Birthday thank you

Just wanted to send out a mass thank you to everyone who dropped me notes and emails for my birthday. It put a big ol' smile on my face to see them all. My boyfriend was here for the weekend and I had a wonderful time with him - my 20th birthday would have been spent alone in class and work otherwise. He's one hell of a sweetheart!

Anyway, thank you again. :) And don't forget to sign up (or if you already have, keep clicking the widgets) with SocialVibe to earn money for the ADA. My account has tracked a TON of activity lately, and a lot of it is from here, so keep it up!

Help Me Out?

So I teamed up with SocialVibe last year as a way to further support my diabetes organization, and the American Diabetes Association has FINALLY partnered with them!

So. Here's the deal, real simple. Click on the widget below and join SocialVibe (it literally takes about 30 seconds to sign up) and I will earn major points, which my sponsors, Philips Norelco and Apple Inc., will then pay off to the American Diabetes Association to help fund diabetes research.

And once you're signed up, go ahead and choose your own cause and sponsor and start supporting your own charity without paying a cent. It's the best way to stay philanthropically active in this horrible economy.

Thank you SO much - I really appreciate your help!

P.S. if you are REALLY against signing up, just clicking on the pink 'join now' tab to take you to my homepage will give me points. It will only be 1 point vs. 100 for singing up, but it's better than nothing! And I'll get points based on daily clickout totals.

David Bryan: Toxic Avenger Blog

Thanks for the head's-up on this, Hath!

So I'm sure you all know that David Bryan has been composing the soundtrack for the Broadway play, Toxic Avenger. And the playwriter, Joe DiPietro, has been blogging about it. I've been really bad about following/posting about this because school and work have been kicking my arse lately, but I figured I'd post this since our own DAVID gets a corner of the blog for himself:

Hey hey. This is my first blogging experience (more of a music guy, ya know ... gimme a song and I know how to write it. So this isn't quite my thing but I'm trying for you Toxaholics -- and yeah, I dig that name.) Let me start out by saying that The Toxic Avenger js going to rock the house! I'm working on the sound design now so the show will be a theatrical rock 'n roll experience. It's funny because with Bon Jovi, we play to stadiums that seat at least 50,000 or so. But here at New World Stages (which is a great theatre) there are only 350 seats. So no matter where you sit, you'll feel like you're practically on stage. You're also going to laugh a lot. And rock out. And I just read the beginning of this blog and I definitely didn't write the paragraph about hoping to make Joe into a pill that we can all swallow him. I don't feel that way at all.

Let me also say that we have a really kick ass band. Our drummer, Alan Childs, played with Bowie on the Glass Spiders Tour, and our Musical Director, Doug Katsaros was in the band Balance (and he wrote the three notes that make up the "By Mennon" theme -- how cool is that?.) And our guitarist, Chris Cicchino, and our bass player, Dan Grennes, are real rock guys. They're all killer players. So come see the show! If our premiere at George Street Playhouse was any indication, you're going to have a great time.

K, so I love him. I really do. Joe went on to say that David normally "doesn't shut up" but that he didn't have much time to write that piece, thus its short length. But he is just so personable and friendly - I would just LOVE to meet him!

Oh, and I loved this part from Joe's blog on Wednesday:

With David producing and our five actors singin' their talented hearts out, we laid down sixteen tracks in 8 hours (as David kept pointing out, it takes most rock bands three months to lay down 12 tracks.) But in the financially-challenged land of theatre, you get only one day to make an album or else it costs, like, an extra hundred thousand dollars to finish it and you're screwed. So David, along with ace Musical Director Doug Katsaros, kept the actors singin' and damn, if it didn't all sound fantastic. David knows how to make a record, which I guess is why his band has sold a billion of them.

Check out more of Joe's blog and follow Toxic Avenger's current progress HERE.

JBJ: Hannah & Friends Benefit

Okay, I thought I had already posted this before, but I guess not. Better late than never!

From looktothestars.org:

Join Jon Bon Jovi For St Patrick's Day Charity Show

Nonprofit organization Hannah and Friends will hold a benefit dinner, the “St. Patrick’s Day Gala with Coach Weis and Jon Bon Jovi,” on March 12 (Thursday) in New York City. University of Notre Dame head football coach Charlie Weis will host the event, and music icon Jon Bon Jovi will present a special live performance.

Dinner will take place at the historic Waldorf Astoria Hotel, and reservations are now being accepted. Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg of ESPN will serve as masters of ceremonies. In attendance as honorary chairmen will be former Notre Dame football players and National Football League celebrities Bill Belichick, Antonio Pierce, Jesse Armstead, Mark Bavaro, Sean Landeta, Brady Quinn, John Carlson, Anthony Fasano, and Tom Zbikowski. Guests will have the opportunity to bid on autographed sports memorabilia at a silent auction held before dinner.

Individuals or organizations interested in tickets or event sponsorship opportunities should contact Hannah and Friends at (574) 273-9824 or info@hannahandfriends.org. A limited number of sponsorship packages, featuring photographs with Bon Jovi and tickets to a private reception, are still available.

Hannah and Friends, founded by Weis and his wife Maura in honor of their daughter, is dedicated to improving the quality of life for children and adults with special needs. In addition to providing monetary grants to families caring for individuals with special needs, the foundation also fosters an ongoing campaign promoting “Awareness and Compassion.” 2009 marks the first year of operation at Hannah and Friends Farm, a residential community in Northern Indiana for adults with special needs, and development of the property is ongoing. Additional details about the organization can be found at www.hannahandfriends.org.

JBJ to be Honored at NYC Food Bank Event

Thanks to my midnight Google crawl, I came upon this. :)

Jon Bon Jovi To Be Honored At Food Bank Event
[March 3, 2009 by Tim Saunders]

Mark down April 21 on your calendars for the annual Food Bank For New York City Can-Do Dinner, this year honoring Jon Bon Jovi.

The Food Bank For New York City coordinates the distribution of food donations from manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and government agencies to organizations providing free food to the city’s hungry. They work tirelessly towards their goal of feeding the hungry, and have chosen Jon Bon Jovi as this year’s honoree because of his efforts in making the world a better place.

The event will be held at Abigail Kirsch’s Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers, on the corner of 23 Street and the Hudson River, and will kick off at 6pm with cocktails, followed by a dinner, live auction, and musical performance.

MC for the event is Stanley Tucci, who is a member of the Board of Directors for the Food Bank, and co-chairs include Michael Stipe and Mario Batali.

The evening will commence as follows:

6PM:
Cocktails

7:30PM:
Dinner
Live Auction & Surprise Musical Performance
Followed by Champagne & Dessert Reception
Dress: Festive

Get Your Tickets Now!

Happy Birthday, JBJ!!

* H A P P Y * B I R T H D A Y *
to our favorite frontman, Captain Kidd!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From one March baby to another, I hope you have a WONDERFUL day. Take this day to celebrate with your kids and wife, parents and family and friends and bandmates...and DON'T work! Set aside being a businessman - today, just be Jon. A person who has a hell of a lot to be proud of and even more to be happy about.

Happy 47 years young - you ain't old, baby, just older. ;)

From 2008, 46th birthday onstage in Philly w/ Soul