It was communicated to us that those lucky few who were to be selected for the video shoot would get a call back on Saturday with details. So I waited and waited... and waited some more by my phone and no call. I then go on a few message boards and learned that people had gotten their call-backs late in the afternoon. People said they were given instructions to meet the next day at 2PM at an undisclosed location. Man, I was soooo jealous! I was hanging on hope that they're still getting around to calling, but as minutes and hours went by, the phone never rang. I then fell asleep and before I woke up, it was almost midnight Saturday night... I was sooooo disappointed and didn't even know what to do. I was eager and desperate, so I called the video shoot hotline again (hoping that I would be able to speak with someone so I could plead my case, instead of getting a voice mail). But I got the voice mail again, so I left a message saying that although I did not get a call back, if by some chance, people cancel or if more 'extras' are needed, that I am still available and would be able to be there at a moment's notice. This was an act of desperation on my part, but I knew I could not let this opportunity slip by without at least trying, something, no matter how desperate it seemed... So my Sunday morning and most of the afternoon came and went and I just happened to notice that it was 2pm. I thought to myself, f@ck, this is when the shoot is starting. I turned my attention back to the Lakers/Spurs game and ended up even more depressed as my Lakers lost... After more TV, some newspaper reading and some housework, it was then 5pm. I thought about the shoot once again and was beginning to try to convince myself that there's more important things in life than attending this video shoot (without pay no less). At 5:15pm, my cell phone rang and I reluctantly picked it up because I didn't want anyone of my friends to know that I didn't get the call back. But before answering, I noticed the phone # on caller ID seemed very familiar. Wait a second, it's the Video Shoot Hotline! Before I got too excited, I had to calm myself down b/c I knew the shoot began at 2pm and that they were either calling me back b/c they were pissed at me for calling so many times (2x) OR they were going to gimme the "I'm so sorry, but we just could not accomodate having you" speech. To my shock and amazement, the guy on the line (Ray) said, "hey, ya still wanna come down to the shoot"? I was like, "HELL YEAH"!!! He said to be there ASAP and wear dark, casual clothing that didn't have any logos or carzy designs (He specifically said, "no guns and roses shirts")and feel free to bring some friends. I called a few friends and one actually made it there with me. THE LOCATION: It was in the middle of the industrial part of Downtown LA. It was a pretty crummy area with lots of homeless folks just a few blocks away. I parked where I was instructed to and as soon as I got out, I see people leaving from across the street. I knew they were from the shoot, so I thought I had missed it! As it turned out, they were on a lunch break. Lucky me, I just got there and I got to eat! (Since everyone was coming and going during lunch, I didn't even have to check in...and my buddy walked right in with me). I ran into a guy that I had known through message boards and he gave me the scoop. He said they had already started shooting and the whole band was there. He said just to hang out and go back inside with everybody else... We sat around for about 1.5 hours and all the extras hung out at one end of the building. My buddy and I were curious so we walked towards the other end (about 200 yards long). There were the trailers and wardrobe, along with production people. The 1st person I spotted was MATT! He was just chilling and talking to some people. Thenwe saw SLASH! He had on leather pants and a long-sleeve colorful, buttoned shirt (he did not wear this during the shoot). We then also saw DUFF and SCOTT (going back into his trailer). We finally got the call to go (back) inside. It was downstairs in a beat up, old warehouse type of building. There were probably 200-250 extras there and we all waited some more. We then got called into another room at about 7pm and that's where they had a small stage setup along with Matt's drumset and 1 mic (no amps). It is a bit hard to describe the stage, but if you think in terms of the hours on a clock: Scott was 12:00, with Slash at 10:00 and Duff at 2:00 (so facing the audience, Weiland is in the middle with Slash and Duff on either side). The 3 had their backs to Matt (who would be at the 7:00 position with Dave at 4:00). I was next to Matt and Dave (so for the most part, I saw the other 3 guys from behind, although they do most around a little). It had a dungeon/warehouse basement type of feel to it. They gave us some instructions and began shooting. They 'rolled tape' ("Slither" being played) with Matt being the only member actually playing (you can 'lip-synch' and do the same with guitar, but drummers can not 'fake' playing the drums). The drums did have some 'silence! rs' so you can still hear them, but at much lower levels... All the guys looked great (this coming from a straight male). Duff looked lean, as did Dave and Matt. Slash kept on his shirt and had a bit of a tummy. His hair looked great though and I also later noticed a tiny hint of blue streaks in his locks (barely noticeable in regualar lighting, but the blue is clear in brighter lighting). He also had on round sun-glasses that he kept on the whole time. Scott had on silver pants and no shirt. He looked better than I had imagine. He looked tired as the shoot went on, but was coherent and knew what was going on... There was A LOT of down-time for re-takes, switching lenses/cameras, reloading film, moving cameras around etc....The guys did some interview and would also talk to the fans during this time and Duff, along with Matt were the most personable. Duff spoke over the mic a few times and thanked everyone. He also handed out probably 30-40 picks (I got 1. It says Duff on 1 side and had the Velvet Revolver logo on the other) and thanked everyone for being so patient. Matt was chatting it up with all the girls and gave out a bunch of drumsticks (can't believe I didn't get 1). Dave and Slash were friendly, but took a more professional approach. Scott would just kind of hang out and pretty much only talked to crew/band guys. One fan asked Duff if the band is going to start off in Europe? Duff said, no, we're playing America first. Then a few others asked more questions about venues size, who they'll tour with etc. I chimed in and said, "go out with Van Halen". Duff looked at me and cringed! He said, "Van Halen"? Nah! We're a bit edgier than they are...plus this is a fresh band and we need to build our own identity. He then backtracked a bit and said, 'nothing against Van Halen at all, but we'll do something on our own...'. I then asked if he's playing at the next Camp Freddy gig (April 13th)? Duff said, what gig? I said they're playing in a week and a half. Duff then turns over to Matt (about 10 feet away) and asked if he (Duff) was playing. It was funny b/c Duff didn't even know about it...Duff then turns back to me and said, "guess I wasn't invited"...eveyone around us had a good laugh. The ! word is that Velvet Revolver would be doing shows in LA in May. But when the guys were specifically asked, Duff said "it's a possibility" and Matt said, "I would tell you, but I don't know either". Guess it all rides on Scott... During one of the many breaks we got, I went across the street, to my car and I got the setlist from the EL REY show. I managed to get Matt to sign it...then SLASH and at the end, Duff (I'll send over a photo along with the pick a little later). As the night wore on, some of the 'extras' didn't stick around. Matt did a few drums solos and the audience loved it. At one point, the other 4 guys stood behind Matt and just watched, almost in amazement. When Matt finished the solo, he turned around and all 4 guys were staring right back at him. Everyone chuckled... Not every band member was needed on stage during the shoots. Scott was around till somewhere around 10:30-11pm. The other 4 came back and we shot some more...they did some stage reconfigeration. We were now right in front of Slash! One guy next to us had a Slash drawing w/ a Les Paul tatooed on his shoulder. He called Slash over to show him and Slash said "no fuckin' way! Are you outta your mind...that's very cool"... After midnight, Duff was the only member that was still shooting as they were doing his closeup scenes. I manged to track down Slash as he was heading back outside (to his trailer). I asked him about the new "Slash" guitar and his/my Slash Snakepit guitar. He said he still uses that Snakepit guitar, but only 'in spots'. I told him I had one and he sounded very surprised. He said he didn't know how many were made, but that Adam Day would know. He signed my El Rey set list and I said Adam Day had given it to me. He said Adam is an awesome guy...I could tell Slash was getting tired, so I quickly asked if he was going to be at the Camp Freddy show, he said no. After 12:30am and several takes with Duff, EVERYONE was VERY tired. Duff, who had been very patient all night, was finally getting irritated b/c the director kept "cutting" the scenes and wanted retakes. Duff finally said, "this is my last one...I'm done". It turned out to be a good scene and it ended at around 12:40am. I had heard a lot of the Scott scenes had to be altered or deleted altogether b/c they had to get him back into lockdown. The crew chose certain people, got their names and asked them to come back tomorrow.... All in all, a pretty fuckin' memorable night! We got to hear "SLither" about 30 times in 1 day!!! Clement