Okay, if Tommy's out then the cards are really on the table for a reunion. Slash wouldn't join up without Duff - he'd want someone from his own camp on-side. But if Tommy's in GN'R, there's no place for Duff. If Tommy quits, then the reunion suddenly becomes far more likely. And so does my fantasy of seeing Slash and Fortus sharing a stage.

I dunno, I would literally gnaw off my own arm to see Fortus and Slash sharing the stage, and the rest of that hypothetical lineup is based on "most likely" predictions.

I'm assuming Slash would want Duff along for the ride, but Axl likely wouldn't want Matt back, and would want someone from his camp present - hence Frank (because Fortus knows him well, and I'm assuming Brain wouldn't want to be part of this project). I've dropped Kushner in there as a wild-card; Axl would probably want a third guitarist, but Slash's ego wouldn't allow for someone like Bucket or Bumble stealing his thunder. Also, I like Kushner, and his experimental guitar tricks would probably appeal to Axl. Plus it maintains the balance between the Axl/Slash camps. It's quite a hard-rock line-up, too; now imagine them with Izzy taking a songwriting/occasional touring guest spot - I think they'd put on a pretty damn good show.

I've clearly put way too much thought into this!

Yeah, I'll follow the band, but it'll be a hell of a disappointment. If Robin's out, then it'd be nice to see Slash come back and take over his parts - but as I've said on other threads, that's incredibly unlikely (not least because Slash would expect to be the lead guitarist; there's no way he'd sit around playing chords while Bucket or Bumble took the November Rain outro...).

The timing is really puzzling, though. If the report about the TV series is true, they really are gearing up for the release; the label's discussing iTunes bonus tracks, for Christ's sake. Why leave now, when Chinese Democracy's finally in the home strait?

The interesting thing about the article is that it suggests the show would be leading up to "a limited number of concert dates." Which would, presumably, enable Robin to be in both GN'R and the NIN touring line-up at the same time.

I see Jarmo's trying to debunk it over at HTGTH; good luck on that, this report is far too detailed to be a fake. I reckon the negotiations are very delicate, so management's just adopting a "deny-all" approach until contracts are signed.

Also, in the Mayan calendar, the year the world is supposed to end. Are these things connected?