Chapter 104 - Access All Areas?

"Come on you guys, hurry up!"  Monica yells at the boys, "Hurry up, get your asses in here."

They all are spending the afternoon in her studio watching the tape that she put together using live footage from the road, footage from the band/crew vacation and images that she captured of them at home, doing every day things, living every day lives.  She went through the trouble of going to the bodega on the corner getting sandwich's, chips beer for them, so the afternoon would be enjoyable.  

When she sent Jon to the store, she asked him to get notepads and pens so they all could take notes about her film.  She wants their input and she needs to know what they absolutely will not allow her to release.  She's put in many hours, many late nights and she talked it to death with Jon, now she needs all of them to see the semi final project.  The first to be released, Monica Bongiovi Productions.

"Whoa girly, where's the fire."  Richie asks, hugging her and kissing her hello.  "You look gorgeous, babe."  He looks her up and down smiling, checking out her pretty yellow sundress and her dainty little flip flops.  She has her hair pulled back with one of Jon's bandanna's and no make up.  She feels prettiest this way.

"Thanks.  Go sit down."  She smacks him on the ass, "You sit in the back, you're too tall."  She's flailing her arms, pointing to where she needs him to sit.  

He counts the chairs and looks back at her, "Oh, I see how you are.  Your best friend in the back.  Who in the hell did you invite to this?"  Richie sees that there are 10 chairs.  The band plus Monica, that makes 6, "Who are the other four?"

Monica just smiles at him and he winks back at her.  She's nervous, because she knows that she added things that they don't want in there and when they see that Jon and Richie's parents will be there, she's hoping that they will keep the bitching to a minimum.

"JON!?!"  Monica yells to him, hiding back in the booth.  "Baby, come here please."  She looks through the window at him, seeing that he's fixated on something that has all of his attention.  "Babe!"  He still doesn't lift his head.  "Rich will you roust him for me please."

Just then she hears a deep voice say, "Is there anything that I can help you with Monica?"  she turns around to see Tico standing there with a cigar hanging out of his mouth.  He manages a smile and a wink.

"Hi Tico!"  Monica smiles and walks to him wanting to give him a hug.  "How have you been?"

Tico grabs the young woman and squeezes her tight, "I'm good, Mon.  How are you doing?  I haven't seen you in days."

"I'm good, we're good."  she points to the husband that's ignoring her up in the sound booth, "I'm so glad you came."

"I wouldn't miss it.  I heard how much work you're putting into this and we all know that it's important to you."

Jon sees that Tico and Richie were there and got up from the mixing board long enough to holler to them, from the door.  "Hey, come listen to this." 

Like faithful band mates, they do as they are told.  In the studio, Jon cues up the song that he was working on in Cancun.  He laid a drum track and some vocals, so as he cued it - the three of them started tapping to what they heard.  "I wrote this in Cancun, it's not finished, but you get the idea."  They listen to his nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah.

"This is great!"  Tico says, what a great drum line."

"That is good, Jon."  Richie pats him on the back.  "I can add some licks and make it even better."

"Of course, of course.  I want all of you to add to it.  I still need some lyrics, I'm a little stuck, but I have the hook"

As they stood in the sound booth, they could see David and Alec walk in.  Jon waits until they see them and then he waves them in.  They stop and say their hello's to Monica and work there way into the sound booth.  Monica finishes preparing for her guests to watch her never before seen footage of Bon Jovi on the road and at rest.  All they are waiting for are Jon and Richie's parents.

Back in the booth, the five guys are jamming to the new song that Jon started.  Tico is taping on the sound board with a pen, and Alec is standing behind them making bass sounds that go with the song.  "We gotta lay some bass for this Jon."  Alec says, with excitement.  "I hear this with a low tone and some heavy keys."

"Yeah, me too."  David adds, "When do you want to lay them Jon?"

"Well, we're here for Monica.  I worked on this at the Powerstation today and brought it here so you guys could hear it."

"I love it."  Richie confesses.  "I love the 1, 2, 3, 4 nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah."  He then starts to sing, "Rainy night and we worked all day........."  Jon's face lit up.

"We can do this, after we do that."  And he points out the window.  

Monica has her editing room set up to like she might be hosting a Super Bowl party.  There is plenty of comfortable seating, lots of food and drinks and a large projection screen hanging on the wall.  She has prepared and thought of everything even when she was a nervous wreck.  She loves the idea that they all are going to see it and either approve or disprove, but she needs it done.  It's a video, of them, owned by them, shot by here; Jon's wife.

The Bongiovi's and the Sambora's finally arrive, and after they are greeted by everyone Monica takes control of the room.  "Okay everybody, please take a seat."  She walks up to the projection screen and stands there, waiting for her audience to get comfortable.  They all have food in drink in hands and smiles on their faces.  That pleases Monica.  

With a huge smile on her face, she starts, "Thank you all for coming.  This is a big day for me, and I am grateful that you all are here to view this and give me your opinions."  The smartass guys start to applaud her, embarrassing her a little.  With a swift motion of her hands, she tells the guys to quiet down.  "Sshh.  This has been a work in progress, some of it was filmed before our accident in Las Vegas."  She takes a deep breath and focuses her attention on her husband, looking him in his baby blue eyes, "I have captured many many hours of footage and it was hard to compile it down to a two hour video."  She starts to wring her hands together, getting even more nervous.  "this has been a labor of love for me, because I love all of you so very much.  Please look at it with an open mind, and on those notepads, please write down what you like, what you don't like and why and what you absolutely forbid for me to release."

"Liv?"  Richie questions, "What the hell do you have in it?"

"Rich, just wait and see."  She looks over her guests, "Are all of you ready?"

With several yes's, she starts the video and takes a seat in her husbands lap.  

The video starts with many shots of girls walking into arena's, sporting their Bon Jovi garb all looking like they were there to marry the band.  It was shots of several arenas and many girl that lead into the arenas.  Olivia captured roadies rigging, sound checks and many things that go on to make a Bon Jovi show happen.

"I remember that chick!"  Richie says like a ten year old, "She flashed me, I think that was in Austria.  She had nice tits."  He sudden;y felt his mothers hand on the back of his head.  He jumped, forgetting that anyone else was there.  He loves to watch himself on video and when he does, he tunes everything and everybody out.  "Sorry ma."