A person of a specific age who migrates to warmer climates during the winter months from their northern home is referred to as a snowbird, like Jon Bon Jovi is.

The well-known New Jersey native is at Palm Beach, Florida, in late April.

In this week’s episode of “Just for Variety,” the frontman of Bon Jovi tells me, “My licence still says the great state of New Jersey.” “When it’s not cold, I’m there. However, these ancient bones are on the shore when it’s chilly.

The 62-year-old rock star has been reflecting and conversing about his age a lot lately. The four episodes of his Hulu docuseries “Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story” follow the renowned rock band’s ascent to fame, but the central theme is the singer’s battle to get past vocal issues in time for the band’s 40th anniversary tour.

According to Bon Jovi, he can return to the stage for a full-fledged tour no earlier than sometime in the upcoming year. Even so, there is no certainty.

He apologised for being roughly twenty minutes late for this interview. Vocal treatment was being administered to him. According to Bon Jovi, “it’s a range of emotions on a daily basis.” “It was unbelievable yesterday.” And it wasn’t quite flawless today. It irritates me. Although I am aware that none of us can attain perfection, I must succeed in order to return to that level of performance, or I will not.

“I don’t want to pretend to be something I wasn’t,” he says. Though I don’t aim to be that boy from 29 years ago, I do want to be the greatest version of myself in 2024.

With Bon Jovi on lead vocals, Richie Sambora on guitar, David Bryan on keyboards, Tico Torres on drums, and Alec John Such on bass, the band debuted in 1983. Their enormous triumph was accompanied by devastating setbacks. Drug abuse forced Such out of the band in 1994, and Sambora struggled with substance abuse as well, finally departing in 2013 to seek treatment.

Refusing to partake in wild parties, Bon Jovi declared that he was “never doing drugs.” He wasn’t a perfect saint, though.

Despite his 35-year marriage to Dorothea, he acknowledges that there were moments when his fame as a rock singer overcame him: “It was the 1980s, for crying out loud.” Both the 1990s and the 2000s were present. Did a female ever come running to me? Yes, fuck. My name is Jon Bon Jovi.

He says he is “madly in love more every day” with Dorothea, his high school sweetheart from when they first started dating 44 years ago. The couple is parents to four children.

When Bon Jovi made his acting debut in “Moonlight and Valentino” in 1995, he starred opposite Gwyneth Paltrow. He starred in a ten-episode television arc on “Ally McBeal” in 2002. However, a career in Hollywood proved elusive.

In retrospect, he remembers coming close to landing the “Heat” role that went to Val Kilmer in the end.

He recalls, “I didn’t do well enough in the audition to listen to [director] Michael Mann.” “Take off your shoes, jump on that couch, talk to me, how would you do this?” was something he wanted to do three, four, and five times. I just read the lines again.

“If I had gotten those kind of roles, who knows where I would’ve gone,” he said, expressing disappointment that director Wolfgang Petersen never even responded to his self-tape audition for a part in “The Perfect Storm.”

Broadway shows starring Bon Jovi have been pitched to him. According to Bon Jovi, “I’ve been asked to do that 100 times.” As for the story of Tommy and Gina [from “Livin’ on a Prayer,” everyone wanted to write it, but I’m going to assume that Abba and the “Jersey Boys” did it first, and they did it very well many, many years ago. I have thus repeatedly declined that opportunity. I do remember thinking, “Oh, that’s our story,” when I saw “Jersey Boys” all those years ago. That’s the tale of every band. So, our tale isn’t all that original. Subsequently, I reasoned that “Mamma Mia” would be appropriate if the two and a half hours were centred around Tommy and Gina’s lives and the catalogue. Thus, that is not special.

The Jovis family does not have any plans to “Keep Up With the Bon Jovis,” despite the fact that Bon Jovi permitted cameras to follow him around for “Thank You, Goodnight.” “It’s not going to happen at all,” he declares. “Not for me,” Never in my life have I devoted even 60 seconds of my time to a housewife or Kardashian show. Never once have I watched even 60 seconds of it. Just so you know, he recently binge-watched the Ben Franklin series “Franklin” on Apple TV+ and Ryan Murphy’s “Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans” on television.

Regarding his current musical selections, Bon Jovi enumerates the most recent albums by Pearl Jam and the Rolling Stones. “On the opposite side of the ledger: Olivia Rodrigo, Noah Kahan, Zach Bryan, and Inhaler,” he states. “All of these young, gifted people have something to say.”

He calls Taylor Swift “absolutely incredible.” “She established a sector of the economy.” She did what she does best, according to Bon Jovi. She has a Taylor Swift-like voice. She has Taylor Swift-like guitar playing. She is not attempting to be someone she is not, and that resonates with a distinct audience.

In a Richard Avedon-shot advertising campaign from the late 1990s, Bon Jovi served as both the face and the body of Versace. He says, “[Gianni Versace] says, ‘Take off all your clothing, put this blanket around your waist, and go over there. “I thought, ‘Whoa!'” I followed through, and I was thrilled when Elton John approached me and said, “I have the outtakes.” I thought, “Fuck.”

The entire discussion with Jon Bon Jovi is available to listen to on the “Just for Variety” podcast, which you can download here or anyplace else.