Blueshadow's Bon Jovi Blog » benefits

Bon Jovi participates in Stand Up to Cancer On Demand

admin — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:19:17 +0000

The Examiner has an article on Comcast’s Stand Up to Cancer On Demand. Evidently this will include videos from Bon Jovi in addition to a number of other artists.

Unfortunately, I’m not on Comcast, so I won’t have access to this. Also, the content from Bon Jovi and the other musicians is only described as ‘music videos’. Neither the article from the Examiner nor the press release from Stand Up To Cancer have any information about exactly what Bon Jovi content will be provided as part of this event. The press release details a bunch of brand new content for this event, but none of it is Bon Jovi content. Jon usually puts on a good show for charity events, so it would be neat to see this.

Hopefully someone else who does have Comcast will post a review of it.

Richie Sambora Way

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:31:52 +0000

Richie has gotten a street in his hometown named after him. There’s even a pretty hot picture of Richie on the news article at the NPR site.

Richie got this honor after he helped refurbish the weight room at the high school and helped raise funds for a local girl with cancer.

It’s nice to see that Richie gets some credit for his charitable activities too. Usually Jon and the Soul Foundation suck up all of the screen time, but Richie is a nice guy too. He deserves some credit too. And it’s time that Richie got a street of his own. Jon already got one. (Well, I guess it was actually named after the band, but still. It’s cool that Richie has one too.)

Get a Guitar Autographed by Richie Sambora

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:44:22 +0000

The animal rescue group Precious Paws will be auctioning off a guitar signed by Richie Sambora. (There’s a full list of the items that they will be auctioning at Tonic.)

Unfortunately the article doesn’t say whether it is a guitar that Richie has actually used. I know the money is going to a good cause, but I’d want a guitar that Richie actually used. Especially at the kind of prices that these auctions bring in.

If the guitars start to get pricey, I guess I could always bid on the autographed beer can from Joe Elliott.

“Lady Mary” Benefit

admin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:52:19 +0000

The “Lady Mary”, a commercial fishing boat, sank off the New Jersey coast on March 24th. On September 27th, a benefit will be held to raise money for the children of the crew members who died.

Some of the items donated for the silent auction and/or raffle include a guitar and other unspecified memorabilia from Jon.

Unfortunately, I have prior commitments for that weekend, or I might make my usual autumn shore trip that weekend. After years of watching Deadliest Catch, I feel terrible whenever I hear about things like this. Usually, I’m completely helpless when a ship is lost, but this is a way to help the families of the fishermen, and the event itself sounds quite nice. (The chance of being able to get a guitar autographed by Jon is pretty cool too.)

The full details of the benefit, including the other donated items, can be found at the Cape May County Herald.

Stand By Me

admin — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:37:32 +0000

I just got to watch the video of Stand By Me that Jon and Richie recorded with Andy Madadian to help draw attention to the Iranian people.

It’s wonderful to see Jon using his celebrity to try to help people this way. His presence alone ensures that this song and video–and their message–gets viewed all over the world. It also brings this message directly to a lot of people that might not otherwise have thought about what the people of Iran are going through.

Jon also did a wonderful job on the vocals in this piece. Some of the songs that he has done lately can sound a bit strained in places; this song didn’t show a single sign of it. Just Jon’s wonderful, clear voice. I don’t think I’ve heard him sing that well since Crush, honestly.

Richie’s guitar solo was perfect; it demonstrates the wonderful sensitivity that Richie brings to his guitar playing. So many guitarists of Richie’s caliber add excessive noodling around to every song that they perform, simply because they can. One of the wonderful things about Richie’s talent is his ability to play beautifully without his ego getting in the way–he gives the song exactly what it needs and not a bit more.

Also, Jon is looking hot. The longer, blonder hair does wonders for him; he looks at least ten years younger than he did a few months ago, and it really softens his face. The short dark hair just made him look underfed and brought out the lines in his face. This is a great improvement.

Bon Jovi participates in Stand Up to Cancer On Demand

Jon to appear in Always Remember Benefit

admin — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:52:14 +0000

According to mycentraljersey.com, Jon will be appearing at the second annual Always Remember benefit on June 8th. It’s good to see that Jon is helping raise money for somebody besides Corzine, and this is certainly a worthy cause.

Worthy cause or not, $250 is a bit of a budget buster, so this is out of the questiohn even though I could certainly make it there in time if I caught the bus early enough. (Makes Corzine’s $50 tickets look like a bargain, no?)

There’s also going to be a silent auction, with a signed guitar from Jon, too.

“Lady Mary” Benefit