NEWS from Alec John Such

Monday, June 21, 2004 BY LAURA DANNEN
For the Star-Ledger

Alec Jon Such, former bassist for Bon Jovi, put thousands of dollars worth of cars, furniture, artwork and rock'n'roll memorabilia on sale in a weekend auction at his home in Colts Neck.

Too bad no one was buying it.

"What a dull crowd," said auctioneer Steve Miranti of Auction Liquidation Services. "I guess there's no Bon Jovi fans out there."

There were a few fans of the New Jersey-based band on hand -- notably, Pam and Chauncey Cozine from Middletown, who went home Saturday with $1,525 worth of Such's keepsakes, including a Fender bass guitar played and signed by Such, and the 1992 "Keep the Faith" album's double platinum records.

"We've been fans of Bon Jovi's since his big-hair days in the 1980s," said Pam Cozine. "I thought they were going to sell everything here for a lot more. I didn't think we'd get anything."

When Chauncey handed her seven pairs of fake-leather "pleather" pants worn by Such on tour and in videos, she groaned.

"I hope this isn't my birthday present."

Auction items ran the spectrum, even for a self-proclaimed "pack rat" like Such. Jewelry and coin collectors poured over sterling silver bracelets and Susan B. Anthony coins, while a mom and her daughter inspected the stuffed Bon Jovi band dolls.

Still, it didn't look like the auction would yield the $400,000 Such's first auction in 2000 earned. A few Fender bass guitars sold for $700 to $750, while the highlight of the day -- the 1960 MGA Roadster convertible -- sold for $7,500. In all, 300 items were sold for a total of $30,000. Last year's auction ended with a $300,000 profit, but sold 1,200 items.

Murphy Realty also held an open house for Such's $1.5 million colonial-style house and three acres of property. There has been a lot of interest, but no sale as of yet. Such wants to "downsize" and move to a ranch-style home in the Colts Neck area.

"I broke my hip when my car was hit head-on by a drunk driver in 1995," said Such. "I just don't feel like walking up and down stairs anymore."

At age 52, Such is divorced and childless, and admits he doesn't need a lot of property at this point in his life. Although Teen Beat once called him the "wild one" in the band, he has considered settling down with his girlfriend, Karin Konrad, 35.

"I keep asking her to marry me and she keeps telling me no," he said with a wry smile.

Such left Bon Jovi in 1994, when he was 42. He says the age difference to the reason he retired.

"I'm 10 years older than these guys, and I guess I just burnt out quicker. Now they're getting up to the age I was when I left the band, and they realize they have to do easier tours."

Such and guitarist Richie Sambora left the band Message and joined Sayreville-native Jon Bon Jovi's band in the early 1980s.

Drummer Tico Torres and keyboardist David Bryan rounded out the group that would go on to international fame with albums "New Jersey" in 1988, "Keep the Faith" in 1992 and the greatest-hits album "Cross Road" in 1994.

Such, who plans on staying in the area because of family, joins Bryan, Bruce Springsteen, and Queen Latifah as famous Colts Neck residents. Torres and Sambora used to live in the area, but have since moved to Florida and California, respectively.

Thanks Karin - I didn't even know about it and I live here

Kathleen

Thanks for posting- where was this published?

Doesn't Richie live in New York? (they lived ic CA when they were writing Bounce)

And to the point

I thought it was a bit sad- he doesn't have any kids...

Interesting line hinting toward Jon- since Jon is 42 now...
I guess there's something to it- since Jon often says nowadays "maybe i'm too old for this..."

*I was surprised they didn't mention SWW together with NJ
and the fact that Alec came to a shorth performance recently

all in all interesting

cool those fans got the double platinum record for KTF...

No, Richie doesn't live in New York (anymore). He used to live there for a while during the recordings of Crush while Heather was filming the Spin City-series which was filmed in New York at that time. But they moved back to LA when the film set for the series moved to LA.

I thought that he already auctioned off his BJ stuff..... Wasn't this a news item one year ago or so...??

thanks for posting that, its sad really, surprised he is auctioning stuff off, surely he doesnt need the money so bad to let stuff go for so little, must have been a shock it didnt make much.

Dawn

Same here! I am close to Colts Neck too!

Maybe That's just his way of moving on.
Maybe he doesn't want his house saturated with BJ stuff.

why would it be sad if someone chose not to have kids?


I don't see anything wrong with getting rid of clutter - even if it is BJ clutter. Who on earth would hold on to BJ dolls?? That is just weird.

Good for him to downsize!!

it`s really bad for him, I mean this is every where on the net now, it should have been public before the auction than he would have had buyers