sphere79

Anyone else having trouble with fantracks.com? I've tried it in two different browsers and on different systems; and when I go to check out for the digital download it shows up as Digital DVD x 2 everytime and wants to charge me twice! I figured I'd be nice and buy it but I'm sorry I'm not gonna pay for it twice.

I'm talking about his playing on his studio albums, period. I've seen him live twice and he's never played live bass so I can't judge him in that environment. I'm not saying I love and revere "professional" music reviewers (All Music's people are usually surprisingly on-point though) but even this review of Colma has nearly the same sentiment: http://www.allmusic.com/album/colma-mw0000598071

"...but there are a couple of problems: the first is that Buckethead is a lousy bass player. Like many guitarists, he seems to think that playing bass is simply a matter of hitting the root of the chord on the downbeat of the measure. A real bassist could have contributed enormously to the proceedings (as Bill Laswell does in his guest turn on "Machete")."

He also criticizes the production on the album, which I'd also agree with. Many of the Bucket albums I own are sonically a reflection of their independent, lower budget studio environment and it shows. I'm not dogging Buckethead per se, it just is what it is.

Surprised he didn't get along with Finck... Bucket has more talent at bass playing in his little pinkie toe than Tommy does in his whole body.

I love Bucket but I severely disagree. His bass playing on his releases (when it's actually him) is very much that of a guitar player. It's basic, fundamental and simply reenforces the root chord; which is how guitarists usually approach bass playing. Tommy is a BASSIST first and foremost and serves the purpose while expanding and pushing the boundaries a bit more. Bucket is probably 100 times the guitarist that Tommy is but Tommy is the better bass player. It's not about technical skill, or how many notes you can hit it's just a certain groove and a feeling. Bucket's got the groove for guitar, Tommy for bass. Just my 2 cents.

Cool, thanks for posting Why is there a turtle on it? There is on Richard's too but not on DJ's.

It's a "Tortex" brand pick, the best out there imo. Your usual classic "Fender" pick was always glossy, the tortex has a porous finish so you can grip it better. And they flex well and last a long time (not an issue in GNR though, new ones for every song if you want!).

It's cool to let someone have their pet project, The Wall turned out really well, although the best songs on there owe most to Gilmour (Brick pt2 and Comf. Numb). However if that becomes the norm, it pretty much wrecks the band. It worked once with The Wall, it failed miserably with The Final Cut.

The Final Cut is a masterpiece as well, a gem of a Floyd album. And yes, with Waters, Gilmour and Mason it IS a Floyd album, non-collaboration aside. Deep, honest, emotional and powerful. I didn't even bother listening to it for years because every book on Floyd and every review had trashed it. Upon realizing it's actually quite good I learned that music reviewers often have horrible tastes in music. It never ceases to amaze me that apparently because A Momentary Lapse of Reason (which actually has Gilmour as it's sole member) sold decently that means that Jon Carin, Tony Levin, Anthony Moore and whomever else Gilmour paid is apparently "Pink Floyd". I bring up Floyd when talking to people about GNR to point out how the importance of having original members applies differently to different bands. Gilmour has even said it himself, that he'd go out alone on tour as Pink Floyd (this was before Rick Wright passed) if he so wanted. But in America many want to see Slash or it's not GNR. I'm a Guns fan going way back, and I remember the countless sloppy-drunk Slash performances from those classic shows - if the new members played like that they'd be crucified. Not dogging the original legendary incarnation mind-you just pointing out the fuzzy memories folks have about the old band. If they'd have continued as-was half of them would probably be dead now.

I'll be at the Hartford, CT show!

Got mine to, been waiting to see them again since '06. Glad it's a Saturday so I won't have to take the next day off like their last time through.

I'm an old school fan who loves the classic lineup AND the new band, very excited to see GNR in CT!!!!

braids n' buckets is so much awesomer.

Awesomer than Staches N' Ashbas?

It's a messy situation, as technically there are two legal entities known as Guns N' Roses.

A bit OT but the business behind music has always fascinated me. Pink Floyd has a similar situation. The "classic" (actually it's the second version of the band but the most known) lineup was legally Pink Floyd Music Ltd. It still exists, and all 4 members (well, up until Rick Wright passed - now 3) are still voting members of the company. They handle back-catalog stuff, and used to handle licensing. When David Gilmour decided he was Pink Floyd (went over better than Axl's GNR but Gilmour at least had the backing of another member), he formed Pink Floyd Music (1987) Ltd. Also, apparently they agreed to split licensing of back-catalog merchandise - Roger Waters got all Wall-related rights and Pink Floyd (1987) Ltd. got everything else. I recently saw a new Dark Side of the Moon shirt with a picture of all 4 members - knowing Roger wrote all the words and was a big driving creative force but doesn't get a dime (especially when his face is on it) irks the heck out of me. I guess exclusive rights to merchandise for one of their biggest albums kinda makes up for it.

Regarding the lawsuit, if Activision had an agreement and broke it than the lawsuit is valid. However, to outsiders it sure is gonna reek of pettiness. From Axl's viewpoint, he doesn't want to sign off on old songs if new releases (GHIII) are going to push the old band or former members - I guess I can understand that. However, not many outside of us diehards really know the current band in America (tour already!), so it increases the perceived "sour grapes" quotient for many people.

It's been a ball and chain type of problem, but not to worry; we'll ease that chain shortly.

And no matter how much you'd deny it, the chain easing has been sped up by the existence of marketplace competition.

And calling fans of a product "a cult" seems quite childish dont you think? It's fans of a quality object, not a cult.

No, I don't believe it's childish. Some Apple fanatics (not all users, in fact it's probably a minority) would line up to buy anything they put out. As the saying goes, Steve Jobs could crap in a box and people would line up for it.

As far as removable battery and expendable memory, we are here to please the ones who enjoy the anesthetics and beauty; if you want cheap plastic batteries, go somewhere else.

Those are things done to please Apple's bottom line. How does not having a user-replaceable battery and a memory slot help anyone except Apple? It's done so that after you've had the phone for two years and the battery starts going / the amount of memory is out-dated you are pushed into buying a new device, that's all. I believe that just as the chain is being eased on AT&T exclusivity these things may eventually change too. That's something the fan-boys seem to forget - competition is going to breed better products all-around.

Now lets talk about innovation, specifically of the iPhone. Multi-touch, a simple app market, and ease of use on a touchscreen; where was all this before the iPhone?

Multi-touch was created by the University of Toronto in 1982, and further perfected by Bell Labs in 1984. One of the first big commercial applications was the Microsoft Surface interface (seen frequently being used on TV news networks) in 2001. Apple may have been the first to implement it in a cell phone, but they did not create it - though Steve Jobs did wrongly claim it was "invented" by Apple in 2006 saying "....we have invented a new technology called Multi-touch". Sorry Steve, you may have been the first to successfully implement it's use in a cell phone but it was in no way "invented" by Apple.

I will not deny that Apple has innovated and obviously provides a product people like or it wouldn't be successful. But I think the closed sand-box they force developers and users into isn't ideal nor does it ultimately benefit end-users. Also, since they were first to do multi-touch on a phone (and everyone else ripped them off apparently) and Android did multi-tasking first does that mean by your logic that Apple "ripped-off" Android?

I dont believe Palm(a company that had to be bought out do to its failures)

Ironically Palm may have failed because it's hardware model imitated Apple. First, launching exclusively on Sprint was a bad idea. Then it was followed up with one of the worst advertising campaigns in recent history, then a possibly worse one when it finally did get to Verizon (far too late after the Android-party had started). One carrier and one manufacturer, sound familiar?

However on the software side, I personally believe Palm's webOS to be the best mobile OS available, even if the phones didn't sell well. Sales aren't the only indicator of whether or not something is "good". webOS is why the world's largest computer company Hewlett-Packard bought Palm and are planning to implement it in 5-6 new devices to be announced at CES. webOS is Linux-based, and while not full open-source HP/Palm makes it incredibly easy to develop for and actually supports the hacking and tweaking of it's OS - they even hired one of the home brew developers full-time. It also shines at multi-tasking. TRUE multi-tasking mind you, not the Apple kind which allows a handful of system API's to run while minimized and that's it. I can literally open 40 applications and quickly switch though them all, and they can ALL keep running. Some do pause when minimized but that is the developers choice to make and no one else. I am glad the OS will live-on though it will be an amazingly uphill battle with all of the competitors.

Google(simple monkey see monkey do effect)

If Google was the exclusive hardware maker I'd agree with you but it's obvious their business model differs greatly from Apple's. They are filling a need though (physical keyboard, multi-tasking apps, removable batteries, reliable network, expandable memory, etc.) and grabbing market-share at a steady-pace. This should ultimately make iPhone fans happy, as it's only going to force Apple's hand a bit on some of those restrictions they love so much.

I'll be laughing along with Steve Jobs and everyone who works here at Cupertino when Flash will become the next Real Player.

It's simple: Steve likes to have control, Flash takes some of that control away, period. He can say it's because it's buggy and crashes all day long - it's quite stable on my computers and the bugs are long-gone. I've had my problems with them too, but the good news for me is now that they are making enemies they seem to be treating the remaining friends they do have a little better. That is to say, Flash was always a problem on Linux systems and recent updates have it running much smoother and stable, and for that I am glad.

Android cannot be jailbroken no.

As the previous poster said it's called "rooting" and yes you can run pirated apps.

Don't worry no more stupid-big posts from me........

Admit it, isn't it nice to have a little back and forth on mygnr about something other than Axl vs Slash or Old Guns vs New Guns?

Android isnt overtaking Apple in anything.

Keep telling yourself that. iPhone is obviously the single most popular phone, but the many form factors available for the Android OS mean users can have exactly the phone they want. I.E. physical keyboard or no, smaller form factor or huge screen, etc. And not having a company like Apple having to approve every single thing released means more freedom for developers. That model isn't without it's problems, but with every carrier pushing a multitude of Android-based devices Apple is going to have to un-hinge itself from the AT&T curmudgeon if it wants to keep up with Android's pace. Apple's army of users (more like cult of followers) will always claim Apple came up with everything first. One example would be the Palm Pre+ including inductive charging built-in to the phone more than a year ago. I know Apple patented their own version months ago, and I'm sure when they release a model with it the news and everyone else will act as if they created it. Personally I hope the hardware competition will force Apple to (gasp!) include things such as removable batteries and expandable memory. Things the basic phones I have owned for 5+ years have all done. Things that truly benefit the users and not just Apple. Thankfully most other phones don't "rip-off" those "features".

And so what if the OS is free? Nearly all my computers at home are running PCLinuxOS (completely free) and I enjoy the benefits of a stable OS with no viruses. One by one I am moving friends and family from Windows so they can avoid the headaches too.

Yea it's part of some Apple promotion, so I doubt it'll come out for anything else unfortunately. Yea, lol at Android as it overtakes the iPhone as the #1 phone OS. Apple is worse than Microsoft in many ways, and yet the media never stops the endless hyping. I don't even use an Android phone but I am certainly enjoying watching Apple scramble to get on a decent carrier now that the tide has turned.

Original material is all Axl's, so they are even covering CD. Half of those no-names weren't even around when the songs came to be. Please don't think this is a band.

EVERY person on-stage except one was on Chinese Democracy. It's really only the guitarists who have changed. I understand you are saying that the writers (Finck/Buckethead) are gone - but the guitarists are not "the band", the core is still there. Let's hope when they do release some new stuff that there won't be someone else playing Ashba's solo's come tour time, given the track record. Better yet: in a bizarre twist echoing the past, DJ injures himself and Finck pulls an Izzy and returns to fill in! For the 3rd time no less.

It's a bunch of somewhat stable guys that for now can tolerate Axl's bullshit cause the pay is good. They don't write or have a say in anything.

Then why are there writing credits given to the musicians who played on CD? I'm not saying the pays not good of course, and the accommodations pretty nice to boot. That's the way it should be.

It's likely over driven from the sound pressure levels that your cell phone mic wasn't designed to handle. You can't take mud and turn it into gold, so other than maybe EQ'ing it a bit (might bring the bass down) it's probably going to stay as it is.

Roger Waters has used the 3 guitarists setup at The Wall in Berlin 1990 and with his return to regular touring in 1999 and on. You get two capable lead / rhythm players who both solo and can double leads when needed. This is done to recreate the playing as it is on the albums, as many of Gilmour's solos were doubled in-studio. The 3rd and main rhythm player will occasionally switch to bass while Roger strums the odd acoustic (Mother, WYWH, etc.) and use to take a lead solo in Money as well. It has also garnered some complaints from David Gilmour fans that "he needs 2(or 3) guys to replace David" similar to what Slash fans say. However, even in Gilmours version of "Pink Floyd" it should be noted that there have been 3 guitarists onstage at times as well (when the sax player would switch to guitar).

Looking forward to seeing Roger do The Wall in October, with 3 guitarists as always. His normal rhythm/bass guy Andy Fairweather-Low is busy so G.E. Smith (yes, the SNL fella) will be filling that role, should be interesting. I'll bet he gets a solo or two if he isn't on bass too much......

Maybe I'll get to see GNR in the states in 2011?! Or maybe they implode - "most dangerous band" indeed.

Are the 2010 tour shirts available online anywhere? Yea I know, ebay right?

GnR in Worcester in 06' they went on at 11:46. Greatest show I've ever been to, played till 2:30 about if I remember correctly and played Down On The Farm.

That was a great show, I still have yet to see any video from it depicting Robin Finck going nuts and smashing his guitar during Better. Took the next day off from work ahead of time and didn't whine like some folks I heard calling local FM stations either.

I think you should read what I said again. I'm talking about the fake-ass agitators that permeate this place, with goofy account names who are here SOLELY to bitch and whine. The one's who aren't actually fans of the current band and post the same stuff repeatedly day after day in thread after thread. If that's your thing than enjoy it, I've had enough of it myself.

And enough of this reunion crap too. It isn't going to happen, move the F on people. Constantly beating yourselves and everyone else around you over the head with your pie in the sky wish to see the Appetite-era GNR together again is an exercise in pointlessness. I grew up with that band and love them too, but it's in the past and done with. I thought this was a forum for fans of the current GNR (it used to be) - if it's now supposed be a place where everyone can bitch and whine about the current band then my bad, knock yourselves out.

Someone used Axl's official, verified Twitter account to say that the tour was cancelled - two days after a controversial show where a bandmember disappeared from stage. There was no reason for anyone to immediately doubt the validity of that tweet.

Then the thing to do would have been to report what had happened and LOOK INTO IT. 90% of media had been reporting it was a hack for several hours when MSNBC went for there jump to conclusions dramatic headline based on a blog report. "Controversial" show? No more controversial than many other GNR shows have been for 20 years now. I first read about Bumblefoot supposedly leaving the stage days later in a post here. Had the "media" actually reported anything about this concert (beyond that one area paper / website) I might have actually known that. I actually assumed it was a real kick-ass show because it's generally only when things go REALLY wrong that they get huge media interest. But of course MSNBC is right on top of a "tweet" that they read in a blog without verifying it or even searching to see what others had been reporting about the situation for hours already.

That's exactly why celebs have "Verified" accounts (as Axl does) - so people can trust that they're legit.

They started verified accounts because of all the BS ones. It doesn't matter though, someone recently created a BS

account posing as Hulk Hogan and stating that he was quitting wrestling and it still got reported. More top notch "reporting."

I like how you're trying to trivialize Twitter, as if the comment on Axl's account was just some little thing that journalists shouldn't rely on.

I didn't say they should rely on them, but they should also do their job a little too. 15 seconds of searching and they would have had a completely different story.

You're a mod? No wonder "Myke Hawk" and countless others get to run loose slinging BS in every thread around here. I'm all for open discussion but what's allowed to transpire in thread after thread is downright depressing. I understand someone not thinking the 2010 GNR is real GNR. I understand missing Slash / Duff / Izzy / Adler. What I do not understand is coming to a fan message board for the CURRENT Guns N' Roses and bitching day after day after day in thread after thread about it. It's apparent that the forum is going to have to be ruled with an iron fist (a simple mandate of "please actually a fan of this band" would work) to weed out the childish complainers a bit. I guess that's not going to happen here so I should probably move on and find a forum with a majority of members who are actually fans of the band Guns N' Roses. I'm not saying no opinions or disagreements or criticism but PLEASE be an actual fan of todays GNR, that's all. Apparently that's a tall order for mygnrforums.

BTW the MSNBC article in question has been updated to read "Axl Rose's Twitter account hacked, tour still on".

I suppose the press are supposed to be fucking psychic and know that this guy who has a history of pulling out of gigses twitter account has been hacked right?

The press are supposed to be journalists, not just take a crappy blog story then run with it on MSNBC - plus at the time they published their "article" billboard.com and many other sites were reporting it as a hack and that the tour was still on. Gee, I know google is tough to use but I think it could have been worth the 15 seconds time it would have taken to do the search, no?

I agree the lack of any sort of "official" update (though bumble and news sources say nothing has been canceled) is annoying and I'm certainly not an "Axl can do no wrong" kind of person but clearly MSNBC dropped the ball on this one. Even without any articles confirming a hack a proper news story would have done some investigation rather than just run with a "tweet" as some sort of statement of fact that 2 months of touring has been canceled.

Any chance they get, they do. I have been waiting for press about the Sturgis show (there's been a little bit) but why would they want to report ANYTHING even remotely positive about Axl?

Crap media is already at it:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/38723387/ns/today-entertainment/

Just noticed that they just pulled the story from a "blog". That's some crack journalism there MSNBC......

Something posted on their twitter account, facebook or website would surely quell this garbage.

Does anyone moderate anymore? How long do I have to read the moronic rantings of "Myke Hawk"? You're a pathetic loser with nothing else better to do with your time apparently. You're probably the kind of person who goes to 2010 GNR shows ranting and raving about "Slash". It's fine you don't like the current band. But why are you on a website FOR THE CURRENT BAND constantly bitching to fans of the current band?

A loser with nothing better to do with their time, I presume?

Not good:

@stacycarterkat

Waitin on Guns&Roses 2 go on @RockNRevFest & they r an hour & 15 min late & the crowd is startin 2 throw stuff @ stage. Wut tha fudge? 6 minutes ago via Echofon

Edit official RNR tweet!

Axl has arrived and has taken stage!!! This is friggon incredible!!!!