XX. Notes

Tuck: [...] When we were on tour with Guns N' Roses, that was a prime example of how not to fucking act on tour. Then with Maiden and Metallica it was the complete opposite. They made us feel so welcome, and anything we wanted, they were more than happy to give us. It was nice to see that though they've established godlike myths about them, when you actually get them one-on-one in a room, they're just Mr. Average. It was inspiring to see that our heroes weren't dicks.

“Sebastian would contact me every six months saying ‘You’ve got to be in my band,’ and I’d say ‘Dude I can’t, I’m in Testament now’.”

This went on for some time but eventually it all worked out for the two artists.

“Then he actually called at the right time because Chuck and Erik decided to get together with Alex again for a reunion so Sebastian called me and said 'Hey man, can you write some songs because I’m putting a record together? You wanna write some tracks?' So I went over to Sebastian’s house and he played me some stuff he’s done and I played him American Metalhead from the Pain Museum record and he was like ‘This is like the youth gone wild. This is like the new anthem.’ So I said ‘Let’s give it a shot. I’ll write some tracks for you’.”

After the initial success of this encounter more and more opportunities started to flow in for the band.

“He called me two weeks later and asked if I wanted to play Sweden Rock Festival with him. We started working on the album and Sebastian got a call from Axl and we’ve been on tour with GNR for pretty much a year now. It’s been great.”

Even though Guns N’ Roses have had little new exposure in the music world over the last ten years or so they still maintain a huge fan base and many of their original hits still enjoy plenty of air time, so for a guitarist with old school tastes like Metal Mike’s the opportunity to play with Guns N’ Roses, in any iteration, is extremely exciting.

“Guns N’ Roses are one of the greatest bands of all time. They are a band that is capable of totally turning rock around. Even though now heavy metal and hard rock are really big they could be responsible for making things big. They have a huge dedicated fan base. The other thing that has blown me away about them is that the kids are so young you know? Most of these kids weren’t even alive when Appetite came out!”

Mike clearly has a lot of respect for the band and class their work as an art form that will pass the test of time.

“If you make quality music or anything like photos or art, people will respect that. Metal or rock is definitely like an art form upon itself like no other. If you make a good product it’s going to live for 10, 20 50, God knows how many years.”

Rob De Luca: I have heard a lot of the record at the after parties when it's just kind of private and Axl decides to play some stuff and it's great, it's absolutely great. I've heard a bunch of stuff Bumblefoot's on, amazingly beautiful stuff and Frank (Ferrer) the drummer has been put on some stuff, but I have no idea when it's gonna come out.

I was a big fan of the original GN'R. They were a big influence of mine and I love them very much and if it wasn't great now I would probably be very disappointed because I loved it so much from the beginning. It really is amazing, it's so good the way it is. It's slightly different but it's just equally as great in a different way you know. I think 99% of the audience felt that on the tours. It was still a supergroup and Axl is a sweetheart of a guy. We were very blessed to be on that tour and they treated us very well, but I don't know any information about that record other than it's very good.

Kurt Loder Recalls His Most Amazing Axl Rose MTV Moments

by James Montgomery

MTV has had quite a lengthy and, um, interesting relationship with Mr. W. Axl Rose — one that has spanned decades, musical genres (metal, pseudo-industrial, sorta rap-rock) and, of course, cornrows.

Our cameras have been there at basically every step of Rose’s career: from Guns N’ Roses’ first appearance on “Headbangers Ball” in 1987 to their ascent to legendary status in ‘91 and then through the bevy of beefs, arrests and in-band bickering that eventually led to their demise. And, for the most part, one man has been in front of (or beside) those cameras: Kurt Loder.

So after combing our vaults to find the most Awesome Axl Moments on MTV, we decided to sit down with Kurt to get his take on the man himself — and luckily, he also had more than a few truly excellent Axl stories to share with us before the release of Chinese Democracy.

On Axl, The Man:

“Well, I think Axl is a little out of control, which is the way you should be if you’re going to be a big rock star with the limos and all that,” Loder said. “You should be out of control, and you should never know what’s going to happen next, so I thought that was great. That doesn’t happen at that level any more, because I think bands arrive at that level with all kinds of attorneys and handlers and stuff. They sort of pose as rebels, but they’re not dangerous. Nothing’s going to happen around them. Whereas with Axl, you never knew. Because I think he was on drugs or something, I don’t know. He was a very talented guy. He could be very, very nice, and he could all of a sudden be prickly. So, it was always interesting to be around him.”

On Axl’s Post-Bail Limo Trip In 1992:

“Oh yeah, it was totally prearranged. Totally corny, totally prearranged. All set up in advance. [Axl] was inside signing autographs for the cops; they loved him. He had started a fight a year earlier, outside of St. Louis, and there was a fugitive warrant out for him, so he was arrested when he arrived at JFK Airport in New York. They brought him down to the jailhouse and kept him there overnight or something, so we went there, got the limo, he got in and we talked to him. It was all preplanned, of course. But he was in a jolly mood, you know? And then he went on to start a tour. … He also started wearing a lot of Versace [around then]. Maybe it was the Elton John period.”

On Axl, The Myth:

“It’s a shame that people who claim to be revolutionary and dangerous today, they just aren’t. I’m sure there are a million bands at a lower level, but when you reach the big chart level, you’re not going to endanger anything. Whereas Axl Rose can take 16 years to make a record, still keep his record label, after 16 years of having various studios on hold around the clock, and make it work. He’s finally put the record out. Who else could do that? Nobody.” [Editor's note: If there's a band working that angle these days, it's Hinder — check out what they have to say about Chinese Democracy here.]

On Axl’s 1992 VMA Performance With Elton John, And His Backstage Beef With Kurt Cobain:

“Axl had that song ‘One in a Million’ … and he tried to explain that ‘n—–’ didn’t necessarily mean ‘black person,’ and he tried to explain the ‘f—-t’ thing, so he got together with Elton John. You know, Elton John got together with Eminem. He’s there to save souls, I think. So, the two of them up there, with the pianos — it was a little weird, you know? The backstage thing was the most interesting, because it was Courtney [Love] and it was Kurt [Cobain] and it was Axl. It was like two worlds colliding. That was sort of an important moment in the way fashions changed, and you really saw the culture of music going in a slightly different way. But it didn’t last, did it? The guys in the flannel shirts started buying Gucci too.”

On Axl’s 2002 VMA Performance:

“Well, nobody knew about it. Really nobody knew about it. And then [MTV Executive VP] Dave [Sirulnick] came to me and said, ‘You should really come over to see this.’ It was the night before the show, and they were doing a rehearsal, and it was Axl. And you just thought, ‘Where’s he been? What decade are we in?’ And he had this big band — and they were a great band, you know — but he was doing Guns N’ Roses material, and they were great. It really was a surprise. And when he came out, it was like the Pee-Wee Herman moment.”

On Axl, The Legend … And The Dinner-Party Host:

“I think, even as eccentric as Axl seems, he really is who he is. It’s not really an act or anything. I think maybe he had some problems with kind of … keeping it together in public, which would be storming off the stage or jumping into the pit to wrestle cameras out of fans’ hands. But that’s just the way he is. He’s not at all pretentious. And it’s good to have him back. I think Sebastian Bach was telling me that he thought Axl should get out of the house more, because he spent years just giving dinners — he had a big long table and people would come eat. But I had heard that Sebastian told him ‘Axl, you’re Axl. Why don’t we go out occasionally?!’ And he started getting him to go to nightclubs occasionally, which was probably a good thing.”

Seeing as this is the one-year anniversary of my column for SeattleWeekly.com, I thought I’d do something different this week and tell the whole story behind the 1992 MTV Music Video Awards when my bass came crashing down on my head.

Nirvana showed up for the production of the awards show early in the day at UCLA, west of Hollywood. The show was in the sports arena, and there were mobile houses set up for the performers off an athletic field. We settled into our trailer. In the music world, you show up on time only to wait around a lot. Why not have a beer to take the edge off? Instead of a cold, sudsy treat, I found cans of warm cheap beer. Arg! Might as well let it cool down in the mini-fridge for a while.

I walked around and checked out the stage area. Other bands were showing up. I said hello to the fellows in Pearl Jam and the Black Crowes. Sammy Hagar said hi. There was Howard Stern in a suit made to let his bare buttocks hang out.

I eventually made it to the food service area, where Kurt and Courtney were at a table with their newborn daughter, Frances. They told me that Axl Rose had walked by and Courtney started teasing him. She yelled, “Axl, Axl—you’re the godfather!” Upon hearing this, Axl apparently got very annoyed, walked over to Kurt, and demanded that he keep his woman in line. Kurt turned to Courtney and sarcastically asked his woman to keep in line and left it at that. Axl then split. Of course, Kurt and Courtney were musing over Axl’s response in the context of society’s patriarchal tendencies. My thought was that Rose shouldn’t have gotten bent out of shape. He should have walked over and asked to kiss the baby or something!

At the same time, Kurt wanted to play the tune “Rape Me” and was adamant about it. The MTV people were upset. We were being asked from all corners not to. I thought we should play something off Nevermind, do the gig, and leave. Easy, right? No. Kurt was very stubborn and refused to play another tune. There was quite a swirl around this issue. I went back to the trailer and had a still-warm beer. Yuk, but I drank it anyway. To resolve the song controversy, we said we were going to do “Lithium,” but we decided among the band to pull a prank and play a few chords of “Rape Me” at the beginning. Even though the issue was resolved, the back and forth between their people, our people, us and them, or whoever—it was draining.

I was walking toward the stage and came across my now-friend and colleague, Duff McKagan. I think Duff was also under the influence. He must have heard something from Rose and had a terse word for me. I was already a little bent out of shape and instantly replied with the same sentiment. The production people grabbed me and we continued toward the stage.I was now even more shook up. One should take the stage in a good frame of mind, but I wasn’t there. Nirvana gets introduced, and we start playing our prank, then switch into “Lithium.” I’m plugged into some awful bass rig that’s distorting terribly. I can barely hear what I’m playing, and the tone deteriorates into an inaudible mess. Fuck it—time for the bass-toss schtick. Up it goes!!!!! I always try to get good air—I bet I hit over 25 feet, easy! But no matter how high it went, I was not on my game— the only time I’ve ever dropped it was then in front of 300 million people. Ouch! I was fine, but I faked like I was knocked out, perhaps expressing my inner torment over a taxing evening. (Maybe I was just embarrassed.)

I stumbled offstage toward the green room with my hands on my forehead. I walked straight into the bathroom and looked at a bloody forehead in the mirror. I washed my face off and put a paper towel to my head. Paramedics came in and put a little bandage on, then handed me a long medical release form to sign. Standing behind them was Brian May, the guitarist of Queen, with a glass of chilled champagne. I signed the release just to get the medics away from me so I could take a sip of Mr. May’s wonderful medicine. Ahh, yes!!! Moments later Dave Grohl burst in. He’d been looking all over for me, only to find me enjoying a calm glass of bubbly with Mr. May. It was a relief for all!

I met Duff properly in the late 1990’s. And it was a nice exchange—considering we had met quite improperly in 1992. I’ve had a great year here at the Weekly. One of my best days was when I unexpectedly came across Duff’s new column—what a pleasant surprise! I hope you like the story of that infamous moment in rock music. I still have that bass guitar, too. I don’t play it much. The neck is a little bent!!!

Krist Novoselic blogs every Tuesday on the Daily Weekly.

[Asked about the Chinese Democracy single:]

Tracii: GnR single is trippy sounding, I think its over my head,,,,, One point in the song Axl sounds Like Chris van dahl which I got a kick out of,,,, I hope it does well
As far as the new GnR song goes,,,,,, Its not my current cup of tea but remember I am crazy and my opinion could change at any time

Fan: Tracii, I know you have been asked this a million times but is there a reason that you never really talk about what you wrote for AFD.
I keep reading stuff like this on mygnrforum.com:
Tracii wrote parts of Don't Cry that certain people have falsely taken credited for. I think there's some truth to Tracii having a hand in creating some Guns songs. Maybe Anything Goes but I'm sure he wrote the guitar parts to Move To The City)

Also, do you still stand by these quotes [note: from this 2005 interview]

Q: Have you talked to Axl Rose lately?

A: No, I communicate anything I want to say to Axl through Del James*. I write to Del if I need to contact him.

Q: So Axl really has completely shut himself off from the world?

A: He's a f****** nut.

Tracii: Yes I havent talked to AXL and Yes AXL is a nut and I dont talk about my musical contributions to GnR because they are not that significant,,,, AS far as I know you are the only one who still asks me about GnR,,,,, Yes half of GnR is my name ,,, lets just leave it there

Fan: Fair enough, I wasn't trying to strike a nerve ,Bro.I guess I just like learning as much as I can about my favorite band and I always read about things you were said to have written for them.I will lay off the GNR questions ...at least until the album is out. I guess I can see why the questions must get old after a while.

Tracii: No worries I understand your passion for GnR and its great!!!!!!!!! I am very proud that AXL was in LA GUNS and that we formed GnR together... If you want to set some facts straight on the GnR forum,,, here you go,,,,,

I didnt bring anything on appetite in from scratch in fact I think 50 percent of those songs were hollywood rose songs.... I did play, Think about you, dont cry, move to the city, back off bitch, wreckless life, anything goes and maybe a few more live with with band and made some minor contributions during practice etc, but, I dont take any credit for writing any of those songs...... It was a great time and I want to remember it that way, At least AXL was really a true friend and never stole anything from me and the same with Izzy. That being said I did create the band with AXL and I have no regrets because the band really did make a diference and I am glad to be part of its history

Gene Simmons Sounds Off At Billboard Touring Conference

Having recently completed a 30-plus-date European tour, Kiss will "eventually when we're ready tour America," co-founder Gene Simmons said during a keynote address today (Nov. 20) at the fifth annual Billboard Touring Conference, held at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York.

Referring to Kiss as the "juggernaut of all rock'n'roll brands," Simmons said the band is currently working out future tour details. "We've been talking with [manager Doc McGhee] about Europe and then doing a year-long tour maybe this coming summer, but we'll see," Simmons said. "Kiss and Queen, that would be a smash. That would kill. So far (it's) 50/50.

During the address, Simmons, who is also a reality TV star and entrepreneur, stressed the duties of being a live performer. "I don't care if you're Axl Rose, forgot to tie your shoelaces or your father molested you when you were three -- you're a bitch if you don't show up onstage when it says 9 o'clock," he said, drawing loud applause from the audience.

"You need to have the integrity and self-respect to respect the promoter who paid you the money in advance, the hall and the people who makes all our lives possible," he continued.

[...]

AP: What happened with Velvet Revolver?

Weiland: [The Stone Temple Pilots reunion] happened very organically. It wasn’t people trying to angle and beg. It just happened the way it sort of happened. I got a call from Dean. I was on tour. He said, “Man, are you sitting down?” I said yeah. He said, “I was talking with our agent, and some offers came through.” We’d all been starting to talk more often. I had talked to Slash, mentioned it to him, and things were cool for a while. And this last tour, things just disintegrated really badly. I just came to the point where I decided that ... if I’m going to commit the next 10 years of my life to touring ... then I want to do it with people I want to make music with. People who I get inspired by making music with. ...I have to start weeding out stuff. It’s kind of like going through your closet going, “Eh, I don’t need this anymore. It takes up too much space.” Certain things don’t feel good, although it may put money in your bank account, but it doesn’t feel good at the end of the day. It became one of those situations. This feels good, it feels right. It’s always inspiring. It’s always that high.

Several months ago, Dean DeLeo reached out to his lead singer to discuss a concert promoter’s offer to have STP headline a few summer festivals. Weiland was sitting by his hotel pool in Atlantic City with wife Mary (they’ve since separated) and their two young children, still on tour for the 2007 Velvet Revolver release Libertad. VR, which is essentially Guns N’ Roses minus Axl Rose, had done solidly with Weiland as frontman, releasing well-received albums, winning a Grammy, and touring consistently throughout Europe and the U.S. Nevertheless, their last album was foundering, and Weiland found it hard to resist the call of his old bandmates.

”I pulled [VR guitarist] Slash aside,” he explains, ”and said, ‘Listen, it’s really no big deal, we’ll be done touring by this time, but STP has some offers to headline some shows this summer and make a lot of money, and I agreed to do it. We’ll be done in the fall, and then I can commit to the next VR album.’ And everything was cool. Then it wasn’t. Things got weird, and nobody was talking to me while we were on the road. So March 21, I announced on stage that this would be the final Velvet Revolver tour.” He did so without telling his VR bandmates because, he says, it was clear they were already pushing him out; he and drummer Matt Sorum, who had clashed in the past, were soon engaged in a war of words fought largely secondhand, through the media. (”He’s an ass,” Weiland says simply.)

In the end, though, claims Weiland, it was fairly straightforward: ”With STP, it’s a situation where it just feels good. And the opportunities — selling tickets like crazy, a whole new generation turned on to us, people being appreciative in the press…I mean, VR was fun for a while, but it’s just got so much baggage from guys who went through hell with Axl Rose. It’s not how I want to spend the next 10 years of my rock life, so I had to make this decision. They can say whatever they want to say.” (VR’s remaining band members declined to comment for this article.) ”Honestly,” he continues, ”I think they should just get GN’R back together. And I’m not being facetious.”

Q: What did happen with Velvet Revolver?

Weiland: I had already talked to (guitarist) Slash and said there was going to be an STP tour, and that’s the deal. And then basically (Velvet Revolver drummer) Matt Sorum just went on the Web site one night and started talking s--t about me, and I responded and I basically said from the stage that this is the last Velvet Revolver tour. Some people thought I was kidding, but I meant it.

Weiland: "When I told Slash I was gonna do some festivals with Stone Temple Pilots, he said, 'Thank you for being straight up with me'. It wasn't until later that another member of the band had some issues with it.

"It's a shame certain people have a hard time letting go of past resentments and try to throw them onto other people.

"When you start bickering about little piddly financial things, it takes the fun out of it for me. We're all doing pretty good, so if you're going to fuck the relationship up over this, I don't want to be involved."

Slash Heads Down 'Rebel Road' With Edgar Winter

Velvet Revolver/ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash is among the guest musicians appearing on the new Edgar Winter album, entitled "Rebel Road". Due on July 8 through Airline Records via Sony Red distribution, the disc's eleven songs were co-written by Winter and Curt Cuomo, who has worked with Eddie Money, Kiss and others. Other guest musicians on the CD include country superstar Clint Black (on vocals and harmonica) and Winter's equally legendary guitarist brother Johnny Winter.

Slash Featured In New Vasco Rossi Video

Velvet Revolver/ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash is featured in the new video "Gioca Con Me" (Play With Me) from Italian pop-rock songwriter/superstar Vasco Rossi. Watch the clip below. (Note: Slash appears around the 2:05 mark.) Slash played all the guitar parts in the track, which appears on Rossi's new album, "Il Mondo Che Vorrei" (The World That I Wish).

Vasco reportedly got in touch with Slash through Rossi's session drummer, Matt Laug, who previously played with Slash in Slash's Snakepit.

The 56-year-old Vasco Rossi is the most successful artist in Italy and is in the middle of a sold-out stadium tour of the country.

SLASH DELIVERS POOLSIDE BLUES

Slash stepped up Saturday for the launch of Bottle Rock It, the new poolside concert series at Red Rock Resort wherein wine, rock and environmentalism all come together. Really, though, just the wine and rock is plenty. Anything else seems like overkill.

The Velvet Revolver, Guns ‘n’ Roses and Snakepit guitarist brought Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, Jason Bonham and Royston Langdon of Spacehog along for the show. The quartet also stopped by to take in Katt Williams’ act at The Pearl inside The Palms. We weren’t actually sure Jerry Cantrell ever smiled, so the news comes as much of a surprise to you as it does to us. It’s not like Alice in Chains ever did a video featuring a creepy monk with his eyes stitched together like upholstery or anything.

Slash delivered a slew of classics, performing the blues standard “Born Under a Bad Sign,” Steppenwolf’s “Pusherman” and BB King’s “The Thrill is Gone” before bringing up Jason Bonham for “Bring it on Home,” which Led Zeppelin covered on their second album.

Spacehog’s Royston Langdon then jumped on stage for David Bowie’s “Suffragette City.” Then came Jimi Hendrix’s “Stone Free,” Appetite for Destruction classic “It’s So Easy,” and Spacehog’s breakthrough hit “In the Meantime.”

Jerry Cantrell came up for Alice in Chains’ “Rooster,” followed by a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here.” Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction made a surprise appearance to belt out Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” with a full glass of Bordeaux in his hand, then they did a version of “Mountain Song” and “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” before bringing Cantrell back on the stage to rock Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love.”

This coming Saturday’s show features Farrell, who’d like to remind you that we’d make great pets.

Here’s Slash with sometime-Guns keyboard player Teddy Andreadis doing “Always on the Run,” written by Slash, originally recorded by Lenny Kravitz and influenced enough by Joe Perry that it appears on the the new Guitar Hero: Aerosmith game.

All rosy as Jonathan Pease and rocker Slash unite

FROM Australia's Next Top Model to America's Next Top Groupie - Jonathan Pease is rocking his way to the top of the fashion pops thanks to help from his friends.

Having wrapped his commitments with the Fox8 face-off last week, Pease now has jetted off to Los Angeles to kickstart his brand new joint venture with former Guns N' Roses guitarist god Slash.

The unlikely duo are long-term mates and are collaborating on a video game formatted around fashion and styling, with Slash drawing from his experience working on the successful Playstation gaming project Guitar Hero.

With his idol on his side, a guitarist with cancer plays on

By Billy Cox

PALMETTO - The ringtone explodes with Guns N' Roses' opening guitar riff on "Sweet Child O' Mine," and Heath Sammons snaps open the cell phone. "City morgue," he answers. "You kill 'em, we chill 'em."

Dressed largely in black, his faded denim jeans torn at the knees, the lanky 20-year-old is a poster boy for garage-band culture. He calls himself "old school," with a thing for Metallica, Boston and Aerosmith. He amps up his Gibson Les Paul and cranks a few power chords to establish his bona fides.

The black bandanna and backward baseball cap cloak the hair-loss side effects of chemotherapy, but on this particularly upbeat day, you would never know Heath was struggling with inoperable cancer. Because after having completed a jam session in Los Angeles with a rock 'n' roll deity, Heath anticipates leaping tall buildings in a single bound.

"You rock," proclaims a signed photo. "Hope you had a blast. See you soon. Slash."

Slash, as in Velvet Revolver / Guns N' Roses / "Guitar Hero." Billowing frizz beneath the legendary top hat, the droopy cigarette, the opaque shades, mere rumors for eyes. "Appetite for Destruction." That guy.

It is hard for Heath to keep a straight face when he talks about his June 4 meetup with his idol, which was engineered by his family. The kid from Palmetto does his best to play it cool.

"He's an awesome musician and a great guy." It's no use. Here it comes, a sign of weakness -- the smile. "And he's loyal to his friends."

Family makes things happen

Heath's mother, Karis Meier, likes to accent life's positives. But discussing his abbreviated career at Manatee School for the Arts in Palmetto presents a challenge.

"Heath is very spontaneous, and Mom was at school quite a bit," volunteers Karis. "The principal was really good. He tried hard to work something out."

It was not all bad. Manatee School is where, at age 14, Heath took his first guitar lessons and learned he had an aptitude for music on his $100 Fender Squier. But boredom with structure soon followed, as did several expulsions.

At 15, his first band was Kashmir, which did Metallica covers. Then there was Kileva, whose name is an inside joke. Lately, when he feels up to it, he plays with older guys -- doing Eagles, Petty, Skynyrd covers -- calling themselves the Under Construction Band.

But the world collapsed in early 2006, when Heath took a skateboard spill in Tampa, which unleashed a nightmarish ordeal of pain. Doctors discovered a tumor in his sacrum, at the base of his spine, and diagnosed a rare bone cancer called osteosarcoma.

Debilitating bouts of radiation and chemotherapy at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa appeared to have wrung it out of his system by the spring of 2007.

But last September, three more spots showed up on Heath's lungs. Those were surgically removed, but the reprieve would prove temporary.

And somewhere amid the blur, around the fall of 2006, Heath's stepfather, Jim Meier, and his aunt, Melody Carpenter, got the same crazy idea.

Without knowing what the other was doing, in an effort to boost Heath's spirits, each contacted a fan-based Web site in hopes of reaching his favorite guitarist -- Saul Hudson, aka Slash. Because it couldn't hurt.

A kindred spirit

Talk about lucky to be alive -- Slash wrote the book on it, literally, in 2007.

In addition to tracing the superstar arc triggered by his run with Guns N'Roses, Slash's self-titled autobiography volunteers unsparing details of rock 'n' roll debauchery: heroin addiction, public intoxication, chicks for free, STDs.

On "Late Show with David Letterman," he told the world about knocking back half a gallon of vodka each day for 10 years, which left him with heart disease and a defibrillator.

"They told me I had six days to six weeks to live," Slash informed Letterman's studio audience last October. But he sobered up cold turkey, and in the June edition of Mojo magazine, he told readers he had been sober for two years.

He credited his two young children for providing the clarity that saved his life.

Maybe that brush with mortality accounts for his response to overtures from Heath's aunt and stepfather. It is difficult to know for sure, because Slash declines to discuss his generosity in the media.

But he replied to both Melody and Jim, and finally spoke with Heath over the phone at the Moffitt Center in 2006 as he was being prepped for treatment.

"I felt about dead when the phone rang," Heath recalls. "I couldn't believe it when I picked it up. I said, 'Mom, it's Slash -- get the nurse out of here.' He was real cool, he said, 'You sound like a strong kid, we're rootin' for you,' things like that. We talked for about 20 minutes."

Slash followed up with signed photos, jeans, T-shirts, hats. Last year, Heath received four box seat tickets and backstage passes for Velvet Revolver's October concert in Tampa.

"It's been sort of unbelievable," said Melody. "Everything I've asked Slash to do for Heath, every single thing, he's done. He's wonderful."

Playing through the pain

Cancer raged back into Heath's collapsing lung early this year, then bloomed as a tumor against his vena cava.

Moffitt oncologists counterattacked with chemotherapy. The returns came back in mid-May: inoperable.

Today, Heath's family is determined to rebuild his immune system through vitamins and diet.

And maybe with a little help from his friends. Following a heads-up from Heath's family, Slash made an offer no star-struck young guitarist could refuse: Come on out to L.A. one afternoon and jam.

"I couldn't believe we were actually going to do it," Heath says.

Accompanied by a small entourage from Palmetto, including 18-year-old buddy Tommy Busch, Heath packed his Les Paul and flew west.

Heath's entourage hooked up with the Guitar Hero on June 4 at a mansion Slash sold to actor Billy Bob Thornton. Thornton agreed to let them use Slash's old recording studio in the basement, called The Cave.

Heath introduced Slash to a couple of original compositions, which they recorded. They spent the entire afternoon, four hours, trading licks and stories.

"I think I play a lot like him," Heath recalls. "Not on purpose, that's just how it went, we're so much alike. Our riffs were pretty close."

Afterward, Slash offered a few words of encouragement for a blog that Heath's stepfather, Jim, maintains at http://heathsupdate.blogspot.com/

[...] Then, out of nowhere, GNR guitarist Slash appeared – and no one clapped for him. It was either a case of "no, is it?" or "who is that dude with the top hat?" Fergie introduced him: "some of you little ones may know him from "Guitar Hero," but I know him from a band called Velvet Revolver and a band called Guns N' (bleeping) Roses!"

The duo did GNR's "Sweet Child o' Mine" and Heart's "Barracuda," both "Guitar Hero" staples. At the end of the latter track Fergie did numerous one-handed cartwheels, mic in hand, while singing the last high note of the song – I counted four cartwheels but started to get dizzy. Despite the acrobatics, Fergie should stick to doing what Fergie does best – pop-tart tunes – and stay away from rock.

Slash To Appear In Alice Cooper's 'Vengeance Is Mine' Video

Former Guns N' Roses and current Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash reportedly makes an appearance in Alice Cooper's recently completed video for the song "Vengeance Is Mine". The track comes off Alice Cooper's new album, "Along Came A Spider", which sold just under 10,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 53 on The Billboard 200 chart.

SLASH CELEBRATES A BIRTHDAY!

Iconic rock figure Slash, best known as the former lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses and as the current lead guitarist of Velvet Revolver, celebrates his 43rd birthday with two nights of special celebrations, performances and surprises at The Mirage. Festivities kick off at Bare pool lounge on Wednesday, July 23 and conclude at JET Nightclub on Thursday, July 24. The party of the summer begins at Bare on Wednesday night when special guest DJ Perry Farrell (of Janes’s Addiction and Porno for Pyros fame) spins poolside followed by a concert by Slash and special surprise guests. Doors open at 9 p.m. General admission tickets are $100 each and can be purchased by calling The Mirage box office at 800-963-9634 or visiting mirage.admission.com. Limited VIP seating is available (two bottle minimum) by contacting Kalika Moquin at 702.340.7533. After-party happens at The Beatles REVOLUTION Lounge at The Mirage. On Thursday, July 24, JET Nightclub presents a special acoustic performance by Slash followed by music spun by DJ will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas. Admission is $30. Doors open at 10:30 p.m. With a trademark sound that is as original as it is unmistakable, Slash is featured in the latest installment of the wildly popular video game Guitar Hero for which he wrote and recorded the game’s theme song and his character’s guitar solo. The game shattered previous records by selling over $100 million in its first week of release. In April of ’08, Gibson Guitar commissioned a Slash-inspired Les Paul billed as the “ultimate rock guitar from the ultimate rock guitarist.”

More than candles blown out at Slash-A-Palooza

By John Katsilometes

Maybe this all didn’t happen Wednesday night. Maybe, on my walk through the parking garage leading to The Mirage, someone flung a brick at my head and knocked me cold, and the whole tableau played out in my concussed consciousness.

Perhaps the great ventriloquist and soon-to-be Mirage headliner, Terry Fator, was not joined onstage on a pool deck usually reserved for seminude sunbathers by the famously long-bearded Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. Maybe it was a dream that Jason Bonham, the shaved-headed percussionist son of the late John Bonham, didn’t crash through a piercing version of “Whole Lotta Love” as onetime Jane’s Addiction and Porno For Pyros frontman Perry Farrell crawled across the stage wailing that we needed to keep the party going because, “We don’t wanna die, do we?!” It could be that former Spacehog vocalist and deposed husband of Liv Tyler, Royston Langdon, didn’t blithely scream the lyrics of “Stone Free” and “Jean Genie” into a temporarily dead microphone to a throbbing audience that didn’t seem to notice, because Slash and his searing Gibson guitar were hoarding the spotlight.

Yep, it could be that Stacy Ferguson, or just “Fergie,” didn’t really sashay onstage in skin-tight black Spandex pants and a grey T-shirt emblazoned with a gold L.A. Dodger logo for a hair-raising version of “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” fairly dry-humping the former Guns ‘N Roses lead guitarist as he nimbly unleashed his signature solos. And it might be my imagination that Fergie, in the midst of covering Heart’s “Barracuda,” might have fallen short of Ann Wilson’s vocal dexterity but executed a move Wilson could never pull off – a trio of one-handed summersaults. And maybe the entire surreal experience didn’t close with Slash cutting into a very tall birthday cake shaped like his trusty Gibson, topped by a quite-familiar black top hat, and a wildly diverse mix-and-match group of celebs singing, “Paradise City,” – with Fator, Farrell, comic actor Tommy Davidson and Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains providing a glistening-with-sweat Fergie with backing harmonies.

But it all did happen. As proof, I still wear a white wristband reading “Bare pool lounge,” and am suffering what might be a pair of perforated eardrums.

Oh, and happy birthday to Slash, who turned 43 (and should know better) yesterday and last night. Forgive those of us who did not bring gift baskets to Slash-A-Palooza. But the 600 or so revelers who paid $100 a pop surely couldn’t have anticipated the sample plate of rockers (and the odd ventriloquist) who thundered through a 2 ½-hour spectacle at The Mirage’s finest water feature. Others who ambled on and off the stage included bassist Mike Inez (also once of Alice In Chains); Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello; Will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas, Senen “Sen-Dog” Reyes of Cypress Hill; Emma Taylor, Winston the Turtle, soul singer Julius and Dougie Scott Taylor (Fator’s handy puppets); and Perla Hudson, the mistress of ceremonies and also Mrs. Slash. That’s discounting a video montage assembled by Perla – who seems so at home with the mic that she could emcee her own variety show -- that featured Rainn Wilson, Ellen DeGeneres, Dave Navarro, Tommy Lee, Sammy Hagar, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers (playing trumpet to great effect) and Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen.

There was a tepid rumor early that the night that the event might feature a Guns ’N Roses reunion of sorts, but it never happened. It’s just as well. Who had the time?

Songs covered by some or all of this band of misfits included the G’N R classic “It’s So Easy,” assaulted by a heaving, wild-eyed Langdon; “Superstition” and “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” by Farrell, a man who seems born to wear the bright-red pants and matching red-and-black satin jacket; “Wish You Were Here,” by Cantrell and Inez; and “To Kill a Man,” by Davidson, Sen-Dog, Will.i.am and pretty much everyone else on or near the stage.

No wonder the man of the moment could only mutter, “I am completely f-ing overwhelmed.” That statement pretty much captures Slash, a man of few words but many chords who has managed to fill the guitar hero roll as well as anyone for the past 20-plus years. At one point, during “It’s So Easy,” the cat in the hat ripped into a solo, casually tossed a spent cigarette butt into the photographer’s pit at the front of the stage, then spun around without missing a note. Niiiice.

The crew made it to the Beatles Revolution Lounge for extended play, and much of the amped-up crowd met them there. I lasted maybe an hour before the corner man in my brain threw in the towel. On my way out of the hotel a woman dressed like Sweet Loretta Modern of “Get Back” strutted toward me and asked, “Wanna have some fun?”

I just laughed. She had no idea.

Slash hits Jet as birthday party rolls on

By Robin Leach

Guitar great Slash continued his 43rd birthday celebration into a 2nd night of celebrating- and early this morning (Friday) he still showed no signs of slowing down.

First, he took 60 friends to see the Cirque du Soleil-Beatles show Love at The Mirage and that was followed by dinner at the Stack restaurant and bar also in the Mirage. He ordered Yellowtail Sashimi, Surf & Turf and Sea Bass for his party group.

Then at the midnight hour, the rock icon, formerly with Guns 'N Roses and now with Velvet Revolver, turned the nearby Jet nightclub into an all-star jam with Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top, Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains and Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine. Jerry, Tom and Slash teamed on the Pink Floyd classic "Wish You Were Here” as a trio, and every reveler in the nightclub joined in with a gigantic thousand-strong sing-along. As the last note played, yet another 6-foot-tall cake, complete with Slash's trademark top hat, from Jean Philippe Patisserie was carried onto the stage in a stream of sparklers.

As guest DJ Will.i.am then took over twisting the turntable and its wheels of steel for the remainder of the night and at 4 a.m. today, the party looked as if there was enough energy for a third night out on the town this evening!

Ticketmaster Announces Agreement to Acquire Controlling Interest in Front Line Management

Irving Azoff Named Chief Executive of Ticketmaster

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Oct. 23, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ticketmaster (Nasdaq:TKTM), the world's leading ticketing company, today announced an agreement to acquire a controlling equity interest in Front Line Management Group Inc., one of the world's leading artist management companies. Ticketmaster also announced that Irving Azoff, founder and chief executive officer of Front Line, will become Chief Executive Officer of Ticketmaster.

Upon completion of the transaction, Ticketmaster will change its name to Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc., to reflect its continued emergence as a diversified live entertainment and marketing company.

Barry Diller, Chairman of Ticketmaster, said, "While the Ticketmaster name has been synonymous with live entertainment for some time, today we took a significant step in solidifying our position in the music business. And, we will greatly benefit in having Irving Azoff lead Ticketmaster. In joining with the excellent Ticketmaster management of Sean Moriarty, Terry Barnes, and Eric Korman, we'll have a superb group of executives capable of growing the Company every which way."

Since being founded by Irving Azoff and Howard Kaufman in 2004, Front Line has developed into an extraordinarily influential music management group, with nearly 200 clients and more than 80 executive managers. Front Line represents a wide range of major artists, including the Eagles, Jimmy Buffett, Neil Diamond, Van Halen, Fleetwood Mac, Christina Aguilera, Stevie Nicks, Aerosmith, Steely Dan, Chicago, Journey, and Guns N' Roses.

"Front Line and its artists have never had a better partner than Ticketmaster and Barry Diller," Mr. Azoff said. "Now we have the opportunity to redefine the business at a time of great change and opportunity. Consumers, artists, teams and venues will all benefit from this exciting new Ticketmaster Entertainment platform going forward. I can't wait to create the future of the business with my new senior colleagues at Ticketmaster, Sean Moriarty, Terry Barnes, and Eric Korman."

Sean Moriarty added, "The combination of Ticketmaster and Front Line represents a huge transformational opportunity for both companies and the live entertainment industry overall. Terry, Eric and I look forward to working even more closely with Irving and the Front Line team as we build out the platform of the future to connect artists and fans."

The organization of Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. will be as follows: Irving Azoff, CEO of Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc.; Sean Moriarty, President of Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. and CEO of Ticketmaster; Terry Barnes, Chairman of Ticketmaster; Eric Korman, President of Ticketmaster; and Howard Kaufman, Special Advisor to Mr. Azoff.

Ticketmaster will acquire the minority equity stake in Front Line currently owned by Warner Music Group for approximately $123.0 million in cash. In addition, as described further below, in connection with the transaction, Ticketmaster will issue restricted stock awards to Mr. Azoff representing approximately 4.5% of Ticketmaster's stock, and a portion of the equity stake in Front Line currently held by Mr. Azoff will be cancelled. Mr. Azoff will retain a sizable equity stake in Front Line and will continue to serve as its chief executive officer.

"Warner Music has been a great partner to Front Line Management Group," said Azoff. "Warner's commitment to artists remains extraordinary, and our roster of talent will continue to seek new opportunities to work together in the future."

The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Under NASDAQ's inducement grant exception, Ticketmaster has agreed to grant to Mr. Azoff an award of Ticketmaster restricted equity in exchange for Front Line equity awards that he has agreed to forfeit. The grant includes $35 million of restricted Ticketmaster preferred stock that is convertible at Azoff's election into 1.75 million shares of Ticketmaster common stock, and 1 million shares of restricted Ticketmaster common stock. The Ticketmaster equity awards generally vest on the five-year anniversary of the grant date, but may vest sooner upon certain qualifying terminations of employment. The Ticketmaster preferred stock votes on an as converted basis with the Ticketmaster common stock and is mandatorily redeemable at face value plus accrued dividends on the five-year anniversary of the grant date. Ticketmaster has also agreed to grant Mr. Azoff options to purchase 2 million shares of Ticketmaster common stock at an exercise price of $20 per share.

Photographer Robert John Comments On Guns N' Roses 'Home Movies' Channel

Almost 14 years after "Appetite for Destruction" and "Use Your Illusion", music photographer Robert John, known for his work as the exclusive photographer for Guns N' Roses during the height of their career, has forged a content partnership through Dark Moon Entertainment with Joost, a global web video service whose broadcasts feature television, film, and music programming via the Internet. The My GNR Home Movies channel is available at this location.

"Because I was so close to Guns N' Roses, I had access others didn't — as we did everything together. When I wasn't shooting photos for Guns on tour, I would take out the video camera on downtime and capture the daily activities and antics on the road, more for memory's sake than anything," explains Robert. “The main thing fans ask me is, 'What are they like in real life?' I think My GNR Home Movies channel on Joost will give fans an inside look at the unique personalities in the Guns camp, and what it is like to be friends with them. I'm starting out with just a few clips with interpreted details of my memories from each moment in time, and plan to add more content later. I held on to my video diaries for the past 14 years and, aside from a few glimpses on television, fans have never seen the majority of my GNR footage. So, this will be a real treat and I'm excited to share it with them. Also, I plan to launch other channels with other bands I work with in coming months, so check it out and stay tuned."

Joost launched its Flash-based web video service in October and features a number of social tools that are designed to help people communicate with each other, to navigate through more than 46,000 video assets and to integrate user expression directly into the service. A Joost application is also available for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Danny Passman, global head of programming at Joost, said, "Joost is about providing a full experience for fans — and Robert John's Guns N' Roses home movies are a perfect example of how we're doing that. It's not just about the music videos, it's a behind-the-scenes look at the artists — and letting fans express their passion through groups and interaction. Oh, and for me, I just can't get enough of Axl Rose doing ballet."

Tales From A Rocket Queen
An Interview with Adriana Smith

When Guns N' Roses released their legendary album, Appetite for Destruction, it would change the music scene for ever. It is one of the rare, iconic albums that would come along to a generation and serve as a benchmark for all albums to follow. Not only would the music effect people around the world, it would also help to shape the lives of many who were at ground zero of the phenomenon that was to become Guns N' Roses. One such person is Adriana Smith. Still in her late teen years, Smith had befriended the band on the Sunset Strip of Los Angeles, California and became part of the tight-knit circle that surrounded the band in their formative years. One late night in a New York City recording studio, her orgasmic moans would be captured for the final mix on Appetite for Destruction's classic track, "Rocket Queen." Her identity as the voice on this track would remain largely unknown for years, until she recently broke her silence and came forward to claim her title as "The Rocket Queen."

Today, over two decades after the album's release, Smith has ventured out into the music world to carve her own niche. With a story ingrained in rock history and a unique voice, she looks to take Adriana and Ghost In The Graveyard's brand of raw, energetic and passionate rock n' roll to the masses. Jason Price of Live-Metal.Net recently sat down with her and to discuss coming of age on the Sunset Strip, her relationship with Guns N' Roses, her new album and all the exciting projects that she has in store for the coming year.

Live-Metal.Net: Where did you grow up and how did you end up in downtown Los Angeles?

Adriana Smith: I was born in San Diego, California. How did I end up in downtown L.A.? A girlfriend of mine, that I didn't know very well, wanted me to house sit her house. So, I went down to L.A. to her house and I thought it could have been a great two week vacation or I could make something out of it because I really didn't want to stay in San Diego. I had lived in New York for a year, so I kinda liked the big city. I had about fifty bucks then and that is how I ended up in L.A.!

How did music first come into your life?

I was on stage from about the age of three. I was in a dance troupe. Music was always around. My Mom was an adagio dancer, which is the 1950's "throw them around" style of dancing. She performed all over the place and she kinda bred that into me. She always had music playing and we were always dancing. The next door neighbor taught piano and I always wanted to learn piano but my Mom thought that the house was filthy, so I got dance instead of piano! [laughs] Music is part of a dancer's life. We would listen to Joe Cocker, the Stones and Earth, Wind and Fire when I was just a wee one.

Where you originally looking to get in the music industry when you moved out there?

Yeah, I wanted to be a songwriter but I was about eighteen or nineteen and I got steered down some funky paths.

How did you get mixed up with the guys in Guns N' Roses initially?

I had a friend named Adriana Barbour who worked at The Seventh Veil, which is a strip club, and another friend named Gaby Mozeris who worked there also and they were my best friends. Gabby, Adriana Barbour and I used to walk up and down the Sunset Strip looking for Duff (McKagan) because Adriana had a crush on him.

For those who aren't familiar with the story, how did your "voice," so to speak, end up on the "Rocket Queen" track on Appetite For Destruction?

I had gone to New York to hang out with Slash, who was my drinking buddy at the time. They were mixing down the final mix of Appetite For Destruction at the time. Basically, Axl propositioned me in the studio. I was really drunk and although we were both seeing other people at the time, he had a really creative interest for this song and wanted to give it an edge and I was the girl to do it. I did it for the band.

It wasn't widely known for many years that you were the voice on that track. What made you break your silence and was it a tough decision for you?

Actually, it was a decision made of years of progress in my personal life. I had shame and guilt over what I had done and I felt as if I had done something wrong for a long time. Basically, I came out twenty something years later because it was a sense of closure for myself. I realized that it was something that I didn't have to be ashamed of and something that was really good. I came out and told the world about it. A friend of mine named Brooke, runs Steven Adler's web page and he is a part time journalist. He said to me "Why don't you go ahead and tell your story?" and with the release of the Reckless Road book, I just felt that it was time for the story of The Rocket Queen to be heard.

You also contributed to Marc Canter's book, Reckless Road: Guns N' Roses and The Making of Appetite For Destruction. What was that experience like for you and did you get to see some people that you hadn't seen in quite some time?

I did actually. I hadn't seen Marc Canter in twenty years and no one had seen those pictures in twenty years. I got to reunite with Steven (Adler) and Slash, who I have kept in contact with on and off throughout the years. I got to see my friends Ron Schneider and Del James. The doors were already open from the past but it definitely reconnected us all. It was awesome!

Your life took an unexpected turn and you found a new career path as a drug and alcohol counselor, has that become a really positive thing for you?

It has become a really positive thing in my life. It showed me a lot about myself, because I could see myself in others. It is definitely a caring and giving profession. It isn't a profession where you will become rich and famous or anything. It is about working with people that have a problem and selling them on one of the hardest sales in life. That sale is to change your life and to basically surrender you life to a power greater than yourself and realizing that your life is unmanageable and that you are insane and that you really can't stop. It is really something that has to come from the heart and that you have to be passionate about. I really feel that going into recovery changed my life

One of your current projects is a band that you formed, Adriana and Ghost in the Graveyard, how did that come about?

Myself and Doug Tilley met a treatment center. I had always wanted to sing and have a band. He was playing in a country band at the time. Country is something that I really knew relatively nothing about but we both really liked the Beatles. We started talking and I decided that he needed me to be the singer of his band. [laughs] He had a working band that was playing little clubs and this and that. I felt that it was a creative outlet and something that I really wanted to get into. So he believed in me and it has been eight years! We have gone through several different bands together. We then hooked up with the right person at the right time, who was an old friend of his, Dave Wagner, who is our guitarist. He owns a recording studio and a management company. It all kinda fell into place. It was like the universe opened up and when the time was right, it just all sorta happened!

How did you come up with the name for the band?

My eight year old daughter who was about four or five at the time, thought that we should name the band Ghost In The Graveyard. It is a children's playground game. We thought it sounded kinda cool and we went with her suggestion! She is the assistant manager of the band, by the way! [laughs] I like to get her experienced in as much as she can be!

The band just put out a CD, "Wars In The Graveyard", what was the recording process for album like?

We had the basic music and structures for the songs, and Dave (Wagner) who is an awesome player and his son, Zack (Wagner) is the drummer and we made everything a little better. Dave came and put his creative interest in it and we recorded with him. It originally started out us, just Doug and myself recording the stuff but Dave decided that he would like to make more of a commitment to it, so we all formed. It was all of us working together. It was a really creative process and it was almost like this was our "breaking out of the cocoon" stage! We worked on it every weekend. I am a stay-at-home Mom, Doug has a normal job, Dave is a music teacher and has the recording studio and Zack is sixteen and has a job and goes to high school. It was a weekend thing, so we would sometimes go into the studio and end up there for eight to twelve hours. We would go stay at Dave's and just record and record and record with Pro Tools, over and over and over again. It was very tedious and we wanted to keep it as simple as we could, as far as recording went and not over analyze things. We tried to do the best that we could do in the amount of time that we had and we just really wanted to put something out, so that is what we did. I think that we did a pretty good job hitting the nail on the head with this first one. Now, we really just want to get out there and starting gigging as much as possible and promoting ourselves to see what happens.

What can we expect from a Adriana and Ghost in the Graveyard show?

You can expect to be ROCKED!!! Our songs are danceable, they appeal to a wide crowd, especially for the girls. We are "Pro-Girl Power." We really want everyone to come out and dance and be part of the show. We are open to creative input. We only have nine songs on the CD, so at a live show we have to fill up the time gap with a couple of covers. We are open to constructive criticism and what people want to hear. People can go to the website, www.therocketqueen.com, and leave us comments and suggestions, because we are open to it. We want to be a band for the people, where everyone is going to have a good time. Music is a lot of different things to a lot of different people but for us it is something to take your mind off of whatever may be going on in your life for an hour or two, and have a good time. It's rock n' roll! And that is what rock n' roll is to me, something to take your blues away!

You even dedicated a song from the album, "Come Find Me," to Axl Rose. How did that song take shape?

I have been trying to reach Axl directly for a really long time. He's got his own agenda and a lot of stuff going on in his life right now, especially the last 13 years with Chinese Democracy. With old friends coming in and out of the scene, I just don't know who to trust and who is passing my message along or not. The bottom line is that I have some amends to make to him and I wanted him to know that I still care about him and that my friendship hasn't faltered just because we haven't seen each other in years. He is still a really strong figure and a really important, inspiring person to me. I wrote that song so that perhaps it would reach him. With the internet and everything else today, your message goes farther, easier and perhaps he would stumble upon it. That is really why I wrote it. I have tried for years to get a message through and this is just another medium to do that. I like singing about things that are close to my heart and hopefully the song can inspire someone else to say their true feelings about someone too and to not be afraid.

You are currently working with VH1 on a project. What can you tell us about that?

What I can tell you is that it will be airing sometime in March. It was an awesome project to be associated with! The folks at VH1 really captured the spirit of the rock n' roll scene from the 80s in it. It looks at the Sunset Strip, specifically the strippers and then the guys who were interviewed were guys who were on the fringes and bands that didn't necessarily make it. Steven Adler actually joined, and his old friend Ron Schneider who was in the road crew with Slash at the beginning. VH1 got them together and they did the show too. I think it will be a really thorough documentary, especially where the Guns N' Roses stuff is concerned. I don't know that anyone has ever really interviewed Steven on his perspective about what happened when he was asked to leave the band or what the Sunset Strip meant to him. I think it will be a really educational, informative and entertaining special. I'd watch it!

You probably have many tales to tell from you days on The Strip and beyond, will we ever get an autobiography out of you to share any of those stories?

I have actually been talking to a few different people about writing an autobiography! It is something that I really feel passionately about and something that I want to do.

Any idea of what you might call it?

If I was going to call it anything, hmmmmmm. "Party Girl of the 80s" or "The Family." You know, I really like to stress the commitment and friendship that we had going there. It was a really tight circle of people and it is amazing how fame and fortune did some really fucked up shit to some of them, ya know? It is exactly like a family. the dysfunction is exactly the same. I mean, you've got people that were living together in different capacities, one bedroom apartments, studio spaces, everyone was screwing everybody, everyone was looking out for and cheer leading for the band. it was all about the band. Then you have band members, people who've died, you've got people that have gotten screwed out of money and people that have been left behind that maybe don't want to have been left behind. You've got one of Shakespeare's comedies right there and it's my life! Maybe that's what it should be called "It's My Life"!!! [laughs]

Since she named the band, maybe you should give your daughter a shot at naming you book too!

[laughs] We call her "Princess Rocket Queen." I'm the Queen, so she is the princess! [laughs] You know, there were a lot of Queens in the story. Certainly, my best friend Gaby Mozeris, still is my dear friend and has always been on my side. Certain people have stuck by each other and my daughter is definitely one of those people who loves me and will always be 100% behind me. Gaby's daughter, is named after me and the other Adriana. It's like we have created a legacy. Not only did GNR and those days on The Strip and Hollywood create a legacy, Guns N' Roses furthered it. I think that there is a lot of education that can come out of Appetite for Destruction and tales about self-destruction and what it does. It is human nature, it is a perfect psychology project.

Being a drug and alcohol counselor yourself and having a tie to someone involved, how do you feel about a show like "Celebrity Rehab"?

I am glad that the show is out there to promote people's understanding of addiction, however it is really exploitive. Some of the things that they choose to do with their participates, like trying to open up a communication line between mother and son like you have seen with Steven (Adler) on that show at eleven days sober is just inappropriate. I'm sorry but it is just not done in the real world. You don't take a raw sore and pour salt into it. The fog lifts when it lifts. First of all it takes a while to get the substances out of your system, and second of all to handle things like anger or fear or rage which are normal emotions that people drink and use over. It's like a broken shoelace or a winning lottery ticket— "What's going to take me out today and make me dose on heroin?"

A lot of things on the show address certain issues but it looks to me to be more for ratings. I know that Dr. Drew has credentials and I have worked in the therapeutic community for over a decade and I know what his intentions are. However, it still is a business and you have to make it palatable for the networks and for people to watch it. You have to get people of interest and you have to address their core issues so that it is interesting. It is "Jerry Springer of Recovery."

Steven Adler is putting together a new lineup for Adler's Appetite. Any chance we might see Adriana and Ghost In The Graveyard sharing a bill alongside them in 2009?

I was hoping for that later this month but I have to see where Steven is at with things. He has a lot of stuff to address. I am hoping for that. Steven has heard the CD, I played it for him personally. He really likes it and is really proud of me and thinks that I have done a good job. I don't know what his plans are but it is entirely possible that you could see him sitting in with our band or us opening up for him. It couldn't do anything but be beneficial for both of us.

Well that sounds great and I think it is really admirable that you keep a watchful eye out for your friend.

I really care about him a lot and the world is a better place with him in it. I have lost some really valuable people in my life, like West Arkeen, who was an awesome person and an intricate part of the early Guns N' Roses days with the songwriting. He took care of those guys in one capacity or another. He OD'd a number of years ago and life just hasn't been the same without him. When you meet a person that is such a talented musician and has such an open heart and beautiful spirit, it is really horrible to lose them. So, of course I am going to do everything in my power to help Steven stay on the planet.

Having come of age at a very pivotal point in music, do you think music today and rock n' roll in particular has lost it's flair from the past?

I think that rock n' roll today is generated by money. It is really corporate and it has really lost a lot of it's soul. There are so many talented musicians out there for the one that make it. I think that rock n' roll has lost it's swagger. The Sunset Strip used to be packed. It was a meeting place, a place for fashion and people interacting. I think the whole nature of the music scene is about interaction. It is a fellowship. If there is no center for the fellowship, then what do you have? You have a sterile, manufactured, soulless entity. I want to see a show! I want to see a singer, I want to see a drummer, I want to hear it loud, I want to see stage antics, I want to see the crowd, I want to see the chicks, I want to see the guys. I want all that stuff and it is just not there anymore. Now you have tons of pay-to-play shows, places like The Whisky and this and that. It is ridiculous what it has become. It is not possible anymore to go to the The Sunset Strip and make it like The Doors did or like Guns N' Roses did.

One of the biggest stories in rock/metal this year is the release of Chinese Democracy by Guns N' Roses. Have you had a chance to check out any of the music yet?

I pre-ordered mine!

What did you think about the album?

I am still thinking about it! I listened to it about ten times last night, no shit! I listened to different songs for different parts. It is like, each time I listen to it, something new is revealed. I totally enjoy it. It isn't the original lineup of Guns N' Roses but I am a huge fan of Axl. I think he is an artist of genius proportions. I would really like to see the original guys play together again but I am not disappointed with what was put out. I wish it was put out a little bit earlier but everything is as it should be. The world works in a cycle. The universe is working the way it is supposed to work and for whatever reason it has come out now. I think that there is a lot of controversy over it and I think that is bullshit. I think that people will always have something to say about Axl Rose. I know that there are a lot of people that bitch, whine and complain but if you gave them backstage passes they would surely show up for the show! [laughs]

Do you have any other projects on the horizon that we should be on the lookout for?

We are talking right now about a possible reality show. we are trying to do something like "Sisterhood of The Sunset Strip" or something like that. We are trying to get something cooked up for me and my buddy , so that we can have some sort of reality show. We are putting ideas together where we can actually to go and sell this idea. I get a lot of hits on my Myspace page and people comment a lot about my pictures and people respond to my blog. It seems that people are interested and I think that we are interesting enough people to where a reality show wouldn't be that difficult to imagine. Like I told you earlier, I am looking into doing my own autobiography and I am looking for someone to help me do that. Everyone has their story to tell and I would like to do that! Ghost In The Graveyard is planning on doing a summer tour and that will take us up the coast, through San Francisco and maybe into Arizona. Hopefully we will make it to the mid-west. We are going to do a pub crawl type of thing, taverns and that sort of thing to see what type of response we get. We are trying to do it the old-fashioned way! We are also looking to the future and hoping to work with Dick Wagner from the Alice Cooper band in the future as well. Dick is a great and a very talented artist.

Is there anything else you want to add or let your fans know?

I would like everyone to check out www.therocketqueen.com and sign our guestbook and let us know what they think. I really want to see people's honest opinions and comments about our music, our merchandise or anything. Like I said, we are a band for the people and I want to give them what they want! I really enjoy singing, doing the shows and making people happy and if you can't have fun at it, then it isn't worth crap!

Thank you for your time Adriana!

Thank You!

Another rant: Robert John

It's almost like the friends I thought I knew are dying! I cannot believe yet another old "friend" of mine, Robert John, former GNR photographer is doing it again. This guy is absolutely ridiculous. He is responding to the most recent Del/Axl interview with the same venom that put him on the back burner with Axl and his friends in the first place. Let me try and explain.

A trusted source reached out to me explaining that ,again, Robert John, long-time friend and sole photographer at one time for GNR is demanding a public appology for the things Axl told Del about him in the recent interview. It seems Robert is attempting to sue Axl for his words. Furthermore, Robert is creating a public spectacle of himself and Axl for his own attention-seeking, without regard to his past mistakes.These are the things that cost him a long-time friendship with Axl and others.

At this point, once again, the attention turns to Axl, and many question how he could say these things about someone who he was so close to, and furthermore, how he could shun Robert and fire him as sole photographer on Gnr tours to come.

The awnwer is simple: the truth fucking hurts, and it always prevails in the end. Apparently, I am someone who has been blessed with being "in the know" and will not tire until all things untold are told truthfully. Robert John and I met in the "80's when GNR was still playing clubs. He and Axl were like brothers.

As a matter of fact, they were almost look-alikes to some degree, with the hair colr, skin tone, and height, except Robert was always heavier, and is even more so now. Don't get me wrong, Robert was no stand-in for Axl, just a-kin to him in looks. Robert even photographed me back in the day. We were all very close.

As my addictions, and GNR sucess began to heighten, we lost touch, as is the story with most of my past relations. I had a 15 year time lapse where I was outta the loop in a sense, and people truly grew and some became more greedy. Because of his relationship with Axl, Robert was signed by Geffen Records under exclusive contract to be the only photographer on GNR's tours. This was not kosher with the whole band, or the top industry dogs, but Axl is a very loyal and trusting friend, and would have it no other way. There that was. Imagine that! What a gift!

Robert's work began to decline as a result of his personal inadequacy to keep current with necessary eqyuipment and technology and so the effects of his work resulted in crappier pictures. Axl was there to stack the bux behind him for better more expensive equipment, with no avail.

The drugs, the pace, the stress, or whatever, lead to Robert's innability to do his job. I was privied to the info that out of 2000 pictures, only two were acceptable, but low quality, and below standard...trash. Other measures had to be taken and someone new had to be brought in to fullfill the necessary gap in this aspect.

Robert John took Axl Rose to court to sue him for this event recently. It did not go well for Robert. He lost the litigation and lost the best friend he ever had. Did he appologize or try harder? Nope. He, like Slash and Steven, continue to badger and berate Axl & live in denial of their self-made shortcummings just to blame others for where they are in life. This makes me sick!

Robert was going through many personal things in the time before he was relieved as photographer for GNR. He was losing his long-time girlfriend Shannon and the house they so desperately loved. Axl bailed him out in the amount of approxiamtely 160,000 bux. That was prior to Robert John suing Axl, by the way.

Oh and the rub is that Robert gave the house to Shannon in the end and lost everything anyway, which burdens his current relations with Dark Moon Manager Dawn, who is basically trying to get him re-focused on work. They currently live somewhere in the desrt and are sleeping on the floor of his mother's apartment. Dawn is a bright woman, and I don't know what the hell she thinks this guy is gonna do, but knowing what I know now about him, he will do nothing but harm.

Even when I saw them both recently in an L.A. club, the vibe was off. I felt sorry for Dawn, and Robet was very happy to lie to me and tell me things were great with he and Axl. Ha! Not so much!

All of us used to hang out and party back in the day. At some point the party changes and people usually trade vices for virtue,.... usually.

Apparently not so for him.

he was talking a mile a minute about things I would have rather not heard about, and behaved as if he were in some sort of drug-induced stupor. I will say that I have heard he is using substances like they are going out of style, and all behind the back of his lady. To me it was more apparent than a floor-show that Robert John still had some kind of monkey on his back.

The reason that I am posting this blog is simple. I can't stand liars and people who were supposed to be my friends forever, perpetuating anguish and animosity toward Axl. It is also a greulling event to run into them or see them because they are liars.

They are folks who treat others like second class citizens and weild power trips over others. They start bullshit because they are blacklisted for their negative and vile efforts to deface the ones they blame. What a cruel and heartless act to spread devaluating rumors and lies about the ones you loved?! How unkind and misguided are the lost....

So I want none of you to believe it is Axl's fault Robert John is not on tour with GNR, he gave him everything: a career, the equipment to use, sole photographic rights , and a house, and his credit! Robert John sued him, and is now gonna try again, because Axl repeated what he heard about Robert being on meth. Well Robert, if you are gonna sue anyone it should be me. I am the one who told him about it, and you told me, remember?

Get the fuck off the soapbox because the problem is you. You are like Matt (Domestic Violence) Sorum, ya need a bail out so you call Axl. Just like Matt did when he was arrested for abusing his girl. No one else will help you. NO ONE. Here comes Axl with the purse strings. Then you lie. "There ain't no way to hide your dirty soul," West Arkeen said it long ago. You should have listened, and my God how do you live with yourself?

You want a public appology for what has been said about you? Here is one Fuck You! You are a relentless shit talker, and you piss me off.I am so dissapointed and hurt by you and your fucked up actions. I thought we were friends. Did you think I would not find out how fucked up you have been? You couldn't even come clean with me. It doesn't matter anymore the most important thing is to come clean with yourself, and you are the only one besides God that knows what a piece of shit you truly are. No one can trust anything you say and that is heart-wrenching. Let me know when you are really sorry. By the way, saying sorry isn't best related by trying to sue the person who cared about you most.

GNRTV Interview with “The Rocket Queen”

Posted by prairieboy on March 12, 2009 at 10:00am

GNRTV - For the GNR fans that don't know who you are, can you explain in your own words why they should?

Adriana - I am the voice of the girl on final song of "Appetite for Destruction" called "Rocket Queen." Although Axl was very excited to share in the artistic glory of this song, I was reserved and not quite as outspoken then about it. It has been a mystery as to who the "voice" of the sex sounds on that song belonged to until recently.

GNRTV - Are you still in touch with Axl?

Adriana - Not directly. I have not seen Axl face to face in years. I have been looking quite forward to seeing him again and believe that in the near future we will see each other.

GNRTV - Can you tell us about the last time you saw him?

Adriana - The last time I recall seeing him was at a party. I can only tell you he looked HOT! He was wearing a full length cashmere jacket...black. Also he had some American flag tight shorts, like stretch material, cotton... and Doc Martens. He looked fantastic. We were supposed to have lunch, and I was gonna call him. I lost his phone #! Really bad for me.

GNRTV - Wow, that is bad for you, about how long ago did this happen?

Adriana - Approximately maybe 18-19 years ago....? Long time.

GNRTV - You recently came out with some blogs or rants fiercely standing up for Axl. Why now?

Adriana - Axl has always been a loyal person who stood up for what and who he believes in. I never lost faith in him. Axl offered me an opportunity long ago to go on tour and do some "performing" with him on stage. I was trying to do the right thing by Steven, as he had been my steady boyfriend, and not take that opportunity, because I thought it would be wrong to choose Axl over him. I really screwed that one up too! In hindsight, I see so clearly all of the signs that were leading to Steven's and my split, but being a hopeless romantic, and someone who will fight to the death for those she loves; I jumped on a sinking ship: my relationship with Steven! I really wanted to go and be with Axl, and I know what a dear and loyal friend he is. I was only 19, and let's face it; I was confused and had trust issues. The first man I ever loved, my father, left me when I was 10. I have been looking for men who would leave me out of some sort of broken perception till recently. Therapy helped. Getting off of drugs and alcohol helped. Seeing men as worthy creatures helped. I had to get through the pain to get to my heart. I am with my heart now, and in it I find Axl....still. He is misquoted, misrepresented and misunderstood most of the time. I know how wrong people are about him and have always spoken out against those who judge him, they don't know! I really think he is a genius, and without his personal drive, none of the other guys in GNR would be where they are. I don't care who disagrees with that. Axl is the one who got on stage in assless chaps and had to sing, okay? Axl is the one out front who took all of the heat for all of the antics in the band. Axl is the singer, songwriter and last man standing....who do you believe? Axl wasn't the one or ones who walked from GNR. He stayed and went on even when he probably felt like fucken dying after what many of his long-time "friends" have done to him. I really believe in him musically, creatively, and as a human being. How could I not stand up for my friend? How could I not come out and call the liars out of their dens? The liars are the ones who perpetuate the hate and mask the truth for their own self-seeking and self-serving purposes. In the end, I guess I'm a bit of a masochist. Those people, most of them, were my friends too, and I wanna watch them fall. They need to hit their bottom....like I did. I was away in treatment and in a bubble, trying to find answers to life's questions. Why now? Why not! I am out of the bubble and with a vengeance. I can see who is doing what and why. Axl wants to play! He is good at it. And so all rumor and speculate on his agenda, success, etc. Fuck that! Listen to the music and quit bitchin'! GNR is EXACTLY how it should be today.

GNRTV - What do you think is the biggest misconception about Axl?

Adriana - That he is a control freak and a trouble maker. Axl has done nothing but grow and avoid confrontations, as best he could, especially recently. Axl is moving in a positive direction personally and musically and Chinese Democracy shows that. I think Chinese Democracy is so great because of the length of time it took to come out. Obviously it was a day to day trudge to create something true and beautiful, which is his style. Axl has poured his heart and soul into that one. The guys playing with him did a superb job and are completely behind his efforts. Obviously that says a whole lot, don't you agree?

GNRTV - Yes, I do agree. You have recently released a CD with your band, Ghost in the Graveyard. Where do you find the inspiration for your music? Was any of it inspired by your GNR experiences?

Adriana - Of course! The early GNR days are a part of my history. I would not be who I am without those days. The CD is something that has needed to come out of me and other band members for a while. Inspiration comes from many different divine sources. Music is an expression of the soul. I would like to go deeper into my soul and experiences next time, but for this CD simplicity and lightness were the key; I just wanted to get it out, ya know? It is a starting point for us and we have received great responses from it so far. I have many more songs inside me, and they are ready to come out. Time is a precious commodity- more so than money! Having the time to take something and have it reflect the essence of the idea is the trick. It is not as easy as it seems, and it takes a band a long time to work out nuances which many cannot even recognize. I really wanted to keep the first CD simple so that we could gig, and gain some exposure from it. I am looking forward to the next CD. Myself and the band have many great ideas in store!

GNRTV - How many gigs have you guys played?

Adriana - This band line-up has played 7 so far.

GNRTV - Earlier you mentioned some of the new guys in GNR, have you seen them play yet or met any of them?

Adriana - Yes! Firstly, even though Dizzy Reed is considered a "newer guy" he has been with GNR since "Use Your Illusion" and was around Hollywood since the earlier GNR days. I am great friends with Lisa Reed; in fact, we were roommates when Steven rented the laundry room of she and another girl's house in Hollywood. I was just up to see Dizzy's show and our daughters were able to meet for the first time! That is a treasure! Secondly, I saw the fabulous Bumblefoot play when Happenin' Harry (the most happenin' guy in Hollywood) hosted his CD release party and again when The Four Dudes played at The Cat Club in Hollywood. Bumblefoot smoked any other guitarist I have seen in a long, long time! No kidding! The guy is great! And he is really nice too. Nice people rule! The others I have not seen, but free downloadable songs from Sex Tapes, which was the guys from GNR minus Axl, were available recently. I have those songs and like them. It was Bumblefoot's CD that was released by the way. I am sorry! I thought the last question pertained to Dizzy and Bumblefoot!

I know Dizzy personally, and have only just met Bumblefoot, but it feels great! Both guys are sweet, and really hard working, talented musicians. I love Lisa Reed, and she and Dizzy's daughters are great too! It was unfortunate that I did not get to meet Mrs. Foot, but I hope to in the future. Lisa Reed says that she is really sweet and I saw her, she is beautiful! Bumblefoot was really great, just a down to earth guy, and oh my God! What a shredder! Dizzy is multi-talented and is amazing to watch. I guess I could go on and on about how great is to know these guys! Hahahahah! I would like to meet the other GNR players and make some new friends in the future.

GNRTV - Slash leaves the band, Axl is blamed for the breakup. Slash is currently searching for his fifth lead singer since making it big, but yet the media continues to crucify Axl for being hard to work with. You know both of these guys personally, how does this make you feel?

Adriana - Cheated. I feel cheated because I was, cheated of the truth. Obviously the media is not taking a look at Slash and his band mate picks to date. Why don't they compare that Velvet Revolver crap to AFD? Or better yet why not ask Slash why he can't seem to keep a singer with any vocal integrity. Scott Weiland? After Axl Rose? The media lies and states all sorts of untruths to cater to their "pet" who at the time was Slash. Slash will do the song and dance in the way the media dictates. I was in my "bubble" getting sober, and having my daughter as I stated earlier. The media said a lot of things about Axl and it was hard to hear. I had no contact with Axl, nor any of the people around him. I did not know his feelings and was fed media hype. He must have been so disappointed and hurt, and just plain pissed off at what was happening...but that is speculation on my part. It was disappointing! I know how the fans must have felt! It is hard not believe all that the media says, because then you have other band members re-forming other bands, speaking out publicly against Axl. You have other musicians that are on a "witch hunt" jump on board the "Liar's Ship of Fools" for their own attention-seeking and it becomes one big "dog-pile" on Axl. I refused to believe it! Even when close "friends" were back in touch with me, all sorts of rumors flew about Ax. What could I say?! So I listened and said nothing. The funny part is, they all wanted to appear to be "better than" Axl or criticize Chinese Democracy. When so many people are circulating rumors and publicly speaking out, the media is at its "best." They had a field-day trying to rip Axl to shreds, but as I always said to the doubters, "he is coming back, and he is not an ass-hole!" I guess I was right on this one. Sorry for the naysayer’s and shit talkers who talked themselves into a corner with me, and they know who they are! Those are the folks I no longer speak with and have cut ties with. The truth ALWAYS comes out. It takes its own sweet time, and so does Axl! Hahahaha! He's the last one laughing...good for him! As far as Slash and his singer-search......no comment. Well, I guess I must comment because I cannot or will not be quiet! I really don't know where or how he could ever find anyone to front a "band" that is so "Slash-focused." Slash has backed himself into a corner to where he is the show. For example, Led Zeppelin was a great band...Jimmy Page on his own was just that, a guitar show. The only difference is that Robert Plant and Axl Rose bill themselves differently as singers. Axl formed a solid band and kept the band name. Robert Plant toured as....Robert Plant. Axl has proven that many people will still come to see a GNR show as opposed

GNRTV - Do you have any shows more coming up?

Adriana - Currently we are working on new material and more shows are on the way. I must mention that at this time my aunt is in the hospital and is unexpected to live. I am attending to my 87 year old Nana who is barely ambulatory, and things are very heavy and sad. No telling what will be happening in the next month or so, as it goes, and I would just like to take a moment to express to everyone how precious a gift life is. All of the day to day hustle and strife means only what you have put into life and given to others when your time comes. My aunt was someone who always believed in me, and stood by me, with no judgment. I will admit that I am not as kind as she is. People come and go through life for but a brief moment and to cherish the pleasant times and move away from the negative energies is what I am taking at this time of her passing. I know there is a Force in this Universe bigger than all of us, and it moves and shakes us where we need to be. She loved that I was in my band. She thought me to be really clever to make such attempts at performing. The truth is, just do what you love and what makes you happy, before it's all over and too late. Okay, I'm off my soap box, but without my aunt Denise, who taught me to sing, I would not be here writing to you possibly. We used to sing to Elton John's Captain Fantastic daily. Just love yourself ....xoxoxoxo

GNRTV - Adriana Smith & Ghost In The Grave Yard info can be found at www.therocketqueen.com you can listen to her music, buy her CD and if you time it right you might even get to chat with her.

Adriana thank you very much for taking the time to talk with www.gnrtv.com

Soulmonster wrote:Interesting to read what she has to say, but it is hard to not feel she is working some agenda, especially considering she has been estranged from Axl for so long and can't really be considered much of an insider when it comes to what is happening with the band.

Blackstar wrote:

Soulmonster wrote:Interesting to read what she has to say, but it is hard to not feel she is working some agenda, especially considering she has been estranged from Axl for so long and can't really be considered much of an insider when it comes to what is happening with the band.

It seems that someone in the camp (Del James, maybe?) was feeding her with info and I get the feeling that she was kind of "used" to pass an agenda.

I would just like to respond to all of you that are trying to make sense of all of the rumors regarding Axl and I. Axl and I were and still are friends. Axl saw an artistic opportunity when we were both in NY and so "Rocket Queen." happened. The truth is I am not ashamed of that. I was the only person that appeared on AFD, besides the band, and for that I am honored and grateful that I may have been able to lend anything to the album and the band. I may have been "dating" Steven Adler at the time and Axl may have been "dating" Erin Everly, but both relationships waxed and waned continuously.

I do not regret anything I have ever done for Axl and that band:remember! Steven himself benefited from our act and that has kept him in the $. Lying, manipulating, and using drugs and people, including his current wife Carolina, are just some of the investments he has used his carreer for. Erin merely wanted to control and suck the life and $ out of Axl and blame him for her own shortcommings. Perhaps her marriage to him could or would have lasted if she actually loved the guy and didn't go around lying about him and creating public spectacles like a divorce based on more untruths. You see, Axl is the only one standing up to the press and all of the critics. Everyone blames Axl for everything. Well, I am here to tell ya that's just plain bull.

Slash hasn't told people the truth. He likes to hide behind a book that is shabbily written at best. Slash's recant of the past is lacking. How in the hell could someone who was passed out all of the time remeber anything? Slash lied about me in his book stating that Axl and I were fucking the whole time in NY. I should sue him for slander! When I journeyed to NY it was to hang with Slash who was my drinking buddy. I had no idea that Axl would be there, and what no one even mentions is that Izzy was there too. i paid for my own ticket with the help of my stripper girls, including Izzy's ex, and had my own place to stay in Alphabet city with my friend kelly McDaniels. I slept in bed with Slash every night on that trip, something he failed to mention in his book, probably for fear of reprocussion from his ever controlling evil wife Perla. We were not sexual; Slash was trying to keep me and Axl from screwing, or from Axl & I getting the party started! Slash was Steven's childhood friend and saw me as Steven's girlfriend. I always thought Slash and I would be tight friends, it really boils my blood to know that he plays a different tune these days and is married to such a controlling and obnoxious woman with no style. And as she has informed me directly I am "not even on their Christmas mailing list." Whatever.

As far as things go, I am glad Axl has moved on and kept GNR rolling. It could never have stayed the same. Steven was so high he couldn't keep time on the drums, hence Matt Sorum. Axl was not the one who initiated Steven's dismissal from the band. Axl was not the one who walked away from GNR to start a new mediocre band with a skinny little junkie frontman...by the way what kind of logic is that? Let's start a band with a known screw-up. how long was Scott Weiland even sober when that trainwreck started?!! What the hell does that look like for Axl, the guy who has all of the original guys tattooed on his fucken arm? Who was loyal and who wasn't....duh! And then all of the fans preaching for a re-union? Spare me. At this point, it would be Axl doing Slash and his gold-digger bulldog of a wife a favor! And as for Steven, he can't keep his shit together long enough to make it through a 4 week filming of a reality show. Isn't that proof enough of where his loyalty is at?

At one time I was offered a quite alluring proposition by Axl to come along on tour and dance on stage for AFD first tour. i could not do that because of my loyalty to mine and Steven's relationship and because GNR was Steven's band in my eyes. What a mistake! Steven has thrown me under the bus again and again to save his own selfish ass. And as recently as lately, with an upcoming VH1 special that is to air in March, I offered him an opportunity to meet the folks in charge of filming and get a spot in this documentary, in hopes of helping him with his sobriety and new cover band...covers of GNR oldies. Steven, who was never truly sober anyway, got a hold of dope. Who gets the call? Me! I am now touted as a villaness for his behavior. I am fucking 15 years clean and sober. I am not Steven's mommy. I do feel sorry for his current friends that don't truly understand the nature of addiction and have such resentment(which is the dubiuos luxury of the "normal" person, by the way) toward me. Steven's wife is a 23 year old brat, fresh outta diapers whose rich Argetinian parents sent over to America to marry one of the boys in GNR. Her first pick- Slash. he didn't want her, so Steven, who would fuck a post , took her.

As for comparing Chinese Democracy to anything the Current line-up of GNR is doing ...there is no comparrison! The new Cd shreds anything GNR has done in the past. It is the best GNR to date because it is Axl's vision...clearly. Axl has proved that there is no GNR without him. he has the creativity, the insight , and the swagger to keep the music selling. Todate, he has made the most expensive album in history. Who else can claim that? Axl is, and has always been the man. it is just a shame that anyone would second guess his vision. And too bad for the death of guitarist extraodrdinairre, West Arkeen. West was the other masterful songwritter who worked so closely with Axl to push GNR to legendary status. all of the early days are gone, and apparently so are many of the friends that I expected to remain true to me forever.

And by the way fuck all of you who think I look like a man, or am not still hot. I am hotter than hell, and can still bust your balls in one crack. What it all comes down to is that no matter how much people criticize on this site, no one else has the moxie to come out and speak the truth. You all have hidden your faces and names behind false pretenses in fear that someone you know will recognize your critical asses or that someone will not like you. Boo-hoo! What is it again that you have done, or are currently doing in your life besides judging others? hahahah! go fuck yourselves and kiss my lilly-white ass. Anymore fucked up questions or criticisms about me or Axl?

Around the 8:00 minute mark in this Mickey Rourke interview with David Poland, the actor talks about how he kind of became the de facto music supervisor on the film, persuading Guns N’ Roses and Bruce Springsteen to lend their music to the film and in the case of GNR, he scored a classic track for free!

“When I was boxing I used to come out to ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine,’ so when I was behind [the wrestling] ropes [on set], I needed some extra so I said, ‘Put on ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine,’ and take off that shit you’re playing’. So I called up Axl [Rose] about the movie and he gave us the song for free.”

Later in the evening, it was Rourke who was called to the podium after winning Best Performance by an Actor in a Drama for The Wrestler. In what was the most rock & roll moment of the night, Rourke thanked Guns n’ Roses’ Axl Rose for allowing the low-budget film to use “Sweet Child O’ Mine” for almost nothing. Rose has often credited Rourke as being someone on his small list of friends. Equally awesome: Rourke also thanked his dogs.

At midpoint in "The Wrestler," Marisa Tomei's Cassidy sums up the general feeling the film's characters have toward pop music. Enjoying an afternoon beer at a dive bar with some metal on the jukebox, she dismisses everything released from 1991 to the present with a swipe at Nirvana's Kurt Cobain: "And then that Cobain ... had to come and ruin it all."

One can only wonder how she'd rate the delicate atmospheric score from Clint Mansell. In a film loaded with '80s metal -- Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" and Quiet Riot's "Bang Your Head" are prominently featured -- Mansell is the one who has to bring everyone back to the film's stark reality.

But one thing is probably certain. Tomei's Cassidy and Mickey Rourke's fading wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson couldn't fault Mansell's choice of a guitarist: former Guns N' Roses slinger Slash.

"We just thought it would be interesting, given that the character's favorite music is rock -- metal -- music," Mansell tells Pop & Hiss. "We wanted that sensibility and wanted to bridge the gap between score and source. Slash is one of the world's great guitar players, and he was up for trying something different than what he's known for, but he could also bring his sensibility to what I was trying to do."

METALLICA CONSIDER TOUR WITH GUNS N' ROSES

METALLICA would consider a rock supertour with GUNS N' ROSES - after hailing the group's comeback album CHINESE DEMOCRACY.

The Enter Sandman hitmakers are big fans of their rock counterparts, who they rose to fame alongside in the 1980s.

And drummer Lars Ulrich admits he would jump at the chance to tour alongside Axl Rose's legendary group.

He says, "We're road dogs. We love to tour. So we'd never say no. We've learned never to say no to anything, and all four of us love Chinese Democracy."

But guitarist Kirk Hammett admits he doesn't see the rockers making an offer in the near future, adding: "The real question is whether they would tour with us."

Metallica and Guns N' Roses Tour?

While there are quotes from members of Metallica in articles floating around music sites today where they seem enthusiastic about doing a co-headlining tour with Guns N' Roses, the quotes are not sourced, which is typical of unreliable UK tabloids. There is a good reason they didn't provide the source of the quotes because they were taken out of context and misquoted; which again, is typical of the UK tabloid press. The actual quotes came from a press conference on Fuse about Metallica being inducted into the Crock and Lull Hall of Lame (a.k.a. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame).

Here is an example of how the UK music tabs are spinning the story: "drummer Lars Ulrich admits he would jump at the chance to tour alongside Axl Rose's legendary group. He says, 'We're road dogs. We love to tour. So we'd never say no. We've learned never to say no to anything, and all four of us love Chinese Democracy.'"

The actual exchange went like this (full video below): A reporter asks "on the topic of drama and near tragedy, would you guys ever consider touring with Guns N' Roses again now that they're back out?"

(Laughter from Metallica) Lars is seen shaking his head and mouthing the word "no" but then becomes diplomatic and says, "Like James was saying earlier, we're rode dogs we love to tour, so if that opportunity ever came in the right situation, of course."

James adds, "We've learned never to say never, cause you don't know what hurtle, or what great thing is gonna be handed to you."

Lars jumps in with "We actually, all 4 of us really like Chinese Democracy, I think it's a great record and I mean who knows, we never say no to anything." (James had a smart ass aside in the middle of that).

Kirk concludes with "I think the question is: would they tour with us?"

Matt Sorum Moves On

SELLER: Matt Sorum
LOCATION: N. Doheny Drive, Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $2,975,000
SIZE: 2,395 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms

DESCRIPTION: ...Remodeled & beautifully updated w/ maple hardwood floors, 3 crushed glass fp, security & Control4 ent. system. The open floor plan incl. 3 br & 2.5 ba, gym, kitchen w/ custom granite & professional stainless steel appliances, great room & big living room. The whole home opens up w/ hi cathedral ceilings & out thru French doors to lush landscape & a resort like pool area w/ an outdoor kitchen, hiking trail with vu, spa w/ vu, big pool & more!

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Last night, while trying to ignore the Dr. Cooter who wanted to yammer about the recent presidential inauguration all night, Your Mama perused all the new listings in the Los Angeles area and several banged the bells our our celebrity real estate intuition including this house which, as it turns out, is being offered for sale by ex-Guns and Roses and current Velvet Revolver drummer Matt Sorum with an asking price of $2,975,000.

Back in 1997 Mister Sorum was reportedly given the heave-ho from Guns and Roses by the always volatile front man Axl Rose for defending ousted gee-tarist Slash (whom Your Mama hears–but can not confirm–is negotiating to purchase the mansion of a pop star who is not Britney Spears). Mister Sorum eventually reconciled with the corn rowed and not aging particularly gracefully Axl Rose, but after being booted from G&R, Mister Sorum, a man who looks damn good for a hard livin' rock star who's pushing up on 50, went on to beat the goat skin and crash the cymbals for legendary rock band The Cult and years later joined the currently on indefinite hiatus supergroup Velvet Revolver.

If Mister Sorum's myspace page did not indicate that he is in a relationship with a blond shorty named Ace, we wouldn't even consider entering his house without first downing a nerve pill and donning a hazmat suit, you know what we're saying? After all, the man is a rock star and has free and easy access to all sorts of skanky cling-ons looking to put another notch in their lipstick case. However, as it turns out Mister Sorum appears to be a one woman man and his crib looks clean as a whistle and appears to be as germ free as a house can be.

Property records show Mister Sorum scooped up his N. Doheny Drive digs only in September of 2006 for $2,575,000. What foolishness would possess the stick wielding wild man to sell the place at the very moment the Los Angeles real estate market is headed down the proverbial terlit is beyond Your Mama's comprehension. It cain't be the money. Or it better not be money or he should fire his bizness people as unceremoniously as Mister Rose fired him.

Anyhoo, whatever the reason(s), listing information for Mister Sorum's Doheny Estates residence shows the remodeled ranch style house measures in a modest for a famous person 2,395 square feet and includes 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms.

Other features of the open plan pad include a simply but thoughtfully furnished living/dining room with a sloping ceiling, shiny espresso colored wood floors, a black baby grand, a monolithic stacked stone fireplace that Your Mama rather adores, and a vintage Verner Panton capiz shell chandelier hangs (at a proper height, the children will note) over the small round espresso colored dining room table.

The updated and upgraded kitchen has been did over with chocolate brown walls, a thick slab of light colored flecked granite laid on simple white cabinetry, stainless steel appliances, of course, and some serious mood lighting. A adjacent family room continues the dim and moody vibe with a sloping ceiling and a behemoth brown sectional sofa that easily seats six facing the de rigueur flat screen boob-toob mounted above a second fireplace that listing information indicates has been fitted with crushed glass in the firebox, a decorative artifice that Your Mama never really cottoned to.

The master bedroom, which looks like what Your Mama imagines a suite at the W Hotel in Aspen to look like, has a lovely high beamed and peaked ceiling, a third crushed glass fireplace with a bulky river rock surround and hearth and a private outdoor lounging area lined with curtains and a large padded sofa/bench, the perfect spot to smokey smokey some weed before doing the nasty. We're not saying Mister Sorum (or Your Mama) partakes in that sort of nefarious narcotics activity, we're just saying if someone did, this would be a good spot to do it.

The back yard includes an inviting swimming pool surrounded by a stone terrace and backed by a verdant wall of ferns and palm trees. A built in bbq area includes stools for sitting and chomping on rib bones and a flat screen tee-vee mounted on the wall. How do these outdoor televisions not get ruined by the elements? The children will note the elevated sun bed where we are 100% sure the Dr. Cooter would enjoy sun bathing in the nood while our long bodied bitches Linda and Beverly paddled in the pool.

Property records show that back in the early 1990s Mister Sorum resided high in the hills above celebrity lined Carbon Beach in Malee-boo and also owned a small condominium at the Shoreham Towers building in West Hollywood. He's since sold both properties. An article from July of 1996 reveals the drummer next moved to home in the Hollywood Hills where Madonna was his next door neighbor. However, Your Mama can not find any purchase records that point to Mister Sorum for that property. Interestingly enough, prop records also show that Mister Sorum owns a multi-unit property on N. Croft Ave. in Los Angeles that he purchased in late 2003 from the troubled and usually annoying comedian Andy Dick.

Eagles Of Death Metal frontman Jesse 'The Devil' Hughes has told NME Radio he believes Axl Rose is no longer a rock star - And that's why his band were thrown off Guns N' Roses' 2006 US tour.

The Guns N' Roses frontman branded Hughes' band "The Pigeons Of Shit Metal", after they received a hostile reception from the crowd when opening for GNR at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena.

Speaking from the stage, Rose then fired the band from the rest of the tour.

However in an interview with Iain Baker which will be broadcast on Thursday (February 5) at 4pm (GMT) along with three session tracks on NME Radio, Hughes has blamed Guns N' Roses and the crowds they now attract for the debacle.

"When we showed up it was a 25,000 seat arena with 5,000 kids there; not a single one of 'em born when 'Appetite For Destruction' came out," he said.

He added: "And I remember looking at my manager going, 'Dude, I think we made a mistake, man, apparently the rock went to [former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash's group] Velvet Revolver.' This band lost the 'uns' and the 'roses' and they’re just 'g' and 'r', you know what I mean?"

Hughes added that he now believes that the tension from Rose originally stemmed from the fact that he is friends with Dave Grohl.

He said: "I really do believe it has a lot to do with the fact that he [Axl] hates Dave Grohl with a passion and we're in the same gang. Because he blames Dave Grohl for ending their [Guns N' Roses] career, and that famous MTV Music Awards when they got into a fight and Dave was on stage going, 'Hi Axl!', taunting him from the pulpit, so to speak."

Kerrang! caught up with Jesse Hughes in the heart of London's Soho disctrict, where the frontman discussed Eagles Of Death Metal's latest album, "Heart On", ladies, his and Josh Homme's belief that "the music is the king," rollerblading, and how Axl Rose's comment that they were "Pigeons of Shit Metal" inspired him to get a tattoo celebrating the quote and was "the most wonderful insult that anyone could ever ask for. That insult, in and of itself made my career," he said. As for Guns N' Roses' new album, "Chinese Democracy', Hughes said it was "fucking mediocre. Quite frankly, for the amount of time and amazing waste of money and the sort of state of the industry that he put us in, because those sorts of extravagances and those sorts of outrages really represented the artist as just a child to the world, and it's left us the way we are. For 16 years, or whatever it took, I was expecting to get a blowjob, and like a Chinese woman to marry, like a mailorder bride, but it didn't work out that way." Hughes also wants to team up with the Guns N' Roses singer to record a "Pigeons of Shit Metal" single.

On Axl Rose:“Like any other Guns N’ Roses fan, I find Axl to be really insulting. He cost a lot of people their jobs, a lot of heartache and probably some mental breakdowns while he fucked around on a record [Chinese Democracy] for 16 fucking years—just because he wanted to be a dick. I firmly believe that the gods of rock ’n’ roll just chose me to kick him out of the gang for gross misuse of power. Axl still has the opportunity to do something that no one expects him to do, which is something cool. I honestly think he can do it, but first, he really needs to control himself a bit, and most importantly, get a real friend.”

Guitar Hero: World Tour is also getting some classic tunes this week, with a healthy does of Queen. "C-Lebrity," "Fat Bottomed Girls," and "We Are The Champions" will all make their debut for $1.99 each or $5.49 for the bundle. The game will also see the James Bond theme, as performed by Richard Fortus ($1.99).

Offspring Reveal Attempt to Steal 'Chinese Democracy'

To be clear, the Offspring never actually tried to steal any material or recordings from Guns N' Roses -- they merely considered stealing the long-awaited album's title, just for laughs. "I think it got blown up a little more than we intended it to," singer Dexter Holland tells Spinner.

While recording in 2003, the band was at a loss for an album title. "When the record's coming together, you try to seriously think of a title for ten minutes and then everyone in the band jokes around for the next two hours with ideas like 'Offspring Bloody Offspring,'" Holland says. "One day, somebody suggested 'Chinese Democrarcy' and we couldn't stop laughing about it." At that point, the Guns N' Roses album had been in the works for nearly a decade.

The idea grew into a longer title, 'Chinese Democracy (You Snooze, You Lose),' when the band decided to put out a press release as a gag. "We got a lot more attention than we thought we would," Holland says. "I heard Axl [Rose] was looking into legal options but there aren't any, since you can't copyright an album title before it's released." Eventually the band dropped the ruse and titled the album 'Splinter.'

As for the Axl's finished product, Holland says he's "honestly not that crazy about it."

Shooter Jennings Offered Velvet Revolver Job Twice!

Country rock star Shooter Jennings has confirmed that he has been offered the job of singer with Velvet Revolver – but has turned the band down TWICE!

Shooter, the son of country legend Waylon Jennings, was one of the men Classic Rock tipped as potential VR singers back in April last year.

At that time Duff McKagan admitted that Jennings could make a good replacement: “Shooter’s great, actually,” he told CR’s Scott Rowley. “That’s a good idea. He’s does a southern rock thing, but his old band was straight up kinda rock. He’s a talented guy man, he’s pretty awesome. He would be good.”

In a new interview with Classic Rock, Jennings confirms that he was asked – but turned the band down. And not just once.

“They’ve asked me twice, dude,” Jennings told CR’s Henry Yates. “I’ve done a couple of shows with those guys, and they asked me a couple of years ago and they asked me again last year to be the singer. And it pained my heart not to say yes, because those guys are the best players in the world. They’re literally one of the best bands I’ve ever heard and to be able to sing with them has been amazing. But I had a talk with them about it, and I would absolutely still, to this day, get in a room and jam with them, but first of all, I knew I was gonna be doing another record and that what I wanted to do was really special to me, and I didn’t feel I could stifle that.”

“I didn’t feel like my next step should to be to go from feeling like my back was broken by Nashville to stepping into the shoes of Scott Weiland and singing that stuff,” he continued. “I kinda said, if you wanna get together and do some stuff, that’d be fine, but I don’t know about me going out and singing those songs, and being the replacement for Scott Weiland, after Axl.”

“You have to understand how big that is for me, because Guns N’ Roses was one of my favourite bands of all time,” Jennings continued. “I was six years old when Appetite For Destruction came out and it was the coolest thing. I never liked Bon Jovi. I never liked hair metal. I never liked any of that. When I heard Guns N’ Roses, it was dangerous and it was mean, and that was why I wanted to move to LA. I wanted to be Axl stepping off the bus with the hayseed in his mouth.”

“Duff, Slash, Matt and Dave have all become good friends and it’s no disrespect to them, but I just felt like it wasn’t my time to do that, y’know? For all the money it probably would have brought…”

Velvet Revolver have also been in the news of late as both Gord Prior of Canadian band Blu Bones and Tony Montana leaked their Velvet Revolver auditions onto the web.

Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor has confirmed that he was being considered for the singer slot in Velvet Revolver following the departure of Scott Weiland. Speaking to Altitude TV (see video below), Taylor said, "I had a meeting with those guys, we did some demos together, and it just didn't work — for whatever reason."

He added, "It was just really cool. It was one of those things where it's like I could have got to jam with legends, man, in my opinion. But, you know, it was cool, and I still know those guys, I still hang out with them, and I still have nothing but respect."

Velvet Revolver/ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash was asked a few months ago by the webmaster of his official fan site if there was any truth to the rumor that Taylor was going to be the next Velvet Revolver singer. According to a posting on the site, Slash "said it looked like it for a minute, but they had decided against it."

Might Slash the prices

While Robbie Williams is holed up in his new £7million Wiltshire mansion with girlfriend Ayda Field, his old neighbours back in LA might not be so happy. The Robster's Mulholland estates pad has been sold to former Guns 'N' Roses guitarist Slash - who has a collection of more than 100 guitars.

My rock music mole told me: "Slash was keen on the house because it's also big enough to entertain lots of guests." Reach for the earplugs.

Gilby Clarke, Tracii Guns To Join Forces For 'Lone Guns' Tour

Gilby Clarke (Guns N' Roses) and Tracii Guns (L.A. Guns) are joining forces for the first time and embarking on the "Lone Guns" North American tour. Clarke will perform songs from Guns N' Roses as well as Rockstar Supernova and Tracii Guns has promised deep catalog L.A. Guns tracks as well as the hits, plus surprises. Each encore will feature Gilby and Tracii jamming together and every show will be different so this is guaranteed to be an event not to be missed!