A Pennsylvania musician named Jeffrey Goho has been revealed as the initiator of a false rumor that Jon Bon Jovi had died earlier this month. The rumor was spread by Goho on December 19, and referred to a fake press release that stated that the Bon Jovi singer had been found in a coma at the Empress Hotel in Asbury Park. Bon Jovi took to the internet later that night to assure fans he was alive and well by posting a picture of himself standing next to a Christmas tree holding a sign that read “Heaven looks a lot like New Jersey.” The sign was dated and time stamped December 19, 2011, 6:00.

Goho, who sings for a band called Minutia, told The Asbury Park Press Monday that he started the rumor because he was annoyed at all of Bon Jovi’s non musical activities.

“All I heard was ‘Bon Jovi this,’ ‘Bon Jovi’s starting a restaurant.’” he told the New Jersey newspaper. “What was the latest one? The Advil commercial (featuring Bon Jovi)? It was like, ‘Jeez, (Bon Jovi) was a household name due to the music, not the business.’”

Bon Jovi did recently open a restaurant called JBJ Soul Kitchen in Red Bank, N.J. Goho also said he posted the false rumor to a friend’s Twitter account after getting worked up during a conversation with his bandmates about Bon Jovi’s nonmusical endeavors.

“I’m not proud of it,” he also told the paper. “I’m getting a lot of backlash from it.”

Goho also discussed the publicity his band has received from the stunt, though he says he didn’t plan the rumor as a way to drum up interest in his own musical endeavors.

“It wasn’t initially the case,” he said. “Now, I’m not going to lie either, I’ve also gotten some fans out of this. That was unexpected. I mean, none of this was expected, so I’m not going to sit here and complain about it, but it wasn’t the initial reason… I never really thought it would get out of Pennsylvania.”

It’s his life. Once again, Richie Sambora is cleaning it up.

Bon Jovi‘s guitarist is headed for rehab so he can sober up. His bandmates, surprisingly, are prepared to take to the road without Richie.

So what gives?

There hasn’t been any official comments on how long or where Sambora will be receiving treatment. However it will be Sambora’s third rehab stint. In June 2007 Sambora was treated at the UCLA Medical Center for alcoholism, two months after his father died of lung cancer as well as his marriage of nine years to Heather Locklear ending.

However, Sambora wasn’t sober for very long. Just one year later in Orange County, CA Sambora was charged with a DUI. After he pled no contest on two drunk driving charges, he received three years probation.

As it turns out, Sambora’s probation ended just last week.

However his absence won’t be affecting the upcoming tour of Bon Jovi’s. The outing will kick off on April 30 in New Orleans and continue working its way across the U.S. and then in June head over to Europe.

In a statement, Sambora’s bandmates said we have absolute support for Richie. He is a Bon Jovi band member and will remain one.

Although he won’t be with us during upcoming shows for now, we are looking forward to him returning healthy. We will, in the meantime, continue our tour and keep our commitments to our fans.

On Friday authorities reported that Jon Bon Jovi, frontman of the band Bon Jovi, had been victimized by a robbery at his home. Jewelry worth $100,000 was taken from his mansion in Middletown, N.J.

According to police, the home of Bon Jovi’s was one of many that Nicholas Tracy, a 21 year old burglar, had targeted. He has been arrested since the theft and been charged with burglary.

On Wednesday Tracy was arrested after tripping an alarm at one of the neighboring houses in Middletown Township. Officers responded to the alarm and found Tracy hiding in one of the bathrooms.

Police say in total that the man from Beachwood stole goods worth more than $500,000 from four area homes.

According to court documents, on April 3 Tracy allegedly broke into the $22 million dollar mansion of Bon Jovi’s on his 15 acre estate and made off with jewelry belonging to Dorothea Bongiovi, the singer’s wife.

Tracy is being held on $100,000 bail in Freehold Township’s Monmouth County Jail.

The Buggles back in 1979 declared that the radio star was killed by video. So what or who can be blamed for the music business being killed? Is it the record labels or MTV or the internet? Jon Bon Jovi is pointing a finger at Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple.

The frontman of Bon Jovi, in an interview he did recently with the U.K. publication The Sunday Times Magazine discussed his feelings about the role Jobs has had in the music industry’s demise. Bon Jovi admitted his ideas might make him sound like an old fogey, however he also added that now he’s an old man.

The singer, who is 49 years old, reminisced about being able to hold a physical album and choosing a new album from a record store. Bon Jovi doesn’t like how convenient the iTunes offering are of allowing users to sample albums or singles before buying. He wishes instead that the good old days would return when we would buy music blindly based on an album cover.

In The Sunday Times Magazine Bon Jovi said, today kids are missing the entire experience of donning a pair of headphones and turning the volume up to ten and holding the album jacket with your eyes closed and losing yourself in the album. It was beautiful to take your allowance and basing your decision to buy an album from the jacket and not really knowing what the record actually sounded like. You would just look at a few pictures and imagine it. That was a very magical time.

I’m sounding like just an old man, however mark my words, people in a generation will say what happened? I think that Steve Jobs personally is responsible for the death of the music business.

Are these good points made by Bon Jovi? Have you ever bought albums based on their cover art?

Recent news headlines about Bon Jovi have been hinting about the possibility that the veteran rock band will go on hiatus after their tour. So it may be surprising for some people when earlier this week the band announced they had added on a dozen dates to their forthcoming North American tour.

The leg for the “201l Live Tour” will primary stick to the southern and eastern U.S. as well as Canadian markets. The new round of dates will kick off on April 30 when Bon Jovi is a headliner in New Orleans at Jazz Fest. Regular tour dates will start in Ottawa, Ontario at Scotiabank Place on May 3.

The leg in late spring will also include concerts in Uncasville, CT at the Mohegan Sun Arena on May 7 and in Orlando, FL at Amway Center on May 15. Live 2011 Tour will wrap up in St. Louis, MO at the Scottrade Center on May 22.

Ticket prices will be similar to the earlier domestic dates of Bon Jovi’s this year, beginning at just under $20 and reaching to $150, based on the listings at Ticketmaster.com. The earliest onsale dates started on February 5 and others started on February 8, 9 or 11.

The official Bon Jovi website contains market-specific ticket information.

The spring 2011 tour was previously announced and will launch soon. The outing will kick off in University Park, PA at Bryce Jordan Center on February 9. Before the new dates were added, 21 concerts had been confirmed, with the trek wrapping up in Toronto, Ontario at Rogers Centre on March 25.

Ticket sales have been strong for the original dates on the Live 2011 tour. The veteran rock band is riding high still on their successful 2010 “Circle tour,” which earned them nominations as “Top Draw” and “Top Tour” from Billboard Touring Awards. Pollstar named the outing as the No. 1 concert tour worldwide.

Once Bon Jovi’s “Live 2011 Tour” is complete, it’s not clean when fans will be seeing the band again in concert.

On a conference call recently Tico Torres, Bon Jovi’s drummer, said to reporters, sometimes what you need to do is get away in order for people to better appreciate you. He estimated that after 2011 he and the other Bon Jovi band members would for sure need a few years off.

Richie Sambora, Bon Jovi’s guitarist, wasn’t so quick to committing to a long hiatus. He was quoted as saying, we need a short break yes but not that long. Later he added, we will keep going, writing great new songs, and make great records in the studio, continue to evolve and return to the stadiums and give people a really great show.

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 2011 lineup will be bringing together country, jazz, pop and international rock headliners, including Jeff Beck, Kid Rock, Robert Plant, Bon Jovi, Arcade Fire, John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson and Sonny Rollins. Scores of local acts from Louisiana and nearby will also be included as part of the impressive roster, as well as many Haitian performers.

Other artists scheduled to appear on the festival’s 12 stages this year over two weekends, April 29 – May 8, are Lauryn Hill, Tom Jones, Cyndi Lauper, the Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons, Jimmy Buffett, Jamey Johnson and Louisiana blues, rock, zydeco, Cajun, folk and gospel musicians such as Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, the Neville Brothers, Irma Thomas, Trombone Shorty, and Galactic.

Due to the strong cultural and historical connection between Haiti and New Orleans, festival organizers have focused much of their attention on performers from the Caribbean nation, including Tabou Combo Wyclef Jean, Emeline Michele and Boukman Eksperyans. Information on tickets is posted at the Jazz & Heritage Festival website.

In 2010 the top concert attraction in the world was Bon Jovi, despite the fact the market was soft for live music along with weak sales for their latest album.  Throughout the year the rockers from New Jersey sold $201.1 million in tickets.  The sales were divided fairly evenly between their North American and international shows.  Currently their tour is the 9th biggest grossing outing all time for North America.

The second highest draw was AC/DC, which grossed $177 million.  In third place for global sales was U2.  Their gigantic 360 tour brought in $160.1 million on their two overseas legs.  Last year it was the top tour worldwide.

In fourth place was Lady Gaga.  “Monster Ball World Tour” grossed $133.6 million.  Gaga was this year’s hardest working artist from the top 10.  She performed a total of 138 gigs, while Bon Jovi performed 80, AC/DC performed 40 and U2 performed 32 gigs.

Other top 2010 concert draws included  the Eagles, Paul McCartney, Michael Buble‘s arena show “Walking with Dinosaurs,” Metallica, and Roger Waters‘ “The Wall” production.  The staging of Pink Floyd’s classic album by Waters was the second highest draw in North America.  For 35 dates it sold $89.5 million in tickets.

Jon Bon Jovi is planning on taking a long break once the band wraps their current world tour up in summer 2011.

According to the singer, who is 48 years old, age along with other factors have made him reassess his plans for 2011.

One of the other factors is bound to be health.  Bon Jovi spent most of this year touring after tearing a calf muscle in July during an East Rutherford, NJ concert.

It’s time, Bon Jovi said.  We need to get to bed.

Following the release of “Circle,” the band’s latest studio album in 2009,  Bon Jovi has circled the globe, literally.  The band also just released a “Greatest Hits” package.  Last week in Canada it topped the charts.

However the veteran rocker from New Jersey confesses that the enormity of the tour has taken a toll, and he has been forced into doing a reality check.  Jon said, when you go to places without electricity and say don’t worry we can bring our own, you know it’s time for taking a break.

Never fear, however,  the singer of “Wanted Dead or Alive” isn’t planning to hang his spurs up just yet.

He said, I’m doing ok considering I’m an old man that hasn’t had any plastic surgery, has a 30 inch waist and still has all of his own hair.

Recently Bon Jovi announced an additional run of shows for the U.S. and Canada in 2011.  Canadian shows include a Valentine’s Day concert on February 14, 2011 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, ON.  On February 18 they will play at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC and on March 25 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC.

On November 9 the band released a “Greatest Hits” CD.  It also features four new tracks: “What Do You Got!,” “This Is Life,” “This Is Love” and “No Apologies.”

More details can be found on the official Bon Jovi website.

Did you know that the “Circle” world tour of Bon Jovi’s is the longest tour for the band since the late 1980′s “Jersey Syndicate Tour?”  The outing consists of both stadium and arena shows.  It kicked off February 11, 2010 and is one of the top grossing tours of 2010.  So far it has earned more than $50 million.

Bon Jovi, the iconic rockers, have added several dates to their 2011 itinerary following their Australian and Japanese legs at the end of 2010, as well as the upcoming release of their “Greatest Hits” album.

Australian and Japanese excursions are set to kick off with a show in Tokyo on November 30 and run until the middle of December.  The band from New Jersey will then take a break over the holidays before returning full force in February.  The “Bon Jovi Tour” of 2011 will kick off in University Park, PA on February 9 and make 15 North American arena stops through the end of March.  Following that, a European trek of two months will be launched.

According to a recent press release, North American concert tickets will be going on sale starting next month from Bon Jovi’s website.

Bon Jovi on November 9 will releasing “Greatest Hits” along with a deluxe edition.  The set features classics like “Livin On A Prayer” and “Wanted Dead or Alive” as well as four new singles: “This Is Love, This Is Life,” “No Apologies,” “The More Things Change,” and “What Do You Got?”

In upcoming weeks the Grammy award winning band will also be making a whole string of event and televisions appearances, including a November 9 performance on “The Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS, “The Today Show” on NBC on November 12, and “Larry King Live” on CNN on November 22, among others.

In October 2009, the band’s 11th studio album, “The Circle” was released and debuted in the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s 200 chart.

Any hall of fame, no matter what kind, tends to be an institution that is polarizing.  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame isn’t any different.  Earlier today a list of 2010 nominees was released.  It’s an eclectic group that will undoubtedly spark lots of debate in the coming months, up until December when the inductees are announced.  First time nominees include Neil Diamond, Dr. John, Alice Cooper, Donovan and Bon Jovi.  Joining them are Tom Waits, J. Geils Band, Chuck Willis, Joe Tex, Laura Nyro, J. Chic, LL Cool and the Beastie Boys.

That is a wide ranging group of people, with music ranging in style from folk to soul to hip-hop to classic rock to whatever was played by the J. Geils Band.  If I got to vote, which trust me I don’t, here are the four nominees I would vote for.

Beastie Boys

This band absolutely needs to get in.  They straddled pop music, hip-hop and rock seamlessly, and once opened for Madonna.  Everyone in the respective genres was impressed by them.  Hip-hop old schoolers respect them, while the world of rock and roll has always loved Beastie Boys for their ever present hardcore leanings as well as Rick Rubin association.  As an added bonus, the band always remains relevant.  “Hot Sauce committee, Pt. 1,” their forthcoming album, is highly anticipated.

Bon Jovi

It’s hard to believe that the group that provided the world with “Slippery When Wet” and other classic albums has been playing music this long.  None of the other hair metal bands have survived the alternative rock era more completely or better than Bon Jovi.  That includes Motley Crue and Guns N’ Roses.  They are that era’s only band still making records that are relevant today that people still want to hear.  They would get my vote as representatives of the great hair metal however.  However “You Give Love a Bad Name” gives them bonus points.

Tom Waits

If you want to talk about influence, things all begin and end with Tom Waits.  Although he didn’t ever sell many albums, Waits has always blended his playful approach to recording and arranging with his incredible abilities as a songwriter.  In addition his voice is one of the most amazing in music history.  If Billy Joel and Elton John have both made it in (and they have), then Waits needs to be voted in without any second guessing.

LL Cool J

As far as hip hoppers being part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, say what you want.  LL Cool J was able to change how people thought about rap music while in live settings.  He helped to usher the genre  from the streets into mainstream radio listeners lives.  I would vote for him, seriously, just based on his “MTV Unplugged” performance.  That amazing piece of television re-arranged many people’s ideas of what rap music could be and already was.