Jon Bon Jovi appointed to White House council

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/dec/16/jon-bon-jovi-white-house
Jon Bon Jovi appointed to White House council
Barack Obama rewards singer's dedication to 'civic engagement and social innovation' with position on advisory council
Sean Michaels
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 16 December 2010

Jon Bon Jovi has been appointed to a position at the White House by Barack Obama. The singer is to be part of a new committee "mobilising citizens, non-profits, businesses and government to work more effectively together". Bon Jovi is to serve on the new advisory council on community solutions, which includes executives from Starbucks, eBay, Gap and Amnesty International.

"These impressive men and women have dedicated their lives and careers to civic engagement and social innovation," said Obama. "I commend [council members] for their outstanding contributions to their communities ... [and] I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead."

While Bon Jovi is better known for livin' on a prayer than for community organisation, his philanthropic reputation is cemented in the work of the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, which builds affordable housing for low-income families. Bon Jovi also campaigned heavily for Obama ahead of the 2008 election, holding a fundraiser at his New Jersey home. After the singer was passed over in yesterday's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announcement, his White House appointment must have been sweet relief.

"I am honored to have been selected by the president," Bon Jovi told the New York Times. "I have seen first-hand the powerful impact when people from the public, private and non-profit sectors work together. All of us have a role to play in helping address some of our nation's most serious problems, and I look forward to working with the rest of the council to help out where I can."

Rock Hall of Fame to Induct Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond, Tom Waits

http://www.billboard.com/news/rock-hall-of-fame-to-induct-alice-cooper-1004134661.story

Rock Hall of Fame to Induct Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond, Tom Waits
Gary Graff, Detroit
December 14, 2010

It's official -- Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond, Dr. John, Darlene Love and Tom Waits will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year. The class of 2011 will be formally feted on Mar. 14 at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

All but Waits were first-time nominees to the Hall. Acts who did not make the cut this year included first-time nominee Bon Jovi, as well as multiple nominees LL Cool J, Donna Summer, the Beastie Boys, J. Geils Band, Chuck Willis, Chic and Joe Tex.

The nonination of shock rock icon Cooper and his original band seemed a long time coming given their commercial success -- four platinum albums and five Top 40 hits between 1971-73 -- and stature as theatrical pioneers.

Cooper figures it's about time the band got into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But he wasn't worried about it."I've always felt the same way about this whole thing," he tells Billboard.com. "I kind of sat back and said, 'It will happen eventually.' "

"It did get to be kind of a joke, not being nominated," Cooper (born Vincent Furnier) adds. "I got to the point where I was saying, 'OK, I'm the Pete Rose of rock 'n' roll!' So now that it's a reality, it's a different take on it. Now I sit there and go, 'Wow. Wow! We've got to really get up and play, and assume the position of being in the Hall of Fame.' It'll be great."

Cooper says the only time he was upset about not being on the ballot was in 2009, when Kiss, who he considers proteges of a sort, were nominated before him. "That one stung a little bit," he acknowledges. "I sat there and went, 'Now, wait a minute...Really? Are we invisible here, or what?' "

The original Cooper band -- guitarists Michael Bruce and the late Glen Buxton, bassist Dennis Dunaway and drummer Neal Smith -- splintered in 1974, after the "Muscle of Love" album. But Cooper, who's continued as a solo act ever since, says he would not have accepted induction if it wasn't for the entire band.

"The original band was cutting edge," he explains. "It was the original band that had all the iconic records from 'Love it to Death' on to 'Billion Dollar Babies' and 'Muscle of Love.' What I did after that was an aftermath. The original band were the guys that had to cut through that big, thick ice in order to become an entity out there. I can't see how I could just go up there as an individual."

The four surviving Alice Cooper members are currently together in Arizona rehearsing for a performance at Cooper's 10th Annual Christmas Pudding at Phoenix's Comerica Theater, benefiting his Solid Rock Foundation for children. (Rob Zombie, former Eagles guitarist Don Felder, Night Ranger, Glen Campbell, Cheech Marin and Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers are also performing). The group will perform at the induction ceremony, with Steve Hunter, who played in Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare" band, filling in for Buxton.

Major theatrics -- such as the guillotine or gallows -- are unlikely for the Hall of Fame ceremony, Cooper says, but it will hardly be a bare-bones performance.

"We'll play 'I'm Eighteen' and 'School's Out,' probably," he says, "but I'm sure there'll be weather balloons of confetti thrown into the audience and stuff like that. They'll know it's us."

(Additional reporting by Monica Herrera)

Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Bon Jovi Nominated For Rock Hall Of Fame

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1648859/20100928/beastie_boys.jhtml
Sep 28 2010
Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Bon Jovi Nominated For Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Tom Waits, Neil Diamond and Alice Cooper also on the list for 2011 induction.
Gil Kaufman

The list of 15 nominees for the 2011 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is one of the most eclectic yet, encompassing everyone from punk-inspired rap trio the Beastie Boys to one of rap's most enduring icons, LL Cool J, New Jersey rock warhorses Bon Jovi, original shock-rocker Alice Cooper and gravel-voiced troubadour Tom Waits.

Joining that group are such luminaries as crooner Neil Diamond, folk legends Donovan and Laura Nyro, New Orleans "Night Tripper" Dr. John, funky bar-band rockers the J. Geils Band, disco queen Donna Summer, funk act Chic, girl-group graduate Darlene Love, soul singer Joe Tex, and R&B singer and "King of the Stroll" Chuck Willis.

The nods are the first for Bon Jovi, Donovan, Cooper, Dr. John and Diamond, though Chic, Beastie Boys, Cool J, Summer and Love have lodged a number of previous nods without making it to the musical promised land. The final list of a handful of inductees will be announced in December, and the 26th annual induction ceremony will take place on March 14 at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York.

Artists become eligible for nomination 25 years after the release of their first album or single and more than 500 music professionals and industry members vote on the nominees. Among the 2010 inductees were Iggy and the Stooges, ABBA and Genesis.

Arena Football League cancels 2009 season

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=497237

Arena Football League cancels 2009 season
December 15, 2008
Sporting News staff reports

The Arena Football League will suspend the 2009 season as it tries to improve its long-term economic model, the league's board of directors announced Monday.

"Every owner in the AFL is strongly committed to the league, the game, and, most importantly, the fans," said acting commissioner Ed Policy. "Owners, however, recognize that, especially in light of the current unprecedented economic climate, the AFL, as a business enterprise, needs to be restructured if it is to continue to provide its unique brand of this affordable, fan-friendly sport."

A source told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that the "deal-breaker was ESPN saying it would not televise a six-, seven- or eight-team league." The league, which has been operating since 1987, had 16 teams in the 2008 season. The owners of several teams said they wanted to leave the league unless its financial model was changed.

"We, the owners of the Arena Football League, realize we have the most fan-friendly, affordable and accessible sport anywhere," said Jon Bon Jovi, co-owner of the ArenaBowl champion Philadelphia Soul. "These are trying economic times. The revamping will ensure that the AFL continues to provide value to its fans and not only survives but thrives in the years to come."

Two players told the Plain Dealer that they doubted the league would come back if the 2009 season was scuttled, but owners strongly disagreed.

John Elway, co-owner of the Colorado Crush, said, "Although it is disappointing to suspend the 2009 season, the Arena Football League and its owners feel it is essential to reevaluate the current business model to ensure the livelihood of the AFL in the future."

The arenafootball2 league, the official development league of the Arena Football League, will play in 2009. The af2 operates entirely on its own and is not directly affected by the AFL's current situation.

Bon Jovi Raises (Mc)Cain Over Palin Tune

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b63961_bon_jovi_raises_mccain_over_palin_tune.html

Bon Jovi Raises (Mc)Cain Over Palin Tune
10-15-8
by Gina Serpe

Add Bon Jovi to the ever-growing list of liberal-leaning artistes taking umbrage at being used as pied pipers for Sarah Palin.

Avowed Democrat Jon Bon Jovi, who earlier this year threw a fundraising dinner at his New Jersey home for Barack Obama, has spoken out against the Republican candidate appropriating his band's tunes for her Middle America stump stops.

"We are surprised to hear that our song, 'Who Says You Can't Go Home' was used by the McCain campaign at rallies yesterday and today," the rocker said in a statement. "We wrote this song as a thank you to those who have supported us over the past 25 years."

It's a sentiment that's been gaining ground in recent months, with the Republican suffering a string of highly-publicized backlash after selecting one politically-opposed rallying cry after another.

The good news for the McCain-Palin ticket is that Bon Jovi, unlike some other musical dissidents, has not yet threatened legal action.

"The song has since become a banner for our home state of New Jersey and the de facto theme song for our partnerships around the country to build homes and rebuild communities," he said. "Although we have not asked, we do not approve of their use of 'Home.' "

Just yesterday, Survivor joined the bashing bandwagon, requesting that the McCain-Palin campaign stop playing the band's hit Rocky theme, "Eye of the Tiger," for appearances by John McCain; last week, the Foo Fighters issued a terse statement demanding that the GOP contender refrain from using "My Hero."

Last month, Heart issued a cease-and-desist notice to the campaign after their hit "Barracuda" was twice used at Palin's campaign theme, including being used at the Republican National Convention. In August, Van Halen groused about "Right Now" being used at rallies, while John Mellencamp protested the lifting of "Pink Houses" and "Our Country." Jackson Browne even filed a copyright infringement suit against McCain and the Republican National Committee for using his biggest hit, "Running on Empty," in campaign ads.

There is, of course, a light at the end of the tunnel to the onslaught of negative publicity deriving from the Republican party's ill-advised song selections: The campaign's nearly over.

Farewell, Quiet Riot

http://www.slate.com/id/2178720/

Farewell, Quiet Riot
By Jody Rosen
Posted Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2007

Kevin DuBrow, the lead singer of Quiet Riot, who died Sunday at age 52, will be remembered as a guy who was in the right place at the right time, with the right song. The place was the Sunset Strip; the time was late summer, 1983; the song was "Cum On Feel the Noize," a raucous party tune originally recorded by British glam-rockers Slade, which Quiet Riot inflated into the anthem that first took pop-metal to the top of the Billboard charts. Quiet Riot distilled the pop-metal formula, toning down the darkness and nihilism of progenitors like Black Sabbath while preserving the decibel levels, adding poodle hair, spandex, gratuitous guitar histrionics, lots of salaciousness, and, above all, melody. Other, better bands—Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi—would ride the tide to superstardom, but Quiet Riot got there first, when "Cum On Feel" propelled the band's third album, Metal Health, to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200, for one week exactly, in November of '83. That success was due in no little part to DuBrow's vocals, a raspy yowl, and to his bug-eyed stage presence—more in the Alice Cooper-lunatic tradition than the Robert Plant sex-god vibe that others would exploit. "Cum On Feel" was DuBrow's supreme moment. (And, let's be frank, it was more Slade's triumph than his.) But Quiet Riot's originals were a blast, too. Watch this vintage performance of "Metal Health," with DuBrow stalking the stage in a striped shirt and tight leopard-print pants. "I want it louder/ More power/ I'm gonna rock ya 'til it strikes the hour," Dubrow sings, a goofy but not inaccurate boast.