The same could be said about Matt...

Indeed. At least Obie's words are not in black & white on the Internet for all to see.

Agree 100%. I don't think telling the truth to fans is priority in the Bon Jovi establishment as a whole

I'm not his biggest fan either. And you never know when he is saying something just to seem important. So I take it what it is: A statement from Obie.

Would he really play this game? Sometimes I get the feeling of talking about 6 year-olds in this thread.
By the way, if I wanted to "seem important", I would say something to the effect of: "I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to share this kind of information with anyone". Blabbing to any and every fan that passes by doesn't really go that direction. Then again, it's not normal for him to be blabbing in general when everybody else won't say a single word about anything. What a mess.

Even if Richie comes back, I think Phil is retained for the rest of the European Tour as an insurance policy.

Obie is a genius.

I think he has to reply like this, if he revealed something before he was supposed to (even if it's good news) I imagine Jon wouldn't be happy, he probably doesn't want to step on any toes, he's got a really good deal out of this.

It's also a useful opportunity to plug The Drills.

Maybe Richie is returning and The Drills will be supporting.

Highly doubt that although it would be a nice way to keep Phil on rather than just telling him to sod off if Richie does come back.

It wouldn't surprise me if Phil was kept on as an insurance policy from now on.

"Ava Sambora ‏@avasamboraxxoo 2h

Community Service all day"

Hmmmm....... could be reason why Richie's had to hang back. What could Ava have done to result in her doing Community Service????

Aaaaand let the conspiracy theories commence. This thread just keeps on giving..

Some schools simply require community service to show kids what goes on in the world. One of the schools that my kids went to required it - it wasn't because they were paying back for causing problems.

'Community Service' in the US doesn't mean the same as it does here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_service

Ah Kathleen got there before me.

A kit of school's require kids to do a certain amount of charity work/community service, etc.

Gotcha - kind of thing that wouldn't hurt for 75% of the kids in the UK to do!!!

I touched on this earlier- it would be foolish to send him packing. I'd actually hope he'd be treated a little better than "thanks for bailing us out the shit, but he's back so see ya." I'd keep him around as a warning, Richie might up his game if there's someone waiting in the wings.

I wish the schools around here required community service. It might straighten out some of these hoodlums that I have to do behavior plans on. Not sure how I got stuck with that job. I can't fix crazy.

Isn't that a Nikki Lund and Richie song? haha

Great quote Becky but it's too bad you have to live it :(

And the community service was great for all my kids. My daughter is now an environmental scientist due to some of the work she wound up doing in high school. It made a real impression on her. And my eldest son is donating a ton of time to a "do gooder" group now that he is (mostly) recovered from a divorce. I would certainly recommend it.

Though to be fair we don't know what kind of community service Ava is doing and why (back to conspiracy theories) LOL.

Like I said before book The Drills as support for the remainder of the tour on the basis that if Richie bails again Phil is there waiting in the wings.

Ava is also a cheerleader, so it could be the squad doing community service as well.

That's what I'd do if I were Jon. Richie just can't be counted on to show up anymore.

Lots of schools in the US have these service days. Even as an alum, I'm encouraged to participate in them with current students. Just last month I did Hurricane Sandy relief work in Union Beach, NJ - it was great to meet current students and good for the students to network with the alumni, because it's never to early to start thinking about life after graduation!

Even if they don't need that insurance, it would be a perfect way to thank Phil for bailing the band out twice now, let his band get some much needed and deserved exposure to a wider audience. Not everybody's cup of tea but, they're bound to gain SOME new fans out of it...

If Ava did something really bad to warrant getting forced to do community service, wouldn't the press have picked up on it since she's the product of two celeb parents? Or would she be protected since she's a minor?

It'd be picked up, remember when Britney Spears sister had an under age pregnancy, that was all over the media.

Papparazzi would find out either way. Especially since she is just starting to get her career off the ground, they just love knocking people down

she's a cheerleader ? man she must be one spoiled annoying bimbo.

Well that's uncalled for.....

Really??? She's a 15 yr. old girl, so uncalled for.

New interview with Jon. Talks about Richie, among other things

http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrit...-drugs-1899663


The band are halfway through their European stadium tour with a huge new show set to play at the Isle of Wight festival and London’s Hyde Park.

But one member is notable by his absence. Lead guitarist Richie Sambora started the tour in the States but last month committed the ultimate professional sin of not turning up to a gig.

Sambora has had spells in rehab and rumours circulated that he was drinking again. But the door remains open.

Sipping water in his suite, 24 hours before a sell-out gig, Jon says: “We were all in Calgary, Richie was going to turn up on show day but we went the night before because it’s a long flight.

“At 3.30pm on show day the phone rang and it was Paul the manager and he said guess what, and he didn’t even have to finish the sentence. I said, you’re kidding. We went on that night. I haven’t seen Richie since.

“Love him, spoken to him once. I talked to him once, once in six weeks and 18 shows. He’s not fired, we didn’t have a fight, it certainly isn’t about money.

“We go back 30 years. He can return when he is ready to die every night the way I walk on the stage. It’s different without Richie. No one’s mad, no one’s sad. But fortunately because we had been through it before we performed that night. We couldn’t let down the fans.”

I was just going to post that part of the interview too. Of course you have to take everything in the British press with a grain of salt if you don't see it/hear it on video or audio. ;)

Jon seems to be getting really peeved with all this stuff, which I can understand.

Britney's sister was the star of her own TV show at the time, Zoey 101 with the Disney Channel.

I do agree that the press would have picked up on it, if there was something to do with Ava and community service. Ava has got two famous parents and both parents have had run in's with the law. If something had happened to Ava along that line, the press woudl have jumped on it. Two parents and now the daughter too? Apple doesn't fall from the tree, that sort of thing.

He does sound bitter over Richie. Not the sort of response you'd expect if it really was just family issues.

Anyway, remember when Richie dyed his hair blonde? That was funny.

It's the Mirror people! I'd believe the whole dog abuse story over anything they printed.