The 10 best bands from Boston

   Everything's all about Boston this week. So here's my list of the 10 all-time greatest bands and solo artists from one of the best music cities in the country. It's totally subjective, not at all comprehensive, just my tastes. Your mileage may differ. Feel free to argue and tell me I'm stupid for leaving out J. Geils or someone.

The Pixies

1. The Pixies
2. The Modern Lovers
3. Lemonheads
4. Dinosaur Jr.
5. Morphine
6. The Click Five
7. Dropkick Murphys
8. Blake Babies
9. Susan Tedeschi
10. Aerosmith

Remembering Aerosmith playing the Hyatt Sarasota ballroom

Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler greets the crowd at the Hyatt Sarasota. Photo courtesy of the Sarasota Film Festival.

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2012/12/09/4309112/remembering-aerosmith-playing.html#storylink=cpy

It has been nearly a decade since one of the most legendary rock shows in Sarasota-Manatee history.

For me, it's doubtful any local performance will ever come close to matching the magnitude of seeing an arena-filling band play such a small room.

And I almost missed it.

No one took the rumor seriously. Aerosmith at the Hyatt Sarasota? Yeah, right.

But I was there nonetheless in February of 2003 for the Sarasota Film Festival's "Late Night UnWrap Bash." A friend had secured me a press pass so I figured it would be fun.

Maybe Steven Tyler or Joe Perry would arrive to honor their longtime record producer Jack Douglas, who was being given a career achievement award by the festival.

But the idea of Aerosmith -- all five original members -- appearing seemed highly unlikely.

A performance by the band seemed absurd.

Even Sarasota-based promoter Barbara Strauss, who had been asked to oversee security for the film festival show, didn't think it would happen. In fact, when Sarasota Film Festival honcho Mark Famiglio told her his plan she pretty much laughed in his face.

"Aerosmith will never play," Strauss recalled telling Famiglio during a phone conversation I had with her last week.

She added, "In my mind, they were never going to play."

Read more.

UPDATED 12/6: Aerosmith's Tom Hamilton on creating 'Sweet Emotion': interview

UPDATED 12/6: Aerosmith's Tom Hamilton on overcoming 'breakup 2.0' as band readies Tampa show: interview

Like most serious fans of swaggering 1970s rock, I consider Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion" to be one of the greatest songs ever recorded.

So when I interviewed the man behind the song's monster riff, bassist Tom Hamilton (pictured, second from left), I couldn't resist bringing it up.

Our exchange won't doesn't appear in my Hamilton story running Thursday in Weekend to advance Aerosmith's Dec. 11 show at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, but lots of other stuff will, like what he thought about the band almost breaking up in 2009.

Anyway, here's Hamilton talking "Sweet Emotion," which first appeared on Aerosmith's landmark 1975 album "Toys in the Attic."

Me: I gotta ask. How did you come up with the killer riff of “Sweet Emotion”? I read you were inspired by Jeff Beck’s “Rough and Ready” (album).

Hamilton: We all lived in this apartment together and we had a stereo set up and listened to music together and Jeff Beck's "Rough and Ready" was on a lot. We're all Jeff Beck fans and he was going through a new phase. We would put it on and I was just absorbing the bass playing, how funky it was and energetic and thought, that is really cool. I didn’t try and learn anything but a lot of ideas just sank in. (On "Sweet Emotion") there's the  intro bass part, then verses, then the fast part, then the parts in between — those were the parts inspired by "Rough and Ready."

Me: Did you know you had come up with something special? Were you like, "Hey guys, listen to this!"

Hamilton: No, I've always been kind of shy about bringing my writing to the band. When I was first starting off with "Sweet Emotion" we were between "Get Your Wings" and "Toys in the Attic" and I played it for Steven and he was kind of encouraging and kind of like, "Next, what's going on?" So I ran back to my corner and developed more parts to my song. Then, what happened was we finished the basic tracks for "Toys" and (producer Jack Douglas) said we had a day to spare and if anyone had a spare riff, let’s hear it. So I stood up and said I have this thing. By the end of the day we had the arrangement done. But then were finished. Joey, Brad and I had to go up to Boston while Steven and Joe finished the album. Six weeks later, Steven and Joe come back all done and I heard that song and the rest of the album and it just blew my mind.

—Publicity photo of Aerosmith — from left  Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (bass), Steven Tyler (vocals), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whitford (guitar) — by Ross Haflin.

Aerosmith, Cheap Trick to play Tampa

Aerosmith's "Global Warming Tour" will perform Dec. 11 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, the band has announced.  

The original lineup of Steven Tyler (vocals), Joe Perry (guitar), Brad Whitford (guitar), Tom Hamilton (bass) and Joey Kramer (drums) will be performing songs from their new album “Music From Another Dimension,” due out November 6 on Columbia Records. 

Plenty of past hits — "Sweet Emotion," "Walk This Way," "Dream On," the silly stuff the band recorded in the 1990s — will likely be performed as well. 
 
Cheap Trick opens .  

Tickets go on sale 10 a.m. Monday (Sept. 24).  

www.livenation.com/aerosmith 

—AP Photo: Singer Steven Tyler, left, and lead guitarist Joe Perry, right, of Aerosmith, perform at the Sweden Rock Festival in Solvesborg, Sweden.