Celebrating pioneers in health

Aerosmith climbed back in the saddle yesterday, if only briefly, to play the first of two court-ordered shows in Hawaii. The creaky classic rockers, whose future has been very much in doubt since Steven Tyler tumbled off the stage in August, played in Honolulu to make up for a concert it abruptly canceled in 2007. (Disaffected fans had filed a class-action lawsuit forcing the Boston bad boys to make good on the canceled gig.) Yesterday’s appearance at Blaisdell Arena was actually the band’s second since Tyler took a header at the Sturgis Motorcyle Rally in South Dakota. Last week Aerosmith made big bucks performing a private concert in San Francisco sponsored by software giant Oracle. Though they’re once again sharing the same stage, it’s not clear whether Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry are even speaking to one another. Tyler had largely retreated from public view after breaking his shoulder in the fall, and it looked for a while like the band might finally be kaput. (In a photo taken at a Pembroke package store a few weeks after Sturgis, the 61-year-old singer looked more like a retiree than a rock star.) Joe Perry’s wife, Billie, took to Twitter yesterday to critique the Oahu show, raving: “Joey n Tom were locked into a pounding groove that pushed it home. . . Aerosmith players moved like a big black freight train traveling at bullet-train speed through the whole set. Unstoppable band.’’ But asked by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin if Aerosmith intends to carry on, Perry sounded iffy: “We still feel we can do it. But it’s like driving your old car - one day it doesn’t start.’’ The band plays its second Hawaii show, at War Memorial Stadium on Maui, today.

He doesn’t want to sound ungrateful, but Gordon Willis isn’t all that excited about going to LA. “I don’t know if I can get into a black suit and talk to people,’’ said the cinematographer, who’s been chosen to receive an honorary Academy Award. “Talking to people is a real pain in the [expletive], and then there’s the Wolfgang Puck cuisine and all that.’’ Willis, who lives on the Cape, is one of the most influential cinematographers of his era. He worked on seven movies that garnered 39 nominations and 19 Oscars, including “The Godfather,’’ “The Godfather: Part II,’’ and Woody Allen’s “Manhattan’’ and “Zelig.’’ Of course, Willis is pleased he was picked, even if he’s not enthused about the prospect of traveling. “I was kind of hoping they could Fed Ex it out here,’’ he said. “Oh, well, I have a lot of friends there I can see.’’ Not coincidentally, the Harvard Film Archive is hosting a retrospective of Willis’s work next month. The title? “The Man Who Shot the Godfather.’’

Ben Affleck drew quite a crowd yesterday at the corner of Main and West Foster streets in Melrose, where the director of “The Town’’ was filming in and around an abandoned bank building. Nicole Waldert, who lives nearby, managed to snap a picture of the homeboy sipping coffee. “It was cool,’’ said Waldert, who stood around watching and waiting for about 90 minutes. Mayor Robert Dolan said in an e-mail that the crew would film in the city again today, adding that it’s business as usual for Main Street merchants. “No complaints,’’ he said.

Fox News yakker Bill O’Reilly will hold forth Friday at his alma mater. The right-wing host of “The O’Reilly Factor’’ returns to Boston University as part of the College of Communication Distinguished Alumni Awards event. O’Reilly, who graduated in ’75, will be joined by former NBC News VP Bill Wheatley, Class of ’70, for a one-on-one conversation billed as “A Bold, Fresh Look at the Future of News.’’

In her never-ending bid to hype her website, Boldfacers founder Lisa Pierpont installed a “pop-up store’’ at her offices the other night. The gone-in-a-flash guerilla shopfest featured the work of Mexican-born graffiti artist Victor “Marka 27’’ Quinonez, artist Ryan Lombardi, Karmaloop buyer-turned-children’s wear designer Renatta Hossein, and former Heyday footwear founder Darin Hager, who used to ply his talents for Puma.

Vertical Horizon - Matt Scannell, Jason Sutter, Corey McCormick, and Keith Kane - played a few numbers from the band’s new album, “Burning the Days,’’ at the Mix 104.1 Lounge yesterday. . . . Echo & the Bunnymen snuck into Boston for a show Sunday at Great Scott. Though not widely advertised, the gig, part of the Fenway Recordings Sessions promoted by Mark Kates, was sold out. (We saw state Representative Kevin G. Honan in the packed house.) After the show, Kates joined Echo the Bunnymen singer Ian McCulloch at Eastern Standard for a steak.