News From The Road

Hey Everybody! Greetings from London!

A lot has happened since I wrote last. The band has been cruising through Europe for the first time since 1999. After Sweden the guys invaded Germany. We were based in Frankfurt for the week. The Stones happened to be playing Frankfurt that same week and they were checking into our hotel the day after us. Good thing we got there first because the Stones had more people in their entourage but we got the pick of the litter room wise.

My favorite German city has to be Munchen. Not only is it the most desirable city in Germany to live in, it has a pretty cool name too. We missed the Who by a day but more on them later.


Joe and Joey at Munich cement signing       Photo: John Bionelli

The guys got inducted into the Munich version of the Walk of Fame before the show. There they put their hands in cement.  Better having hand’s than feet in cement Tom commented. Brad was sick up until show time and didn’t make it but Joe wrote a big BW to honor the guitar wizard. How the f#@k good is Brad Whitford? I still can’t believe I get to listen to him play every other night. Lately he is sporting a Dion and Belmonts look and I expect him to break into Runaround Sue or The Wanderer.

Next up was Venice. What a pain in the ass place to get to. Our hotel was on its own Island. We got off the plane, got into vans to clear customs, then had to get into a water taxi to get us to the hotel. Our luggage had it worse though. Donny Wightman drew the short straw and had a not so excellent adventure with the bags. The bags came off the plane and got loaded into a truck, then they cleared customs and went into another truck and taken to a loading dock 20 minutes away. Then they were loaded into a boat with Donny and taken to the Hotel. About an hour later a few of us were starting to get worried. As we were sipping our Campari and soda on the terrace of the hotel we saw our real life Steve Zissou in the distant with some sort of rain gear over his head. I started waving hoping Donny would see me. He did and returned the wave using only one of his fingers. I thought that wasn’t very nice. Well, he got caught in the near hurricane that took out the show while we didn’t get a drop of rain on the Island. Needless to say all the guys in the band were really bummed out that the show was cancelled but judging by the pictures we were just glad no one was killed. The last time in Italy the show got postponed because of rain and flooding and Aerosmith had to play early the following day. It was a total bummer because I expected to see a few paesans there. We spent the next day in Venice walking around Saint Marks Square. It was a lot of fun but still pretty scary thinking about the kids that got hurt the day before.

Next up was Paris:


Joe at Notre Dame         Photo: John Bionelli

Paris is a great city if you don’t mind being treated like poop. The French have this way of making you feel like a moron, but they say it with that cute French accent. I did think that the Paris gig was the best show of the tour so far. The guys were in a groove. Chris Cornell lives there part time and was at the gig with his wife. He jumped from dressing room to dressing room saying hi to each guy before hand. The boys were as happy to see him as they were to see them. Steven had dinner with Johnny Depp and his family the night after in the Hotel. Brad, Steven, Tom and Joey each went to The Louvre during their stay while Joe decided to check out the Eiffel Tower and even went up it.

We did a hit and run in Belgium. Aerosmith played another out of the way festival that seemed to take hours to get there. On the bill was Papa Roach, Static X and Chris Cornell. It was a good show but you could tell the guys and their families were itching to get to London.

London was great even though we were up against a curfew. The show was trimmed down a little because of the time restraints. Normally the guys would say f#@k it and play longer but the penalty wasn’t monetary. If you went over you were brought to the torture room at the Tower of London and put into a Scavenger’s Daughter.


TAB and Joe at the torture chamber      Photo: John Bionelli

The guys got to do some sightseeing in London. Steven had his family with him and took his and everybody else’s family out for a post show pizza party.

TAB was on the bill in London and rocked. They played a half dozen shows in the UK and are really honing their craft. They will be heading straight into the studio this week to record their first full length album. (Check out their new site Tabtheband.com) Joe spent some time with his boys and took them to the Tower of London and to see the Who at Wembley Arena.


Behind Blue Eyes     Photo: Kazuyo Horie

Before the show he said hello to Roger and Pete. He asked Pete Townsend if he gets nervous before a hometown show and Pete said he never gets nervous. He said he could be playing in front of 200 or 200 thousand and it didn’t matter. The only time I get nervous is when I play with another performer. Joe as you know will be playing with Tom Jones on Sunday at the Princess Diana celebration.

He spent his day off Monday rehearsing with Wix Wickens and his band. Wix is the musical director for the show and up until recently was in Paul McCartney’s band for 18 years or so.

Next week I’ll give ya a recap on The Princess Diana how as well as Dublin and the guys visit to Latvia and Estonia.

Employee of the Week goes to:


Jim Survis guitar tech      Photo: John Bionelli

Jim Survis. Jim started working for Aerosmith in 1992 while the guys were in Vancouver making "Get A Grip". He has been a loyal soldier ever since. When the guys are off the road he can be found on a Van Halen tour or with Cheap Trick. Jim is also very much involved when Aerosmith is in the studio. Joe usually has about 40 guitars with him on the road and he keeps them all in tune. In his spare time (yeah right!) Jim likes to drive his antique car on the Island he is in the process of buying. He also enjoys quiet nights by the fire and making smores and hanging with his dog Lefty. Someday he wants to open a Fitness Center repair shop and call it Gym Service.

See you on the Road!

John B.

BTW-What is up with old Ross Halfin beating up on poor Russ Irwin in his Diarrhea? I mean Diary. Russ did make the mistake of asking Ross if his tight shirt made him look fat. Halfin just took it from there. I just got word that Ross will be joining us (Oh Boy!) for the rest of the tour.  As you know Ross’s favorite band is the Who and thinks they are the greatest thing since Spotted Dick.