Originally Posted by Lampinen

Bobby met Jon for the first time in the late 80s (he wasn't too sure exactly when) when he came to a Southside Johnny and the Jukes' show. During the show, Johnny took Jon's leather cowboy hat and threw it into the audience, unbeknownst to Johnny it had been given to Jon by Willie Nelson just two weeks prior. Jon wasn't very happy about that
Later (much later, if they truly met in the late 80's) Jon called him up to come play on his solo record (DA). They lived just 10 mins away from each other.

EDIT: oh yeah and the part about Richie was that Jon and Richie didn't see eye to eye, and tensions grew in the band. They both wanted to take the band to different directions. Not much else.

Originally Posted by JackieBlue

Rolo, best I could tell, this is what he had to say about Bon Jovi:


58:05 DJ Mike:
So around that time I guess (c.1992, based on the Hummer story that Bobby had just told), maybe even a little earlier, Bon Jovi starts to hit the scene, right?

Bobby: Bon Jovi starts to hit the scene. Bon Jovi was a big fan of Southside’s who I’d been in his band for a good 15-18 years by that time. Jon had just come off the road from ….

(DJs and Bobby try to decide which record it was… )

Jon came around wearing this leather cowboy hat that Willie Nelson had given him and SS pulled off the hat and threw it into the audience

(DJ comments about SSJ being a dick)

Bobby: That’s Southside. That’s Southside. Southern Fried Johnny and the Jukes of Hazzard.

Bobby: So he gets past it (“Ah, ya sonovabitch. But that’s Southside… what are you gonna do? Although I did want to keep that hat! Willie Nelson gave it to me.”) Anyway, we were friends, we had become friends, and uh, over the next year or two, Jon was making a solo record, Destination Anywhere, and I wasn’t working that much with South so he calls me up, “You want to come over and play on the record?” I said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah…sure.” I only lived 10 minutes away, I live in…

(DJ comments RE: Bobby's nonchalance)

Bobby: But you know it’s funny, you know who they are, but when you become friends, they’re not that guy anymore. Now they’re your friends So it’s a different feel, a different outlook. I said, “yeah, yeah. I was changing the oil on my car. I’ll come over.” So I go over and play on a few songs on his, then solo album, Destination Anywhere. And we toured a little bit behind it, got out and promoted it a little bit. It was a great band we put together (Everett Bradley, Hugh McDonald, Sean Pelt and Jerry Cohen) so it was a good band. We did minimal touring behind that record. We were in Australia. We were in England. We did a bunch of stuff in the states…

DJ: You’ve toured all over the world with Bon Jovi…

Bobby: Years later, years later… So then a couple of years go by and we’re friends (How ya been? Christmas Dinner, Have a drink, How’s the kids? Blah blah…) [Jon said] “Uh, I’m trying to get you to come with the band, Bon Jovi.” I said, “Oh, that’d be great, that’d be great…” He said, “But I gotta… I gotta twist some arms because, y’know, they’re not that enamored with another guy in the band having to split another piece of the pie kinda thing…” Uh, uh and, I could understand, y’know. And Richie is ‘the’ lead guitar player in the band and…

DJ Derek: Richie Sambora?

Bobby: (role-plays a discussion between Jon and Richie over Bobby joining:
RS: “What do we need another guitar player for?”
JBJ: “Well… because we do… y’know?* Our music’s becoming fuller. So we do need another guitar player.”
RS: “Well, we’ve done alright so far.”
JBJ: “Yeah, yeah, whatever…”)

So it took a year or two before he could persuade those guys that me coming in the band was a good thing. And I went in the band and, y’know, it was a little rough road there. Richie and Jon weren’t seeing eye-to-eye anymore…

Derek: (aka BIG MOUTH - why didn’t he let Bobby finish what he was saying!!!!!): Aren’t, right now, they’re a little off terms?

Bobby: And they’re off terms now… and Richie wanted to see things his way and Jon wants to see things his way and one thing led to another and, uh, Richie’s not around anymore. I think Jon’s gearing up to do, uh, release another record I think in March…

Derek: Wasn’t Richie Sambora recently in rehab?

Bobby: In and out. In and out a couple of times… over the last few years…

Derek: And now he’s not touring with them at all?

Bobby: No… No, so apparently he’s not coming back. And ….

Derek (BIG MOUTH again!): Because that’s life sometimes?

Bobby: That’s life sometimes, y’know?

Derek: Hey, if Slash and Axl…

Bobby: See? There again… but they were both out there playing. Y’know, Slash didn’t go out as G & R, although Axl did. But Slash, he had one or two bands along the way. So, y’know, you don’t stop because you’re not playing together anymore. You do whatever the next project is. Hopefully it hits and you do alright with it and if it doesn’t, you just keep playing. You play with the boys in the bar and…

DJs ask if Bobby can play 'that acoustic ...' and they butcher WDOA)

Bobby: Blonde Andchovy (tells a funny story about Jon wanting Bobby to give him a new nickname...)