During an online chat with fans at the Musicians Inquiry web site, Sorum answered "no" when asked if Scott was officially back in VELVET REVOLVER. The drummer, however, didn’t rule out the possibility of recording new music with the STONE TEMPLE PILOTS singer, saying "you never know" in response to a question about whether VELVET REVOLVER may one day make another album with Scott. He added, "Scott is a great frontman; it’s just hard to be on the road sometimes when things don’t flow."

VELVET REVOLVER parted ways with Weiland in April 2008 after recording two albums with the singer. The band has still not found a replacement vocalist and is more or less on hiatus, although it was recently revealed that the group recorded an album’s worth of material with STONE SOUR and SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor.

When asked if VELVET REVOLVER was still looking for a new singer, Sorum stated during the Musicians Inquiry chat, "Yes," before adding, "We are trying out a guy from England now."

VELVET REVOLVER‘s four-song January 12 performance with Scott Weiland at the "Love You Madly: A Concert For John O’Brien" event at the House Of Blues paid tribute to award-winning ASCAP composer John O’Brien, who was found dead in his Chicago hotel room last August.

The band’s setlist was as follows:

• Sucker Train Blues
• She Builds Quick Machines
• Slither
• Wish You Were Here (PINK FLOYD cover)

"Nothing To Fear" is based on an actual town in Kansas, which, according to legend, is one of the seven gateways to Hell.

"Anchor Bay is thrilled to be working with the Slasher Films team," said Kevin Kasha, EVP Acquisitions and Co-Productions at Anchor Bay Films. "We knew we wanted to work with Slash when he announced the formation of the label back in September at Toronto, and after having read this script, we are even more excited."

Added Slash: "Anthony Leonardi‘s vision of this story is exceptionally unnerving and dark. It will keep you totally engaged from the first second of the film to the last. It’s guaranteed to scare the hell out of you."

The company has three other films in development, including "Wake The Dead", which based on the graphic novels by Steven Niles, with Haley Joel Osment playing Victor Franklin, a college student experimenting with reversing death.

Slash described "Wake The Dead" in an interview as "basically a modern, young Frankenstein story about a brilliant college student who’s discovered how to animate dead tissue — but he’s a teenager so he goes overboard."

Sitting in my usual chair, watching my usual a.m. updates on CNN’s Headline News, Wednesday morning, I, like every other American tuned in to at least one form of media, was inundated with verbiage about anti-piracy legislation known as PIPA and SOPA.

The legislation’s meant to combat theft of creative works like movies and music from overseas web sites. But when I turned to the Twitter and Facebook, I saw an overwhelming dog pile of support against the bills. Excuse me, but where were you all when piracy started to decimate the music industry? Why didn’t you take a stand against that? Those free records felt good, huh?

The fury from the Internet class is that the broad language in the pieces of legislation will be bad for start-ups, might prevent the next YouTube, or give the government the ability to take down a whole site because of one link to copyrighted works. In short, they’re opposed to the legislation because they think it will be bad for the Internet business.

Bad for business. Anti-piracy legislation could be bad for the Internet business. It almost takes my breath away. Internet piracy has claimed half of the recorded music business, and made the prospect of making a living as a musician harder for artists of all rank and file. Why didn’t Google, or Facebook, or Wikipedia ever stand in solidarity with musicians, actors, and writers – most of whom have never known fame and fortune – as their works were stolen with no recourse on their sites?

Where are the "fans," the lovers of music? Why have they never stood up and taken a stand for the men and women in front of and behind the microphone? Yes, yes, this is all boring, right? It’s typical that the "rich rock guy" would be spouting from his golden pulpit. But let me tell you something, the working stiffs at recording studios and record stores that have had to close thanks to rampant internet piracy never were rich, but they are out of a job.

Are people really actually pissed off because Wikipedia is going "black" for a day? Because people feel that their First Amendment rights are really being threatened? Or is it because they’re afraid of losing free access to Deadwood and the Black Keys? Or are they worried that the next YouTube won’t be able to build a business model off the unwitting investment of copyrighted material that users uploaded for free while investors and start-ups glibly proclaimed that they couldn’t be responsible for actions users took? Wikipedia has thousands of volunteers and brags that they keep the site’s content accurate. Why can’t they regulate more rigorously for copyright violation, too? Too much of a bother?

Should the government be able to shut down Facebook because one user posts a link to copyrighted content? Of course not. But should Facebook and Google do a better job monitoring – and stop profiteering off- their users’ access to illegal content? Absolutely. And, you know what, they’re smart enough to figure it out.

When it comes to creative industries, we’re not talking in the hypothetical. Recording studios all around the world have had to close. So have record stores. Movie studios have suffered. Many, many jobs have been lost. Many peoples’ livelihoods have been affected. The people who make or who have made money from record sales are not the "bad guy," the pirater and the stealer are. Period. So, where’s the public outcry?

As a practicing musician who has seen his industry turned upside down, and see how piracy has hurt every artist from chart-toppers to indie start-ups, this PIPA upheaval is a slap in the face.

If, as the claim goes, the social media masses were able to overturn the regime in Egypt, they can certainly turn the tide on Internet piracy.

The band’s setlist was as follows:
01. Sucker Train Blues
02. She Builds Quick Machines
03. Slither
04. Wish You Were Here (PINK FLOYD cover)

Several photos of the performance and the pre-show soundcheck can be seen below.

VELVET REVOLVER guitarist Dave Kushner told RollingStone.com last week that he brought the group back together to honor O’Brien, who was his best friend.

"I found out he passed away on August 20, and it was like out of nowhere," Kushner told RollingStone.com. "Next day I was in shock and my wife said to me, ‘You gotta have a benefit concert for his wife and you have to get VELVET REVOLVER back together.’ That’s how it started."

He then approached the different band members. "We did a benefit show for this thing called Road Recovery — me, Duff [McKagan], Slash and Matt [Sorum] — in New York, and that’s when I asked those guys individually if they would agree to do it," Kushner says. "Once they said so then I got in touch with Scott, and he agreed."

"Because we hadn’t played with Scott in a long time I said, ‘Look, let’s just do three songs.’ It’s not too much of a commitment," he says. "So we just got a bunch of people, everyone will do three songs."

Regarding the possibility of VELVET REVOLVER carrying on with Weiland after last night’s concert, Kushner told RollingStone.com, "We haven’t played together in four years, and so we’re really just like, ‘Let’s see how this goes.’

"I know everyone’s got other commitments, but I think everyone’s like, ‘Let’s get this thing done and get through this and then we’ll see.’"

It’s been almost four years since VELVET REVOLVER parted ways with Weiland, and time appears to have healed all wounds. Although Scott and the band split on unfriendly terms, the vocalist told Classic Rock magazine last year, "We patched things up and we get along. I see them every now and again, we text each other. And you know, we can never say never. Who knows, maybe we’ll do some shows some time."

According to The Pulse Of Radio, Weiland was reflective in the interview about his time in VELVET REVOLVER, which teamed him with former GUNS N’ ROSES members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum. He said, "That was right when I was getting off dope and those guys were all sober and clean, and I had a very special kind of kinship because we’d all experienced the same things… It was a great band to see live, and I think we made two exciting albums."

Weiland reunited with his original band, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, just as his run with VELVET REVOLVER was coming to a close. STP has toured constantly since and recorded a new album in 2010.

VELVET REVOLVER has still not found a replacement vocalist and is more or less on hiatus, although it was recently revealed that the group recorded an album’s worth of material with STONE SOUR and SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor.

In a July 2011 interview with Brazil’s "Lokaos Rock Show", VELVET REVOLVER drummer Matt Sorum said about the band’s current status, "After [we parted ways with] Scott Weiland [in 2008]… We had such a great first record, especially. The second album is still a good album, but… It’s hard to replace Scott for that particular band, I think.

"When we did VELVET REVOLVER, we wanted to make a modern rock album, and we had to figure out a way to make that work. We didn’t wanna be like GUNS N’ ROSES. We knew we had that in us anyway, especially the Slash and Duff sound was the initial sound of [GN'R's classic debut album] ‘Appetite For Destruction’, the way they played together and everything. Part of that chemistry was there, and when we added Scott, it brought it into a more modern rock element. He came more from grunge — the Seattle [sound like] SOUNDGARDEN, PEARL JAM and bands like that. So it took it sort of forward. We became more of a modern rock band and we were on modern rock radio."

O’Brien‘s first prominent composing job came in 1997, when he provided music for the horror film "Nightwatch". He stayed active until his death, composing additional music for "Anywhere But Here", "Iron Man" and "Iron Man 2", "Pineapple Express", "Four Christmases" and "Couples Retreat". O’Brien also scored the ABC series "In Case Of Emergency" and "Detroit 1-8-7". He was most recently working as a music supervisor on the NBC sitcom "Up All Night".

VELVET REVOLVER has still not found a new singer following its April 2008 split with Weiland and is more or less on hiatus, although it will reunite with the current STONE TEMPLE PILOTS frontman for a short one-off performance at "Love You Madly: A Concert For John O’Brien" on Thursday, January 12 at the House Of Blues in West Hollywood, California.

While the team-up of Taylor with VELVET REVOLVER never officially took off, VELVET guitarist Slash did confirm that the band got together with Taylor to jam and even record some new material.

When asked what would he have brought to the VELVET REVOLVER team, had he quarterbacked it, Taylor told ESPN.com, "What I would have brought to VELVET REVOLVER would have been more of the attitude that I think they wanted from Scott, but they got the negative side of it, you know what I’m saying? Scott, to me, has always been the guy who — he’s much more interesting when he’s being a dick to other people than he is onstage, to be honest. I mean, he does the lizard weird-thing-dance and everything, but that gets old after a while. When you need that strong frontman, he just really didn’t do it because he was too busy just being into himself instead of engaging the audience."

Corey added, "So I would have tried to basically build a bridge between what [the members of VELVET REVOLVER] had with Axl [Rose during their time with GUNS N' ROSES] and what they had with Scott, but with a little more good time feel to it — ’cause I can have an attitude and still smile, all fucking day. I think, in a lot of ways, they could have relaxed a little bit, knowing that they wouldn’t have to worry about, What’s the singer going to do? Are we going to be able to go onstage on time? Are we going to be able to play our show without a fit being thrown? Are we going to be able to play the songs the way they were written?

"I am a firm believer in, give the fans what they want. Do what you do, but give the fans what they want. They’re the whole reason that you are where you are, and they deserve every fucking bit that you can give them."

The Pulse Of Radio asked Taylor what he and VELVET REVOLVER worked on at those rehearsal and recording sessions a year ago. "We did a bunch of stuff, you know," he said. "We did a bunch of stuff from the first album, we did a bunch of stuff that we had been kind of demoing back and forth and whatnot, seeing if it would work, you know, just like that, and it was a lot of fun, man. You know, we ended up writing a bunch of stuff as well and just kind of seeing what would happen in that creative sense, you know."

Slash admitted in a recent interview that he was the main reason why Taylor didn’t get the frontman job, explaining, "It just didn’t seem to fit right to me. And he’s great, and I love Corey, but it didn’t seem like the answer to the VELVET REVOLVER problem."

Taylor told a Canadian radio station after hearing of Slash‘s comments, "I guess it just wasn’t working for him, which . . . He’s Slash and he’s entitled to have that, and I’m not gonna argue with him. But it was cool to just be able to get together and jam with those guys and I made some really cool friends."

"Love You Madly: A Concert For John O’Brien" pays tribute to award-winning ASCAP composer John O’Brien, who was found dead in his Chicago hotel room on August 20. He was 45 years old.

VELVET REVOLVER guitarist Dave Kushner tells RollingStone.com he brought the group back together to honor O’Brien, who was his best friend.

"I found out he passed away on August 20, and it was like out of nowhere," Kushner tells RollingStone.com. "Next day I was in shock and my wife said to me, ‘You gotta have a benefit concert for his wife and you have to get VELVET REVOLVER back together.’ That’s how it started."

He then approached the different band members. "We did a benefit show for this thing called Road Recovery — me, Duff [McKagan], Slash and Matt [Sorum] — in New York, and that’s when I asked those guys individually if they would agree to do it," Kushner says. "Once they said so then I got in touch with Scott, and he agreed."

"Because we hadn’t played with Scott in a long time I said, ‘Look, let’s just do three songs.’ It’s not too much of a commitment," he says. "So we just got a bunch of people, everyone will do three songs."

Regarding the possibility of VELVET REVOLVER carrying on with Weiland after next Thursday’s concert, Kushner tells RollingStone.com, "We haven’t played together in four years, and so we’re really just like, ‘Let’s see how this goes.’

"I know everyone’s got other commitments, but I think everyone’s like, ‘Let’s get this thing done and get through this and then we’ll see.’"

It’s been almost four years since VELVET REVOLVER parted ways with Weiland, and time appears to have healed all wounds. Although Scott and the band split on unfriendly terms, the vocalist told Classic Rock magazine last year, "We patched things up and we get along. I see them every now and again, we text each other. And you know, we can never say never. Who knows, maybe we’ll do some shows some time."

According to The Pulse Of Radio, Weiland was reflective in the interview about his time in VELVET REVOLVER, which teamed him with former GUNS N’ ROSES members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum. He said, "That was right when I was getting off dope and those guys were all sober and clean, and I had a very special kind of kinship because we’d all experienced the same things . . . It was a great band to see live, and I think we made two exciting albums."

Weiland reunited with his original band, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, just as his run with VELVET REVOLVER was coming to a close. STP has toured constantly since and recorded a new album in 2010.

VELVET REVOLVER has still not found a replacement vocalist and is more or less on hiatus, although it was recently revealed that the group recorded an album’s worth of material with STONE SOUR and SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor.

In a July 2011 interview with Brazil’s "Lokaos Rock Show", VELVET REVOLVER drummer Matt Sorum said about the band’s current status, "After [we parted ways with] Scott Weiland [in 2008]… We had such a great first record, especially. The second album is still a good album, but… It’s hard to replace Scott for that particular band, I think.

"When we did VELVET REVOLVER, we wanted to make a modern rock album, and we had to figure out a way to make that work. We didn’t wanna be like GUNS N’ ROSES. We knew we had that in us anyway, especially the Slash and Duff sound was the initial sound of [GN'R's classic debut album] ‘Appetite For Destruction’, the way they played together and everything. Part of that chemistry was there, and when we added Scott, it brought it into a more modern rock element. He came more from grunge — the Seattle [sound like] SOUNDGARDEN, PEARL JAM and bands like that. So it took it sort of forward. We became more of a modern rock band and we were on modern rock radio."

O’Brien‘s first prominent composing job came in 1997, when he provided music for the horror film "Nightwatch". He stayed active until his death, composing additional music for "Anywhere But Here", "Iron Man" and "Iron Man 2", "Pineapple Express", "Four Christmases" and "Couples Retreat". O’Brien also scored the ABC series "In Case Of Emergency" and "Detroit 1-8-7". He was most recently working as a music supervisor on the NBC sitcom "Up All Night".

He added, "Everything is being played live with the music tracks: the solos, everything. We’re trying not to overdub extra bits. So if there’s a solo, I’m playing on one side, Myles [Kennedy]‘s rhythm track is on the other."

Unlike his 2010 solo debut, which featured a number of guest vocalists and session players, Slash is recording this album with his touring band, which includes singer/guitarist Myles Kennedy of ALTER BRIDGE.

Slash told The Pulse Of Radio that he’s never felt more comfortable or relaxed in a band situation before now. "I definitely have found a certain freedom to be able to feel comfortable expressing myself with the guys that I’m working with, and just being able to focus on what it is that I like to focus on, and not having a lot of outside distraction and internal distraction and confusion," he said. "So yeah, this has been the most fun that I’ve had since the earliest GUNS days."

Early song titles for Slash‘s sophomore effort include "Bad Rain", "Halo", "Standing In The Sun" and "Far And Away". The record is expected to arrive in April.

Meanwhile, Slash and the rest of VELVET REVOLVER will stage a brief reunion with former singer Scott Weiland for a one-off performance on Thursday, January 12 at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, California. The event is a tribute concert for late composer John O’Brien, who died last August at the age of 45.

Slash and the other members of GUNS N’ ROSES are also confirmed to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on April 14 in Cleveland, Ohio.

It’s been almost four years since VELVET REVOLVER parted ways with Weiland, and time appears to have healed all wounds. Although Scott and the band split on unfriendly terms, the vocalist told Classic Rock magazine earlier in the year, "We patched things up and we get along. I see them every now and again, we text each other. And you know, we can never say never. Who knows, maybe we’ll do some shows some time."

According to The Pulse Of Radio, Weiland was reflective in the interview about his time in VELVET REVOLVER, which teamed him with former GUNS N’ ROSES members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum. He said, "That was right when I was getting off dope and those guys were all sober and clean, and I had a very special kind of kinship because we’d all experienced the same things . . . It was a great band to see live, and I think we made two exciting albums."

Weiland reunited with his original band, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, just as his run with VELVET REVOLVER was coming to a close. STP has toured constantly since and recorded a new album last year.

VELVET REVOLVER has still not found a replacement vocalist and is more or less on hiatus, although it was recently revealed that the group recorded an album’s worth of material with STONE SOUR and SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor.

In a July 2011 interview with Brazil’s "Lokaos Rock Show", VELVET REVOLVER drummer Matt Sorum said about the band’s current status, "After [we parted ways with] Scott Weiland [in 2008]… We had such a great first record, especially. The second album is still a good album, but… It’s hard to replace Scott for that particular band, I think.

"When we did VELVET REVOLVER, we wanted to make a modern rock album, and we had to figure out a way to make that work. We didn’t wanna be like GUNS N’ ROSES. We knew we had that in us anyway, especially the Slash and Duff sound was the initial sound of [GN'R's classic debut album] ‘Appetite For Destruction’, the way they played together and everything. Part of that chemistry was there, and when we added Scott, it brought it into a more modern rock element. He came more from grunge — the Seattle [sound like] SOUNDGARDEN, PEARL JAM and bands like that. So it took it sort of forward. We became more of a modern rock band and we were on modern rock radio."

"Love You Madly: A Concert For John O’Brien" pays tribute to award-winning ASCAP composer John O’Brien, who was found dead in his Chicago hotel room on August 20. He was 45 years old.

O’Brien‘s first prominent composing job came in 1997, when he provided music for the horror film "Nightwatch". He stayed active until his death, composing additional music for "Anywhere But Here", "Iron Man" and "Iron Man 2", "Pineapple Express", "Four Christmases" and "Couples Retreat". O’Brien also scored the ABC series "In Case Of Emergency" and "Detroit 1-8-7". He was most recently working as a music supervisor on the NBC sitcom "Up All Night".

As grandes figuras do mundo dos negócios podem se divertir irrestritamente à noite. Eles conseguem ficar esgotados, acordar na manhã seguinte, bater uma rodada completa de golfe, de 18 buracos, e ainda ir à aula à tarde. Mas poucos têm o know-how de Duff McKagan, baixista do Guns N’Roses e do Velvet Revolver, e estudante da Faculdade de Administração de Empresas e Economia Albers da Universidade de Seattle. Em sua autobiografia “É Tão Fácil e Outras Mentiras”, McKagan, 47, explica como pôs fim ao seu hábito de tomar um galão (3,785 litros) de vodca ao dia, trocando-o por dez garrafas de vinho. Descreve também como tomava seu próprio vômito, por seu conteúdo alcoólico. E como usava cocaína apenas para que pudesse beber mais. E como ele tomava tanta cerveja em certo período que o vocalista principal do Guns N’Roses, Axl Rose, o apresentou como “O Rei da Cerveja” e um produtor de “The Simpsons” lhe telefonou para perguntar se podia batizar a cerveja do programa, a Duff, com seu nome –o que foi feito. Conta também como seu pâncreas, em poucas palavras, explodiu, causando queimaduras de terceiro grau a seus outros órgãos internos. Ele também dá ao leitor dicas úteis, como comprar tetraciclina na seção para peixes da pet shop como uma terapia antibiótica barata para doença venérea e como reequilibrar uma carteira de investimentos.

Depois de sua internação no pronto-socorro por pancreatite aguda, aos 30 anos, McKagan deixou de beber, começou a fazer mountain biking, passou a praticar uma arte marcial chamada “ukidokan”, perdeu 23 quilos e aprendeu a ler suas demonstrações de lucros e perdas do Guns N’Roses. Não demorou para que ele entendesse que, apesar dos gastos arrolados no demonstrativo, como iates e jatinhos particulares, ele não estava em má situação financeira. Isso porque a parte dos lucros no livro de registro de contabilidade mostrava que o Guns N’Roses lançou o álbum de estreia de maior sucesso de todos os tempos.

Todos os membros fundadores detinham uma participação igual, e McKagan, ao contrário de muitos músicos, não foi ludibriado por seus contadores. Principalmente porque eles eram honestos, mas talvez também porque, ao contratá-los, ele pegou seus endereços residenciais. “Pelo fato de eu ter vindo de uma família grande, eu não fazia coisas amalucadas”, diz ele, no restaurante de sushi, perto de sua segunda casa em Sherman Oaks, na Califórnia, onde fica quando não está em Seattle. “Quando comprei uma Corvette _que em 1989 era um automóvel de US$ 28 mil_, meu irmão Jon perguntou ‘É isso o que você vai fazer? Torrar todo o seu dinheiro?’.”

McKagan, que mede 1,90 m e porta longos cabelos loiros, muitas joias de prata e muitas tatuagens, cortou o cabelo na época da faculdade. Ele se matriculou logo depois que sua namorada, Susan Holmes McKagan (modelo, estilista de moda praia e coestrela do “reality show” “Married to Rock”, do noticiário de celebridades “E!”, sobre mulheres de astros do rock), engravidou da primeira filha deles. Ela é sua terceira mulher. “Eu nem penso nela como minha terceira mulher”, diz ele. “Ela é minha única mulher sóbria.”

Ao escolher o restaurante pelo molho de soja de baixo teor de sódio, McKagan exibe aquela afabilidade calma típica de tantas pessoas criadas em Seattle. Por isso, embora ele fosse dez anos mais velho que seus colegas de classe na Universidade de Seattle, ele se integrou. Seus primeiros US$ 100 mil em investimentos em ações em 1994 tiveram um resultado bastante bom, em grande medida por ele estar em Seattle: ele comprou Starbucks, Microsoft e Amazon.com. Quando formou o Velvet Revolver, em 2002, com Slash, ex-colega do Guns N’Roses, McKagan ajudou a negociar o contrato de gravação da banda. “Foi realmente um alívio saber do que eu estava falando”, diz ele.

Os cursos da faculdade também o ajudaram a administrar suas duas bandas, a Velvet Revolver e a Duff McKagan’s Loaded, tarefa que exige mais experiência em negócios do que quando ele estava no Guns N’Roses.

“A gente fazia shows, numa época em que os shows perdiam de longe para a venda de álbuns. Atualmente é completamente o contrário”, diz ele. “Ganha-se mais com a arrecadação de bilheteria e camisetas. Agora o quente é ‘Quantas camisetas você vendeu?’, e não discos. Ninguém fala de discos.” Ele sabe que, no centro dos Estados Unidos, as pessoas gostam de camisas grandes, que ficam soltas e são feitas de um material mais encorpado do que o estilo fino e justo típico das costas do país: “É como se você trabalhasse no setor de confecções também”.

As bandas agora buscam patrocinadores de turnês e vendem pacotes VIP vinculados a cartões de crédito. Não faz muito tempo McKagan estava na coxia num show do Queens of the Stone Age, acompanhando a banda cujos álbuns incluem “Lullabies to Paralyze”. “Acabei num canto falando sobre o custo médio de combustível dos ônibus de turnês para o ano”, diz ele. “’Trate de abastecer no Alabama. Não espere até chegar à Louisiana.’”

Mesmo antes de ir para Seattle para estudar _ele estava frequentando uma faculdade de bairro que só oferece os dois primeiros anos do curso superior_ seus amigos de outras bandas mencionaram seus estudos. Mas não para tirar um sarro dele. “Eu estava apenas tomando aulas de matemática. E recebia ligações de colegas que queriam ajuda para investir a grana deles”, diz ele. Por isso, nos últimos quatro anos ele procurou um sócio para fundar uma empresa de administração de grandes fortunas para músicos_ o que acabou fazendo com Andy Bottomley, cofundador da Imprimatur Capital, uma empresa britânica de compras de participações. Eles acabam de abrir a Meridian Rock Capital Management, que leva o nome do romance de Cormac McCarthy que ambos adoram, “Blood Meridian” (“Meridiano de Sangue”, publicado no Brasil pela Alfaguara).

A estratégia pessoal de investimento de McKagan é bastante convencional: ele aplicou 65% de seu dinheiro em ações, o restante em bônus e fundos de investimento imobiliário (além de uma casa grande em Seattle, três imóveis para investir e uma casa de campo rústica). Ele não garimpa ações “quentes”, só papéis desinteressantes revestidos de muitas dívidas: “Sou o anti-Jim Cramer. Não quero sustentar ou deixar de sustentar nenhuma empresa”, diz ele, referindo-se ao ex-diretor de fundo de hedge e apresentador do programa “Mad Money”, da CNBC.

Embora sempre tenha dado orientação em investimentos a amigos músicos, ele nunca ajudou nenhum de seus ex-colegas de banda do Guns N’Roses. Cuidar de seus investimentos seria um tanto pessoal demais. São caras, não custa lembrar, que ele viu pelados e com quem fumou crack. “É uma coisa muito particular, embora todos nós tenhamos ganhado a mesma quantia em dinheiro”, diz ele. “É particular porque, sabe lá? Quanto a sua mina gasta?” McKagan, de fato, ficou constrangido em mostrar a Bottomley sua carteira quando eles começaram a conversar pela primeira vez sobre trabalhar juntos: “É pessoal do ponto de vista intelectual. O quanto esse cara é esperto? O que ele sabe?” Se isso parecia revelador demais, esperemos até Bottomley ler seu livro.

According to The Pulse Of Radio, Slash said about the band, "When I see footage of GUNS N’ ROSES, I see that fucking hunger and attitude. You could not fuck with those five guys. It was just raw. It was this lean, hungry thing on its way up. It was as sincere as any rock ‘n’ roll that I’ve ever heard, and I’m proud of that."

As for Rose, Slash wrote, "The split between Axl and I was a quiet one. But because there was so much attention on the breakup — and are we going to get back together? — it got built up into this monster that led to a kind of animosity that wasn’t the focus for me. Neither one of us wants to be down each other’s throats for no reason. At this point, I’m trying to put it to rest."

GUNS N’ ROSES will be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on April 14, along with the BEASTIE BOYS, the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS and others.

The news has prompted speculation about whether the event could lead to a reunion of the band’s original lineup.

All the original members have been ambivalent about the chances of a reunion at the induction ceremony, although it’s widely accepted that Rose is the lone holdout because of his ongoing feud with Slash.

Yet the eccentric singer recently told the Los Angeles Times, "I’ve got mixed emotions about what the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame actually really is, but at the same time . . . I really don’t want to spoil it for everybody else."