He may be Jersey-born, but this
gridiron-loving rocker picked the City of Brotherly Love for
his new arena football team.
Just 11 blocks from the
Philadelphia site where John Hancock put
his, uh, John Hancock on the Declaration of Independence, Jon Bon
Jovi is doing some signing of his own. The rocker whose hair band
filled stadiums in the '80s is autographing 500 packets being sent
to season ticket holders of the Philadelphia Soul, the Arena
Football League team Bon Jovi co-owns.
He's sitting at a conference table in a nondescript office in a
downtown high-rise. Though history is palpable almost everywhere
else in Philadelphia, there's not much of it around the Soul's
headquarters. Then again, at the Turf Club downstairs, you can not
only wager on the ponies but enjoy a nice mushroom Swiss burger. So
there's that.
Bon Jovi won't be having the mushroom Swiss, though. He's working
through lunch. He's been in meetings all day, and has a charity
event this afternoon once the autographs are finished. Besides,
given that this 42-year-old's physique is as chiseled as some of
his players', he probably doesn't eat greasy cheeseburgers.
Bon Jovi's still got the lead singer looks, too. He's tan and
ruggedly handsome, his eyes brilliantly Sinatra blue. And it's all,
of course, topped with That Hair. True, it doesn't stand as high
and mighty as it once did, but it's still living large.
Given the cover boy mug, not to mention the fact he's wearing a
pair of skin-tight, rust-colored pants that only a musician
could pull off, anyone could be forgiven for not taking Bon Jovi
too seriously when he starts talking about investments, strategies
for running a successful company, and his preferred management
philosophy. But don't let his appearance fool you.