One wild life
Recording, touring since the 1980s, Bon Jovi is proof of survival of fittest

BY MELISSA RUGGIERI
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
May 13, 2001

Fifteen years ago, millions of teen-age girls wallpapered their bedrooms with the smoldering glares of Bon Jovi. In their tattered jeans, well-molded spandex and tinted shades, the side players were cool, while namesake frontman Jon was the ultimate hottie. Between ushering in the quintessential '80s hairstyle (hair-sprayed and pouffy) and rolling a string of randy anthems out of the hit machine, Bon Jovi loudly escalated into the biggest arena rock band of the decade.

Now, after nearly 20 years together, the band is sitting on a double platinum album ("Crush"), a mostly sold-out world tour and enough money to last a few lifetimes.

This is survival of the fittest.

And on this day, calling from a tour stop in Denver, Jon Bon Jovi is proud to talk about his fitness.

He happily spouts - without prodding - that he still sports a 30-inch waist, the result of nearly a year of touring and a few grueling months filming his next role, for the vampire movie "Los Muertos."

"I've never been in this kind of shape or sang this well, period," he says in his clipped New Jersey accent. "I spent three months in Mexico for the movie. Was it physical? Let's put it this way: If it were Tom Cruise in the role, there would be an action figure coming out."

Acting has become a serious hobby for Bon Jovi, who, after a couple of blink-and-you-miss-him cameos in the late'80s and early '90s, made his first big-screen impression as the hunky house painter in the otherwise forgotten "Moonlight & Valentino." Since then, he's garnered critical respect with small roles in "U-571" and "Pay It Forward," among others, that showcased his natural charisma.

"I've had good experiences on almost every one of the films I've done. Some of them are more successful, but my favorite was the smallest of them all, 'Little City.' I'd rather take a teeny role and work with ["Pay It Forward's"] Kevin Spacey or Helen Hunt than take a big role in a movie no one is to see," Bon Jovi says. "I hope the vampire movie is good, but it's out of your control when it's a $10 million budget instead of $100 million."

Because he's a Jersey boy, it's a natural assumption that Bon Jovi is an avid fan of HBO's "The Sopranos." The band even pays homage with a stage motif called the "Bada Bing," named after the strip club that serves as Tony Soprano's Mafia headquarters.

The Bon Jovi boys are such followers that after they departed their Denver hotel for dinner one Sunday night, they realized that the show aired earlier in the Mountain time zone and retreated upstairs to watch, leaving dinner for later. Bon Jovi says "Sopranos" creator David Chase "loves" the band using the Bada Bing name and has used some classic B.J. tunes in the show. But, despite what seems a natural fit, don't expect to see Bon Jovi eating manicotti with Pauly Walnuts any time soon.

"I lobbied hard to get on that show," Bon Jovi says with a tinge of sadness. "But David said, 'You're too famous to be you and, as an actor just being a guy, anyone who knows you is gonna know it's you. You're too identifiable to be one of the gang.' "There was a rumor last season that I was going to play a priest, but obviously that wasn't true. But this is a specific New Jersey TV show. It's David's show and he doesn't want any big stars making appearances like that. At least he didn't break my heart and put Bruce Springsteen or Tom Cruise in it."

As much as he enjoys the challenge of acting, Bon Jovi will always be a rock star at heart. Along with guitarist-songwriting partner Richie Sambora, drummer Tico Torres and keyboardist David Bryan, Bon Jovi has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide throughout his career and kept the band's brotherhood intact.

Sambora and Bryan have dabbled in solo projects, while Torres moonlights as an artist. Original bass player Alec John Such departed the band a few years ago, amid claims that his playing started to falter. Longtime Bon Jovi friend Hugh McDonald took over for 1995's "These Days" and continues to supply the groove on record and onstage.

But, says Bon Jovi, McDonald is not a full-fledged member of the band. "It's a weird thing," he acknowledges. "But it's kinda like The Rolling Stones. It took 15 years for Ron Wood to officially become a member of the band. You don't just 'join' The Rolling Stones."

Bon Jovi has invited Such to reunite with the band for its tour-closing two-night stand at home in Giants Stadium at the end of July. "I hope he takes us up on it," he says.

Live shows are unarguably Bon Jovi's strength, a combination of sweat-producing adrenaline, infectious party rock songs and blue-collar showmanship.

On May 22, the band will release its first live album, the 15-track "One Wild Night 1985-2001."

For years, Bon Jovi was reluctant to cobble a live release because his and Sambora's prolific songwriting always kept the well of new material from running dry. But the success of "Crush" has directed a new generation of listeners to the band's music, and for the first time Bon Jovi was willing to consider what will surely be a gift to longtime fans.

"I told the record company not to expect a greatest-hits disc, because we already have one of those ['Cross Road'] that is still selling fast," he says.

"I wanted this to be a snapshot of a live show. We've always vaulted our material, and we had stuff like a cover of 'I Don't Like Mondays' with Bob Geldof, which we did the third sellout night at Wembley to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Live Aid. No one would have ever heard that.

"When Nelson Mandela got out of prison, we were in South Africa and were playing 'Rockin' in the Free World' there. I wanted to hear us playing 'Wanted Dead or Alive' in a nightclub. There are no ballads on there. I left off six Top 10 singles to make it this snapshot of our career."

Along with those songs, fans can expect old favorites "Bad Medicine," "Livin' on a Prayer," "In and Out of Love" and the newer "It's My Life" - most of which the band is performing on its "One Wild Night Tour," stopping at the MCI Center in Washington tonight.

Once the road whirlwind ends this summer, Bon Jovi will return to Dorthea, his wife of 12 years, and his children, Stephanie Rose, 8, and Jesse James, 6, at the family's New Jersey abode.

In August, Bon Jovi plans to "go to sleep." Then he will start writing and demo-ing new songs with Sambora this fall and likely start recording the next Bon Jovi record in January - two months before the singer-actor hits the momentous age of 40.

"When I turned 30, it was the first time I felt like it was all coming together, so 40 seems easy," he says. "I'm jazzed by doing a movie, doing a record, doing a concert. I don't do this for money. I do this as much as I want, when I want."

As for his former trademark mane, which he hacked off in the mid-'90s and has kept sophisticatedly styled since, does he miss it?