MLB Season Premieres with JOVI on Oct. 7th

**EDIT: VIDEO INCLUDED**

Don't know who's seen this, but it's my duty as a Jovi fan to pass it on. ;)

It looks like Bon Jovi's new song 'We Weren't Born To Follow' will be the theme for this Major League Baseball season. The promo commercial will air on TBS starting October 7, 2009.

Guess them baseball players love their town AND encourage individuality. LOL

2009 TBS MLB Open- Bon Jovi from Turner Sports on Vimeo.

I'm working on ripping the video to my skydrive, but I'm sure someone else will beat me to it -- and I would love if they share! :)

(One thing I do want to know about the video though, is...where's the rest of the band????)

Your (shallow) Sunday morning wakeup call.

GOOD morning. I just happened to be strolling through my pictures (innocently, I swear...) and came across this one. I didn't even remember having it, so it was a nice "new" surprise!

MERCY that look can melt and kill at the same time. Death by cardiac arrest. Overload of sexy.

Not making your skin tingle? Mmk. How 'bout this? I don't know about you, but I am a 'back' girl. Muscles, ridges, planes...dear God, I swoon to lust in a heartbeat when a man has a solid, strong back.




Okay, okay, fine, I know not EVERY woman feels the way I do. What about that chest? I KNOW of several of you out there who prefer the fur. ;)




Yeah. I thought you'd like that.

Have a great Sunday. ;)

Setlist correction...

Just clarifying on a previous post from last week - the tentative setlist I posted is NOT the official one after all, as per Obie. Which doesn't surprise me, lol, that's why I said it was unofficial. ;)

There's another setlist floating around that Obie also confirmed is NOT official, so don't believe this one either:

* 1. "Smells Like Hell"
* 2. "We Weren’t Born To Follow"
* 3. "Everytime You Say Goodbye"
* 4. "Can I Be Happy Now?"
* 5. "Satisfaction In Sin"
* 6. "Stuck Inside The Circle"
* 7. "Departed"
* 8. "The Fire That Turns You Up"
* 9. "Work For The Working Man"
* 10. "Like A Cowboy"
* 11. "Blind"
* 12. "The Day That Tommy Died"
* 13. "Back When We Were Beautiful"

If and when I do find out the REAL one, I'll let you know. ;)

SIDE NOTE: If any of you follow Obie O'Brien on Twitter, Facebook, or Myspace, please know it is NOT him. He confirmed in another Q&A that he does not have any of those networking sites, and that his "life is too boring for Twitter". So don't be fooled! ;)

David in NYC for Memphis on Broadway

Our favorite keyboardist was in NYC on Aug. 24th for the BBQ celebration of 'Memphis' on Broadway. There are a ton of pics floating around from Getty Images with the annoying watermark, but I snagged some clear ones from Backstage. :)

(Karen! These are for you!! LOL MUAH!)

'When We Were Beautiful' documentary snapshots

So a clip preview from the documentary was on YouTube recently, but by the time I got around to watching it, the copyright restrictions had come into effect and it was blocked.

Damn.

I did, however, come across a series of amazing snapshots from the doc, taken by The Goddess Hathor and posted on her site. I asked her permission to share them, and she kindly allowed me to do so. (Thanks, Hath!)

I have to say, I am really looking forward to seeing this film. And from a budding photographer's perspective, the black and white really emphasizes the history, emotion, and intensity of the band members in their daily routines. It's beautiful...





And there's one more. Take a moment to look at this one (posted full size for a reason) and study it. I found myself studying it for a good five minutes, just absorbing all the unwritten emotion in Jon's face. Every line, every crease, every angle just pours out emotion...the overwhelming exhaustion and stress, as well as the quiet thoughtful reflection and creativity that flows from his lyricist's mind. You can see the toll the last 25 years have taken on him. You can read the simple desire to probably just crawl into his bed and fall into slumber. But you can also almost see the calendar, the schedule book, the review of things to do tomorrow, materializing in his tired brain even as he longs for sleep. And the new lyrics, the stories, that seem to never stop forming despite all else.

This photo really speaks to me at the moment...my heart just goes out to Jon. He is clearly, obviously, spent at the end of each day, weary from running around nonstop and finding more to do than he gets done...and still he plugs along, tirelessly campaigning for his passion. He's truly a remarkable man.

Another cover...?

I found this floating around out there in cyberspace...the apparent single cover art for 'We Weren't Born To Follow'. All this speculation is revving up my impatience and anxiety about tenfold, so boys, if you're reading...hurry up, will ya?!

LOL

The Circle track list...?

Yes, that's right, I just moved into my new dorm yesterday and I'm already posting new Jovi news on here this morning. LOL!

I got this by way of an unofficial fan club, so it is NOT OFFICIAL YET. Please do not quote me -- just passing along what I've heard. (Remember, www.bonjovi.com will announce official releases, so don't believe it 'til you see it there.)

But here is the rumored/unofficial tracklist for The Circle (due out, in case you hadn't heard, November 10th):

1. Can I Be Happy Now?
2. We Weren't Born to Follow
3. Selfish
4. (Back From) Another Tragedy
5. The Truth
6. Just Like Friends
7. Drivin'
8. Never Again
9. Work for the Working Man
10. All I Want to Know
11. 7 Oceans
12. Tomorrow

Can it be true? Inquiring minds want to know...

Undiscovered Soul...

This post is a little more personal that what I usually post, but as most of the people who read this blog are my good friends outside of the blogging world, I feel justified in sharing it.

One of my favorite songs from Richie's solo albums has always been 'Undiscovered Soul'. There's just something about the lyrics, the story, that I have always identified with and felt connected to. And most of you know that tomorrow, for the first time in my life, I will be moving away from the only home I've ever known and finishing my last two years of college at a university three hours away.

I've said my goodbyes to family and friends all week, so I've already done the sad and the bittersweet. This isn't meant to be either - it's meant to be reflective and perhaps even inspiring, as I was so moved by Richie's words when I was listening to US for the upteenth time earlier.

I'm excited. I will finally have a place to call my semi-own (I will have a roommate, after all), be fully independent from my parents, and have the freedom to experience a bit more of the world on my own. I am already well-traveled for someone my age, but I long to do much, much more of it, and see the world someday.

This is the first step in that ambitious dream - and it's both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. I'm only moving a few hours away, yes, but for the first time in my life, I won't be under my parents' roof. I will never live full-time with my family again, in the house where I grew up and hold most of my memories. I'm stepping out into the "great unknown" and beginning the journey to finding myself.

Because I don't know who I am yet. Not entirely. I have always prided myself on being sure of my convictions, my beliefs, my personality and interests. I've remained "true" to myself through the years, never sacrificing what I truly believe to be right, no matter the situation. But in the last two years especially, after visiting Europe - entirely new and foreign territory - for the first time (and then the second and third times), I've changed in ways I couldn't even have fathomed before I left. I've grown, matured, broadened my mind, and seen things in new lights.

And I knew before that was all part of growing up. But I hadn't done it before.

So I'm excited to see where this world is going to take me. What it's going to show me about people, and life, and love. But most importantly, I'm excited to see what it's going to show me about me. I haven't discovered all the depths of my being yet, and it's enthralling to know I have parts still yet to be unlocked and understood.

In the search for our salvation
Relentlessly we climb
Just looking for a reason
In creation's grand design
If patience is a virtue
Then let us humbly begin
We'll be here waiting
Till our ship comes sailing in...

So I stand here an undiscovered soul, if you will. Ready to march out there and say, "World, here I come!" Ready to face it, grab it by the collar, and make it show me the ropes. But I'm not set on a sure path. I don't know where I'm going. I'm heading out with no compass other than that pointing toward unknown territory and adventure.

And in doing so, I'm leaving my comfort zone - something I've never wholly or even willingly dared. I was perfectly happy in my own little safety circle. And now I have to leave it. My heart is full of hope, my mind full of ambition and dreams, my belly full of nerves. But there's one important step I have to take before that can all happen.

I'm taking it tomorrow.

She's scared to go, but still she says goodbye...

Richie at Les Paul funeral

Again...I feel kind of bad enjoying pictures of a man at a sad event, but nevertheless, Richie is lookin' FINE. He has definitely slimmed down and toned up since I last saw him in Vegas (in April), and let me tell you, I was swooning a bit over these pics.

Enjoy!

'When We Were Beautiful' photo excerpts

For all you fellow photo junkies...I figured you'd enjoy this.

I snagged a couple of preview shots Harper Collins released from the When We Were Beautiful book (apparently due out October 27th). Hath also posted the cover art on her blog, so thanks to her for that one. :)

New single artwork + Richie's take on the album...

Backstage just posted the artwork for the 'Follow' single - vedy interesting, I must say. It's got that retro, back-in-action feel to it - and while I love that type of pose Jon and Richie get into onstage a lot, where's the rest of the band?!



Also, Queenie just posted a segment from an interview Richie did with Rolling Stone, which I also found interesting. I love how he describes the new album as "fresh reinvention", and he says himself that they went back to their roots. He also says it might not be called The Circle, after all...but then he also said they were still mixing the album, which makes the interview sound like it was written awhile ago.

So who knows. Enjoy anyway.

From Rolling Stone:

Bon Jovi’s last album, 2007’s Lost Highway, saw the longtime Jersey tunesmiths veer off into Nashville territory. And while the album was a sizable hit with their fanbase, on the group’s forthcoming album, guitarist Richie Sambora promises a return to the group’s roots. “It’s back to rock & roll for us, man,” Sambora tells Rolling Stone. “Jon and I had a wonderful time making it. Very proud of it — just getting down to mixing it right now. We hit a very prolific period in our songwriting.” Sambora reveals the band was considering churning out a greatest-hits album, but reports, “We started having so much fun making this record, that we decided we would do a studio album first. It sounds fresh — I think we reinvented ourselves again.”

The album will be out in November, and RS can report the title currently floating around cyberspace is not correct. While he couldn’t reveal the actual album name, Sambora did muse on the band’s evolution since going a bit country on their last LP: “I think what happened is the fact that we made the kind of Nashville-influenced record, and it created this vacuum now for a big rock record from us. There’s a continued evolution… it doesn’t sound like any other previous record. Everybody that we’ve been playing it for has been real turned on by it, and we’re certainly happy with how it turned out.”

Rest easy longtime fans, Sambora promises that the disc is unmistakably Bon Jovi. “There’s going to be some big choruses on there. It sounds like Bon Jovi, but it sounds fresh. We experimented with a lot of new sounds and had a really good time working with [producer] John Shanks, who is also a really good guitar player, so he and I did a lot of ‘weaseling’ with the guitar sounds. There are a lot of really good guitar sounds and new kind atmospheres on the new Bon Jovi record, that I think makes it really modern. I think people are going to dig it, man. And it rocks hard.”

And will Bon Jovi be hitting the road in support of studio album number 11? “Next year. 2010, probably spring time we’ll get going. And we’re going to go for a long time. It’s going to be a big one.”

JBJ & Dot in Hamptons

I'm a bit late posting this since I was so wrapped up in the new song last night...but here are the pics of our handsome front man and wife last night at the Blue Parrot: