to his vocal styling, something else impressed her about Jon.

Lea Michele: Kissing Ashton was odd

Lea Michele found it “weird” kissing Ashton Kutcher, because she’s so used to canoodling with her Glee co-star.

The actress plays a singer called Elise in romantic comedy New Year’s Eve. During the movie, Elise gets stuck in an elevator with a grumpy character called Randy, played by Ashton. Even though they are very different people, they end up sharing a passionate kiss. Lea has revealed it was odd to lock lips with a new co-star.

“I look at him, and every now and again I’m like, ‘You’re not Cory Monteith, this is weird!’ I was nervous, but Ashton is great,” she told the December edition of UK magazine Glamour. “He promised to help me get more Twitter followers.”

The 25-year-old star also performed with a legendary rocker for the movie.

Lea was thrilled to belt out a tune with Jon Bon Jovi, confessing she was impressed with both his vocal skills and his appearance.

“I get to sing with Jon Bon Jovi, which was pretty cool,” she gushed. “I just met him and couldn’t believe how white his teeth are! I didn’t tell him that, though!”

New Year’s Eve also features Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Zac Efron, Robert De Niro, Halle Berry, Katherine Heigl and Jessica Biel. It follows the lives of several couples and singletons over the course of New Year’s Eve.

The movie is released worldwide from next month.

Lea, you had the chance to do what so many of us (or maybe I'm the only one?  That could be and I'm ok with it) of asking Jon, "Crowns, Caps or Veneers?".

Other quips are:
"Jon, oh my God, no wonder why you where sunglasses all the time, the reflection off your teeth is blinding!"
"Jon, when you had your teeth redone in 2001 - 2002 did it impact your singing?"
"Jon, some people have super powers, you just have super white teeth."
"Jon, your teeth are so white, they're racist."