JBJ on Eddie Trunk's Sirius Show on Wednesday

Eddie said today that he was only able to talk to Jon for about 15-20 minutes due to scheduling. He said it was a great experience but he was barely able to scratch the surface.

Yeah -well - I will never forget the total shit storm after Eddie trashed them for their 2007 Newark shows. Jon was very hurt about that. I just checked and I don't have the review from that time - but I remember Eddie really raking them over the coals.

This is what I remember and it's the essence of what he said, not quotes. I'll post more if I remember or after I listen to the repeat tonight.

He spoke with great exuberance about the musicianship of the band and what everyone was bringing to the table. He talked of Tico and David's wisdom. He talked of Phil's extensive experience as a studio musician and how that brought a lot to the band.

They talked about early days and how they got lumped into a category because of the way they looked. He said he told Doc he wanted to open for acts like Bryan Adams but Doc said the way to build a loyal audience was to tour with acts like RATT. It worked,but also left them lumped into that category.

He recalled Dee Snider talking about how cute they were on MTV and he laughed and agreed that he was cuter than Dee but stressed that he loved Dee.

He had said at one point prior to KTF that he didn't know if he had a band anymore. The rebirth of the band this time was very similar to that. But he always holds the original members of the band, and he named Alec, in a special place because they believed in the dream when he didn't have five cents.

They did talk about Richie, mostly the same story. Although he said that he had Bobby around for such a case as what happened in Canada to arise. (Again, that's a summary, not exactly how he phrased it.)

There was a very, very long pause in the Richie discussion and post interview Eddie mentioned it and said Jon paused before diplomatically saying Richie needed to get help. I SWEAR Jon said the thing about Richie needing to get help when he was talking about the first time Phil filled in prior to the pause. But maybe I'm wrong.

The podcast will be out later this week and you can all hear for yourselves.

Thanks Becky. Some interesting things.

About Richie, I called it the first time it happened when Jon started hitting the interview circuit for the new album and it has been happening a lot. Jon clearly wants to say something else and I believe his intentions are good but really comes across as implying over and over that Richie's problems were personal (well duh, everbody guessed that) and specially related to the same kind of problems he had in the past. He's not so subtly said as much in several interviews which I thought was stirring the pot innecessarily.

I really hope it's not what happened. If it was I would understand why Jon would think it could help Richie by forcing his hand, but on the other hand there's been lots of speculation again about Richie's appareance, possible falling off the wagon, etc, and coincidentally the backlash become more insistent when Jon started doing the interviews and from what I hear Richie is becoming very defensive against it, which is completely understandable.

I think that Richie needs to do his thing and build a fanbase, far away from all the drama. The constant speculation is hindering him, and even if it was true, what does Jon think he's going to accomplish? I just don't get it

He's trying to take the high road which is a super hard thing to do if an, to use JBJ's terms, ex-employee is bullshitting. Jon's a benevolent leader or whatever, but he's still a leader, so to suck it all up when he really just wants to slam the guy for talking crap about his daughter when he was getting wasted with girls half his age must annoy him a great deal. At the beginning, the whole "I just miss my family"-angle probably made JBJ look like the bad guy, and you can bet he didn't like it. But to talk trash in the media wouldn't fit the band's bill either. So, really, what's he gonna do?

Honestly, for Richie to ever come back, he'd need to get super humble. And it seems that after 30 years of wingman status, he suddenly spotted a huge chip on his shoulders and is overcompensating big time. His self-perception is certainly off, and it sucks, because as fun as the new album is, I can only imagine what Richie would have contributed to tracks such as Scars On This Guitar. It is practically tailor-made for his guitar style, but relegated to only feature keys.

I'm pretty sure it was in both this and the Howard interview Jon talked about how he loves Richie and he in this one there must have been something about not wanting to be part of the big machine anymore because Eddie said he had spoken to Richie and gotten that same impression from him.

If there is a personal problem that Richie needed "help" for, I think Jon is doing the best he can because it's not his truth to tell so all he really can do is tell them ask Richie or refer back to the past.

Also he's been flattering of Richie, particularly on the Howard show. He called him a great collaborator and always gave credit when it was due.

Thanks for that recap Becky. I only wished Trunk got to interview Jon for longer!

This is why I said I can understand if he's really trying to hint Richie has "problems" to get a reaction from him, to put him in the spotlight and force him to do something about it. I can't find the thread but I read that on Howard Stern there was a similar phrasing to suggest Richie left because of "personal problems that he had had in the past" and somebody pointed that out.

Again, why not say the same PR bullshit about his leaving instead of hinting it wasn't about the reasons Richie said? It's as simple as saying "ask him" and don't say any other word. Or be clear the band officially believes the personal thing: his family, his desire to do other things, etc. Even if it's not true! That's their dirty laundry. Keep it private

I do believe it's a difficult situation for both because I'm one of those naïve people who think they are telling the truth when they say they love each other after all it's said and done. I do believe the praising is sincere

Here's the Howard Stern interview (2h03min in approx)

Thanks for the Howard link.

The Trunk interview is about to reair so I'm going to make some notes:

Eddie has been a fan since the beginning and admired the way he has kept his career at the level he has.

It was important to Jon to present the album as a whole because he's proud of every song and the band worked hard on every song. Talked about the experience of an album as a whole and sharing a record with friends in the past.

Talked about this album as a crossroad, coming out of a tunnel, not quite on the other side, but one foot on the ground. They are wiser men now. He's proud Tico and David have been on this journey with him. It was a conscience thing to transcend the 80's thing. He said the songwriting differentiated them. You build on it and you're here 30 years later.