Chimes of Freedom: Artists Talk Amnesty

HuffingtonPost.com
January 24, 2012

So I walk into the studio, and suddenly I’m in the presence of a rock god. Joe Perry is sitting on a big black leather sofa, casually strumming a sweet Guild, which he promptly sets aside so we can talk business.

The current business is the legendary Aerosmith guitarist’s blazing new cover of “Man of Peace” — one of Bob Dylan’s babies, as are all 76 tracks (!) on the new four-disc set, Chimes of Freedom, which simultaneously celebrates both 50 years of Bob Dylan and 50 years of the human-rights organization, Amnesty International. The rangy and rollicking collection (which arrives in stores and online today) features an astounding musical cast, spanning Dylan’s many styles via interpretations from youngsters Miley Cyrus and Ke$ha to Amnesty veterans Pete Townshend (who broke ground in 1979 by being the first rock musician to play an Amnesty benefit show, The Secret Policeman’s Ball) and Bob’s former flame, the eternally awesome Joan Baez (who devoted her whole year in 1972 to playing gigs and starting up Amnesty groups up and down America’s West Coast).

It’s a very, very big album. For a very, very good cause.

I ask Mr. Perry exactly how one goes about the seemingly daunting task of covering a Dylan song, and the rock god responds with disarming gentleness and verve:

“I did it in the comfort of my home studio. Jack Douglas, who produced some of the earliest recordings that I’ve ever done, was there. And once you make the decision to try it, you’ve just got to go for it. Dylan’s style of songwriting comes from such a long history of the traditional folk-blues — the songs are basically simple in their construction, so there’s so much room for interpretation in there, by the performer, that the only thing you’re really up against is Bob’s performance of the song. Because the way he performs his music, it’s so iconic that his versions become the song. So you kind of have to throw that out of your mind, and just see where it goes.”

This notion organically evolves into Mr. Perry’s natural affinity for the blues: “There’s something about that primal rhythm that I just gravitated toward — and the blues that I liked was the real, electric, Chicago blues, and it kind of went hand-in-hand with the guitar. And any kind of music that deviated from that — I was a real rock snob, you know what I mean?” (God. Snob. We mince with words.) “So that’s always been the bedrock for me. I mean, obviously my musical tastes have expanded, but if I had to boil it down, it’s still about Howlin’ Wolf, and John Lee Hooker, Muddy, and Slim Harpo, and Jimmy Reed — then the white guys just started interpreting it.”

We discuss the amazing entity that is Aerosmith — then and now (Mr. Perry, who has also long cultivated The Joe Perry Project, recorded “Man of Peace” amidst sessions for the new 2012 Aerosmith album) — and then return to Dylan. How does an artist narrow down that huge catalogue to one song?

“I figured that everybody would go for the first electric record — with all those great songs that are on there — and I wanted to do something a little more…in my Dylan catalogue, the Infidels record is one of my favorites, and on that record, “Man of Peace” is the one that comes to mind first. I know that this one’s a little more esoteric, so it was like, ‘This is the one I wanna do.’ I didn’t even ask about ‘Rolling Stone’ or ‘Highway 61′ — which would have been great for me with my slide playing, and that’s right up my alley — and then there was ‘Broke Down Engine,’ but that’s really not a Bob Dylan song.”

Next we broach the topic of philanthropy. Amnesty International has toiled for five decades on behalf of political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, for human rights, and for rights of expression. Does Mr. Perry approach his work differently if it’s for freedom on top of fun?

“Every time I get in front of an audience, I do the best I can. I really don’t look at it like, you know, ‘this is gonna be this crowd, or that crowd.’ If anything, I think about the demographics only because of what songs will entertain more than others.” He gives the concept sincere consideration. “Obviously, if I get asked to play at a show that has something to do with Amnesty International, I’ll probably play this song, ‘Man of Peace,’ but other than that,” Mr. Perry laughs good-naturedly, “we’ll see.”

Here some modesty is detected, for in 2007 Mr. Perry, his groovy wife Billie and Steven Tyler brought together Aerosmith and the Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars, for Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur — an also-very-big compilation album of John Lennon covers (rights donated by Yoko Ono) — on which they joyously covered “Give Peace a Chance.”

“We’ve all read some pretty horrible things about history and about man’s inhumanity to man,” he reveals, “and these guys lived through some of the worst stuff I’d ever heard of.” A documentary led to Joe and Billie helping to fund a U.S. tour for the SLRA, followed by a jam with himself and Steven in Nashville, and then the recording. The rock god — who is also a very nice man — concludes: “It all worked out. The synergy was incredible, and a lot of people benefitted from that. You know, every once in a while we’ll get a call — I mean, we get a lot of calls — but every once in a while something will happen, and we can adjust it to our schedule, and we’ll do it. I love doing things like that. It’s important. It’s important to give back.”

Complete article:  (here).

From Hard Rocker to Old Softie

NYPost.com
January 24, 2012

Picture this the next time you have to sit through a long commercial break on “American Idol”: Steven Tyler, trying to keep up his energy at the judges’ table, will be mainlining chocolate — chowing down on Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and York peppermint patties, kept ice cold just for him.

“They’ve gotta be frozen,” insists Tyler in true rock star fashion. Clean and sober since early 2010, Tyler, 63, says he can live without heroin, cocaine and prescription painkillers. But not without the cocoa bean, and definitely not without those peanut butter cups. “They’re the devil incarnate,” he says, laughing.

This lust for simple, classic candies explains the appeal of the “Idol” rock star judge, an unmistakable sweetness wrapped around wicked excess.

When asked why, like any self-respecting sex god, he hasn’t put the moves on his fellow judge, Jennifer Lopez, he jokes, “I may this season, because don’t forget, she’s not with that guy anymore [husband Marc Anthony]. She’s single. So she’s been giving me a little more love.”

For the record, Tyler just got engaged in December to his long-time girlfriend. And he sounds incredibly happy. He knows he’s caught a giant wave of stardom yet again, first as the iconic frontman for Aerosmith, and now as the funny, eccentric, supportive judge on the world’s most popular talent show.

“Being in Aerosmith is my life-long passion,” says Tyler, 63, who has spent more than four decades in the band and sold more than 100 million albums. “But to think that something else could have a spin as big as that? Nothing comes close to [singing with Aerosmith] in a live show, with the curtain dropping and 80,000 people out there. But on ‘Idol,’ the curtain goes up and there are eight 800 million.”

More like 20 million, but you get the idea: Tyler is luxuriating in the spotlight. He understands that his personality came as something of a surprise to those who assumed he’d be a bad-ass rocker with attitude instead of the big-hearted marshmallow he turned out to be.

“Look,” he says, “the image of a rock star, whether it’s Eric Clapton or Keith Richards, is always so much different from how they are at home. All the world is really seeing is that other side of me.”

But he did have one major concern before he took the job. Tyler was afraid before he started this new job last season that with his restless, globetrotting energy, he wouldn’t be able to sit still long enough to judge.
Now, he says he’ll be with the show as long as they want him.

“The show is changing,” he says, sounding raspier than usual after a six-hour recording session for a new Aerosmith album the night before. “We’re not sure exactly how, yet. Whether the judges will get more power than America, have more of a say in who we think could be an American Idol, we don’t know. So it’s changing. But do I want to change with it? Yeah.”

He says he and Lopez are lobbying to get three judges’ saves this season instead of one. And that the toughest part of doing his job is seeing someone leave because they had one bad night. “Because remember, I had six years of doing clubs to fail in, all over America. I could fail and come back the next night and try again. These kids are doing it in front of me in five minutes.”

Tyler says he has no intention of changing his style on the show, regardless of the complaints that last season’s judging from all three judges was too soft.

“I may have a little more piss and vinegar this season,” he says. “But I don’t think kids should be judged with a harsh, cynical, good-for-TV hand. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to keep up with Simon in the way he judged people.”

That would be Simon Cowell, his famous predecessor. Have the two men met?

“No, not yet,” says Tyler. “It’s possible that the world is keeping me away from him. I liked his character, but he’s an A&R man [Artists & Repertoire, an old music industry term for talent scouts]. We would never get along.”

Tyler sounds genuinely excited about the new crop of “Idol” wannabes, whom he describes as “just so delicious, so rich.” He’s particularly enamored with Reed Grimm, a singer who did his audition with an unusual instrument.

“He did his audition playing the f–king drums!” enthuses Tyler. “I did that for five years before Aerosmith. I was a singing drummer and there are not too many around. Phil Collins is another one, but you just don’t see it. So when I saw this kid, I said: ‘Oh my God, love you. You’re in. You’re going to Hollywood!’ ”

Tyler takes great satisfaction in following the progress of the contestants, even when he’s tempted to run up onstage and show them how it’s done. “I do feel like doing that sometimes,” he says. “But you can’t. But it’s still satisfying to mentor them, give them confidence, and watch them bloom.”

Which is not to say he remembers who actually won last year. He remembers the kid, the voice, the laid-back manner. Just not the name: Scotty McCreery.

“Sorry!” Tyler says, mortified. “Sorry!”

Tyler makes no attempt to hide his disappointment that his own choice, second-place finisher Lauren Alaina, didn’t take the crown. “But then Lauren was very young,” says Tyler, forgetting also that she was only a year younger than McCreery, 17. “She almost had a voice that didn’t fit her age. And he had this easygoing, sort-of country thing. I knew he could grow right into [the role]. I knew it.”

Tyler says that the kids on “American Idol” have actually helped him to overcome a strong prejudice against music distribution via the Internet.

“I was not for it, because it stole a lot of money from some bands. But it afforded kids the opportunity to hear all the music that there was to hear. How would I know that kids, for the last 20 years, have gravitated to classic rock? That 9-year-olds are talking about AC/DC?

“I think there’s also a backlash against techno music. There’s so much rap and techno and — what was that crap that happened in the ’80s? That movie with John Travolta? Disco! Jesus Christ, it drove me out of my mind! So now we’re coming back around to good old rock and roll. Give me something with a melody!”

The contestants did, at the auditions, with Adele being far and away the most imitated artist, with her hit song of heartbreak and loss, “Someone Like You.” Randy Jackson and Lopez got sick of hearing it, but not Tyler.

“Everybody was going, ‘OhmyGod, if I hear another Adele song in these auditions, I’m gonna lose my mind.’ And I’m thinking, ‘It’s one of the first times that I’ve heard a song repeated over and over that had great lyrics and a great melody.’ ”

You have to wonder, given Tyler’s wild past, whether he had trouble sticking to a very formal television schedule, being on a show where he had to show up regularly and on time.

“No,” he says, “because the later I get, the less I’m ready for what’s coming. And it’s live. So I like to get there a little early, drink a gallon of coffee, find my personality and then go in the trailer and f–k around with J.Lo and Randy for hour just to get up to speed.”

“It’s wonderful, which isn’t to say it isn’t hard work. It’s seven, eight hours a day in the auditions. And eight hours a day during Hollywood Week, eight hours a day in Vegas. It’s five hours a day when we go live, so it’s a bitch. But at the end of the day I feel so filled up with being a part of something so big.”

Joe Perry’s “Man Of Peace” Available Today!

Facebook.com/Aerosmith
January 24, 2012

“Starting today you can get Joe Perry’s cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Man of Peace’ recorded for Amnesty International’s Chimes of Freedom: The Songs Of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International

Joe Perry has joined Amnesty International’s latest music project, Chimes Of Freedom: The Songs Of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International, by performing “Man Of Peace” for the compilation. The collection, which will support Amnesty’s life-saving human rights work, features over 80 musicians across the generational and musical spectrum who have donated their time to support Amnesty International. The album is dedicated to people worldwide who are unjustly imprisoned or threatened for the peaceful expression of their beliefs.

You can support Amnesty International’s life-saving work by ordering Chimes Of Freedom today!

Order:  (here).

Steven Tyler on Access Hollywood – Video

AccessHollywood.com
January 23, 2012

Steven Tyler stops by Access Hollywood Live on January 23, 2012.

Watch video clips:  (here).

Steven Tyler Performs the National Anthem – AFC Championship Game

EOnline.com
January 22, 2012


Photo Gallery:  (Getty Images)

Singer Steven Tyler performs the national anthem prior to the AFC Championship Game between the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens at Gillette Stadium on January 22, 2012 in Foxboro, Massachusetts.


Photo Gallery:  (Getty Images)

Watch video:  (here).

Steven Tyler, Joe Perry Perform – Tonight Show With Jay Leno

NBC.com
January 20, 2012


Photo Gallery:  (Getty Images)

Musicians Randy Jackson, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry perform on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno at NBC Studios on January 20, 2012 in Burbank, California.


Photo Gallery:  (Getty Images)
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Photo Gallery:  (Getty Images)

Watch complete episode:  (here).

Backstage at The Tonight Show

NBC.com
January 20, 2012

Musician Randy Jackson, ‘American Idol’s’ Ryan Seacrest, musicians Steven Tyler and Joe Perry appear on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno at NBC Studios on January 20, 2012 in Burbank, California.


Photo Gallery:  (Getty Images)

Watch backstage video:  (here).

Steven Tyler To Sing National Anthem At Patriots-Ravens Game

CBS – Boston
January 20, 2012

Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler will sing the National Anthem for Sunday’s AFC Championship game at Gillette Stadium.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft made the announcement Friday in Foxboro, saying Tyler will fly in from the west coast for the game and then fly back.

“He’s been a loyal good pats fan,” Kraft said of the “American Idol” judge.

Steven Tyler, Carrie Underwood Set for ‘CMT Crossroads’ Special From Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam

CMT.com
January 20, 2012

Steven Tyler and Carrie Underwood will share the stage in a CMT Crossroads special airing live from Indianapolis on Feb. 4, the night before Super Bowl XLVI. CMT Crossroads: Steven Tyler & Carrie Underwood From the Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam will take place at the Pepsi Coliseum at the Indiana State Fair Grounds. The concert is a private event. As Aerosmith’s frontman, Tyler established himself as one of rock music’s most popular vocalists through hits such as “Sweet Emotion,” “Dream On” and “Last Child.” After winning the American Idol talent competition in 2005, Underwood has sold more than 14 million albums and won five Grammys, seven CMT Music Awards and six American Music Awards. She is a two-time winner of the Academy of Country Music’s entertainer of the year award and a three-time winner of both the CMA and ACM’s female vocalist of the year award. Tyler and Underwood previously performed together in 2011 at the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas. The duo brought the arena crowd to its feet and wowed millions of viewers at home performing Underwood’s No. 1 song “Undo It” followed by Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way.” CMT Crossroads: Steven Tyler & Carrie Underwood From the Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam premieres on CMT on Feb. 4 at 11 p.m. ET/PT.

American Idol 11 – Pittsburgh Auditions – Recap and Videos

MJsBigBlog
January 19, 2012

Watch video clips:  (here).

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