Saturday, March 26

8:15 am
My Room

So I'm beginning to think bringing my kids on the road with me is NOT a good idea...

Another too-early morning.  Up and and getting ready to head out and about.  Trip to the World of Science this morning, lunch, then off to meet & greets and soundcheck.  Seriously, I'm beginning to look forward to going to work to get a break, ha ha.

Don't know how the Hell we're gonna get Jesse up and moving.  He was out as late as I was last night, hanging at the bar with the Boys and me.  He's beginning to dig this rock star life, I think.  Not sure if that's a good thing.

One thing I do know -- the Boy has been doing his research.  Last night he asked me and Richie about the No 5 Club.  Of course Richie laughed his head off and started with "Well, Son, Lemme tell ya....."  I had to give Richie the throat-slash signal to tone it down.  I know, Jesse's a young man and he's gonna do what he's gonna do, but he doesn't need to know ALL his Old Man's secrets, for Christ's sake.

Goddamn Internet.

Christ, I need a good stretch.  Gonna have to get back here in time to at least do a half hour of yoga or something.  Having the family with me on the road makes my healthy lifestyle go to shit.  So much for eating well and working out.

Now if Cate was with me on the road, I'd be burning lots of calories.  In an equally fun but very different way.  Heh heh.  Can't wait to get home tomorrow and give her a workout.

But today I  have a feeling I'll burn plenty of calories chasing the Chuckles.

Speak of the Devils....

5:45 pm
Venue

Talk about a Blast from the Past...

Just finished up with soundcheck and one of those promoter VIP things that we always complain about.  The ones where people with connections to AEG (ie $$) get to pretty much wander around free-range while we're getting ready for the show, then we have to grin and shake their hands and pretend to care about meeting them.

Well, we usually get our share of bored, starry-eyed trophy/housewives on those things.  Usually women who can spend their husbands' money to leer at my ass and flirt with Richie.  They don't usually bother me much; half the time I don't even notice 'em.  The other half the time I flirt just to give them a thrill, ha ha.

Today I was in my not-noticing mood, until Richie came striding over to me with a big ol' grin on his face and a pair of stylishly-dressed blonde women in tow--one obvious bleach job and the other a pretty, natural honey-blonde (or she had a damned good colorist).  Having a pair of blondes following him around is nothing new for Richie, so I didn't pay much attention.  Until he said "Hey, Jon... you ain't gonna believe this shit!"

He stepped aside and let the women move up beside him.  I saw then that they were different ages; one probably close to my age and another younger.  Being the astute people-watcher I am I immediately thought. "Ah.  Mother-Daughter day at the Bon Jovi Show."  So I gave 'em a little smile and said Hi, and just kinda stood there.

The older woman kinda giggled and gave me a big, wide-eyed grin.  "You don't recognize me, do you?" she asked.

I didn't but I stared a little bit harder at her, trying to figure out who I knew that she might be married to or what benefit or political thing we might have met at.  Then I glanced at Richie and saw he looked like he was about to explode.  He obviously knew who this woman was and was getting a kick out of bringing her over to me.

But I just couldn't place her.  So I just politely shook my head and said "I'm so sorry, but I don't."

Then she laughed again and reached out and touched my arm.  "Jonny, it's me." she said.  "Evie."

I'm staring at her, thinking "Evie, Evie... I don't know any Evie..."  Then Richie spoke up in that goofy excited wink-wink-nudge-nudge voice of his.  "You know, Man!  Evie!"   I must have still looked clueless because he put his arm around the woman and grinned even bigger and waggled his eyebrows.  "Jonny... Evelyn.  Remember?"

And it hit me smack between the eyes.  EVELYN.  Oh Hell Yeah, I remember her.  Holy Shit, I still have wet dreams about her.  Well, about the way she used to look, anyway, the last time I saw her.

She was my favorite Shower Girl at the No 5, back in the day.  Damn, she had skills.  And she liked to practice on me.  Not just at the Club, either.

And now here she was, standing right in front of me.  Holy Shit.

Somehow it really brings your age into perspective when your favorite stripper/piece of ass from the Glory Days of your youth is standing in front of you, well dressed and coiffed, with the same little wrinkles and the same covered-up grey you have.  She still looked great, mind you... for a woman of almost 50 she looked fantastic.  But that vision of her naked with a soapy sponge... just didn't work with the lady before me.

Well of course as soon as I realized who she was I gave her a kiss on the cheek and a big smile and asked her how she's doing and what she's doing here.  Well, we both know why she was here, but still...

And what she said next about knocked me on my ass.  She introduced me to her daughter Francine, a beautiful young blonde-haired, blue-eyed medical student who goes to school here in Vancouver.  I shook her hand and smiled and looked into her blue eyes... and almost choked.

She looked so much like my Stephanie it was scary.  If I stood Steph next to this woman, they would look like sisters.

Holy Fuck.  That set my mind racing.  I was frantically counting backwards in my head -- if she's in medical school that would make her mid-twenties, Slippery was summer 1986...2006 was the 20th, it's 2011, add 5 is 25.... Holy Christ--could this beautiful young woman be my KID?

Well, Richie caught the panicked look in my eyes and just lost it.  Busted a gut laughing.  I shot him a dirty look, then looked back at Evie.  She was smiling too, and gave me just a little shake of her head.  She knew exactly what I was thinking.  Then she explained that she decided to bring Francine to the show to celebrate her twenty-third birthday, and to hopefully meet me, an old friend from long ago and far away.

So I breathed a sigh of relief and said Happy Birthday and nice to meet you, and all that.  I carefully avoided telling Francine just how I know her mother -- I had no idea if Evie's past is a secret or not.  And I didn't want to ruin it for her.  So I just turned on the charm and shared a little smile with Evie as I laid it on thick for her daughter.

Then Richie started hitting on her, so I was off the hook, ha ha.

But Holy Shit did that freak me out for a minute.  Anyway, Richie could see I wanted to chat with Evie a little so he led Francine over to meet the rest of the band.  Evie and I got some tea from the kitchen and stood there and caught up a little.  Turns out she did okay for herself after that little dancer gig of hers. She put herself through college and ended up marrying a hockey player and having a family.  Francine is her oldest; she has two boys and another girl.  Four kids, just like me.

She said she has followed my career all these years, has even seen a show or too.  And that she fondly remembers those few weeks we spent together back in the 80s.  I smiled at that and assured her I do too.  And I wasn't lying; I really do look back on those couple months as a great time in my life.  Too bad we have to grow up and move on.

Evie's been married almost 24 years -- turns out the next guy she met after me was The One.  I'm happy for her and I told her so.  She said she was sorry things didn't work out with me and Dorothea, she remembers me talking about how much I loved her, even back then.  I thanked her but told her everything worked out okay; sometimes life doesn't end up like we thought it would.  But I told her I'm very much in love with my wife and that I'm the luckiest sonofabitch in the world and I don't for a second take it for granted.

Then we hugged and I gave her a big kiss and thanked her for coming to see me.  And I gave her Matt's number, told her to call him if she ever wants passes or tickets or anything.  She's always welcome at my show.

That ended up being a nice little encounter.  Classy lady, Evie.  I'm glad her life turned out well.

Think I'll shake my ass a little extra for her tonight.  Just to show her I really did learn something from all those lessons she gave me, ha ha.