N.I.R. Newsletter #15 - 2000 Hello and welcome everyone. The site seems to be working all right now. During the past month I have had to upload some files that were missing and some other small, but annoying stuff. If you find anything that doesn't work as it should, please let me know. I have closed the "favorite solo song poll" and started a "favorite GN'R era poll" instead. The results of the old poll can both be found in this newsletter and on the poll page. Test your GN'R knowledge in the trivia. You can win a CD! All the questions are in this newsletter and on the site. The "This Month..." this time got pretty good I think (it is long anyway ;-). That is all for now. Enjoy! Content 1. News Summary 2. Site Updates 3. This Month in GN'R History 4. Favorite GN'R Era Poll 5. Trivia 6. Wanted 7. Unsubscribe 8. After ------------ 1. News Summary Some not-so-good things have happened this month, but it started good... Duff McKagan will join Izzy Stradlin on his four-date tour in Japan. Slash left Interscope. This happened in February but it wasn't known to the public until March 6. The reason behind this was that Slash didn't think that Interscope (which is mainly a hiphop label) could promote the new Snakepit's new album, "Ain't Life Grand" good enough. Slash has been talking with some other labels, but nothing is set yet (at least nothing that I know of). The new GN'R drummer Josh Freese has left the band. Apparently he was tired of waiting for Axl to finish the new GN'R album "Chinese Democracy". I think this is a shame because Josh did such a good job on "Oh My God". Anyway, good luck with your new band, A Perfect Circle, Josh! An old news story got pretty big in the middle of the month... In the November 1999 Rolling Stone interview with Axl, it was said that guitar player Buckethead had worked with Axl. And in March some sites on the web started writing about this. I must admit that I also had forgot about the interview mention completely. Brian May has commented on the work he did together with Axl late last year. That can be found on my site if you're interested. Slash will play on an upcoming album by Dora Pesch. He did his guitar parts when he was in New York, NY, USA mixing Snakepit's "Ain't Life Grand". ------------ 2. Site Updates I have done quite a lot of small changes this month but I will only include the major ones. In the discography there is a lot of info added to the TV shows section, but I want more! Please help me with it. The name page has been changed a little. Since I have gotten three new bootlegs this month I have been able to add info to the bootleg section and to the tour archive. I have updated the current status page. I know I should do that more often but I seem to forget it all the time. If you want to find GN'R tabletures you can now go to my page. There are not many songs yet, but I hope to be able to add more soon. I have decided to have a price for the winner in the trivia. If u win you will get a CD with music chosen by me. So go there and test if u know your GN'R history. Last, a new GN'R concert review have been added. It is from the Rock In Rio show on January 20, 1991. ------------ 3. This Month In GN'R History - April April 1, 1990 - Duff separates from his wife Mandy Brixx. April 1 (or 3), 1990 - The Cult plays at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, CA, USA. Slash is in the audience and after the show he offers the drummer, Matt Sorum, a new job as the new Guns N' Roses drummer. April 5, 1999 - The comeback of Neurotic Outsiders. They play the first of four planned shows at the Viper Room in Los Angeles, CA, USA and the club is sold-out. The second show had to be canceled due to the tragic death of Duff McKagan's mother some days after the first show. April 7, 1990 - Guns perform at Farm Aid IV in Indianapolis. Steven is in a so bad condition that they only could do two songs, "Civil War" (first time performed) and a cover of the UK Subs' "Down On The Farm". April 8, 1962 - Jeff Isbelle is born in Lafayette, IN. He later takes the name Izzy Stradlin. April 11, 1985 - The first known show with a band called "Guns N' Roses" is held at the Radio City in Anaheim, CA, USA. At this time Axl, Izzy, Duff, Tracii Guns (lead guitar) and Rob Gardner (drums) were members of the band. April 11, 1988 - Guns N' Roses shoots their second video at the Ballroom in Huntington Park, CA, USA. The video is going to be one of their most popular ever. The song is "Sweet Child O' Mine". The producer is Nigel Dick, who also produced all the "Appetite..." videos and the "Patience" video. April 14, 1995 - Axl is in court with his ex-girlfriend Stephanie Seymour. April 15, 1993 - GN'R are forced to cancel the show at the Omni in Atlanta, Georgia. During the band's performance here in 1987 Axl had been arrested for a scuffle with a security guy. The security guy had been beating up the band's friends in the audience. With Axl on parole for previous offenses manager Doug Goldstein pulls the show. April 20, 1992 - Guns N' Roses performs at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert on Wembley Stadium in London, England. They played Paradise City and Knockin' On Heaven's Door. They were originally going to perform three songs but there had been some technical problems earlier. Later that night Axl joined his heroes, Elton John and the remains of Queen, for an amazing duet version of "Bohemian Rhapsody". He also performed "We Will Rock You" with Queen. Slash played "Tie Your Mother Down" together with Queen and Joe Elliot. The show was shown live around the world via satellite, gathering the largest audience for a music concert in history. April 20, 1995 - Axl is in court with his ex-wife Erin Everly. As this was the day after the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma with 168 deaths as a result, Axl finds the whole situation so bizarre because Everly is coming with all these silly accusations (according to Axl) when such a big catastrophe has happened. This inspires Axl to write the yet unreleased song "Oklahoma". April 21, 1988 - Slash is a guest-DJ on the Los Angeles radio station KNAC for 20 minutes. April 26, 1999 - The last of the three Neurotic Outsiders shows at the Viper Room in Los Angeles, CA, USA. For the third time the club is sold-out. Apart from the guests that played on all three shows, Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy from the Cult, a rather unexpected guest show up at this gig to perform a couple of songs, including "Anarchy In The UK". It's Mel C from the Spice Girls. Steve Jones had met her at a concert and asked her if she would play with them. April 28, 1990 - Axl marries Erin Everly in Las Vegas. April 29, 1993 - Gilby breaks his left wrist in a motorcycling accident. He was practicing for a celebrity race in honor of the TJ Martell Foundation for leukemia, cancer and AIDS research. Four shows had to be canceled. The forthcoming European shows were in jeopardy, but Axl called Izzy who stepped in for the first five shows. April, 1990 - Duff and Slash records with Iggy Pop. The album is called "Brick By Brick." April, 1991 - Guns rehearse for the coming Use Your Illusion World Tour in a big hangar where the entire stage is built up. April, 1992 - Axl finds out that if he stays in the US, he is going to be arrested (because of the '91 St. Louis riot). So he goes abroad and the coming three shows in Chicago and Auburn Hills have to be canceled. April, 1994 - "The Making Of Estranged: Part IV Of The Trilogy" was released. April, 1996 - Slash is special guest when the 70's disco group Chic performs their last shows at the Budokan Theatre in Tokyo, Japan. April, 1997 - Slash's Blues Ball tours in the southern USA. April, 1997 - Matt Sorum is fired from Guns N' Roses. One of the rumored new drummers was Pearl Jam's Dave Abbruzzese. Almost year later true rumors about Josh Freese (Vandals) being the new drummer, emerged. April, 1998 - Rumors about Tommy Stinson (ex-Replacements) being Guns N' Roses' new bass player starts to spread. Later it shows that they were true. ------------ 4. Favorite GN'R Era Poll Since no one voted anymore on the old poll (about favorite solo songs), I decided to close that one and start a new one. This time the question is which GN'R Era you like the most. I have restricted the options to line-ups that have recorded and released something. That means these are the ones you can choose from: Jun, 1985 - Aug, 1990 (Axl, Slash, Izzy, Duff, Steven) Aug, 1990 - Nov, 1991 (Axl, Slash, Izzy, Duff, Dizzy, Matt) Nov, 1991 - Jun, 1994 (Axl, Slash, Duff, Dizzy, Matt, Gilby) Jun, 1994 - Oct, 1996 (Axl, Slash, Duff, Dizzy, Matt, Paul Huge) May, 1997 - Today (Axl, Dizzy, Paul Huge, Josh Freese, Tommy Stinson) Please send me your choice. Before I let you know the current positions of this new poll, here are the results of the old one about the favorite solo songs: 1. [12 votes] - Gotta Say [Izzy Stradlin] 2. [9 votes] - Beggars & Hangers-On [Snakepit] 2. [9 votes] - Shuffle It All [Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds] 4. [7 votes] - Cure Me... Or Kill Me... [Gilby Clarke] 5. [6 votes] - Believe In Me [Duff McKagan] 5. [6 votes] - Neither Can I [Snakepit] 7. [4 votes] - 10 Years [Duff McKagan] 7. [4 votes] - Ain't It A Bitch [Izzy Stradlin] 7. [4 votes] - Dead Flowers [Gilby Clarke] 10. [3 votes] - Be The Ball [Snakepit] 10. [3 votes] - Good To Be Alive [Snakepit] 10. [3 votes] - Grunt [Izzy Stradlin] 10. [3 votes] - Man In The Meadow [Duff McKagan] 39 people voted between August 8, 1999 and March 2, 2000. I would say that the results aren't that surprising. I am missing some Neurotic Outsiders songs though. Conclusion: It takes at least two Gunners to make a great song. A little exaggerated but, take a look below. There is only three songs on the top-10 that only one Gunner plays on (or wrote)... * Izzy and Duff plays on "Gotta Say" and "Ain't It A Bitch". * Slash wrote "Beggars" together with Duff (and E. Dover). Plus, Slash, Matt and Gilby plays on it. * We have Slash, Matt and Gilby on all the Snakepit songs. And Dizzy plays keyboards (not known on which songs). * Slash and Gilby plays on "Cure Me...". * Axl and Gilby play on "Dead Flowers". * Duff and Slash plays on "Belive In Me". * Duff and Gilby wrote/plays on "10 Years". I hope you made it this far (it got a little long, I know ;-) because here are the current positions of the "favorite GN'R Era poll": 1.[11 votes] - Jun, 1985 - Aug, 1990 (Axl, Slash, Izzy, Duff, Steven) 2.[11 votes] - Aug, 1990 - Nov, 1991 (Axl, Slash, Izzy, Duff, Dizzy, Matt) 3.[1 vote] - Nov, 1991 - Jun, 1994 (Axl, Slash, Duff, Dizzy, Matt, Gilby) ------------ 5. Trivia If you win this trivia you will get a CD with music chosen by me. Some people already have all questions right, so you are going to have to be good on the special question too. When you are done with everything, write down your answers and send them to me by mail. You got until April 15 to send in your answers. Question #1 - In which city was Slash born? Question #2 - On August 20, 1988 Guns N' Roses played at a famous rock festival. What was the name of that festival? Question #3 - Which band headlined the festival in question #2? Question #4 - The show Guns did at the festival in question #2 is most remembered for two things, what are they? Question #5 - Who originally recorded the song "Too Much Too Soon"? (Guns have recorded a demo of the song with Duff singing) Special Question - How many miles/kilometers is the distance from my home to where I usually ski in the winter? ------------ 6. Wanted Could the person that sent me the short story "A Story" send me an email? Several people have asked for your address since they really liked the story. If someone has the "Use Your Illusion" collection and have a scanner, I would really appreciate if you please could send me a scanned image of the cover of that CD. I have been looking for it for a long time. ------------ 7. How to unsubscribe Go to this URL: http://www.crosswinds.net/~hrandreas/newsletter.html And there it says exactly how you should do. ------------ 8. After If you would like to read old newsletters there's a a page for this newsletter located at the URL below. On that page you can also unsubscribe from the newsletter. http://www.crosswinds.net/~hrandreas/newsletter.html Andreas lap@swipnet.se Guns N' Roses - N.I.R. http://www.gnr-nir.fr.fm