CBS News.com
September 18, 2008

When 16-year-old Roman Perry became an avid fan of the video game Guitar Hero, his father noticed, CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason reports.

“Dad, you wanna play?” Roman asked.

“I don’t think so. You’ll beat me bad,” his father, Joe, said.

Joe Perry, of course, is a real guitar hero – as the lead guitarist of Aerosmith.

Now the band headlines its own version of the game – and it’s already sold more than a million copies.

“It’s taken over what records used to do. At least for bands like us,” Perry said.

In the game, players hit notes in sync with the song to score points. Last year, Guitar Hero and its rival, Rock Band, racked up $935 million in sales. That’s $100 million more than all digital music sales. While introducing old bands, like Aerosmith, to new audiences, like 15-year-old Alex.

“I had really no clue who they were until this game,” he said.

After it was included in Guitar Hero, sales of Kansas’ song “Carry on My Wayward Son,” more than doubled last year to nearly 300,000. Now more and more bands want to get in the game.

Greg Lopiccolo, vice president of game developer Harmonix, said that in the beginning the company had to approach the bands to be included in the game. But that’s changed.

“They’re absolutely coming to us now. Yes! Because now they understand that this is a way for an entirely new audience to appreciate their music,” Lopiccolo said.

So groups like Boston, The Who and Rush have signed up with Rock Band.

“We’re sharing our music to new fans. So that’s great for us. And new fans are learning more about the nature of how songs are constructed which I think is kind of a cool thing,” said Geddy Lee, Rush’s lead singer.

In effect, the game designers have become part of the music business.

“And I think more and more over time, people will come to expect to play with the music they love as a core part of how they think about music entertainment,” said Alex Rigopulos, co-creator of both Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Aerosmith’s Joe Perry is still happier playing on stage than on video screen.

“I don’t like to lose,” Perry said.

But he understands that success now means striking a chord with both audiences.

Watch video:  (here).

Aero Force One
September 18, 2008

Watch video:  (here).

Aero Force One
September 18, 2008

Boston – September 12, 2008

In an effort give back to his adopted home, Detroit-born Blues man James Montgomery gathered some powerful friends and neighbors for the latest installment of the Reel Blues Fest, his annual fundraiser for the music and film communities. This year, Montgomery’s special guests included guitar man Jay Geils, fellow harp king James Cotton, and drummer Joey Kramer, as well as the Uptown Horns and the Boston baked all-star band known as Ernie and the Automatics.

Backed by members of Boston and the Beaver Brown band, as well as alumni from Peter Wolf’s bands, car guru and Berklee grad Ernie Boch, Jr. showed his stuff as he and his band previewed their forthcoming album, “Low Expectations.” Aside from a roadhouse rock through James Cotton’s “Here I Am,” the band offered mostly original material, much of which sounded like songs from the member’s former bands. From the low-down Shoals-y Blues of “Dead man” to the echoey simple rhymes of “Empty Head,” to the hopeful closer, “The Best is Up Ahead,” EtA (a driving pun, perhaps?) gave the crowd something to dance to as it grew and moved toward the raised ballroom stage.

When Montgomery came on, the room came alive as he offered his famous mouth-strafing, leg-kicking, high-energy riffs. Paying tribute to personal heroes like Muddy Waters and the city of his birth with the John Lee Hooker warble “Motor City is Burning,” Montgomery also wailed through covers of “I Thank You,” a gruff and punchy “Who Do You Love?” that included a long anf fuzzy bass solo and plenty of playtime for Montgomery, a more-vocal-than-harp rendition of “Baby, Please Don’t Go”that actually got the crowd singing along, and a vintage take on “Big 10-inch Record” (with which Kramer was clearly familiar). When Geils and Cotton took their seats at the front of the stage, the Boston Blues Summit continued with performances of “Good Time Charlie,” a loping and mumbly ramble through Muddy’s “Ready,” and a Vaudevillian hoedown through “Mojo Workin’” that allowed Cotton to show that, even at 73, he still had it and that, though Montgomery is ready, the torch does not necessarily need to be passed just yet.

Photos:  (here).