{alltv} Bret Michaels not slowing down

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There's a major Canadian connection to the Motley Crue/Poison/New York Dolls triple bill which touches down at Toronto's Molson Canadian Amphitheatre on Tuesday night for its only date on this side of the border.

Turns out Poison frontman Bret Michaels first voiced his desire to do the tour publicly during a solo concert in Windsor, Ont., late last year.

"I called it my pipe dream, 'It would be great if maybe Motley Crue and Poison toured together for their 30 and our 25th anniversary.' And the place went nuts. 'Holy crap. What a great rock show.' "

But it almost didn't come to be.

"And then Motley Crue said some derogatory things in the press saying it would never happen and my pipe dream came true and here we are going out to tour this summer," said Michaels, 48, who is not sure what changed Motley's mind. "I think, all feelings put aside, Motley Crue and Poison is going to put on an unbelievable show for the fans."

Certainly, nobody could call Michaels a slacker.

The singer-musician, who had more than his fair share of health problems in April and May 2010 -- emergency appendectomy, brain hemorrhage and surgery for a hole in his heart -- says he's just making up for lost time.

"I'm just happy to be alive to be the hardest working man in show business," said Michaels, who feels about 80 to 85% recovered. "I've always been a little nuts, let's just say this up front. After a couple near death experiences recently, I just said, 'I'm going to take the bull by the horns, and live life for every bit of gusto I can get out of it.' I feel really, really good."

Michaels is taking part in no fewer than three tours in 2011: his solo Get Your Rock On (also the title of his latest solo album) tour happened in the spring, the Poison 25th anniversary tour launched in May, and now the Crue/Dolls bill.

"This will be history making," said Michaels.

Still to come, there's the Bret Michaels Super Cruise that will set sail from Miami to Cozumel, Mexico on Nov.10 - 14.

"It will be the most pro-active cruise in the history of man," he said. "I'm going to take pictures of people just in case they don't remember doing the cruise. I'm on it for the whole trip. I'm bartending. I'm doing concerts. I'm giving back 1,000%. We're going to make this a party of biblical proportions."

He's also got Bret Michaels: The Vocalizer, a CD of vocal warm-up exercises for singers, and will be shooting at least two or possibly three TV shows in the fall that will be seen later this year or early next.

"One's a show I invented -- are you ready? -- called The Love Guru and we shot it on the Love Ranch and I give really bad rock star advice on how to save your relationship. So it's hysterical. It's funny. It's real, and then you get me giving the worst advice ever in the world which is perfect."

The other two shows Michaels is working on with reality-TV show producer Mike Fleiss (The Bachelor) are called The Fixer and Here Comes the Judge,

"And I'll just leave it at that," he said.

Given his health problems, does he have a team of medical professional monitoring his every move?

"You would think I would be smart enough to have a team of medical people but I strive to really take care of myself," said Michaels. "I've been a life-long Type 1 diabetic so I do four injections a day since I've been six years old and I'm pretty in tune with my body. What happened to me, honestly, with the subarachnoid hemorrhage, it has about a 20% survival rate. I say this truthfully, grace of God, good medical attention, and good family around me -- I'm a fighter, but it gave me a lot of strength to fight. And I take no credit for this fact. It just wasn't my time."

MICHAELS GOT LAUGHS FROM 'SNL' SKIT

Saturday Night Live has done a hilarious Rock of Love parody featuring Jason Sudeikis as bandana-wearing Bret Michaels singing the Poison hit, Every Rose Has Its Thorn, among other things.

The real-life Michaels has watched it and had a good laugh too.

"I don't know him but he did an absolutely great job. In fact, I was watching it when it happened and I knew it was coming and I could not tell you how funny (I thought it was). And then David Letterman did one. And it's just fun. Because to be around me, I'm very self-deprecating ... I'll laugh at myself first and I thought it was very funny. I thought it they did a great job."

Especially Amy Poehler as a one-legged, gassy, and over-confident Rock of Love contestant named Amber.

"When she was jumping on one leg and farting, I mean, c'mon, you can't beat that Amber!" said Michaels.