Frank Callari Has Died

Frank Callari and Ryan Adams

Prominent Nashville manager Frank Callari died in Nashville on Friday (Oct. 26). He was 55. Callari, a graduate of the Hotel Ecolier in Lausanne, Switzerland, first worked as general manager of the Hilton Inn at JFK Airport in New York City. After earning a degree in music technology from New York University, he worked in music for several years before moving to Miami, where he met and eventually managed the Mavericks. He also at various times managed Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams and Junior Brown. He also had worked as senior VP/A&R and artist development for Lost Highway Records. Tentative funeral plans are for Thursday (Nov. 1) at Christ the King church in Nashville. Marshall Donnelly-Combs Funeral Home is handling arrangements. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Overbrook School (his son Michael's school) or the American Diabetes Association.

Bon Jovi: '80s legends trash their legacy by going country

ALBUM: "Lost Highway" (Island/Mercury Nashville)



It seems hard to believe that seminal Jersey hair rockers, Bon Jovi, are still around and releasing their tenth studio album. It seems harder to believe that anyone cares. Yet here we are, 23 years after the release of "Bon Jovi" and 21 years after "You Give Love a Bad Name," "Wanted Dead or Alive," and "Livin' on a Prayer."

However, instead of championing the return of hair metal, "Lost Highway" waves the Country & Western flag (at least that's what the marketing department wants you to believe). Clearly capitalizing on their oddball 2007 Grammy for "Best Country Collaboration," Bon Jovi has been pushed onto Island's Mercury Nashville imprint and re-packaged as an alt-country act. There's just one problem: they don't sound much like country.

Read the full album review at MetroMix


More bad reviews....

Bon Jovi's new album of over production and clichés
By: Bradley Haering, Staff Writer

What happened to the old Bon Jovi? How did it go from "Wanted Dead or Alive" and "You Give Love A Bad Name" to "Lost Highway?" I liked Bon Jovi, they wrote some good songs and were worthy of their popularity, but this new album is just migraine inducing.

It's depressing to know that what was once a band known for its hard-working ethic basically phoned in its new album. It is one thing to pay tribute to your Nashville influences, which I was unaware Bon Jovi had, but it is quite another to completely rip off your Nashville influences. It seems every melody, lyric, guitar riff and drumbeat has been taken from another country song.

To give this album some country "street cred," Bon Jovi enlisted the help of country stars Big & Rich and LeAnn Rimes. "We Got It Going On" features Big & Rich and is your typical kick ass and drink beer country song, but it comes off as elderly white folks trying to be cool by using hip-hop vernacular. The song Rimes is featured on, "Stranger," is a sweet duet about love and "Looking into each other's eyes/ Till' we ain't strangers anymore

Read the full review in the Daily Aztec