First, there was the [article id="1624072"]"indefinite hiatus,"[/article] then guitarist Joe Perry said [artist id="1028"]Aerosmith[/artist] were [article id="1625906"]looking for a new singer[/article]

to replace the legendary Steven Tyler, who reportedly left the group after 40 years to pursue a solo career.

And then, on Tuesday night, [article id="1625998"]Tyler took the stage unexpectedly[/article]

during an appearance by Joe Perry's band at Irving Plaza in New York, seemingly putting an end to speculation of a breakup by announcing, "New York, I want you to know I'm not leaving Aerosmith." And, oh, by the way, he added, "Joe Perry, you are a man of many colors. But I, motherf---er, am the rainbow."

That seemed to settle things. Only it didn't. Perry told Rolling Stone magazine that the appearance by Tyler was a shock even to him and that it didn't mean things were all patched up. "There was all this commotion during our encore break and somebody said, 'Steven is here.' " Perry explained. "And I was like, 'What?' " The pair then apparently made some small talk and, after Tyler asked to sit in for an encore of "Walk This Way," Perry said archly, "Being an acquaintance of 40 years, I said, 'Why not?' So he came up and sang and that was the last I saw of him."

A spokesperson for Aerosmith could not be reached for comment at press time.

Perry said the apparent rapprochement didn't mean much, as he explained that Tyler -- who was [article id="1619472"]injured this summer[/article] after a fall from the stage during a [article id="1618739"]subsequently canceled Aerosmith tour[/article] -- still wants to take two years off.

"The rest of the band wants to keep on working," he said. "We have so many different options to fill up that time. Anything is possible at this point. Basically, any communication that we've had over the last couple of months has been through managers, so that's been pretty strange. I never won any money trying to second-guess what goes on in Steven's mind. I guess this is just Aerosmith business as usual."