Classic Rock 93.9

Jon Bon Jovi is set to sit down with The Late Show host Stephen Colbert for a conversation about his career during New Jersey’s Montclair Film Festival. 

The event is happening Oct. 26 at 8 p.m. ET at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. Tickets go on sale to Montclair Film and NJPAC members on Wednesday, with the general public getting access starting Friday. 

“We are thrilled to welcome Jon Bon Jovi to the Montclair Film Festival and to share what promises to be a special evening of conversation,” Montclair Film artistic director and co-head Tom Hall shares. “As an artist who embodies empathy and community, Jon’s work represents the values that inspire everything we do at Montclair Film. We look forward to a wonderful night.”

Proceeds from the event will benefit the New Jersey-based nonprofit arts organization Montclair Film. More info can be found at montclairfilm.org.

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John Mellencamp will be honored with a statue at Indiana University’s Bloomington campus during homecoming weekend. 

Mellencamp is expected to attend the unveiling of the statue, which is happening Oct. 18 between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. at the Elsie Irwin Sweeney Rock Garden on the north end of the Fine Arts Plaza. The statue was created by artist Michael McAuley, an IU alumnus from Bloomington, who is also the creative director at Livingston Designs Sculpture Studio.

Registration is now open to members of the public who’d like to attend the unveiling. 

“We are excited to welcome John to our campus once again as we commemorate his invaluable contributions to music, art and our university,” IU President Pamela Whitten said. “The arts have long been a point of pride at IU, and we look forward to honoring a musician and artist who has generously given back to his fellow Hoosiers and greatly impacted American culture.”

Mellencamp’s artwork is also on display at the university. His exhibit, Crossroads: The Paintings of John Mellencamp, is currently running at the IU Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art.

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Loverboy’s classic single “Working For The Weekend” has been reworked for a new IHOP commercial.

The band rerecorded the track and changed it to “Working for the Weekday” to promote the chain’s new House Faves menu, where select items are priced at just $6 from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Friday. 

The campaign also includes a new music video modeled after the classic “Working for the Weekend” video, only instead of Loverboy performing the tune, it is a group of syrup dispensers, one of which even sports frontman Mike Reno’s red bandana from the original clip. 

“Working with IHOP to bring our song to life in a fresh, innovative way has been such a rewarding experience,” Reno shares. “We have always loved going to IHOP and enjoying breakfast together as a band, so being able to have our work featured in the House Faves campaign is a dream come true.”

Released in September 1981, “Working for the Weekend” appeared on Loverboy’s sophomore album, 1982’s Get Lucky. The song peaked at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100.

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On This Day, Oct. 1, 1988 …

Bon Jovi scored their first U.K. #1 with their fourth studio album, New Jersey, which also peaked at #1 in the U.S., where it spent four weeks on top. 

The album featured such hit singles as “Bad Medicine,” “I’ll Be There for You,” “Born to Be My Baby” and “Lay Your Hands on Me.” 

Prior to New Jersey, the band’s best-charting record in the U.K. was 1986’s Slippery When Wet, which peaked at #6.

Over the course of their career, Bon Jovi would earn five #1 albums in the U.K., the others being 1992’s Keep the Faith, 1994’s Cross Road – The Best of Bon Jovi, 1995’s These Days and 2000’s Crush.

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Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band will be spending even more time in Europe next year.

The rockers had already planned to be overseas in 2025 to make up for three 2024 shows that had to be postponed due to vocal issues, and now they’ve expanded the trek, adding eight new dates in cities they’ve never played before.

The tour will kick off with a two-night stand in Manchester, England, on May 17, with new shows in Lile, France; Liverpool, England; Berlin, Frankfurt and Gelsenkirchen, Germany; and San Sebastian, Spain.

The trek will include the rescheduled dates in Marseille, France; Prague, Czech Republic; and Milan, Italy, where they’ll end the tour with two nights June 30 and July 3.

A complete list of dates and ticket information can be found at brucespringsteen.net.

Bruce and the band are currently on a break from the road. They launch a Canadian tour on Oct. 31 in Montreal. In addition, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, a documentary giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at the tour, is set to debut Oct. 25 on Hulu and Disney+.

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Tuesday marks the 40th anniversary of U2’s fifth studio album, The Unforgettable Fire.

Following their fourth studio album, War, which featured future classics “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “New Year’s Day,” U2 decided on a change in direction, replacing longtime producer Steve Lillywhite with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois in hopes of moving them away from the more conventional hard rock sound of their previous release.

The album, recorded at Dublin’s Slane Castle and Windmill Lane Studios, produced the band’s first hit single, “Pride (In The Name of Love),” which featured a tribute to the late Martin Luther King Jr. The track was a top 40 hit for the Irish rockers, peaking at #33 on the Billboard Hot 100. 

And while “Pride” was the only hit single off the record, several other tunes — including the title track, “A Sort of Homecoming” and “Bad” — went on to become fan favorites. In fact, “Bad” is frequently performed at U2’s live shows, with the most notable performance happening at 1985’s Live Aid, in which Bono pulled a fan from the audience and danced with her. The performance served as a breakthrough for the band, exposing them to an audience of millions thanks to the TV broadcast of the concert.

The Unforgettable Fire was a #1 hit in the U.K. and peaked at #12 on the Billboard Album chart, matching the chart performance of War. It has since gone on to be certified triple Platinum by the RIAA.

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The Alarm’s Mike Peters has shared the good news that he is in complete remission following his latest battle with cancer. 

Peters was first diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 2005; in April he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of blood cancer known as Richter’s syndrome. 

But now he says that after completing a blood cancer clinical trial and chemotherapy at The Christie Hospital in Manchester he is in remission.

“This means that I am also now in position to have a Stem Cell Transplant from an unrelated matched donor,” he shares, calling it “momentous news” since back in April he was told that without treatment he had a life expectancy of between two and 12 months.

“The ordeal is not over yet however, in fact the toughest challenge of the Stem Cell Transplant can only be faced once the search for the matching blood stem cell donor is complete,” Peters writes. He also urged folks to register themselves in order to save a life.

Peters thanked the staff at The Christie Hospital who treated him, as well as his wife, Jules, and two sons, Dylan and Evan. He also thanked his fans, noting, “I will be forever grateful to them for sharing in the concert experiences over these challenging last few months.”

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Lenny Kravitz is showing love for Frankie Valli after the pair saw each other out in public. 

The rockstar bumped into the The Four Seasons frontman while at the airport, prompting Kravitz to snap selfies of the pair and pen a message to the 90-year-old music great, which was posted to Instagram on Saturday.

“Just ran into the legendary Frankie Valli at the airport,” wrote Kravitz. “Nothing but respect for you sir. Endless hits and still touring at 90 years young. Love !”

Kravitz appeared in his usual leather jacket with dark sunglasses, with the “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” singer in a zip-up jacket for his airport outing.

Kravitz was recently recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His daughter, actress and filmmaker Zoë Kravitz, honored him with a sweet message. 

Valli, who has a star on the Walk of Fame himself, rose to fame in the 1960s, leading The Four Seasons to several hit songs, including “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” and “Walk Like a Man.” The group also inspired the musical Jersey Boys.

Valli is currently on his Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons: The Last Encores tour. Kravitz kicks off his Blue Electric Light Las Vegas residency at the Park MGM on Oct. 18.

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A previously unreleased video from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers has just been released. 

The clip, “Between Two Worlds (French TV),” is a newly rediscovered video that was shot at the Record Plant in 1982 for French TV and features never-before-seen footage from the Petty Archive. 

The track is one of 12 rediscovered tunes included in the upcoming deluxe edition of Petty’s 1982 album, Long After Dark. Also included are Petty’s versions of his songs “Never Be You” and “Ways to Be Wicked,” which were previously recorded by Rosanne Cash and Lone Justice, respectively.

The Long After Dark reissue will released Oct. 18 in various configurations, including digital; a two-LP vinyl set pressed on red with black splatter vinyl; a three-disc CD and Blu-ray set; and various other color vinyl versions.

It is available for preorder now.

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Artists like U2, John Mellencamp, Sammy Hagar and more have taken to social media to pay tribute to actor/singer/songwriter Kris Kristofferson, who passed away Sept. 28 at the age of 88.

U2 shared a picture of frontman Bono and Kristofferson, along with a clip of Bono singing an a cappella version of the Kristofferson-penned tune “Help Me Make It Through The Night.” They captioned the clip, “Kris, may you rest in the peace you offered so many.” 

Mellencamp also shared a photo of him and Kristofferson, writing, “Thank you for the time you gave us and the beautiful music you made. Your name is written in the stars.”

And Sammy posted a picture of himself and Kristofferson on a boat showing off their catch of the day, captioning it, “heynow old friend. I hope the fishin’s good where you’re going. we’re all gonna miss you. RIP.”

Other stars paying tribute to Kristofferson on social media include Metallica, Green Day‘s Billie Joe Armstrong, Melissa Etheridge, Sheryl Crow and Russell Crowe.

Kristofferson’s death was announced Sunday with a post on his official Facebook account, revealing he “passed away peacefully,” although a cause of death was not revealed. Some of Kristofferson’s most famous songs include “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night.”

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