Bon Jovi Shrine 2011 Retrospective

This is the last video filmed during Jazz Fest 2011. On May 8, 2011, I sent my thanks out to the neighborhood and those far away who sent love to Maurepas Street for me and Lupe.

Tomorrow, WGNO news is coming to do a story about the shrine. It will air at 6 pm Central (ABC) on Thursday, July 7.

Thank you everyone!

Shrine Alley New Orleans???

I know there is technically no alley here, but I liked the way "Shrine Alley" sounded.

Now that there are 2 shrines on Maurepas Street (2900 block), it seems that we need a name for this sacred area. Rumor has it that a third resident will be building a shrine to Kenny G.

Someone will surely find a wonderful name for this phenomenon (block).

In this video, 2 Women explain that it is not a coincidence that the 2 musicians with shrines dedicated to them are the 2 musicians who really rock.

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead - Less than 48 Hours Until It Starts All Over Again

There is still another weekend of Jazz Fest - a longer weekend - and I worry that my shrine activities have exhausted me.  I certainly got what I wanted, and I met many wonderful people who visited the shrine on festival days.  

The pages in the guestbook delight me.

However, I do work from home, and I really did not get enough sleep (I have this broken heart that makes it hard to sleep even when I am trying to), and I worry that the shrine is overwhelming me.  Monday was a non festival day, and I actually made a barricade around my house so I could sit on the porch.

In an attempt to make this weekend's shrine activities more fun and less stressful, I am taking an inventory of where my energy is going regarding the shrine.

Morning Activities

1. Depending on the wind, each morning parts of the shrine need to be secured. This often involves a lot of going in and out of the house because I am just not a morning person, and it is hard for me to do anything without coffee, so I waste a lot of time looking for stuff.
2. Lupe really needs to go for a walk in the morning, so she's a little bit frisky. I imagine playing fetch with her in the back yard will help since walking her is not a good idea (see also: TJ's crowd anxiety when more than 12 people want to pet Lupe within a 5 minute period).
3. Writing about shrine on the neighborhood sidewalks with chalk. I actually love writing about the shrine with sidewalk chalk, and the chalk is more effective than flyers are. However, I have to leave the shrine and Lupe in order to do this. I should write with the chalk at night and hope it does not wash off, or beg anyone to help with this.
4. I absolutely have to eat something before noon. It is a little scary when I think my stomach growling is actually my BlackBerry.
5. Buying ice at Cansenco's can be done at anytime, but if I forget, I will ask somebody.
6. Dealing with the fact that I am not a morning person and that it is hard for me to pose for photographs while parts of the shrine are blowing around in the wind.  Maybe breakfast will help with this?

Afternoon Activities

1. Feeling better because it is not morning.
2. Talking to visitors.
3. Making Bic lighters.
4. Trying to not leave anything valuable on the porch but also trying not to have to repeatedly go into the house.
5. Explaining that I will never scold Lupe for barking at strange men who try to enter the house or go up on the porch or touch me. I have trained my dog to protect me. She barks because I cannot. I should make a sign about Lupe and make it more clear that the porch and the house are off limits.

Evening Activities

This is the fun time when people visit the shrine, and I really love the evening.


The Contests are from 1 - 9 pm, and I can handle that. 

I hope to continue the fun activities at the shrine, but I am worried that I am too tired to cope with guests who don't respect my boundaries.
 


I have been wearing a fox tail on my tool belt for a year, and a woman pulled it off because she loved it so much, so I had to sew my own tail back on. I did not lose my temper. 


The Sacred Shrine will be able to receive guests this weekend, but if anyone has any suggestions about how I can make it less stressful (NOT suggestions about how I can make more decorations), please email me directly at sacredshrinenola@gmail.com.


The Sacred Shrine will be there for you. 


~Tara Jill

Jazz Fest Begins Tomorrow - Shrine of Jon Bon Jovi Bed of Nails

The Sacred Shrine is ready for the first day of Jazz Fest 2011. Here is the latest video of the shrine complete with prayers for Richie Sambora, a cute Chihuahua, and a bed of nails.

Also, thank you to Marta Jewson from Gambit Weekly Best of New Orleans blog for writing "Jovi Witness"!

 

Bon Jovi Tribute Contest at Sacred Shrine of Jon Bon Jovi Jazz Fest 2011

Can you emulate Jon Bon Jovi by looking like him and singing like him?

Then enter the Jon Bon Jovi Tribute contest by singing a Bon Jovi or Jon Bon Jovi song AT the Sacred Shrine of Jon Bon Jovi.

To do this, go to 2943 Maurepas Street on April 29, April 30, or May 7 between 1 pm and 9 pm and make sure Tara Jill records your performance (if you come earlier, Tara Jill will not be able to record your performance, but you are welcome to practice as long as you do not wake her up before 11 am on festival days).

With your permission, video will be uploaded to YouTube.

Winners will be announced May 8.

1st Prize 

Personal Sacred Shrine miniature cigar box altar with handmade shrine memorabilia and DVD of winning videos 

2nd Prize 

DVD of winning videos and Sacred Shrine lighter and candle. 

3rd Prize 

DVD of winning videos and Sacred Shrine lighter.


Contestants need not be present to win.


Please contact Tara Jill if you are interested in being a judge for this contest in the event that a member of the band Bon Jovi is unable to or unwilling to judge this contest (or is unaware of it).

Note: Tara Jill does not have any guitars or microphones, so you really need to bring one if you will need it for your performance.

P.S. In the event that Tara Jill has to judge this contest herself, she promises not to favor contestants who sing one of her 3 favorite Bon Jovi songs.


Please inform all of your friends of this fantastic contest!

Have a nice day!

~Tara Jill

TJ's 3 Favorite Bon Jovi songs:

"Wild In The Streets"

"Lay Your Hands On Me"

 

"Bad Medicine" 

Tara Jill's favorite song performed by Jon Bon Jovi

"Queen of New Orleans"

Richie Sambora Section of Shrine Established Today

Today marks the addition of the special Richie Sambora bye-altar, which is now a part of the International Sacred Shrine of Jon Bon Jovi. While the shrine's name suggests that it is devoted to Jon Bon Jovi the person, this in no way indicates that other members of the band should not be celebrated here as well.

Richie Sambora Bye-Altar added to Sacred Shrine of Jon  Bon Jovi

Shrine of Jon Bon Jovi Facebook Page

The Sacred Shrine of Jon Bon Jovi NOLA has its own Facebook page. 


Ooh, ooh, (shalala) dancing in the streets of New Orleans 

Sacred Shrine of Jon Bon Jovi Jazz Fest 2011 Video

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.