The spoils of rock: Ex-Bon Jovi bassist is putting it all on the auction block
Published in the Asbury Park Press 5/14/00 By KELLY-JANE COTTER
MUSIC WRITER

THE COLTS NECK HOME OF ALEC JOHN SUCH is like a museum.

Each room of the enormous house on Laird Road holds a well-kept collection,
often reflecting the 14 years Such spent as bassist for Bon Jovi.

In a spare bedroom behind the laundry room, some 50 bass guitars stand at
 attention - a pink paisley guitar, an emerald green guitar, a translucent
 guitar, a guitar shaped like a '50s-style Chevy, even a basic black number
 that Such used before he was famous.

Memorabilia from Bon Jovi's arena days in the '80s, including posters,
 photos, tour jackets, trophies and about 100 gold and platinum records, are
on display in the living room. Amplifiers nearly fill the garage.

The collections go beyond rock 'n' roll paraphernalia.

Rare and commemorative coins are piled like a pirate's treasure. Among other
 things, Such owns antique Siamese and Russian jewelry, comic books,
sculptures by Erte and D.H. Chipari, a dozen guns and art by Peter Max and
 South Amboy-based artist Wayne Turback.

And everything must go. "I made my money during the era of 'He who dies with
 the most toys wins,'" Such said. "That's how the '80s were. But you grow out
 of that, you really do."

On Saturday, Such will put nearly everything he owns on the auction block.
"This is not a distress sale," said Stephan J. Miranti, the auctioneer in
 charge of the sale and a friend of Such. "He's not broke."

Still, many people would shudder at the thought of strangers clambering 
through their yard in search of a bargain, even if it's a garage sale, let
 alone an estate auction. Miranti knows that many people associate auctions 
with bad news, which is why, during a visit to Such's house, he emphasized
 several times that the musician is not in financial trouble. The very term
 "estate auction" smacks of death or bankruptcy - and loneliness.

"I always thought I'd have kids," Such said. "That's half the reason I
 bought all this stuff. But you can't predict or control what happens to 
you."

Such lives alone in his lavishly furnished house, which has two master 
bedrooms, several smaller bedrooms and a phenomenal finished basement with a
 black jack table, a pool table, slot machines from Las Vegas casinos, video
games and a wet bar modeled after the one on "Cheers."

"I used to have some good parties here," he said.

He has been divorced for 17 years, but is on good terms with his ex-wife,
who has "custody" of their 19-year-old cat, Tiffany. He dotes on his other
 cat, Max. When Such couldn't find Max, who was ranging somewhere on the 
property, he handed a bullhorn to Muranti and asked him to call the cat so a
 photographer could take a picture of Such with his cat.

Muranti made a few half-hearted calls through the bullhorn from the deck, 
never venturing into the yard, before returning to the living room. "He
 hates my cat," Such said, still scanning the yard from a window. "I love my
 pets, but some people aren't animal people."

On a tour of the house - which will be included in the auction via sealed
bids - Muranti pointed out the big-ticket items such as the 11-foot
chandelier that dangles in the foyer. "I paid $20,000 for that," Such said,
 moving briskly past the chandelier to point out a shelf of photos: an
 autographed photo of "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno, a picture of Such posing
 with Vice President Al Gore ("Even though I can't stand his politics," Such 
said), several of Such's nieces and one of his mother, Helen, in Italy.

"I don't know where in Italy that was taken but it was while we were on 
tour," Such said. "My mother would come with us on tour so she could travel
everywhere. She wasn't too pleased when I retired."

Such's father died a long time ago and Such seems very close to and
 protective of his mother. Examples of her needle work hang through out the 
house, an odd juxta position with the other art work. A tattoo on Such's left
 shoulder replicates a needlepoint picture of a wizard made by his mom.

"Of course, I'm saving all her work," he said.

He's also saving a cimbalom, a Hungarian instrument similar to a dulcimer,
handmade by his paternal grandfather and played by his father. Of his own
 musical career, he only wants to save photos he took of the band on various
 tours and a trophy awarded by the T.J. Martell Foundation, honoring the 
band's work with autistic children.

"This is a celebrity auction, a high-profile estate," Muranti said. "That 
makes it different from most auctions I handle. And Alec has a lot of
 different things. He's eccentric."

Among the oddities up for auction are a hand-held chrome ice maker from
 about 1900, a miniature Singer sewing machine from about the same time, a
 telephone from 1936, a cash register from 1930, a miniature player saxophone
(which operates with a roll, like a player piano) and a coin-operated "Flash
Gordon Rocket Ship" children's ride from 1951.

He also is selling several classic cars.

"Yeah, it makes me sad to see some of this stuff go," Such said, as he drove
his sleek, 1953 MG through his rural neighborhood. The car, one of several
for sale, is a beauty, and Such takes delight in its pristine condition. On
a sunny afternoon's drive, he turned on the windshield wipers as if 
demonstrating a parlor trick, smiling as the old-fashioned blades stretched
 and retracted like the legs of a cricket.

The two-passenger car sped past the horse farms and mansions that make Colts
Neck so pretty and prestigious and so elegantly silent. Such, who grew up in 
a tight-knit Hungarian neighborhood in Perth Amboy, bought his house in
Colts Neck in 1988.

"Colts Neck is nice," he said, "but there's nothing to do. There's no
 activity. You don't see people anywhere. I would just come home and do 
nothing. I even got into the habit of cooking for myself and I don't want to
 do that. I want to go out to eat, I want to get out and meet people."

Physical setbacks

Such itches for mobility and action. This part of his personality was sorely
 tested within a year after he retired from Bon Jovi in 1994. Such said a
 drunk driver smashed into his car in Marlboro, shattering his hip. Recovery
 was agonizing, physically and mentally.

"It took them an hour to get me out of the car," Such recalled. "I was on my 
back for six months after surgery. It was about the worst thing to happen to
me in my life."

Five years later, he occasionally needs to walk with a cane. The size of his
 house, with all its stairs, has become unmanageable.

"I want to sell all this and buy a new motor home and a boat and just go
traveling,"he said. "I don't miss being in a band; I don't want any of
 that. I want to meet people and if they don't believe I was in Bon Jovi, I 
won't care. I don't think I've picked up a guitar since I left the band. I
 don't have calluses on my fingers anymore. I'd bleed if I played now."

Bon Jovi the band is undisputedly led by Jon Bon Jovi, the singer and front
man who grew up in working-class Sayreville and now lives in a riverfront
 estate in the most plush section of Middletown. (The rest of the band also
maintained ties to New Jersey -- Tico Torres, the drummer, lives in Colts
Neck; Richie Sambora, guitarist, and David Bryan, keyboardist, also have 
homes in the area).

But Alec John Such played a key role in forming Bon Jovi the band. Such and
 Sambora played together in an earlier band called Message; Such and Torres
 traveled in the same circles.

In the early '80s, Such managed the Hunka Bunka Ballroom in Sayreville, then 
known as the Jernee Mill Inn. He booked Jon Bon Jovi & The Wild Ones and saw
 potential. He brought Sambora and Torres into the fold; Bon Jovi brought 
Bryan, with whom he had played in a band called Atlantic City Expressway.

The rest, as they say, is history. Bon Jovi became the most successful of 
the many "hair bands" of the '80s that bridged the gap between pop and heavy
 metal. The band's 1986 album on Polygram/Mercury, "Slippery When Wet," sold
 in the multi-millions and earned Bon Jovi an international following,
especially in Asia, that has not abated. Commercial success continued with
"New Jersey" in 1988, "Keep the Faith" in 1992 and the greatest-hits album
"Cross Road" in 1994.

Bon Jovi survived the dominance of modern rock in the early '90s and now
 seems poised for another comeback. The band's album, "Crush," is due for
 release June 13. Bon Jovi will begin its world tour in July in Japan,
followed by dates in Europe in August and September. The band played a
 sold-out preview gig last month at Tradewinds in Sea Bright.

Meanwhile, Jon Bon Jovi played a supporting role in the hit thriller
"U-571." He has even regained his status as a teen idol - no small feat for
 a 38-year-old father of two in the era of boy groups -- with young women 
calling area radio stations to request his songs, describing him as a
 "hottie."

The wild one One of the band's early publicity photos -- available at the 
auction -- features "Teen Beat"-style snippets of biography about each
 musician on the back: "Known as the wild one in the group, Alec enjoys his
 cars and motorcycles when he's not on tour."