Blackstar

Doesn't look like he was. But he generally doesn't accompany Axl so much (at least he hasn't in the last couple of years).

Yes, Steven said Axl kicked him in the ball. However, it wasn't only Axl who fired Steven and he probably was more hesitant about it than Slash was.

I think Axl has just read the story about Stevie Wonder and Jeff Beck jamming, and Jeff coming out with the drum part. And because of that story many people think that it's Jeff Beck on the track on the Stevie Wonder album (even wikipedia says it). But it's probably wrong and Stevie Wonder plays drums on it.

Mention of the live debut of The General on Duff's radio show. Susan said that their daughter Grace liked the song a lot.

We don't know.

As I have understood it from these and some other articles I've read, Stevie Wonder himself played the drums on the released track, but he had previously jammed it with Beck on drums and there's an unreleased demo of it. https://eu.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/brian-mccollum/2023/01/13/stevie-wonder-reflects-on-the-late-jeff-beck-a-great-soul/69802076007/ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/jeff-beck-talks-eric-clapton-rivalry-and-what-motown-taught-him-628010/ I guess there may be a third version with Jeff Beck's band with Cozy Powell playing. Or maybe Cozy played on the unreleased Stevie Wonder/Jeff Beck demo?

From the statement they released to the press, where it was implied that they consider the accusations to be "categorically false" (without a specific mention of the sexual harassment stuff, but that part of the statement was seemingly about that), it does look that Axl will back Fernando. However, I think it's possible that Fernando will be quietly replaced (maybe by Vanessa) and moved to another job. If that happens there probably won't be a public announcement (if Axl does it, it won't be for the media) and we won't know until they tour again.

GN'R didn't exactly counter-sue though. There was an attempt from Kat's lawyer to sue first, but the lawsuit document was never filed so it's unknown if the original suit would have included the sexual harassment accusations. Then GN'R sued her and she followed with her own lawsuit that contains the accusations.

I had low expectations of The General and this version was a big part of the reason - I don't mean Evader's work of "reconstructing" the phone clip, which was amazing as such, but the actual "song" that came of it. But Monsters exceeded my expectations by far.

I wouldn't know why and how this kind of stuff can be used in a legal dispute. I suppose because they're part of the entourage. I'm also not sure if they unfollowed Kat now or a while back.

Their current photographer (Beta's nephew, I believe) still follows Kat.

They say that got the information from Universal "in confidence", so who knows.

I guess they had plan to play it after it was released, but I think it's unlikely that Axl didn't know about the leak and that it wasn't released when it was supposed to. Maybe he just decided to play it anyway since they won't be touring again for a while.

A user on GN'R Evo implying to be related to either the Italian news site or Universal Italy is claiming that The General will be released on streaming platforms on Dec. 1st, a week before the shipping of the 7''. Could be just a troll though.

Oh she's already his ex? They have a child together, don't they?

"... by the way, nobody tells Axl to do anything. He does what he wants to do." (Irving Azoff, Feb. 11, 2016]

I'm not sure if Slash followed her (he generally doesn't follow many accounts from the GN'R camp). Del, Dizzy, Richard and Melissa still follow her.

That's all true, but it could be different now not only because Axl is older, but also (and mostly) because Kat was a member of the GN'R crew.

The lawsuit (against Axl, GN'R, GN'R touring entity, Team Brazil and Live Nation) was filed back in June by a female fan claiming to have been injured by Axl's mic at the concert in Hershey in 2021 (I suppose there is a similar lawsuit in Australia for the "mic incident" there in 2022, which led Axl to stop throwing his mic into the crowd): https://www.docdroid.net/gcFJprn/20230622-axl-mic-throw-lawsuit-pdf Kat's lawsuit is very serious and depressing stuff, but this one is funny (of course getting injured under any circumstances is not funny, and if the lady who filed the lawsuit really suffered the injuries she claims, I feel for her and hope she gets compensation). I don't know if the arguments in it are typical of this kind of lawsuits, but some of them are really hilarious. For example, this is why, according to the lawsuit, GN'R is also liable:

Just to clarify regarding copyright, it is stated in Kat's lawsuit that she doesn't claim copyright of the photos she took while she worked under a written contract (which explicitly said that GN'R would own all rights, including copyright, "in perpetuity"). She claims copyright of the pictures she took during the long periods she worked without a written contract (and which seem to consist the vast majority of her work for GN'R) with emphasis to 145 photos that she registered with the US Copyright Office after her working relationship with GN'R had ended (I suppose because she has a stronger case with these 145 photos). GN'R claims that since she agreed upon those stipulations by signing written contracts, it means that they also apply to the periods she worked under an "oral agreement" (because, I guess, "families don't need contracts" - ridiculous).

I think it's more complicated than that. For example, in relation to music, if a musician/band that is signed with a record label writes some songs and the label pays them to record an album, the label owns the recordings (because they paid for them), but the musician owns the intellectual work (the songs/compositions themselves), unless the contract with the label says otherwise. I suppose something similar applies to photographs. E.g. photographers who work for news agencies appear to share the copyright with them, meaning that someone has to obtain license and give credit to both the photographer and the news agency, and probably the photographers have some rights to exploit their work further (e.g. they can exhibit their photos or display them on their website, but not sell them to another news agency/media), unless their contract says otherwise. Then there are freelance photographers who have more control of their work. In the case of Kat, it seems that her written contracts said that her photos belonged to GN'R. However, it also appears that she worked without a written contract most of the time. It is stated in her lawsuit that she doesn't claim copyright of the GN'R pictures she took during the periods she was under a written contract, only the ones she took when there was no contract. GN'R claims that since she agreed upon those stipulations by signing written contracts, it means that they also apply to the periods she worked under an "oral agreement" (because, I guess, "families don't need contracts" - ridiculous).

Only Fernando for the act of sexual harassment. GN'R and the touring entity for not having protocols and not taking preventive measures against sexual harassment at the workplace.

Axl probably wouldn't get rid of Fernando completely, but I don't think he would have a problem to remove him from management and demote him to a lower position on the side. The real problem is who would replace him, because I doubt that Axl would want to go back to having a manager from the industry. So it would have to be someone else from inside. Beta has retired from being manager and Vanessa seems to be doing well as Axl's assistant but there's a big difference between that and being the general manager of the band (although it's fair to say that anyone would do a better job than Fernando). They could get either Slash's or Duff's manager to manage the whole band, but it's not going to happen.

Well, we know how Fernando does things that are his job and what he is (in)capable of. But this wasn't part of his job. It was Universal's job to look for and collect those demos. I suppose some of them, like the Pasha demos, may not even be in GN'R/UMG's possession. Maybe other people like Alan Niven have them and they didn't want to deal with them.