Rock a Mile?Live from Las Vegas, a Globetrotting Rock Journalist Relives a Few Career Highlights
By Lonn Friend
MOMENTS WITH GUNS N' ROSES
On July 29, 1990, Axl, Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach, the Cult's Ian Astbury and an entourage descend unannounced on my Culver City house to help me celebrate my 34th birthday. Axl has the rough mixes to Use Your Illusion on a cassette, no vocals, just music. He pulls his BMW onto my rear carport and pops the tape in. It's "November Rain": instrumental, massive. Axl moves his mouth to my right ear and sings the lyrics as the music blasts out to my elderly neighbors. An audience of one, but he's giving it his all.
"The story is actually two parts," he says. He smiles and fast-forwards the tape. "Two songs. This is part two." It's called "Estranged," a breathtaking ballad. Hearing Axl croon the words to "Estranged" over the mesmerizing chords blaring from the stereo is no illusion. It is surreal, as is the rest of the evening. My childhood pal, Peter, is snapping photos of the iconoclastic trio. There's a shot of Axl holding my daughter, who's only 4 months old. It's absolutely priceless, for it illustrates the true gentle nature of rock's most maligned and misunderstood artist. So does what I'm going to tell you next.
Around 7 p.m., everyone is gathered in our tiny kitchen, drinking beer, eating chips. Out of nowhere, Sebastian breaks into "Amazing Grace"; his supercharged metallic pipes shake the wood beams. Second verse begins, and Axl joins in, a hellish duet in heavenly song. Everyone is frozen by the sight of these two magnificent maniacs delivering one of the world's most divine compositions with heartfelt passion. By the time verse three commences, we're all singing. Absolutely amazing.
? GN'R and Skid Row are playing the Forum the following year?on my birthday! I'm in the dressing room before the show. Slash says, "Hey, Lonn, you wanna bring us onstage tonight?" I'm already bouncing off the walls. It's my birthday, and I'm with Guns N' F--king Roses.
"You mean, introduce you?" I ask.
Slash sips his Jack and Coke and fires back, "Yeah, man! But there's one catch. You have to do it in your underwear! And you have to wear my hat and boots!" An hour later, I'm standing in front of 20,000 screaming fans in my boxer shorts with a top hat and leather boots. "I'm Lonn Friend from RIP magazine, and I'd do anything for this f--king band. And tonight, they're going to do everything for you. Ladies and gentlemen, Guns N' F--king Roses!"
Source:
http://www.lvweekly.com/2004/04/15/cover.html
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