Well this has gotten ugly. Aerosmith will be performing at the Grammy Awards this Sunday, but they'll be minus one original member.
Drummer Joey Kramer hasn't been playing with the band since injuries kept him off the drum riser going back to last Spring. He claims he was ready to return in the Fall, but the band forced him to audition to get his job back, something he claims no member has ever had to do. Now, he's being left out of playing at the Grammys, so he filed suit. "I am being deprived of the opportunity to be recognized along with my peers for our collective lifetime contributions to the music industry. Neither the MusiCares' Person of the Year Award nor the Grammys' Lifetime Achievement honors can ever be repeated." In a statement, the band members said they invited him to the Grammy Awards, but not to play, "Joey has now waited until the last moment to accept our invitation, when we unfortunately have no time for necessary rehearsals during Grammys week. We would be doing a disservice to him, to ourselves and to our fans to have him play without adequate time to prepare and rehearse."
Kramer's suit cites times other members of Aerosmith "have suffered periods of injury and illness, including physical injury and treatment for addiction and substance abuse" without being asked to audition before returning to the stage.
According to TMZ, a judge has just ruled against Kramer, basically saying he agrees with Aerosmith that he's not ready for prime time. "Given that Kramer has not played with the band in 6 months and the dearth of available rehearsal time before the upcoming performances, Kramer has not shown a realistic alternative course of action sufficient to protect the band's business interests."
Judge speak for, he's not playing this Sunday. WBZ-TV's Nick Emmons did a story on this today and asked me to give my take. They must have heard of my unofficial title as the "6th member of Aerosmith," from my tambourine and singing performance with the band at the Xfinity Center. Check it out...