F or a moment, Steven Tyler almost runs out of words. He’s standing too close to the edge of a Laurel Canyon cliff, exulting in the panorama of Los Angeles at his feet, the city’s sprawl giving way to white-capped mountains on the horizon. Off to his left, past green hills, a gang of clouds has singled out the HOLLYWOOD sign for a blast of rain. A sharp wind ruffles Tyler’s hair as he takes it all in. A deep breath of cool air, then he resumes the monologue that’s been running since he learned to speak – or, as he puts it, since he was “vaccinated with a phonograph needle.” “It’s all magical,” Tyler says in his excited rasp, pointing out the storm. “Hollywood is crying, because the Oscars are happening tomorrow night – it’s sad to see the year go, but it’s also crying tears of joy, because it’s all going to start all over again.” Tyler means this stuff, all of it, and he can make you buy into it too. He’s in a manic, mystical state of awe and gratitude these days, practically … [Read more...] about The Emancipation of Steven Tyler
Michael jackson lead guitarist
Aerosmith’s Amazing Road Back
S teven Tyler enters the hotel room and strips down to his black cracker – a sort of G-string. It’s three in the morning – four hours after Aerosmith wrapped up a show before 37,000 fans at Toronto’s Skydome – and the band’s hyperactive lead singer is back at the Four Seasons Hotel ready to do a little more performing. After contorting himself on the room’s double bed for a few minutes, he finally achieves his desired position: bound and gagged with an attractive female friend of the band’s riding him bareback. Someone turns on a video camera to record the moment for posterity. Tyler’s famous big lips – which rival Mick Jagger ‘s or even Carly Simon ‘s – break into a wide Cheshire-cat grin. Then suddenly his expression turns more serious, and he begins a series of muffled orgasmic squeals. This is, in all likelihood, not the first time that the forty-two-year-old Tyler has found himself in this sort of situation. In fact, to hear Tyler and the other members of Aerosmith … [Read more...] about Aerosmith’s Amazing Road Back
Bloc Party Pulls Out Alt-Rock Hit ‘Traps’ For ‘Corden’ Performance
Under the flashing red and blue lights of The Late Late Show with James Corden stage, indie-rock band Bloc Party brought the heat with a performance of their popping alt-rock single “Traps.” “There you go-go /Looking like a snack /Cute like Bambi /But you’re headed to a trap,” frontman Kele Okereke warns in the record’s buzzing chorus. Led by Okereke, Bloc Party rounds itself out with lead guitarist Russell Lissack, bassist Justin Harris, and drummer Louise Bartle, the latter two members making up the band’s latest additions. “Traps” served as the lead single to the band’s long-awaited comeback album Alpha Games, released this year as their first full-length offering since 2016. It is the standout statement piece on Alpha Games . When the song was released, Okereke shared: “From the moment we wrote ‘Traps,’ we knew it had to be the first thing people heard from this album. Playing it in soundchecks on our last tour before it was finished and hearing how it sounded in … [Read more...] about Bloc Party Pulls Out Alt-Rock Hit ‘Traps’ For ‘Corden’ Performance
Bobby Lee Boards Indie ‘The Throwback’; Leah McSweeney Finds First Film Role In ‘The Kill Room’
EXCLUSIVE : Bobby Lee ( And Just Like That… ) has signed on to star alongside Justina Machado, Will Sasso, Gregg Sulkin and Michelle Randolph in Mario Garcia’s feature directorial debut, The Throwback , which is currently in production in the Tampa Bay area. The indie comedy follows Kate (Machado) and Matt (Sasso), a married couple in full-blown midlife crisis who are thrown into further turmoil when the former, an underappreciated and stressed ‘supermom,’ suffers a post-traumatic breakdown during the holiday season, causing her to regress to her 19-year-old college party-girl self. Lee will play an ad agency art director and longtime colleague of Sasso’s character Matt, who fancies himself a ladies’ man. Garcia penned the script and is producing via his company Garcia Interactive, alongside Michael A. Alfieri of Miantri Films and Doug Fox. Danielle Del is exec producing alongside Machado and Sterling Macer Jr. Lee is an actor, comedian and podcaster who recently … [Read more...] about Bobby Lee Boards Indie ‘The Throwback’; Leah McSweeney Finds First Film Role In ‘The Kill Room’
Done With Mirrors
PMRC to the contrary, heavy metal is not an inherently noxious influence on young children. At its best, heavy metal acts as a genuine voice for a community that hasn’t yet developed its own. But Aerosmith ’s unawaited reunion LP, Done with Mirrors , is the work of burned-out lugheads whose lack of musical imagination rivals their repugnant lyrics. A competent rehash of “Let the Music Do the Talking,” the title track of guitarist Joe Perry ’s 1980 solo LP, opens the album with the concise hard rock that made the original incarnation of Aerosmith an entertaining if derivative diversion. Unfortunately, seven more songs follow it, most of them advertisements for vicious sexism. “My Fist Your Face” describes the band’s idea of domestic bliss, and “The Reason a Dog” refers to the singer’s latest conquest. Perry’s once fiery guitar leads are now rote and lazy, and Steven Tyler ’s arena shouts make Ace Frehley sound subtle. Aerosmith may be back in the saddle, but they picked the … [Read more...] about Done With Mirrors
‘History Of A Pleasure Seeker’: Lesley-Ann Brandt To Star In Hulu Pilot
EXCLUSIVE : Lucifer’s Lesley-Ann Brandt is joining Hulu musical pilot History of a Pleasure Seeker . The project, which is based on Richard Mason’s novel, is a musical drama set in Amsterdam in 1907 — a tale of a charismatic young man’s explosive adventures through all the temptations of the Belle Époque. The book, which was published in 2012 by Penguin Random House, follows Piet Barol, who has an instinctive appreciation for pleasure and a gift for finding it. When his mother dies, Piet applies for a job as tutor to the troubled son of Europe’s leading hotelier – a child who refuses to leave his family’s mansion on one of Amsterdam’s grandest canals. As Piet enters this glittering world, he learns its secrets and finds his life transformed. Brandt will play Jacobina in the project. Powerful, beautiful and always in control, Jacobina has achieved everything her privileged childhood taught her to wish for. She’s helped her husband become one of the richest men in … [Read more...] about ‘History Of A Pleasure Seeker’: Lesley-Ann Brandt To Star In Hulu Pilot