jonbonjovi.com FAQ page 1997-98
 

NOTHING'S SAFE. NOTHING'S SACRED 

or 

"So Tell Me About The New Album"

"I hope that people will see I'm on a journey. It may or may not be successful, but it'll be honest. And I'll take chances; some will fail, but at least give me the opportunity to take the chances and continue this journey."

Destination Anywhere, the second solo album from Jon Bon Jovi, is a departure from what the public has come to expect from a Bon Jovi or Jon Bon Jovi project. The lyrics are closer to the chest, more introspective. The sound, less reliant on power guitar chords, delves into the world of programmed loops, samples & synthesizers. Destination Anywhere marks a new direction for Jon Bon Jovi and offers a challenge to the notion of who Jon Bon Jovi is as an artist.

"I think a lot of people are going to be surprised at what they hear. The one thing I said going into this was that everything would be the opposite of what was expected of me. This album is a lot more introspective, personal."

"I didn't want to be reliant on my past. So I took some chances in '96 and did this string of movies and now this solo record to find out more about who I am and write about it."
"Look, I'm going. 'Destination Anywhere, left or right, I don't care.' But I'm going somewhere and I've invited the listener to come."

"I was able to go away with my family for a while and for once look back and really enjoy the success. I found myself again, and I found a new independence. After that I knew I was ready for the next place. That is where "Destination Anywhere" came from. I know I am going somewhere, I'm just not sure where."

"I'm not sure where I'm going. I have no idea. People shouldn't be afraid to try new things. Take on a challenge. There are a lot of people whose lives in this world are ruled by fear."
"The way I'm thinking these days, anything that I want to do, I'm going to try it. And if it wins, it wins. If it loses, it loses. But at least I know I tried"

"I don't want to be Elvis in a white suit. It's just something that hit me last summer when I was doing multiple nights in stadiums. It was an unbelievable time, but if it meant I was only there because people were coming to hear the hits, then I'd rather walk away and try it in a different way."

"I was excited about the prospect of making a record that didn't sound like what was currently on the radio. And I wasn't following a trend... So I thought this was worth the risk."

"I hope people are gonna like it. I hope it doesn't turn anyone off, but in the same breath, I wanted to re-invent myself, try something new, and not just do the same-old-same-old. Some people do that and they do it very well; but for me, this record was about moving on and moving up. Seeing what came of it."

"All the songs on it are probably more personal than anything I've written. Anyone who has bought my records over the past 14 years may well turn their backs on it because it is very different to a Bon Jovi album. But I'm not doing it to please anyone but myself."

"I feel like I'm starting over again, but I'm doing it with the benefit of some incredible experience. In a way, it's kind of frightening, but in another way, it's exciting to have a challenge that I know will be better for me personally at the end."

"I'm not a guy who's going to give you 'You Give Love A Bad Name' every two years. I want to do other things. Some will be great and some won't. Being given the opportunity to fail is important."

"These are the greatest collection of introspective songs I've ever written."
"It wasn't any great conscious attempt to make a contemporary-sounding record. It was the idea that I wanted to experiment."

"Every album is an honest album. It's the best record you could make at that period in your life. It's just something that you wanted to say. Now, what the public buys nobody can figure out, because if you could, record companies would just make those kinds of bands all over again. Ultimately, you can't think of a record or an artist as a Batman franchise. With Batman you know what you are going to get when you walk into that theatre... but Batman is a fictional character. To want them as a fan and to recreate this product is a fair request but it's not reality because the artist is not a product, he is a guy. His life changes and he writes different things."

"With this record, I was able to get introspective and say things I haven't expressed before. I wrote the title 'Destination Anywhere' not knowing where I was going, and not caring - just knowing I wanted to GO. Admitting to your audience, 'I'm outta here' - that's pretty hard for them to take. When you say, 'Listen, I'm going. I don't know where, but I'm outta here', that's a cold thing to tell somebody. It's not that I'm not coming back but I don't want to become a greatest hits act."

DESTINATION ANYWHERE: THE FILM HOW DID IT COME ABOUT?

Having become bored with the process of making videos, Jon didn't want to make one for the new album unless it was something original. Intrigued by the idea of challenging the medium, Jon collaborated with film director, Mark Pellington and created something completely unique: a 45-minute feature film based on key lyrical passages from the songs on Destination Anywhere. Recruiting friends such as Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, Whoopi Goldberg and Annabella Sciorra, Jon rounded out the cast, thus combining his music and his acting. Airing initially on VH-1 and MTV, Destination Anywhere is now available on home video.


"We set out to do something, and God bless Mark Pellington for working his ass off to pull it off."

"Ultimately, this is a story based on the album, so I gave Mark an idea and the core of several songs, because I couldn't be a character. I had to be me because of the record."
"That was an afterthought. It was because of the fear of having to make videos againÖblaahhh. I thought, jeez, how can I push the medium a bit?"

"It was made for MTV in America and they jumped at the opportunity. It was made purely for the reason that I was tired of making videos. Ten years ago, I made videos for the first time, it was very exciting then, but it's got tiresome."

"When I was young MTV's concept to play music videos was exciting. Somehow over the years, there was a tendency for it to get boring. My plan is to take it to the next level. It was a matter of mixing and matching tracks from the album, while emphasizing key lines of dialogue in the acting."

"I really got lucky. The four people I asked all said yes. And, I think, we made something that's very unique.

"As the record started to come together and I had to consider making videos because I'm not gonna do a full-fledged tour, I knew that I was gonna want to do something different and initially thought, 'well at least if I tie a storyline together through what would be the singles, perhaps I can make something somewhat unique. And when Mark Pellington was brought on board to direct it, we realized we could make a movie out of it. It's a drama. It's very heavy. It's not a comedy; it's not light."

"Now that I'm making films and this is my ninth album, the last thing I wanted to do was make another video. It's always been the worst part of record-making, and half of our videos aren't watchable. So I wanted to do something new. At first, I thought I'd just take four videos and tie them together. But then we got into a half-hour story, and when we started shooting we realized we could make it an hour. So I called up all huge movie stars and said to myself, 'Well, all they can do is say no'. And they all said yes!"

"As we developed the script, I said I'm gonna reach for the moon. What can they do, say 'no'?"

"Demi Moore was saying I could be a Hollywood producer, being able to get all these people to be in the film for no money."

"Annabella [Sciorra] plays my wife in the upcoming 'Little City'. As for Whoopi [Goldberg], I felt a kinship since we worked on 'Moonlight and Valentino,' and Kevin Bacon, I met recently. He's into music now and I'm into acting, so we exchanged a lot of tips."

On Kevin Bacon: "I met [him] here in town. He's a great fan of music. He has a band. He's in the process of making a record himself. So I think it was a nice idea we were able to trade experiences."

Demi Moore on why she agreed to portray Jon's wife in the film: "Jon agreed to mow my lawn for the rest of his life." "Jon is driven by passion and desire, and an almost limitless perspective of where he can go. He won't be limited by labels. That kind of courage encourages everyone."

"Destination Anywhere" is now available on home video. The videocassette also includes exclusive interview footage with Jon Bon Jovi, plus videos for the songs, "Midnight In Chelsea" and "Queen of New Orleans"

WHEN DID THE ACTING BUG BITE?

Jon Bon Jovi's first appearance on motion picture screens occurred during the 1989 YOUNG GUNS II where he had a walk-on "blink and you miss it" dialogue-free cameo. However, his experience on the set, his friendship with Young Guns star Emilio Estevez and the success of Blaze of Glory, Jon's Golden Globe Award-winning soundtrack for the film all converged to spark an interest in acting.

Rather than dive headfirst into the uncharted waters of Hollywood however, Jon carefully went about learning the craft of acting. For the past six years, Jon has been studying under the tutelage of legendary New York drama coach, Harold Guskin.

"I had no intention of ever getting into the movies, but I was driven by the music I wrote for Young Guns. The next thing I know, I win a Golden Globe, I'm nominated for an Oscar and performing at the Academy Awards. I'm looking out at the audience and I go: 'This doesn't suck'. So I wanted to do it again. The bug had bitten me."

"My first taste of film acting was on the set of Young Guns II, and what I saw was guys doing a job that allowed them to learn other disciplines that can then become their hobbies. I have to confess, that was the way I saw acting initially. All I ever knew how to do was sing and play guitar. I never went skiing, or horse-riding. Acting looked like a good way of finding some hobbies. But in the event, I realized this was something in itself that I really wanted to do, and wanted to do really well."

"It was the experience of working on the Young Guns II soundtrack that got me interest in acting. I saw having to learn things that have since become his hobbies - horseback riding, shooting, car racing, all kinds of stuff. And I realized that the only things I knew how to do in life were make records, tour and pack and unpack a suitcase. If I wasn't in a room with other musicians, I have no conversation to offer. I thought just maybe it was time to try and broaden my personality a little, and that acting might be a way to do it."

"I'd written the music for the film Young Guns II, and it turned out to be a surprising success. I won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award. And I wanted to do it again. That was going to be my outlet. So I was getting scripts with the idea that I would be writing the songs. But eventually the scripts stopped coming, and I thought that if I took acting lessons, maybe I'd meet more movie people. So I took some lessons, and then a couple of years into that, I went on an audition. And eventually I got a role."

"I had no desire to act. I had too much respect for the medium. Just because I could sing in a rock band, I never thought I could act - you know, you have to learn the craft."
"I didn't want to think I could ever be an actor without knowing what the f*!#k I was doing, so I went to lessons and started reading the classic plays. You know, doing it properly."

"I thought maybe if I take an acting lesson, they'll show me some of the classic plays. I'd learn about Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Sam Shepard plays, Beckett plays and I did."

"I was doing it for me, to try and make myself into a more rounded person. Because you wouldn't believe how little time I've spend alone in my life. Working with Harold, I felt like I was achieving something independently, just for myself. And what I've learnt as a result has influenced all other aspects of my life -- my personality, the songs that I write. That it's also brought me the possibility of a film career is just a lucky bonus."

"I look for things that are dialogue-driven and not just more bang for the buck. I'm much more interested in a hip script than a hit script."

On Shakespeare: "I won't say I won't because 10 years ago, I would have told you I've never do a movie. I've been offered Broadway plays. I've turned them down, but that doesn't mean I'll never do one."

"I like it a lot. You know, I never had any aspirations to be an actor. I'm a songwriter; this is what I do. The great difference is that you create the song so it's something I'll always do. But because 'Moonlight and Valentino' was such a good experience. I mean leave me on a set for four weeks with four women like that it was a lot of fun. All of them made it a great experience. I wanna do more."

On what kind of roles he's offered: "I get a bunch of stuff; I get offered some, I have to fight for some, and of course there are some I want that I have no shot at getting."

"That's the tough thing about indie films: there's no guarantee they'll get distribution. It's heartbreaking, but you move on. I was fortunate that my first job was 'Moonlight and Valentino' because it was a good experience. Perhaps, if it had been bad, I would have been like, 'F*** this, I have a good day job, I'm outta here.' I've had disappointments - 'The Man' not opening was one of them - and I've had bad as well as good experiences on set, but now I know acting's just like the music business: there's going to be ups and downs."

"Sleeping and eating have become hobbies. But I'm enjoying the idea of making movies immensely. It's an outlet for me that still gives me the opportunity to collaborate. Each take and every scene, all day, every day is, in fact, a collaboration very similar to that of a band. But the great difference is that I don't create it, I'm just a part of it.

"Making movies for me is a way of being artistic and creative, but not having all the responsibilities. Also, I'm still learning it. It's something new, yet it's in the arts and I feel I can be productive with it. I'm very open to trying it."
"I'm really learning as I go along"

HAS BEING "JON BON JOVI" HELPED OR HURT IN HOLLYWOOD?

With video rental shelves full of movies starring rock 'n' rollers and movie stars picking up the guitar to jam, the question arises: Can you do both? Jon Bon Jovi has been able to merge the two disciplines and with critical acclaim. But it wasn't easy.

"People think that you're doing it as something to keep you busy between touring, or that you won't take it seriously. There are too may talented actors out there who'd rather be in your shoes and every day I have to try to convince somebody that I'm not just fooling around, that I really do want to do this, and it's a long, slow road."

"Yes, there's a stigma attached to being a pop star who wants to act, and I understand why. But when there are so many positive examples to counterbalance the negative ones, I find it a disappointing response. People tend to forget that Sinatra did a pretty good job in movies, for a start."

"Being famous hurts the fact that I want to act People have the preconceived notion that a rock 'n' roll star will be difficult. There's no 'Isn't that nice, Jon wants to get into acting' because Christian Slater would have wanted this part. So you'd better be good."

"People are a little more leery because they don't know if you're just doing this between projects. Or your recognizability is too big - I've had to work against a lot of things."

"You take what you're comfortable with and what you know you can do. It's a hindrance to me, to tell you the truth. I've said to directors, 'You've got to understand I'd come in here and shave my head for you. I'd gain 20 lbs.' But I've been in situations where they say, 'We can't cast him because of course the girl would fall for Jon Bon Jovi', and I go, 'F*** Jon Bon Jovi - give me a shot here.'"

"Being in the film business feels like starting over. Maybe no one's ever gonna see some of my films. That's cool. I'm learning about it, trying to figure out where I'm going and who I am. If it was anything to do with music there'd be a different set of rules. Don't think that every day I'm not grateful for the opportunities that I've had and continue to have because I make 'em happen - I like workin'."

"I don't need to be a movie star. I am already a marquee name. I don't need car chases. I need a cool script and a hip director. I don't think I would tell Coppola no, or Martin Scorcese no, but what appeals to me is Danny Boyle."

"The only thing that drives me is the thrill of the chase. It's the thrill of showing up on the movie set and knowing nothing about it. Accepting the challenge. Success is nowhere near as rewarding and fun as the thrill of getting to it."

"I wouldn't be afraid of gaining 50 pounds or cutting my hair off or dyeing it blond or blue."
"There have been bummer f**king days when I've kissed every ring in Hollywood trying to get a shot. And I'm still not getting the shots. But it's exciting when you can smell that something's gonna happen."

HOW DO YOU INTEND TO JUGGLE YOUR MUSIC CAREER AND YOUR FILM CAREER?

With success in both the music and film industries, many seem to want Jon Bon Jovi to declare allegiance to one business or the other. However, Jon would like to see himself continue in both fields.

"I DON'T WANT TO QUIT MY DAY JOB"
"The greatest creative thing I do in my life is write a song. More than recording it or performing it. Because a song is something that I created and it will there forever."

"I do like the movie business although it can be a little frustrating. See, in my other job, I'm the frontman. The instigator, if you like. It's me who writes the songs. Whereas in film, I'm just one cog in the machinery. Y'know, I'm a little like the rhythm guitarist, waiting to be told what to do. But it's fun."

"I'm in a fortunate position. I've reached a level success where I can pick and choose what I do next. I feel very privileged. The money's not important nor is the success. All that matters to me is that I tried, I gave it my best shot."

"People might think my movie career is bullshit, that it's not rock 'n' roll. I love rock 'n' roll, it's my first love. If I had to choose between the two, I would choose to make records. But give the guy some room. This is fun. I don't garden. I don't race cars. I don't know how to do anything else"

On acting vs singing: "They're both a collaboration. The big difference is I didn't have to write the script, and when you're the singer and the songwriter and the manager of a band, it's like being the director and the producer and the star of the film. When I'm acting, I just show up and do my job. It's kind of like being a bass player."

"I like acting because I get the opportunity to broaden in the arts, and yet I don't have to worry about writing the material, directing it, marketing it and all of stuff. It's a great way for me not to be the focal point or the quarterback. I'm just one of the players on the team. I'm asked to do my part, and I'm given all the creative freedom I want and none of the pressures. It's a good release."

"I think I can be both [actor and musician] but music is always going to be my first love. Yeah, acting can be my mistress."

"I could do this until I was an old man Everyone who knows me knows that I can't sit at home and garden. I need to write, I need to sing, and now I need to act. And it's not for anything other than that I need to be working. That's just me."

"As long as I live, I'll always be writing songs. The other things I do might come to something or might not, but I'll always be playing the guitar."

"And I don't plan on giving up singing. Acting I like a craft, something you have to study and practice. But when I'm up on that stage, it's as natural as it gets. That's me being me."
"I look to guys like Sinatra. He toured 'til he was 80 and made 50 movies - f**k. That's heavy. I think that in essence that's pretty much what I want to do. He was on, to the best of his ability, at 80 years old, selling out the Meadowlands - it's not like he was in a lounge in Vegas somewhere; the f**ker was doing the Meadowlands, y'know? At 80. cool. And the movies - From Here To Eternity, The Man With The Golden Arm - great stuff. The guy had it, he could sing, tour when he to, played by his rules."

"Music is infinitely more exciting because I create it, it's mine. With a film role, I have to convince a guy who doesn't know me to hire me for the job."

"Everything I've ever done as a whole has been me. I'm not doing the films or any of this shit for acclaim. If you hated every movie I ever made and said it's ruining your credibility as a musician, I'd still make movies. Or if you said, 'Oh, you're gonna be the next Sean Penn if you stop making records', I wouldn't stop making records."

THE MAKING OF A MALE MODEL VERSACE

Jon Bon Jovi has done two photo sessions for VERSACE. The first session, photographed in black & white by Bruce Weber in Argentina in 1995, featured images of Jon performing live interspersed with images of Jon modeling Versace jeans. Richard Avedon photographed Jon's second session for Versace in 1996 in which Jon modeled jeans as well as suits. The photograph featuring a shirtless Jon in Versace jeans was utilized as an advertisement in magazines around the world. Never an intentional career move, Jon's venture into the world of modeling materialized as a favor to his friends, the Versace family.

"We were in Argentina and Bruce Weber wanted to shoot some pictures of the band performing. He saw us live and then said, 'Why don't you come and see what I do?' And I was the only one who wanted to go. He ended up taking my picture in black jeans and a black t-shirt. When I did it a second time with Avedon, the challenge was to do something wild, so he says, 'How wild do you want to get?'" And I say, 'You tell me.' So he says, 'Take off your clothes.' I was in great shape - I know I'm not going to be in shape like that forever, so I did it. But did I get anything out of it other than working with Avedon? No. It wasn't rewarding like writing a song or doing a movie. Did I get paid? No. Did anything else come from it? No. If Donna Karan called tomorrow or Armani, I wouldn't do it, but I did it for Donatella and the Versaces because they are such sweet people."

"They [Versace] said they wanted to do it again, but I challenged the photographer [Avedon] to do something nasty and we did. I had no clothes on, with just a sheet around me. But we stopped those photos from going in all the magazines, 'cause it was a little too weird. Okay, I tried it, but I don't think you're ever gonna see me do anything like that again." "To tell you the truth, it was an accident. We invited Bruce Weber to a show in Argentina and then he invited me to one of his fashion shoots. It was pretty foreign to me, all these guys hanging around doing push-ups all day. It's very weird. I thought if I did it, I'd wanna do something wild, play poker with a dog like Madonna did. Bruce said, 'No. You're black t-shirt and black jeans - have a nice day.' I went, 'Oh, okay.'"

"The second time I did it with Avedon, and I said 'Let's do something really wild.' And actually, we got a little too wild. No one will ever see those pictures. But anyway, it was something I wanted to try, I did it, I'm not making a career out of modeling, it didn't give me great pleasure or a creative, productive feeling, it was just something to try.'

"Y'know, I never thought of myself as good-looking. I always thought I was too short, too fat. But then I see the photographs - by Richard Avedon, who's probably the best fashion photographer in the world and I think, 'Hey, not bad at all."

"all I ever said to anybody is, 'Look, I'm gonna do some things, and some of them might fail.' It was a little weird. I'm not ashamed of the pictures. I got in pretty great shape for them. But I'm not gonna make a career out of modeling. I tried it. I got the free bag. I got the clothes. That's my reward. It was a great experience. Done. Wouldn't wanna make a out of it. It wasn't the smartest career move I ever made, but I'm not embarrassed by it."
"Gianni was the most generous guy you could ever know. That's why I did the modeling for him. Because he didn't ask, you just wanted to do things for him. He was a guy at the top of his game and he was still the nicest guy you could know."

"The world lost a great artist. And I lost a great friend."

ABOUT THAT SEX SYMBOL THING.

Female fans swooned. The camera loved him. The media grew obsessed with "the hair" and Jon Bon Jovi was slapped with the label "rock 'n' roll sex symbol" much to his dismay. Believing the music should take centerstage, Jon has never gone to great lengths to play up his good looks. For the record, the hair has been cut, in stages, over the course of the past ten years, the chest was waxed for his first starring film role (it has since grown in) and his physique is that of an avid runner who works out daily.

The media may have devoted an inordinate amount of time and energy to covering Jon Bon Jovi's good looks but none of this attention can diminish the acknowledgment of Jon's incredible talents nor his unbelievable successes. In the end, the music speaks for itself.

"We looked like every kid in the mall in Jersey in 1980 to '84"

"I hate the whole sex symbol thing. I hate photo sessions. I hate videos. I'm not a model."
On The Hair: "To be honest, I'm sick of the whole subject. I'm the same person now as I was ten years ago. I might have been through some changes in the course of those ten years, but changing the way I look, I have to say, wasn't one of the major ones. Are you just sitting there looking a my hair and my clothes or are you looking at me?"

"When you are a kid you dream of being on the cover of Rolling Stone and then, when I was, all the journalist talked about was my haircut. It broke my heart. When we made the New Jersey album I refused to be on the cover and the record company had to fight just to get me to agree to a shot in profile inside the sleeve. I'm past all that now. I had to get in great shape for 'The Leading Man', so if you want to take my picture now, that's fine, because I'm never going to be this fit again. I was annoyed by all those stories about my hair and shaving my chest because I didn't want to be one of those guys who was flavor of the month because he's cute. Fortunately I'm still around and I don't have a problem with people saying I've got sex appeal."

"I was in the gym this morning, I stunk like a two-dollar whore and I needed a shave. I don't wake up and crimp my hair. This is how I got out of the shower this morning. Jesus Christ - I'm going grey, I'm losing my hair, I'm getting fat - that's life."

WHAT'S THE SECRET OF SUCCESS?

BON JOVI has reigned as one of rock 'n' roll's supreme bands for the past 14 years. With almost 80 millions albums sold worldwide, the band continues to sell out arenas and stadiums on concert tours throughout the world.

"We've been through everything and back again and we've always had that kind of us-against-the-world feeling about what it meant to be in a band."
"At a time when music has become such a business, we just want it to be fun again. We're that band next door that practiced in a garage, but that twelve years later plays really big garages, you know?"

"I don't have a lot of angst in my stuff. There's too much misery in the world already. I feel people will go to a movie or listen to a record or go to a Bon Jovi show to make them feel good. Because, man, the rest of the world blows."

"We've had huge records, and we've had records that weren't huge. As long as I was happy with 'em, I didn't care. I'm really pleased that the greatest hits album was so big; that does feel good. But what matters is whether we like the songs, and whether the people who listen to them like them."

On The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame: "I like the idea in theory, but I don't know if we'd ever get nominated. We've never been into any good ol' boys' clubs. I guess I'll probably care when we've done our 25 years on the road to qualify and they don't pick us. You bastards! But at least by then we'll be able to say we're the only and that sold 150 million records and didn't get in"

"Who'd have thunk!? … to have sold seventy-some-odd million albums is way beyond… it's goofy. None of us ever dreamed it in our wildest dreams."

" 'Don't believe the hype' is a phrase that can be used to mean many different things, but in essence it is an important life philosophy. Especially in the rock 'n' roll business. That's all success really is. Hype. If you're not still basically getting the same pleasure from the things that you started out doing, then your success is just one bullshitty vacuum."

"You never believe it. You never take it for granted. You just go on. Just enjoy the moment."

"This is all my dream. You guys are just in it."

I read it all and... we need that Jon Bon Jovi back.

Unfortunately that guy no longer exists.

Didn't take Jon long to turn his back on almost everything he said. By 2000, that guy ^ was already pretty much gone.

IMO, there are 3 different Jon's.

Just strictly personality.....

1- You have laidback rock star Jon who lasted until 95/96 ish. Right after the TD tour.

2- Then you have Movie Star Jon who lasted between '96 to '05 ish. Still cool but not as cool as Jon #1

3- Last is Political / Philanthropic Jon who emerged in '05 and is still around today. Not a bad guy either, just a far distant from Jon #1

Each Jon lasted 8/9 years so we should expect to see a new one soon.

I don't think any of those Jon's are bad people but I do feel that it didn't help his music career at all. Playing it safe and taking shortcuts to work on other projects definitely affected the music.

I was watching The Beatles tribute Sunday night and was admiring all the contributing artists. Keith Urban and John Mayer are playing guitar. Dave Grohl is all over the place. Singing, guitar, drums.

When was the last time Jon did anything daring or outside the box? Jon is a legend at this point. He used to play harmonica & piano. His guitar playing is no where near any of those guys there. Or if it is, I would never know it.

Forget his vocals. I don't see Jon as a 30 year experienced musician. I almost cried watching Joe Walsh play that guitar, he was that good. Billy Joel, who wasn't there, lost his voice some years back but plays that piano like it was part of his body. I would love Jon to show up and just wow a crowd like a veteran should. I don't think he's got the passion in him to do it. It saddens me. Especially when I watch a performance like of An Evening With Bon Jovi in '92.

That was a truly interesting read. Thank you.