News From The Road

Brad’s kids joined us on a 2 ½ hour trip from the hotel to a Ninja Village. It was really interesting. The Ninja's put on shows in a bunch of different theaters that they have on the grounds. In Japan, tipping isn't really necessary, but these Ninjas made an exception. On the way into the theater they handed out little squares of paper so you could fold up your tip inside and toss it onto the stage at the end of the performance. It can be anything, chewing gum, a yen or a candy.

The Ninjas put on a great show and they used Jeff Beck's new album as a soundtrack, which rocked. So I put a couple of Brad and Joe's guitar picks in the paper and tossed it up on stage with the other gifts. At closing time the Ninjas cornered Joe for some autographs. He posed for pictures and passed out some of his new promo pictures. On the way home we stopped at Mickey D’s and got super-sized!

The next night I went back to "HAMA" with Jimmy and Brad this time. Thank God there is no mad cow over there or I would look like Chris Robinson.

Yokohama:
Unreal, sharing the same stage as The Who. We got to the show a little earlier than normal. The Who's dressing room was right next to Aerosmith's. Right before they went on, Steven and Joe went over to visit. Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend couldn't have been nicer. They invited the guys into their world and Ross took a bunch of pictures. I even managed to shoot a few. I've had the good fortune of seeing Joe and Steven spending time with their idols before. Joe with Jimmy Page and Keith Richards and Steven with Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney but it seemed like they were really tongue tied, sweaty and nervous. Maybe it was the Yokohama heat, which was over 100 degrees on stage before The Who played. They pulled out all the stops and really kicked butt. It was the first time in the band’s 40 year career that they played in Japan. Aerosmith has played in Japan about 59 times since 1977. It seemed like the guys turned the amps up to 11 after seeing The Who. It was a great night of rock. Later that evening I got to have a few drinks with new WHO bass player, Pino Paladino, and guitarist Simon Townshend at the Hotel bar with their fellow countryman Jimmy Eyers. However, the best was yet to come.

Osaka:
We had to make a 12:50 PM train to Osaka. So we left the Hotel at 12 Noon. It was again filled with Japanese fans that were beginning to look like they haven't slept since the band landed in Sapporo. They snapped away until their sticks had no memory left. At the train station it was Beatlemania! Everybody started to get a little pushy and the band's Japanese security guys made sure everyone got away safely. I heard them talking loudly to the fans in Japanese. I could only guess that they weren't saying, "Pardon us folks, would you be so kind and give the fellas a little room? The band would love and stop to chat but they have a train to catch."

In Osaka we got their in time to catch some of Paul Weller's set. He was in rare form. If you haven't heard of him, he was in a band called “The Jam" in England around the same time as The Clash and Sex Pistols. This guy is as big as Sting all over the World, but couldn't get arrested in the States. Pick up his Modern Classics CD. Tom and Steven chatted with Mr. Weller and Steven posed for some pix with him and his son.

Joe hand delivered some of his hot sauce to Pete Townshend along with a Boneyard slide and some new Godzilla picks.

The Aerosmith set that night was awesome. They played "The Grind" instead of "The Other Side" which was OK. Steven wanted to play "Rattlesnake Shake" so "Ragdoll" got the ax. Joe went into "Movin' Out" and Joey segued into "Walkin' the Dog." Both were not on the setlist. We'll see what Donald Trump's house will have in store for us.

We had to get up at 6:00 AM to make the plane to Narita. While waiting for our connecting flight home we ran into The Red Hot Chili Peppers who ironically where headed to Boston play the Democratic Convention. They were flying into JFK like us and were bussing it to Beantown. Anthony got held up at security and flashed a hurt smile to Joe and Bilie as they walked by untouched.

On the plane, The Chili Peppers and The Perry's took up the first 8 rows of the plane themselves. They shared war stories until everyone settled in for a few hours of sleep. The CP's played the same festival as Aerosmith but on opposite days. They played with Lenny Kravitz.
It was tough leaving Japan knowing you are not going to see some of the people you have been working with for the past 3 years. Ross Halfin however, is considering moving to Massachusetts to take advantage of some of our new laws.

See You on the Road!

John B.