Sunday, November 30, 2008

Live Earth cancelled

Joint Official Statement from Live Earth Founder Kevin Wall, The Office of the Honorable Al Gore and Dr. R.K. Pachauri, Chairman IPCC Regarding Live Earth India

Friday, November 28, 2008
Everyone involved with Live Earth India, from our U.S.- and India-based staff, artists and crew to our India-based broadcast, production, non-profit and marketing communications partners, is stunned and saddened by the tragic events of the past few days in our host city Mumbai. We always felt very welcomed and safe as we spent more time on the ground in Mumbai to finalize plans for Live Earth India, scheduled for December 7.

Due to circumstances far beyond our control, we are saddened to announce that Live Earth India has been cancelled. We will continue to work for solutions to the climate crisis for the good of the people of India and around the world. But for now, our thoughts and our prayers are with the victims of this terrible attack, with the bereaved, with the people of Mumbai and with everyone in India. For updated information, please visit www.LiveEarth.org.


Jon Bon Jovi & Richie Sambora - Acoustic performance of John Lennon's "Imagine" with "Give Peace a Chance" in 1995.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Bon Jovi demo leak scam continues

Hardrocknews has uploaded more Johnny Lima songs claiming they are from Bon Jovi's bogus new album. There's even a complete track list for "Dangerous Curves" now, with songwriting credits attributed to Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and their long-time collaborator Desmond Child. Whoever this is has taken to deleting all the negative or questioning comments on his/her channel and videos in order to keep up the facade. C'mon mate, if you're going to do something like this, at least have the balls to take the criticism that comes with it. ;)

I like Johnny Lima's music though; rock with great melodic hooks, and you can really hear the glam metal influences. Bon Jovi themselves have moved on from those days and I'm glad they've had that growth and development, but I still dig their 80s sound too. Johnny Lima's "Another Lonely Day" was claimed to be a Bon Jovi demo a few years ago as well, and Brazilian band Ellevan was another that I "discovered" because someone tried to claim their English songs were Bon Jovi's. Since I'm always keen to check out new music (and can spot a fake Bon Jovi song pretty quickly) it actually does me some good when someone pulls a prank like this, but I know a lot of people fall for it, including fans who call themselves diehards.

Magic Memory #21 coming soon... watch this space!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Bon Jovi demo leak scam

Some loser has set up a Youtube channel, Hardrocknews and uploaded songs claiming to be from a new Bon Jovi album called "Dangerous Curves" to be released in February 2009. There is a fake album cover and the tracks are "Another Lonely Day", "If I Had a Heart", "Thinkin' About You feat. Joe Elliott" (not really), "Sweet 16", "Another Girl", and "My Country 'Tis of Thee". Everyone should know first of all that there has been no album announced for February 2009. The fact that they claim this new album marks the return of former bassist Alec John Such should be enough to prove it's rubbish anyway.

Secondly, THE SONGS ARE BY AN ARTIST NAMED JOHNNY LIMA. There are so many of these hoax demos floating around the internet. The vocalist generally sounds just enough like Jon Bon Jovi to fool enough people but to the seasoned diehard's ears you can easily tell it's not.

Some of these lesser known artists cite Bon Jovi as an influence, but I'm not sure how I would feel if someone was claiming my work to be someone else's. I guess that's how some people get their kicks.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Richie Sambora at the Les Paul concert

A couple of videos of Richie from the tribute concert honouring guitar legend Les Paul on November 15.

"Great Hall of Fame", Richie's contribution to the Les Paul tribute album.


A blues-infused rendition of "Wanted Dead or Alive".

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Greatest hits, DVD, documentary... end of 2009??

Following on from the previous post, this article was written by the same person but for Billboard.

"We've been filming a documentary and are in the process of mixing a live DVD of last year's 'Lost Highway' concert tour," Sambora says. "Also, I think we're looking at doing a greatest hits album next year. Jon and I are writing some new songs for it and to just load up for the next Bon Jovi record."

Sambora says he expects the DVD and best-of effort to be packaged together for a fall 2009 street date. The Nashville-tinged "Lost Highway" was a critical and commercial success, but Sambora says the band won't necessarily return to that style again.

"Fall" is Autumn, which will be Springtime in the southern hemisphere, so that looks like it'll be towards the end of next year. I was surprised when Obie O'Brien said that the DVD wouldn't be out before Christmas 2008 because I was certain they would cash in on the spending season, plus it doesn't take six months to mix a concert.

But if the DVD, Greatest Hits and documentary are all released together, that would account for the delay. The DVD is probably the one I'm most anticipating, and just hope it's got good sound, isn't excessively overdubbed, and that the best songs/performances are not cut out.

Greatest hits II in 2009?

An interesting quote from this article, based on an interview with Richie Sambora.

Sambora said Bon Jovi has already started to look ahead; however, fans shouldn’t expect another Nashville-influenced effort. Up next for the group is its second greatest hits disc, due out in late 2009.

Click here for the rest of the article:
http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2008/11/14/entertainment/doc491d199480e1e105286853.txt
I'm not sure how old the interview is though, because the Rock Hall nominations have already been announced and Bon Jovi were overlooked.

But if we can trust that article, the main points to take with regards to the band are:

1. No "Lost Highway II" which is good. I do like Lost Highway, and most of it isn't even real country, but I wouldn't want them to go too far down that road. A mature, solid rock record would be cool.

2. Another greatest hits release! Obviously these packages are usually cash cows aimed at casual fans but I really hope it's something worth getting for the rest of us too. Is it too much to hope for some new or unreleased tracks of the same quality as "Always" and "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night", without attempting to "rewrite" those songs? Personally, I'd rather have some new solo material than a greatest hits album. On the other hand, a new band release is likely to mean another tour, so we'll see what happens. :)

Thursday, November 13, 2008

24-second video of JBJ in New York

I wonder what was in the bag?



Don't forget to check out LH Magic Memory #20. No Bon Jovi fan should miss out on an excuse to watch the best-ever performance of "Stick To Your Guns", no matter how many times you've seen or heard it. ;)
There will be five more memories reviewed, making an even 25 just in time for the 25th year since the release of Bon Jovi's debut album. I was thinking of doing some album reviews after that but we'll see what happens. :)

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

LH Magic Memory #20: Stick To Your Guns in Amsterdam

Did I make you wait long enough?! I've had assignments and exams to deal with but my last one was today and I don't think I failed anything so it's time for another long overdue Magic Memory from the Lost Highway tour!

This one was probably my favourite moment of the tour. If I was going to have a heart attack at any time this year and still die happy, it would have been like this. June 13, 2008 at Amsterdam Arena in the Netherlands. The tone was already set for an explosive night after Holland's 4-1 soccer (football) victory over France was played on the big screens before the show.

Some fans in the front row were holding signs with the lyrics of "Stick To Your Guns" printed on them, but surely that was impossible. After all, the song had only ever been played once, and that was 20 years ago on the Jersey Syndicate Tour. So I can only imagine what it must have been like, as a diehard in that crowd. The anticipation of waiting for the encore. The dull roar of the crowd around you and at your back, the sudden explosion of cheers as the band return to the stage. And then Jon and Richie step up to the mic and start playing that acoustic riff.

Here are a couple of videos. One from Jon's side... Check out Richie's amusement at Jon's confusion. :P


And one from Richie's side. Slightly better sound and includes "Wanted Dead or Alive" which was played immediately after. This video has shots of the signs in the front row.



As you can see, it wasn't executed perfectly. After all, Jon quite clearly didn't know the words and wasn't too sure of the chords either. But they seemed to be having fun with it. Five stars for effort and consideration of the fans. :)

Just for something extra, here is the first and only other time Bon Jovi have played "Stick To Your Guns": Brussels, Belgium on December 15, 1988. Jon flubs the words in this one too. :P

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Bon Jovi sued again

I first got wind of this in a Google alert a few days ago. Some of you probably already know about it but anyway, Sally Allen is suing Bon Jovi for £250 000 for negligence after one of their employees during the Have a Nice Day tour, Kevin McDonnell, allegedly ran over her with a golf buggy. You can read about it here.

I did notice in all the articles I've read that Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, David Bryan, and Tico Torres are listed as the defendants. No one has mentioned Hugh McDonald. That could just mean that none of the journalists knew who he was. Or it could mean that he's not being sued because he was considered merely a touring musician (like Bobby Bandiera, for example). If it's the latter, I guess that's one of the perks of being an "unofficial" member, who just so happens to have played on most of the albums and toured with them for 14 years. Perhaps I'll cool off slightly on my "Make Huey Official" campaign FOR NOW. :P

I'll be interested to see what happens with this case though. As far-fetched as the claim may initially sound, I think Allen has much more chance of winning than Bart Steele if it goes all the way.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Old guys still rock

Last Friday I went to Members Equity Stadium in East Perth to see Def Leppard with special guests Cheap Trick and support act The Galvatrons (a young Melbourne band playing their first stadium gig but if you like your 80s sounds, check them out).



While not surprising, it's worth noting that I was probably one of the youngest people there of their own accord. Robin Zander from Cheap Trick joked about how they didn't have any top 40 songs but were featured in every music video game the world, plus the opening credits to That 70s Show. Def Leppard's Joe Elliott reminded everyone that they were in fact touring a new album. But the sad fact is, despite surviving the 80s better than most of their contemporaries, they are more or less "nostalgia bands". It's a shame because Cheap Trick and Def Leppard both proved they can still put on a spectacular rock show.

How is it Bon Jovi have triumphed where the likes of Def Leppard have merely "survived"? Some Jovi fans call Lepp hasbeens. Some Lepp fans accuse Jovi of being soft and selling out. But at the end of the day, all that happened is that Def Leppard never had an "It's My Life". That song introduced Bon Jovi to a whole new generation that Def Leppard can only dream about. FWIW I don't think "It's My Life" is even that great a song (it's not terrible but it's no masterpiece). But you can't deny the impact it's had on their careers. Jon has said they would walk away if it ever became the "nostalgia tour". If Crush had bombed (bearing in mind that "It's My Life" was the ONLY single from it to reach #1 in any market), would Bon Jovi even be making records?

Something to ponder while you're waiting for LH Magic Memory #20 in the coming days. ;)