Thursday, January 29, 2015

Chapter 105 - When To Stop, When To Go


Monica sitting on Jon's lap can feel him tense up at certain points in her film.  The tightening of his muscles and what she read into it made her get up and get a drink.  She's been with him long enough to know; to read and feel his body language.  


"Anyone else want anything, while I'm up?"  She asks the crowd that was deep within her work.  No one answered her, so alone she stood in the door way and watched them, watch themselves, larger than life in raw form.  She could see from some of their looks and by a few comments that she heard, that for the most part they like what they were seeing.  

The first show that she took footage from was played in a stadium.  She's pretty sure that they were in Rio, but the can didn't have any date or city written on the outside, but from what she can remember, it has to be Rio  It was a warm, beautiful night and she remembers looking at the guys as they prepared to go on stage.  

Her thoughts were that they were brothers and that if one were missing, just one of them, that it wouldn't be the same.  She recalls checking the battery in her camera thinking that they energy was high and that the bond was there.  They were tired, they all were exhausted and on this last night - the last night of the 7800 tour, they were going to give Rio all that they had left and then some.

The video starts with David, after the scenes of girls heading into venues.  David, tapping away on the keys and then the shot goes to Richie with the guitar riff........the footage that she threw into the song was limited.  Jon standing at the microphone, singing the fresh lyrics with a sadness on his face was all that Monica needed for that song.  

As she stands there and watches him watch himself, she asks, "What were you thinking right there, babe?"  She walks up behind him and places her hands on his shoulders, "I went over that song so many times, back and forth, and each time that I watched it it grabbed me even more."  She rubs his shoulders, "What was going on up there?"

The sound of her voice kind of startled everyone, as they were all equally drawn into the video, hoping to catch shots of themselves.  Without hitting pause or caring that it was an interruption, Jon turned around to Monica and said,  "I remember that night like it was yesterday."

"Why?" she replies, "I can see that something has you."

This time, he reaches over and turns the video off, and instead of sitting back in his chair, he walks up to her and puts his arms around her, even though his band mates are whining because her turned the video off.   "That night was important to all of us.  I remember that we were so tired and just wanted to get home.  Last show and the tour was over."

"I remember that night, Jon.  It was like 4000 degrees and the crowd was wild."  Tico steps in, "I remember the surge on the stage from the fans at that show.  It was pretty intense."

"It was a wild night."  Dave adds, "It needed to be the last one, cause I don't think I could have given anymore."

"What were you staring at Jon?"  Mrs. Sambora asks, seeing now what they were talking about, just a few minutes into the video.  "You do look a little sad, actually."

Jon, still standing there with Monica at his side is starting to feel a little embarrassed.  He's embarrassed to admit what he is going to admit, but he knows that everyone will appreciate it.  He knows that Monica will.  "Yeah, babe.  You do look a little sad."  

He takes a deep breathe and admits, "I wrote most of that when you were in the hospital, in Vegas." looking to Monica, pulling her in closer.  "I was so alone and so afraid."  He gives her a wink, "But we aren't going to let that ruin the night - let's watch the rest of this."  He slides his hand down her arm and gently takes her hand, pulling her toward his seat.  He's wanting someone to change the subject, but he's never that lucky.  

"Jonny, why didn't you talk to us about how you were feeling then?"  his mother asks, with a slight panic in her voice, "We were there for you."

"Ma, you were there for me when I needed to talk, but writing helps in a completely different way."  Jon answers her, taking his seat, pulling Monica back down onto his lap.    He reaches over and flips the projector back on and they start to watch the video again.

  The footage, the visual that Monica recorded of Jon doing Only Lonely in Rio was even more heartbreaking now that everyone knew where the lyrics came from.  Jon could feels eyes upon him at different parts of the song, but as soon as it was over - the footage went to David, Tico, Richie and Alec.  Monica knew how to put a video together and she knew that she needed to try her best to keep it equal and keep it far.  

Images flash by of the guys doing silly things back stage and silly things on stage.  From time to time, she would throw in a family moment that she thought was okay, and as soon as they seen them, one of them would write on their pad of paper.  Only being just a few minutes into the documentary, she can see that there will be many edits

Monica and her crew were able to capture on film and on video amazing footage of 5 guys from New Jersey on the road with some of the biggest names in rock and roll, as a support act mostly, but they stole every show that they played in.  Their ability to put on a great show helped them go from support act to headliner pretty quickly.

Richie running around naked in Germany, David getting sick in an alley in London, Alec making out in a bar booth with two women was just some of the footage shot that they refuse to let in, along with with a scene of Jon going off on a roadie.  "Mon, is there anything that you and your little charges didn't record or photograph?"  Richie asks with attitude, not taking his eyes off the screen.  "I mean me naked, really?  You're my little sister."

"You do know that I am not the only one that took these pictures and video.  Richie, I didn't film you naked in Germany."  Monica so eloquently points out, "That was probably Jeff, and what are you doing running around backstage naked?"

"Yes, Richard.  What are you doing running around naked"  His father asks, "Is that the way you behave when you are away from home?"

"No dad.  I was pretty drunk then."  he defends himself, still keeping his eyes on the screen, "At least it's not as bad as Dave getting sick."

"That is pretty gross."  David adds, "Quite gross."

Monica raises her hand, smiles and says, "That's my video.  That was such a fun night."

"What did we do that night?"  David polls the group, "I have no memory."

Monica laughs, feeling like she has picked great images and footage, it's evoked thought in them and shows the fans that they are real and they aren't exempt from the things that people think they are.  "That's the night that we all went over to see Ozzy."  Tico tells David, "you don't remember that?"

"I went to Ozzy Osbourne's house?  DRUNK?"  David is embarrassed, the thought that he was with Ozzy that drunk makes him shiver a little bit.  "Please tell me that I got sick after and away from him."

Jon laughs, "Yeah man, we got you out of there as soon as we seen how bad you were.  You were fine when we got there, but turned quickly."  He ends with a laugh.  "PLEASE TELL ME,"  Jon taps Monica on the leg, telling her he wants to get up, "Is that what I think that is?"  Jon stops the video and rewinds it a little bit. 

 >Play.  {} Stop <Rewind            >Play {} Stop <Rewind

[]Pause

"Monica, what the hell is that?"  Jon yells at her, pointing to the screen.  "Did you really think that I would let that pass?"  He yanks the hat off of his head.

"What?"  They guys have no idea what he's talking about, cause he's rewinding and playing the video so fast that they can't keep up.  Alec questions, with eyes of wonderment.  They all know that this isn't a good thing, strictly by Jon's tone.  

"Jon what are you talking about?"  Monica snaps back at him, caught off guard but she quickly gets on his page, because she's the one that put the video together.  "And don't ever take that tone with me again."

"Take those pictures out?" Jon demands.

"NO!" she says, looking up at him.  They both can feel that all eyes are on them, and Jon didn't care, Jon sees something that he didn't like in the video and it wasn't going forward until they agreed that it was coming out. 

"Monica, those have to come out."

"What are you guys talking about?"  Everyone asked them, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Jon, just play the rest of it, we can talk about it later."  she tries to calm him down, tries to get him to press play so the band and the parents can see the documentary that she made.

With hesitation and a little bit of stink eye, he lets the video play, but doesn't watch it himself.  He grabs his beer and cigarettes and heads out the studio door to sit on the curb and have a smoke, door bangs loudly behind him.

4 comments:

  1. Oh crap! You can't let us hanging! Please oh please let us know what the hell ticked Jon off so bad!

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  2. What did Monica put in the video that pissed Jon off? Hmm, this is getting interesting.

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  3. very interesting chapter! I too am wondering what the heck is in the video. I do hope Jon opens up more to Monica about his feelings there's something going on there.please come back soon!

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  4. SOOO interested on what could be in the video Jon demands she take out. Oh goody maybe we have more video in the next chapter.. Thanks so much for this I had been waiting to know what the video is about. Even if it's only partially watched by everyone... ;)

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