VEGAS
Flew into Vegas after the show in SF - did a runner off stage, police escort to the airport and jetted our way to Vegas - got in around 3am.
Where what you do here and say here, stays here...bullshit. The second we arrived at the airport someone videotaped me carrying my luggage in off the tarmac and sure enough it wound up on the big screen, that had live tonight!!! at the MGM GRAND! SOLD OUT! AEROSMITH!
The hotel had a panoramic view of the strip - had a pyramid and a sphynx outside my window but the green glow of the MGM could not be lost. Nothing like looking out over Las Vegas and seeing a shot of Joe Perry without his shirt on a mile away looking like the rock god he is, you know you've made it when...I still pinch myself in disbelief that I'm in this band..
The next morning I woke up to a bowl of oatmeal smothered in blueberries... an egg white omelet and two large pots of coffee...and I'm ready for a day of parasailing with my flight instructor Kevin Bernackie - 3000 ft over a dry lake bed somewhere near area 51 - oops. A couple of F14's buzzed me and said we were too close...oh yeah....that was last year... this day was mine...crippled from the night before's goings on I limped out to the deck, after ripping off the duvet from my king size bed, laying it on the cement surrounded by 12 king size pillows, I cooked for an hour... hence the tan...and on top of my Mexican trip...I'm TOASTED LIKE GEORGE HAMILTON....with twice the grin..... but enough about the '70s.
This is the day before the NASCAR video. I had an idea to hang two of Richard Petty's cars down from our lighting rig and the inimitable Michael Keeling, our lighting director, plus Casey, Keith Garde's office, and Rich Fienberg from ESPN made my dreams come true. I love it when my "what ifs?" become "OH YEAHS!" They sunk about two million bucks into that show day event... where the good people at JUNKER swathed me in the finest soft leather race car jumpsuit they could come up with in such short time... I represented NASCAR like Petty's engine - was totally revved for the shoot. And after spending 2 hours with Marti Frederiksen and tweaking the lyrics to "Back in The Saddle" (I'm ridin'... I'm ridin' in a fast car....I'm drivin'!...I'm drivin' in my NASCAR!!.... I'm BAAAACKK!!!..I'M BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAAAAAAINN)..... and we were.. I did a hurry up and wait after the 1st "Back in the Saddle" and asked the audience if they wanted 15 minutes of fame and they roared... and then did the song again. The audience loved it and the people at NASCAR got what they wanted. Aerosmith - pedal to the metal. During the video shoot a sixty foot camera crane was introduced to Joe Perrys forehead... what a kiss!He told me later he was totally dazed and confused. I told him, yeah, but nothing like the 70s huh? He really did get hurt and his pic is on his blog... I'm sure you've seen it. If what's happened to this man hasn't killed him yet, he'll live to be 103. He's a trooper. He finished the song and we went on with the show.
My daughter Mia took over the backstage with 5 of her girlfriends. I gave her an early birthday surprise by bringing in two of the hottest male strippers Vegas had to offer... Ben Hur and Spartacus...apparently, they danced well 'cuz the 1st words out of Mia's mouth were "HOLY SHIT DAD!" and then they met Scott, my road assistant...I told them he was mine and sent him off to do my quick change tent. But that's a whole other story. The rest of the show was slammin'...over time was $10,000 a minute, so we were off the stage at 11. I hate it when that happens. Off to LA... here now...more to come...
With love,
PS Sorry I'm late with all this... but I got caught with my fingers in the cookie jar.
ST Here....Archive
