We hope all of you were able to tune into the live webcast Samsung provided last night. The Samsung Four Seasons of Hope event took place at Cipriani's NYC. The MCs were Regis & Joy Philbin. It honored the Four Seasons of Hope partners (Boomer Esiason, Arnie Palmer, Joe Torre and Magic Johnson) along with Jon Bon Jovi. BON JOVI has become the official music of the philanthropic program and monies provided to Jon Bon Jovi are split among four worthy charities that his football team, The Philadelphia Soul, actively work with in the Philly community.
The evening began with Regis & Joy Philbin welcoming the crowd. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke, as did the heads of Samsung. Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani introduced his friend, New York Yankees manager and honored him fo his work. Torre gave a speech and then everyone enjoyed dinner. (There was massive police presence out front with both Mayors on hand.) When the webcast started, it showed some pre-filmed footage and then the earlier portion of the evening's program.. .and then it went live to the post-dinner program. Steve Forbes presented the check for monies raised for all the charities. Arnold Palmer was honored by video (he was not at the event.) New York Giants' Michael Strahan introduced Boomer Esiason and Boomer accepted and award and spoke about the cause. Pat O'Brien (of Access Hollywood) introduced NBA legenda Willlis Reed, who inroduced Magic Johnson. Magic accepted the award and made a very moving speech. Then it was Jon's turn...
Jon's close friend, New England Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichik made the trek down from the Boston area to honor his friend. Bill spoke about Jon and then Jon came to the stage and accepted the engraved glass award. Jon gave moving, humble speech about the charity work he does through the Philadelphia Soul and what it means to be an athlete and affect the next generation through the way you play, and the values you display. And then it was time to perform.
Jon was joined onstage by Everett Bradley (percussion and backing vox,) Jeff Kazee (keyboards,) Lorenza Ponce (violin and backing vox) and Bobby Bandiera (guitar and backing vox.) Jon sang (and on some songs played guitar as well - the black Takamine acoustic.) The set list was:
HEROES (The David Bowie classic)
IT'S MY LIFE (the mellow This Left Feels Right version)
HERE COMES THE SUN (beautiful..)
LIVIN' ON A PRAYER (the '94 version)
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE
Jon joked a bit with the crowd and laughed alot with the band... and then all the guests were bid a good nite. We hoped you enjoyed the opportunity to peek in via the webcast and see what the event was all about and that you enjoyed the performance. Here's some tidbits as well:
- If you didn't see/hear the webcast, much of the music for the evening was Bon Jovi music. The Samsung Four Seasons of Hope reel documenting the charities and the five honorees was entirely Bon Jovi songs. That video and the video that ran as Jon came to the stage was full of live performance images (from the Borgata and from Hyde Park.)
- The band jammed in the dressing room pre-event - so much so that the set list changed by the time they'd reached the stage.
- Jon (along with Joe Torre, Boomer Esiason and Magic Johnson) took part in a pre-event Press Conference on the premises
- Jon did a live interview with ESPN yesterday afternoon (there as ALOT of media work for Jon to do prior to the event - it was a full day for him.)
- Post-event, Jon and good friend Bill Belichik headed out on the town
This was what Jon was doing on his downtime -we hope you appreciate the charitable work and have learned a little something about the program... and most of all, we hope you enjoyed the webcast performance by JBJ!
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From: www.bonjovi.com