OUCH! … Jack Ponti Responds to Joe Lynn Turner’s Rewind with Metal Sludge – Metal Sludge

March 19, 2005 — On St. Patrick’s Day we posted a rather entertaining Rewind interview with former Rainbow/Yngwie Malmsteen/Deep Purple singer Joe Lynn Turner. Today we received an email about it from Jack Ponti. Apparently he wanted to elaborate a little on one of Joe’s answers.

Who is Jack Ponti anyway? Well, we don’t feel like giving a big history lesson here, but Jack Ponti is a guitarist and songwriter who used to play in a band called “The Rest” with Jon Bon Jovi. Since then he has been in the bands Sturgin and Angry Tears and has worked with everyone from Alice Cooper, Baton Rouge, Shark Island, Grim Reaper, Babylon AD and Doro Pesch.

Anyway, Jack was prompted to write to us after reading one of Joe Lynn Turner’s answers to our question: “Give us your fondest memory of touring or being in the following cities.” When asked about Philadelphia, Joe replied, “I was at the 4 Seasons Hotel at a Bon Jovi party. A girl stole my leather jacket. Sambora and I searched for it all night… we finally found the girl!’

Here’s what Jack Ponti had to say about that:

As much as I love Joey, and I do, he is full of nonsense about his memory of Philadelphia.

Sambora my ass.

Snake Sabo and I spent the night from Hell with him looking for Joe’s leather jacket.

In fact, that night and that incident is in the legendary column.

Richie was nowhere to be found in this adventure.

JLT never found the jacket or the bimbo who took it.

Joey was so damn out of control it was becoming a nightmare.

It all started innocently, with us at the bar for the afterparty.

The Jon called us to his room and Joe was talking to some girl and she said: “Are you coming back?”

Joey said: “Here, hold my coat for me so you know I’ll be back.”

We went up for an hour and then we went back down.

The jacket and bimbo were nowhere to be seen.

At this point all the alcohol (and whatever else Joey was indulging in) started to kick in and he became shouty “Where is my coat?” and ran from door to door in the hotel, knocking on them and shouting for his coat.

He was out of control and we just ran after him.

Finally we pulled him into a room (I think Mark Weiss’s room) and tried to get him to relax.

At this point he launched into the most astonishing speech in history.

We go on about Blackmore, the rape of the Madonna, where the world is going, the mafia, the family, Japan, saying over and over again, “It’s not about the jacket, it’s about the rape of the Madonna.”

Fans and people in the room said:“What the hell?”

They looked nervous and scared. Fuck, we were all nervous and scared.

Finally we calmed the pastor down and went downstairs.

It was about 5am and the sun was rising.

We thought we had him under control, but suddenly he sees a huge African American security guard and starts all over again, this time jumping on a table in the lobby and yelling about “What my people did to your people.”

Madness at the highest level.

Vic Pepe grabbed Joey in a headlock and led him through the doors into the parking lot and the sunlight.

We threw him in the back of the car next to Snake and drove home for an hour while Joey just walked around “I love you guys, you’ve proven to me that you’re family.”

The poor Snake had convulsions.

We got to my house and threw him on the porch to sleep and told him if he woke anyone up I would kick his ass.

Sambora slept soundly during this nightmare we had to endure.

The best part is that Joe’s manager Doc calls the next day and says what a bad influence Snake and I had on JLT.

Bloody mind boggling.

To this day, Snake and I still call “Night of the Venerable” one of the most comical yet terrifying experiences of our lives.

It was like Sybil meets the Exorcist and Spinal Tap.

Come on, Joey, don’t tell me you have Alzheimer’s.

Love you anyway.

Ponti

That’s an amazing damn story! We’ve even heard a few stories about “The Rev” Joe Lynn Turner ‘testifying’ in hotel bars from time to time. Apparently it’s a sight to behold.

Anyway, that was nice of Jack Ponti to stop by and say hello. It’s interesting to know that he pops up here and there at Metal Sludge. You never know… he might end up being an entertaining 20 Questions candidate one day!

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