Steven Tyler is so legend-status. This weekend the on again/off again lead singer of Aerosmith hit up a Home Depot in Rancho Mirage, CA and surprised store employees and customers alike when he took over the PA to perform. He sang two two of his biggest hits (“Dude Looks Like a Lady” and “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”) before taking rips off a helium tank and singing BeeGees style. He also agreed to sign autographs for anyone who asked.

Hey, celebrities! Everyone would love you all if you did stuff like this. It’s almost like “Who the hell cares that this guy’s a pill addict and he acts strange?” because he’s living life and giving back in creative ways. For all the people at that Home Depot who went to go pick out door knobs and paint, that was probably the most exciting thing to happen to their lives in months.

After over 10 years of performance injuries, Steven Tyler feels that he needs to seek professional treatment for his reliance on pain medication. If you’ll remember, just this summer he had an accident that likely triggered his relapse. In a statement to People Magazine, Tyler said:

“With the help of my family and team of medical professionals, I am taking responsibility for the management of my pain and am eager to be back on the stage and in the recording studio with my bandmates Joe Perry, Joey Kramer, Tom Hamilton and Brad Whitford.”

The singer, who has a history of drug abuse, has been isolating himself from his bandmates as of late and that was a sure sign that his recovery had turned in to a relapse. His daughter, actress Liv Tyler said the following about her father receiving treatment, “My family and I are in complete support of my dad’s decision to seek treatment. He is a courageous man. We love him and are so proud that he is getting help to balance his pain management, not just for himself but for his family, friends and fans.”

Tyler is 61 years old and has been at it (performing and using drugs) for decades in different capacities. If he doesn’t come out of this clean, he at least seems to have the support of his family and the ability to keep doing what he loves with a band that’s behind him.

“Steven, he isolates more and more all the time — that’s what gives it away to me that there’s something going on.  I don’t know what that is. I know he’s made some not so great choices and he’s got some negative influences around him now. I love the guy. I just want to see him get some help.”

Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer in a Billboard.com interview, revealing that Steven Tyler has distanced himself from the group.  You can read the whole article here, but it sounds like Tyler may have relapsed.

The Joe Perry Project played last night at the Filmore in NYC.  Joe Perry knows how to make statements.  He’s been making them all week about his other band, Aerosmith.  According to Perry, the group was broken up — news that was devastating to devoted fans.

But about last night’s JPP performance:  Steven Tyler made a surprise appearance on stage and sang “Walk This Way.”  So, good news, right?  When asked directly about his rumored departure Monday at the Glamour Awards, Tyler replied “Does it look like I’m leaving Aerosmith? You know what it is — it’s those people who are putting out Joe’s album. Joe’s doing a solo album. So people are paying attention to that.”

Okay, it isn’t Julia Roberts.  It’s Aerosmith’s Steven Fucking Tyler.  I’m not kidding.  If you don’t believe me, watch the little video clip.  He stopped by a local (local to me, it’s all the talk around here) liquor store and was immediately recognized.  Which is odd since he looks completely unrecognizable to me.  Locals see Steven around at Whole Foods and the gas station, etc. and no one makes a big deal about it.  Unless he looks how he’s looking now, in which case everyone reaches for a camera.

As you probably know, Tyler fell off a stage last week and broke his shoulder.  Apparently breaking a shoulder ages you, like, 250 years.  What. The. Fuck?

Despite his earlier claim that he checked into rehab for a foot injury (which you will not find reported on this website, because, unlike CNN, I do the level of fact-checking required to determine that no one goes to fucking rehab because their fucking foot hurts), Steven Tyler is now admitting that he in fact went to rehab to deal with the pill addiction he developed following his foot surgery.

“To have your feet done, to have your leg done, you have to be on narcotics,” Tyler told The Associated Press on Friday. “You have to be on sleep aids at night. I don’t know about Joe (Perry) but I was off and running and I didn’t like the me that was me … This was a month ago, so I just put the brakes on and checked into detox and just pulled the plug on all of it.”

Eh, good for you, Steven. I actually applaud you for dealing with the problem before it got out of hand. So I’m going to give you a limited amount of shit for bothering to lie in the first place. I’m glad you’re doing better now.

Ozzy Osbourne and Steven Tyler remind us why they used to be rock stars. Ozzy’s at the VH1 Rock Honors in Vegas, and Tyler’s at the Cove Atlantis opening. Rock and roll will never die, guys, but you will.