"Shrine thingy is just creepy."

In an attempt to connect with some Bon Jovi fans who may be visiting The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, I joined the online Bon Jovi community Dry County and posted some information about the shrine HERE .

  

More than one Bon Jovi fan referred to the shrine as "creepy" and one even suggested that the shrine should be kept indoors for my own private use.   Others were afraid to visit this blog because they thought the shrine was creepy.  The members who actually did visit this blog did report back that the shrine did not seem creepy, and a few people liked it.

Shrines should be in house.

"Shrine thingy is just creepy."

The once again reminds me that even if Bon Jovi is not connected to New Orleans Jazz and Heritage, I suspect I'd have a hard time finding anyone living in New Orleans who honestly thought the "shrine thingy is just creepy" or refused to click on this website. So

This also relates to my ideas about inside and outside, North and South, and the way those of us who live in New Orleans sit on our stoops, pray and dance in the streets, and leave offerings at the grave of a voodoo queen. So sorry, Becky of Mississippi, but I think you'll be hard pressed to find a New Orleanian who thinks this "shrine thingy is just creepy."

And to quote Bon Jovi,  "You make me feel at home some how, right, now/That's why I, love this town!"

"I Love This Town" is the 12th song on Bon Jovi's album Lost Highway  released on June 8, 2007 and on the Island / Mercury record label.

Reliquary

A case or other container in which relics are kept for veneration.

Veneration is often shown outwardly by respectfully bowing before a relic, icon, or statue. These items also may be kissed.

The image below displays opportunities for veneration.
Hoping it will never end,

- Sacred Shrine

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.

Neat Pearltrees Online Sharing All About Shrine of Jon Bon Jovi NOLA

Bon Jovi Shrine Wish List

I noticed a lovely group of Jon Bon Jovi photographs today on Flickr, and I am sure many Bon Jovi fans will appreciate the work of the All about Bon Jovi group.

Below is my own photograph from 2010. I think it is my favorite picture of the 2010 shrine.

I am very excited to begin working on the 2011 shrine, and I would love one of those license plates and some other fantastic Bon Jovi memorabilia.

Jon Bon Jovi Shrine NOLA

This locket is certainly shrine worthy.

Bon Jovi Wish List

On Not Being a Spiritual Tramp - Bon Jovi to Play Jazz Fest 2011

Fortunately for those who think of Bon Jovi when they hear the words "New Orleans Jazz and Heritage," our Jersey boy will once again perform in New Orleans! This year, he will take stage on the first Saturday of Jazz Fest -  APRIL 30, 2011!


I spontaneously built the International Special Sacred Shrine of Jon Bon Jovi in 2009.  Read The Untold Story to understand this process.


When 2010 arrived, I was not sure whether or not I should build the shrine. After reading The Guestbook during what I can only refer to as a dark night of the soul (filled with second guessing and suspicion as to whether the shrine would appear redundant and pathetic),  I decided to deliberately rebuild the shrine even though JBJ did not perform at the festival in 2010.  In 2009, he filled in for Aretha Franklin when she canceled, so I was not sure if he would ever return to our crescent city.


I ended up with mixed feelings about the 2010 shrine. While I was happy to set up the shrine again, the absence of Bon Jovi fans left me feeling a bit lonely. The lonely part would not have bothered me that much, except that I ended up having to defend the shrine and Jon Bon Jovi when guests who were staying in the neighborhood criticized me because I did not build a shrine to Bret Michaels (he'd been hospitalized for a stroke) or to Simon and Garfunkel (they performed at the festival).


At one point, I actually left the shrine (and my own home) to wander the neighborhood because my neighbor's guests did not understand the concept of not being a spiritual tramp.


A spiritual tramp would build a shrine to Simon and Garfunkel or anyone else included in the 2010 line up.  A spiritual tramp would build a shrine to anyone just to get attention. A spiritual tramp would not understand the irony of the shrine to JBJ.  A spiritual tramp would probably not tear-up when she remembered the happiest moment of her romantic life.


It was with deep regret that I realized I would not be able to cope with hostility toward the shrine if I were to set it up during Jazz Fest 2011. Building a shrine is hard work, dealing with crowds during a major festival while not drinking is hard work, living in New Orleans is hard work, as is being a fan of JBJ with a mother from New Jersey. I did not think I had it in me this year, so I resigned myself to thinking I would hit the classifieds and move to a different neighborhood because I would be too sad to have another Jazz Fest here with either a) no Bon Jovi Shrine or b) a shrine and obnoxious attitudes towards it.
This has weighed heavily on my soul because I love my neighborhood, and my cat and dog love it here too.  I was actually thinking of leaving town during Jazz Fest if I could not get my act together in order to move. Love does terrible things to people, and the shrine helped me to live here during Jazz Fest with a broken heart.  Also, because I don't drink, sometimes I need a creative outlet when everyone else is acting crazy. But here I am again justifying the existence of the shrine, when I should not have to.


I'm like that though. I spend a lot of time in my head justifying actions I shouldn't have to justify and shrines I shouldn't have to build.  I could explain how much I dislike crowds and going into the festival and explain that building a shrine to JBJ three blocks away from The Fairgrounds does not seem absurd when compared to paying 45 - 60 dollars and following a long list of Jazz Fest RULES while wandering from one stage to another listening to musicians who have nothing to do with New Orleans or Jazz and Heritage. I could explain that some people who do not live in New Orleans claim to love it here, but eccentricity makes them uncomfortable, so when confronted by anything that does not fit their idea of "safe New Orleans eccentricity" complete with a straw hat and tribal print dress and Pearl Jam T-shirt, they insult the locals and their shrines. I could learn not to care.


But I was having trouble trying not to care about the shrine.


So, it was with great relief and joy that I read the  2011 Jazz and Heritage Festival schedule this morning and recognized a miracle in action: Jon Bon Jovi will once again perform at the festival.


I recognize the moral, social, and creative obligations I must meet as the only guardian of The International Special Sacred Shrine of Jon Bon Jovi. So it looks like I won't have to move.
Oddly, the chalk I used to write on the chalkboard in the image below has not washed off.

Free Aqua Net Hairspray awaits.

Jazz Fest 2011 Schedule at NOLA.com!

Jon Bon Jovi Playing Jazz Fest 2011!!!

Yipee!  I am so dedicated to Jon Bon Jovi, and I am thrilled that he is included in the Jazz Fest 2011 line up!


I am even more excited that The Sacred Shrine to Jon Bon Jovi will be near the entrance to The Fairgrounds again.


There is so much to learn about the motivation behind building this shrine to such a brilliant musician!


I can't wait to see Bon Jovi Fans at The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2011!

Keep the faith!!!