News

Tommy Lee's Helicopter Dust-Up

For most people, seeing a big concert in the Los Angeles area means navigating through a dense thicket of traffic. For Rockstar: Supernova star and former Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, it means calling up a personal pilot to pick him up at his house in a helicopter. Unfortunately for the pilot, he landed on a residential street -- apparently Lee has yet to splurge for that rooftop helipad -- and now faces one count each of reckless flying, landing an aircraft on a public road and landing an aircraft without a permit.

The pilot, David Keith Martz, gave Lee a 50-mile lift from his home in the Hollywood Hills to a concert venue in Irvine, where Nine Inch Nails were performing. Each of the charges against Martz carries with it a maximum penalty of six months imprisonment and $1,000 in fines. The pilot has not yet commented on the matter, and Lee, through his publicist, also kept his lips sealed.

Police officers reported that they notified Martz that he could not land on a public road, but that Martz -- along with Lee and two other passengers -- parked their aircraft in the same spot upon returning from the concert. Reportedly, there was no one on the ground to make sure that vehicles or pedestrians didn't wander into the makeshift landing strip.

Lee has felt more talkative about other issues in recent days, most notably that he mistakenly receives fan mail for actor Tommy Lee Jones, and that he believes that his ex-wife, Pamela "Mrs. Kid Rock" Anderson, has spoiled their children.

--The ARTISTdirect Staff
08.02.06