you live for the fight when thats all that you've got

It's a b.tch, but life's a roller coaster ride

The ups and downs will make you scream sometimes

It's hard believing that the thrill is gone

But we got to go around again, so let's hold on

 

Night 1 of the Bon Jovi US tour for me. Hopefully seeing 3 more. Total co-incidence they are here when i am. Seriously! My NYC, DC and Chicago dates just miraculously happened to all be when the band were in town. IM SERIOUS!

 

24 hours before the show i got a phone call that had me in foetal position crying like a lil b.tch out on the street downtown outside a record store. Someone really really special to me had something really really bad happen to someone she really really cares about. Thats not good. What fcuked me up even more was that im not there for her like she has been for me countless times over the last 3+ years. And the immense guilt i feel about that is really messing with me. Ah the infamous Adam Baker guilt. I swear i was Jewish in a previous life. Then there is what happened as well. A life so young. Gone. Kid didn’t reach kindergarten. Thats fcuked. Simple as that. That fcuking disease has a lot to answer for and needs to be cured.

 

So im wandering in a daze for the following 24 hours. Had tickets to see Jimmy Fallon do his TV thing at NBC studios and that was cool. Liza Minelli was on. Bel Biv Devoe too. The Roots (his house band) were awesome. Dinner with a mate in my adopted NY suburb at a cool bar. Lots of discussions about lots of stuff. That helped heaps. Thanks. Then its show day. And show day for a Bon Jovi gig is always special for me. Im pumped, lots of tunes. Im like a giddy school kid normally. But yesterday i was all like ‘meh”. Just felt flat and yes i did feel wrong about having fun when sh.t was getting real back in my country of origin.

 

I walk in the Garden (and even that didn’t cheer me up) after a 5 star gourmet meal with good friends before the show. We self upgrade to the lower levels (we gots $29 cheapies late) and then the lights go out. Crowd goes nuts. I look over and theres future New Jersey Governor Jon Bon Jovi singing on a platform at the back of the room. Meh. Then i look over to the stage. And there he is. Mr Richie Sambora. And i smiled. The man who inspired my air guitar career when i was 10. The man who has written so many amazing songs. The man who is just awesome. An extremely underrated guitar player. The man who has carnal knowledge of Heather Locklear!

 

Then the second song comes on. You Give Love A Bad Name. And im back. Im there. Its Bon Freakin Jovi. Im at the greatest arena on the planet in the greatest city on the planet. And im happy. And im rockin. My buddies are there. Needed more of em though (my peeps from back in my country of origin are always missed at a Jovi show). The air guitar comes out. I start texting people the setlist. Its awesome! Its amazing what one song can do to bring me back. Then hit after hit and a few lame new songs. Later in the set is Have A Nice Day. That chorus has been sort of a theme song for a few years for me;

 

Ohhh, if there's one thing I hang onto,
That gets me through the night.
I ain't gonna do what I don't want to,
I'm gonna live my life.

 

Works well for me. Ill keep doing it. Then the encore. In These Arms (didn’t mess with me like it used to) into Wanted (always awesome) and then Livin On A  Prayer. We rocked so hard that i lost my voice. Blew out a nodule or whatever is in my throat. Fcuk it.

 

The power of music to soothe my shattered self has proven once again why its one of my best friends.

 

Then we went across the street after the show for a few drinks. Cocktails in jam jars = awesome. The bar was playing Slippery When Wet. Mind? BLOWN! Air guitar and air drumming occurred. Bring it? Oh it was brung.

 

rtfo

 

adam

 

still so young but somehow so much older

Africa. Again............

 

There was a girl on the tour from back home. She’d been living in Malawi for 3 or 4 months doing work there in an orphanage. Told me about the life there, the hardships and the complete 180 degree shift from the ‘norm’ that we have back home. I loved to hear her tell more stories about the normal way of life and places / things she had seen and i was wide eyed in wonderment. Not at the hardships the people of Africa suffer compared to what we take for granted in my country of origin. No no no no no.  Was totally jealous that she got to see the real Africa. Sure i spent a while on the continent, but i spent my time there as a tourist. She lived there. She experienced life in Africa. And im beyond jealous. One of the best people ive met since i left Australia last May. For reals.

 

Towards the end of my tour, we were in Kenya in the Masai Mara area. We went to visit a local village and also a school. And for a brief moment – 10/15 minutes – i got a non tourist glimpse of life for the people of that area. And it was the number 2 highlight of my entire time in Africa and probably a Top 10 moment of my entire trip. Word. To see the kids and how happy they were and the village elders walking around like Kings, and then to go to the school and see where the kids learn about real stuff was just amazing. Amazing is an often used word from yer writer but those 7 letters say so much.

 

Having fun where I am, but I just wanna go back there. Right now.

 

i am sitting in the morning at the diner on the corner

Seinfeld / Suzanne Vega / etc

 

Not sure if i prefer the original version or the DNA version. Thoughts?

 

Sh.t food. Nice neighbourhood. Its too cold here though.

 

 

and you run and you run and you run to catch up with the sun but its sinking

Yeah yeah blah blah africas awesome etc. Get used to it people, im a gonna be sayin that sh.t forever.

 

BUT the Sahara sunrise in Morocco was way better (TRAVEL WA.NKER ALERT!!!!!!). Even though technically Morocco is in Africa, but don’t try to argue that fact with the Morocconians. And also Egypt is in Africa too but yeah they have other sh.t to worry about at the moment so don’t try to argue with them about anything.

 

 

i made it through the wilderness. somehow i made it through

Didnt know how lost I was
Until I found you
I was beat

Incomplete
I'd been had

I was sad and blue
But you made me feel
Yeah, you made me feel
Shiny and new

 

Some more African adventures with adam. I really don’t wanna sound like a travel wan.ker but fcuk me that continent is just off the map motherfcuking brilliant. Seriously. Saw the quote / unquote Big 5 and then also saw the Adam Big 5 which i think is even more cool.

 

Go there. Get lost. Find stuff. I did.

 

I gots me a new camera just after the Morocco/Egypt/Jordan leg. Details here and here for the photogs amongst. I call her Pixel B.tch. She’s awesome. She gives good photo. If only i knew people who can show me how to use it.

 

More photos and stories later.

 

Outside its America.........

.......into the arms. Of America.