Listeners all over the world will have the chance to chat with Jon Bon Jovi, Elvis Costello and Kylie Minogue on the BBC World Service's series "Pop on the Line." The series kicked off last Saturday with Peter Gabriel, and will continue for the next three Saturdays, beginning at 10 P.M. Moscow time.
Teen heartthrob Jon Bon Jovi -- famed for his spandex pants and mane of hair -- will be on the line, live from Nashville, Tennessee, on Saturday. The following two Saturdays will feature post-punk icon Elvis Costello and singer-songwriter Kylie Minogue. To ask a question, Russian listeners can dial 44-71-379-7444. Phone lines will be open from 8 P.M. Moscow time.
During his hour on the air last week, Gabriel responded to callers from New Zealand, the Ukraine and Saudi Arabia.
"There is no way of predicting what kind of questions people will ask," said producer John Sugar. "We had one caller from the Mideast who asked Peter if he had heard his demo tape."
Sugar said he had spent four months twisting celebrity arms to book artists for the show.
"To be brutally honest you fax Bowie, Clapton, Jagger, and then you work from there," he said. "They have all these people who are paid to keep people like me away, and they do a good job.
"The other complication is that most world-known international musicians are very busy people. They can't drop everything," he added. "It's not my bloody fault Paul McCartney doesn't want to do the show."
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