SamboraBlog

Bon Jovi Loves this Town One of the most popular band of all time inspires greatness in our region and giving in our hearts.

By Victoria Bradley

It’s a pretty good day when you’re expecting a call from Richie Sambora, the legendary front man and lead guitarist for Bon Jovi. I did my morning run to “Livin' on a Prayer.” I sang “It’s My Life” in the shower. I swiveled in my office chair with “Keep the Faith.” Just when I was psyched enough to pour coffee to the tune of “Have a Nice Day,” I got the delay notice from Sambora’s publicist. The rocker pushed his morning call to an afternoon call. My mind went immediately to a recent UK interview in which Bon Jovi himself said that if the band is up at 6 a.m., it’s because they’re still up. I smiled to myself and filled the day’s suspense with a killer playlist, 25 years in the making.

The members of Bon Jovi are rock royalty. They have sold 120 million albums and have performed 2,500 concerts in more than 50 countries worldwide. This year, they are nominated for two Grammy Awards and induction into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, a ceremony which holds its honors in June. A stop in New Zealand sold out so many hotel rooms and flights for out-of-towners that the Bon Jovi concert was estimated to have raked in an incredible $15 million for the city’s economy. Their new album, Lost Highway, has already sold more than 1 million copies in the U.S.

The band has become hometown regulars, part of the rocking DNA that pulses through this city. Their Pittsburgh Mellon Arena show on March 15 sold out so quickly that, due to overwhelming demand, the band scheduled a second show March 5, according to Ticketmaster General Manager Pat Lucas. They were an easy choice for the Pittsburgh Steelers World Champion Celebration Concert to honor the Super Bowl team. The seven-hour music fest included a formal presentation of the team’s fifth Vince Lombardi Trophy, on display in a newly dedicated case built into a column in the Great Hall. Forty-five thousand fans packed into Heinz Field. Even more screaming overflowed into the river, where nearly 100 boats rocked in the water as black and gold-garbed fans swayed their arms when Bon Jovi took to the stage with a victorious “Last Man Standing.”

I mention the song and the crowd and the story when Sambora phones in that afternoon. He delivers a husky “hello” and takes to calling me “Vic.”

“We couldn’t be more pleased that [Jon] Bon Jovi agreed to become the first Habitat for Humanity Ambassador,” says Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. “The band exemplifies qualities that we all aspire to emulate … they are leaders … compassionate, articulate, and credible. As a result of the group’s kindness and generosity, numerous families now have a warm and safe place to call home.”

“Pittsburgh is right in our backyard from Jersey,” Sambora says. “The affinity that we have for Pittsburgh is that we grew up the same way. People from Pittsburgh and people from New Jersey — you know, hard-working people who like to have a good time. And I think that’s what we give them.”

It’s his grounded sense — almost Springsteen-esque — that has upheld the group’s albums as soundtracks of thumping good-hearted blue-collar heroes for decades. Sambora says that fame is just something he doesn’t think about.

“It’s an unrealistic number,” he says about his albums sold. “You just keep your head down and keep plowing ahead.”

Hearts thumping and heads plowing, Bon Jovi has made waves that extend far outside of their musical influence. The band took funds from their Have a Nice Day release and bankrolled the construction of four Habitat for Humanity homes in Philadelphia. Jon Bon Jovi is an International Ambassador for the Christian housing charity that constructs hundreds of homes each year for families in need. Bon Jovi, Sambora, Tico Torres, and David Bryan all volunteered, and appropriately, Jon and Richie’s arena league football team, The Philadelphia Soul, pitched in, too. In addition, the chart-topping “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” video was filmed on the Habitat for Humanity work sites, raising awareness for the charity and showing off the creative camaraderie of rock’s favorite foursome. The majority of the band’s Island Records video budget, as well as funds from the Bon Jovi Family Foundation, financed the building. They wanted to encourage fans to “think global, act local.”

Sambora applies the same attitude with his band’s $1 million donation to Oprah’s Angel Network in the name of rebuilding New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. It was the largest donation in the history of Oprah’s charity. Sambora says they had an influx of corporate gigs around the time of Hurricane Katrina. “We got a bunch of money and said, ‘You know, we’re gonna give this to Oprah and the Angel Network,’” Sambora says.

“What motivates me at this point in my career,” Jon said on the show, with his famous mega-watt grin, “is the idea of continuing to give back. Without giving back, how can you go on?”

“I’m a big Bon Jovi fan,” Heinz Field Executive Director Jimmie Sacco says. “It was an exciting time in Pittsburgh, and the band was really a good fit because of their high energy and Jon’s love for football. And how much does Pittsburgh love him?! The players were excited; they were back stage with the band, and they all hit it off. Plus, Bon Jovi had Terrible Towels on the stage! It was a superstar performer with a superstar team — terrific. We hope to have him back next year. Concerts are great, but Super Bowl celebrations are better.”

Shortly thereafter, the band traveled to Louisiana for the unveiling of Bon Jovi Boulevard.

To get a feel for what their work means, I volunteer myself, following the band’s lead to “act local.” I pull on my work jeans and tennis shoes and scuttle off to a Habitat for Humanity work site in Duquesne. Charity, in the name of rock n’ roll.

Brown paper crackles under my feet as I shuffle around the nearly finished Duquesne home. Randy Brubaker gives me a tour around the Habitat for Humanity site that is much quieter without the typical 45 volunteers hammering, drilling, and dry-walling away.

“We have a regular All-Star team of volunteers,” Brubaker says, and he hands me a screw gun. “They’re hard workers with a strong work ethic. They come from all over.”

Brubaker makes a light pencil mark and bravely holds the metal brackets for the blinds in place while I pull the trigger for the first time on a power drill. I learn about Pittsburgh Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Maggie Withrow, who actually got her start with the organization through celebrity endorsement. She volunteered for Reba MacEntire’s Women Build project in Nashville and became her project chair for subsequent builds. From there she became a committee member, a board member, and the director of Nashville Habitat for Humanity before coming to Pittsburgh.

“I can envision someone at Bon Jovi’s March concert, listening to what he may say about Pittsburgh Habitat, and acting on that inspiration by contacting our local affiliate,” Withrow says. “Bon Jovi, Reba, or any celebrity icon’s support of Habitat not only lends credence to the organization, but also helps spread the message of how individuals can get involved. What we hope a local concert emphasizes is the need for support at the local level.”

I boast about my experience to Sambora. “I was drilling up blinds, which seems like easy work, but it wasn’t that easy,” I say. He laughs, “Definitely not,” he says. “But it’s a noble thing to do.”

Bon Jovi and Sambora are noted for their similar integrities, part of the reason they’ve successfully collaborated on songwriting for years.

“This is a very personal record,” Sambora says. “I had a pretty crazy year, and there’s a lot coming out of my soul from a songwriter’s standpoint. It’s really about relationships and people interacting with each other.”

The guitarist mentions “Seat Next to You,” the album’s twangy ballad that sounds like a romantic radio serenade but was actually penned with his father in mind.

“Jon and I have individual experiences with the songs themselves,” Sambora adds. “He was writing about a relationship; I was writing about my dad.”

As a follow up to the super-successful Have a Nice Day album and especially the Habitat for Humanity-inspired “Who Says You Can’t Go Home,” which made Bon Jovi the first rock band in history to ever reach No. 1 on the country charts, the band headed to Nashville to record Lost Highway.

“I had the pleasure of spending time with Jon on several occasions during the Kerry Campaign in 2004,” Heinz says. “He was always looking to support the cause, but never looking for credit. And his devotion to making the world a better place extends beyond presidential politics.”

“Jon and I showed up with a blank pad and a pen, and three months later, we came out with this record, which has a lot of Nashville flavor,” Sambora says. “But it’s kind of like taking a pin out of a grenade, putting your fingers in your ears, and seeing what’s going to happen.”

What’s happening is that Bon Jovi is enjoying an even more explosive popularity than their big-haired beginning in 1983 — and the mane men have tamed their mop tops into perfectly highlighted crops. And while their past is one we’ve embraced — sprayed-on leathers and all — the band is leaving it behind them. Sambora revels in the thought that “there’s a whole legion of younger fans who think that last couple records were our first couple records,” and Jon has famously said, “If you want to torture me, make me watch our first five videos.”

Remember the billowing smoke that infused the “Runaway” video? How about the zebra pants in “Wanted Dead or Alive”? (We’re partial to the video, thanks to a shot of our Pittsburgh skyline in the first minute.) Give us the flying, feathery coifs of “Living on a Prayer” any day.

New videos are in the works now. Bon Jovi has launched a contest for fans to send in home videos, showing off their towns. Portions of the best hometown tributes will be screened on large video monitors while Bon Jovi plays “I Love This Town” in each of the 38 cities on the North American tour.

No doubt, Pittsburgh fans will produce the most impressive homage on the tour. Sweeping scapes of the three rivers will glisten behind the band as they belt out, “I always knew that I’d like this place …” A smiling Primanti’s employee will pile fries on top of cole slaw and corned beef when Bon Jovi sings, “You don’t have to look too far to find a friendly face.” See the sidewalks of the Strip District, “I feel alive when I’m walkin’ on the street … I feel the heart of the city poundin’ underneath my feet …”

In a perfect world, when the band — who loves this town, too — gets to their riotous chorus, there will be a scene from the work sites Bon Jovi has help to inspire, the building of new homes in our region.

Nadirah Simmons will move into the Habitat house that I worked on this month. The single mother of four praises Bon Jovi for the awareness they’ve brought to the cause that has given her a new home, a new life. She is just as appreciative of local volunteer “rock stars.”

“You see celebrities go down to New Orleans, but you don’t have to go that far to see miracles. It’s happening right here,” says Simmons, who has volunteered herself to complete the 350 work hours required to qualify for the program. “You see your house come from nothing. This month, my family will move into its first home.”

I’m thinking of her as I unfurl the blinds on her windows for the first time. I think of her again as I hang up the phone with Sambora. There are songs that have always been in our lives. And there are bands that change the landscape of our world, our region, by singing them.

And that rocks.