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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Jon Bon Jovi

  • Garth Brooks, KISS, John Mayer – Saturday in the Park #1

    Garth Brooks at the Millenium March on Washing...
    Garth Brooks at the Millenium March in Washington, D.C. Image via Wikipedia

    You’re reading the first shot at Saturday In The Park.  This is the prototype.  We could blog all day long and cover the comings-and-goings of music, but that’s not what we do here.  We’re music geeks, not music journalists, although we’ll drop everything to interview an indie artist who is trying hard to make things happen.

    This isn’t Brother Mike’s Not Necessarily the News.  He’s serious about his music and writes it that way.  This is a fanboy snarkfest.  Jump in if you like that kind of thing.

    Garth Brooks Comeback:    Money Mike already wrote about this puppy.  Garth going to the Wynn Las Vegas isn’t the same as Elvis‘ 50 show gig in Vegas before his death (hmmm, I always that parallel), but Garth Brooks is one of the biggest selling recording artists ever.  When he quit and let wife Trish Yearwood bring home the bacon, their youngest kid was a pre-schooler.  Now he’s sort of back.  I’m sure the money is too good to turn away from, and a long-run Vegas gig gives him stability while still performing.  I may not fly to Vegas to see him, but I’ll catch his show next time I’m there.   One of the world’s best selling recording artists ever.  You kind of have to see him.

    Peter Criss Full Breast Cancer Recovery:  We talk about the women we love (Kylie, Olivia, Melissa) battling and beating breast cancer.  But KISS drummer Peter Criss did the same, and his speaking about battling the disease is inspirational.  This is one of those “oh, you’re weird” stories, and Peter has turned it in to a full-on education campaign.  I’m glad he’s cancer free.  I’m glad he has the courage and passion to speak out about the disease.    He’s been mostly free of KISS for 30 years except for the sporadic appearance and later blowup on stage, but he wrote and sang Beth and Hard Luck Woman so he gets a lifetime pass as a KISS guy, even if he really is a jazz drummer in his early 60s.

    NBC Boots Glee From Macy’s Day Parade:  You know, I haven’t watched the show.  I’ve seen two of the videos.  Would’ve made an interesting movie, I think, and probably beter than the Fame reboot. But if I own a network and some clueless development person books a competing act on the show I’m underwriting, well, I probably boot them too.    Sorry, Glee gang.  Don’t stop believing, okay?

    Artist in Residence: Trust struggling NBC to take a great concept (the artist in residence at a venue or with a troupe) and bastardize it for their own use.  Jon Bon Jovi, and we’re just saying that he records on sister label Universal, is NBC’s first artist-in-residence.  What’s that mean?  More Jon than you could ever imagine on NBC properties throughout November.   Look for him on Today, as a Jay Leno guest, on Dateline, in various specials (hey, maybe the parade now that they kicked the Fox Glee kids off!) and anything related to NBC.  It’s damn near Comcastic.  In a strange twist of coincidence, JBJ’s new album drops November 12 — the middle of the NBC glee fest celebrating his music.  Okay, no more NBC/Glee jokes.

    But we’ll end with one funny joke.  John Mayer’s quote as reported by Gawker.com when asked about healthcare.   “Have you ever heard me play guitar?  I’m really fucking good.  You know what I’m bad at?  Answering questions about public healthcare.

    Good on you, Brother John.  Maybe celebs will take a back seat on policy issues and let the politicos sort it out.  Except you, Bono, you already crossed to the dark side.   If Michael Hutchens was still alive, The Edge would’ve called him in to a studio five years ago.

  • Infatueighties: “Never Say Goodbye”

    slippery

    The year was 1987. I was in the 6th grade. A pimply geeky kid who was desperate to impress his friends but had no mack game.

    Her name was Heather. She was sorta pimply and geeky too. And a little on the chunky side.

    We were at the 6th grade dance. One slow jam had already passed (“You Got it All” by The Jets if I remember correctly), and I’d played the wall. I was determined to dance with someone.

    Then it happened. Bon Jovi’s “Never Say Goodbye” came on. A power ballad to end all power ballads, this song served as my introduction to slow dancing. My friends practically pushed me into Heather, who asked “Wanna dance?” I shrugged and squeaked out a “Yeah, sure” and before you knew it, we were amongst the other couples in the school gym, moving back and forth to Bon Jovi singing about high school memories (which we were still a good three years away from) and a relationship that had lasted since then.

    “Never Say Goodbye” SHOULD have been the fourth single from Bon Jovi’s behemoth “Slippery When Wet” album, but their label, Mercury, shrewdly withheld its’ release as a single, forcing the 3 teenage girls in America who hadn’t bought “Slippery” yet to buy it. I lived in Michigan at the time, but I came home to New York for Easter and for the summer, and I remember the radio playing the shit out of this and “Edge of a Broken Heart” (which was a song from the Fat Boys movie “Disorderlies”). It’s held up quite well over the years, and I’m sure holds a sentimental spot in the hearts of couples whose memories echo those that Jon sings about.

    I wonder what happened to Heather, anyway. If she’s anything like most of my other girlfriends from junior high and high school, she’s probably a lesbian.

    (for L.R.)