No Richie on current leg of the tour

Agree, 100%.

I used to chuckle as Jon's stories evolved over the years and altered history just a smidgen with every recollection. It's natural, I suppose. But with this one, it just reinforces my belief that they were pissed with each other - RS about the tour and album coming too soon and JBJ about his guitarist's apathy toward Bon Jovi - and now RS has taken all the blame, Jon feels he is able to take the story out for a ride a little and see what she can do.

Being honest, I can't say I would be any different.

I kinda get Richie's "excuse" for bailing and perhaps i would have a little empathy if his method of telling Jon was different. But getting someone else to do it 3 hours before the show is heinous.

All would have been totally different if Richie would have sat down with Jon in a hotel room and poured his heart out to him. Then I'm sure Jon would have had more respect for Richie. But now I feel there may be irreparable damage. Certainly the brotherhood is lost - all because Richie didn't have the bollocks to be honest.

And another thing from the latest interview. The pressure for Jon to carry on the tour must have been huge. We seem to forget the 100s of road crew relying on (and I quote from Jon) the pay cheque to support their families. Thats the philanthropist in Jon i suppose. It isn't just the fans he would have been letting down.

Exactly. The stories still line up. I don't know why some people are still looking for conspiracy theories (except to make Jon out to be a liar).

Because Jon is never the good guy and forced Richie out and is the controlling CEO who only wants the money.

Or so people say...

Said from day one I am on 'Jon's side' and I still am 9 months later.

Nobody appreciates your humor Javier - except for me

as the saying goes.. why spoil a good story with the truth

...........

Y'know, I hate to break it to y'all, it being the holiday season and everything, but there really is no Santa Claus... or Tooth Fairy... or Easter Bunny. And Jon Bon Jovi has, on occasion, been known to spin the truth.


While I can't speak for the others who also noted that every word that falls from Jon's lips may not be Gospel, I personally think, that like everyone else on the Planet (including Richie Sambora, in case some people can't comprehend, once and for all, that I'm not hatin' on their demi-god), Jon occasionally tells a fib, stretches the truth, or rewrites history. It doesn't make him Evil Incarnate - it just makes him human. And if all it takes to knock him off that pedestal, on which you seem so determined to keep him, is for someone to insinuate that he needs to tighten his spin, then you need to tighten the loose screw that you have holding him there.

As for conspiracy theories, what can I say? I love a good debate and I love a good mystery. Throw in a little good music, and who could ask for anything more? I still don't think we have the whole story - may never have given the 'secrets to grave' mentality we're dealing with - so my little brain just keeps on digging for clues. Sorry if that upsets you. (Not really, but it sounded good. Oh wait, did I just lie? ... maybe.)

Of course Jon has been known to stretch the truth, they all have. The point is that he has not changed his story IN THIS INSTANCE. He said before that he got a call from Paul at 3:30 on show day saying Richie wasn't coming. He said in this recent interview that he got a call at 3:30 on show day from someone other than Richie to say that Richie wasn't coming. Ergo, the stories still line up.

One of my points was that it's not so much what he says as how he says it - the subtle changes in delivery that alter the meaning enough to get his point across. In Calgary he needed to show how stunned he was by the sudden revelation that Richie wouldn't be there. In the second statement, it seemed that he was trying to plant a seed that "this wasn't the first time it had happened - remember rehab *wink, wink*" when he pointed out that Paul didn't even have to give him the message before he said, "You're kidding..." (which backfired, because it could also imply that maybe Richie did talk it over with him at some point prior to 4/2/13 at 3:30). Now he's putting another spin on it, "Poor me, we had all these obstacles, the weather didn't cooperate, Tico got sick, Richie didn't show up and gee, he couldn't even be bothered to call himself." Otherwise, why add "it wasn't even him who called"?

Apparently his ploy has worked in all three cases because even those who finally understand that Richie may have had good reasons just can't seem to get over the way he called at the last minute and left everyone hanging. But based on Jon's second "version" he had some idea the call was coming. Where did that idea come from? Even if you take into account that Richie stepped away for rehab on The Circle tour and had to be sent home in 2007, given the fact that many people argue that there was nothing wrong with Richie's performances Feb - March on this tour - why would Jon not be surprised that he wasn't going to be in Calgary? Even with his past absences Richie has never, to my knowledge, just not shown up.

And why is Jon just now a) bringing Teek and David into the picture along with himself to b) sit down and ask Richie "what happened"? In all the early statements, when they all they would say was, "It's a personal matter, and that's all we can say" it seemed like they all KNEW what the personal matter was; they just wouldn't discuss it out of respect for Richie's privacy. Suddenly none of them has a clue why Richie didn't show? Not buying it.

My other point is that I'm really tired of being unjustly accused of dogging Jon just because I say something that casts him in a less than glowing light. It doesn't mean that I don't like or respect him, because I do. I have questions about some of his statements, just like I do about Richie's. I believe I even said in my original post that I didn't think either of them was telling the whole truth. I think Richie is skipping over what he doesn't want to say (and not doing it very well at times) and that Jon a persuasive speaker - it's his business to be - who says exactly what he wants to say, whether it paints the whole picture or not. So when people listen to them they need to listen just as carefully to what they may not be saying.

And I'm probably just wasting computer (and sleep) time anyway because Simon & Garfunkel had it right when they said, "A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."