Past JoviNews - December

Last Night in Century City, California USA Billy Joel received Person of the Year award before the 12th Annual Musicares tribute dinner, Joel was honored for his accomplishments as a musician and as a humanitarian and Jon & Richie were there to performe! Click here for the photos.

BON JOVI took the global stage at the CLOSING CEREMONIES for the 2002 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES last night at the Rice-Eccles Stadium in SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH as part of the celebration to commemorate the official end of the competition. Following performances by N'SYNC, KISS, Harry Connick, Jr, Moby, Christina Aguilera, it was BON JOVI that brought down the house. BON JOVI were the grand finale to the Closing Ceremonies, performing their worldwide anthem IT'S MY LIFE. Jon Bon Jovi wrapped himself in the American flag while performing the song, watching Olympic athletes dancing and singing along in the crowd. Following BON JOVI's performance, more than 10,000 fireworks went off in one of the largest pyrotechnic displays ever in the United States. While the international broadcast of the show ended on a high note with BON JOVI's performance,many markets in the U.S. went directly into their local late-night news before returning to MORE footage of the Closing Ceremonies. Those within viewing range watch BON JOVI kick-off the recap footage with a performance of YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME, featuring a guest appearance by former San Francisco 49r quarterback STEVE YOUNG providing additional vocals on the chorus. All in all, BON JOVI were the perfect ambassadors for the U.S. (their homeland) to the rest of the world (where so many of their fans reside.)

Some things you maybe didn't know about the trip:
Did you know Jon and Richie flew in on a private jet from LA? And that they were required to stop in Las Vegas for a security check before even being allowed to fly into the Salt Lake City area? Did you know that Tico's drumkit was custom-made and is now up for auction on Ebay? Did you kmow that Steve Young has hung out with the band before? He was backstage before and after the concert in San Jose in April 2001 and watched the whole concert from the side of the stage that night? Did you know he's in the Wanted Dead or Alive 2001? Did you know that the next Summer Olympics are going to be in Athens, Greece (the home of the original Olympics) in 2004? Did you know that the next Winter Olympics are going
to be in Torino, Italy in 2006?

On the Richie Sambora official website you can se Bon Jovi's perfomance of Its My Life live at the cerimonie!

DAVE BRYAN DONATES HIS TIME & TALENT TO SAVE THE MUSIC.

Tuesday, FEBRUARY 19th, was a really very special and incredible night of music in New York City. DAVID BRYAN has dreamed of an evening to benefit VH-1 SAVE THE MUSIC and hoped he could host it at STEINWAY HALL - and it became a reality. DAVE BRYAN (along with John Sykes, the President of VH-1 and CMT) hosted AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH THE FRIENDS OF VH-1 SAVE THE MUSIC at the legendary Steinway Hall in Manhattan.

Less than 100 invited guests attended the private recital which was held to draw attention to the SAVE THE MUSIC PROGRAM. There was food & drink for all before the evening's program began. JOHN SYKES and BOB MORRISON (head of SAVE THE MUSIC) addressed the audience on the topic of the program's goals and successes before introduced an example of that success.

VICTOR LOPEZ is the Principal of P.S. 96 in New York City's East Harlem neighborhood. This elementary school was among the worst performing schools in the city and the state when Mr. Lopez took over the job as principal and set about changing his school (and his students') future. In fact, when BON JOVI were performing live outdoors at THE TODAY SHOW in June 2000, TODAY SHOW host Matt Lauer was not on site until the very end of the band's performance (remember? the camera managed to get Matt singing "you give love a bad name" on camera just as he arrived on the site!) because he had been in East Harlem with President Bill Clinton that morning visiting Victor Lopez' elementary school. A year and a half later, Principal Lopez appeared at this SAVE THE MUSIC event, along with the school's music teacher and four of his sixth-grade students.

The students (four boys, 2 on clarinet, one on saxophone and one on flute) performed three musical numbers for the audience and showed how much they'd in just 18 months since the program was incorporated into the school's curriculum. The school, which had just 13% of its students reading at grade level 2 years ago, now has 79% reading at grade level - as massive achievement for the students and the teachers and Victor Lopez. They credit the turnaround in large part to the SAVE THE MUSIC program. Students who didn't come to school now are at the school before the doors open, waiting to get into the music room to practice.

When the students finished their three songs, JOHN SYKES introduced DAVID BRYAN who spoke briefly about his musical education and his involvement in the SAVE THE MUSIC program. In addition to auctioning off front row seats to each BON JOVI concert in the U.S. on the 2000 CRUSH and 2001 ONE WILD NIGHT TOURS, DAVID would teach MASTER CLASSES on his days off during the tour. Originally classically trained, DAVID would go to elementary schools in cities around the country and teach the children about music. He's discuss his career, perform on the piano and challenge the kids to succeed just like he did. DAVID then took his seat at the grand piano and performed his compositions APRIL and IT'S A LONG ROAD. In between songs, he joked that in rock 'n' roll all you get to do is "these chords" - and he played the intro to IT'S MY LIFE a few times! He said he was happily to show off a little more! Then, DAVE asked the four sixth-grade musicians to join him for a group jam on the Bon Jovi song, IN THESE ARMS (and it kicked butt!.)

The event was a huge success for the SAVE THE MUSIC program and a huge personal accomplishment for DAVID. DAVID was in heaven Tuesday night. With wife April in attendance, not only did he witness the event he'd planned become a reality, but as a 40th birthday present, April gave him the very Steinway piano he had used to perform upon at the event. DAVE had dreamt of owning his own Steinway since he was 9 years old and now he would have one. And, David had the piano signed by Mr. Steinway himself (the last living member of the Steinway family that have been crafting the pianos.) David was at Steinway Hall earlier in the month sampling pianos for more than 4 hours before he picked the one he wanted for his own. It was a dream come true for Dave. He was practically giddy after the event - it exceeded his dreams. This was one very happy man.

DAVID BRYAN has been very involved throughout the past two years with SAVE THE MUSIC. He's conducted "master classes" at elementary schools in several U.S. cities where he played music and took questions from children about the piano, his musical background and his career. For more information about the program, visit www.vh1savethemusic.com

PSSSTTT? WANNA BUY A DRUMKIT?

Remember THE CONCERT FOR NEW YORK? Last October, when BON JOVI performed at the historical benefit show, TICO TORRES played a custom-made PEARL DRUM KIT decorated in American flag designs. That drumkit was auctioned off on E-BAY and raised more than $60K for the Robin Hood Foundation to benefit WTC victims. Well... TICO actually have TWO of those kids custom-made for him and he'll be playing the other one at this Sunday night's Closing Ceremonies at The Olympics. (THE CLOSING CEREMONIES OF THE 2002 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES ARE TAKING PLACE SUNDAY NIGHT, FEBRUARY 24TH AT RICE-ECCLES STADIUM IN SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - IT WILL BE TELEVISED SO MAKE SURE TO CHECK YOU LOCAL LISTINGS AROUND THE GLOBE FOR WHEN YOU CAN VIEW IT!!!) As soon as TICO is done with the BON JOVI performance at the Closing Ceremonies, his tech is handing the drumkit over to the folks at PEARL so it can go up for auction on E-BAY! This time, the monies raised will benefit the AMC (American Music Conference) - non-profit organization which promotes music to the public. So, empty that piggy band - c'mon... it's for a good cause!!!

BON JOVI: HEADING INTO THE STUDIO

Looks like the band won't be starting the next record in LA after all. They'll work on the album entirely in NEW JERSEY, beginning in March (once Jon completes his 9-episode special-guest-star commitment to ALLY McBEAL!)

And when BON JOVI returns to the studio, look for BON JOVI TV to return to bonjovi.com...

Bono Vox, lead singer of U2, was honored by the Entertainment Industry Foundation on Valentines Day on the Kodak Theatre,in Los Angeles and Richie was one of the stars present.
(click on the pic)

Richie is one of the nomenees to the Guibson Guitar Award.The awards will be presented on Tuesday, February 25th from 1-3pm at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood. Click here to read the full article.

Jon was one the guests on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno on February 7th to talk about his ALLY McBEAL experiences.

Once again Tico and David will participate on the VH1's Fairway To Heaven on March 9th and 10th. Its kind of a weekend of golf and rock'n roll!!!

Among them will be: Alice Cooper, Dennis Paulson, Meatloaf, John Daly, Tommy Lee, Scott Simpson, Clarence Clemmons, AJ McLean, Hootie and the Blowfish, Peter Jacobson, Per Ulik Johansson, Woody Austin, Blained McCallister, Briny Baird, David Sutherland, Tommy Armor III, Jay Lewis, Joel Edwards, Pete Jordan, Russ Cochran...!

Tico hosted a cocktail party last night showing off the Spring line of ROCKSTAR BABY clothes... he asked to let all of you know that he'll be profiled on the TV show LATIN ACCESS this Sunday, January 27th. Check you local listings (in NYC it aires at 4:30pm, just prior to Access Hollywood.)

Click here for the transcript of Jon Bon Jovi's phoned-in interview on Z100, WHTZ-FM, New York City on Wednesday, January 23, 2002. The interview aired at about 8:40 a.m. that morning. Courtesy of Mary Beth Jahn (mcdlancer@aol.com)

The cast of characters is as follows: for Z100's morning zoo, Elvis Duran, Christine Nagy, John Bell (abbreviated as JBELL), Danielle Monaro, and JBJ is, of course, Jon Bon Jovi.

Richie and Heather were present at The 59th annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, January 20, 2002. Heather was nominated for Best Actress in a Television Series for a Musical or Comedy for her role in 'Spin City'.

Click here for the transcript of Jon's interview today on 95.5 WPLJ. Courtesy of Mary Beth Jahn (mcdlancer@aol.com)

The cast of characters is as follows: Scott is Scott Shannon, Todd is Todd Pettingill, and Patty is Patty Steele, all regulars on WPLJ's The Big Show morning broadcast. This interview was phoned in to WPLJ in New York City and was on the air at about 7:40 a.m. today.