News From The Road
Aero Force One
February 22, 2006
Let It Ride!
It was a pretty busy week. The guys based out of Portland Oregon for a few days. Portland is a great city! It’s kind of a combination of San Francisco and Seattle. Joe and Tom spent a lot of time at Old Town Guitars. Tom bought a great old Epiphone bass and Joe bought a slew of old fiddles that he immediately put into the set. Don’t worry, his main axe is still the “Billie” guitar. Nothing can come close to that one. The whole band made a visit to Niketown and left with bags and bags of sneakers and apparel. February 14th was Tour Manager, Jimmy Eyers’ birthday and the guys had a special dinner in his honor at a restaurant called “Harrison’s.” It was very intimate - just the 5 guys, Jimmy, Col. Donny Wightman and yours truly. Jimmy has been in this business for about 40 years and is the best in the world at what he does.
Vegas:
I was going to tell you all about Las Vegas but as the saying goes “What goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas!”
Ah, what the hell - here goes. Steven and Joe went to the Cirque du Soliel performance called “KÀ.” These shows never cease to amaze me. If you get a chance you gotta check it out. The guys went back after the show and got a tour of the facility. They stopped to chat with the performers and posed for pictures with the whole staff.
Cast of "KÀ" with Steven and Joe
Entertainment Tonight was at the Vegas show and taped a segment which will air this week. A longer version of the show will be on this weekend. They interviewed the whole band and also got something special that night. My old friend, Joe Esposito, was in attendance. Joe, as you know, was Elvis Presley’s road manager and head honcho for the King for the last 17 years of his life. He is the ultimate professional and spent time between Steven’s and Joe’s dressing rooms until Ross got them all together in Steven’s room for an impromptu photo session. Joe E works for big shot, Steve Winn, now and he brought his lovely wife, Martha, with him along with son AJ. The guys and crew love spending time hearing the stories he doesn’t tell on Larry King. It was great to see him again.
The ET shoot included some shots of Steven warming up and Joe on his bus getting ready for the show. It was quite entertaining and it brought you all into the inter-sanctum of Aero World.
Steven went over to Jet in the Mirage after the show at MGM. He hung out with Lenny and joined him on stage for a Run-DMC style version of “Walk this Way”.
Steven, Joe and Billie went to see “Zumanity” at New York, New York. What a weird and wild show. It was a mildly x-rated burlesque type show. Again brought to you by the fine people of Cirque du Soliel. It’s too bad Ross left town because he would have dug the scene of the 5 guys in a steel cage.
I got to see Cheap Trick at the House of Blues in LA. It was a great show and a preview of weeks to come.
Employee of the week honors go to Mr. Kripa Jones. Kripa is technically Steven’s assistant but the guy does more. Way more. He lives on about 3 hours of sleep a night but is wide-awake and primed for when anybody steps on the stage. You probably won’t make it too far because he has cat like reflexes and only has the safety of the band and fans in mind. He’s a great guy and friend. You all should have a guy like him in your corner.
Happy Birthday to Brad Whitford! He gets better with age.
-- John B
February 22, 2006
Let It Ride!
It was a pretty busy week. The guys based out of Portland Oregon for a few days. Portland is a great city! It’s kind of a combination of San Francisco and Seattle. Joe and Tom spent a lot of time at Old Town Guitars. Tom bought a great old Epiphone bass and Joe bought a slew of old fiddles that he immediately put into the set. Don’t worry, his main axe is still the “Billie” guitar. Nothing can come close to that one. The whole band made a visit to Niketown and left with bags and bags of sneakers and apparel. February 14th was Tour Manager, Jimmy Eyers’ birthday and the guys had a special dinner in his honor at a restaurant called “Harrison’s.” It was very intimate - just the 5 guys, Jimmy, Col. Donny Wightman and yours truly. Jimmy has been in this business for about 40 years and is the best in the world at what he does.
Vegas:
I was going to tell you all about Las Vegas but as the saying goes “What goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas!”
Ah, what the hell - here goes. Steven and Joe went to the Cirque du Soliel performance called “KÀ.” These shows never cease to amaze me. If you get a chance you gotta check it out. The guys went back after the show and got a tour of the facility. They stopped to chat with the performers and posed for pictures with the whole staff.
Cast of "KÀ" with Steven and Joe
Entertainment Tonight was at the Vegas show and taped a segment which will air this week. A longer version of the show will be on this weekend. They interviewed the whole band and also got something special that night. My old friend, Joe Esposito, was in attendance. Joe, as you know, was Elvis Presley’s road manager and head honcho for the King for the last 17 years of his life. He is the ultimate professional and spent time between Steven’s and Joe’s dressing rooms until Ross got them all together in Steven’s room for an impromptu photo session. Joe E works for big shot, Steve Winn, now and he brought his lovely wife, Martha, with him along with son AJ. The guys and crew love spending time hearing the stories he doesn’t tell on Larry King. It was great to see him again.
The ET shoot included some shots of Steven warming up and Joe on his bus getting ready for the show. It was quite entertaining and it brought you all into the inter-sanctum of Aero World.
Steven went over to Jet in the Mirage after the show at MGM. He hung out with Lenny and joined him on stage for a Run-DMC style version of “Walk this Way”.
Steven, Joe and Billie went to see “Zumanity” at New York, New York. What a weird and wild show. It was a mildly x-rated burlesque type show. Again brought to you by the fine people of Cirque du Soliel. It’s too bad Ross left town because he would have dug the scene of the 5 guys in a steel cage.
I got to see Cheap Trick at the House of Blues in LA. It was a great show and a preview of weeks to come.
Employee of the week honors go to Mr. Kripa Jones. Kripa is technically Steven’s assistant but the guy does more. Way more. He lives on about 3 hours of sleep a night but is wide-awake and primed for when anybody steps on the stage. You probably won’t make it too far because he has cat like reflexes and only has the safety of the band and fans in mind. He’s a great guy and friend. You all should have a guy like him in your corner.
Happy Birthday to Brad Whitford! He gets better with age.
-- John B
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