Results tagged “jonbonjovi”

Ever since Jon Bon Jovi gave up his childhood home for a fan on MTV in 1989, he was on his way to sainthood. Or at least the "good guy" title. Now the rock star has teamed up with Newark Mayor Cory Booker and NJ Gov. Jon Corzine to bring more affordable housing to his home state. NJ.com reports the trio "dug shovels into a vacant lot in the city's North Ward" yesterday. The $15 million-project will ultimately provide 51 homes to low-income and special needs people, and permanent housing for HIV/AIDS clients. Jon Bon put in about $1 million through his Philadelphia Soul Charitable Foundation, which has also helped folks in Brooklyn. He declared ever so poetically at the press conference that a difference can be made: "one street, one neighborhood, one soul at a time."

If you were wondering why the crowd at the free Bon Jovi concert in Central Park was numbered at a measly 48,538 people when previous concerts by entertainers like Garth Brooks reportedly drew 750,000, former city parks administrator Doug Blonsky is here to tell you that those old numbers were totally bogus. “You would get in a room with the producer, with a police official, and a person from parks, and someone would say, ‘What does it look like to you?’ The producer would say, ‘I need it to be higher than the last one.’ That’s the kind of science that went into it.” The Times has more on how they come up with the numbers these days.

Incase the news managed to escape you, Jon Bon Jovi came, sang and conquered Central Park over the weekend. Of the over 60K tickets given away to fans, around 50K showed up to the Great Lawn...leaving a reported 150K plastic bottles and aluminum cans. The AP reports, "Major League Baseball, which sponsored the event, said that more than 100 volunteers worked into the next day collecting the recyclables," an effort made in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council -- there's no word yet on how the 13 acres of Kentucky bluegrass fared during the show. And if you weren't rocking, rolling and littering in the crowd on Saturday, some of the show has landed on YouTube.

The eagerly anticipated free Bon Jovi concert attracted an estimated 48,500 people to Central Park yesterday. And were the audience members pumped: People were waiting since Friday for prime seats on the Great Lawn while others settled for arriving many hours before the concert, after having cased the stage set-up ahead of time. The NY Times spoke to one woman who had Jon Bon Jovi's signature tattooed on her back (immortalizing the time he signed her back in 2005) and her friend who gave her daughter the middle name "Jovie."

Will the Bon Jovi madness never end? amNewYork reported that the line for the Saturday concert was expected to form last night. Hard core fans want to secure good spots, and not get pushed into the overflow section. As we mentioned earlier this week, only 50K of the 60K will have spots with a view, the rest are sent to a space with no sightline of the stage or their precious Jon Bon -- though they will allegedly be able to hear the Jersey rockers.

It's no surprise that ticket prices for the Bon Jovi concert being held in Central Park this Saturday went from free to $1500 in no time. As we mentioned yesterday, Spitzer had signed a legislation making online scalping legal, and Bloomberg agrees that there's not much that can be done. The mayor declared to the NY Post:

"The scalping is just a way of life. I can't tell you it's not worth that kind of money. It's up to you if you want to spend the money. But whatever the scalping laws are, you're going to have to comply with them."

Yesterday Bon Jovi fanatics rushed to the closest ballparks to pick up their tickets to a free concert on the Great Lawn next weekend. NY1 reports that fans lined up for hours at all four stadiums; the concert is part of the upcoming All-Star Game celebration. One fan declared of JBJ: "Back in the day he was number one and he still is," while others were happy he was doing the show for free and giving back to his other hometown.

Die hards are surely in line already, but here's your reminder that today is the big day -- in just a short time from now (at 9 a.m.) tickets to the July 12th Bon Jovi concert in Central Park will be handed out at Yankee, Shea, KeySpan Park and the Staten Island Yankees stadiums. Bon Jovi's site states that "free tickets can also be obtained on a first-come, first-served basis, two per fan," and that additional tickets will be distributed in Manhattan. No details on location or a date for those yet, though yesterday they announced a ticket distribution on July 11th at the Javits Center. More details on the concert, and how to get in, can be found at MLB.com.

Yesterday came the announcement of a free concert that would be held on Central Park's Great Lawn this month featuring Mr. Jon Bon Jersey himself (now a Manhattanite). Today more details about the July 12th show and how to procure your golden tickets are unveiled via Bon Jovi's official website. Essentially, tickets will be made available at every major, and some minor baseball stadiums beginning July 2nd. Starting at 9 a.m. that day Bon Jovi fans will descend upon Yankee, Shea, KeySpan Park and the Staten Island Yankees stadiums...get more details here if you want to be one of them. And note that tickets will also will be available in Manhattan at DHL All-Star FanFest at the Jacob K. Javits Center on Friday, July 11th.

The NY Times reports on Mr. New Jersey's ties with the political elite. With it being common practice for high-ranking politicians to attend his concerts, it's seems it's a two way street, with Bon Jovi also showing his support at their functions.

He calls her “Mrs. C.” And she calls on him to add a little celebrity gloss to her presidential campaign.

Continue reading "Jon Bon Jovi as Jersey's Elder Statesman"

You know you’ve finally arrived when your name appears in an Onion headline. The satirical paper of record paid that respect to the decades-spanning indie-rock phenomenon Yo La Tengo some years back with an article titled “37 Record-Store Clerks Feared Dead In Yo La Tengo Concert Disaster.” Since 1984 the band, started by husband and wife duo Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan, has been blazing an independent trail of restlessly inventive guitar rock. Their most...

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a suspicious fire in the area of Ludlow and Stanton Sts. in Manhattan, a crane vs. overpass incident at Westchester and Prospect Aves. in the Bronx, and an armed robbery on Shell Rd. in Brooklyn.
• Musician/actor Jon Bon Jovi is suing the maker of an energy drink for selling a coffee-based beverage called Mijovi. The owner of the NJ beverage company says that the name of his product is derived from that of his girlfriend, Jovita. No word yet on whether the rocker will be suing pastry chain Cinnabon.
• A 13-gigapixel interactive panorama of Harlem taken from a neighborhood rooftop.
• Brooklyn is undergoing a building boom of hotels and completed ones are running high occupancy rates.
• A man was found guilty of a 2003 murder today and faces 25 years to life in prison for forcing a man who was dating his ex-girlfriend out of a 5th story window on the Upper West Side, and the man fell to his death.
• A Jersey City woman whose home is in the flight path of Newark Liberty Airport found an inoperable rocket launcher in her front yard this morning. The FBI said the launcher was part of an AT-4 anti-tank weapon.
• The owner of a Brooklyn bagel store near Bruce Ratner's proposed Atlantic Yards project thought it would be a good idea to name his new business Arena Bagels. After widespread criticism of the massive real estate project, and in turn his store's name, the store has been renamed A.R.E.A Bagels & Bialys.
• Time shares are a growing market in NYC real estate, for vacationers who want to own a portion of a city apartment and occupy it for just a few weeks a year.

There have been rumors about TRL ending its run this year (most likely by the summer) and now comes news that MTV will cut 250 jobs and invest in digital. By now we're all aware that the firing spree started yesterday.

It's the dawn of a new era as the Jets are expected to announce the hiring of New England defensive coordinator Eric Mangini as the 15th head coach in franchise history, ESPN.com first reported last night. The first three things that standout about Mangini are: his age, (now the youngest coach in the NFL, turning 35 on Thursday), his prior tenure with the Jets (1997-99 as a defensive assistant under Bill Belichick and Bill Parcells) and his being a protege of Belichick, the Pats coach who actually helmed the Jets for a single day in 1999 and is thought to be among the game's all-time greatest defensive minds.

About 49% of the population is still reeling from Senator Kerry's concession. Gothamist's own Doug Gordon (also of Planet Gordon) and his wife are in Boston, and were captured for the world to see on BBC News Front Page. He tells us, "All I can say is that there is nothing quieter than the sound of 10,000 people not saying a word." And we expect the Secret Service and FBI to be investigating many more street crimes of this nature.

With the New Jersey Nets and Detroit Pistons face-off in second round the NBA playoffs being one of the most exciting match-ups (well, before game 1, at least), Gothamist and Whatevs have decided to have a friendly wager. If the Nets win, Whatevs will send over some Vernors Ginger Beer, some music from Detroit (Motown, MC5; no ICP, please), and a t-shirt. If the 'Stons win, Gothamist will send over from salt water taffy from Atlantic City, music from one of the Garden State's great musicians (the Boss, Frank Sinatra, Jon Bon Jovi), and a Gothamist t-shirt. May the best team win, obvs.

Watch some Triumph clips for yourself.