"I can’t believe I just saw Genesis. I never thought I would see them in my lifetime. I just saw f-ing Genesis, man! And Heart was great. Wow! Ozzy looked awesome too and ZZ Top kicked it. I am so glad I went to this show."

A young twenty-something year old African American man told me this as we were riding on the shuttle that goes between Mandalay Bay and the Excalibur hotel at about two in the morning. Classic Rock Revisited’s Ron Bozich and I had just left the VH1 Rock Honors After Show Party that took place on the stage at the Vegas House of Blues. It was my second trip to the VH1 Rock Honors and like last year they did an amazing job of honoring great bands. This year it was ZZ Top, Heart, Genesis and Ozzy Osbourne taking center stage. Nickelback, Keane, Gretchen Wilson with Alice in Chains and Queens of the Stone Age were the newer artists paying homage to their older contemporaries. Celebrity hosts Robin Williams, Billy Bob Thornton, Cameron Diaz and Jada Pinkett-Smith were on hand to introduce the bands and present them their VH1 Rock Honors rings at a backstage ceremony. The after show party would see some A List no shows but would feature appearances by some celebrities who were not on the bill. What follows is a first hand account from the ‘special press room’ at the Mandalay Bay.

My journey to the Rock Honors began the day before the taping. I left my small Kansas town at 11:00am to get to the Wichita Airport for my flight. As I prepared to walk through security I ran into my sister, her husband and my parents. They were flying in while I was flying out. We exchanged hello’s and I told Mom I would see her on Mother’s Day and went through security. I forgot the no liquid’s rule and lost my four-ounce bottle of Polo cologne. I apologized and while I knew this meant I would not smell good while in Vegas I donated the bottle to the cause and retrieved my gray tub once it slid through the x-ray machine and sat down and put my shoes on. Once on board, I cranked up my i-pod and shut my eyes. In a couple of hours I was landing in Sin City. I grabbed my carry on from the overhead and hustled through the airport to ground transportation where I hopped a cab to the Tropicana where Ron had already checked us in.

Once we were settled in, we went to the bar, got a drink and I called one of my rock star buddies Kevin Dubrow of Quiet Riot. Kevin lives in Vegas and he agreed to meet us for dinner. Dubrow picked us up in his silver Jaguar and chaffered us to an awesome Italian restaurant located next to the Liberace Museum. I tried muscles for the first time and ate a steak while Dubrow caught us up with what is going on with Quiet Riot. When I tried to pick up the check Kevin reached out his hand, picked up the bill and said, "The Rock Star always pays." He text messaged Glenn Hughes who wanted to know why we have not interviewed him for his new album. I told Kevin to let him know that his record company had not sent the release. After dinner he drove us back to the hotel and we returned to the bar where a band was playing "Shout" and other party hits of the 60's and 70's.

I have been to Vegas several times and I know that prostitution is a booming business but I had never seen it so blatantly exhibited before. There were several hookers situated around the bar. Ron and I discussed the situation, throwing in several jokes along the way. We finally decided we had had enough and started making the long walk through the casino to the hotel elevators. On the way I was approached by a very cute black girl who was proud of her upper region. She asked me where I was going and I told her upstairs. She said, "Can I come with you?" I told her that was not a good idea. She replied, "We can just talk." I told her I had done a LOT of talking that day and just needed to get some sleep to which she replied, "You’re a bad boy."

The next day we awoke and ate breakfast and hit the slot machines. We lost. We were laughing at how foolish we were when we unexpectedly turned the corner and saw something we had never seen before: A daytime hooker. This was about 9:30 in the morning. While I respected her desire to work daytime hours, I had to admit that early morning hookers were much worse looking than late night hookers. She smiled and motioned for us to come over. We quickly turned and went back in the casino to donate more money to the Las Vegas community.

We hopped on the shuttle and headed to Mandalay Bay around five in the afternoon. There was a long line of people waiting to get into the Rock Honors. We walked down the corridor and asked some people sitting at a table about press check in and they told us to come back in an hour. Press types started shuffling in and before long we had our passes in hand. I met with VH1 Publicist Naomi Bulochnikov, who I had met the year before. She epitomizes the professionalism and class that is VH1. She had our credentials ready and smiled and we spoke for a few minutes. She, and everyone we met who worked for VH1, were polite, happy and very professional.

Once the crowd of journalists were all through the check in line a man lined us up and took us six at a time through a maze backstage to the Special Press Room. We went down a hallway, across a corridor, up an elevator, down a hallway, around a corner and then down another elevator, through another corridor, down a long hallway and into a room. Along the way another journalist said, "Why do I have the feeling you are going to hold open a door, we are going to walk through it and then you will shut it and we will be locked outside in the parking lot." We all laughed.

What a mysterious and hallowed place the Press Room is. A small stage on one end with a VH1 Rock Honors backdrop on it and folding chairs and a television camera on the other. There was a small table running adjacent to the folding chairs that has pop, bottled water and sack lunches on it. It would be over two hours before the first artist would be done performing and would come back to the Special Press Room for the ring ceremony and interview. We passed time by meeting those who were sitting around us. Gus was from www.glam-metal.com.  He was a good guy who was easy to talk to and fun to be around. There was a guy named Joe from a radio station in Long Island who happened to be a huge Twisted Sister fan. There was another man who worked for a memorabilia magazine in Las Vegas who was trying to find anyone who might know anyone who might want to shell out six figures for one of Billy Joel’s old pianos. Directly behind me was a lady who was a Child of the 80's Hair Band era. She owned a magazine dedicated to Hair Band events in Vegas.

Ron and I grabbed a sandwich and soda and waited patently for the events to unfold. There were three seats in the front row. We were joined by a photographer with a strong English accent. He was not up to doing much talking. He passed the time by playing some type of Tetris game on his cell phone. I passed the time watching him play. Sometimes Rock n’ Roll’s Hurry Up & Wait game can get a bit tedious. Finally, he broke the silence and said that he had a bad angle and wanted to trade me places. I told him I was happy with my seat but he insisted that we should switch seats. I held firm and told him I was fine. Who did this guy think he was? Ross Halfin?

Our emcee for the evening was the nicest guy. He would call out when the stars were coming in and he directed the photo shoot and the question and answer session. Nickelback started off the show. We won’t spoil the show for you since it has not aired yet but suffice it to say that they were all dressed in suits playing a ZZ Top classic. It was fair at best. ZZ came on next and blew the roof off the joint. Their understated stage show allows the music to do the talking. Once their set was done, they came backstage along with Billy Bob Thornton who introduced them. Billy Bob took one look at the rings and said, "That’s about the size of a Super Bowl ring." After presenting each member of ZZ Top with their ring Billy Bob smiled and said, "We would like to go into ‘Feelings’ but that is not much of a guitar song."

Drummer Frank Beard commented, "Nickelback were awesome. We knew we had better do our songs better than they did. They did a great rendition." Guitarist Billy Gibbons responded "They knew the words to the third verse." Gibbons held his hand up and admired the ring and commented, "It is about the right size." He looked into the crowd of reporters and said, "What are we doing here?" I smiled and told him, "We heard there was a party going on" and he said, "Me too. Let’s get it started."

When asked why he never joined Gibbons and band mate Dusty Hill in growing a long and flowing beard, Frank Beard smiled and simply stated, "I was much too young and pretty." I followed this up asking Gibbons the last time he cut his beard. He said, "We haven’t cut our beards since Back to the Future III. We were asked to write the theme song. Bob Zemeckis was the director and he insisted that we come out to the set to get the feeling. We flew out and we got there at lunch time. There was nobody there to greet us so we were wandering around the western town and Bob said, ‘Who are the bearded guys in the corral?’ Bob Gail, his assistant, said ‘That’s ZZ Top. You asked them to write the theme song.’ He said, ‘Are those beards real?’ His assistant said, ‘I think so. Why?’ To which he replied, ‘We can save some on the wardrobe. Get them in the picture.’"

Next up was Alice in Chains. The Seattle metal band paid homage to their hometown heroes Heart by backing up fellow Heart fan and country music superstar Gretchen Wilson. The odd mix worked out well and was one of the highlights of the entire event. Bass player Mike Inez stepped up to the microphone and said, "We love Heart and we are here for them." Guitarist Jerry Cantrell picked up where Mike left off and said, "We have been friends for a long time. They were close to home as they were from Seattle. We looked up to them and respected them. Getting to know them, be friends with them and peers of them has been great. It is really a family type scene. We are looking forward to many other gigs with them." Inez made the entire room laugh when he said in a matter of fact voice, "They give us free beer." The topic of free beer led to Cantrell jumping on a soapbox about not being allowed to chew gum in the casino. "Chewing gum is illegal in the casino. You can get a hooker made of cocaine in your room but you can’t have chewing gum in a casino." The band laughed and continued to give each other a rash of shit before dropping a bomb about an upcoming tour. Once the press release was over their manager came in the room and said, "Jerry said something about the upcoming tour that is not public knowledge yet. We would appreciate it if you didn’t announce that in your articles." So, we will play along. Suffice it to say that Alice in Chains will hit the road with a metal band that features two icons of hard rock. The band, whose named after a soft fabric and a weapon, will be touring on their second release.

Once Alice in Chains finished, Cameron Diaz entered the room with Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart. Missing was Howard Leese. Howard spent 22 years with the band and it would have showed a lot of class to include him in the festivities but this proved to be Girls Night Out. Diaz looked almost shy when it came time to talk. She simply handed Nancy her ring and said "Here ya go lady." She quickly slithered out the doorway leaving Ann and Nancy to answer our questions. The first one was about how they thought country star Gretchen Wilson did playing with Alice in Chains. Ann took the question and said, "Gretchen is a really great singer. She is thought of as a country singer but she wants to rock. When she gets with a band like Alice in Chains she proves she can do it. All the guys are in love with her now and want to tour with her."

Nancy commented on Heart being chosen to receive the award and even plugged her sister’s upcoming solo album. "It feels good. It was refreshing to play something new from our Jupiter’s Darling record. Ann has a solo album coming out with Elton John, Gretchen Wilson and others on there. There is some original stuff and some covers. It is called Hope & Glory."

Someone asked the obvious question about Heart being the spokesmen – er, spokeswomen rather – for all female up and coming musicians. Ann responded by saying "It has been that way over the years but in the last ten years there have been a lot more. Women are rising above the old fashioned, unwritten laws that say, ‘You are a woman so you need to sit down and shut up.’ Women don’t think that way anymore. There are also a lot of women who come up to us who are really talented and they ask, ‘What do you do when someone wants to put you into a mold and just have you be a pole dancer?’ People don’t want them to write their own songs and would rather put them into that sexy pop culture role that everybody does these day. We tell them to stick to their guns. Rock is still a boy's club and it probably always will be as long as you stay in the boy’s room. But now there is a room in the middle where you are allowed to co-mingle."

The women were enjoying themselves on stage and were willing to take all questions fired at them. When asked what they would have done if music had not worked out Ann said, "I thought that I was going to be a fashion designer. After high school I went to art college. I thought I could design interesting, whimsical clothes for men. I didn’t realize that men don’t want to wear that stuff unless they are rock stars or gay." Nancy struggled to compete with Ann’s answer but managed to add, "I wanted to paint or work with animals. I thought I could be an art or music teacher. Music was it. I would be insane without music. I don’t have a definition for the word retirement. I don’t see me doing that. I will be the one who gets dragged kicking and screaming when it is no longer graceful."

As time was running out for interviews, Ann commented on the possibility of Heart hanging it up and how the band was doing at the present time. "We are still too young for that – just a little bit. We feel a lot like we felt when we started out. We are still allowed and encouraged to do what we want to do. No one has written us off yet. Nights like tonight are incredible to us – to be acknowledged. We work our butts off." Nancy spoke of her future plans, "We are writing songs for a Heart concept record. We have three or four songs going now. It has a concept thing going on and is not just a collection of songs. We are getting started on that. Also, the next time Cameron Crowe asks me to do a movie I am going to do it."

Our host bellowed out "last question" and from the back of the room someone asked what Ann would say to all the people who dismissed Heart early on in their career. Ann paused, smiled and yelled out, "Fuck you." With that the most famous Sisters of Rock smiled and left the room.

We had a break in the backstage action as Genesis jammed, jammed and jammed some more. The band were giving a nod to their progressive past. Not sure if the whole thing will make it to network television but suffice it to say it was awesome. Phil Collins and Chester Thompson put on a drummer’s duel that had the crowd on their feet.

The celebrity host for Genesis was Robin Williams. Being so close to such a living legend was awe-inspiring. As it turns out it was a good thing that Robin was in the room as nearly everyone in Genesis was gun shy of the microphone. They stood on stage like five English statesmen and accepted their awards gracefully. Williams made fun of his advancing age by responding to the many who were commenting on how good he looked by saying, "You look great Grampa." When he attempted to pick up the Rock Honors rings one of them went sailing off the podium as Williams quipped "So much for the glass ring."

The band smiled and stood posing with their rings while cameras feverishly snapped away. Williams was next to the band and yelled out, while doing his best game show host impersonation, "I am standing over here like Vanna White." Phil Collins took the question that everyone wanted to know: Was this a full-blown Genesis reunion? "No, we are just doing it for fun. We are not going to start living together again. We have twenty-odd shows in Europe and then we have America and Canada." The awkward silence resumed as the band continue to stand graciously and pose for picturers until they were informed it was time to leave. William took center stage once again and said, "On behalf of the English people, thank you very much."

The Special Press Room was abuzz waiting for The Price of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne to come in. Osbourne is a magnetic figure who strikes deep emotions in the hearts of his fans. Ozzy is 100% pure and honest about who he is. He genuinely loves his fans and he loves his music. When the Ozzman cometh into the room he received a standing ovation and cameras whirled faster than microscopic organisms being introduced to heat. As he stood posing for the camera, I made a faux paux of raising my hand and doing the devil sign. The famous heavy metal signature hand gesture was made famous by Ronnie James Dio when he replaced Osbourne in Black Sabbath. Ozzy looked at me and said curtly, "I don’t do that. I do this." He flipped me off and then turned to give the finger to the entire room who erupted with laughter. Ozzy responded by screaming out, ""AHHHHH FUCK OFF!"

I asked Ozzy how he thought Randy Rhoads would have liked the VH1 Rock Honors and the metal maniac got a far away look in his eye and said sadly, "I was thinking about Randy today. I have been thinking about him a lot lately. It seems like my time with him was forever but it was only a couple of years. I miss him terribly." The conversation turned to the upcoming summer tour, Ozzfest, which is free for the first time in its history. "The bands are getting bigger on Ozzfest and ultimately that affects the ticket price. Sharon has always been good to the kids. Sharon just said screw it. She went and got sponsors for it. I did a few shows on the second stage and I had a great time. The Ozzfest is great. I just really miss the gigs, you know. I am not retiring." Ozzy went on to talk about how he was feeling at the moment, "I feel kind of buzzed. The crowd is just magical. They just lift you up, it is amazing. It is awesome, man."

Ozzy quickly had the room laughing out loud again when he said that the movie of his life should be titled "There’s No Business Like Snow Business." Osbourne professes he is currently happy. His new album, Black Rain, is his first album he has recorded without being under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Someone asked Ozzy if he had any regrets in life. "If I changed anything then I would not be here now." As he was being escorted from the stage, I shouted out one last question to Ozzy. I asked him which he liked better, the Rock Honors or The Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame. Osbourne smiled and shouted out, "You’re all real people, you see. You are not a bunch of morons."

The place erupted as Ozzy began to exit the room. Just when we thought the show was over, his wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne, entered the room to get her ring. The couple looked deeply into each others eyes. I yelled out, "Go ahead, Oz. Kiss her. Give her a kiss." With that, Sharon and Ozzy embraced and gave each other a passionate kiss. Everyone applauded at the heartfelt scene and no one noticed that magician extraordinaire Criss Angel had entered the room. Angel stood in-between the two Osbourne’s and announced how much he loved Ozzy’s music. He presented Ozzy with a diamond encrusted ring that he had custom made for the event. At this time a very annoying man kept putting his cell phone in the celebrities faces to take pictures. He was invading their space, getting within inches of them. Sharon looked at Criss Angel and said, "Can’t you make that fucking cell phone disappear?"

As the trio left the room everyone was wide-eyed and totally blown away by being so close to rock royalty. The Special Press Room had one more thing to offer though. Host Bam Margera and his parents came in the room to take a few questions. Bam started things off by stating, "Last time I did live television Wee Man punched me in the nuts." When asked who he liked the most he surprised everyone by saying, "I liked Heart. I didn’t think that I would. Alice in Chains with Gretchen Wilson were awesome. I really didn’t know who Gretchen Wilson was. I don’t pay attention to country music. I like heavy metal."

Bam stole the show earlier in the night when he was introducing Ozzy. He invited his mother on stage and proceeded to punch himself in the face trying to give himself a black eye. I asked him how the eye was feeling. "It is puffy. It was the least I could do. Ozzy ate a bat for Pete’s sake." Bam went on to admit that he had not planned on beating his own face until that day. "The whole black eye thing happened this morning. I told VH1 that I would give myself a black eye and bring my mom out. She was not even supposed to come out. The dialogue was supposed to be, ‘To tell you about Ozzy here is Jada Pinkett-Smith.’ I said, ‘That is lame. Let me give myself a black eye.’ His mother had been proud of the fact that her son had avoided cheap hijinks thus far through the show. Little did she realize she was going to be standing next to him watching her son hit himself in the face. "Halfway though the show I thought he had finally grown up and then that." I approached her and asked her if she always thought her son would turn out like he has. She smiled and admitted, "I always thought he would be a professional skateboarder. He told me he was going to do that at age six. I didn’t know what I was going to be but I knew what he was going to be." Bam ended the press party when he smiled a mischievous smile and said that he was going to go over to the After Show Party at the House of Blues. "I have to get some gin and mixes pretty quick."

Our guide to the Special Press Room was nowhere to be found and we were left to our own devices to find our way out. Ron and I wandered around and looked for a way to get to the casino. We followed the signs, walked in a complete circle like a couple of idiots and then figured out where we needed to be. We went over to the House of Blues and flashed our After Show Passes, looking like a scene out of Wayne’s World. We ran into a publicist named Dani Dalesandro from the firm Susan Blonde who gave us some information about the VH1 Save the Music Foundation who were sponsoring the After Show Party. We talked for a while and then we went entered the party. Oddly enough, the party was on the stage of the House of Blues. The general public sat below at tables eating their dinner as we hobnobbed with other VIPs including rock stars and other famous people.

Foreigner was playing at Mandalay Bay the following night and I noticed their drummer mingling with other party goers. For those who do not know, the current Foreigner drummer is Jason Bonham, son of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. Jason was also one of the stars of VH1's Supergroup. The reality series placed Bonham with other rock stars, including Sebastian Bach and Ted Nugent. They had to come up with a name, write songs and perform live all within a couple of weeks. They never came up with a good name. Damnocracy ended up winning over Fist and Savage Animal. I walked up behind Bonham and said in a loud voice, "SAVAGE ANIMAL!" Jason turned around and smiled and told me that Sebastian won’t talk to him anymore because of the show. In one scene Bach was being a total baby and behind him Bonham pretended to be crying like a baby. "He won’t return my calls anymore and he won’t even talk to me. Now the whole world knows what it is like to work with Sebastian." When asked how Jimmy Page and Robert Plant liked the band’s version of "Out on the Tiles," Bonham simply said, "No comment."

Most of Genesis were at the party and enjoyed talking to fans and taking pictures. Unfortunately, Ozzy, Heart and ZZ Top were nowhere to be found. I got in line to get a Coke and behind me was a very good-looking oriental woman. Both of our eyes looked above the stage at the same time where a crack in a curtain revealed an amazing ass looking down upon us. We looked at each other and said, "Did you see that?" With that, whoever was upstairs noticed the curtain was slightly open and quickly shut it. A second later the curtain flung open and there were several show girls in costumes. The one who mooned us looked down and kept motioning for me to take her picture.

Behind the stage there were several other rooms where VIPs could hang out. Ozzy’s bass player was back there and Zakk Wylde made a very quick appearance before disappearing. I did run into Carrot Top, who is totally buff. We made small talk about he recent appearance on Criss Angel’s show Mind Freak. Carrot Top swore the show was not fixed and really thought he might die! Speaking of Angel, he was busy making the rounds at the party. With a drink in each hand, he still was able to pose for pictures and talk to anyone around him.

I ventured further backstage and went into a room where I sat with Bam’s mom and dad. Across the couch Kelly Osbourne and Bam and his wife were engaged in a deep conversation. I enjoyed talking to Bam’s dad and could not help but ask him if he ever got tired of all the practical jokes his son played on him. Phil sat up, reflected on the question and then laughed and said, "At least he is getting some money out of it now. He used to do that shit to us before he was famous."

Ron and I met up once again at the party. It was getting late and we had early morning flights so we regretfully left the party. We made our way to the shuttle where we shared a ride with the enthusiastic man I mentioned at the beginning of this article. The next day I flew back to where the buffalo roam. I had not slept for two days but I really didn’t do anything in Vegas that had to stay in Vegas. Slot machines took a hundred bucks from me and roulette took twenty. That is a small price to pay for the experience of covering my second VH1 Rock Honors.

As I sat on the plane I reflected upon the importance of the Rock Honors. This is an event that celebrates real rock by real bands for real fans. The Hall of Fame charges thousands of dollars for a ticket and dresses up our heroes in monkey suits and makes them play a song or two almost as an afterthought. VH1 Rock Honors understands that the live performance should be for the real fans of the music and not for the stuffed suits from the record company. The VH1 Rock Honors celebrates amazing artists that have given their lifeblood for their craft. Sure, money and fame have come their way as a result of being successful in the music industry. Still, on May 12, 2007, ZZ Top, Heart, Genesis and Ozzy Osbourne proved that the music is what really matters. When the lights go down and the stage is packed up then all that is left is the energy and emotion of the performance. VH1 Rock Honors pays homage to the true spirit of rock n’ roll. With that in mind, all that is left to say is this: VH1 Rock Honors – For Those Who Have Just Rocked . . . We Salute You!