Quick Takes - Feb. 26, 2010

Back in the saddle

After turmoil that included public squabbling, threats of a lineup change and a rehab stint, Aerosmith is back and ready to rock. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers announced plans for their Cocked, Locked and Ready to Rock European summer tour Thursday -- with Steven Tyler.

Aerosmith, which has been one of rock’s enduring bands over the last three decades, has been in limbo since Tyler fell off a stage during an August concert in South Dakota, injuring himself and forcing the band to cancel the rest of its summer tour.

-- associated press Houston ‘doing great’ on tour

Though video postings of her recent performances in Australia have been less than flattering, Whitney Houston says her tour is going great -- and she’s in great health.

Houston’s publicist, Kristen Foster, released a statement Thursday, saying: “Whitney is in great health and having a terrific time on her tour and with her fans.”

She said more than 9,000 people attended Houston’s show in Brisbane and more than 12,000 were at Acer Arena in Sydney. “Her fans were dancing and singing along with her and Whitney appreciates their support,” Foster said.

That view contrasts with news reports quoting disgruntled fans who complained about the star’s voice and performance. Video snippets of the 46-year-old Houston struggling to hit notes in concerts in Sydney and Brisbane have circulated widely on YouTube and other outlets.

-- associated press Thom Yorke names his band

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke on Thursday revealed the name of his new band -- Atoms for Peace -- and announced a series of U.S. tour dates that includes the Coachella music festival in Indio on April 18.

The British alternative rock singer first introduced the band in L.A. late last year, but without a name. It features Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, drummer Joey Waronker, Mauro Refosco of Forro in the Dark, and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich.

-- reuters Waters pans NBC in session

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) took NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker to task Thursday for the lack of African American actors and shows on NBC.

In a hearing held by the House Judiciary Committee on the proposed $30-billion marriage between cable giant Comcast and NBC Universal, Waters used her time to question Zucker about why the network has not done better in creating shows that would appeal to the black community.

“Is there some assumption that black programming is not profitable?” Waters asked Zucker. “Not at all,” he replied.

Why then, she wondered, are there no shows on NBC aimed specifically at black viewers? Zucker tried to point out that the network had a history of successful black shows, but Waters wasn’t up for a trip down memory lane.

“That was then and now is now,” she said, adding, “Black viewers deserve the kind of content they feel good about. . . . I don’t understand why you don’t pursue it and why you don’t do it.”

-- Joe Flint Brazil agencies bash Hilton ad

Paris Hilton is giving blonds a bad name.

So says Brazil’s Secretariat for Women’s Affairs, which wants a sultry beer commercial starring the hotel heiress, model and actress taken off the air.

The ad features Hilton in a short black dress preening and rubbing a can of Devassa beer on herself, to the delight of onlookers watching through her window.

The commercial isn’t very explicit, especially in a land where postage-stamp-size bikinis are ubiquitous. And many Brazilian beer ads feature women in bikinis -- but a key difference is that those are set on the beach, said Eduardo Correia, a spokesman for the regulator CONAR, which has opened three separate investigations into the Devassa campaign. Brazil’s regulations say beer commercials cannot treat women as overtly sensual objects.

-- associated press Finally

A very wet premiere: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway and hundreds of screaming fans braved pouring rain for Thursday’s premiere of Tim Burton’s fantasy 3-D film “Alice in Wonderland” in London. It opens in the U.S. on March 5.