I'd go sing for them if I could get over the stagefreight.  My range is limited to roughly Scott's range anyway and Duff could sing the higher parts.  Maybe I'll send an audition tape.  then they can really see what it's like to work with an egomaniac frontman that isn't willing to give an inch when it comes to opinions in music.  I'll make Axl and Scott look like gentlemen.

It was cool when my wife was making me sit through Trading Spaces when Teddy Zig Zag was on.  Sure enough, Slash found a way to show up.  I get why people think he's a media whore - I don't agree, but I get it.  At least the only attention he gets isn't for biting a security guard or being the butt of a joke on why you can't release an album after 10 years of working on it.  Axl chose one path and Slash chose another.  There's nothing wrong with either one.

Axl could have had all of this too if he wanted it.  He doesn't and that's fine.  It doesn't fit his personality for whatever reason (which I think is odd for such a great frontman).  Was Steven Tyler a sell out for appearing on Two and a Half Men or for writing that brutal Don't Want to Miss a Thing song?  What about the Nickelback dude for whoring himself out to Santana?  What about the Goo Goo Dolls?  Metallica?  Ozzy?  How about all the artists that started with a band but decided to go solo?  Did they all do it for the integrity of the music?  Why do they still release Beatles and Elvis compilations to this day?  Money plays a part whether we like it or not.  I say you make it while you can...if enough people are making money off of you, you may as well get your share. 

Athletes are as guilty as musicians.  Look at Michael Jordan.  Greatest basketball player of the 90s, and he was on far more commercials than Slash.  He even did that Space Jam movie.  He marketed himself well and made a shitload of cash doing so.  What's wrong with that?

I've been saying this for ages.  The leaked songs aren't very good for the most part.  They have flashes, but they are way too busy to ever be taken seriously.  This is a world of short attention span theatre - nobody wants an 8 minute TWAT no matter how much I happen to like that song.  Lets look at this realisticly:  completely new band from the one that had success, several members coming and going for years, songs with way too much going on, key contributors no longer in the band, 15 years of building expectations (whether fair or not), off and on moderately successful tours (at best), no management team, constant shots being taken at the fans by Axl's representatives, Axl only making the news for biting people or canceling shows, music industry falling apart, etc.  Add all of this up and it doesn't spell a successful future.  I don't think a Guns N' Roses with Axl and Slash could survive all of this - there's little chance an Axl only band can.

Less communication is only more when you're actually trying to build the excitement for something that is actually coming.  Less communication and no indication at all that we'll ever see it much less see it soon is a horrible marketing idea.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  All Axl has going for him now is the curiosity factor. 

Once that's gone, if the album isn't fantastic, the new band will never be anything but a touring cover band (like they are now).  There will be no second chances and absolutely no holy trilogy that people still keep bringing up for some reason.  If this album fails, the band not only fails, it's finished as a recording entity.  This is why we don't have it yet, this is why we won't have it any time soon.  Releasing CD = the end of Axl's vision of Guns N' Roses = Axl's only choice going forward is reunion or starting all over as a solo artist...why would he be in a hurry to do that?

Buy a wireless router so you can use laptops as well.  Even if you don't have one now, you might in the future and won't have to switch it then.  I have a lynksis and it works fine.  I think they're all about the same, so pick the cheapest one.