Jim Farber of New York's Daily News reports that twenty-eight-year-old Paul Cataldo Jr., of Staten Island, will be the opening act for AEROSMITH's Jones Beach show on June 26 when he performs his own Guitar Hero take on the band's classic 1975 song "Sweet Emotion" before 17,000 fellow fans.

Cataldo won the local segment of a national contest that has AEROSMITH choosing the best Guitar Hero treatment of its songs, uploaded on YouTube.

When asked how long he's been and AEROSMITH fan, Cataldo replied, "Since I was 12 or 13. Back in junior high a friend performed 'Crying' in a talent show, and it just caught me. I told my parents they had to buy me every album AEROSMITH ever put out. I didn't know there were so many of them. It was like a drug to me. I've gone to 25 or 26 shows of theirs — any one within a two-hour driving distance. My father, who's a big classic rock 'n' roll fan, took me to my first AEROSMITH show in '92 or '93. That was the best one because it was a chance to have a real buddy experience with him. My father actually was at the show at Max's Kansas City where they first got signed [in 1971]. That's an amazing coincidence."

Read the entire article from Daily News.