Stalking Bon Jovi in New Jersey :)

I wanna lay you down in a bed of roses...
For the night I sleep on a bed of nails...

Remember this song?
Yuuup, Bed of roses...beautifully sung by Bon Jovi..

Well, to get straight to the point, I am such a big fan....

I have most of their albums (in cassettes and CDs, back to the 90 ;) ) and I do remember those lyrics. I keep singing their songs whenever I have the chance in the band or wild karaoke night..

I remember when I was in high school, I gotta chance to actually see their live performance!  Oh my gosh. ..Bon Jovi performing live! Quite a dream come true :).

I was luckily saving enough money to buy the ticket, come to Jakarta, and watch their concert in Ancol. 
Jon Bon Jovi, Tico Torres, Richie Sambora, Alex John Such and David Bryan...welcome to Indonesia :)

the complete formation :)

I remembered singing along with the band for more than 2 hours and there was a guy, big, bouncer body and tattoos and hard look on his face. And guess what...by the time Jon was serenading us with Bed of Roses, he was crying like a baby! I was so taken a back and didn't know what to react...laughing out loud or crying together with him :).

What a great memory!  

So, while we're here in the US, I really hope we can see Bon Jovi performing live again. Meanwhile, he's also living in SoHo apartment here in NYC and his lovely hometown, New Jersey, is just an-hour drive from Astoria :). 

After searching in TripAdvisor, where I'm one of their senior contributors :), about all Bon Jovi-related places in New Jersey, I got this long list of places associated to this band. All set then...

it was such a ling list indeed. But our heart was set, so on one lovely weekend, we went to New Jersey and started our mini adventure ;0).

We started with the childhood house of Jon. Got its complete address,  put it on waze and voila,  we were right in front of it :) 

A lovely 2-story house in lovely neighborhood of Seryeville, New Jersey.

nice house indeed :)

Then, while Rudi, Bo et Obi were waiting in the car, I took the liberty to take selfie in front of it :). You know what they say...no photo is a hoax :). 

cheeeers...

We managed to browse around the neighborhood but the kids said they were hungry. So we were quite determined for the next destination.

 

Next on our list was Roadside Diner, where the band had the photo session for their album Crossroad. Located in Route 33/34 West in Wall Township.

It was surprisingly small and very intimate...love it! 

We were greeted by a friendly lady and we have many other customers as well at that time. 

the cover and the original diner :)

The interior of the diner was dominated by red, it matched my rocker hubby's jacket that day. So, I asked him to pose for us and he did :). 

While waiting to order, I took the liberty to look around and saw some memorabilia from Bon Jovi in this diner :). Including this precious old photo with the complete signature of the band. 

So, the kids wanted to have burgers, cheese fries and hot choco milk. 

Bo and Obi devoured those plates with no complaints.














I get all those fresh cut fries and big plate of fresh veggies plus pickles. A typical American plate that you will definitely love. 

We enjoyed the cheese fries  as well, with pepper jack, my fave :). 

french fries with cheese...

While enjoying our warm food, the weather outside was brightly freezing. 
So we really took our time inside this cozy diner and peeked the list again. 
And we took more pictures as well here and there, as always :).

Obi, Jon (on the wall) and I :)

in front of the diner :)

Of course we still have a lot on the list, but we decided to head to Asbury Park and see the Stone Pony, one of the clubs where the band was performing on their early career.

It was another 20 minutes drive from the diner but Asbury Park, by the North Atlantic Ocean, is beautiful. It was just the freezing wind that stop me from exploring the area. And the sleepy kids :)

If only the weather were warm...

So, we only managed to stay around for a while and took picture of the Stone Pony from outside. 




Well, we had to cut the tour short but we were quite content with our trip today. We might want to come back pretty soon and try the Soul Kitchen, Jon's restaurant that provides food for free. And I will definitely keep an eye for their next concert here in NYC :)...

DO you like Bon Jovi as well? Will you sing a long with me...

Shot through the heart, and your to blame, baby...
You give love a bad name ...