Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Speaking of charitable donations, my cousin has set up a JustGiving page for her daughter who suffers from cerebral palsy. We're trying to send her to a specialist centre which will hopefully give her a better life. If anybody wishes to donate, here is the page: http://www.justgiving.com/Gracie-ward(Hope that's okay with the mods)Great Do me a favor, ask if there was a fee or if I mis-read the setup info......? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Hey Ron, I have recently been having belly (abdominal) pain. The pain feels like indigestion or like I need to have a bowel movement or pass gas. I feel the first pain near my belly button. Then it moves to the lower right side of my belly. But the pain can be in different parts of my belly or even on your side. The pain sometimes gets worse if I move, walk, or cough. I also have a fever and feel sick to my stomach. My doctor told me it was an appendicitis, but I wanted a second opinion. What do think?I think you may have been putting food in your body from the wrong direction. Supposed to be mouth first, ass last........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 (edited) you aren't answering concrete stuff about the current state of GNR and Chinese Democracy II here.I've said often, and said why it in a previous post - I won't address that stuff, rumors, business plans, none of it. You'll know other people's business when they decide it's time for you to know, in the way they want you to know. Frustrating for you, but makes perfect sense to the people who's life and business you want them to expose. I didn't come here to do an interview, I came here to confront a lie that was being spread about me on this board. That's it. As for how I respond, someone goes for my throat they'll get two hands on theirs, that's how I am when I feel like I've eaten enough shit. I'm not running for Congress, I'm not opening a Church. I'm a guy with a family that works hard, gets a lot of shit for nothin', and will react however I choose to. Edited February 17, 2011 by Bumblefoot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 OK y'all, have a good night. If I get some worthwhile stuff goin' on I'll post it on FB & Twitter and let ya know. Gnite... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Ron I mean no disrespect, but how can you say that you can't discuss the future plans of your own band? It's hard to accept everyone as equal members when only Axl is allowed to talk about stuff like the next album, future plans, etc. I get that you like to stay out of the business side of things, but aren't you at all interested when the next album is coming out yourself? Again, not trying to be disrespectful, just something I've always been curious about.I WON'T discuss future plans. It's inconsiderate of everyone else - Axl, management, the band, everyone working on doing things right. I'm not just gonna blab about *their* business without consideration, it's wrong. I've had it done to me in the past and it pissed me the fuck off, felt like it was someone blabbed about a surprise party I spent a lot of time planning. And let's *respect* the fact that Axl started this band, it's his 25-year vision, I'm not gonna act like it's mine to do whatever I want and not consider a dozen folks that were there before me. It's about respect. AND it's about business - ya simply don't squeal about unfinished business, it's wrong to do. So while this thread touched on questioning morals, it would be *immoral* if I discuss things, it's wrong, it's thoughtless, inconsiderate, I won't do it. No 'gag order' or other made up shit, it's simply about having respect. I won't talk about business unless I get everyone's ok, or if it's something that was properly announced. But even then, I really don't want to. Making music = yes, GNR bizz = no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 (edited) Everybody remotely famous gets negative comments now and thenNow & then, huh. And people burning our family members with cigarettes? And screaming 'whore' and throwing things at our children? And harassing our parents at night? Ya don't know. And I'm nobody's punching bag - try and hit me where it hurts, I may choose to do the same. Like I said, I'm not running for office - I'm a hard-working man that gets a lot of shit for the crime of entertaining people, takes most of it in stride, but will respond when I feel it's time. Tomorrow I'll be made of armor. Right now I'm here as flesh. Edited February 17, 2011 by Bumblefoot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 I don't mean this to be disrespectful to you, I respect your choice, but it's not rock n' roll, it's not democracy.Appreciate your thoughts. But the reality is that the music is rock n' roll - everything else is business. You wouldn't have any albums or concerts or anything if the business didn't happen to bring you the music. A yogurt is food, but think of how much business goes into it before it reaches your mouth. Your job, to get the money to put gas in your car to go to the store and buy it. Car companies, fuel companies, the store, their distributor, the yogurt manufacturer, the farm that grew the berries, down to the dude that rigged up the cow pumps. All that business had to happen for you to get a $1 yogurt. Business is a necessity for all things, it's not evil, it's part of the process, every process. And in every aspect, there's competition of companies, timing when to release products, a million things that affect how successful or even sustainable things will be. Ya can't fuck with it, ya can't release info prematurely, ya can't give away what the new features of a software upgrade will be too soon, a competing company can hijack your plans. In music, you have to consider other releases and tours when planning your own, for example. There was the old story of how Van Halen was working on their first album, they mentioned covering Ya Really Got Me, and another band tried to record it quicker and beat em to the punch. When I was in my early 20s I shared a demo with another guitar player who then made an almost identical song to mine and sent it to the labels that were considering me to be on their comp CDs, to take my spot. Shit happens, I learned early on - don't talk about future plans, unless 1) you're the CEO of a business and don't have investors to answer to, 2) you're dealing with low-valued things that don't have a big effect on people and their business. I'll talk to you for hours about music. Not business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 It's cool that you are willing to show your weak side, but please don't ask me to pity you, when I think of you, I think one of the guy that was part of the best rock act that I saw live last year. Sorry for punching back at you and not bowing down to everything you say, but I really respect you nonetheless, I hope you will get that, no harm intended and hope your family'll be alright in the future.ABSOLUTELY don't want pity! My best friend is bed-ridden and can only communicate with eye movements, and *he's* not bitching, geez. Point being, *everyone* is human, and everyone is imperfect, and no one has it easy. In fact, happiness is really the only thing that matters in the end - you can have everything but if you don't have that, it all means nothing. And you can live in a cardboard box but if you're happy, all is fine. Stress, drama, random unnecessary acts of hate and cruelty - that shit will poison you, shorten your life. The best thing for your soul is to ignore it, focus on things that make a difference, and keep people out of your life that cause drama - they might as well be stabbing you, they're doing as much damage. So yeah, these days I go out and have a real good fucking time. Balances shit out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 The truth about me comes from me...There is a supposed document saying you discussed the return of Duff to the band with Axl. Is there any truth to that?Did you talk to Axl or anyone else in the band about the supposed documents yet and what do you think of how the fanbase acts about these documents?Anything I say about anything will end up on some other site with a twisted headline and will stress me the fuck out, not worth it, not saying shit about anything. Just aint worth the headache, not now. *Ignore the dramaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa*, ignooooooooooooooooore theee draaaaaaaammmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...... I have to ignore it, too much work I need to get done, not enough time to do it. (I'm still here typing instead of doing it... gaaah!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 When I was 12 I took a cassette of Eruption (Halen) and opened it up, flipped the reels, and learned the song backwards...Damn man, that's crazy! Ok, another one: I know that you have the ability to learn a song a few times just by hearing it. How long did it take you to hone that talent?Anyone can do this shit, ya just gotta do it. Focus, but don't force. To see music, don't listen to the notes, listen to the clashing between them, the overtones and secondary waves that occur when combining different notes. The wobbling of strings that are a little out of tune - listen for that stuff. It'll help ya be able to pick up stuff just by listening. But give it time, everything takes time, just let nature do it's thing, and you'll become whatever kinda player you are. And that'll happen from whatever kind of music's in your heart, it's about playing THAT music, that's all that counts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 I drove (solo) from new orleans to toronto last Jan to see you guys and it was awesome. I got there at 11 am and waited with an awesome group of people and we got first row and the show was fucking awesome. that was the first real concert I've ever been to and it was just one of the coolest things ever for me. thanks a bunch I'll always remember that.That's cool as Hell - I think we spoke back then, no? I remember hearing from someone about a drive like that, was it you? Thanks for bein' there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Ron, a quick one:Did you guys keep that big flag (fans in Brazil gave you)??That was still one of the coolest fkn things ever Not sure who has that now - I have a ton of stuff, shirts, flags, gifts, but not the biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig flag... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Just want to try to repost an abridged version of my earlier question with another one, hope you don't mind:1- Ron, GNR obviously is the main priority in your music career at the moment, and (unfortunately) you have to plan your other musical projects around it. Just like somebody working in business might consider themselves having reached a peak in their career by being promoted to a 'Senior Manager' or such, do you consider GNR to be the climax of your musical career? If you received an offer to joined a high profile band that was of interest to you, or you happened to become part of a new project that could become a full time success in its own right, could you see yourself moving beyond GNR? I feel sorry that GNR, being the beast as it is, dictates alot of your other musical projects, which I think could be more creatively inspiring to you2- Does the band ever do any songwriting together? Meaning you guys throwing riffs around to each other and 'submitting' ideas to Axl as such?Ah Ben, that's a bite-me-in-the-ass subject that'll be twisted up no matter what's said... no bizz/future talk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 What was the first concert you went to, how many times did you go to L'amour (and did you ever get to play there)? How old were you when you first played a paid gig?First concert was KISS at MSG in 79, amazing........ L'Amour! YES!!! Played there a lot. First time hangin' was in 86, Vinnie Vincent Invasion played that night. Story about playing L'Amour here: http://www.bumblefoot.com/gear/03-the-mutant-cow.phpWhile we're on guitar stories.... ( from http://www.bumblefoot.com/gear/01-pensive-expenguin.php )As a young child, I would create potions, combining anything I could find. Me and my psychopath friends referred to them as "concoctions." In my backyard, there was a crack in the cement steps near the grass, and there were always ants crawling in and out of the crack. These two key elements in my youth led to my goal in life - to find a way to relocate these ants with one of my special "concoctions." I tried any combination of ingredients that seemed logical - ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, bleach, milk and piss. I'd pour it in the cement cracks and wait. 3 days later, the ants would be crawling in and out, unaffected by my concoction. They obviously had superior strength. I had to try harder - orange juice, spit, baking soda, glass cleaner, glue, shoe polish, and melted crayons. Ya see, the key to knowing a good concoction is the Smell Test. If you smell the concoction in a cup from 4 inches away, you should gag 2 or three times, and then another 2 times from the memory of what you just smelled. If not, you didn't make the shit strong enough. The puke reaction was definitely relative to the amount of onion and garlic powder - mix that with Coca-Cola, some sulfur and other shit from the chemistry set I had (birthday gift), and you're guaranteed 6-and-a-half good dry-heaves - 3 from the actual smell, the third making a genuine hacking sound, another 2 from thinking of the ingredients, and the last one-and-a-half as an instant flashback to the smell, and the hacking sound ya just made replaying in your head. Anyway, back to my story. I had to try harder and I did. I emptied a little bit of everything I could find in the refrigerator, kitchen cabinets, cleaners under the kitchen sink, bathroom sink, and anything I can add from my own person. Yo - who the fuck says "my person" - that's asking for a fight. "The shoehorn is on my person." If you regularly use the term "on my person", hit yourself for me. Anyway again, I combined all that stuff and came up with the greatest batch of concoction I could ever invent. I *knew* this shit was gonna work. I was gagging from 2 feet away. I held that shit far away from me and held my breath and brought it out to the yard, trying not to think of the ingredients so I don't gag another 2 times, and poured it in the cracks.The ants never came back.My only mistake was that I never wrote down the ingredients. After that, I reached my height of success and retired from the concoction business. It was time to find a new goal.I forgot why I was mentioning this story - it had something to do with the guitar. Oh yeah - around 1988 I was forced to come out of concoction retirement, in a quest to find the perfect substance to use when building guitars. I came up with this shit that was perfect - the only side effect was that some of the ingredients would travel up your skin and you'd itch for hours, just from touching your finger to the can of it. The main ingredients were sawdust, fiberglass dust, and epoxy resin. Combine that together and it'll outlive your grandkid's roach collection. I put a layer of the stuff onto the guitar neck after I removed the frets, and then stuck a bunch of coins onto the neck. After it hardened, I filed down the sides of the coins that stuck out, and had $4.63 on the neck. I cut away the body some more, and put the Les Paul-style tailpiece at an angle sticking out of the edge of the body, and wired 1 DiMarzio super-distortion pickup and 1 volume knob onto the body. Then I took an old magazine and put pictures of penguins all over the body, and painted over them with polyurethane. I use a thin rope attached to a tuning peg as the guitar strap, because of the light body that makes the guitar "neck heavy". I then typed on a little piece of paper with my Commodore64 computer's dot-matrix printer, and made a label that said "Bad Ronald - The Pensive Expenguin" and polyurethaned it onto the guitar's head. That's the name of this guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Ron quick question, whats your favourite moment of the entire Australian leg of the tour?Sittin' on the stairs outside the hotel for 2 hour after the Adelaide show playin' guitar with fans... loved the Sydney show Taking my wife to a winery, and a wildlife park in Perth to feed the baby kangaroos... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Hey Ron. I know you won't talk business, but seriously, something has to be said, and soon. Maybe you can say something that wiggles around the issue, but still gives us something. Right now things feel dangerous for us, so something has to cool it off a little. And i know you don't want to get involed, but, you are one of the pillars of this band, and you have the responsibility. You can't ignore that. I guess I can feel better knowing that you're a pretty highly evolved being, and you can handle this, and that no mater what happens, you'll be able to work it out. I don't know about the others though.I look like I'm the Geico caveman, and I'm the evolved one...! Those poor other guys, lol.... 2 of my cats died last year while I was touring. 3rd one now has a inoperable chest tumor, it's getting harder for her to breathe and to swallow food - I'm in a mindset of dropping all baggage and just giving her a happy peaceful remaining life, which may not be much longer. My dad's slowly developing Alzheimer's - diagnosed last year. He needs eye surgery too. Same mindset - give him a happy peaceful remaining life. Right now I'm dealing with a lot of end-of-life stuff, gives a lot of perspective on what matters. The stuff you want me to talk about just doesn't have that true life-and-death importance where I should compromise my values and disrespect my bandmates and betray their trust and squeal about things that concern and affect other people much more than me, no. Ignore the drama. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 what music out there today do you listen/gain influence from or is it all past artists? & bring back the swiss cheese & flying foot guitars for the solo spots!Gonna leave those guitars in retirement, they've been through enough, lol. Harder to find things that move me in today's music... Muse...IF you take song recording requests, I'm gonna toss my hat in the ring (and I think I speak for a lot of people when I say this) and request that you PLEASE record a cover of "Sailing". The live versions are great but this one just SCREAMS "Record me!"Ok, I got that off my chest!Would be a sweet one to do....Even though there weren't some songs that were played live, were you ever worried Axl would've gone "we're doing "Coma" tonight"? or did you all rehearse the entire catalog in case that did happen?Gaaahh!!! A lot of songs did happen spontaneously - Don't Cry, Rosie, Brick In the Wall, the jammy stuff all happened on the spot and some of em stuck..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 I am sorry to hear that, Ron. I have personal experience from this disease and my advice is to to spend time with your dad now while you still have him, all of him. Don't give attention to the rumours, don't give attention to the haters, hell, even ignore business and job for a while, focus on your loved ones.Thanks Took my parents to see the Grand Canyon last August - took em all over Arizona, to the beautiful parks, they loved it They'd never seen that part of the country, glad we were able to do that. It'd probably be our last vacation...Hey Ron, do you rehearse Riad with the band at all?Yep, had rehearsed all of Chi Dem with the band - was pretty cool playin' most of it in Tokyo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Ron will you be my date in the mygnr prom? http://www.mygnrforum.com/index.php?showtopic=173209Depends. Can you raid your parent's liquor cabinet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Out of interest how long did it take to grow you're beard Ron?Started in mid-June... was gonna let it grow for a year...A question that means a lot to me because I'm more a Bumble, 4tus and DJ fan than I am a GNR fan : have you guys ever talked of recording some stuff together outside of GnR ? I don't know, have 4tus play on one of your songs or play lead on some of DJ's material or whatever ? Like Dizzy and Richard did on Tommy's song last year ! I would - have thought about it....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Ron will you be my date in the mygnr prom? http://www.mygnrforum.com/index.php?showtopic=173209Depends. Can you raid your parent's liquor cabinet?For sure. Whats you're drink of choice? I'm a fan of rum myself.Anything that'll get me laid. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Hey Ron!Thanks for checking in.I was always wondering which current guitar virtuoso's music you may dig (apart from yours obviously )? Also whats your opinion about the afe-fx, I cannot recall if I have read anything about this toy in connection to You? thanks,fellowAxe-FX is the best gadget of its kind I think. No connection... I don't listen to much widdly-widdly music, but some great players ya may wanna check out are Mattias Eklundh, Guthrie Govan, Chris Godin, Stephane Alaux.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Are you a Charles Bronson fan?Not liking Bronson would be like not liking Norris. He even kicked ass in the Twilight Zone episode w/ Elizabeth Montgomery....thanks for coming Ron!was in first row at the ARC show in PARIS...took your hand three times...it seemed you had a blastHad SUCH a blast, thank you!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 (edited) Thanks for the chat. Random question. I thought I saw you in the crowd at the Soul Asylum/Stinson show last Feb. at Mohegan Sun. Was it you?? Lol And any chance you will be at Tommy's NYC or Boston shows this weekend? Thanks again for always being so friendly to the gnr fanbase!Nah, wasn't me. Wouldn't mind seeing him in NYC, if I can get enough work done..............Gnite! (Thank you Sanna & ZoSo) Edited February 17, 2011 by Bumblefoot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumblefoot Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 How very great. Woke up to see another bandmember come here to insult the fans. Axl can really choose his people.Oh great!!!I don't insult the fans. I insult individuals that insult me personally. Crazy concept, I know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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