Steven Tyler

Hohner Steven Tyler Artist Series Harmonica Key of A
$40.00
Just so you know where I'm coming from, I'm a beginner at harmonica with just a few harps. This one was bought for me as a gift.

It's a good harp but not up to the level of the other Hohners in the same price range. Most Hohners are made Germany, but this one is made in China. It sounds good, less brash than the Special 20, less mellow than the Blues Harp, but once you're familiar with it, you'll notice slight differences that are just a small step down in quality than other Hohners. The covers are not molded as smoothly, and have crimps in a few places, and gaps in a few others. And it's obvious that instead of sanding the edges of the comb smooth, they use heat because the front of the comb is a little uneven.

Now about those black covers...I have to admit that they do look nice. I'm assuming they are anodized aluminum (but I don't know for sure). Whatever they are, they sure do feel nice against the lips--less friction than stainless steel, and they don't get fingerprints and lip marks as easily.

I still like the way it sounds (as I'm a little partial to lower harps), but I'd say your paying about $10 just for the Steven Tyler name and the fact that it's black.

Aerosmith red lounge pants 'Spray Paint' design pajama bottoms (X-Large)
$29.95
These lounge pants feature the Aerosmith Logo in black splatter design, and the Aerospace wings design in grey on the front and back in an allover print on a cranberry red background. Machine washable, 100% cotton knit. Features a button fly, covered elastic waistband for extra comfort with adjustable drawstring tie, and convenient side pockets. Popular with women and teens too.

Dream on: Livin' on the Edge With Steven Tyler and Aerosmith
$22.95
It's said that one should not speak ill of the dead. But "Dream On: Livin' On the Edge With Steven Tyler and Aerosmith" might leave you wanting to do just that for Cyrinda Foxe-Tyler, the late ex-wife of Steven Tyler and (by her own admission) a huge pain in the backside. Foxe-Tyler's autobiography is a slow embittered grind that seems less like a recounting of her own life than an endless stream of seedy recountings about just what a jerk her ex is.

Born to a moody abusive mother with a penchant for marrying various moody abusive men, Cyrinda (then Kathleen Victoria Hetzekian -- although she refuses to reveal the last, because "I want to leave my father out of this") was a miserable military brat lugged around the globe.

Her refuges: rock'n'roll (Elvis, the Beatles, the Stones), light drug use, and sexual experimentation with the boys on base... and pretty soon, her life was all about those three things. Before long, she had left Oklahoma and Texas behind for the bright lights of the big city, namely New York -- courtesy of Lou Reed and a pair of Danish black boots. And despite being "the most naive, cotton-candy-headed being in the world," Cyrinda quickly established herself in Max's Kansas City, NYC's gay underworld, and Andy Warhol.

And then after a brief first marriage (her first husband is a faceless footnote), she met, got pregnant by and married Steven Tyler, the volatile and popular singer for the band Aerosmith. But of course passion doesn't last forever, and despite having a beautiful daughter between them, their acrimonious marriage was doomed from the start.

There are two kinds of rock wives/paramours: the classy and genuinely intelligent ones like Marianne Faithfull and Bebe Buell, and then there are the Angela Bowie ones who want to shovel dirt on their exes. Cyrinda is solidly in the latter grouping -- "Dream On: Livin' On the Edge With Steven Tyler and Aerosmith" seems to exist solely to smack her ex-husband in the head as frequently as possible, and often as tastelessly as possible (the "dive for it" anecdote is revolting).

When she isn't heaping dirt on Tyler's head, Cyrinda devotes most of the book to ranting randomly about various topics -- she raves about gays, her hatred of religion, her aversion to getting a job (to the point of sleeping with people for room and board) and how she is cooler and more in tune with young people and sex than her contemporaries. She also seems a bit fixated on her own sexual exploits, ranging from unofficial prostitution to a threesome with David and Angela Bowie to voyeuristic peeking at others having sex.

And her embitterment spreads to everything in this book, including other members of Steven Tyler's family --she gets in some digs at his ex-lover Buell and daughter Liv, barely acknowledges his second wife Teresa, and utterly ignores his third and fourth kids.

And it's undeniable that Tyler was a drug-addled mess for countless years... and that's just what his friends say. But despite her seedy anecdotes about Tyler, the person who is most degraded in "Dream On" is Cyrinda herself -- she comes across as lazy (how dare her ex not hire a full-time nanny for someone who refuses to get a job!), hypocritical (she demonizes Tyler for abuse, while proudly talking about the gouges she left in his face -- by her own admission not the only ones) and generally deluded about how others see her ("You're too intellectual!"). Not to mention deluded about her own place in life (seeing herself as an "aristocrat" compared to Aerosmith).

"Dream On: Livin' On the Edge With Steven Tyler and Aerosmith" is a sad memoir of a sad woman, whose bitterness wasn't exorcised until the very end of her life. And that bitterness coats every page of her autobiography, leaving you feeling vaguely unclean.

Rockin' the Joint
$19.97
I would have given this a 5 star rating but I cannot stand the Just Push Play songs and I Don't Want to Miss a Thing. This album is also missing song selections from the best Aerosmith album of all time...Rocks. Get rid of Miss a Thing and add Rats in the Cellar, Back in the Saddle, or Nobody's Fault. Or how about Sick as a Dog? Get rid of the Just Push Play songs and add in some Rocks and this album would have been a masterpiece.

But I am happy to see some of the other rare songs like Seasons of Wither and No More No More. But this album is in bad need of some Rocks.