From examiner.com. I think there's some true words in what is said here:
If you’re reading this you’re likely not a casual Bon Jovi fan, and by now you already know that something is amiss in the House of Jovi.
There’s an old expression “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. In the case of New Jersey’s Bon Jovi, too much play is too much work, and judging by the recent falling out between Jon Bon Jovi and guitarist Richie Sambora, cracks have formed in rock's most visible snow globe.
Put more bluntly, whatever the reason for Richie Sambora’s taking a breather within the first 90 days of yet another world tour---their third in five years---it’s painfully clear that all is not well in the band, no matter whose fault it is.
Nobody within the ‘organization’ is offering any detail, which isn’t surprising because the Bon Jovi machine is better at keeping what they don’t want in the news out than most political operatives.
Code of silence or not, they're tighter than a rat’s behind on a cold snowy day. Anyone getting Alex John Such deja’ vu?
For his part, Richie Sambora has only offered up the intentionally vague descriptor, “personal reasons”. It’s not at all hard to imagine that it was suggested to him if he wants to get paid---since Jon is the only one under contract to the record company and he pays them from his end---he’ll be a good little soldier and zip his lips.
In a society driven by a 24-hour news cycle, suffice it to say if it were a Sambora relapse we would have known by now; and if it were a health issue within his family, ditto.
While Jon Bon Jovi’s “the show must go on” bravado is admirable, it’s also like---no offense to the enormously gifted pinch-picker Phil X of The Drills--- putting lipstick on a pig.
With millions of dollars at stake in pulling the plug on a global tour, not to mention the losses Bon Jovi’s organization would take along with that of promoter AEG Live, the Jersey Juggernaut really has no other choice but to soldier on.
But like it or not, Bon Jovi is Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, David Bryan, and Tico Torres.
It's a cavalier attitude to assume that a Sambora can be replaced like a part on a car. Inserting Hugh McDonald to take over for Alex John Such is a less visible shakeup; but Sambora is the Yang to Jon’s Ying, darkness to his light, and alter to Bon Jovi’s ego.
No, assigning blame isn’t what’s on the menu here.
What is hopefully on the horizon for this band is a recording and touring hiatus a la’ the break the band took at the end of 16 months of touring behind the phenomenally successful New Jersey record.
Like it or not, that break saved Bon Jovi from imploding then, and a nice chunk of time spent apart and out of the limelight for all concerned at the end of the Because We Can tour may just be the good medicine the doctor ordered for refreshing, reinvigorating, and resuscitating the House of Jovi.
While they’re at it, perhaps Jon Bon Jovi could inspire his band-mates to sit down with Dr. Phil or Oprah or anyone objective so they each can air it out about how each one of them feels, like they so successfully did once before.
Though the most ardent fans will wail in objection, it is inconceivable to expect any adored band can tour every other year for 18 months at a time without ‘issues’.
Knowing how bent out of shape we all can get driving in traffic from here to the corner for smokes, how about a different city and a different town every day, with the added pressure of VIP meet and greets on top of already scheduled shows?
And, lest anyone has forgotten, these men all have families and the temptations on the road are constant.
You dance with the partner that brought you. Like it or not, without Richie Sambora there would be no Bon Jovi, regardless of the magnetic good looks of leader of the band and keeper of the brand, Jon Bon Jovi.
As electrifying as Phil X is, fans can convince themselves that it’s ‘still Bon Jovi’, but anyone with an ounce of honesty will tell you it’s not quite the same.
Phil brings a grunge look and a blow-your-face-out guitar style to the band, but he’s a fill-in, a pinch hitter, a hired gun and lest anyone forget Sambora delivered equally impressive chops on These Days, without the I’m-so-good-I-think-I’ll-pop-my-load-on-myself theatrics.
The Beatles’ John Lennon and Paul McCartney couldn’t overcome their differences, and the result was Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band and McCartney’s hugely successful reincarnation with Wings.
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were at the top of their game when they called it quits due to personal differences and they remained solo for years until a reunion show.
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones had periodic blowouts that put the band on the shelf and off the road touring for years, despite putting out new records; and Guns-N-Roses tried unsuccessfully to traverse monumental fame through a drug-addled haze that ultimately sent Slash running for the hills.
In any case, regardless of the fill-in or one half of the duo going solo, it’s never the same. Without Richie Sambora, Bon Jovi songs can be repeated but never quite duplicated, and that is the heartbreak of the band’s current state.
So, whether Jon Bon Jovi got mad at Richie for wanting to play some songs from his solo record midway through a Bon Jovi show; or Richie loved to eat a lot of garlic that he would blow in Jon’s face when they shared a mic for “I’ll Be There For You”; or Richie had access to the choice groupies by virtue of being single and Jon got the better pre-and-post show snacks, it’s all irrelevant.
It’s better to take a break than break up, like any relationship, and the very survival of Bon Jovi as we know it depends not on the band continuing to record and tour for ravenous fans to the brink of extinction, but to have the good sense to bid adieu for a time so they can continue to do so
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04-18-2013, 12:30 AM
