Bon Jovi: Saturday Morning Art

I found these on youtube and the guy who paints them is damned good.  He's done two paintings of Jon and he records the creation on film and speeds it up.  Here's the first one he did:



Here's the second one, I would suggest you put the video on mute, but everyone knows I hate that song.



You can find out more about his art at splinteredstudios.com   and see more pictures of painting #2 at http://splinteredstudios.com/JonBonJovi5.htm

Bon Jovi: Jon Bon Jovi: Hard Rocker struggle with his children

Ok, this was translated with Google Translate, since my German is bad (although my English might be worse and I was born in the United States, although being born in New Jersey may lead me to be linguistically challenged).

Jon Bon Jovi: Hard Rocker struggle with his children

"MY KIDS DRAG ME EVEN AT 'ROCK BAND' FROM '

Jon Bon Jovi at his performance in Cologne

Thursday afternoon, 15.05 clock, Jon Bon Jovi (48) comes into the Hyatt. As a superstar comes Sun Slightly mirrored sunglasses, easy-to-late, hair combed slightly only thirst for calm water. The make-up wife, he nodded in a friendly way, says: "Thank you, we need not today." He looks great - with almost 50, even if it's kids now have defeated even musically. ... More about that later

Next year one of the most successful bands on the planet comes back to Germany. Since last week's "Greatest Hits" album is on the market. All hits. More than 100 million albums sold. Jon drops down on a sofa, told Bild he says, "Well, to be back in Cologne. Feels like we have spent over 400 days in the city. "

Band 25 years, several tours. Most of Cologne was there. In the coming years not. Because it works, including Munich, Dusseldorf, Dresden and Mannheim. In Cologne, was a special gig. Housed in a former cinema. Only a few hundred guests.

Jon: "It does not matter whether we play in front of 800 000 or eight people. Somehow we have to ensure that none is sitting on its hands. "On what he thinks when he was in Germany when he is in Cologne?" One thing I remember well. We have even celebrated the second birthday of my daughter . So the city is part of the family. "

Speaking of family: There betrays the man from New Jersey, why does it sometimes spat at home.

.. "In 'Rock Band' on the games console I am now the oldie" is at the game's points for karaoke singing "Recently I lost my own song I wanted to 'Living above prayer' sing, but määäääp Kaputt.! - the system me being sacked. I was too bad. Hi, this is our song, when I go again trying to have the computer tell me again done. My kids found it funny, but Daddy was pissed. When the next tour there's the whole but again live, I promise. "

There was a first taste of it at the mini-gig in Cologne. There, Jon Bon Jovi rocked with tape for an hour on stage - and rewarded the cheering fans with "Bad Medicine" as the extra fat addition.

Here's some pictures from that article.

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

Oh Lord, and today I was thinking the Circle Tour Movie would end the whole Jon "Douchebagdivaprick" persona but I see if lives on in this article.  Maybe he was tired....  Maybe...

And Jon if you're overweight, I want to know where...  I mean seriously.

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

Jon Bon Jovi admits he has seen better days. But after a quarter century of nonstop hits, tours and large-haired sexiness, what do you do for an encore? We catch up with the 48-year-old rock god in Brazil and find he may be dreaming of a political career

Polly Vernon

The Observer, Sunday 31 October 2010

Jon Bon Jovi in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Photograph: Suki Dhanda for the Observer

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

Bon Jovi: (Jon) Bon Jovi Mulls Solo Album After 'Circle' Tour Wraps

You know I like Jon's albums but there's magic when he and Richie and Desmond Child write together.  We shall see.

Bon Jovi Mulls Solo Album After 'Circle' Tour Wraps

It's a long way off, but Jon Bon Jovi is already hatching plans for August, after he and his band wrap up touring in support of their 2009 album, "The Circle," and a "Greatest Hits" set that comes out Nov. 9.

"I'm going to sit on a beach for August, which is usually what I do, and come September figure out what's next," Bon Jovi tells Billboard.com. Some possibilities? "A smaller-sounding solo record and/or focus more on the philanthropy and sports ownerships," he says. "I don't see any acting in the immediate future. It'll be out of the political cycles, and there's nothing else I wish I could do. I'm not a coulda, shoulda, woulda kind of guy. If I wanted to do it, I tried it, so it's not like I have any hidden desire to become a chef or anything."

Bon Jovi Up for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

If he does take the solo album route, Bon Jovi -- who went it alone on the 1990 soundtrack for "Blaze of Glory -- Young Guns II" and on 1997's "Destination Anywhere" -- predicts he'll go for "a lyric-driven, acoustic-sounding kind of thing with piano, a couple guitars, a B3 (organ) and a violin. I do these solo things oftentimes for charity, and I enjoy the atmosphere because it really gives the singer a chance to sing. You're not competing with the loud amps. So I could see myself doing a singer's type of a record. We'll see."

Before that, however, comes quite a bit of Bon Jovi group activity. The "Greatest Hits" album comes out in two different configurations -- a standard 16-song single disc and a two-disc "Greatest Hits -- Ultimate Collection," with five new songs spread across the various domestic and international editions. The project was first broached to follow 2007's "Lost Highway," but was pushed back when Bon Jovi and guitarist Richie Sambora came up with a batch of topical new songs for "The Circle."

Q&A: Bon Jovi Talks Pushing Himself On Tour

"While we're in the midst of 'The Circle' tour, this 'Greatest Hits' made the most sense," Bon Jovi explains, "because the tour's going to continue through the summer of next year. For those who have just found the band in this rather prolific decade, this is a great introduction, and for the fan who's been there the last three decades, this is everything you've ever known and then five new songs. So I feel like they're getting value added, too."

Bon Jovi says two of the new songs, the single "What Do You Got?" and "This Is Love, This Is Life," were started during "The Circle" sessions but didn't fit the album and were finished for "Greatest Hits," along with "This Our House," an MP3 download premium for those pre-ordering the album. The other two, "No Apologies" and "The More Things Change," were written specifically for the compilation.

He says he was surprised that "What Do You Got?" got the nod to be the first single. "I said, 'If anyone wants to pick a single, you tell me. What do I know?' " recalls Bon Jovi, who favored "No Apologies." "That was the one that floated to the top, and I was taken aback because it was the (last) of the five I would've picked. But people have really been relating to the lyric, and seemingly for...radio, it's a hit."

Bon Jovi has a number of appearances and events lined up in conjunction with the release of "Greatest Hits." On Nov. 7, the group will perform at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Madrid, where it will receive the inaugural Global Icon Award. The next night will see the premiere of "One Night Only," a concert film from May's opening run at the New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey, at 750 movie theaters worldwide. They'll appear Nov. 9 on CBS' "The Late Show with David Letterman," along with a webcast concert that will stream on the show's website and Vevo.com, followed by a monthlong run that includes the "Today" show, A&E's "Private Sessions," the American Music Awards, "Ellen," "Larry King Live" and "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute."

Bon Jovi resumes "The Circle" tour on Nov. 30 in Tokyo and hits Australia and New Zealand before a six-leg North American leg starts in February. The band then wraps things up in Europe during June and July, including a show at the Hard Rock Calling festival on June 25 in London's Hyde Park.

Bon Jovi: Looking Ahead (India)

A little news from India.  (Although it feels like a few different interviews smushed together, or Jon is just givin his typical scripted answers).

Looking ahead

Somya Lakhani

Jon Bon Jovi on letting the past be and why being sexy is essential to a rockstar

How has your music evolved over decades? What are the new elements you have added to your music in the new four songs in Bon Jovi Greatest Hits?

It’s been 16 years since the last Greatest Hits album, so there are several other hits in nearly two decades that had to be included. It’s not like I’m using this for a reunion tour or anything. There are 27 different songs here. The four new songs The More Things Change, No Apologies, This Is Love, This Is Life and the first single, What Do You Got? were written specifically for inclusion in this compilation.

You were in your 20s when Slippery When Wet sold almost 28 million copies. How did you deal with such instant stardom?

I dealt with stardom by keeping in mind that once it comes, everything is bigger, and things move twice as fast. You’re recognised twice as often.

How did you handle your early years in the music industry—about intense rivalries with contemporaries, stardom, paparazzi, link-ups, rumors. Any regrets?

Today is a blessing. I’ve been doing the job that I like for 30 years. I have very few regrets, nothing to be sorry for.

You are often called the ‘sexiest rock star’. How do you deal with this tag?

Trying to seduce an audience is the basis of rock ‘n’ roll, and if I may say so, I’m pretty good at it. Being married and monogamous, it’s the closest thing I can do to having sex without getting in trouble. The only thing I like more than my wife is my money, and I’m not about to lose that to her and her lawyers, that’s for sure.

What are your plans now? Are you working on any music or film projects?

I would love to be able to do both acting and making music. If I look at someone like Frank Sinatra, who toured until he was 80 and made 60 movies, that would be a great life to have.

With such a huge fan base in India- do you plan on touring here anytime soon in the future?

I’m not sure. It’s unfortunate but true that we are so tied up in so many other places. We will make an announcement once we have planned a tour.

Bon Jovi: Jon did another performance last night...

At the William J Clinton Foundation event, had some awesome entertainment.

Eric Clapton performed.

And Jon performed with Lorenza Ponce & The Hobbit Bobby Bandiera (where was Richie??  Clapton was there?)

Jon performed the Beatles classic Here Comes The Sun (every time I hear this song I think of the Cirque de Soleil show in Vegas since it's one of the songs used)..Here's the video.

Bon Jovi: In my own words, Jon Bon Jovi

Some stuff from Jon.

In my own words, Jon Bon Jovi

Tiffany Bakker From: Sunday Magazine October 24, 2010 11:00AM

Musician Jon Bon Jovi of Bon Jovi Source: AFP

He's survived the success and excess of three decades as a rock god, yet the 48-year-old credits being a good father and husband as his greatest triumph.

~~~~~~~~~~

A band is like a marriage or a family.

It was hard for us early on because, like in a new relationship, we were trying to figure each other out. You had to be careful about what you said or did, because sometimes people interpret things incorrectly. Everybody has their idiosyncrasies, but when you’ve been around each other for nearly three decades, as we have, you know what they are, so you don’t misinterpret them.

~~~~~~~~~~

Richie [Sambora, Bon Jovi’s guitarist] and I are closer than brothers.

There have been periods of love and less than love between us, but I don’t think there was ever a period

of disrespect. He’s had a few setbacks. He’s been through a difficult divorce [from Heather Locklear], he’s had other personal problems [with substance abuse], but he got through it. I’ve spent more of my life with him than I have without him. That’s a statement.

~~~~~~~~~~

I was playing bars at 16.

Doing that gave me the opportunity to cut my chops. I also had the innocence and naïvety of youth to believe music was a real possibility. If you came from New Jersey and saw Bruce Springsteen do it, you thought maybe you could, too.

~~~~~~~~~~

During Bon Jovi’s big success in the mid-’80s, I wasn’t sane.

When Slippery When Wet was big, I was doing too many things I shouldn’t have been. I wasn’t looking after myself. I was physically exhausted and worried about what came tomorrow, instead of enjoying today. If I were a manager, I’d tell a kid that had huge success to go to bed and call me in a year.

~~~~~~~~~~

At that time, even my parents started asking me for advice.

I thought, no, no, I’m still a 25-year-old idiot – I don’t know anything. Suddenly, I’m signing cheques, thinking, where did that sort of money come from? I went from being a singer in a band to the head of a corporation.

~~~~~~~~~~

Bon Jovi isn’t a democracy.

I make the decisions and that’s the way it is. I have to live with the good and bad of the outcome, because the decision lies with me. But I’m willing to accept that to have control. Looking back, there isn’t much I wouldn’t do again, except maybe some of the hairstyles, and a few of the outfits.

~~~~~~~~~~

If you play a Bon Jovi song in a bar anywhere in the world, people will sing it.

That’s beyond comprehension to me. I was just a kid strumming a tennis racquet in my bedroom. Having songs that people know the world over is crazy. I’m very grateful and humbled by it.

~~~~~~~~~~

I really don’t care about fame.

I was on the beach with my kids the other day, and nobody cared. You can be so full of yourself, you tell everyone what you do. Or, you can think, that’s just what I did last night; that’s my job.

~~~~~~~~~~

I’m blessed with four healthy kids and a wife who tolerates me.

That, to me, is success. My wife knew me before I was ‘me’. Our [21-year] marriage is up and down, like any relationship. It is what it is. It isn’t perfect, but I got it right the first time. I don’t even make jokes about it any more. I’m lucky and I wouldn’t trade it.

~~~~~~~~~~

My kids are aware of the Lindsay Lohans of the world.

They think that sort of life is crappy and don’t want anything to do with it. On the other hand, sometimes there are people in my house and the kids will say, “Wow, really? You?” But,

in general, we keep them out of the spotlight.

~~~~~~~~~~

My eight-year-old son, Jake, has ‘it’.

He should be an actor. But I don’t push him; my kids have to find it on their own. My daughter, Stephanie, is 17 and she has the ability to be something, if she chooses. But growing up in the shadow of a famous parent isn’t fair. You have to want to do it.

~~~~~~~~~~

If you love what you do, chances are, it’s going to resonate.

If you write a song that means something to somebody because they can relate to it, or it becomes a part of the patchwork of their life and marks a memory of a time and place when they heard it, that’s success. But the accomplishments, the number-ones, the sold-out arenas – it’s all horse sh*t. None of that matters.

~~~~~~~~~~

I’m a romantic optimist.

I believe in the common good. I’m liberal-minded, open to co-existing and I don’t care if you’re gay or straight, black or white, Jewish, Muslim or Christian. Because I’ve been so blessed, I don’t see why others can’t achieve and be and do. Some people call that naïvety, others call it a promise of hope.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bon Jovi’s Greatest Hits is in stores November 5.

Bon Jovi: More video's From the Barrons Corporate Show

Original Post in case you missed it is: Here

*SWOON*

Ok, so we NOW have to be a harder audience to win over... EVERYONE SIT DOWN DURING WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T GO HOME!!!! Brilliant!

Bon Jovi: I bet you missed Jon performing today....

I wasn't invited to this either.  Yeah I think it will take a long time for Jon to forgive me after the avian activities of Gulf Shores (I Gave him the double barreled state bird of New Jersey With every It's Alright during that song I love so much).

*EDITED with video* Where's Tico???

MY FAVORITE BON JOVI SONG EVER!!!

Bon Jovi Performs At Baron’s Investment Conference Today

Oct. 22 2010 - 6:25 pm

Thousands of Baron Capital investors crowded into the Metropolitan Opera House this afternoon. They sat through a panel discussion among Baron’s fund managers and listened to its billionaire founder Ron Baron tell some of his personal stories of his success. But most of them were likely waiting to find out who today’s secret performer was going to be. Already Diana Ross and John Cougar Mellencamp had performed during lunch.

The guy sitting next to me whispered, “I bet it’s Bono,” after a slide featuring the U2 front man flashed on the screen with a quote about America being a state of mind, not a country.

Suspense built when Baron, who grew up in Asbury Park, NJ, and spent summers working odd jobs on the Jersey Shore, said he had picked a fellow Jersey man.

Could it truly be? Could we be lucky enough to see Bruce Springsteen in concert while covering an investment conference? Sensing our excitement, Baron quickly quashed our hopes explaining it would not be the Boss.

Instead the 4,000 guests crowded into the opera house were serenaded by “the more handsome guy from New Jersey” as Jon Bon Jovi introduced himself. He performed such favorites as “You Give Love a Bad Name” and also gave his rendition of “Hallelujah.”

Baron always keeps the identity of his performers secret from even his closest confidantes. Over the years, celebrities like Neil Diamond, Elton John, Bette Midler, Paul Simon, Billy Crystal and Rod Stewart have all headlined his events. Jerry Seinfeld performed twice, supposedly the second time as a replacement for someone who got sick just a few days before the event. One news report said Baron’s and Seinfeld’s moms are friends; the comedian is also an East Hampton neighbor of his, according to Baron, who spent more than $100 million on his 40-acre estate in 2007.

Baron, whose parents wanted him to be a doctor, got his start as a biochemistry teaching fellow and then as a patent examiner in the U.S. patent office while attending George Washington law school. He became a securities analyst in 1970 and started his own firm in 1982. He has been throwing these investment conferences for 19 years. He pays for the entire day, inviting all of his investors as his guests to hear from portfolio companies and enjoy the free entertainment. He plans the event for months. He was already giddy about it this summer when I went to visit him at his mid-town office, as a few employees sat tasting deserts for the event in the conference room.

He certainly seemed to be having fun up on stage. One highlight was when an audience member asked him to elaborate on his college experience. Baron squinted to see who had asked the question and realized it was his frat buddy. Bet his parties these days blow those old ones away. As one person said, “Ron is probably the most optimistic person I’ve met. If you had his life you would be too.”

I don’t but for a few hours I could imagine.

You'd think that as someone who writes for Forbes she would know that Dessert is spelt with 2 SS's cause you want more Dessert and less time in the Desert.

Bon Jovi: More fun From Gulf Shores Part 3

Some more pictures I took:

We were all surprised when Jon out of the Blue proposed to Richie (during Bad Medicine).  We don't know what  Richie's answer was though.  I expect my invitation in the mail soon.  LOL

Richie gave Jon his answer just before SYDIM aka Lay Your Hands on Me.  Awww they're going to make the Sexless Marriage Legit In IA MA and NJ.  LOL

Bon Jovi: Some of Jon's Denim goes into the New Jersey Hall Of Fame

All I can say about this is, in my home state we honor people with exhibits at Rest Stops.

N.J. Hall of Fame exhibit offers relics from a star-studded past

By Amy S. Rosenberg

Inquirer Staff Writer

ASBURY PARK, N.J. - Mrs. Govett did not mince words on the report card of the second grader named Jack Nicholson at the Roosevelt Elementary School in Neptune.

"Jack's work is excellent, but he needs more self control."

Is it any wonder that young Jack grew up to be the arguably still out-of-control actor whose work is nevertheless considered excellent?

Nicholson's prescient and insightful report card - undated but presumably circa 1944, when he would have been 7 - is one of a handful of donated artifacts at the inaugural exhibition of the New Jersey Hall of Fame, which opened Wednesday on the boardwalk in Asbury Park.

Also on display: Susan Sarandon's 1963-64 Edison High School cheerleading jacket, red flannel and hooded, with "Sue" embroidered on the left front and "64" on the arm.

Rusty Paul, the son of guitar legend Les Paul of Mahwah, was on hand for the ribbon-cutting for the exhibition, which also features a 1952 Les Paul Goldtop Guitar, distinguished by strings that were incorrectly threaded underneath a trapeze tailpiece instead of over it.

"Two thousand of them were made," said Rusty Paul. "My dad stopped them."

Paul said his father, who died a year ago, would have been honored to be included in the show. "I helped put him in the Hall of Fame," said Paul, who still lives in the house he grew up in, on Deerhaven Road in Mahwah, and himself travels with a band. Paul is still thinking about the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in May, which brought out an impressive array of Jersey royalty: "Jack Nicholson showed, Bruce Springsteen, Frankie Valli - all the good guys."

Until now, the Hall of Fame's public face has existed only as a website and an induction ceremony, which follows an online voting process open to the public.

Nicholson, Paul, and Sarandon are among 42 inductees into the Hall since 2008, ranging from Thomas Edison (whose 1903 Gem Model phonograph was also on display) to Bruce Springsteen (no artifacts yet, but Asbury Park itself is one big Bruce artifact) to Harriet Tubman and writers Philip Roth and Judy Blume.

The inaugural exhibition space at 1200 Ocean Avenue in Asbury Park is temporary. Eventually, there will be a permanent N.J. Hall of Fame in Trenton, plus regional museums in Newark and Atlantic City.

The mission of the Hall of Fame is to present "powerful role models" for the children of New Jersey, way beyond Snooki and the housewives.

On the walls is an exhibit of 30 large photographs of New Jersey celebrities (ranging from Whitney Houston to James Gandolfini, Queen Latifah, Meryl Streep, and, again, Nicholson) taken by celebrity photographer Timothy White. This winter, the exhibit will travel to the Cheesequake Rest Stop on the Garden State Parkway.

Don Jay Smith, the executive director of the Hall of Fame, said he was actively seeking more artifacts. Already on the way are Jon Bon Jovi's denim jacket, adorned with Bon Jovi and New Jersey patches, and a suit worn by Jersey Boy Frankie Valli.

(No word if The Situation will be donating his six-pack. Oh, wait, he has a long way to go to the N.J. Hall of Fame.)

Other inductees who might have interesting artifacts include Frank Sinatra, Bill Bradley, Toni Morrison, Althea Gibson, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Abbott and Costello.

"New Jersey has been fertile ground for some remarkable accomplishments," said Smith.

Smith said Bon Jovi thought long and hard over what to donate, considered a gold record, but settled on the more homespun denim jacket. "This was really important to him," he said.

The family of Les Paul, meanwhile, first offered Smith a guitar valued at $1 million, which he declined, not wanting to take responsibility for putting such a valuable item on the Asbury Park Boardwalk, revitalized or not.

The exhibition space was donated by Madison Marquette, the development company that has spearheaded the comeback of Asbury Park, which has gone from the poster child for failed resorts to the envy of boardwalk towns everywhere. The exhibition is just a block or two from the Stone Pony and the Wonder Bar, both fabled Springsteen hangouts, just steps away from Madam Marie.

"People are donating some of their most cherished items," said Gary Mottola of Madison Marquette. "For Susan to give her own personal high school jacket, for Jack to give his report card, shows they really care about New Jersey."

Getting back to young Jack, it should be noted that Mrs. Govett tried again for second period. "Jack should be more self controlled," she wrote.

Each time, Nicholson's mother, Edith Nicholson, dutifully signed the report card. Never mind the one C in conduct and two C's in "shows self control." Let's hope Mrs. Nicholson focused on the A's her son scored on everything else, from Oral English to Numbers to Observable Health Habits and even "Works Well with Others."

And in the end, the rambunctious Nicholson won his teacher over. The final notation: "Promoted to third grade."

Jon's denim jacket, I know which jacket they're speaking of yet Google is being uncooperative this early in the morning.

Bon Jovi: What do You Got live in Mexico

Finally good video surfaces of this new Bon Jovi hit being played in a stadium. The PC Richards version is nice but in reality so many more people will be exposed to this song in a stadium or arena setting. Also the acoustics are better at the PC Richards Theater than they are in a stadium.

Bon Jovi: Few people have come to expect to Bon Jovi

From our Bon Jovi loving friends in Costa Rica.

Since No Hablo Espanol, the translation is courtesy of the all powerful and multi-lingual Google Translate.

The first story has a video of the band's plane landing.

Group performs tonight at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa

17 years later, Bon Jovi returned

Arrival rockers arrived the country yesterday and were immediately taken to the hotel where they met several fans

Gerardo González V. gegonzalez@nacion.com 25/09/2010 08:45 PM

A small and enthusiastic group of lucky fans received yesterday, shouting at the band Bon Jovi on arrival at your hotel.

The private flight brought the singer Jon Bon Jovi and his companions landed at Juan Santamaría International Airport, when the clock struck 5:10 pm

Immigration officials were responsible for registering the income of the country rockers.

A production team was waiting at the foot of the stairs to transfer them immediately to their hotel, a caravan of vehicles.

The band and their entourage were taken to a luxurious hotel in the capital, whose name we can not disclose at the request of the production. There, a warning fans could see how the singer Jon Bon Jovi, guitarist Richie Sambora, drummer Tico Torres and keyboardist David Bryan entered as a bullet to the hotel, amid the security personnel.

Only one young man could steal a kiss on the cheek, the singer and the young Salvadoran Quiteño René Torres got him to sign his album Slippery When Wet.

The musicians ignored the presence of the press. Tico Torres only waved to the cameras.

Meanwhile, the camera flashes and some threw away their screaming begging for a little souvenir of the reunion.

Wanting more. The swift passage of the musicians left with a distaste for those who were waiting anxiously in the hotel.

Melissa Ponce, a resident of Santa Ana, was one that could see up close rockers.

"It was too fast, I could only say hello. I thought they would have more contact with the public, "he told the young man of 29 years.

For his part, Abraham Madrigal Puriscal, described as a dream come true seeing their idols in person.

Not everyone was so smiling after the entry of the musicians.

"We came from Quepos and not at all" was the comment that said the boy Samuel Alvarado, age 7, visibly disappointed at the fleeting passage of rockers.

He, along with her mother and brother Lineth Solano, Efren 10 years, came to San Jose just for the concert today.

The band will perform tonight at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa in his tour Tibás The Circle and after an absence of 17 years when they first came and played before a sold out show at the Palacio de los Deportes.

Today, the band returned with a show they have promised will be huge, full of innovative technology and, above all, with their biggest hits.

Yes, I expect them to stand outside of a hotel in Costa Rica and sign autographs, just like I expect them to do the same thing here in the states.  *Rolls Eyes*

Story numero dos.

Few people have come to expect to Bon Jovi

Caterina L. Elizondo celizondo@nacion.com 26/09/2010 36 minutes ago

At about 11 am, the atmosphere at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa was not yet very hot, waiting for the concert of the band Bon Jovi.

However, the 'fans' most loyal in the group were there even queuing since Thursday.

Parents and children, coworkers, friends and even acquaintances through social networks began to fill the lineup, although the income is scheduled for 4 pm

According to Paul Fonseca, manager of corporate security Isaseca, three days of monitoring the area and so far there has been no major incidents.

"At the moment production (Evenpro) has not done reporting on items that can not enter, but we know that professional cameras are banned," said Fonseca.

Sales are also strong, along the block of the stadium there are several food stalls and sales of items such as shirts, scarves and memorabilia from the band. . There is no shortage of ticket resellers, who prowl through the rows looking for who they sell and buy tickets.

At this time it rains in Tibás, and as mentioned some concert-goers have been covered with coats and umbrellas, because outside the stadium there are no tents or camping allowed.

In a few hours will bring more information about the environment before the concert of Bon Jovi, after 17 years of no-show in the country, www.nacion.com .