Joe Perry, Steven Tyler and the rest of Aerosmith recently announced they are going on tour with non other than ZZ Top, the long-bearded rockers of the 80's. The tour is sponsored by Guitar Hero, the video game. (I am not a big fan of Guitar Hero because I think it teaches kids that the easy way out, or faking it, may be a good way to go. Alternately, I think kids who like Guitar Hero should actually pick up a REAL guitar and practice! I did it for years and it is not that hard, and a lot more fullfilling to boot!)

Getting back to the Aerosmith and ZZ Top tour, it begins June 10 in St. Louis and runs through Septempber 16 in Detroit. ZZ Top will not play in the first two shows, in St. Louis and on June 13 in East Troy, Wisconsin, and a third act will be announced for the August 28 Chicago date.

Tyler Perry said they have 40 dates already booked.

The Aerosmith/ZZ Top Tour:

June 10: St. Louis (without ZZ Top)
June 13: East Troy, Wisc. (without ZZ Top)
June 16: Boston
June 21: Washington, D.C.
June 24: Pittsburgh
June 26: Wantagh, N.Y.
June 28: Uncasville, Conn.
July 1: Cincinnati
July 3: Hershey, Pa.
July 5: Virginia Beach, Va.
July 7: Raleigh, N.C.
July 9: Charlotte, N.C.
July 11: Tampa,
July 13: Ft. Lauderdale
July 15: Atlanta
July 17: Houston
July 19: Dallas
July 25: Las Vegas
July 27: Phoenix
July 30: Tulsa
Aug 1: Denver
Aug 17: Seattle
Aug 19: Concord, Calif.
Aug 23: Irvine, Calif.
Aug 28: Chicago
Aug 30: Indianapolis
Sept 1: Kansas City, Mo.
Sept 3: Toronto
Sept 5: Ottawa
Sept 8: St. Paul, Minn.
Sept 10: Cleveland
Sept 12: Holmdel, N.J.
Sept 16: Detroit

View All Aerosmith Tickets

This Friday, April 24th, Beyonce Knowles’ new film Obsessed opens in theaters.   While the name might suggest a suspense-thriller where the singer is stalked by a fanatical blogger (who shall remain nameless), Obsessed is basically an updated version of the 1987 film Fatal Attraction, only the actor playing Michael Douglas is black and the Glenn Close character has jungle fever.   

Starring with Knowles is the “Hero” Ali Larter and playing the Michael Douglas role is Idris Elba.  If you don’t recognize the name “Elba” that’s okay because you will definitely recognize his face.  He plays Michael Scott’s old boss and the Scranton’s branch new boss “Charles” on the NBC sitcom The Office.

While all of Beyonce is starring in Obsessed only her voice will star in a week long guest appearance on Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!  While many guys say a double “wow” when they look at Beyoncé (and I’ll leave the word “wubbzy” to your imagination), the phrase isn’t new slang for a beautiful woman.  It’s actually the name of Nickelodeon's hit animated pre-school comedy.

Beyoncé voices a character named “Shine.”  She is the lead singer of the hottest girl group around, “The Wubb Girlz.”  Her first show debuts April 27th.  She not only sang a song for the show, she also composed it as well.  'Sing a Song,'" will be available on ITunes starting April 21st.

In other Beyoncé news, the Grammy Award Winner singer will be bringing her I AM... World Tour back to the United States this summer.  She’s still supporting her 2008 album I Am ... Sasha Fierce and is backed by an all female band.

Currently, Beyoncé is thrilling fans in Europe.  Imagine seeing this classic beauty perform in Belfast or Paris or Lisbon.  Those sound like cities befitting an artist with a name like “Beyoncé.”  Anaheim, Oakland and Sacramento sound odd next to her pretty nom de plume.

The North American, 19-city leg of her tour begins June 21st at Madison Square Garden in New York City.  She’ll finish with a four-night stand at the Wynn in Las Vegas starting July 30th.  In between she’ll visit cities like Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and Phoenix.

Beyoncé will take a break from her tour to headline the 15th annual Essence Music Festival at the Louisiana Superdome.  She’s scheduled to perform on July 3rd.

To soften the blow on her fans’ pocketbooks during these hard economic times, Beyoncé is selling 2,000 tickets a show for only $20 (that’s not including the dreaded service charge).  So if you live in Houston or Philadelphia, for example, you can get Beyoncé tickets for not much more than it costs to go to the movies.

During this tour, Beyoncé will be working with General Mills to co-sponsor food drives at various cities on her itinerary.  For more on how you can help visit ShowYourHelpingHand.com, information will be available starting April 25th.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, formerly the Anaheim Angels, are having a trying season and it has nothing to do with their on-the-field play.  

On April 9th, 22-year-old rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed in a traffic accident after a drunk driver ran a red light.  The loss of Adenhart, who was well liked, hit the Angels very hard.  

Tragedies like Adenhart’s untimely death remind us what’s really important in life and it’s not sports.  Unfortunately the Angels don’t have the option of taking a break and getting away from  baseball for a while.  Adenhart’s death did force the team to postpone a game, but ultimately the show must go on and the Angels must find a way to win.

In the first couple of weeks of the 2009 season, the Angels haven’t done a lot of winning; they’ve lost five of their first nine and hit just 15-for-75 with runners in scoring position.  Despite the sluggish beginning, this Angels team does have the talent to turn their fortunes around, but first they must get healthy.  

Vladimir Guerrero will be out of the lineup for a while with a sore chest muscle.  He had been serving as the team’s DH.  Pitchers John Lackey, Ervin Santana and Kelvim Escobar all started the season on the disabled list.  And of course the death of Adenhart removed another pitcher from their bullpen.

Angels will need mental toughness to get through this season and good news for them, they have it.  In fact, their fortitude was on display during a recent game against the Boston Red Sox.  

After Red Sox Pitcher Josh Beckett spent 11 seconds in the set position, Angels batter Bobby Abreu asked for, and was granted, time.  Beckett threw the pitch anyway, hurling the ball at Abreu’s head.

Needless to say the benches cleared and when it was all over, four Angels were tossed out of the game.  Still, the Halos found a way to rally and eventually defeated the Red Sox 5-4.

The Angels will be okay.

The Oakland Athletics are facing a very difficult part of their schedule.  They have road games in Toronto and New York (Jason Giambi’s first series against his former team).  Then they are back home for a quick series against the Tampa Bay Rays.  After that it’s back on the road to battle division foes the Texas Rangers and the Seattle Mariners.

Oakland’s season may hinge on how their aging infielders survive this grueling stretch of games.  First baseman Giambi (38) is battling sore legs, third baseman Eric Chavez (31) has shoulder problems and utility man Nomar Garciaparra (35) missed a game with tightness in his calf.

The other two infielders are fine but getting up there in age, short stop Orlando Cabrera is 35 and second baseman Mark Ellis is 31.

Their biggest offseason addition, former Colorado Rockies Matt Holiday, has had a rather pedestrian start.  He’s 9 for 31 with 7 RBI’s and no home runs. 

There's plenty of concern surrounding Holiday as critics wonder if he can be productive away from Coors Field.  Currently he’s batting .290 but that’s down from his career average of .319.  The good news, Holiday reached base in eight of his first nine games he played for the Oakland.

The Athletics started this season with a severe lack of power.  In the first week of the season, they hit a grand total of one home run, obviosuly the worse in the MLB.

The A’s young starting rotation, the oldest pitcher is 25, has had a mediocre start to the season.   Dallas Braden is the only starter to notch a win and the staff’s combined ERA is 4.01.

While the upcoming part of the schedule will test the health of their veteran players, it will also test the mettle of their young pitching staff.  If Oakland can survive these next 15 games they should be in position to vie for the division title.

“Nessun dorma.”

That’s what you say to someone when they ask why you bought Andrea Bocelli tickets.

For those of you that don’t speak Italian, “Nessun dorma” is translated into English as “No one shall sleep.”  It’s an aria (a self contained song from an opera) from the final act of Giacomo Puccini's Turandot.  It’s opera’s best known aria for a tenor.

The aria was made famous by the legendary Luciano Pavarotti and has been featured in several films like the Killing Fields, The Sum of All Fears, and Bend It Like Beckham.  

The best way to describe “Nessun dorma” is it sounds like “Music of the Night” from Phantom of the Opera, if it had been written 80 years ago by an Italian.

Unfortunately for music fans they can no longer hear Pavarotti sing the captivating song in concert but they can here Bocelli belt it out.  

The Italian singer will be touring the United States this summer not only to serenade his fans with some of opera’s greatest arias, but also to support of his new album, “Incanto.”

The tour begins June 5th when Bocelli performs in San Jose, California and ends June 20th at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  

In between Bocelli graces the stages of the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood, California; the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois; and the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas.

The highlight of the tour will most certainly be Bocelli’s visit to New York City’s Madison Square Garden on June 18th.

The greatness of Bocelli, and the reason why he’s sold more than 65 million albums, is his range.  Not his three octave range, or the fact he can play eight instruments, but his ability to excel in several different genres.

Besides the aria previously mentioned, one might hear Bocelli sing pop standards like “Besame Mucho,” “Can’t Help Falling In Love,” and “My Way.”  He also sings operatic-crossovers like “Time To Say Goodbye” and “The Prayer.”

Of course it doesn’t matter what label you apply to Bocelli’s music.  When he sings a song, he makes it his own and that means he makes it beautiful.  Bocelli’s immense talent far exceeds his success and accolades.

However, Bocelli’s charms don’t end there.  In addition to his awe-inspiring voice, Bocelli has a warm and inviting personality.  On stage, he’s quite effable and has a lovely rapport with his audience.  

It’s no wonder he’s the world’s most popular tenor.

The North American leg of Il Divo’s World Tour begins April 28th in Halifax.  The first American venue the foursome will perform at is the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia.

The demand to see the innovators of pop-opera is immense.  Already two new dates have been added to their U.S. itinerary, July 3rd at the Borgata Event Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey and July 7th at the Rosemont Theatre in Rosemont, Illinois.

Their tour, called “An Evening With Il Divo,” will also visit East Rutherford in New Jersey, Il Divo in Boston, and see Il Divo in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay.

The quartet is touring in support of their latest, top charting album, “The Promise.”  It debuted at number five in the U.S. and features cover versions of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “The Power of Love, ABBA’s “Winner Takes All,” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”  The highlight of album is the band’s rendition of the Christian hymn, “Amazing Grace.”

Il Divo’s new show has been staged and choreographed by William Baker.  He’s previously worked with pop artists Kylie Minogue and Jamiroquai.  The group’s reputation for being extremely well dressed is definitely not neglected.  Their wardrobe has been provided by Giorgio Armani.

For this tour, Il Divo performs for about 90 minutes with a 20-minute intermission.  Besides singing songs from “The Promise,” the group also performs several selections from their previous four albums.

The “Jonas Brothers” for middle-aged woman, Il Divo was conceived by American Idol judge Simon Cowell.  After a two-year worldwide search, Cowell finally settled on American tenor David Miller, Spanish baritone Carlos Marín, Swiss tenor Urs Bühler and French pop singer Sébastien Izambard.  The quartet started performing in 2004.

Il Divo sings in English, Italian, Spanish, French, and Latin.  Their global appeal is undeniable.  According to their record label, they have sold more than 22 million albums worldwide.

The band received their big break in April of 2005 when they performed “Regresa a Mi” on The Oprah Winfrey Show.  That appearance sent their album to the top spot on both Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

In the fall of 2008, Il Divo once again performed on The Oprah Winfrey Show.  This time Oprah called the boys on their way to the airport—they were about to disembark on a vacation to celebrate the completion of their new album—and she invited them to perform on her show… the very next day.

Not wanting to upset the most powerful woman in America, Il Divo caught a red-eye to Chicago and performed “Amazing Grace” for Oprah and her audience less than 24 hours after she called.  

Andrea Bocelli, a Household Name That I've Never Heard of

He's  6'1" tall, blind and was named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People of 1998. Andrea Bocelli, born in Lajatico, Tuscany, Italy, has sold more than 65 million albums worldwide. it is safe to say Andrea Bocelli is a superstar. But I'll be honest, I've never heard of him until very recently.

Bocelli's style is hard to pin down. He is classical, pop and opera tenor singer, writing albums and performing in all three genres. And he has become an icon in the classical crossover genre. An icon. Meanwhile, he remained elsuive to me. And I imagine this is the case for a lot of Americans my age. It reminds me of something I call it the soccer phenomenon. When Americans offer up evidence of a lack of knowledge regarding things outisde their borders, I call it the  soccer phenomenon.

Although soccer is the most popular sport in the world by far, it barely registers on the American sports-o-meter. It's so bad that we don't even call it football like the rest of the world. Instead, we call it soccer because the name football was already taken by a uniquely American sport, NFL football. You know, the kind with the New York Giants or the Dallas Cowboys. This is particularly silly because American NFL has the players touching the ball with their feet about 2% of the time!

It's the same with Andrea Bocelli. Although he's a superstar in many of the countries in the West, I had never heard of him till very recently.

Bocelli studied under two stars in their own right and his association with them is what initially launched him into stardom. The Italian rock singer Zucchero Fornaciari auditioned tenors to record a demo version of "Miserere," which he had co-written with U2's Bono. Successfully passing the audition, Bocelli recorded the tune as a duet with Pavarotti, and subsequently became close friends with Luciano Pavarotti.

And he is slowly but surely getting more popular in the U.S., due in large part to touring. And Andrea is hitting the road in the U.S. this year. The tour kicks off on June 5th with Andrea at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California and continues a limited engagement across major venues in the U.S. You'll be able to see Bocelli at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles or experience Bocelli at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Bocelli's new tour is in support of his acclaimed Decca/Sugar disc, Incanto. Shop for Andrea Bocelli tickets here.

Besides, L.A. and NYC, you could catch Bocelli at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia or see Bocelli at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, TX.

The tour will showcase his songs from the new album and older favorites. The Incanto tour is a personal tribute to the great musical traditions of his homeland and an homage to the great tenors he admires. "These songs have been part of my life since I was a child," says Bocelli, "pop singers as well as operatic tenors have measured themselves against this repertoire." Highlights of the tour will include, "Because", "Mamma", "Granada" and "Funiculi Funicula" among many others.

Now that I've done a little research I feel like I am all up to speed with the rest of the world and know all about Andrea Bocelli. Now all I need to do is hear his music.

Spam in a Can, Spam an Email, Spam a Lot

I remember when I was a child and would gather around the big television with my family in the living room and watch a Monty Python movie.  My dad and brothers loved John Cleese, Graham Chapman and the rest of the guys. There were a few movies that were our favorites that we watched over and over again when they came on. One of the classics of course is Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

I'll never forget laughing along with my dad and brothers at the scene where one of the guys gets each appendage cut off one by one in a sword fight all the while saying in his thick British accent, "C'mon, let's keep fighting, it's merely a flesh wound!"

In case you never heard of Monty Python (although I would be surprised if there were more than just a few people left in the Western world who haven't), here's what Wikipedia says about them:

Monty Python (sometimes known as The Pythons) is a group of six comedians who created Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on October 5, 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series. The Python phenomenon developed from the television series into something larger in scope and impact, spawning touring stage shows, films, numerous albums, several books and a stage musical, and launching the members to individual stardom. The group's influence on comedy has been compared to The Beatles' influence on music. Read full Wikipedia entry

The Holy Grail was adapted for the stage recently. This new musical, called Monty Python's Spamalot was written by Idle directed by Mike Nichols, with music and lyrics by John Du Prez and Idle, and starring Hank Azaria, Tim Curry, and David Hyde Pierce. The Obviously a twist on the name Camelot, but not so obviously including a word that is disgusting in the can as it is in your inbox. I'm not sure which one they're referring to in the name, the food or the unsolicited email, but either works.

It first opened in Chicago and then moved to Broadway on 17 March 2005 after becoming a huge hit in the Windy City. It is still playing on Broadway today at the Shubert Theatre. So far it's won three tonys.

Spamalot is one of the few elite musicals that has been such a success that it now tours across North America. Currently or in the next few months you can see Spamalot in San Francisco, Spamalot in Los Angeles, in Denver and Spamalot in Denver to name a few of the cities. You can actually see Spamalot in Anchorage, Alaska this month!