Rolling Stone

When Rolling Stone caught up with Joe Perry backstage at last week’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, the guitarist said he was pumped about touring with world’s most famously bearded band. “That’s just amazing to be able to play with them because it’s going to be a kickass show,” Perry said, adding that Aerosmith would reinvigorate their set lists this time around. Perry also told RS that Aerosmith’s new album has been delayed, but they’re aiming to finish it after the tour wraps.

While venues for the majority of shows hasn’t been announced — details for just three shows were announced last week — it’s easy to guess what amphitheater or arena the tour might hit by looking at the itinerary. For instance, Wantagh, New York’s show will obviously take place at the Nikon at Jones Beach, the Holmdel, New Jersey show will be at the PNC Bank Arts Centre, Uncasville, Connecticut is Mohegan Sun, etc. Guess the venue in your market by checking out the full tour dates below — and stick with Rolling Stone for the most updated news on the Aerosmith/ZZ Top tour.

Aerosmith & ZZ Top 2009 Summer Tour Dates

June 10 - St. Louis, MO
June 13 - East Troy, WI
June 16 - Boston, MA
June 21 - Bristow, VA @ Nissan Pavilion

Speaking to Billboard.com, the guitarist confirmed that recent ‘health issues’ and touring commitments have conspired to force the postponement of the groups first album of original material since 2001’s ‘Just Push Play’.

Recording sessions were first halted earlier this year when Perry underwent surgery to clear out an infection in his knee replacement, and as recently as last month proceedings were again interrupted when Steven Tyler came down with pneumonia.

“So basically we had to push (the album) back and when the band gets off the road, that’s when we’ll pick up the Aerosmith record.”

Perry has also revealed that the aging, Boston rockers have “probably two or three songs that could be mixed right now, maybe even more.” But concedes that “there’s a long way between two or three and doing the 12 or 14 that you have to have to do a whole project.”

After a number of tries, well, this is F&%#@ing hard! I ended picking songs that I could relate to. These are songs that have meaning for me. They are not the necessarily the best musicians or best lyrics or any of that. Just good classic rock songs that I like.

So here’s my top 10 best classic rock songs:

1. Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin)
2. Freebird (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
3. Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd)
4. Purple Haze (Jimi Hendrix)
5. Stranglehold (Ted Nugent)
6. Back in Black (AC/DC)
7. Dream On (Aerosmith)
8. Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)
9. Baba O’Riley (The Who)
10. Hotel California (The Eagles)

Here are some different versions of these songs that you may have never heard, some great, some just funny. Listen and see what you think!

So obviously your top ten best classic rock songs will be different than mine, right? So tell me! Leave your Top Ten list in the comment form below…

Republicans just need to figure out that outside of Kid Rock and Ted Nugent, they’re probably going to run into some opposition when they try to appropriate pop music for their own goals, but after Heart, the Foo Fighers, and Jackson Browne, they still haven’t learned their lesson.

Anyone paying any attention to American politics these past few weeks has doubtless noticed that contention over the Democrats’ stimulus bill has all but monopolized news coverage these past few weeks. The bill passed the house easily despite the fact that the House Republicans voted unanimously against the bill two times in a row, and the bill scraped by with a filibuster-proof majority in the senate, 61-38.

Despite the fact that the bill passed two times in a row without a single republican vote in the House, Republican Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia put out a video claiming that the Republicans are back, and chose Aerosmith’s “Back In The Saddle” to soundtrack the party’s triumph of irrelevance. However, you can’t see the video because it’s been taken down, due to a copyright claim by Stage 3 Music, the company that owns the rights to the song.

According to the Daily Swarm, Connie Ashton, director of copyright and licensing at Stage 3 Music said, “Aerosmith did not approve of its use and also wanted to have it taken down.”

You might remember that Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry is a republican, so maybe he just thought it was lame that Cantor was bragging about the fact that, despite voting against the bill unanimously, it still passed with ease because the Democrats still have 77 more members than the Republicans do. To watch Rachel Maddow explain why it’s particularly funny that Cantor elected to use a song about banging a hooker, click here.

via prefixmag.com.

Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler will headline the annual Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy Camp, scheduled to run between April 29th and May 4th in Hollywood, California. According to a press release, Tyler will take questions from and share career stories with camp attendees throughout the session, which includes seminars from well-known rock musicians, a recording opportunity at Capitol Studios and a closing concert at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go on the Sunset Strip where camp attendees will get a chance to perform. Other artists slated to appear as “counselors” include Duff McKagan of Velvet Revolver, ex-Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick, Todd Rundgren and Yes drummer Alan White.

Participants in the camp form separate bands, each of which receives intensive coaching from a different rock star.

Previous guest counselors have included Velvet Revolver’s Slash, Roger Daltrey of the Who and Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys.

Info on camp registration can be found at rockcamp.com.

via The Rock Radio

Post from: Real Rock News

There’s such a back catalogue of Aerosmith material that sometimes its hard to make a choice on what video to put here…but there is no such thing as a WRONG choice when it comes to these guys. They are the best selling American hard rock band of all time, and have sold in excess of 150 million records.

So here’s one of the songs that started it all for the “Bad Boys From Boston’, all grown up….and in some cases, grandpas….Sweet Emotion.