Jon's interview on WBAB-FM 13-08-2002

Before Jon calls in, the DJ's talk about his marriage lasting for so long & everything.
DJ: The hotline is ringing, this might be Jon Bon Jovi, let's..
J: You guys need a better system man.
DJ: Hey! There we go, we hear ya! This is Jon, Roger, JP, we're live, how are ya?
J: (giggles) I'm very good. I'm very good.
DJ: It was clickin' and all
J: yeah, well, I had to get the squirrel power up here in Jersey. Go on and make him run a little faster.
DJ: Cool! Hey listen you got a lot going on, as usual!
DJ2: How the hell are they getting you up at 8:00 in the morning?
J: They had to get me a big pot of coffee and they had to intraveneous, its just kicking in.
DJ: The album comes out in October, you got a tailgate party you're doing which we were talking about a few weeks ago. That is a cool idea!
J: I think it's pretty neat, isn't it? You know with everything that's gone on around here and America is football and football is America, what a way to celebrate everything and the resiliency of New York and uh, just kicking off football season in a glorious way, ya know. All the people come on out again.
DJ2: Buddy, I need a favor.
J: What's that?
DJ2: So I got tickets to the game..
J: Yeah!
DJ2: I'm going to be at the game..
J: Okay!
DJ2: But I wanna come in and check out the whole Times Square thing.
J: Yeah.
DJ2: I need a lift.
J: Oh that's... (starts laughing) in the little chopper?
DJ2: Yeah and I understand you guys are riding over there in style..
J: I don't mind, not at all, can you hold onto those rudders at the bottom?
DJ2: I'm a skinny guy, as long as they strap me on there, if like I kinda have my feet dangling from Times Square to Giants Stadium, what is it, like 10 minutes? 15 minutes?
J: Yup, yup, you could do it, 'I could do it! I could do it!'
DJ2: I could do it man!
J: With a kitchen set of tools I could do it man! (they all laugh)
DJ: Oh okay, so who's going to play Times Square now? Is it the whole band?
J: Yeah, of course, yeah, this is actually quite amazing, and I don't even know how it came together to be honest with ya. But, uh, they came to us and asked us to do this thing and so we're playing for an hour or more, depending on what time we get going there, um in Times Square at least an hour. And uh, they're going to make it like a New Year's Eve type of night! And if the NFL's putting enough money in it, there's gonna be like a Superbowl performance and it's gonna be broadcast on ESPN, and on VH1, and MTV is gonna pick it up, and then it's gonna be on CBS the next night!
DJ: Oh that is cool!
J: So uh, it's pretty major.
DJ2: And then we get to go watch Big Blue beat some San Francisco [censored]!
J: That's right! You know what? I went to a pre-game on Saturday night, and those are usually like just a mess, ya know, and they looked really good!!!
DJ2: Fat Ron Dayne ran a little especially well...
J: Well you know, they gotta work the extra weight off Ron around in the off season, but Kerry looked good, that kid Palmer looked good, Shockey looks amazing!
DJ2: Shockey's the MAN!
J: I gotta tell ya man, it could be an alright year for us! The Giants came to see us at the other radio station show, right? So I'm talking to him, and he goes, "Believe me we're gonna be good" and I'm thinking to myself, "PPFFFT! You snortin' something!" (dj's laugh)
DJ2: Dude, Jeremy Shockey is our saving grace.
J: It could be! Does the name Bavaro ring a bell?
DJ2: Sure does! They had him in the news the other day, they're like best buddies now!
J: Oh really?
DJ2: Did you see 50 yard run he did!? When he was just like ba-boom ba-boom..
J: I did! But could you imagine that conversation? Like Shockey does all the talking, "like don't mess with me, don't call me Francis!" and ya know like Bavaro doesn't say a word (Dj's laugh)
DJ2: "You homos touch me, and I'll kill ya!"
J: That's right ya know! Because Bavaro never talked to anybody! He just caught the ball, you know, and kneeled down and made the sign of the cross thing, and he left.
DJ2: And we got this guy Dinkins who's working his [censored] off to be that 3rd wide receiver..
J: Mm hmm..
DJ2: behind Ike "Tahotartilia" and Amani "Itsnotatumah"
J: No, let's talk about Jason Sehorn.
DJ2: Is he back yet? What's his story?
J: Isshh..
DJ2: What a puss.
J: Come on man, this guy is killing me, he's out of uniform more than he's in uniform.
DJ2: I know!
J: He's falling me out.
DJ2: Hey listen, I gotta ask you a question, I just got married..
J: (giggles) I'm sorry. (DJ laughs)
DJ2: ...a couple weeks ago.. ya know, you say sorry!
J: Half baby half! (DJ laughs again)
DJ2: You see it as (DJ: HALF!)...but I don't have much of half. You have a lot of half!
J: Big half!
DJ2: You know, if she kicked half of you, you know..
J: She'd start her own little country somewhere.
DJ2: Chris Rock does this thing: 'you take half of 30 million, you still got 15 million'.
J: Mm hmm.
DJ2: She gets half of my 30, 000, I'm screwed!
J: Yeah!
DJ2: But you stayed married through all the madness like you got married during the years of Slippery When Wet, correct?
J: Actually, New Jersey, but yeah.
DJ2: New Jersey.
DJ: That's a long time!
J: Yeah.
DJ2: She's like throwing everything at you!
J: Yeah!
Dj2: Constantly!
J: Right.
DJ2: On a daily basis.
J: Cant take this with you, that's another Eddie Murphy one, right? "here take this with you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" That's right, yeah, uh-huh.
DJ2: How did you...how? How? how?
J: How? How much candy can you eat in a candy store? Ya know what I mean?
DJ2: Vanilla, vanilla, vanilla every once in a while though (Jon busts out laughing), you want a tutti frutti though, you know? You got a tutti frutti comin' at ya from all directions! (Jon's still laughing)
J: I'm just grateful to be anywhere, so ya know, I'm very content to tell ya the honest-to-God truth.
DJ2: Looks like you guys just had another kid?
J: I gotta tell ya I really am happy, yeah I just had another, well, not me, my wife had another baby, I just, ya know, showed up for that 3 minutes and it was glorious! (Dj2 laughs)
DJ: Now we know, 3 minutes!
J: Hell yeah! Uh huh! And I'm braggin!
DJ2: So now I can say, Bon Jovi got nothing over me!
J: No!
Dj2: I got at least 4-4 1/2!
J: Lemme tell ya right, any guys who's out there right now, he's full of [censored] if he's telling you he's doing more!
DJ2: Alright we'll lie, thank you very much!
J: Mmm! Sorry about that guys! (Dj's laugh)
DJ: So how many kids do you have?
J: 3.
DJ: Wow! You've been married, this is your highschool sweetheart, that is an amazing thing! It was actually one of the first things that popped into our head when we realized we were gonna talk to you, we gotta ask you though and we did.
J: But I dont know how I did it, I ask and say yeah, I'm lucky.
DJ2: See, you got the whole acting thing..
J: Yeah.
DJ2: You did the whole Ally McBeal thing, she needs a cracker, right?
J: You know it's funny everybody's asking me the same question and the girl eats, ya know what can I tell ya? She is that little.
DJ2: Is she a puker?
J: I dont think so.
DJ2: No?
J: I don't think so.
DJ: One day she's gonna become the blueberry girl when it all stops and blow up!
DJ2: I mean it's cool for you because everybody they dig your acting skills! Like everybody, when they talk about a job you did when you're in a movie like U571, this was gonna be the movie that broke Bon Jovi into the..
J: It was a good movie!
DJ: Jon, that was awesome!
DJ2: This big movie star! Now I gotta be completely honest...
DJ: And by the way Pay it Forward wasn't bad either
DJ2: I gotta be completely honest.
J: yeah.
DJ2: I'm not the biggest Bon Jovi fan there is.
J: Okay.
DJ2: I like my stuff on the heavier side.
J: Uh huh.
DJ2: I was more of the Judas Priest kinda heavy metal stuff during the 80's.
J: Yeah.
DJ2: But we were having this conversation the other day, where the Stones come out and they'll put an album out, they'll sell 6-700,000, might break a million in the States
J: Hmm... that's pushin' it but yeah..
DJ2: The tours will sell out. All over the place.
J: Yeah, absolutely.
Dj2: Aerosmith will come out, last album comes out, goes platinum, sells a million records, they go on tour, they sell out all over the place. The tour is sold out.
J: yeah.
DJ2: Bon Jovi comes out, puts out a record, you still selling MULTI millions, and still selling out the tours, nobody else can do it!
DJ: There's a limited list..
J: There are a couple. U2...
DJ2: Well yeah, U2, okay.
J: You know, there's one on your menu, Metallica.
DJ2: yeah Metallica, but who knows what that was goin on..
J: Well they'll put it together, you know what, they just went through late what we went through 10 years ago. That's all.
DJ: Good point.
DJ2: Did you ever see Bon Jovi being mentioned in the names, like in the same conversation as you know, Aerosmith, and the Rolling Stones, like when this all..
J: 20 years ago, hell no! Are you kiddin? My dream was to be Southside Johnny! You know what I mean and that to me was success! Growin' up here in the Asbury Park area, you know, you got a tour bus and make regionally, that was big! That was about as big as you imagined getting! But remember, this was the late 70's, it was a different time.
DJ: Right
J: And you know, you didn't tour internationally, the one thing rock fans don't know, and I had to learn as I got in the business, you know, guys like your favorite band, the Judas Priests of the world or if it was Journey or Van Halen, they never went and toured the world. They never went to Europe, they never went to Asia, they never went to Africa and Australia. So those bands, much like rap music, didn't mean a hell of a lot outside of America. And we always went everywhere. Everywhere.
DJ: Good point.
J: Anywhere!
DJ: The best of the 70's would like go to Japan and play here.
J: that would be it man, you know. Nobody went to Europe you know.. I mean, look we took Van Halen out as an opening act in '95. (Djs laugh)
DJ2: Did you really?
DJ: That's so funny! Where?
J: It's a fact! All through Europe! (Dj's laugh)
DJ: You know another one that's kinda weird, and this is a backwards one, is when you guys Slippery When Wet was just breaking, you guys opened for .38 Special at the Meadowlands!
J: That's correct!
DJ: I'll never forget that! And like hindsight, that's ridiculous!
J: Naw, it was cool, because you know what, we were the kind of band that on that same tour, here's another one for ya, same tour we went from Judas Priest to .38 Special! So we would play with anybody!
DJ: Sure, sure.
DJ2: And I saw the beginning of, the 2nd leg of Slippery When Wet, you poor b****** I thought you were gonna die that night...
J: Mm hmm..
DJ2: Cuz you like had no voice left. And I felt for you but my sister had gotten me tickets to the sky box at the Garden..
J: Oh!
DJ2: and that was like...
J: at the end of the runoff. God yeah.
DJ2: I was like 15 or 16 years old
J: Mm hmm.
Dj2: And it was all the free booze in the place. So we walked out there with like, taped up our pants right around our ankles and were shoving beers down our pants so we could walk to Manhattan the rest of the night and drink beers, we just left the Bon Jovi show. But like Ron Keel (sp?) opened up for you guys
J: Mm hmm
Dj2: Now he's singing some country western twang and selling bathtubs.
J: Mm..
DJ2: But that night, I thought you were gonna die.
J: Yeah, it was a pretty tough time, ya know I mean, you went from being an opening act and playing 40 minutes to doing 240 headlining shows that were pretty much killing man. Steroid shots, and ya know, inebriation, and ya know man, it was a pretty tough time.
DJ2: So the band is back together,you got the album Bounce that's coming out on October 8th
J: Yeah
DJ2: Right, we got the world's biggest tailgate party happening
J: yeah
DJ2: Everything's goin, you just had a child, things are booming!
J: Booming right?
DJ: Unbelievable, and it's 2002. Good for you!
DJ2: What do you enjoy more? Do you dig the acting or is it still being the frontman in a rock band?
J: ya know, I like writing the songs the most than I like anything else. Ya know, just cuz you created it. When you act, you just show up, say someone else's lines and leave, which just gives you a little bit of freedom, you know you don't have to be the producer, director, star, all that kinda, which is basically what I gotta do in the music. But there's something about saying you created it. You write those songs and you hear those songs. I dont think I'll feel the same way when I see Pay It Forward or U571 in 15 years from now as I do when I hear Wanted on the radio and go, 'Yeah, the song still stands'.
DJ: Yeah cuz that's you through and through it.
J: You know and I mean, so I give everything I have for acting, I really, really like it! I love it actually, but you know, what's better? I wrote Wanted Dead or Alive or Livin On a Prayer, you know you write those songs with Richie and you go, 'Yeah, they're still on the radio, it's 18 years later'.
DJ: But for what it's worth, I always have to pass a message along lately in an interview, and my wife wanted to let you know that you were great in Ally McBeal, she thought you looked hot.
J: (laughs)
DJ: There's my message for you, it happens almost every interview now. I have to pass it along and lastly what are you predicting for the Giants this season? (Jon takes a deep breath) As big a fan as you are! You sound really pumped up!
DJ2: Fossell always comes on the show every now and againand he's always positive about it. I busted his balls last year about Amani and Ike.
J: Mmmm..
DJ2: Cuz our boys need to step it up. But we also need, ya know Kerry needs to get the ball there.
J: Well yeah, but you know he's got all he's got, you can hit the guys and the numbers up, I'd like to be optimistic 10 and 6?
Dj2: yeah!
J: Wildcard?
DJ2: Sure! Shockey baby!
J: Yeah!
DJ2: He is the answer!
J: We gotta watch out for Philadelphia. As long as nobody out there's like the Cowboys I can live. You know, I got no disrespect for Washington, or Philadelphia.
DJ2: a Giant fan absolutely HATES the Cowboys!
J: We just despise the Cowboys!
DJ: I'm a Jet fan...
J: I dig the Jets, the Jets are cool with me any day of the week. They're just cool, they rock.
DJ: Alright, 10-6 and a wildcard, that's a nice call!
J: I think that's fair enough.
DJ2: hey listen, if you wanna bet about the games, call me, I got a guy!
J: Yeah, (laughs) who doesn't have a guy? Have your guy call my guy! And we'll play some bets.
DJ2: Alright Jon!
DJ: Thank you Jon!
DJ2: Thank you!
J: See ya guys!
DJ2: We appreciate it!