Together and with The Power of We, we can start a revolution. One Soul at a time... ~Jon Bon Jovi *** There's a Story on every street corner, my friend. All you have to do is open your eyes... ~Richie Sambora

A New Short... Sort of...

Friday, July 9, 2010


I know some of you have probably already read this, but with the way the weather has been here in the North East I thought this little short would be the perfect thing to share to maybe help you find a little relief from the heat.

Then again, maybe not.

Check it out...

Heatwave

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Out and About...

Richie was spotted on the streets of NYC yesterday...




Looking good Richie, looking real good...

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Friday Funnies...

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More Tickets up for Grabs...

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Another Chicago give-away...


Win Tickets to See Bon Jovi LIVE in Concert!

What's your favorite Bon Jovi song? It's My Life? Livin' On A Prayer? Here's your chance to sing along LIVE!

Send an e-mail to RedEye using "Bon Jovi" as the subject line (include your full name) and be automatically entered to win 2 tickets to see Bon Jovi perform live with very special guest Kid Rock! Plus one lucky winner will receive the grand prize- 2 seats inside The Circle +2 commemorative chairs!

Tickets on Sale Now at ticketmaster.com

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Quiz with Jon Bon Jovi

Rapid-Fire Quiz with Jon Bon Jovi

New Jersey's own Jon Bon Jovi met with "Extra's" Lauren Sanchez for a Rapid-Fire Quiz -- in which the rock star shares thoughts ranging from who he'd like to meet, to why he's not a "Jersey Shore" fan













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Interview with David Bryan...

Interview with David Bryan on ‘Memphis,’ Japan, Bon Jovi: Part 1 of 2

“How could people be so bad and make me feel so good?” This is a line from “Music of My Soul” from the hit Broadway show Memphis, which won the Tony Award last month for Best Musical. The music of Memphis, based on the first white DJ to put African American music on the radio in the 1950s, was written by David Bryan, founding member and keyboardist of New Jersey rock group Bon Jovi, and a new Tony winner himself (Best Original Score with co-lyricist and bookwriter Joe DiPietro, and Best Orchestrations with Daryl Waters). I spoke with David about Memphis, Japan and Bon Jovi prior to the group’s fourth and final show at New Meadowlands Stadium Friday.

What were the goals in writing Memphis? Did you and co-writer Joe DiPietro say, “All right, we’re going to conquer Broadway,” or did it just develop through its earlier productions starting in 2003?
I got the script from Joe in 2001, and that’s when we started. I read the script and called him up and said “I hear all this music,” and we got together and banged it all out. We did a great story—it was the birth of rock and roll; it was the birth of civil rights, if you will; ending racism; it was a love story—there was a lot things going on in it that really drew me.

Ultimately, everybody wanted to get to Broadway, but I think you can’t get there unless your piece has been worked on, so it’s a journey. It’s a very long journey, and it’s a complicated piece, the musical; you want to make sure you get it right. So we really worked on it and honed it and worked on it, and it’s a very different production now that it’s at the Shubert than the first time out, because I think, you know, we’re better at it, because we looked at it more.

Although he’s based on actual DJs from the 1950s, the protagonist Huey Calhoun’s character is especially rock and roll, sort of like Jack Nicholson with maybe a little George W. Bush thrown in. Did you help shape the character in terms of dialogue or that ol’ rock star swagger?
Joe and I create it, and then we have our director [Christopher Ashley] who takes that to the next level, and then we talk to Chad [Kimball], who tries a couple of things out because he’s an actor. It’s a very collaborative effort, the musical…there’s no right or wrong answer, you just have to try it.

Where does his catchphrase “hockadoo” come from, and what does it mean to you?
Joe and I wrote that; we were looking for a catchphrase. It’s just a nonsensical word that we kind of invented, and it’s a fun word that people are saying all the time now. We sat there like, “I don’t know, does it make sense?” It shouldn’t make any sense, it’s just a fun word.

Did you play any of the Memphis tunes for the other members of Bon Jovi for feedback or advice? Did they express interest in recording any of them, or was this project your baby from the start?
It was really my baby from the start. I mean, they all came up and—we put it up in ’03 up in Boston, so everybody came up and checked it out then…after winning these Tonys, I went back to Europe and duct taped them to the keyboards and Jon [Bon Jovi, vocals] was giving me a big shout-out in the announcements. It’s a great thing.

What were your initial impressions on your first visit to Japan in the ’80s, and how do you feel about Japan today?
Japan is like our second home, you know? We’ll be down there in November, and it’s always our second home. I remember going there [in 1984], our first year playing Super Rock [Festival], and it was very isolated, if you will, and now, with the Internet, the world is way less isolated…everything’s becoming everything. It’s a very special place, very special fans, and the Japanese have embraced us, and it’s great, you know? We’re going to go back there and play and I’m going to bring Memphis there, too. Memphis is going to be a huge musical in Japan.

Compared to other Western rock bands, Bon Jovi is still hugely successful in Japan, selling out the biggest stadiums with each tour and enjoying healthy record sales. What do you think is the key to the group’s long lasting appeal over there?
As a band, we’ve strived to stay current. Our new record, The Circle, was Number One in 15 countries, you know, we just strive to be current, not just go, “Okay, the last record did good and that’s it.” You want to hear “Livin’ on a Prayer” and “Wanted Dead or Alive” on the radio, but yet you want to hear us playing the new song “We Weren’t Born to Follow.” So, the idea is that we keep pushing the envelope, keep pushing new songs and keep trying to better ourselves and keep expressing ourselves. Other than that, as a live band, we’ve always committed to walking on that stage and leaving your heart on the stage. We put out 150 percent every time we walk out on stage.

Are there any Japanese bands you personally would have liked to tour with when Bon Jovi plays there? Any Japanese groups you’re a fan of?
I don’t know—I mean, there are a lot of Japanese acts. When we go there, we usually get CDs and listen to stuff. I’m not that familiar with the local acts.

You can find Part 2 here.

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Bon Jovi - Coming Full Circle...

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

From the NZ Herald:


Coming full circle


Jon Bon Jovi is smiling broadly as he strides on stage and is greeted by a deafening roar of applause. As his bandmates, guitarist Richie Sambora, drummer Tico Torres and keyboardist David Bryan jog on to join him, he teasingly raises his finger to his lips and calls for hush, before asking the assembled throng a question about, well, shelf life.

"Would you buy yesterday's bread from a baker?

"We wouldn't, either," he answers. "That's why these set-lists are all made fresh and delivered to you personally, every night," he adds, smiling, as he and his cronies unleash a pulsating blast of Blood on Blood, the start of a 2 hour performance packed with countless hits and also a few surprises. It's not necessarily the set-list you'd expect.

The setting is the stage of of London's much-maligned Millennium Dome. Bon Jovi was the first band to perform at the newly refurbished, hastily re-branded, O2 Arena, marking the start of its current position as London's foremost music stadium. It's partly why, three years later, Bon Jovi returned for a 12-date, sold-out residency at O2 with nearly 20,000 fans a night - 200,000 in total - rammed to the Dome's rafters to witness the British leg of the band's The Circle world tour.

Perhaps that's why "That's the great thing about setting up a residency like this, for both us and the repeat fans," explains the front man, minutes after their final London show. "It was a chance to try out some different songs and play stuff we don't normally do.

"If you have one or two nights, then you just get the same bunch of songs: you don't have 12 completely different sets, and nine or 10 awesome nights," he grins. "Our goal was to play 70 different songs across those 12 nights, which was a lot of work because there's much more preparation [involved] when you do that. But it's also what made it fun."

You could sense that fun as he traded jokes with the band, chatted to fans and willed the crowd to "get up and show us what you've got," as they rattled through You Give Love A Bad Name, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead and We Got it Going On. En masse, everyone obediently obliged, from the all-in-black Harley T-shirt lads to the bleached-blonde Bon Jovi babes. At times, it felt more like a gathering of a benevolent cult than a rock show.

As he strutted around the stage with the swagger of Jagger on Born To Be My Baby and the pent-up, patriotic passion of Springsteen during a fervent Work for the Working Man, Bon Jovi proved that, despite being pint-sized, his performance packs a punch. That was clear as he pumped his fist in the air and asked: "Is there a doctor in the house? Is there? I think I need a doctor..." before delivering an infectious dose of Bad Medicine segued with Little Richard's You Make Me Wanna Shout - which the crowd dutifully did.

The shouting continued as Bob Geldof waltzed onstage to join Bon Jovi in a jubilant assault on the Boomtown Rats' biggest hit, I Don't Like Mondays, one of many surprises on the night.

"We've done that song a few times and even recorded it for our live album," Bon Jovi enthuses. "It's great having someone like Bob, who we've known a long time, or Kid Rock, who opened the shows, jump up and perform. It keeps things fresh for us and the fans."

He also kept things fresh by impulsively hopping off-stage and into the crowd, walking through the masses like some rock 'n' roll messiah, during It's My Life, before clambering back on stage for Love's the Only Rule, and a stirring version of Bed of Roses.

Sambora wasn't about to miss out on the fun or the adulation, launching himself centre-stage for a bone-jarring, bombastic solo of Lay Your Hands On Me when Bon Jovi disappeared for a quick costume change. After his moment of glory, he triumphantly raised his mic-stand aloft, just as the singer returned to accompany him, a cappella, on Diamond Rain. With Torres and Bryan then joining them upfront, they ad-libbed an impromptu acoustic set of Squeezebox, These Days and Someday I'll Be Saturday Night.

Judging from their banter, body language and bonhomie, it's clear that Bon Jovi are enjoying themselves again, after a period of turmoil. In fact, they're notably more relaxed and upbeat than they've been for years.

"I think we're stronger now than we've been in a long time _ maybe forever - so we are enjoying things more. It's great, because there were times, in the past, when we weren't happy and struggled on, even though we were physically or emotionally wrecked," concedes Bon Jovi. "But I think the one good thing we've learned from doing that _ from pushing ourselves - is that when you think you've had enough and feel like you shouldn't be on the road, you really shouldn't be on the road.

"That's why we're looking forward to coming out to New Zealand now," he adds, excitedly. "This time we're ready and able, as opposed to the first time we came in 1987 when we were completely exhausted and it felt like we'd been pulled across the rack, getting on that plane to Australia and New Zealand.

"When I look back on it, we shouldn't have done that tour because we were beat, so we didn't do ourselves or the fans justice," he admits. "But it wasn't anyone's fault - we were all caught up in the moment and kept hearing: 'there's another great opportunity; a chance to add another date to the tour; to play New Zealand', when really what we should have been told was `take some time off, go to bed ... '

"In comparison, our last gig in New Zealand, in 2008 [where they played Christchurch only], during the Lost Highway tour was totally different. It was a pleasure to be on the road - a treat to play there," he enthuses. "That wasn't just because it was our most successful tour. It's also because we took breaks and recharged our batteries, so we actually enjoyed touring. That was the difference between our 1987 and 2008 visits; we knew when to stop, when to say `no'.

"You know, I'm not a tour whore. I'm not a man who needs the roar of the crowd," Bon Jovi adds. "Although I enjoy performing in front of a crowd, that's not what motivates me. What does it for me is when you write something, record it and then realise its special, like we did with When We Were Beautiful.

"I'm really proud of that track. I think it's a real growth song for us. I love playing it live and making a point of trying to get that message across to the audience, so they understand what it's about and what this record stands for. "It's all a part of the big picture, of trying to grow as a writer and a performer."

You can sense Bon Jovi's desire to expand their horizons from the more philosophical focus and sombre tone of their current album, The Circle. But even though it's a collection that tackles difficult subjects like the recession and emasculation, it remains optimistic and uplifting.

"At the end of the day, the idea of writing a record that gives us _ and other people - so much pleasure is the greatest gift of all," Bon Jovi surmises. "It's much more fulfilling than any of the awards or accolades we've ever got, because those things are just fact and figures.

"When you look through your notebook and think you've got something, then you go into the studio and you know you've got something, like we did with this record on Work For The Working Man or When We Were Beautiful, that's what makes you want to go out and share it," he explains, passionately. "Really, that's the only reason to keep doing this, to keep touring."

Who: Bon Jovi, former hair-metallers turned perennial purveyors of stadium rock.
Where and when: Westpac Stadium in Wellington on December 4; Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium on December 5.
Tickets: On sale today via Ticketek.
Trivia: The band played Auckland in 1987 at Western Springs and in 1995 at the Mt Smart Supertop.

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Sambora Loves the Stadiums...

Sambora loving Bon Jovi's stadium gigs

Bon Jovi's next Australian gigs will be big-scale stadium shows, but guitarist Richie Sambora is promising an 'intimate' experience for fans.

The band hits Australia in December as part of their two-year world tour to promote their latest album, The Circle.

The rock legends announced last month they would play shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane.

A second and final show for Sydney was announced on Wednesday, ahead of the start of general ticket sales on Thursday.

The band, which kicked off their tour in the US in February, has just completed a series of concerts at London's 02 Arena, and Sambora says he's loving the massive shows.

'Anybody that says they don't like it means they can't do it,' Sambora told AAP from his Los Angeles home during a week-long break from the tour.

'The event is so much fun, to take part in that ... it really comes down to us being able to do that and we do it very very well.

'Jon (Bon Jovi) happens to be one of the best frontmen when it comes down to making a stadium seem like a small place.'

Sambora says he's looking forward to coming back Down Under - the band was last here in 2008 - and he's promising Aussie fans a great concert experience.

'We're bringing the most amazing production, there's going to be a high-definition screen behind us that's 55 feet (16 metres) high and 115 feet (35 metres) long so everybody gets very close and personal to the band and it becomes an intimate kind of experience.'

With a career spanning almost three decades, Bon Jovi have sold more than 120 million albums and performed more than 2,600 concerts around the world.

The Circle is the New Jersey band's 11th studio album, released in November last year.

Before they hit our shores, Bon Jovi will also have released a best of double album, which contains five new songs and is due out in November. Aussie fans will be among the first in the world to hear some of those songs performed at a live concert.

Australia is one of 30 countries the band will visit during this world tour.

Sambora says the band has had a 'passionate love for Australia since the 80s' and the now single guitarist - he was married to TV star Heather Locklear and has dated actress Denise Richards - joked that 'the girls have been very good'.

'... I'm free again ... I'll be looking for my future ex-wife, absolutely,' he laughed.

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Second Sydney Show Added...

Second Bon Jovi Sydney Show Announced

Bon Jovi will perform a second and final show in Sydney in December.
Paul Dainty today said, “The buzz on this tour is absolutely massive and so we have today decided to add this grand finale show to the tour on Saturday 18th December. So there will be great seats available when the box office opens at 9am this Thursday.”

Tickets for the new show will go on sale tomorrow July 8, with special VIP tickets available from Showbiz.com.au.

Bon Jovi Australian tour dates now are:

December 8, Perth, Subiaco Oval
December 11, Melbourne, Etihad Stadium
December 14, Brisbane, Suncorp Stadium
December 17 and 18, Sydney, Sydney Football Stadium

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Story Update

Tuesday, July 6, 2010




A new chapter of Sweet Dreams has been posted!  Happy reading...

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Blog for Bon Jovi Tickets

Monday, July 5, 2010

Yet another contest for tickets has been announced on BonJovi.com!

Bon Jovi's Live Before You Die Blog Contest


Hey Bon Jovi Fans!

What is YOUR ideal Bon Jovi concert experience? Now is your chance to share it with us! As the current leg of Bon Jovi's The Circle Tour draws to a close, we're asking YOU, Bon Jovi's most loyal fans, to create a blog describing your dream Bon Jovi concert experience. The winner will receive two tickets to Bon Jovi's last show of this leg of the Circle Tour on July 31st at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL!

HOW TO ENTER:

Using the Bon Jovi images found by clicking here, plus your creativity and imagination, create a blog entry in which you describe the last US Circle Tour show at Solider Field in Chicago as YOU would have it. What would be on the set list? Where would your seats be? What is Richie Sambora wearing? Did you take a limo to get there?

Get creative! The best blogger will win two great seats to the July 31st Bon Jovi show. To enter, simply create a blog anywhere on the web - Blogspot, Wordpress, or even Facebook - and send a LINK of your blog entry to backstagejbj@contests.sparkart.com by July 26th, 2010 at 10 a.m. PDT. The winner will be selected and notified by July 28th, 2010.

DOWNLOAD BON JOVI STADIUM PHOTOS HERE!

I read this and got all excited.  Then I read the "Official Contest Rules."  This contest is for 2 tickets only (valued at $200).  No airfare, no accommodations.  They will announce the winner on July 28.  The concert is on July 31.  How are you supposed to make flight and hotel arrangements on such short notice? 

When I went to NMS back in  May I had all my arrangements made months ahead of time.  Trying to get a flight at that late date will be nearly impossible, not to mention costing an arm and a leg.  As much as they said this contest is open to residents of the United States (excluding Puerto Rico) and Canada (excluding Quebec), in my opinion it's aimed at Chicago residents.  Who else would be able to get to a concert in a city not their own on such short notice?  Again, that's just my opinion.  I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from entering.  I might even write up something myself.  I'm just curious as to why they are only giving the winner three days' notice to get her or himself to Chicago for the show.

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Let Freedom Ring...

Sunday, July 4, 2010

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Queenie's Loyal Subjects

About Me

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I am and always have been a Bon Jovi fan. This blog is just my obsession taken a step further, my imagination in high gear if you will. I love to read and decided to see what would happen when I took that love of the written word and ramped it up a bit.

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