First off I want to give a tip of the hat to Joe Perry for his first solo Grammy nomination. It’s for the song “Mercy”. This is what it is for and whom he is up against. Best Rock Instrumental Performance (For solo, duo, group or collaborative performances, without vocals. Includes Rock, Hard Rock and Metal. Singles or Tracks only.) • Beat Box Guitar - Adrian Belew - Track from: Side One [Sanctuary] • Birds Of Prey - Stewart Copeland - Track from: Orchestralli [Ponderosa] • 69 Freedom Special - Les Paul & Friends - Track from: American Made World Played [Capitol Records] • Mercy - Joe Perry - Track from: Joe Perry [Columbia Records] • Lotus Feet - Steve Vai - Track from: Real Illusions: Reflections [Epic/Red Ink] This is Joe’s second nomination for an instrumental. He was a co-writer with Steven for the Aerosmith song “Boogie Man” that appeared on 1993’s smash“Get a Grip.” I wish him good luck, and hope he get’s to add another statue to his trophy case. Besides his 4 other Grammy’s are getting lonely.
Some Fans in Winnipeg sent him some gorgeous roses that he brought with him to Chicago. Old Ray Tabano was at the Philly show dressed to the nines in a canary yellow shirt with matching tie and beautiful black leather blazer. I asked him what brings him down from Manhattan and told me he was in a Poker tournament in Atlantic City and he was on his way home and decided to stop by. He said he did pretty well at the tables but in this case I would have hoped that he lost his “shirt.”
Also in Philly Steven and Joe teamed up with Lenny K. to get on the phone with Rolling Stone for the Random Notes page. The guys did the conference call in Steven’s dressing room with famed rock photographer Mark Seliger snapping away. Earlier in the tour William Hames shot the guys for some publications in Japan and in Boston, Ron Pownall shot the show. Ron probably has taking more photos of Aerosmith than any other person. His photo’s of the guys date back to the early 70’s right through Done with Mirrors.
In Cleveland the show was shot by legendary shutterbug Mark Weiss. Weiss used to shoot the guys in the 70’s too but doesn’t look like he’s aged much. He brought Joe a bunch of “Rock Scene” magazines and some shots from the “Project” days. Come to think of it Joe doesn’t look like he’s aged much either. Wow! A whole paragraph about photographers and not one mention of Ross Halfin. The guys played in Atlantic City on December 2nd. The venue was the Borgata Event Center. It held about 2600 people.
Velvet Revolver’s drummer Matt Sorum was in town playing DJ at one of the other rooms in the complex. Joey asked him if he wanted to sit in. Matt said Are you crazy? Matt suggested No More, No More because he was most familiar with it since VR have been doing it live. He played the shit out of it and it was good to see one of my old boss’s in action. Matt’s one of the best drummers in the business and I never got tired of watching him pound on his kit. I jinxed myself! Word has it Ross may come out to shoot Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit. The show in Minneapolis was a little tough for Joe. With the wound to his finger that happened in Ottawa healed he had another one to deal with at the Target Center. At the end of the show in Cleveland he somehow got one of his strings caught up under his nail slicing the sucker up. Before the show in Minnie the doctor wanted to give him antibiotics and basically glue the tip of his infected finger where the gash was. He didn’t want to lose feeling in that hand so waited until after the show. This procedure was duplicated in Winnipeg.
In Minneapolis Joe, Joey and Steven made a visit to perhaps one of the world’s foremost outfitters for hunting, fishing and outdoor gear. Cabela’s! The place was massive and the guys spent a few hours stocking up on Christmas gifts and winter clothing. The temps in Minneapolis didn’t get above 10 degrees the whole time we were there and Winnipeg wasn’t much better. After the show in Winnipeg (which by the way ranks in the top 3 of the tour so far) we were still waiting to hear if we would be staying in town or be able to fly on to Chicago. After hearing that Southwest Airlines was trying to branch out to the streets of Chicago our tour manager, Jimmy Eyers, thought it would be best to fly into O’Hare instead of Midway. Chicago just got a foot of snow dumped on them and was in the process of digging out. The guys were looking forward to spend the day off in Chi-Town to do a little more shopping and hang out with friends. Joe went by “Silver Moon.” It’s a great vintage store owned by Aerosmith’s wardrobe coordinator “Liz Meyer.” She’s the one that paints on Steven’s arm every night and basically makes sure everything is in order backstage along with Jaime and Lisa Bruno. When in town you should go by her store at 1755 W.North Ave. or check them out on the web @ www.silvermoonvintage.com .
Donny Wightman shared this story with me on the plane home the other night and he wanted me to share it with you. Steven, Joey, Tom and Donny went out to a steakhouse in Chicago. As they left their hotel they noticed a homeless guy outside. As they walked by the guy starts shouting Mick! Mick! Obviously mistaking Steven for Mick Jagger, which strangely enough happens. After dinner they decided to change into some warmer clothes back at their hotel and go for a walk around the town. Mind you the temps where in the 20’s so the walk was pretty short. As they got back to their hotel (which was pretty rockin’) the guy is still outside freezin’ his ass off by the front doors. Steven walks up and pulls out some cash and gives it to him. At this time the guy notices it’s not Jagger and belts out Walk this Way word for word at the top of his lungs. Steven of course joins in. Just as he’s doing this Donny notices about 30 people from inside of the hotel lounge come running out into the cold snapping pictures and asking the band for autographs. Steven tells them that they will sign autographs and take pictures with everybody if they give the homeless gentleman a dollar or two each. The guys signed for about 15 mins and everyone left happy.
'Word to the Wise Department!' - Although it looks like fun jumping onstage and saying to the world, “Look at me! Look at me!” It can be dangerous. Ask the chick that almost got a mouthful of Joe’s elbow the other night in Chicago. Steven’s assistant, Kripa Jones, who has cat like reflexes quickly deposited her into the seats. Those are trained professionals up there. It’s no place to be looking for your 15 minutes. Speaking of professionals!
This week’s honors go to Chris “Super Dave” Deters. He also goes by the name Super Chris or just Super. He is the band’s head carpenter and is responsible for putting up and tearing down everything that has to do with the stage night in and night out. I was going to write down the other acts he has worked for but this space isn’t big enough. He has worked with everybody you love and almost everybody you don’t. I have been lucky enough to be working with him with Aerosmith the past 3 tours and I spent the summer with him on Ozz Fest. He’s a class act and wins Employee of the Week. His bronze hammer is in the mail.
‘Scratching my Head Dept’ - The Boston Bruins front office traded away their franchise player last week. Joe Thornton is headed to San Jose to help the Sharks win the Stanley Cup. Joe is a huge Aerosmith fan and has been to countless show all over the US and Canada. He got to be pretty good friends with Tom and Steven the past 8 years and is going to be sorely missed in the Boston area. I live and breathe black and gold but give the B’s GM a great big one-finger salute today! Nice going guys. Ross Halfin has arrived! Since the band went back to Boston for the 2 days off after Chicago he has no way of getting to Milwaukee. Please send him an email if you have extra room in your Yugo. He prefers chain smoking, talkative Americans who like Nora Jones and smelly cheese. If you see him in the crowd go up and tell him how much you like him and pat him on the back for finally getting a digital camera.
Some Fans in Winnipeg sent him some gorgeous roses that he brought with him to Chicago. Old Ray Tabano was at the Philly show dressed to the nines in a canary yellow shirt with matching tie and beautiful black leather blazer. I asked him what brings him down from Manhattan and told me he was in a Poker tournament in Atlantic City and he was on his way home and decided to stop by. He said he did pretty well at the tables but in this case I would have hoped that he lost his “shirt.” 
Velvet Revolver’s drummer Matt Sorum was in town playing DJ at one of the other rooms in the complex. Joey asked him if he wanted to sit in. Matt said Are you crazy? Matt suggested No More, No More because he was most familiar with it since VR have been doing it live. He played the shit out of it and it was good to see one of my old boss’s in action. Matt’s one of the best drummers in the business and I never got tired of watching him pound on his kit. I jinxed myself! Word has it Ross may come out to shoot Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit. The show in Minneapolis was a little tough for Joe. With the wound to his finger that happened in Ottawa healed he had another one to deal with at the Target Center. At the end of the show in Cleveland he somehow got one of his strings caught up under his nail slicing the sucker up. Before the show in Minnie the doctor wanted to give him antibiotics and basically glue the tip of his infected finger where the gash was. He didn’t want to lose feeling in that hand so waited until after the show. This procedure was duplicated in Winnipeg. 
In Minneapolis Joe, Joey and Steven made a visit to perhaps one of the world’s foremost outfitters for hunting, fishing and outdoor gear. Cabela’s! The place was massive and the guys spent a few hours stocking up on Christmas gifts and winter clothing. The temps in Minneapolis didn’t get above 10 degrees the whole time we were there and Winnipeg wasn’t much better. After the show in Winnipeg (which by the way ranks in the top 3 of the tour so far) we were still waiting to hear if we would be staying in town or be able to fly on to Chicago. After hearing that Southwest Airlines was trying to branch out to the streets of Chicago our tour manager, Jimmy Eyers, thought it would be best to fly into O’Hare instead of Midway. Chicago just got a foot of snow dumped on them and was in the process of digging out. The guys were looking forward to spend the day off in Chi-Town to do a little more shopping and hang out with friends. Joe went by “Silver Moon.” It’s a great vintage store owned by Aerosmith’s wardrobe coordinator “Liz Meyer.” She’s the one that paints on Steven’s arm every night and basically makes sure everything is in order backstage along with Jaime and Lisa Bruno. When in town you should go by her store at 1755 W.North Ave. or check them out on the web @ www.silvermoonvintage.com . 
Donny Wightman shared this story with me on the plane home the other night and he wanted me to share it with you. Steven, Joey, Tom and Donny went out to a steakhouse in Chicago. As they left their hotel they noticed a homeless guy outside. As they walked by the guy starts shouting Mick! Mick! Obviously mistaking Steven for Mick Jagger, which strangely enough happens. After dinner they decided to change into some warmer clothes back at their hotel and go for a walk around the town. Mind you the temps where in the 20’s so the walk was pretty short. As they got back to their hotel (which was pretty rockin’) the guy is still outside freezin’ his ass off by the front doors. Steven walks up and pulls out some cash and gives it to him. At this time the guy notices it’s not Jagger and belts out Walk this Way word for word at the top of his lungs. Steven of course joins in. Just as he’s doing this Donny notices about 30 people from inside of the hotel lounge come running out into the cold snapping pictures and asking the band for autographs. Steven tells them that they will sign autographs and take pictures with everybody if they give the homeless gentleman a dollar or two each. The guys signed for about 15 mins and everyone left happy. 
'Word to the Wise Department!' - Although it looks like fun jumping onstage and saying to the world, “Look at me! Look at me!” It can be dangerous. Ask the chick that almost got a mouthful of Joe’s elbow the other night in Chicago. Steven’s assistant, Kripa Jones, who has cat like reflexes quickly deposited her into the seats. Those are trained professionals up there. It’s no place to be looking for your 15 minutes. Speaking of professionals! 
This week’s honors go to Chris “Super Dave” Deters. He also goes by the name Super Chris or just Super. He is the band’s head carpenter and is responsible for putting up and tearing down everything that has to do with the stage night in and night out. I was going to write down the other acts he has worked for but this space isn’t big enough. He has worked with everybody you love and almost everybody you don’t. I have been lucky enough to be working with him with Aerosmith the past 3 tours and I spent the summer with him on Ozz Fest. He’s a class act and wins Employee of the Week. His bronze hammer is in the mail. 
Facebook
MySpace
iLike
Twitter
YouTube
Bebo