XX. Notes

Vince: A band is only as good as its last record, so you're really competing with yourself. People keep this rivalry with Guns N Roses going, but it's crazy. You don't hold a grudge for 15 years. It's stupid. Why look back?

Tommy: When Guns was opening for us, Slash thought he could keep up with us drinking Jack. So we started ripping em back. Slash throws up. We got him back to one of our rooms, laid him down on the bed, put our nut sacs right on his chin and took a fucking Polaroid of it. I think we laminated it and made that his tour pass.

Nikki: The thing with Axl is as much as I love him, he's kind of a fucking emo fag. He's not really a dude. He's like the Wizard of Oz behind a curtain making a lot of noise. He never stepped up to the plate when Vince challenged him. Axl wasn't into getting wild. I think that's his inner-emo. He's so fucking artsy. I'm pulling it out in the press. Axl if you're there: Lose your inner-emo. Come back to us. Dude, let's rock.

Duff Mckagan's Wife Caught In Ring Scandal

By Steven Williams in Lifestyle / Showbiz on 26 January 2005

The wife of former GUNS N' ROSES bassist Duff Mckagan is currently involved in a police investigation after her wedding ring was supposedly stolen by a Beverly Hills jeweller.

Duff Mckagan - former GUNS N' ROSES bassist - is caught up in a scandal after his wife, Susan Holmes, filed a report against a jeweller for stealing her wedding ring. Holmes visited the Beverly Hills jeweller Yossi Dina in 2004 to get some of her jewellery valued, and after the wedding ring was reportedly lost, Dina supposedly promised that it would be paid for.

According to swimsuit model Holmes, the jeweller took in the ring and promised to replace it, but never got back to her about the missing ring. In an interview with American scandal show 'Celebrity Justice', Holmes said that: "I gave him the ring to just quickly take a look at. Finally he came back to me and said, 'You know what? I don't know where your ring is, we lost it...' He said, 'Don't worry, we'll pay you for it.'"

However, Dina insists that the story is entirely false, and that Holmes had offered to sell the ring to him for 2,300 USD. Beverly Hill police are currently investigating the case after Holmes filed her report.

Slash Is A Smash Playing National Anthems At Toronto Blue Jays Home Opener

Shi Davidi of The Canadian Press has issued the following report:

Slash was doing a show with his band Velvet Revolver in Toronto recently when he decided to play a couple of bars from "O Canada".

"The whole place went nuts," the rock guitarist recalled Friday. "I was like 'OK settle down, just wait for April 8.' I just gave them a taste of it. It was cool though, they started singing the words and I was overwhelmed by that." The fans went even wilder for the real thing Friday, when the former Guns N' Roses star performed the national anthems before the Toronto Blue Jays' home opener against the Boston Red Sox.

A near-capacity crowd began chanting "We want Slash," and roared wildly as he played the "Star Spangled Banner" and "O Canada" on his electric guitar by the pitcher's mound (photo). They yelled even louder when he added a riff to the end of "O Canada".

In the days preceding the show, Jays president Paul Godfrey said reaction to Slash was mixed, with younger fans pumped and older people giving him the thumbs down. But Slash was respectful in the renditions, not straying from the tunes while giving both a hard-rock twist.

"I've listened to a bunch of different versions of ('O Canada') just to make sure I try and stay true to the melody that was written in 18-something-or-other," he said.

The performance wasn't unprecedented for Slash, who is famous for strumming wildly with a cigarette hanging from his mouth and wild streams of black curls jetting out from under a top hat. He has also played the "Star Spangled Banner" before a Los Angeles Lakers game.

"That was pretty nerve-wracking, just standing there in the middle of centre court, just having everybody stare at you all by yourself," he said. "This situation is even bigger, I'm pretty frozen at this point. Once you start playing you're fine."

About two hours before he played the anthems, Slash practiced by the mound as players, fans and the Trailer Park Boys, who later fought each other before Bubbles threw the ceremonial first pitch, looked on excitedly.

Catcher Gregg Zaun, right-hander Justin Speier, lefty Scott Schoeneweis and first baseman Eric Hinske, who took pictures of Slash with his cellphone, were among the Jays watching.

"I used to listen to them all the time," said Hinske. "It's pretty cool."

Zaun later got Slash to autograph two guitars in exchange for a catcher's mask.