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A new Guns N'Roses track was aired on US radio after being leaked by an unlikely source - a top-flight baseball player.
The latest unusual twist in the G N'R saga began when New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza was mysteriously sent the CD in the post simply marked 'New GNR'.
Axl Rose himself played the long-awaited new material in a Las Vegas strip club to apparently seek the dancer's approval.
According to the band's official site, news on the much-delayed album, 'Chinese Democracy', will be published 'very soon'.
RCA Holsters Velvet Revolver
Velvet Revolver is officially locked and loaded.
After rumors, road bumps, and name changes, the supergroup featuring Stone Temple Pilots' vocalist Scott Weiland fronting former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum, along with Suicidal Tendencies guitarist Dave Kushner have signed a recording deal with RCA. The band plans to release its debut next year.
"We're thrilled to partner with RCA Records and its legendary chief, the enigmatic Clive Davis," says Velvet Revolver in a statement. "We believe this marriage will be a loyal, dedicated and fruitful relationship not based solely on business, but instead on the thing that once dared us all to dream--music."
"This is a milestone signing for RCA," says Clive Davis, who serves as chairman/CEO of RCA Music Group. "Velvet Revolver is distinguished by not only its powerhouse musicianship but also by its new material. The songs I've heard will propel this group to the very forefront of rock music today."
Fans' first live dose of Velvet Revolver came in June, when the group played a short set of covers and originals at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles. Bootlegs of that mini concert quickly circulated online, and the group initially planned to release a DVD and EP of the show. But those plans were scrapped as the band, the most buzzed-about "can't-miss" group since Audioslave--entertained offers from major labels.
Though the rockers haven't performed publicly since, they did release songs on two summer soundtracks, a cover of Pink Floyd's "Money" for The Italian Job and the original "Set Me Free" on The Hulk.
Formed by the Guns N' Roses remnants as Reloaded, the group spent a considerable time searching for the right vocalist. Among those rumored in contention for microphone duty: Courtney Love, Days of the New's Travis Meeks, Lit's A. Jay Popoff and early frontrunner Sebastian Bach of Skid Row. Weiland, who says he was deep into recording his second solo album at the time, ultimately took the coveted vocalist spot. (His move put Stone Temple Pilots on an even longer hiatus, though there is a STP greatest hits album said to be in the works.)
With the core lineup established, the group changed its name from Reloaded to Velvet Revolver, but it almost was disarmed when Weiland's drug problem resurfaced. The singer was busted again last May on two counts of felony drug possession. In a press conference preceding the June 19 show at the El Rey Theater, McKagan noted that it could have happened to anyone in the band--and in fact has in the past.
Velvet Revolver, currently in the studio doing preproduction, already have dozens of songs in their arsenal, including a few written with another ex-Gunner, Izzy Stradlin. The group has already recorded "Slither" with producer Bob Ezrin (KISS, Pink Floyd) and "Loving the Aliens (Sometimes)" with Josh Abraham (Orgy, Staind), though it's unsure if these will appear on the final album.
The band will not likely play live again before the release of the disc to prevent further online song swapping of its material.
The Esquire 70 (as in, the seventy things that make us very happy to be alive today):
38. The race between the long-rumored release of Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy and actual democracy in China.
You know, it seems like we go through this about once a year. But, at the risk of inducing lots of eye rolling out there, here we go again. We've heard from a number of industry sources we trust (and who have proven their reliability in the past) in the last few weeks. They're reporting that Lucasfilm is seriously considering releasing the Star Wars Trilogy on DVD late next year. In fact, our information indicates that some work is already under way toward a 4th Qtr, 2004 release. Word is that Lucasfilm is pleased with the format of The Adventures of Indiana Jones: The Complete DVD Movie Collection they're releasing on 10/21 in conjunction with Paramount - so pleased, in fact, that they're planning to use the same format to release the classic Star Wars films. This would presumably mean a 4-disc set, with a disc for each film and a fourth disc of special edition materials for all three films. It would certainly make sense. First, it would be a great way to get a buzz going into early 2005, when the final film, Episode III, is set to arrive in theaters. Also, Lucasfilm has said in the past that there aren't a lot of behind-the-scenes materials available for the original films, so having a single bonus disc of extras (as opposed to three) would make life easier for them.
Interestingly, as we were working to learn more about this from our sources, we received an e-mail from a Bits reader about a DVD column on the BBC's film site (slide down the page to near the bottom). It seems that Channel.com (sort of a U.K. version of Columbia House, run by Universal) listed the original Star Wars Trilogy as coming to DVD in 2004 in their latest brochure to members.
Of course, we've certainly heard similar reports many times in the past, so we encourage you to take this information with a large dose of salt. Only time will tell if this is... FINALLY... the real deal. At the recent DVD conference in L.A., I spoke with Lucasfilm's Jim Ward, who predictably wouldn't discuss the DVD release plan for the original Star Wars films, other than to say that they WOULD be released on DVD at some point. He did, however, say that Episode III was being well documented for DVD, and he once again noted that the original theatrical versions of these films no longer exist - the new SEs are George's ultimate vision for these films.
Frankly, we're really looking forward to these films being released on DVD... if only so we don't have to keep reporting on them here! In any case, THIS is the extent of what we know, so please don't bombard us with a lot of questions. You know as much as we do at this point. When we learn more, we'll post it here.
Stay tuned...
I was looking at last years releases, sorry.
Also about the OT discs, the sound is off on ESB by a millisecond or so which is very annoying and the sound screen is also off on ROTJ for the first 15 minutes or so. The ANH disc is pretty much flawless though
So Patty and I caught Pirates again yesterday, and I gotta say that I just love this movie. One of my absolute favorites! Any word on potential deleted scenes or anything like that in the DVD release?
Just announced from Buena Vista Home Entertainment is a December 2nd street date for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The second biggest hit of the year, this two-disc set comes complete with a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track, three audio commentaries with director Gore Verbinski and star Johnny Depp, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and stars Keira Knightley and Jack Davenport, and writers Stuart Beattie, Ted Elliot & Terry Rossio and Jay Wolpert, the "An Epic At Sea: The Making of Pirates of the Caribbean" documentary, deleted scenes,a "Moonlight" scene progression, blooper reel, "Below Deck: An Interactive History Of Pirates" notes and a still gallery . Retail is $29.95.
I assume that this Battlestar Galactica series set doesn't include the original TV movie, right? Also, can't quite recall right now, but did BG only run for just one season, and therefore this set is the whole shebang? Or was there a second season as well? ...and I'm not talking about that revised Galactica '80, or whatever that crap was!Just the original.
Universal has announced the DVD release of Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Epic Series as a 6-disc box set for release on 10/21 (SRP $119.98). All 24 episodes of the series are being presented in the original full frame video (digitally remastered for superior quality) and in their original broadcast order, with audio available in the original 2.0 mono as well as newly remixed Dolby Digital 5.1. The set will include never-before-seen footage, along with new interviews with series creator Glen A. Larson and series stars' Richard Hatch, Terry Carter and Anne Lockhart.
As if that wasn't enough, Battlestar Galactica: The Original Feature Film is also being re-released on DVD the same day (SRP $19.98). It will also include a sneak preview of the new Sci-Fi mini-series retelling of the film's story. Sadly, it looks suspiciously like this will be the same non-anamorphic widescreen film transfer as before, but we've not yet been able to confirm this.
What a Newb, polish my shoes and make me some coffee, a little cream and sugar please
Isn't there some Gn'R DVD's coming out, or is that not major?
Not on the list, but from September 16th, Monty Python's Holy Grail. It is priced at an outrageous $48 here. Is it similarly high in the US? If not, I'll try and pick it up when I'm in Cincinatti in October.
