uzi your illusion

You can bring a lawsuit against anyone and it doesn't necessarily have to have any merit whatsoever. Erin and Stephanie may have been put through hell or maybe they just wanted a quick payout and to drag Axl's name through the mud. Once someone has a couple of lawsuits thrown there way, even if their not guilty people always assume that the person is at fault just because there are multiple trials. You have to consider though once the ball starts rolling and people see the same guy getting hammered for every little thing then there going to jump in and kick him when hes down, figuring that he'd be more apt to settle just to clear his plate. No one knows for sure what lawsuits were his fault or not, but its careless to so easily speculate that hes automatically at fault just because these people brought up charges against him.

I don't know if got hair plugs or just extensions, but I really don't think he had any surgery, just botox shots. The botox was pretty much confirmed by Robin (although not verbally). It also looked rather obvious, the the smooth, shiny look is on par with that treatment. Not sure if they made any hair fall out of just that the skin makes the hair look thin. People in the spotlight do stuff like that all the time, not an issue.

Can you show me where you found the bit about Robin confirming anything about Axl's looks? I've never seen this written anywhere before, thanks.

"vibe sniffing" ? I've heard the interview a few times but i don't remember anything like this. Can someone please enlighten me.

SonofAbitch - would you agree that they've only gotten more cryptic in the last say decade. His stuff from when they broke on the scene to when the original band imploded was pretty cut and dry i thought. It might be that everything to do with the current band since it's inception in '98 has been so convoluted behind the scenes that Axl doesn't want to say one way or the other definitively. Just because he's seen so many SOLID plans turn to nothing over the years.

I know Axl said in the chats here that he was never officially diagnosed as anything. Although i thought in the early 90's it was reported he was bi-polar or something close to that. I know that people who have these drastic changes in mood from time to time can go from super creative and productive to a dead stop at the drop of a hat. It may stand to reason that the letter from Merck talking about Axl's "muse" appearing and vanishing so quickly might suggest something to do with this unofficial diagnosis. For a guy who's career is based on writing new material this constant struggle of hyper creativity one minute and crippling writers block the next could keep someone constantly on the edge. Axl says in the interview i posted above "will i keep it, I hope so but who knows" , the delay between AFD and UYI might of been because of this same affliction.

You may be right , maybe thats why so many of the lyrics on the album are a lot more abstract and vague then on previous releases. I remember reading once about Zack Wylde hearing some stuff that Axl was working on and asking him when the lyrics would be ready. Axl said something like "if i wrote now it would only be about lawsuits and courtrooms" or something to that extent. It would be cool to know when the most productive and unproductive periods of the recording process took place , and what was to blame for each instance.

What I wouldn't give for a full length piece on strictly the writing of the album. I think it was the billboard piece where the interviewer asked Axl if some of the lyrics on Chinese Democracy were referencing the making of the album. The bit in I.R.S especially

Feelin' like I've done way more than wrong

Feelin' like I'm livin' inside of this song

Feelin' like I'm just too tired to care

Feelin' like I done more than my share

Could it be the way that I carried on

Like a broken record for so long

I would imagine for an artist to talk in depth about struggling with writers block would not be something they would enjoy talking about. I often wonder if at least part of the Chinese delay was because Axl couldn't find the inspiration that he was talking about in the quote about Slash. Thanks for the reply

In the Feb. 28th 2009 interview with Del James on Gunsnroses.com there is an answer Axl gives that I found pretty interesting. Reading over tons of old interviews with Axl over the years there are often times little tidbits that get overlooked because of the way he delivers some of his responses. Del asks him about Slash and says "Do you think he can play guitar?" Towards the end of his answer Axl says "To me, it's sad. I don't get it. Where does it go? Is it a choice? Sometimes it's there on covers; I think Clive [Davis, legendary record executive] fell for that.

It wasn't there with me on 'Sympathy [for the Devil]' or ['The] Spaghetti [incident?'] and it took years for me to get there again, in my opinion, and in the ways I wanted it to be. Will I keep it? Who knows? I'd like to, but who can say?

The last part is what stands out to me. The "where does it go? Is it a choice?" part, talking about inspiration i would guess? I know in the letter Merck gave us years ago he talked about the "muse" that Axl would have where he would get a couple of really productive days done on recording Chinese Democracy, then just as quick it would leave again. It just seemed to me in this answer he started out talking about Slash losing his inspiration to do great work, but then leads into questioning his own desire. I really do not want it to turn into a Axl vs. Slash discussion, just curious as to how other people took this quote.