KARLA TALLAS - SHARED TREASURES MY LIFE WITH(OUT) AEROSMITH | 页面 2

MY LIFE WITH(OUT) AEROSMITH
I’m thinking back to the time of my childhood … to
the moment of my first encounter with the music of
AEROSMITH, the band that influenced and changed
my entire life in an absolutely fundamental way.
Even in the very first moment, I feel their music
will accompany me for the rest of my life. When I
listen to it, I feel very strong emotions that I don’t
share with anyone, but very often come back to
on my own. I shut myself away in my mind and
try to survive in a reality in which I can hardly
find fulfillment. I dream about a world that I don’t
know anything about, a world of big opportunities,
a world without the borders that “my” real world
has. AEROSMITH, to me, is the embodiment of
everything I dream about secretly, of everything
unknown and so remote. At the same time, it also
embodies all the emotions I experience in the real
world, but also those I miss so much. Although
in this period I still don’t understand the lyrics
and don’t have a chance to learn more about the
band, in fact I understand everything and deep
down identify absolutely with every single tone…
Even after all these years, I can hardly put those
emotions into words.
My first contact with AEROSMITH’s music
happened around the time of the release of the
“Pump” album. The band had a very successful
tour in Europe in 1989 for the first time after
having overcome a very difficult period in their
careers. AEROSMITH toured Europe exactly at
the time of Eastern Europe’s awakening, where
the communist system had just fallen. It was very
different compared to these days. Excluding other
Eastern European countries, we had no chance
to travel abroad for shows -- something that only
became possible for us after 1990. From one point
of view, I was fortunate because I was a teenager
when the borders were opened. I had to wait for
my turn to see AEROSMITH and the other bands I
loved.
The very first time AEROSMITH performed in my
country, it was 1 year after the release of “Get
a Grip” on May 27th, 1994 in Prague. It was an
unforgettable night, where we also had the chance
to see EXTREME perform, who were also really big
at the time. I was so hoping for the opportunity to
meet the band. I had escaped from school after I
found out Steven Tyler was going to greet fans from
his hotel balcony. There would be no chance to meet
after that. They had another show in a different
city, which I hoped to see too. Unfortunately, I had
to go back to school. 3 years later, AEROSMITH
returned to our country during their “Nine Lives”
tour. I entered every possible competition to win
a meet’n’greet with the band. It couldn’t be very
easy to win of these competitions, so I wasn’t on
any list of winners. Everybody was telling me that
I’m naïve and crazy if I think I could ever meet a
celebrity like Steven Tyler. I mostly didn’t respond
to these silly reactions to my dream. For a long
time, there was no one in my life who shared the
same passion for music. I didn’t know any other
2