June 30: Bon Jovi
I think, but I am not sure, that my sister attended a Bon Jovi concert in Calgary when she was in high school.
I was never a big fan. In high school, my musical tastes were more ominous - Alice Cooper and Aerosmith - and I would have dismissed Bon Jovi as "too tame." Secretly, I thought Blaze of Glory was a kickass song but I don't think I ever would have admitted that. I was too chicken to even put it on a mix tape, lest someone grab hold of my yellow walkman and discover my secret vice. No, the only chance I had of hearing it was when it came on the radio.
Dude or chick?
In high school, my family went on vacation and we wound up staying in the same hotel as Bon Jovi. The hotel lobby was filled with teenagers hoping to catch a glimpse of the band. Bon Jovi was touring with Skid Row and I met a dude who claimed to be the bassist in the hotel's arcade, where he had been playing pinball. I shook his hand and then I went back up to my room because I was reading Stephen King's novel CHRISTINE and I was captivated by it. I never told anyone that I may have met the Skid Row bassist until now. I'm not sure how my sister dealt with being in the same hotel as Bon Jovi but I imagine she had mixed feelings about it.
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In July of 1987, Bon Jovi came to Calgary with its Slippery When Wet tour. The tickets had gone on sale months before that - like in the dead of winter. People actually pitched their tents downtown right next to the box office so they could get front row seats the first second the box office opened.
I remember thinking they were idiots. I understood liking a band enough to want to see them live but I didn't understand freezing your ass off to buy tickets. Now I am older and I do not begrudge those people. Camping, for them, wasn't a way of getting a ticket. It was part of the journey.
"When I was your age, we camped in minus 30 weather all night just to get tickets for a rock concert."
"Really grandpa?"
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Tell you what, though? I sure respected Jon Bon Jovi when he did an anti-drug spot on TV in 1987. Steven Tyler never did one even though that was the year that Aerosmith came out with Permanent Vacation and had declared themselves clean. I dunno... maybe not enough time had passed between then and the stoner days of the Toxic Twins.
Gene Simmons has always been anti-drug too but I guess KISS was considered passé in 1987. Too bad.
I cannot think of a caption funnier than this picture.
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Do I have a favourite Bon Jovi story?
I do indeed.
When they were getting ready to make Young Guns II, the producers wanted to use Bon Jovi's song Dead or Alive. Jon didn't think the song, which was about the band's hectic touring schedule, fit the theme of the movie, so he wrote Blaze of Glory instead and it wound up going to number one.
I have no idea if it's true but it's a good story and no one gets hurt.
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Today. Bon Jovi describes himself as a family man. He's been married to the same woman, his only wife, since 1989 and he does his best to balance family responsibility with life on the road.
There is much to admire in that.
He doesn't give love a bad name,
I was never a big fan. In high school, my musical tastes were more ominous - Alice Cooper and Aerosmith - and I would have dismissed Bon Jovi as "too tame." Secretly, I thought Blaze of Glory was a kickass song but I don't think I ever would have admitted that. I was too chicken to even put it on a mix tape, lest someone grab hold of my yellow walkman and discover my secret vice. No, the only chance I had of hearing it was when it came on the radio.
Dude or chick?In high school, my family went on vacation and we wound up staying in the same hotel as Bon Jovi. The hotel lobby was filled with teenagers hoping to catch a glimpse of the band. Bon Jovi was touring with Skid Row and I met a dude who claimed to be the bassist in the hotel's arcade, where he had been playing pinball. I shook his hand and then I went back up to my room because I was reading Stephen King's novel CHRISTINE and I was captivated by it. I never told anyone that I may have met the Skid Row bassist until now. I'm not sure how my sister dealt with being in the same hotel as Bon Jovi but I imagine she had mixed feelings about it.
-
In July of 1987, Bon Jovi came to Calgary with its Slippery When Wet tour. The tickets had gone on sale months before that - like in the dead of winter. People actually pitched their tents downtown right next to the box office so they could get front row seats the first second the box office opened.
I remember thinking they were idiots. I understood liking a band enough to want to see them live but I didn't understand freezing your ass off to buy tickets. Now I am older and I do not begrudge those people. Camping, for them, wasn't a way of getting a ticket. It was part of the journey.
"When I was your age, we camped in minus 30 weather all night just to get tickets for a rock concert."
"Really grandpa?"
-
Tell you what, though? I sure respected Jon Bon Jovi when he did an anti-drug spot on TV in 1987. Steven Tyler never did one even though that was the year that Aerosmith came out with Permanent Vacation and had declared themselves clean. I dunno... maybe not enough time had passed between then and the stoner days of the Toxic Twins.
Gene Simmons has always been anti-drug too but I guess KISS was considered passé in 1987. Too bad.
I cannot think of a caption funnier than this picture.-
Do I have a favourite Bon Jovi story?
I do indeed.
When they were getting ready to make Young Guns II, the producers wanted to use Bon Jovi's song Dead or Alive. Jon didn't think the song, which was about the band's hectic touring schedule, fit the theme of the movie, so he wrote Blaze of Glory instead and it wound up going to number one.
I have no idea if it's true but it's a good story and no one gets hurt.
-
Today. Bon Jovi describes himself as a family man. He's been married to the same woman, his only wife, since 1989 and he does his best to balance family responsibility with life on the road.
There is much to admire in that.
He doesn't give love a bad name,
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