Day Three of the Hollywood Fantasy Camp

After an exciting day two, Friday was of course THE day that Steven Tyler of Aerosmith would be visiting the camp.  The excitement was high, as even one of my counselor buddies said, we all feel like the President is coming to visit the camp.  Tyler’s talent and contribution to the rock world is obviously HUGE, and his band has been at the top of the rock heap since the 70’s with millions in record sales and huge history of sold out tours.

The day actually started with our morning rehearsals with our camper bands.  I was ready to start with our original song, as Saturday we will be headed over to Capital Records to record like the professionals. The song is coming together well, but I was strict with Jordan my lead player to get a solo that was melodic over the chord changes.  He said the magic words, HELP ME, and I came up with a solo that had a clear melody and was not out his capabilities to handle.  Tony our bassist from the Army was getting a good idea of the arrangement but I was going ballistic over my other guitarist Jaime, forgetting the solo section chords. We spent some time getting that clear and soon it was time to go over the song we will play for Steven Tyler. 

I was impressed with how well they remembered the parts, except for some issues with the solo section in that song as well. I guess that is my bands weakness to remember! We were definitely in good shape for his visit later that afternoon. We discussed some other songs to play on the final night. I think that is one of the hardest things to figure out being a counselor.  You don’t want to choose a song they can’t handle, and your goal is getting the right song to feature your bands ability. I always strive for making the song fit the band, and to make sure we all have fun learning and conquering the challenge.  Later that day we realized that AC/DC’s killer “Highway To Hell” could be in our set at the Whiskey on Sunday night. 

It was lunch time and the buzz about Steven Tyler’s arrival was intense. We headed down the block to the beautiful El Portal Theater where Steven would do his Q and A with Mark Hudson as his interviewer. When Steven came out we all stood up and he looked like the awesome rock star that he is with his snakeskin and leather threads.  He was funny, incredibly informative, and into some very eclectic subjects like acoustics in the theatre and sound waves that vibrate the room. His knowledge of music is deep and intense sharing with the campers his start when he was a child. His father was a talented piano player so that got Steven’s interest at an early age. Mark and Steven told the story of the hit “Living On The Edge” that Mark co-wrote with Steven, and then he took questions.  The campers were a bit shy, and I was desperate to ask Steven what he thought about the computer age of recording with Pro Tools compared to the analog that we both started out with in our careers.  To my shock, Steven remembered me, and I nearly fell out of my chair!  I am just like the campers when it comes to meeting the special guests.  And to think that Steven KNOWS my name, of course makes me feel so incredible.  His answer by the way, was as I thought… it is a tool but the old fashioned way makes you work harder. 

Back to the rehearsal rooms, as Steven was visiting them one by one, entering each camper bands room and watching them perform with him jumping in on vocals.  I was frantically tuning a guitar that was misbehaving when he entered my room, but I quickly put that down said hello, and he started taking pictures with the group.  Now it was time for us to play “Helter Skelter” and I was proud to say we got through it.  Steven and Mark Hudson started to do the backgrounds that my band never really got a chance to rehearse.  The look on all my bands faces was great to see.  The hairs on the back on my neck were standing up hearing Steven singing with my band. Tyler was a total class act, and I got him to sign a baseball for my friend, and a vintage guitar strap.  So once again dreams come true at the camp and my band was buzzing all day from his visit.  I told them to take a break and relax a bit after all that excitement.

After some more rehearsing on a few of our songs, it was time for dinner followed by the master classes. David has really stacked the deck with talent this time, but I was only interested in Steve Lukather’s class.  Lukather jammed with me on my latest CD that I am almost finished recording called BK3. Steve and I did a dueling instrumental guitar track, so it was great to see him so soon after working with him.  Luke, (his nickname) is very humble and a total monster on the guitar.

His class was amazing, sharing everything about his career, and I was busy recording his magic with my camera set on video of course.  His son Trevor came along as well, and I am aware he is super talented like his dad.  After his master class was done, it was time to jam. Kip Winger, Alan White, Sandy Gennaro, Luke and myself on guitars and Mark Hudson and some campers all jammed various songs for over an hour in one of the rehearsal rooms. We had a blast playing Beatles, Hendrix, ZZ TOP to the delight of the campers watching.  It was getting late so we all said our goodbyes and I told Luke once again what a pleasure it is to jam with him.

Definitely another day the campers and I will NOT forget.

 

 

 

 

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