David Hull's Rock Star Supernova

It’s funny to think that just a few months earlier, I was praying for another chance like Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, who made a wad of money, blew it all, and was allowed another go. Now my chance was right in front of me...
--Tabloid Baby, Chapter 25

...Tom Hamilton won’t be with his brothers until mid October. David Hull, a longtime friend of the band who played in the Joe Perry Project, will fill in as bassist.
--Aerosmith.com

Growing up in the Sixties and Seventies, we all wanted to be rock ‘n’ roll stars, and David Hull was the first rock ‘n’ roll star we got to know up close. We were in Connecticut, heading into high school, and he was the cousin of our best friend. David Hull was a few years older than us, a skinny, long-haired, velvet-wearing bass player in rock ‘n’ roll bands at a time when rock ‘n’ roll was important, when Jimi Hendrix was alive, the Beatles were still together and Steven Tyler was singing in local cover bands.

In 1969, David Hull and his guitar-slinging bandmate Charlie Karp entered local rock mythology when they joined The Buddy Miles Express in time to play on the Them Changes album. Buddy was a big fat drummer with a big Afro and a psychedelic red white and blue drum kit who'd been in the Electric Flag and played in Band of Gypsies with Hendrix. Timing being everything, David and Charlie got to know Hendrix-- and play at his funeral. After a couple of years, they left Buddy Miles, made an album with Arthur Lee, and returned to Connecticut with a funk trio called White Chocolate and a contract with RCA Records.

One thing: David Hull was a great rock 'n' roll (and funk) bass player. In high school, he gave us bass guitar lessons, teaching us patterns and names like James Jamerson and Willie Weeks. He had extra cachet because he was friends with the guys in Aerosmith, whose first two albums were essential to every Connecticut kid, and legend was that he and Charlie had recorded with Tyler and that he’d almost joined their band.

That was more than thirty years ago.

Around the time punk was breaking, White Chocolate became The Angels with Dirty Faces, which became the Dirty Angels which were the best bar band of the Seventies— real rock stars in beachside clubs, opening with the Beach Boys' Marcella, blasting in with originals.

They had the chops. They had the attitude. They had rock ‘n’ roll model girlfriends and even had a shot at the big time when they recorded an album for Private Stock at the same time Blondie was laying down their first LP for the same label across the hall. Bruce Springsteen told Creem magazine that their record Tell Me was his favorite song on the radio. But this was the record business. They made their next album with Ted Nugent’s producer— and included new versions of songs from their first album. The Dirty Angels opened for Aerosmith, but eventually broke up.

Around that time, Joe Perry left Aerosmith and started The Joe Perry Project. David Hull joined as bass player.

This was 1980. The gig lasted probably a year and a half.

Joe Perry would get back with Aerosmith for an even greater ride. And that was the last we‘d heard of David Hull, until about a year ago when we looked him up on the Internet. In an interview on an Aerosmith tribute site, he confirmed the legends we’d grown up with:

”I'm from southern Connecticut and I think Steven Tyler was from Yonkers. When I was a kid I used to see him playing around the circuit there. His band would play in high school gyms. I saw him once open up for Sly Stone I think, he had this band called The Chain Reaction and for part of the time he played drums in it. So I just knew him. I was playing with Buddy Miles. Buddy moved to Boston, I started living in Boston and met Steven … Charlie Karp and I were going to start a band with Steven and we actually got together and recorded… Steven wrote the lyrics and sang on it… but then Charlie Karp and I left town with Buddy Miles and went on the road. By the time we got done with that Aerosmith was already under way…”

David Hull had settled in Boston. His story got a little sad in the Eighties as he played with a number of fashionable bands—even changing his name and dressing up for one of them. More recently, he was playing bass for a singer named Pete Droge and recorded with local blues hero James Montgomery.

And, apparently, he stayed friends with the guys in Aerosmith.

Last week, we read that Aerosmith’s bass player, Tom Hamilton, is being treated for throat cancer and would miss the beginning of the band’s Fall tour. And then Aerosmith’s management put out a press release:

David Hull, a longtime friend of the band who played in the Joe Perry Project, will fill in as bassist.

The tour is set to launch Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio.

Aerosmith.com reports: “David Hull has been in the studio everyday going over a countless number of songs with (drummer) Joey and David usually got into the studio 2 hours before the rest of the guys to get into a groove.”

So David Hull gets another shot at the big game, 25 years later. Tom Hamilton’s recovery will determine whether he'll be more than a footnote in Aerosmith history, but at a time when we're digging our rock stars 50 years and older, his second, or third, or fourth act couldn't have come at a better time.

Once a rock star, always a rock star.


(The Hulls were a musical family. Dave’s grandmother was our freshman music teacher and his dad was a jazz musician who’d gone the Louis Prima route with a Vegas lounge act. Every year, Gene Hull would bring his group and his gorgeous girl singer to play in our high school gym. Today, one of our researchers discovered that daddy Gene Hull recently wrote his own Tabloid Baby! Hooked on a Horn: Memoirs of A Recovered Musician was published last November. It looks like a great read. We’re ordering it from Amazon, and will have a review soon.

Aerosmith turns David Hull into a rock star again

I was in Hartford for show #2 this tour. and David Hull's bass playing was great but he looked a little uncomfortable. By the time I saw them in Toronto… he loosened up and looked at "home" up there with the boys...still kicking ass on bass. I miss Tom... but David was the right replacement.

*****

That's how it was with me, too! I was at the opening show in Columbus and David stayed in one spot out of the way, but when I saw them at Alpine and Indy, he had loosened up and was more comfortable and was having fun with it and moved around. Tom isn't replaceable in my eyes, but David is doing a great job of filling in for him during his illness/recovery.

The Still Crazy-style resurrection of David Hull, the local rock star from Tabloid Baby’s teenage years, has been well-documented on this site in past weeks. The bass player with a long association with the boys in Aerosmith was called out of obscurity last month to fill in for ailing bassman Tom Hamilton on the band’s latest tour.

Dave’s tenure onstage was supposed to end sometime this month. But it seems the group’s prediction of Tom’s recovery from throat cancer may have been overly optimistic. November’s on the way and David Hull is still slinging the bass, and growing back into the the rock star swagger he carried as a young man.

Photos of David Hull onstage in the early shows showed the musician who once defined rock’n’roll attitude star to appear reticent and respectful, hanging back in dress and demeanor. But all these weeks on the road, chilling the crowd with the opening riffs to Sweet Emotion, and playing what he loves best along with pros his own age and at his own level, has stripped away the years, loosened him up, and made him a loveable member of this gang of ageing bad boys.

One barometer of his success is how the protective Aerosmith fans are responding. We’d espect the Tom Hamilton fans to have their switchblades out, but comments from the Aeroforceone fan forum indicate otherwise:

All I have to say is David I'm glad you are filling in for TOM. I know your filling big shoes right now, but let me be the one to say you kicked ass last night, and I'm sure Tom thanks his lucky stars to have someone like you fill in for him till he returns. Aerofans can be the hardest critics at times, but I don't think anyone can complain about you stepping up to the plate for Tom.

I had a great time in Nashville watching the show, and you were right there with the whole thing. Thanks for being a shining light for Tom right now, and may God be with you always.

*****

The fact that we haven't heard anything but positive things about David says a lot... seeing that there are not too many threads on the guy is a shame but it also shows he's fitting in so well people forget he's even there!

*****

All I can say is that David did a very good job on Sweet Emotion. I would liked to have seen Tom do it but David nailed it! We miss Tom But during the healing, David is doing a stand up job for him,and I'm glad that Steven, and the Boy's make David a part of this very special group.

*****

I didn't think I would like David Hull and my mind was already made up against him but you guys are right. He's doing an awesome job and although we all miss Tom, David seems like an excellent choice and the next best thing.

When I met Tom in Boston on June 1st, he was talking to David although at the time I had no idea who he was. I was just wishing Tom would finish talking to this floppy haired guy so he could pay a little attention to me. Had I known what was going on with him at the time, I might have been a little less selfish...

*****

Davids doing a GREAT JOB!!! Aerosmith thanks for making a great choice putting David in Toms place... Tom...get well soon!! We miss your sweet face!

*****

As much as I miss Tom and would really love to see him back on the stage, I think David Hull is doing an awesome job filling in... and having fun doing it.

On the down side, Tom Hamilton’s condition may mean the end of his long run with Aerosmith. No one’s candid at times like this.

But David Hull’s rock ’n’ roll renaissance has been the story of the season, even more exciting than the ups and downs and ins and outs of Rock Star Supernova, starring Aerosmith’s tour mate, Tommy Lee. New dates have been added that take the tour into December.

Stay tuned here for the latest on both.

Aerosmith Update: David Hull returns to reality

From the James Montgomery Band website:

Dec 29 Chan's Woonsocket, RI David Hull rejoins the band after 3 months as Aerosmith's bassist! Welcome back Dave! The most venerable blues and jazz club in all the Northeast. Great dinner and great music. The crowd here is the best! "We play to the crowd more here than any other place we play," says James. Come down and experience it personally!

The rock’n’roll Cinderfella success story of the year is winding to a close, and the local hero rock star of Tabloid Baby’s teenage years is returning to the trenches after a season at the top. For a few months now, we've been following the amazing comeback of David Hull, Seventies rock star turned journeyman musician, to whom fate handed an incredible second coming in September when he was recruited to play with Aerosmith on the band's Route of All Evil tour. We first knew David Hull more than thirty five years ago. It was Southern Connecticut. We must have been 14. He was the cousin of our best friend Brian Butler, a few years older and the rock star we all wanted to be. He made records with Buddy Miles and Arthur Lee, jammed with Hendrix, and had planned to start a band with Steven Tyler before returning home victorious with White Chocolate and later The Dirty Angels, a trio and quartet that provided the bar band soundtrack of our Seventies. He gave us bass lessons when we were young, and when we were older and had traded guitars for the journo life while moving the punk scene with our Connecticut pals Tom Hearn and Legs McNeil, we wrote about his band and records. David Hull’s Aerosmith connections stuck through the years. The Dirty Angels opened for Aerosmith in their late Seventies burnout years, and he played bass with the Joe Perry Project when Joe wandered off on its own. Over the past 25 years, he’s been based in Boston, playing with a variety of rock, pop and blues bands, back in the bars and small clubs, still socializing with the guys from Aerosmith but apparently content in his role as a journeyman who’d reached for the brass ring and almost made it. When he was young. And then, this summer, opportunity knocked. Aerosmith was headed off on a fall tour with Motley Crue, but bass player Tom Hamilton, a fan favorite, couldn’t make it because he was being treated for throat cancer. The show would go on, and David Hull got the call to fill in. Another chance at rock stardom, years after it seemed to be in his past. In his 50s! Suddenly, this rock pro who hadn’t played to arenas full of screaming fans since the Seventies, was being plucked from the clubs and bars of New England where he’d been playing with local hero James Montgomery. Aerosmith management assured the fans it would only be for a month or so, that Tom was on the mend and would be back soon. David did a crash course on the Aerosmith songbook, worked for weeks getting into the groove with drummer Joey Kramer, getting his hair in shape. He made his debut on September 5th in Ohio. Onstage, he laid back. He knew whose shoes he was filling and the possible fan backlash that could rival the reaction when Ringo took over for Pete Best. But as weeks turned to months, and it became clear that Tom’s condition was worse than let on, David's reputation as a good guy and longtime compatriot added to the goodwill. He loosened up, started looking like a rock star again. The fans accepted him. And what would otherwise be seen as sacrilege-- playing the classic opening bassline of Sweet Emotion-- was heard as a tribute from an old friend. He'd even inspire his own subgroup of fans known as FOD: “Followers of Dave.” And he played the entire tour, which wraps up tonight at the Arco Arena in Sacramento. The members of Aerosmith wlll scatter to their own private rock star corners of the world for winter vacations. For David Hull, it's back to work. He'll will rejoin The James Montgomery Band, beginning at Chan’s Chinese restaurant and jazz club in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Not quite the Arco Arena. But Aerosmith will soldier on in 2007. And there's a good chance David Hull will be with them. His rock star comeback isn't over. We'll keep you posted.

David Hull is back with Aerosmith

We reported three years ago on the Still Crazy-style resurrection of David Hull, the local rock star from Tabloid Baby’s teenage years who'd been called out of obscurity to tour as a member of Aerosmith.

David was the coolest bass player out of Statford, Connecticut (and still a teenager) forty years ago when he and local guitar hero Charlie Karp joined The Buddy Miles Express in time to play on the Them Changes album (the song appears on the new Eric Clapton-Stevie Winwood live album). David and Charlie toured the world before going on to their own success with White Chocolate and The Dirty Angels, including opening for their stadium pals Aerosmith (they'd been working with Steven Tyler when Buddy Miles called). David would later join The Joe Perry Project, and settled in the Boston area, where he remained a part of the blues and rock scene for decades.

Then, in 2006, Aerosmith called him back up to the big leagues, to fill in on tour for bassist Tom Hamilton, who was stricken with throat cancer. He was received warmly by fans, even when he played Tom's signature opening riff to Sweet Emotion, and was suddenly a rock star in his fifties.

Three years later, Aerosmth's on the road again, and David Hull is once again filling in for ailing Tom Hamilton. The band's site reports:

AEROSMITH bassist TOM HAMILTON will be sitting out some dates of the Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Presents Aerosmith tour dates with special guests ZZ Top as he recuperates from non-invasive surgery. Filling in for TOM will be David Hull, a longtime friend of the band who played in the Joe Perry Project and who sat in for TOM on various shows in 2006. When STEVEN TYLER, JOE PERRY, AND JOEY KRAMER return to the road on July 15 at Lakewood Amphitheatre in Atlanta, GA, they’ll be welcoming back BRAD WHITFORD, who has recovered from a recent surgery after having sat out the opening dates of the tour.

Aerosmith is battered. Tyler is recovering from leg surgery and drummer Kramer's got a new book about his depression and addictions. We're sure Joe Perry's not feeling so hot himself. Yet, they rock on. And David Hull can be considered one of the boys.

David Hull photo by Glen Masso

Buddy Miles

The Buddy Miles Express was our first rock concert. Poco was the opening act. Playing bass guitar with Buddy was David Hull, cousin of our pal Brian Butler, who had a Ludwig drum set just like Ringo's. David Hull's buddy Charlie Karp played guitar. Them Changes had just hit the charts; it included a great version of Down By The River and a song written by Charlie called I Still Love You, Anyway. Buddy Miles had drummed with Jimi Hendrix in Band of Gypsys. After Jimi died, David and Charlie played at his graveside service. Then they made an album with Arthur Lee and came home to Connecticut and formed the band White Chocolate, and later, The Dirty Angels. In 2006, David Hull filled in for Tom Hamilton on tour with Aerosmith. Somewhere along the way, Buddy Miles went to prison for shoplifting and sang on the California Raisins commercials. He died yesterday.

He'd made it to 60.

First photos! David Hull on the road with Aerosmith

David Hull, the local rock star from Tabloid Baby's school days, has crested with an unexpected supernova, filling in for Aerosmith's cancer-stricken bassist on their latest tour, playing to packed arenas and living the rock star life he helped define in the Sixties and Seventies.

And as our former bass guitar teacher gives the crowd a poignant chill when he hits the opening riff to Sweet Emotion, we turn to the Aerosmith fan site Aero Force One for the first solo tour pictures of 50-something David, and another recollection of David Hull back in the Seventies, when Aerosmith was having their first go-round:

Hey Tabloid Baby, Great "Dave" article. When the news broke weeks ago we (Followers of Dave) were doing cartwheels in the streets of Stratford. There were Congratulation Dave martini parties all weekend. Reading your story brought back memories of long ago. Dave used to leave the bathroom window open at the Pinecrest Club so we could sneak in to see him play. His musical family doesn't stop with his dad and grandmother. All three brothers are musicians also and one of his four sisters is a pianist. And lets not forget his mother who encouraged all of them. I've known the "Hulls" for many years. I've played in bands with all of them and can tell you they are the nicest people you'ld ever want to know. I've been backstage at more than a few "Dave" concerts in my days but Thursday night standing on stage in Hartford watching Dave was so intense. He's earned this the hard way and I hope that the "A" list exposure keeps him where he belongs... playing live to thousands...

(Meanwhile, Lukas won the other Rock Star Supernova last night, as we predicted at the start... and a tip of the Tabloid Baby hat to Aero Force One.)

David Hull is releasing his first solo album

The sudden late-in-life rock star resurrection of local teenage hero David Hull that we first chronicled four years ago to this day (September 3, 2006) has reached a new apotheosis with the release this month of his first solo album.

Soul in Motion is available for pre-order on i-Tunes and Amazon.com and will be celebrated with a release party on October 14th at the House of Blues in Boston. Dave reports that a video for the tune Pay Some Attention (above) has been shot and will be released soon.


Hull, the bassist from Stratford, Connecticut who found international success forty years ago with the Buddy Miles band, White Chocolate and the Dirty Angels. His connection to Seventies superstars Aerosmith (he and guitar partner Charlie Karp once planned a band with Steven Tyler) paid off at the end of the decade when he joined the Joe Perry Project. Hull would keep up a low-profile career based in the Boston area until 2006 when he was called back to the Majors, filling in on tour for Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton, who was sidelined with throat cancer. In the time since, he's kept up his chops with the James Montgomery Band, toured with a revamped Joe Perry Project and done more shows with Aerosmith.


The album drops September 14th. Hull tells his Facebook friends he's putting a band together, so expect a tour. Stay tuned.

David Hull is on the road with Joe Perry

We've written extensively in the past few years about the rock 'n' roll star resurgence of Seventies hometown hero David Hull as he's filled in for the ailing bass player Tom Hamilton on various Aeorsmith tours. Now that injuries and other maladies have led to an Aerosmith hiatus, guitarist Joe Perry has resurrected his Joe Perry Project. David Hull was the bassist with the the Project the first time around in 1979.

See the tour schedule here.

Watch David Hull's first solo music video

Forty years after he jumped from rocking high school gymnasiums in suburban Connecticut to worldwide fame as a the teenage bass player for The Buddy Miles Express, David Hull has released the music video for the first single from his first solo album. Pay Some Attention can be found on Soul in Motion, which can be found at Amazon and iTunes among other outlets.

Troll the Tabloid Baby archives to follow the trajectory of David Hull's inspiring comeback, kicked off when he stepped in for ailing Tom Hamilton on tour with Aerosmith five years ago.

Rock Star Update: David Hull plays Chan's Chinese

In the last chapter of one of the coolest stories of 2006--David Hull’s middle-aged rock star rejuvenation ended as bassist for Aerosmith, ended a few weeks ago, after a four-month odyssey to the top of the rock 'n' roll world.

Dave had been on tour with the band since September, filling in for his old pal Tom Hamilton, who's recovering from treatments for throat cancer.

When the tour ended, the other guys in Aerosmith headed off to elite rock star holiday vacation spots. But Dave, the local rock star of our youth went back to work in the clubs he's been rocking for decades, playing a December 29th gig at Chan’s Chinese Restaurant in Woonsocket, Rhode Island with local blues mainstays, The James Montgomery Band.

Now we've found a review of the show-- and an interview with Dave from the scene.

From Yarmarge.com:

Chinese restaurant venue?
We love playing Chan's. It's so different from any of the other places we play...it reminds me of a 1930's club or a speakeasy. There's always a great crowd and a great vibe at Chan's.

Is it hard to go back to small clubs after playing big arenas with AEROSMITH?
Not at all. I'm playing with amazing musicians in intimate settings. I love this gig.

Favorite AERO songs you like to play?
Toys, Back In the Saddle, and Draw The Line.

As for the review:

It was so freakin loud, I thought my head was going to split open. Too loud? NAY BRO! James Montgomery turned it up so we could feeeel that funky thang! So how loud is he? He rattled the rock in my (egg)roll! HOW loud? He deep-fried the fortune right outta my cookie! HOW LOUD?? He blasted the scorpion outta my bowl!! The set list was smokin'! When they jammed Lovin' Cup, the whole room got hot while James blew harp and lead guitarist George McCann shredded the riffs! For a second there, I thought McCann was gonna set the place on fire!! Jeeeeezus...that man can cook, sho' 'nuff! Marty Richards, formerly of The Peter Wolf Band, wailed on his drums so hard I was half-expecting him to stand up and and kick his kit off the stage. It was torture staying in my seat but if I jumped up on our table like I wanted to, I woulda been shuckin' and jivin' with Marge, myself and I! Might have raised more than a few eyebrows, if you know what I'm sayin'. Get the cd Bring It On Home and see fer yerself. And while you're looking around James' site, check his tour schedule and get yerself to a show. I'll be there, without a doubt!”

A tip of the Tabloid Baby hat to Yarmarge.com! We'll be keeping up with this story, and will keep you up to date on David Hull's probable return to Aerosmith in '07.

David Hull makes his debut with Aerosmith

Tabloid Baby’s old friend, 60s and 70s rock star David Hull, had his TV movie moment last night when he made his debut onstage as the bassist for Aerosmith.

Dave, whose rock star days seemed but a memory a few weeks ago, finds himself dusting off his leather pants, teasing up his hair and fixing his makeup at an age when he should be having his prostate checked. His good fortune comes at the expense of his friend, Aerosmith’s longtime bassman Tom Hamilton, who's sidelined with throat cancer. But that’s how these things happen.

And the story’s just beginning.

Here’s the first photo (above) from the Germain, Amphitheater (that’s Dave, second from the left), from Steve Mitchell, and review, from Aaron Beck of the Columbus Dispatch, as Dave and the boys kicked off their Route of All Evil tour with Motley Crue:

Aerosmith fired on all cylinders, delivering reinvigorated '70s chestnuts (Sweet Emotion; Draw the Line; Mama Kin; Walk This Way; Dream On) and enlivened its post-drugs and drink/MTV-friendly fare (Rag Doll; Cryin'; F.I.N.E.).

As for Steven Tyler, still the main face of Aerosmith, he sounded strong all night even if his pants these days might do well with some pleats. The 58-year-old, whose throat ailment derailed his band's tour in February, was his former self, though, scatting his banshee scat, blowing a bit of harmonica and, in general, singing with force and projection.

Still, it was Perry, channeling Jimmy Page, Keith Richards and Peter Green (literally when he sang and played Fleetwood Mac's Stop Messin' Around) between multiple wardrobe and six-string changes, who commanded the most attention.

The guitarist, dedicating Stop Messin' Around to bassist Tom Hamilton, who is recovering from throat cancer treatment, raced all night about a stage accentuated with the occasional laser light show. Perry was all over the place, shoulder-length locks blowing in the wind, his head toward heaven and eyes closed during many a Les Paul solo.

During Sweet Emotion the guy even managed a Theremin solo. Talk about fun, a Theremin manipulated by a shirtless dude in leather pants center stage, a fellow born in 1950? That's some top-drawer Tuesday-night fun.

The operative phrase here is fired on all cylinders. Aerosmith is a rock 'n' roll machine, and the bass is crucial to keep it running without a hitch. David Hull is supposed to be on the road with the band for the next six weeks or so, until Hamilton is well enough to rejoin his mates (if he’s well enough, we must add, regretfully but realistically). Dave should be looking a lot more like his old-time rock star self by then.

What a great story. Check in here for updates.

David Hull & Aerosmith: Tom Hamilton checks in

We've been keeping track of David Hull, the local rock star of the Tabloid Baby teen years, who's made a surprise fifty-something resurgence as bass player on Aerosmith's latest tour.

David is filling in for his old pal Tom Hamilton, the Aerosmith favorite who's being treated for throat cancer.

This week, a poignant message from Tom appeared on Aerosmith's official Aeroforceone fan forum.

24-Oct-06 Tom checks in

Hey, just wanted to say hi and tell everybody what's up in my world. I'm getting better steadily but kind of slowly. I've been finished with the radiation treatment for a couple of months. I was hoping to be close to being out on the road with the band by now but it's still too soon. The radiation burns the hell out of your mouth and throat and the healing process can take a while. Whenever I talk to someone who hasn't spoken to me in a while they say I sound completely better. My voice was kind of screwed up for a time. People who haven't seen me in a while they say I look normal (for me). I'm getting close and I'm chomping at the bit but the real decisions are up to the doctors and the healing process.

I went into a room by myself recently and listened to the new Greatest Hits album. I turned the lights down and the volume up and just sat back and let it roll over me. After a couple of songs went by I went into a state where I felt really close to the band and really far away at the same time. In my head I was connected and isolated all at once. Another part of me was in the time period of each song with movies of those times playing in my head. I don't really sit down and listen to our albums that way very often and it had a lot of emotion for me. I have to say the emotion was good and a little sad but mostly good.

A lot of people have sent me cards and stuff. As a matter of fact, way more than I would have expected. I can't say how much I appreciate it. There are times when I have to really lean against my support system and it helps to have it coming in from all directions.

Have I gotten too corny yet? I really hate excessive corniness but its hard to talk about these things without some sneaking in. What I mostly want to say is thanks.

See you soon,

TH

Good news for David Hull

It took most of the mainstream media about three days to catch up with our report on Friday that Joe Perry was claiming that Steven Tyler had quit Aerosmith, but as soon as they did catch up, Steven Tyler came out and denied it.

Tyler walked onstage at the Fillmore in New York where The Joe Perry Project (with bassist and Aerosmith fill-in player David Hull) was performing last night and announced:

"I just want New York to know, I am not leaving Aerosmith! And Joe Perry, you are a man of many colours but I, motherfucker, am the rainbow!"

Then they played 'Walk This Way.' Tyler ended the song with his arm around Perry.

Looking Back: David Hull onstage with Aerosmith

We found this audience video on YouTube. That's our favorite rock star David Hull behind the dancing girl in the opening seconds.

First Oasis, now Aerosmith

Joe Perry says Steven Tyler has quit Aerosmith.

Just this morning, we were watching a CNN clip about Aerosmith's performance in Abu Dhabi and noticed that Perry and Tyler were interviewed separately, Tyler alongside his new partner in crime, Tabloid Baby pal Mark Hudson. Perry says the Abu Dhabi show was the band's last, and that he learned of Tyler's decision "online" but hasn't been able to confirm it because Tyler doesn't return his calls. He denied guitarist Brad Whitford's claim that the band would look for a new frontman.

Tyler didn't look all that steady in the Abu Dhabi interview. Then again, he fell off a stage and broke things not to long ago.

Aerosmith is cited as an influence in the book, Tabloid Baby. We've also been following the story of hometown rock 'n' roll hero David Hull, who's been filling in now and then for Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton, and most recently been holding down the bottom for the reunited Joe Perry Project.

Money talks: Steven Tyler rejoins Aerosmith

Aerosmith announced on their website that after months hints that he'd quit, a stint in rehab and threats to replace him, Steven Tyler is back with the band and ready to tour.

The band is heading out with their "Cocked, Locked and Ready to Rock" European tour this summer.


Tyler's been acting strange since he fell off a stage and broke his leg back in August. For a time, he huddled with Tabloid Baby pal Mark Hudson to work on his autobiography before being convinced to clean up his act. He and Joe Perry, meanwhile, rarely spend time in the same room, and they managed to get four of the five members together for the reunion announcement video on the website.


Most striking in the video is the obvious toll throat cancer has taken on bassist Tom Hamilton, who's been replaced on tour periodically in recent years by longtime Aerosmith and Tabloid Baby pal David Hull.


He is, however, still rockin'.