Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Sacred Shrine of Jon Bon Jovi Jazz Fest 2011 Video

Sacred Shrine of Jon Bon Jovi New Orleans Jazz Fest 2011

Please spread this video as much as possible!  These are new images of the New Orleans Sacred Shrine of Jon Bon Jovi. The shrine is ready for Jazz Fest 2011!


Also, check my YouTube Channel!





If You Lived Here You'd Be Home, Yr. Blogger





Dear Yr. Blogger,


Perhaps only someone such as yourself, someone who has known me since the tender moments of childhood, can understand the overwhelming nostalgia I feel when gazing at these images of memorabilia related to Jon Bon Jovi.


Your lovely blog If You Lived Here You'd Be Home clearly displays your ability to recognize the most sacred gems of memory.




fan

shrine groupie

candles

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Bon Jovi Shrine Location for Jazz Fest 2011


Here is the Shrine of Jon Bon Jovi by day!  If you look near the top left of this blog, you will see an event that includes a Google map to the shrine.






Yeah let the world keep spinning round 'n' round
This is where it's goin' down, down, down
That's why I, love this town
That's why I, keep co-min' round

Lyrics from "I Love This Town" by Jon Bon Jovi

Monday, March 28, 2011

New Sacred Shrine of Jon Bon Jovi 2011




The constantly evolving Sacred Shrine of Jon Bon Jovi is evolving this week! 
The ISSSJBJ will be up for over a month before Bon Jovi's April 30 performance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.


The shrine will continue to grow, hopefully with the support of its fans and 
visitors as well as a lot of spray paint.


 Jon Bon Jovi Dollhouse



Shrine T-shirt from 2009


The International Special Sacred Shrine of Jon Bon Jovi is back!

Candles and Fan Doll at Shrine of Jon Bon Jovi 2011


There is a map on the lower right hand side of this blog that shows the location of the shrine, and if you are serious about visiting it, email me at sacredshrinenola@gmail.com


- from a sacred part of town


Sunday, March 27, 2011

Touching Letter to Jon Bon Jovi

I hope Ashley, who wrote this lovely letter to Jon Bon Jovi (available at Celeb Letters) is able to come to Jazz Fest and see Jon Bon Jovi.




I hope her mother can come here too!

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Thanks, Bon Jovi Haters

Today I entered a photograph of the shrine in an art contest that I read about on the internet. 


Shrine 2010




If I win, The Creative Allies 2nd Annual Design Contest will display my artwork at The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (presented by Shell) and in the New Orleans Museum of Art. 


The theme for this contest is "How New Orleans Music and Culture Inspires Me."


According to the festival's own website, "The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell is the greatest music festival in the world. Headliners in 2011 include: Arcade Fire, Bon Jovi, Jimmy Buffett, Sonny Rollins, Kid Rock, John Mellencamp, Wilco, Robert Plant, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Willie Nelson, The Strokes and John Legend & The Roots, plus hundreds of Louisiana musicians."


Late last night, I was reading some comments on NOLA.com  that were written by some JBJ haters. 


According to mic, who commented on the article "New Orleans Jazz Fest looks to the future, even with Bon Jovi" that was published on NOLA.com on January 29, 2011, 

"People hate Jazz because they think it all sounds like Kenny G. New Orleans, the birth place of Jazz now chooses an artist over real emerging jazz artists in this city? New Orleans needs to take this festival back and have less money to not make such stupid decisions: Kid Rock? Bon Jovi? Tom Jones? Eddie Brickell? Cyndi Lauper? Kenny G? and many more. It's the most commercialized festival yet, Greed and capitalism showing through in spades. I would rather give my money to a local musician than support AEG in their endeavors in our great city."




Comments like the one made by "mic" are exactly what inspired me to build the 2009 International Special Sacred Shrine to Jon Bon Jovi to begin with.


Some people really like going to Jazz Fest, and while I don't identify with the desire to stand in the sun in a crowd, I understand that it's a social and cultural tradition for many New Orleanians. However, if I wanted to see really good New Orleans jazz, I would not go to Jazz Fest - not because Bon Jovi and Cyndi Lauper are performing there but because the festival is hot and expensive and New Orleans musicians play all over the city seven days a week.  I would prefer to see New Orleans jazz at Vaughn's or The Candlelight or in the street the way I usually do.


If one wants to appreciate New Orleans culture, there is no reason to go to that festival when wonderful live jazz can be enjoyed for free all over this city.  


If a local wants to go to Jazz Fest, his motivation cannot be simply to hear jazz. 


 Complaints about musicians who are not "New Orleans" enough to perform at Jazz Fest strike me more as petty gripes voiced by people who are looking for things to complain about than legitimate complaints about the availability and cost of New Orleans music. 


 If someone were complaining about the musicians themselves and the fact that they do, indeed need money, I would agree whole-heartedly, but complaining about having to listen to Bon Jovi while attending The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival makes me  want to respond with "Then just don't go to Jazz Fest. Nobody is making you give all that money to Shell oil when New Orleans musicians typically display tip jars."


The price of a General Admission One Day ticket is 45.00. A New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Big Chief Package Weekend 1 pass costs 925.00.  (I explained my feelings about the festival and shrine in my post "On Not Being a Spiritual Tramp - Bon Jovi to Play Jazz Fest 2011" on the old Shrine of JBJ blog before I got tired of using Wordpress). 


As far as the contest is concerned, despite the fact that I do not expect to win,  I entered photographs of the shrine in the "New Orleans Music and Culture Inspires Me" category because even if Shell oil does sponsor Jazz Fest, there is still no other city in which I would have built this shrine. The culture that permits shrines is what attracts visitors to this city, and if Bon Jovi is part of that package, I certainly welcome his fans.  




The Sacred Shrine to Jon Bon Jovi - which I built - is an absurd reaction to absurd complaints.


I am grateful to all the Bon Jovi-hating locals from 2009 who actually made me stop and wonder how a Bon Jovi fan - a fan who came all the way to New Orleans to see JBJ play in a city he'd always dreamed of visiting, a fan who probably dropped at least a grand on airfare, lodging, food, tickets, straw hats, and sunscreen and probably encountered local music inside and outside the festival - would feel if he knew some members of the local community were determined to criticize any enthusiasm about music that is not "New Orleans jazz."




Tom Harrison wrote a great article for Canada.com yesterday and explained Bon Jovi's popularity and that "Bon Jovi hasn't been fashionable except around the time of Slippery When Wet, when it was the fashion. In 1992, Bon Jovi released Keep The Faith. It's been true to its word."  This holds true for Jazz Fest too.


To anyone who loves Bon Jovi, or shrines, or porches, or mid-city and to everyone who needs a place to discover free and whimsical entertainment, I'll be there for you.


By the way, a neighbor who I don't think I have ever met made my day when he posted on my blog and said I could borrow his lawnmower to manicure the area around the shrine.  Some things just rock.



Come On Get Ready

This weekend, I am going to rebuild the International Sacred Shrine of Jon Bon Jovi.  I have been waiting to build it, but in order to do so, I had to acquire a weed wacker and prepare the area in front of my home.  The shrine will be ready by March 30, which is exactly one month before April 30 when Jon Bon Jovi will once again take the stage at The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. 


No matter where you're from, tonight you're from right here
This is where it all goes down, down, down
That's why I, love this town