Speaker 1: Love Someone to Welcome to love Someone with Delilah. The
Speaker 1: person I get to talk to today on this podcast
Speaker 1: is someone that I have loved for many, many, many
Speaker 1: many years, um, almost as many as his wife has
Speaker 1: has loved him. Have you ever heard of a rock
Speaker 1: and roll star married and in love with the same
Speaker 1: person for over thirty years. We're gonna be talking with
Speaker 1: John bon Jovi after being forced to cancel their world
Speaker 1: tour and delay a highly anticipated album. He has an
Speaker 1: album out now, while it's going to be out. It's
Speaker 1: going to be released October two, Jon bon Jovi, We're
Speaker 1: gonna catch up with you your music right after I
Speaker 1: share a word about the folks who make this podcast possible.
Speaker 1: You know them as the friendly associates in the Orange Aprons.
Speaker 1: I have my own Orange Apron. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about the folks at the Home Depot.
Speaker 1: This is the time of year we take care of
Speaker 1: all those outdoor projects. Some of you might be procrastinating
Speaker 1: a bit, some of you have completed the ten page
Speaker 1: to do list, item by item. Either way, remember that
Speaker 1: the Home Depot can help. Whether you choose to visit
Speaker 1: their store and pick up all you need or shop
Speaker 1: online and with their awesome new phone app, you have
Speaker 1: access to more than a million products to help you
Speaker 1: with your projects. You'd be amazed how handy that app
Speaker 1: is in determining whether they have a replacement part of
Speaker 1: the closest home depot or how many paint color options
Speaker 1: can be sent your way to test on the side
Speaker 1: of your home along with the paint brushes you need.
Speaker 1: Talk about helpful. The home depot is. Whatever you're up
Speaker 1: to this weekend, take us along, and by the way,
Speaker 1: you will want to take us along when you hear
Speaker 1: who I have got to share with you today. John
Speaker 1: bon Jovi, welcome to Love Someone with de Lilah. Hello, Delilah,
Speaker 1: Hi John, how are you very well? My love? How
Speaker 1: are you? I was just looking on Wikipedia to see
Speaker 1: how long you and Dorothea have been married. It's like
Speaker 1: thirty one years, right. I love that. I love the
Speaker 1: fact that when I flirt with you like and I
Speaker 1: let you know that I really find you very charming.
Speaker 1: You always bring it right back to your wife that
Speaker 1: that has not been lost on me. Um because you
Speaker 1: honor her, You honor her, you honor her, you honor
Speaker 1: her and all that you do and I just I
Speaker 1: respect you so much for that. You're very kind. You
Speaker 1: have a new song out, and am I to understand
Speaker 1: that she wrote something on a picture of you, and
Speaker 1: that's that was the inspiration. You know. What happened is
Speaker 1: read At the beginning of this COVID crisis, UM, there
Speaker 1: were no longer volunteer opportunities at the Sole kitchen, so
Speaker 1: I was back behind the sink washing dishes, and in
Speaker 1: order to tell the Indie population and the people of
Speaker 1: Red Bank that we were still open, she took a
Speaker 1: photograph and he wanted to post it, and so she said, well,
Speaker 1: what should the caption read? But what she was asking
Speaker 1: me was how do we tell people were still open?
Speaker 1: And I said, if you can't do what you do,
Speaker 1: you do what you can. She posted that, and then
Speaker 1: the next day I went, wait a minute, that's that's
Speaker 1: a chorus. That's a wait a minute, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: that's a whole philosophy. It really is. And so I
Speaker 1: picked up the guitar and I wrote and wrote and
Speaker 1: wrote and wrote versus over and over, and then uh,
Speaker 1: I had a great song out of it. And then
Speaker 1: you got your fans involved with it. I did, And
Speaker 1: you know, because I had the song finished, and I
Speaker 1: was very aware that we as a people were living
Speaker 1: this song together. I said, I'm going to share the
Speaker 1: chorus and the verse and asked people by and large
Speaker 1: to tell me their story, give me four lines, and
Speaker 1: I'll make it a verse and sing it back to them.
Speaker 1: And so I got kindergarten classes in Palm Beach, Florida
Speaker 1: to Russians who were sending me verses, you know, the
Speaker 1: nurses and housewives and people from all over the country.
Speaker 1: And I would just record them and put them back
Speaker 1: online and sing them that. And as soon as I
Speaker 1: had the opportunity to go in the studio at the band,
Speaker 1: I took the version that I had written initially and
Speaker 1: we went in and knocked out the record. Wow. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's cool. People from Russia. Kindergarten classes. Did they send
Speaker 1: pictures because this all started with a picture, right, I
Speaker 1: had some kids. Yeah, they sent in videos or or
Speaker 1: they sent in photographs if you could play. Oftentimes they
Speaker 1: would sing me their own verse in addition to the
Speaker 1: one that I had posted. When I did a zoom
Speaker 1: call with the kiddergarten class, there must have been twelve
Speaker 1: of them on the call with their parents, and uh
Speaker 1: and I called into the classroom. So yeah, every very
Speaker 1: variation of this happened. Wow, how how how full? Did
Speaker 1: that make your heart feel? You know, I felt the connection,
Speaker 1: which was the magic, and it very stressful trying times
Speaker 1: of late March early April, when everybody, being as confused
Speaker 1: as we've all been, was compounded in the very beginning
Speaker 1: of this, nobody knew what this was going to need too,
Speaker 1: and so we as a people, you know, needed some
Speaker 1: kind of comfort in knowing that we were all going
Speaker 1: through it together. And what better than song to bring
Speaker 1: us together. So, besides your sole kitchen, the community restaurant,
Speaker 1: what are some of the things that you've been doing
Speaker 1: or did at least in the first three or four months,
Speaker 1: that you maybe never thought in a million years you
Speaker 1: would find yourself doing because you've been playing and touring.
Speaker 1: You were planning a world tour and the release of
Speaker 1: the album, which had both been delayed. The album fortunately
Speaker 1: was you know, it'll come out in October. But not
Speaker 1: only do what you can, but I wrote a song
Speaker 1: called American Reckoning in light of what happened in the
Speaker 1: Black Lives Matter movement and the George Floyd murder. So Um,
Speaker 1: I have two new songs. And then I had to
Speaker 1: cancel the tour because I had decided that people needed
Speaker 1: to have their money to pay the rent in the
Speaker 1: credit card bills. So instead of delaying the tour like
Speaker 1: many or have done, I canceled and made sure everybody
Speaker 1: got their money back. Um. And then what I founded
Speaker 1: I would have never thought in a million years, was
Speaker 1: we had to open a food bank, not a food pantry.
Speaker 1: The differences of the bank gives the food to the pantries.
Speaker 1: So we're currently giving food to seven pantries who are
Speaker 1: in turn feeding I've guesstimate fifteen to twenty thousand people
Speaker 1: a month that me and my foundation are pains. So
Speaker 1: I'm out there sleeping boxes three times a week. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, in this big space, five thousand square foot
Speaker 1: space that we have on eastern Long Island, so that
Speaker 1: the food pantries have food in these trying times. And
Speaker 1: we've been doing it for four months now. John, When
Speaker 1: I say you are a rock star, I can say
Speaker 1: that literally, such a rock star. We're going to pause
Speaker 1: for a brief moment so we can give acknowledgement to
Speaker 1: some of the big business that helps to support this
Speaker 1: podcast with me today is my friend John bon Jovi.
Speaker 1: I'm so very proud of all the good work that
Speaker 1: you've done. John. Do you see this current food crisis
Speaker 1: getting any better? Yeah, it is leveling out some. The
Speaker 1: need is definitely there, and who knows what the fall
Speaker 1: season is going to bring. But our our intent was
Speaker 1: to do it as a pilot program for four months,
Speaker 1: and now we've decided that we've got to continue at
Speaker 1: least until the end of the year, so we'll finance
Speaker 1: that and do it and uh, and it's it's great,
Speaker 1: it's really great. We're doing it. We're we're really affecting
Speaker 1: change out here in Long Island. But that's something that
Speaker 1: I never dreamt that i'd have to be doing. So
Speaker 1: you're giving me chill bumps here, go back to the numbers.
Speaker 1: How many people now in the Greater New York area
Speaker 1: and New Jersey are are being fed by the pantries?
Speaker 1: My god, it's got to be in the hundreds of thousands.
Speaker 1: But we did the JBJ Soul Foundation took a food bank. Uh,
Speaker 1: and we we created a food bank and so we get,
Speaker 1: you know, tractor trailers full of food to come to us.
Speaker 1: You buy, you are buying tractor trailers full of lettuce
Speaker 1: and tomatoes and potatoes. Groceries. Yeah, great grocery and you're
Speaker 1: then distributing them through the pantry seven did you say?
Speaker 1: Seven different pantries getting and then they give it to
Speaker 1: the people. So you know, by our estimate, it's it's um.
Speaker 1: It's a lot. It's a lot, you know. And uh,
Speaker 1: and the need was was dramatic out here. And this
Speaker 1: is in Eastern Long Island. We're in UM at our
Speaker 1: summer home, and so we're we're in Eastern Long Island. Wow.
Speaker 1: So besides the three full kitchens, now we've got a
Speaker 1: food bank. It's like you're you're giving birth to more
Speaker 1: than just or four kids. You're giving birth to well,
Speaker 1: to hope, to hope, but to UM an infrastructure that
Speaker 1: is blessing and saving lives. Well, it's it's hard to
Speaker 1: live when you're hungry, bet you, it's hard. I know
Speaker 1: how charitable you are too, And we've talked about all
Speaker 1: that before. But you know, we don't need a scientist
Speaker 1: to find the cure. It's groceries for goodness sake, you know,
Speaker 1: it takes money and sweat, and so that's what we
Speaker 1: knew how to do. I'm so proud of you. It's fun.
Speaker 1: I like doing it. I know I can tell from
Speaker 1: the videos I've seen and the pictures that you are
Speaker 1: so connected to the people and to this and to
Speaker 1: love and to hope that that it's just it's like
Speaker 1: emanating out of you. It's resonating out of you, like
Speaker 1: like the music comes out of you. It's like a
Speaker 1: a beacon, a lighthouse on a hill. Uh. I thank you.
Speaker 1: There's no ulterior motive. It's just to do good. And
Speaker 1: we did good. We continue to and then the gift
Speaker 1: for me, I got a great song out of it. Well,
Speaker 1: that's a gift for for us. I've got a great song.
Speaker 1: You know. I've watched the video and I love that
Speaker 1: you put the lyrics up there in the video because
Speaker 1: within like you know, twenty seconds, you're singing along to it. Good. Well,
Speaker 1: isn't that the magic of song? That we did make
Speaker 1: a proper video that's just being polished right now, and
Speaker 1: it's wonderful and uh and so I got some big
Speaker 1: surprises to go with the song for the video, but
Speaker 1: you know, it's all good. I just like to get
Speaker 1: it out there and share it because I can't bring
Speaker 1: it to people's town, so we're gonna make sure it
Speaker 1: gets played on the radio. I'll make sure that. So
Speaker 1: when's the drop date for the whole album? Because you've
Speaker 1: got the two songs that we're listening to, but there's
Speaker 1: more right, Yes, am finished on October two. October two
Speaker 1: is now the release date of the record, So it's
Speaker 1: it's all ready to go. Very topical record. Everything is
Speaker 1: about something that you know, there's just too many topics
Speaker 1: that we were all living in the last year. So
Speaker 1: it's not a boy girl record. It's um, it's a life.
Speaker 1: It's roll up your sleeves and get busy record. It
Speaker 1: really is. You know, It's like the world around us
Speaker 1: has been very different and I was able to pay
Speaker 1: attention and write about it. So I know you don't
Speaker 1: have a crystal ball, None of us do, and we
Speaker 1: have no idea what the next three months or six
Speaker 1: months is going to hold. But what are you feeling
Speaker 1: in your gut? Like I know the whole messages, do
Speaker 1: what you can, but what are you feeling in your
Speaker 1: heart that right now people should hang on to? In truth,
Speaker 1: I wish that without getting myself in trouble, is that Americans,
Speaker 1: because that's what we all are and as one our
Speaker 1: common thread, as we are all within these borders and
Speaker 1: call our South Americans. Have to think about generations that
Speaker 1: came before us, who came together in trying times to
Speaker 1: succeed to defeat an enemy. Think back to World War
Speaker 1: Two when moms were on the production lines fighting a war.
Speaker 1: If we can come together and we can defeat this
Speaker 1: by social distancing and or wearing something like a paper mask,
Speaker 1: why can't we just respect each other enough just to
Speaker 1: do that, you know, just just know that it's not political,
Speaker 1: it's not political. Do the right thing for a couple
Speaker 1: of months so that we can all go back to
Speaker 1: what we think is normal. You know. And people are
Speaker 1: saying it's politicized. Let's not make it politicized. Let's think
Speaker 1: about generations past and how they sacrifice so that we
Speaker 1: could have a better place that we called home. Amen.
Speaker 1: I couldn't have said it better myself. I I just
Speaker 1: boils down to respect. It's really simple. I swear to God.
Speaker 1: It's not red or blue. It's just let's try it.
Speaker 1: And even if you don't agree with it, doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that it's wrong. So try it, you know, your mother
Speaker 1: made you try food you didn't like when you're a kid,
Speaker 1: and then you went out. I wasn't so bad. I
Speaker 1: may not want to eat it the rest of my life,
Speaker 1: but I did it for your mom. To do it
Speaker 1: for your country. What's so hard, you know, make a
Speaker 1: sacrifice once in a while. It's good. Well, thank you
Speaker 1: for taking some time. I know you're busy, busy, busy.
Speaker 1: Give my love to your family and to the band,
Speaker 1: and thank you for your music. John, and and just
Speaker 1: be blessed, be well, and be blessed. I am and
Speaker 1: I thank you and I love you for this. I
Speaker 1: really appreciate all the help. Alright, tax you soon. Alright.
Speaker 1: Bon Jovi is set to be released this October. You
Speaker 1: can pre order the album online. Their new single that
Speaker 1: pretty much sums up with John and his band members
Speaker 1: are all about, is available for download right now. Do
Speaker 1: what you can, do what you can and inspiring anthem.
Speaker 1: Don't be looking at the stuff that's been taken away,
Speaker 1: but instead focus on what we can do, do what
Speaker 1: needs to be done. That's how we do it. That's
Speaker 1: how we're going to enjoy every day by focusing on
Speaker 1: what we can do to make the world a better place.
Speaker 1: Thank you for being with me. I love someone with
Speaker 1: the Lilah joined me next time for another fun conversation
Speaker 1: and thank you Mr John bon Jovi