The Bon Jovi Video Shoot

The Bon Jovi Video Shoot

My first thought when I heard Bon Jovi was coming to the VLA to shoot a video was, "Cool, a music video!" My second thought was, "Uhhh... Bon Jovi?" I mean, I'm not a big Bon Jovi fan or anything, but it seems kind of strange that they would choose the VLA as a backdrop for a video. Pink Floyd or Queensrÿche (they also shot a video here) I can see because they've got a trippy, ethereal style of music that would compliment a "sci-fi-esque" backdrop like the VLA. I think Bon Jovi is about as far from that style as you can get though without being Britney Spears... but I digress. Watching the video making process was interesting yet comical. Case in point: the crew worked from dawn till almost lunchtime building a really nice, big stage near the center of the array. Once it was all done, I guess the director decided it didn't look right (Duh!) and had them tear it all down. Instead they just threw some rugs down on the ground about 50 yards away and filmed the band there. It's easy to see now why videos cost so much: they must have blown about half their budget just to build and tear down a stage for no reason. The day was filled with all kinds of funny, idiotic stuff like this. There was the special dirt that they used to throw into the fans (see below) because ours apparently wasn't dirty enough, the poor imbecile who had to scour a couple square miles around the site on foot while braving rattlesnakes looking for the "perfect" tumbleweed, and the whole crew standing out in the open during a thunderstorm like a bunch of lightning rods. All in all, it was one of the more entertaining days I've had at work. I'm still rather annoyed though that the stupid manager guy screwed up taking my picture with Jon. My only brush with celebrity, and I've got nuttin' to show for it because "point and shoot" was too heady of a concept for that dork. Arrrgh...

Grief counselors standing by...
The stage that was never used going up.
The "new and improved" set-some rugs thrown on the ground. You can see the stage still being disassembled in the background.

Looking out the north arm with the partially disassembled stage on the left.
Here a cop, there a cop, everywhere a cop, cop...
Ahhh, the life of a rockstar-going everywhere in a fleet of brand spankin' new Cadillac Escalades.

The new set all ready to go.
Gearing up to start shooting.

Here comes the chopper to get some aerial shots.
I was right up by the tree until I started getting sandblasted. Then I decided the zoom-from-a-distance was the way to go ;-)
This came out better than I expected. I got him just as he was coming out from behind the control building.

This guy had THE worst job out there. He had to throw the (special) dirt into the fan all day.
Jon lip sync-ing his heart out.
Ditto Richie.

Tico chillin.

"Dooood! You aren't gonna believe this-the Taco Bell closes at 9 o'clock out here!"
Definitely not the best shot of Jon, but I like it more because you can see the cop on the right snapping pics too.
Check out these Austin Powers poses. Do I make you horny, baby?!

All images copyright © Greg Patterson; all rights reserved, yadda, yadda Last Modified: October 9, 2002

Grief counselors standing by...	The stage that was never used going up.	The "new and improved" set-some rugs thrown on the ground. You can see the stage still being disassembled in the background.
Looking out the north arm with the partially disassembled stage on the left.	Here a cop, there a cop, everywhere a cop, cop...	Ahhh, the life of a rockstar-going everywhere in a fleet of brand spankin' new Cadillac Escalades.
The new set all ready to go.		Gearing up to start shooting.
Here comes the chopper to get some aerial shots.	I was right up by the tree until I started getting sandblasted. Then I decided the zoom-from-a-distance was the way to go ;-)	This came out better than I expected. I got him just as he was coming out from behind the control building.
This guy had THE worst job out there. He had to throw the (special) dirt into the fan all day.	Jon lip sync-ing his heart out.	Ditto Richie.
	Tico chillin.
"Dooood! You aren't gonna believe this-the Taco Bell closes at 9 o'clock out here!"	Definitely not the best shot of Jon, but I like it more because you can see the cop on the right snapping pics too.	Check out these Austin Powers poses. Do I make you horny, baby?!