Undivided

Greetings fellow Jovinuts!

Its been a busy week but now its the weekend and as every day passes I am getting more and more excited to get on the plane to Vegas for the Hard Rock show. Friends, poker and a Bon Jovi show ... life doesn't get much better than that!

So, I had the day off yesterday ... and it was BEAUTIFUL in the city. After a bit of shopping, I stopped by a neighborhood bar to catch the last several innings of the Yankees game. It was a great game and we needed a win badly.

As always, Yankees fans are not quiet folks and as I was joining in the cheers for our pin-up boys in pinstripes, I looked around at the people assembled to watch the game: There was Steve, an insurance salesman in his jacket and tie from Long Island, a guy who worked down on the docks (no, his name was not Tommy...I think it was Bill...I asked), a significantly tattooed young dude named Phil from the East Village and me, the classical musician/Jovi-lovin'/investment banking girl. The whole scene brought a smile to my face as I realized that THIS is why I love New York City.

I was here for two of the most significant events to have occured in the city in the last decade -- September 11, 2001 and the great black-out in 2003. I have always said that if these two things were going to happen, thank goodness they happened in that order. I think the black-out would have been very different if the people of NYC hadn't lived through 9/11.

Of course, thinking about this made me think of the Bounce record. Y'all know how much I love that record - I have not been shy about that. LOL So, here's a bit more ...

Okay, first off - Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora hit this one right on the head. How many of us think THIS song should have been the first single? I know Jon loved Everyday ... and its a good song, too ... But, Undivided .. holy crap ... the driving mix of optimism and emotion tinged with a bit of anger and the almost prayer-like opening and closing, the lyrical content. Whew - gets me every time.

Secondly, I wish it appeared on setlists a little more often, because when it does, its always something special. I particularly love when they stretch out the transition near the end, building and building the tension until you get that relief of the return to the chorus ... the performance at Giants on the HAND tour comes to mind.

But, here's another of my favorite performances of this song...