Over New Year's, we'll
be away, and most of you will be busy also. We'll return to our regular
schedule on Wednesday, January 2. Happy New Year and may it bring us all
peace, joy and a whole lotta SLASH!
Here's some SLASH and GNR
TV information for the start of 2002. The big news from Brian is that
the Michael Jackson 30th Anniversary Show with SLASH guesting will be
re-run on CBS on Wednesday, January 9 at 9:00pm ET. This will be the same
night as the American Music Awards, but SLASH fans can give that a miss.
Brian says the report he read said Britney Spears footage that was
left out the last time will be included in the broadcast. This means
something will have to be cut, and if you saw the first hour last time,
almost anything could be discarded. So we're hoping SLASH, who appears
in the second hour, will be there with all footage intact! Two more repeat
TV shows are "100 Greatest Albums of Rock & Roll" on VH-1, January 2 at
3:30pm ET. "MTV Uncensored" is on MTV on 1/5 at 11:30pm ET. Both of these
feature the old GNR band and therefore, SLASH!
Talk about yearend awards, Rolling Stone awarded "Most Freaky-Deaky Looking
Band" to the current Guns N'Roses. How far the mighty have fallen! Used to
be GNR was one of the best looking rock bands around...just Duff and SLASH
alone were easy on the eyes. Now, the hired guns are guys who never get
their photos taken or wear tributes to Colonel Sanders on their heads.
Freaky-Deaky indeed. Fashion police and SLASH, please!
If you were waiting for the SLASH site to sell you a Snakepit tshirt, you
can probably forget that. It was announced on the slashssnakepit.com site
that Snakepit merchandise will not be sold at all due to various
factors that were left undescribed but most likely have something to do
with the complexities of name and logo merchandise. The good news is that
the post also said that instead of Snakepit, they would be selling SLASH
merchandise in the near future. We can all use a SLASH tshirt and whatever
else is sold! We'll take one of each.
LuAnn found some Snakepit merchandise on the net. No tshirts, but there is
an (unofficial, we believe) video for sale
at Infinity1.com.
They also offer a Snakepit poster. We've never used this site personally, so
no guarantees. A site we are aware of is recordmecca.com. LuAnn also
turned up something very cool there. If you have $1300 dollars, you can
buy an RIAA platinum award given to SLASH for the sale of 3 million copies of
the Illusion albums. It's beautiful! It says SLASH gave this to a relative
who obviously hotfooted it down to Record Mecca and cashed it in. Want to
see it or give it a home, go to SLASH Award,
click on "High-end collectibles" (at left), and the SLASH award is on page 2.
Here's another cool item that LuAnn found, and it's free. There's a
Marshall cabinet you can download and then tile for a desktop. You'll
have a wall of Marshall 1960 4x12 cabinets when you're done. There's
also a winamp skin which you can download to Marshallize your music.
Check them out at Marshall Downloads.
Thanks, LuAnn!
Vicki found a couple of SLASH mentions. One was on the HBO sex show
"G-String Divas". One of the songs they played for the strippers or
dancers was "Cure Me...Or Kill Me" by Gilby Clarke. If you know your
SLASH guest appearances, you know SLASH played lead on that track. And
in the February 2002 issue of Guitar Player, SLASH is mentioned
in the "Fretwire Column". Perris Records is giving away an autographed
Fender Strat, one per month, through their web site. SLASH, Keri Kelli,
Jimmy Crespo and others have signed the guitars. The guitar featured
now is signed by Bruce Kulick. Go to Guitar Giveaway
and enter your email address. Good luck! Vicki, thanks!
So, what are you up to on New Year's Eve? SLASH hadn't made any final
plans yet. He could be hanging at home or hitting LA with friends or
going to one of his favorite recreational places, Las Vegas. After
a little gambling and a lot of hanging out, he might head over to
see the new GNR do their number at the Hard Rock. We were surprised to
hear that might be on his agenda, but he said..."After all, I have never
gone to a GNR concert before"! Usually he had the best standing place
in the house, the stage! So, if you go for whatever reason and see the
top hatted one there, take him under your wing and show him the ropes
of GNR concert-going!
One item that is coming up in the New Year will be a fan club for SLASH.
The fan club will be run by a company, and what they have in mind sounds
good. We believe the cost will be $25 per year. They'll give us a web
address where you can go and read about it and sign up. The membership
gifts sound very good. This company will also be handling the fan mail
for SLASH. SLASH will still sign all your requests, but they will take
care of the processing - opening, returning, etc. They will have a database
of fans they have received requests from making it easier to trace lost
items. They were to be selling merchandise right away, but that has been
dropped. If you visit slashssnakepit.com's forum, you have seen the
announcement that there will be no merchandise sold in the short run.
However, something should be along at some future date.
The fan club people would like you to switch your fan mail to their
address. It has been changed in our Write to Slash section as well as
the FAQ. We can give it to you right here, but if you haven't read the
instructions on return postage, you need to do that. Requests without
return postage and mailers will not be processed. Soon there will be an
address where you can write to these fan club people. So if you have a
question, we can try to help you; or you can wait and get their address
when it comes out. Here is the new SLASH fan mail address:
SLASH
5664 Cahuenga Blvd.
Suite 246
North Hollywood, CA 91601
KLOS did a great job interviewing Snakepit. They are having a special
Christmas broadcast beginning at 10am Christmas Day. The program is called
Rock & Roll A-Z, and they play songs in alphabetical order by the first
letter of the title, e.g. "American Woman", "Beggars & Hangers-On",
"Communication Breakdown", etc. You can vote for a song and artist if you
have a Backstage Pass which just means registering there. There are so
many SLASH songs and GNR and Snakepit songs that could fit in. Why not go
over and vote for one? At this address you can register and request a song:
Keep sending in those SLASH sightings! We'll collect them and have a big
update December 28. Happy Holidays!
Slash has finally returned home!
He and Perla stopped in Las Vegas on the way back from the UK. As you
know, Vegas is one of SLASH's favorite places to relax. SLASH was glad
to see so many fans out at the shows. He said he felt the best show was
the final one even though there were only 450 attending this small venue,
but there were lots of celebs, and it was fun. We talked about the Dublin
show, and he says Dublin has a very special place in his heart! We know
Guns was there in '92, and whether the town got to his heart then or
later, he didn't say. But his voice indicated it is a special town for
him. SLASH said the first London show was tough because he spent a full
day rehearsing and doing soundcheck, and he just didn't feel fresh for
the show, but we told him the fans thuought he was just super. This seemed
to perk him up.
We told him some UK fans had reported his being on with Ronnie Wood on
the "Jools Holland Hootenanny" New Year's Eve. You got that right! SLASH
said he taped the show before returning to the US, so he is not coming
back to do the show live. He said the entire show is taped and ready to
go including the jam at the end. He and Ron are indeed doing "Little
Queenie", Chuck Berry's old hit.
SLASH and Ronnie are not done yet. SLASH says that he will probably travel
with Ronnie and his band to Japan early next year for a tour there. We'll
be getting word soon on the dates and venues. That's a big leap...
UK to Japan. One more to the US would be great! Let's hope Ron decides to
slide on live over here.
SLASH listened to the confusion on the guitars he used. He said he took
two guitars with him. He did not take his main stage guitar due to the
distance to be traveled and the fact that the airlines are now putting
the instruments in with regular baggage. SLASH said he took his second
or backup stage guitar along. The backup to this guitar was the dark
cherry sunburst you saw him use. Most likely, these two would go along
to Japan.
Regardless of what you might hear, SLASH has no New Year's Eve entertainment
plans. You know with SLASH that things can change quickly if the right
venue and band came along, but right now, he will not be onstage
on 12/31.
In keeping with the UK flavor of the news tonight, there's a SLASH
mention in the UK's Q magazine. This was in the interview of Lenny
Kravitz, and Lenny was asked if his python Rex was still with us. If so,
had Lenny compared snake welfare notes with SLASH or Alice Cooper. Lenny
replied that he gave away Rex to a friend because he was travelling too
much to take care of his pet. He misses him. Rex lived in a big box, but
Lenny let him slither around the house. Lenny says he has discussed snakes
with SLASH because he used to have a house full in LA, like a snake museum.
Thank you, Vicki, for sending that in!
Our cell phone plate came in grey. Later we managed a flag plate, but we've
been on the outlook for something more SLASH-related. What do you think?
This is the snake face plate. SLASH would be proud.
Last time we gave you a long list
of reruns with SLASH/GNR appearances. There's a TV listing for the UK, and
it is NO rerun! SLASH had such a good time over there with Ron Wood that
you will see him again New Year's Eve on BBC2. SLASH will be on the
New Year's show "Jules Holland Hootenanny". Echo sent in a notice on this
as did Andrew and Stuart. From these guys we learned that "...Hootenanny"
is a regular New Year's Eve show that Jules Holland does. Holland is a
masterful blues piano player. SLASH appeared on his regular TV show with
Blackstreet doing "Fix" when they were in Europe for the MTV Europe Video
Awards. Here's when SLASH will be on December 31. The show airs at
11:55pm UK time and ends at 1:25am. The show repeats New Year's Day at
1:30pm on BBC2. SLASH is scheduled to jam on Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie" with Ron.
We're told that at the end, all the guests come out and jam together. We
aren't sure if SLASH will be there live or if this was taped when he
visited Dublin and London. SLASH just arrived back in the US Monday, so
we hope to hear from him and answer that question after the jet lag
subsides and he gets to his messages. Thanks to Andrew, Stuart and Echo
for sending this in!
Here's a TV mention for Sweden. Feres says he was watching "Jeopardy" on
Swedish network TV4. They had a category called "People and Their Headgear".You
can feel this one coming! There were 5 answers. The first for 100sek and
the fifth for 500sek. Feres said the 400sek read "He played guitar for
GNR, often shirtless and with a magician's (!!) big hat." What is the
question? "Who is SLASH?" YES! Thanks, Feres!
On Monday, Ryan says that some SLASH pals were on Rock Line with Bob
Coburn. Gilby Clarke and Teddy Andreadis were on with a band called
Colonel Parker. Ryan said they played live and did a song off their
new CD which reminded him very much of Snakepit '95. He recommends
giving them a listen.
OK, Tina (winner of SLASH's pj auction), this one's for you. And for anyone else who has dreamed of having
a SLASH action figure for your very own. Think of the fun of posing the
little guy by your guitar or tucking him in at night. The SLASH action
figure is a one of a kind prototype. The toy SLASH was never put into production.
SLASH collaborated on his little namesake. Got to have it? Get on over to
ebay and bid high on this little fellow. The auction ends this Friday. He's
already big bucks. If you are interested in a low budget toy, cut out a big
SLASH from a poster...try this out first with a small one. Then laminate your
cutout. You can just use library tape for laminating. Cut all around the
edge...instant SLASH doll! Take him with you everywhere! Tape him to a
pen for a cool flying SLASH as you write. Enough! Merry Christmas! And here
is the url for the ebay auction:
There were a lot of SLASH interviews online this year as you know. Classic
Rock Revisited did a really good one with SLASH. This interview is up for
Best Interview of the Year at Classic Rock Revisited. SLASH's interview
is currently at 4% - not so great. How about we go over and give that
number a shove? Jeb Wright from Classic Rock Revisited invites you to
come over and vote. Here's how to get there:
Just to complete things, here's a SLASH Q and A. This is from Marcos who
writes, "I'm writing from Portugal (ya know, small country on the edge of
Europe... :) ), and my name is Marcos. I need your help because of the
chords in Guns N'Roses song "Shotgun Blues". The problem is that, for
example, I don't know how to fret the A/E (just to name one...). Could
you explain to me how it works? I really wanted to play the song but
because of this I simply can't. I would be very pleased if you could
help me. Thanks for any help attempts".
SLASH replies, "If memory serves, "Shotgun Blues" frets on #10 to
#7 to #5. Also, the whole record is tuned to E(flat)440".
Another complex one! Thanks, SLASH and Marcos!
On TV this week there are some repeat shows featuring GNR which means SLASH!
If you haven't seen them, check them out while you're wrapping SLASH's gift.
Wednesday, 12/19 at 2:00pm ET on VH-1 is "100 Most Shocking Moments in Rock &
Roll". (GNR probably had 100 themselves.) On Thursday, 12/20 at 3:00pm ET
on VH-1 is "Top 80 of the 80's". On Friday, 12/21 at 2:00pm ET on VH-1
is "100 Greatest Albums of Rock & Roll". Court TV takes on the Gunners on
Friday, 12/21 at 6:30pm ET, Saturday, 12/22 at 6:00am ET and 11:00pm ET, and
Monday, 12/24 at 4:00am ET with "Hollywood
& Crime". Also on Saturday, 12/22 at 2:00pm ET on VH-1 is "100 Greatest
Videos". On Saturday, 12/22 at 6:00pm ET on VH-1 is "100 Greatest Artists
of Hard Rock". And for your Christmas Eve enjoyment, VH-1 starts the day
at 6:00am ET with "VH-1: All Access".
Metal Sludge had a little sludge to throw at SLASH recently. J. Rose
sent this in, and it is kind of funny and sad. Commenting on SLASH's
recent gigs in the UK, they said, "While SLASH is on tour in the UK, the
rest of SLASH's Snakepit are on tour visiting the numerous soup kitchens
in L.A. looking for handouts." Come on, SLASH, get in the 'pit! Thanks, J.
Rose!
Last week, we gave you the url for voting for Guns N'Roses on the Rolling
Stone site. Kathie wrote that you can also vote for SLASH's Snakepit.
Give those guys some encouragement! Here's the url for their vote:
The fans attending the UK shows seem to have a disagreement on what equipment
SLASH lived. Were you at the same show?! Daniel says that in the London show
(the earlier show), SLASH used a light colored Les Paul Standard. It was the
only SLASH guitar there. Adam Day carried it out at the end and put it in
the limo. The other Les Paul he used while his main guitar was being re-tuned
was not his normal '87 Cherry Sunburst Les Paul. Daniel thinks he must have
borrowed this one from one of the other band members. Slash did not use a
Mesa Boogie amp. It was just resting on top of SLASH's straight 4x12. Adam
was operating two of SLASH's Marshall heads...switching from dirty to clean.
OK, everyone?
Vicki found some GNR and SLASH references in the book Rolling Stone- The
Complete Covers.There is a tiny picture on page 179 of the GNR cover
from 11/17/88 ("Guns N'Roses - Hard Rock Heroes"). On page 195 there's a
slightly larger picture of SLASH's cover from 1/24/91 ("Inside Guns N'Roses...").
On page 203 is a large picture of the GNR cover from 9/5/91 (our personal
favorite: "Guns N'Roses - Outta Control"). Axl has a full page on page 208
("Axl Rose-the RS Interview"). So, if you see the book, you can use Vicki's
information to quickly take a look at these covers. The "Outta Control" cover
was also made into a poster. It's great! Thanks, Vicki!
Here's a SLASH Q & A. This funny question comes from Pierre in France.
(Remember that SLASH did not tour France with Snakepit much to the dismay
of our French fans). Pierre asks, "I'm a fan since 1988. I was at the
'Elyssee Montmartre' on June 29, 1995. I've got 1 question for SLASH. 'Do
you remember where is France?' (Go get him, Pierre!)
SLASH replies (a funny reply), "Yeah, I remember where is France! (Is that
a trick question? I might have to come there and find out!) Uh-oh, Pierre,
you're in trouble with the Big Guy!
Thanks to SLASH and Pierre who seem to have a comedy act going! Brightened
our day!
As you may know, this site is in danger of closing due to the high
expense of running it.
Thanks to those who've sent in suggestions, support letters and
donations to keep the site going. We are working with Randy to try
out the first place suggested as a new home for the site. We're
looking at the rest of the suggestions as well. The letters we have
received are just great! And we are very grateful for the donations
from Vicki, Brian, Linda, Janet, Laura, Olivier, Norm and Michele, Tina,
Ron and LuAnn, and Mike.
Thanks to you
especially...without your donations, the site would be down now.
Thanks to those who've sent in suggestions, support letters and
donations to keep the site going. We are working with Randy to try
out the first place suggested as a new home for the site. We're
looking at the rest of the suggestions as well. The letters we have
received are just great! And we are very grateful for the donations
from Vicki, Brian, Linda, Janet and Laura. Thanks to you five
especially...without your donations, the site would be down now.
Josh is from Canada, and he reports that the Canadian music channel,
Much More Music is doing a series on greatest rock albums. The show
airs every week night. Josh wants the Canadians to know that
Guns N'Roses is coming up! He's trying to find out specific dates, so
in the meantime, check the listings or snap it on every night. Thanks,
Josh!
Yet another voting place! Ashis found this one on the Rolling Stone site where
they rank the artists. Ratings go from 1 (poor) to 4(excellent) and
5(classic). Guns is ranked between poor and fair. Is this the original
GNR or the new one we're voting for?! Let's assume this is for the
original band and get the Gunners out of the cellar. Just now they
were at #22:
A lot more reviews of the Ronnie Wood with SLASH shows have come in from
the UK. Very interesting. Although the UK shows were great, the Dublin
show seems to have been the shining star. If you were there, you know
what we mean! We did get an update on Dublin from Stuart who says that
SLASH used a light colored sunburst standard and his old 1987 cherry
sunburst standard. Stuart says the '87 has been Slash's main live guitar
for ages. Being a guitar player himself, he is careful to note what
equipment his hero is using. Thanks, Stuart! Let's see what the London
show crowd had to say.
Rob sent us to a Rolling Stones site for detailed setlists and some
reviews by Stones fans. Some of these were fairly brutal, but the
SLASH mentions really are great. They say, for example, that SLASH
lit a fire under the whole show, played his heart out and more! The
joy of great reviews! There are some pictures there as well:
Stuart went to the first show in London. Ronnie and his band played a few
songs, then SLASH joined in. He wore black leather pants, cowboy boots,
black shirt open to his waist and his top hat. Stuart waited outside two
hours so as to be down front, but he could barely hear SLASH. Ronnie's
guitar was too loud; and everytime SLASH played a solo,
Ronnie jumped in and played on top of it. On "Little Red Rooster"
Ronnie and SLASH took slide solos. SLASH's was fantastic! SLASH played
an instrumental "Just Like Anything" leading into "Paradise City" with
only the chorus being sung. Stuart says the Dublin show sounded more like
the show for SLASH fans. It was pretty much of a Ronnie crowd at the
London show. With the huge reaction to SLASH in Dublin, and Ronnie's
reactions, it seems Ronnie played too loud to keep SLASH from stealing
the show again. Stuart says he really enjoyed the show, but SLASH should
have been given more volume! Play it f*ckin' loud! Thanks, Stuart!
Lewis was also at the Shepherd's Bush Empire show. It was his birthday!
After Ronnie and Co. played a few songs, SLASH came out and completely
rocked the place. They played some Stones and Faces classics and did the
tributes to John Lennon and George Harrison. SLASH did an awesome
slide-blues solo on "Little Red Rooster". The final was "Paradise City"
with two encore songs. A great birthday night! Lewis wonders about the
choice of "Paradise City" since SLASH had said he didn't want to play
the more recognizable singles. We'll try to find out! Thanks, Lewis!
Glenn went to the Shepherd's Bush show, too. He says the place was
packed with a mixture of Rolling Stones fans, GNR fans and SLASH fans.
At 9:00pm, Ronnie came out with Andrea from the Corrs and did some songs
from his new album. Then, SLASH was seen at the side of the stage and
came out playing some heavy riffs, and the crowd went wild! When they
did "Paradise City" there was no way Ronnie could keep up with SLASH.
After a lot of cheering and shouting at the end, they did an encore.
Glenn saw SLASH before the show, right outside the venue getting out
of a car. Glenn has longed to meet SLASH for so long, but he was
frozen in place, unable to speak. Ahh, we know that feeling! Glenn
did manage a few photos. But during the show he thought how he had
missed his opportunity and wondered if it would come again. We think
so. You know SLASH loves to go to England.
Thanks, Glenn!
We need some help in December to keep this site open. If you can donate
some money, that would be great! If you can't afford anything, please
write a letter of support saying how the site helps you find out what
SLASH is doing. Should you have any suggestions where the site could be
moved to, let us know. It uses over 300 meg disk space and 35 gigabytes
in traffic monthly. Last month there were 122,000 hits with about
40,000 unique visitors. These are the stats you need if you are thinking
you may have a site for us. Thanks to everyone who has helped and cared
about this!
There's mail from from Adam in the UK who went to see the London show last
night! Adam says that Ronnie Wood played some songs, and then said,
"C'mon guys, crank it up a bit"! Without an introduction and not needing
one, SLASH came out! Adam said SLASH was wearing his top hat, an open
black shirt with sparkles and a cross on a chain. He was smoking, of course.
The crowd went WILD! They rocked to a few songs and played a very loud
"Paradise City" instrumental. They did try to sing the chorus, but you
couldn't hear them at all! SLASH used his goldtop for most of the show and
the encore. He used his standard plus for "Only Rock n' Roll but I like it".
A great show! Hey, if you were there, let us hear from you, too! Thanks, Adam!
People often write looking for one piece of memorabilia or another. The
Guns N'Roses books are out of print, but here is a source for the book
"In Their Own Words" published in 1993. There are great quotes in this
book, and the band describes life on the road and their music. Go to
Pushposter's site to get a copy.
Speaking of memorabilia, Keri Kelli's been able to get his merchandise
store well off the ground. They have a new tshirt called "Hardcore". It's
great looking and has "Keri Kelli 05 Hardcore, Orange County" on a black
shirt. Keri is now selling autographed photos on the site, too. So if
you have been looking for something on Keri, go to:
One of SLASH's idols who he met for the first time at the NetAid concert
is Jimmy Page. Page is truly a guitar icon. Guitar players and fans are
in awe of his considerable talent. If you have always wanted a Jimmy Page
guitar autographed by him, now is your chance. The ABC Trust is holding
an auction for a Gibson Les Paul Standard signed by Jimmy Page. The Trust
is to benefit the 8 million children living on the streets of Brazil.
Right now the guitar is at $3500 dollars. If you would like to bid on it,
place a bit via email to Guitar Bid
before February 28, 2002. You can check on the bidding at:
Jan is from The Netherlands, and his girlfriend is a big fan of "Buffy
The Vampire Slayer" so Jan gets to see that a lot. Last Sunday saw a cool
Slash visual mention. The guy in the series who plays guitar was wearing
a SLASH shirt! It was green or blue with a black shadow print of SLASH
on it. Buffy's going for the big league ratings now. Jan found a literary
mention of SLASH in the Motley Crue autobiography, The Dirt. Nikki
Six talks about how he hates guys with curly hair. He says:
The Dublin Ronnie Wood show with guest SLASH is over, but it was
a real hummer! We have reports from Irish fans raving about the evening and
SLASH...seems our guy stole the show! The venue sold out with about a
thousand fans, and we've heard from some fans who waited too long to get
a ticket. Tomorrow is another big show, this time in London (see information
above). Don't wait till showtime...get a ticket and be there! The pricey show
at the CC Club is the day after but admission is limited to 450 and a lot of
celebs are on the guest list. Show SLASH a huge London welcome like Dublin
did!
First Dublin review is from Dave, and the excitement and enthusiasm just
pours off the screen! The show was billed as "Ron Wood with special guest
SLASH", but Dave said they got that wrong! It was Slash with special guest
Ron Wood. SLASH stole the show! Ron and his band played 4 numbers from his
new album, Not For Beginners, and during the fourth Dave could see
SLASH in the wings with Adam Day and wife Perla. SLASH came onstage, and the
place went crazy. They played some bluesy songs and classics like "Little
Red Rooster", "Stay With Me", "Hot Stuff" and so on. SLASH then launched into
"Just Like Anything", and Ron and SLASH eased that into "Paradise City"!
SLASH went crazy with his hands all over the fretboard, and then he walked
over and sang it! Dave was about 8 feet from SLASH. He didn't get to meet
SLASH, but he felt privileged to be there. Dave says,"It was the night of
my life!" Thanks, Dave! Pedro is also from Dublin, and he calls the show
amazing f*cking fantastic! He was 2 feet from the stage. When SLASH came
out, he had a big smile and looked cool in his leather pants, blue plaid
shirt (no sleeves) and Les Paul. SLASH was ripping away at the guitar doing
his trademark poses. Then he went off and came back with his top hat. There
was a massive cheer for that. Ronnie and SLASH did a little jam together, and
SLASH played slide. This went on for about 10 minutes till they did the
"Just Like Anything"/"Paradise City" routine. The place went crazy! When
SLASH got to the end where it goes really fast, he started spinning in
circles. When they finished, everyone started screaming Guns N'Roses for
about 5 minutes. (Think the old GNR fans have forgotten? We NEVER forget!)
Pedro says he doesn't think Ronnie really liked it as SLASH definitely
stole the show. Go, SLASH! Thanks, Pedro! Tom was also there, and he says
SLASH sounded even more accomplished than he remembered him. SLASH looked
great with a good tan, fit and every inch the superstar.
Tom says he is
31 and had to laugh at himself because he was just starstruck by SLASH.
Tom says that SLASH may be back in Dublin on the 14th. Please let us know
here if you find out more on that. Tom wishes SLASH the success he so richly
deserves and wishes the red haired guy would shape up and see that you
cannot replace a GNR member and cultural icon with an empty chicken bucket.
Good point! Thanks, Tom! Tony was also at the Dublin show, and he said it
was great to see SLASH up close...he was just a few feet away. Times Tony
saw him before there was an army of security and thousands in front of him.
The highlight was when SLASH grabbed his top hat and launched into
"Paradise City". He says that Ron Wood's band were just looking at each
other in awe. Tony says that for all the nonsense about the new GNR, it's
great to see SLASH in the small clubs. He says that for all his friends
in the UK, give yourself an early Christmas present and don't miss the
show! Thanks, Tony! Fiona got her wish to see SLASH at a club show in
Ireland. The show was over 2 hours long. Ronnie's son played guitar
during the show. They did one encore song. Fiona said Ron's new album
songs sounded very good and that they played "It's Only Rock and Roll",
"Far East", "Jealous Guy", but the crowd went wild for "Paradise City"!
Thanks, Fiona. Declan was there, and he is another huge SLASH fan. He
waited outside 7 hours in the cold, but they sneaked in without passing
his way.
Perla sat with Ron Wood's wife and was up on her feet cheering
SLASH on. Declan says he has never heard a crowd erupt like that one did
over "Paradise City". He says that the fans never quit cheering for SLASH
the whole show, and he felt Ronnie was a bit overshadowed. During "Paradise
City" both SLASH and Ronnie sang; but you couldn't hear anything over the
screaming fans and guitars. SLASH did a fantastic solo and got the biggest
cheer of the night. They played a tribute to George Harrison and one to
John Lennon. The crowd went crazy. Declan reports that SLASH was wearing his
S/P necklace, and he only used one guitar for slide and lead. Security was
very tight. No one could get autographs or access to the band. There were
fans from Ireland and England, too. Declan promises some photos, too. Thanks,
Declan!
Tom sent a note that he lives about 40 minutes from where SLASH is staying
at Ron Wood's house in Ireland. He said tickets to the Dublin show were
nearly impossible to get, and he didn't get one. A friend of his managed
to get SLASH's autograph, and he'll scan that in for us. Tom says that
SLASH and Perla are living it up there and partying with the Rolling
Stones and Def Leppard and many more. Tom's keeping an eye out for him!
Tom says SLASH can come and jam at his place anytime. Thanks, Tom!
After those reviews, if you are near or in London, get out there and get
a ticket! And see if you can be as great an audience as there was at
Dublin. We can't wait to talk to SLASH and find out what he thought of
all this!
We know a lot of you learned about the shows from this page. This site is
having financial difficulties. If we can make it through December, we
hope to have enough time to do some changes that will make it unnecessary
to plead for help in the future. We currently owe $2000 for running the
site. December won't be possible without help. If you can afford even
a small donation, it would help. If you can't, please write a letter of
support...stressing how the site helps in finding out what SLASH is doing.
These are going to be shown to Our Guy in hopes that he will allow some
small ads. We promise to keep them out of your way. We've gotten really
generous donations from Vicki and Brian already, and Randy is working with
us to get a new, less expensive home for the site. Write to
webmaster@snakepit.org, and
thanks a million to everyone who has written already. You guys are the best.
LuAnn found some SLASH mentions on the Metal Sludge site. They were
doing their 20 Questions thing with Steve Stevens. Recently, Steve
played with Billy Idol on his tour. Metal Sludge always asks that
the guitarist rate other guitar players on a scale of 1 to 10 with
10 being a virtuoso. When asked about SLASH, he said, "10...did some
dates with us about 3 months ago. He was great". Steve was asked about
cities and to give memories of them, "Pittsburgh - played there a bit ago with
Billy and Slash joined us for a bad ass version of Shakin' All Over".
Thanks, LuAnn (and Steve Stevens!)
Here's a SLASH video interview that we mentioned awhile back. Marina
from Bulgaria found it, and we thought maybe some of you may have missed
it. It's a 16 minute interview with SLASH, and there is concert footage
from Snakepit also. Hopefully, you have a fast modem!
One week from now, December 17, VH-1 will air (repeat) its show "From the
Waist Down. SLASH appears on the show which is about how sex is used by
guitar players and vocalists onstage. A good program although a little
"out there" on some conclusions. The times that day are (all ET):
2pm, 3pm, 4pm. Tonight, December 10, at 1am, Court TV will repeat the show,
"The Secret History of Rock 'N' Roll" which features Axl Rose and Steven
Adler's law problems.
Tomorrow is the show at Vicar
Street in Dublin! Got your tickets? We never did hear of a second Dublin
show, so this could be your only chance for quite some time. Get out and
see SLASH. Declan plans to be there, and he tells us that SLASH, Adam and Perla are staying with Ronnie Wood in his
mansion in Kildare (southwest of Dublin). SLASH has been there many times
before and is known to spend New Year's Eve there. We hope that you'll
tell us about the show and SLASH if you're going. If you can send pictures,
that would be great. It's been awhile since that big Les Paul has been
heard in Ireland! Here's an article on the forthcoming show from the
ShowBizIreland.com site. This show sounds fantastic. They'll be playing
songs from Ronnie's new album, "Not For Beginners" as well as other "gems".
World-famous stars will be there including U2, Mick Jagger, Elvis Costello
and Sinead O'Connor. There will be a massive after show party! It's going
to be tough to get SLASH home! Check out the short article yourself:
Denis told us that VH-1 recently aired the show "The King of Videos" which
was all Michael Jackson videos. There was a section with SLASH! SLASH
talked about getting a call to come in and work with MJ on "Give In To Me".
Watch for this one to repeat. Thanks, Denis!
The website, AskMen.com, has a feature on the 200 greatest albums of
all time. Sean told us about GNR's "Use Your Illusion I" coming in at
#2 behind Def Leppard's "Hysteria". There's a picture of SLASH in the
"Hard Rock" leader section, and Sean has provided a link for us. This
must be the first time we've seen Def Leppard in the top position. Makes
a nice change of pace if we can't have Guns there. They cite "November
Rain","Double Talkin' Jive" and "Coma" as best songs on the album. Have
a look:
One great book where you can see SLASH and the old band is Treasures of
the Hard Rock Cafe. This coffeetable book gives the history of the
Hard Rock Cafes and has 300 pages packed with color photos of rock
memorabilia in order by time. Guns has two full pages. One is a full color
picture of the "blue" Appetite for Destruction autographed poster.
The band is sitting on the floor - SLASH has a bottle of Jack Daniels
and is dressed in black with boots and leather jacket. The second picture
is a collage of the signed Rolling Stone cover ("Outta Control"),
an RIAA for UYI I, SLASH signed guitar, drumsticks and more. There are
3 pictures of SLASH playing at the 25th anniversary of the Hard Rock at
Orlando. Really nice! The book is available at Hard Rock Cafes only or
at the website. Expensive but beautiful and worth it!
Many, many thanks to Vicki from West Virginia and Brian from Ohio. We
received generous donations from them today, and we'll be using this
to keep the site open as we work on a permanent solution. Randy in
Texas is working to give the site a home with him! We hope to be moving
some portion of the site there soon and testing this all out. We are
still figuring out how to do referral ads and where to put them as a
backup plan. We are hopeful where once we were without much hope at all.
If you can make a donation, now's the time to do it. If you can't, we
really would appreciate your writing a letter about how the site helps
you keep up with SLASH. These will be something for us to show SLASH
to enlist his support at least on the ads. Thanks to all of you, but
a special thanks to Vicki, Brian and Randy. When we can resume editing
the site, we plan to have contributor names...and that means those letters,
too! Write to webmaster@snakepit.org
for more information.
Here's a SLASH question from Ravi who writes, "I heard that with GNR you
guys jammed with the Stones on several songs. This was at some shows in
LA where you opened for them. During their show (we think), you and ???
came out and jammed with them. Can you tell me which ones in their set
that members of Guns guested on?"
SLASH replies, "GNR never actually jammed with the Stones. Izzy and Axl
jammed a couple of songs with them in Atlantic City in 90-something. Ron
Wood came on stage with GNR a couple years later."
Thanks, SLASH and Ravi! That was so cool, let's do another. This is from
Krishna who says that Adam was the source on "custom made" and asks, "Where
do you get your guitar straps? I checked the equipment part of your site and
it says "custom made". Where are they custom made from? Any information
regarding the straps would be totally appreciated...as specific as possible."
SLASH replies, "I forget who makes my straps. Adam Day would be the guy to
ask."
Thanks, SLASH and Krishna. Will someone please ask Adam about this next
time you see him? Thanks!
SLASH Alert! SLASH was spotted
a few hours ago in Heathrow Airport by John M.'s sister! SLASH and Perla
were together, so let's open those UK eyes and see if you can spot them
next. SLASH did say he was going early for rehearsals and with the first
show on the 8th in Dublin, he's right on time. We wondered if Ronnie Wood
has a home studio where this will happen or if they will go straight on
to Dublin. In any event, you've got him over there now!
Speaking of shows, you have probably heard that the new GNR has announced
New Year's shows. Further information is on almost any of the music news
sites. There's an interesting article about this in Launch including
comments by SLASH on the new album. We think the comments were pulled from
an earlier interview, but they are still relevant as this new GNR's
album has yet to see the light of day. Thanks to LuAnn and Michele who sent
this in! If you haven't seen it, it's in the archives of Launch:
Did you remember to watch Court TV to see how GNR fared? If not,
"The Secret History of Rock 'N' Roll" airs
on 12/5 at 2am ET, 12/5 at 4:30am ET, 12/5 at 4pm ET, 12/8 at 11pm ET,
12/10 at 1am ET. Guns N'Roses is listed
as one of the featured groups that has had trouble with the law. Brian
says they spotlighted Axl and Steven. Axl for making Charles Manson a
popular figure by wearing Tshirts with his name and image and recording
Manson's "Look At Your Game Girl". A court ordered that Manson's royalties
be given to a family of one of his victims. (Note: SLASH refused to play
on this track). The Steven Adler issue: Steven was interviewed and said
he thought he was signing papers to put him on probation with the band but
actually fired him. He took GNR to court and won a settlement plus royalties.
Brian says the Steven segment was a real downer with Steven's health
problems detailed (heart attack, stroke, speech impairment...all from drugs).
Steven said the whole band was into drugs, and he did drugs to fit in.
There was some bootleg footage of the band in '88 and video of Axl being
arrested. So, interesting but sad and sleazy. Thanks, Brian!
On reading our article on SLASH's connection with George Harrison, Dean
wrote and said that SLASH may not have remembered this, but Harrison
actually was a visitor in SLASH's own home in LA. Harrison's son was
a huge GNR fan and wanted to meet SLASH. They visited with SLASH for a
few hours, and Dean says that Harrison was one of the sweetest guys in
the world. Dean knew SLASH at the time and was lucky enough to be around
that day. Thanks, Dean!
For those who feel the original GNR was the REAL Guns N'Roses, Metal
Sludge has some pictures of the guys and their flyers...real early
days things. You'd love to have these in your collection!
Let's take another SLASH question. This is from Odge who asks, "SLASH, I
have bought one of your signature Marshall JCM 2555SL and have had great
fun cranking it up and tearing through "Appetite..." tunes, but I've
noticed that I can't get the sound on "Don't Damn Me" and "Locomotive".
They seem to have more gain. Did you use anything different on those tracks"?
SLASH replies, "Odge, the only main difference is on "Don't Damn Me" I
used my Les Paul's rhythm pickup for the solos and on "Locomotive" I used
a Gibson Explorer (1958)".
Thanks, SLASH and Odge! We're glad to have SLASH to pass these questions
on to!
As we mentioned Monday, this site is having financial problems. It has come to the point where we cannot support it on our own. It is a very large site and requires additional money for the traffic of its visitors. Each month we have paid an extra $500 to keep it going, and we just can't do that alone anymore. Without your help, the site will close when it reaches quota this month. It would stay closed till January at least. Many of you have written with suggestions of places to move to, streamlining for the site, and offering donations. We are also looking into ads although we have yet to convince Slash about that. If you have a place where we can move that offers unlimited disk space and traffic for a very small amount of money, please let us know. If you would like to help with a donation, that would be wonderful. We'd like to thank Vicki for her extremely generous offer to us. If the site is important to you, then it needs your support. We'd also like to talk with anyone who has experience with those bundled ads. We can be reached at webmaster@snakepit.org. And if you run into SLASH at one of the shows, you might mention the site to him. If you can't spare any money or even if you can, it would be very helpful if you could send an email saying it's helpful, it's great, whatever. Mention how it helps you keep up with Slash - maybe you found out about a show or a TV program here. Think of it as writing to SLASH who would be the only other person to see them other than us. We'd like to ask for help or just to get permission for some low-key ads. Thanks!
George Harrison died
this past Thursday leaving behind a legacy of musical achievements. In
the Beatles, it was hard to push past the fame and glory of John Lennon
and Paul McCartney. The so-called "quiet Beatle" kept out of the limelight
and concentrated on the music. So much has been said about Harrison in the
past few days, that we'll leave it to you to find those Harrison sites on
the web that cover his life and career so much better than we could do it
here. When asked about Harrison, SLASH said that he did know him. When
SLASH was quite young, and his mom was designing rock stage costumes, George
came to their house. When he was a little older, he had the chance to go in
to the studio and see George at work. SLASH says George Harrison was a
wonderful guy and the most underrated rock and roll guitarist. SLASH worked
with George Harrison on the Bob Dylan album Under the Red Sky. SLASH
called Harrison the most original slide guitar player he's ever heard and
recommends listening to Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". This
fascinating lead guitarist succumbed to cancer last Thursday but will be
remembered by his family, his fans and fellow musicians. His ashes were
released in his beloved India's sacred Ganges River this afternoon with
mourners worldwide observing one minute of silence at 1:30pm PT.
SLASH called in today, and he was packing for his trip to Dublin
and London. He was going to give Ronnie Wood a call about the
questions some of you asked...is he playing the full set and what
about the fourth show. He said he didn't think he would have time
to call back, so we're hoping some of you might keep an eye on
the newspaper and Ticketmaster to see if the fourth show gets listed.
It should be in Dublin. SLASH said there was no way he would just play
a couple of songs. So, you are going to see him for sure do more than
that! We told him that a lot of you were coming mostly to see him, and
he said that's great! Big round of applause for the curly haired,
top hatted one. He sounded very happy and ready to be on the road again.
SLASH said that he and Izzy have been jamming together in the studio. How
about that?! And it wasn't just for one afternoon. They have been working
together for awhile. SLASH also said they grabbed Duff when he was in
town, and the three went at it! SLASH said he recorded the sessions because he always
records everything, but at this point it's nothing to put on an album. Maybe
sometime soon? SLASH laughed and said... who knows what will come of it. It
seemed like old times, and they worked together smoothly and very well. Let's
hope something does come of it! We'd be glad to bootleg that tape, SLASH!
Just a reminder that Tuesday, December 4 at 10pm ET is the first showing
of Court TV's "The Secret History of Rock 'N' Roll". Guns N'Roses is listed
as one of the featured groups in trouble with the law. The show also airs
on 12/5 at 2am ET, 12/5 at 4:30am ET, 12/5 at 4pm ET, 12/8 at 11pm ET,
12/10 at 1am ET.
MTV has found their copy of Ain't Life Grand. Orman was watching
the MTV show "Dismissed", and when the guy was dared to get naked, "Mean
Bone" played for about 10 seconds. Next time, maybe 20! Thanks, Orman.
Sean found a site offering wallpaper; and if you loved the GNR original
band, you'll want to stop over and grab this. Remember when those two
got along so well? Use this when you're in a reunion mood or playing
Appetite for Destruction. We think this is a great picture. Thanks,
Sean!
Another thing we talked with SLASH about was this web
site. We are pleased and proud to have so many loyal visitors. However,
the expense of the site has become more than we can afford by ourselves.
This month it appears the site will go over quota in a few days. We have no
choice at this time but to shut down till January.
We've tried hard to
shrink the site, but traffic here truly is a function of the number of visitors.
There were thousands of hits last month with thousands of visitors per day.
We are now considering
ads, and that is our last option which neither we nor SLASH is really in
favor of doing.
If you have a server where you could host this large domain, please
let us know. If you would like to contribute some money while we explore
options, we could keep the site up.
When you see SLASH, mention the site to him as something that is important
to you as a SLASH fan.
Please do not write and recommend sites
that say they offer unlimited space and traffic unless you know we would
qualify. All we have found are for very small sites. Suggestions and
contributions are welcome! Email us privately at webmaster@snakepit.org.