In a darkened corner of West Covina's Crazy Horse dine and dance club, a group of blondes in black sequins raise their arms and sway reverently to Chris VanDahl's rendition of Aerosmith's "Crazy." VanDahl, dressed in skin-tight, treacherously low red pants and a matching long-tailed jacket that frames a lean, bare torso but for the tats, belts out the ballad with Steven Tyler-like resonating rawness. Behind him, the rest of "Aeromyth" expertly plays along as "Steven," alternates between marching straight legged across the stage, and pressing Tyler-full lips to the microphone, cradling the scarf-festooned mike stand like a lover. The corner girls go wild. Their idol spins around, revealing Tyler's tight tush, too.

  
Right on.

Hard to believe VanDahl's alter ego to his Super-Steve persona is a mild-mannered husband of eight years who prefers to be home with his wife rather than out with the guys. "When I'm home, I'm home," said the Michigan native who's been performing onstage since he was 13 years old. "I'm not the guy who's out at the bar getting wasted."

But he is the guy who was teased at an early age about his looks - "The kids called me monkey face" - until Steven Tyler and the boys broke onto the music scene during VanDahl's junior high years. Then the similarity became more of an asset than a liability.

"People started commenting on the resemblance. If I had a dollar for every time I heard I looked like Tyler, I'd be rich."

He shunned the attention at first, changing his appearance to get away from the tailored Tyler look, even sporting a Mohawk for misdirection. But he never disguised his love for rock 'n roll.

By the time he reached his twenties, VanDahl was singing on the road with a series of bands and musicians including the platinum-selling L.A. Guns, and later formed a band with guitarist Kenny Olson of Kid Rock. Then came the phone call from a former band buddy who'd put together an Aerosmith tribute group and the rest, as they say, is hard rock history.

"It fit like a glove," VanDahl said, recalling his first time following in Tyler's frenzied footsteps. "I stopped thinking and just started being. I knew then I'd made the right decision."

A Wolfe in Rod's Clothing

Tonight's the night/Gonna be all right.

At least that's what Gregory Wolfe performing as Rod Stewart figured. It was one of the last nights of his first tour in Singapore and the local censor board had only approved a selection of Rod songs that didn't mention, well, virgins and first-time fantasies. But he'd sung the same songs for several months straight, and ain't nobody was gonna stop him now.

"I took it upon myself to throw in 'Tonight's the Night,'" he said. "It went over great. The only 'bad' thing that happened was afterwards the production manager called the show's producer back in L.A. and basically snitched on me."
A small price for passion.

Another time, Wolfe nearly caused a riot in a German mall. That adventure happened a few years ago when he and a spot-on "Michael Jackson" were paraded through a crowded shopping mall by their local promoters who just wanted to "see what happens."

Wolfe said the crowd had started to grow in dire density before the promoters finally pulled them out. "They had to shut it down," Wolfe said, shaking his head at the memory of the chaos closing in. "These guys [the promoters] were not the sharpest tools in the shed, if you know what I mean. They wanted to repeat the stunt the very next day."

But Wolfe and his moon-walking friend refused, feeling it was a cheap trick at the fans expense.

The Journey Man

A young Dave Alcantar always said he'd make it as a musician one day. Just like his dear old musical dad and older bro, just like he told his grade school teacher when she asked all the kids: What do you want to be when you grow up? Even the family name of Alcantar, "cantar" meaning "to sing" in Spanish, foretold a career in music. And sing he does, often six nights a week, using the voice that started him on his journey to perform as rock's velvet vocalist, Steve Perry.

"Other guys are out there doing this," Alcantar said. "But I've got the voice."

Given his growing number of fans, it seems others would agree. The first time he performed "Open Arms" onstage - "I just added it into the mix one night" - the audience "went wild." Among those applauding were some of Alcantar's musician friends who told him he needed to start singing as Steve more often. Heeding that advice and with a little Righteous Brothers help from Bill Medley, Alcantar auditioned for and was selected to be the leading man for the Journey tribute band Escape. Their premiere gig together almost didn't happen.

"It was in Arizona. There were dark clouds everywhere and it had started to rain, with just a few hours to go before we were supposed to start the show," Alcantar said. Half inspired by the traces of Native American in his blood, half inspired by the fact that the promoter was threatening to shut down the show due to weather, Alcantar did an impromptu rain dance. "All of a sudden the clouds went away," he said, miming their movement with upraised hands. "At the end, the rain started coming down - but I got in that last note."