ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Local son Austin Miller was held hostage for nearly 20 minutes this evening amid his father’s annual retelling of the time he won free Aerosmith tickets by calling a local radio station hotline.
“I was wearing this old Aerosmith shirt of my dad’s when I ran into the old man blowing leaves off the driveway. He thinks it’s a huge deal that he won two tickets to see them thirty years ago. He loves saying he was ‘lucky caller number 69,’ and he got the shirt at the concert, but I can’t take it anymore,” admitted the younger Miller. “I’ve tried to interrupt him and let him know I’ve heard this story before, but he just says ‘yeah’ then he starts from the beginning all over again.”
Miller’s father believes his teenage son is missing a valuable lesson about patience and persistence.
“It was 1990. I waited all week for that Aerosmith giveaway! This was before people even had cell phones, okay? I called 96.7 ‘The Rock’ like a dozen times from a landline, and — get this — I was lucky caller number sixty-nine! Do you know how improbable that is? I know a thing or two about sticking with something,” stated Saul Miller. “What does this kid know? He worked a total of one shift at McDonald’s, stole a milkshake and a Quarter Pounder, and left. Bravo, son! At least I got to see ‘Love in an Elevator’ live. ‘Livin’ it up when you’re going dooooown!’ He doesn’t even tuck the shirt in.”
Retired radio announcer “Wolf Dawg” Delaney was able to locate a recording of the live broadcast featuring Mr. Miller from a box of old floppy disks.
“I can verify that yes, an Aerosmith show did, in fact, happen in January of 1990 during their ‘Pump’ tour,” confirmed DJ Wolf Dawg. “This Miller guy who won tickets was caller 69, which was the lucky number we picked for every giveaway. But, why does it even matter anymore? Is he dead or something?”
At press time, Mr. Miller was seen by neighbors peeling out of his driveway in a Ford Taurus blasting “Sweet Emotion.”