Jovitalk - Bon Jovi Fan Community - What Jon had to say about Richie's personal life

Here's part two of Friday's interview:

HAMMER: Well, who says you can`t go home? Certainly not Jon Bon Jovi. He is just back from the Japan leg of the band`s massive world tour, a bittersweet homecoming, given the nasty divorce mess surrounding guitarist Richie Sambora.

I asked Jon how that`s affecting the band, and I also tapped into Jon`s political side and the protest music that`s hitting the airwaves these days. Jon gave me his take on the Dixie Chick`s latest single, "Not Ready to Make Nice."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BON JOVI: It is yet to be determined how the Dixie Chicks song will be received.

HAMMER: True.

BON JOVI: That said, I love it. The greatest rave ever I give a song, period, is when I say, "I wish I wrote it." I wish I wrote that.

HAMMER: That`s quite something for you to say.

BON JOVI: I haven`t heard the Neil Young record. I would expect him to write a protest song that`s fabulous. But is the tide turning in America? Is it going back the other way? Depends on who you ask.

Look, a lot of my fellow Americans, you know, are living in the land of sound bites and reality television, and they`re not reading the newspaper, and they`re not reading books, and they haven`t traveled abroad, and they haven`t seen Africa, Asia, India, North America, South America, and Europe. So they`re opinionated from what they`re fed here by a right- or left-wing media.

HAMMER: And often in very small doses, as you say.

BON JOVI: Sound bites.

HAMMER: Well, congratulations on "Who Says You Can`t Go Home?" Number one on the country charts, Jon Bon Jovi with the band. Not too bad, man. It`s a nice record to have, I suppose.

BON JOVI: It is. It`s very nice, as a matter of fact. You know, and it just goes to show you that a song is a song and formats don`t really matter.

HAMMER: And one of the cool things this song has done is it`s forged a relationship between you and Habitat for Humanity. Right now, why are you choosing to focus or why did you decide to focus so much energy on Habitat?

BON JOVI: Well, I`ve gotten involved with Habitat prior to the video. All these Father Flanagan situations I was in down in Philly, I realized, you know, a little bit here, a little bit there, it helps. But then I got into North Philly and saw, much like Asbury Park and so many other places that are suffering from the urban blight, they`re run down.

The cities even may be brought back up, but the outskirts are run down. And so we got involved and said, "OK, our focus is going to go to homelessness." We`re going to take everything that we do with this playground and these beds and this, you know, help lines to AIDS houses. Let`s take all our money and get into building homes for people that need them.

HAMMER: You know, you`re being pulled at from all ends all the time. You`ve sold over 100 million albums; you`ve played over 2,500 shows. People are always grabbing at you. Yet, somehow, you keep it cool and you keep it together. Is that something you have to work at or that really just...

BON JOVI: I think the simplicity, A.J., is that I live in Jersey. That`s the simple way to answer that question, is there aren`t any Joneses to keep up with. We don`t know any better.

You go out of your house. Those folks have nothing in common with what, you know, I do for a living, so they don`t care about chart positions, or talk shows, or anything that has to do with touring. They`re worrying about putting food on the table; they`re worried about, you know, the place they are in their own lives. And that, to me, is the easiest answer for you.

HAMMER: One of the closest people in your life, arguably, Richie Sambora, who you`ve worked with and have known for as long as you`ve known, as you know is sort of in the middle of this very public thing that`s going on between his ex-wife and the woman that he is now dating, Heather Locklear and Denise Richards.

When stuff like that is going on, is it very distracting? I mean, you guys are about to hit the road. Does it get in the way at all of the work of Bon Jovi or the work that you`re trying to do?

BON JOVI: No. I was more concerned that he broke his shoulder. And, obviously, you know, his private life is still his private life. And the circumstances here, as they relate to Ava, his daughter, his parents, and Heather are more what would concern me.

How this all plays out makes for great Hollywood gossip, but, you know, he`s just really concerned about his daughter, first and foremost, his parents second, and Heather third, and that`s truly the pecking order.

HAMMER: So you guys have been touring for over 20 years now. Do you actually remember or have some recollection of the very first night you guys took the stage as a band in front of a really decent-sized crowd?

BON JOVI: Sure. Let`s put it this way: First album, first tour bus, that`s when we knew that we had a record deal. You know, the album was released. We were starting in New Jersey, because the bus had to come pick us up somewhere.

And we went to the bus a good five or six hours before the show, and we only ever just lived down the street, like, with our parents still. So, yes, everybody was, like, in awe because there it was: our bus.

HAMMER: And when you took it to that first show and you got on stage, you remember that feeling you had getting on stage in front of those people?

BON JOVI: It was snowing like a son of a gun. And we pulled up to the club. And it had one of those, you know, those yellow rental signs that, you know, you`d have in front of your bar, with the lights that chase all the way around it and the arrow on the end?

HAMMER: Yes, yes, exactly.

BON JOVI: And, I swear, the lights went around, and it`s snowing, and it`s like a blizzard, and it says, "99-cent beers and Bon Jovi." And my manager, Doc McGee, got off the bus and the first thing -- I just says, "Who booked me in this toilet?" He goes, "I did, but I told them it was Bon Jovi, then 99-cent beers."

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAMMER: Hey, you can`t complain about a 99-cent beer. Jon easily one of the nicest guys in rock `n` roll, also a very generous guy. His band, as well. They`re always giving back to the community.
Now, you might remember that he went on Oprah right after Hurricane Katrina and donated $1 million bucks to her Angel Network. Well, Jon told me they have finally found a place for that money. They`re going to help rebuild the homes of 20 families in Homa, Louisiana.

And just last night, Jon Bon Jovi was honored by Help USA for all of his charitable work and philanthropy. Bon Jovi will kick off the American leg, the next American leg of their tour, in mid-July.

ANDERSON: Great interview, A.J.