Aerosmith has reached a legendary plateau that few rock bands have achieved. After experiencing multiple resurgences, being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, dubbed an icon by MTV, dazzled America at the Super Bowl Half-Time Show, appeared in feature films and won multiple Grammys, the boys from Boston have secured their place in rock history. For the past six years the band has been touring non-stop and selling out arenas, amphitheaters and stadiums across the globe even breaking ground for the first time in India and Russia. Not bad for five guys in their late fifties.
The act has been in touring mode for a while instead of releasing studio 
albums. “We’ve had incredible opportunities to tour. We keep waiting for people to get sick of us but the phone keeps ringing,” said bassist Tom Hamilton.
In a surprise to many Aerosmith fans the band has been co-billing with acts such as Kiss, Lenny Kravitz and Motley Crue over the past few years. When asked why, Hamilton stated, “There’s a lot of fun in knowing you have a really good bill. We get a thrill out of it.”
Last year Hamilton suffered from throat cancer and had to sit home for six months while his band was on tour, which was not easy. “Normally the idea of the band being out there and touring without me would be one of my worst nightmares. I’ve always had a perfect attendance record,” he said. “But the information of what I needed to do and how I needed to change my life was so strong, it eliminated the decision making process. There was no agonizing about what to do. It made the situation much easier to deal with.”
Hamilton eased his way back into the band by starting off sitting in on a few songs when the band played in Boston. Then he worked his way up to playing a whole show at the Beacon Theater in December. This past April the band went to South America, which was Hamilton’s first time away home base and he’s been on the road ever since.
After they finish touring at the end of September, the band will take October off and then head into the studio to make a new album. “We are looking to put out a kick ass hard rock record. It’s an amazing point in time for us due to the resurgence in guitar music. We want to deliver that punch,” said Hamilton. “The experience of making the blues album (2004’s Honkin’ On Bobo) had an impact on us. We were happy with that record and I think it whet our appetites for going back into the hard rock mode.”
Unlike other bands, Aerosmith has the unique ability to preserve the essence and soul of the group and perform better now than when they started. “A lot of bands from our era have become self-conscious adults. They are still worried about playing at their age. I don’t buy any of that,” said Hamilton. “Playing in Aerosmith still has the same thrill for me. The Who, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones are our heroes and we’re going for that level.”
The secret of the band’s success is the mixing of the various personalities, which affects its inner dynamics. “Steven (Tyler, lead vocals) is the never satisfied, always striving, flamboyant guy. Then you have the smoldering deep hidden rivers of (guitarist) Joe Perry’s personality. He gets up on stage and turns into this animal, which is different from what he’s like the rest of the time. Off stage he’s the organizational guy. My role in the band is the voice of reason. When we are having a big fight, I try to make everybody see both sides of the story. Brad (Whitford, guitar) has a cool, laid back, introverted personality and on stage he blossoms with beautiful guitar leads and Joey (Kramer, drums) is the guy who is always hammering away looking to make everything tighter and stronger,” said Hamilton.
After all these years, you’d think the band is rock solid but Hamilton claims that’s not the case. “It always feels extremely unstable,” he said. “When Enron folded, it was ironic because they were this company made up of conventional business type people in suits and they went down the tubes meanwhile we are this volatile, impulsive rock organization and we are still here. It’s a strange feeling.”
Aerosmith will perform at Nikon at Jones Beach Theater on September 12.
New York Mets general manager Omar Minaya was holding court with the press, as always cool and calm as he sat on the team’s dugout bench about an hour before the August 8 game extolling the virtues of international free agent signings Cesar David Puello Santana and Wilmer Alejandro Flores.
“We’re very excited,” said the charismatic GM. “These type of players are important to the future of our organization.”
For sure, but Minaya knows that New York is New York – and the fans are more concerned with winning now, as in NOW. At press time, both the Mets and the New York Yankees were knee-deep in serious pennant races. The Mets were in their usual form – decent against most of the baseball world but unable to beat their archrivals the Atlanta Braves – and held on to a scant lead in the National League’s Eastern Division. Meanwhile, the Yankees took advantage of a weaker-than-weak July and August schedule, beating up on glorified AAA teams such as the Kansas City Royals to leap back into the pennant race – though surpassing this year’s excellent Boston Red Sox team in the AL East is going to take some doing.
To many fans, attending games at both Shea and Yankee Stadiums is an annual rite that starts right about now. As the days pass, every game, win, and loss is increasingly important. So how, with both teams 
drawing huge crowds – both will draw more than 3.5 million fans this year, with the Yankees to surpass four million – can fans be a part of all the excitement? As we provided last year, here is our annual Good Times guide to the best values in New York baseball.
For the Mets, we recommend mezzanine reserved tickets as an economical and affordable way to enjoy the pennant race. Views of the field are spectacular no matter where in the “green” third level you sit, and often there are attractive ticket discounts available on these seats.
LIRR, Metro-North, and subway riders can receive a $10 discount on mezzanine reserved or upper box tickets by entering a special code when ordering at Mets.com or via phone. At press time, a half-dozen game are available for this attractive discount – with upper reserved seats available for just $5 for three 
key late September games against the Washington Nationals. Other ticket discount options are available as well; log on to Mets.com for complete ticket information.
As for the Yankees, avoid the steep, overpriced upper deck at all costs – it’s the single worst view and value in all of baseball. Instead, see if you can obtain the vastly underrated left field bleacher seats, which aren’t expensive and offer a great view of the field and the bullpen. However, those without a strong stomach and at least two felony convictions are urged to avoid the rowdy right field bleachers, where fans have been repo
rtedly harassed for doing such passé things as keeping score and actually watching the game.
Getting Yankees tickets has been quite difficult this season, but there are still some to be had if you work at it. There are a pair of Fuji Film $5 nights still on the schedule where all upper reserved (careful now), upper box, and bleacher seats are just five smackers. There is also a pair of “MasterCard Grand Slam” dates available where a family can attend a Yankees game for a discounted price. Log on to Yankees.com for more information; Yankees tickets are available at the fee-crazy Ticketmaster.com.
And a final word: We recently tried StubHub.com, and the service and selection were excellent. If there’s a game you must see, give StubHub a try – and it’s completely legal now!
Here’s a bit of trivia for you: Lance and Larry Hoppen, the founding members of the classic rock group Orleans, are actually from Bay Shore. Many fans assumed the band was from the Woodstock area in upstate New York
– where fellow founding member John Hall has lived for many years –but in reality Orleans is as much a local product as any national Top 40 act has ever been.
And what a string of hits; in the mid- to late-1970s, Orleans was a dominant force in the Billboard Top 10, scoring such chart smashes as “Still The One,” “Dancin’ In The Moonlight,” “Dance with Me,” “Love Takes Time,” “Let There Be Music,” and several others. The YMCA Boulton Center in Bay Shore will host what is being billed as a homecoming concert for Orleans, to take place on Saturday, September 22 as the founding members Larry and Lance Hoppen “return to their roots.” The band will perform two shows at 7 and 9:30 pm.
The YMCA Boulton Center is located on Main Street. Tickets are now on sale; for more information, log on to boultoncenter.org, call toll free (866) 811-4111, or contact the box office at (631) 969-1101.
For the Hoppens, the brothers consider the Boulton event a big moment in their lengthy musical careers.
“Orleans has played Long Island many times in our 35 years,” according to Larry Hoppen, “but we’ve never, ever played our home town of Bay Shore. The September 22 gig definitely has a warm and fuzzy feeling to it.”
Larry and Lance, original band members, are now joined by the youngest Hoppen brother, Lane, on keyboards, drummer Charlie Morgan (best known for his many years with Elton John), and Dennis “Fly” Amero on guitar, filling the space left by John Hall’s recent election to the U.S. Congress upstate.
Lance Hoppen has fond memories of the Boulton Center and what it means to both Bay Shore and Long Island.
“If I’m not mistaken, The Boulton Center used to house the local movie theater, where as a boy I would watch the black and white Batman serials at Saturday matinees,” Lance recalled. “This is about five miles from where my brothers and I grew up on Gardiner Drive. All three of us intend to pay a visit to the old homestead and announce ourselves to the current owners in hopes of being allowed entry!”
From their earliest days as a favorite at colleges and clubs in the Northeast U.S. to studio and live collaborations with such greats Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, and Little Feat to Top 10 success with bona fide classics, Orleans is currently celebrating its 35th year of creating musical history. The act has been performing live nearly every year since 1972, always with at least half their original members. The band claims to do it the old-fashioned way – singing and playing their own material. Their newest release, We’re Still Havin’ Fun, features 10 live tracks from the soon-to-be-released DVD of the same name.
“It may be true that you can never really go back home,” reflected Larry, “but this Boulton Center show is proof that you can certainly visit where you grew up and thoroughly celebrate it!”
Other upcoming shows at the Boulton Center include Pure Prairie League on September 14, John Ford Coley & Tracy Sylvester on September 15, and 80s diva Sophie B. Hawkins on September 27.
