Reclusive Guns N' Roses leader W. Axl Rose answered questions from fans on two separate Guns message boards on Thursday (December 11th) and another on Friday (December 12th). Posting on the sites MyGNR.com, ChineseDemocracy.com and Here Today...Gone To Hell!, Rose responded to fan queries about the new Chinese Democracy album, his low profile and whether a reunion of the original Guns lineup was ever possible. Rose also announced that a video for the song "Better" would arrive next week, with "monumental promotion" to begin soon. He mentioned the possibility of touring in passing but gave no specifics.
Some of the more interesting items are below (thanks to Blabbermouth for collating).

When asked about rumors of another two or three albums worth of material left over from the 15-year Chinese Democracy sessions, Rose replied, "For now, we'll concentrate and keep our focus on this album, but I will say I've always thought of it as a double... The issues are a bit more complex than anyone would like."

On Kanye West's new album outselling Chinese Democracy in their first week of release: "I met Kanye at the Versace awards. He was very gracious. I love 'Gold Digger' and told him so ... Before our release, I sent him a message that any nonsense from the media had nothing to do with us and wished him the best. I'm humbled we've done as well as we have considering."

On possibly suing Dr. Pepper over the "free soda" stunt: "Maybe the guy who got it rolling originally meant well, but it turned out sour and maybe it's just me, but he seems like maybe he wants a bit too much attention."

When asked why the original lineup fell apart and why it took Chinese Democracy so long to come out, Rose writes, "What I can say now is you've been told a lot of things in order for others to promote themselves that factually they cannot back up in regard to either. They are complicated legally, financially and have devoured a good portion of my life. ... The record Chinese Democracy you may have is nothing short of a miracle in almost each and every way that either it or I exist, in my opinion, under the bizarre and ugly conditions of the last over 15 years."

As for whether the original lineup could ever get back together, Rose says, "You've been lied to and misled for such a long time that sorting through all that here is virtually impossible ... that doesn't give you what you want, so this dance just goes on and on."

Rose also mentions that he was recently sued by former Guns members Slash and Duff McKagan over a merchandise matter related to his ex-manager, and denies that he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

While most of the exchanges are friendly, Rose does mix it up with a couple of edgier fans. When one criticizes him for his reclusive nature, Rose replies, "Your misconceptions and fantasies along with your misguided sense of entitlement don't dictate my actions."

Elton John lost a libel case in London's High Court against Britain's The Guardian for printing a spoof which satirized his annual White Tie and Tiara Ball fundraiser for his AIDS Foundation. The Guardian reported that Elton had filed suit against last summer's humorous diary entry credited to Elton called A Peek At The Diary Of..., which joked about the gala, saying, "Naturally, everyone could afford just to hand over the money if they gave that much of a toss about AIDS research -- as could the sponsors, but we like to give guests a preposterously lavish evening because they're the kind of people who wouldn't turn up for anything less."

In his suit, Elton claimed the piece was, "... gratuitously offensive, (with a) nasty and snide tone." The presiding judge Justice Tugendhat stated in his 17-page ruling, "The transparently false attribution is irony. Irony is a figure of speech in which the intended meaning is the opposite of that expressed by the words used... The attribution is literally false but no reasonable reader could be misled by it... Irony is not always a form of sarcasm or ridicule."

The Guardian's editor, Alan Rusbridger applauded the High Court's decision: "We're sorry that Elton John lost his sense of humor over this article. The judge -- and, we suspect all readers -- saw the article for what it was: a piece of mild satire. Newspapers have published satire since the 17th century in this country. The judgment is an important recognition of the right to poke the occasional bit of fun."

In honor of its most famous sons, Hartford, England has renamed several streets in tribute to Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones. According to The Associated Press, the new streets will be part of a new housing and business development, and will include Sympathy Street named after "Sympathy For The Devil," Cloud Close after "Get Off My Cloud," Rainbow Close after "She's A Rainbow," Dandelion Row after "Dandelion," and "Little Red Walk" after "Little Red Rooster."

Other streets will be named Satisfaction Street, Ruby Tuesday Drive, and Stones Avenue.

Keith Richards says that despite their advanced ages, the Stones feel like a young band: "All I can say about this band is, in essence, they're still very youthful physically in the way they feel about things. I guess maybe rock and roll does that for you. At the same time we are apparently growing up -- signs of maturity are showing -- and in a way maybe that's what we're supposed to be doing. How do you make rock and roll grow up? We grow up with it but also with the same fervor of youth."

Paul McCartney claims that he was the first member of the Beatles to be opposed to the Vietnam war, and was responsible for explaining the downside of the war to John Lennon.

McCartney spoke to Prospect magazine, saying, "We sort of stumbled into things. For instance, Vietnam. Just when we were getting to be well known, someone said to me: '(British philosopher) Bertrand Russell is living not far from here in Chelsea, why don't you go and see him?' and so I just took a taxi down there and knocked on the door. He was fabulous. He told me about the Vietnam war -- most of us didn't know about it, it wasn't yet in the papers -- and also that it was a very bad war. I remember going back to the studio either that evening or the next day and telling the guys, particularly John, about this meeting and saying what a bad war this was."

McCartney went on to say that he has since handed over the political "megaphone" to the next generation of rockers including Bob Geldof and Bono.

Political historian, Tariq Ali, who was a key member of England's anti-war movement in the 1960s and friend of Lennon's during the early '70s, doesn't recall McCartney taking any type of stand in the regard to the Vietnam war at the time: "It is not my recollection at all. It is possible McCartney met Bertrand Russell, but certainly I had no contact with Paul."

Bruce Springsteen's upcoming Working On A Dream album will be released as a "Deluxe Package" featuring the CD and a bonus DVD, according to backstreets.com. The DVD features a fly-on-the wall look at the E Street Band sessions for the new album including footage of Springsteen leading the band through "My Lucky Day," "Queen Of The Supermarket," "Kingdom Of Days," "Working On A Dream," "Life Itself," and "The Last Carnival."

Included in the footage are early demo versions of the songs which Springsteen plays for the band to acquaint them with the material.

Working On A Dream will be released on January 27th.

Guitar World magazine has published its list of the "100 Worst Guitar Solos" at its website, with tracks from Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana and many other guitar legends all making the list. Topping the poll, however, is Poison's C.C. DeVille, whose solo spot from the band's 1991 concert album, Swallow This...Live, is deemed the worst ever. Although not making the Top 10, just about every major rock act, including Metallica, Korn, Green Day, Rage Against The Machine, the Smashing Pumpkins, Limp Bizkit, Godsmack and even AC/DC, all make the full list, which can be seen at GuitarWorld.com.

The Guitar World editors write, "After two decades of kissing ass, Guitar World tips over a few sacred cows in a definitive guide to guitar parts that blow. Guitarists, no matter how good they are, are bound to have the occasional bad night or hit the odd bum note. Legends like Hendrix, Page, (Kirk) Hammett and (George) Harrison have had their share of uninspired moments and times where ambition exceeded their technique. It's really no big deal. Unless you're caught on tape, that is."

The Top 10 "Worst Guitar Solos," according to Guitar World:
1. Poison - "Guitar Solo" (from Swallow This...Live!, 1991)
Guitarist: C.C. DeVille
2. Blue Cheer - "Summertime Blues" (from Vincebus Eruptum, 1968)
Guitarist: Leigh Stephens
3. Carlos Santana - "The Game of Love" (from Shaman, 2002)
4. Cream - Falstaff beer 1967 radio spot
Guitarist: Eric Clapton
5. The Beatles - "All You Need Is Love" (from Magical Mystery Tour, 1967)
Guitarist: George Harrison
6. Black Flag - "Thirsty and Miserable" (from Damaged, 1981)
Guitarist: Greg Ginn
7. Ted Nugent - "Wango Tango" (from Scream Dream, 1980)
8. The Rolling Stones - "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" (from It's Only Rock 'n Roll, 1974)
Guitarist: Keith Richards
9. Manowar - "Sting of the Bumblebee" (from Kings of Metal, 1988)
Bassist: Joey DeMaio
10. Lenny Kravitz - "American Woman" (from 5, 1998)

The Who kicked off their three-night stand at London's Indigo2 Arena last night (December 14th) with a special show in which members of the band's fan club were offered first dibs on the best seats.

Roger Daltrey explained why the fan club show -- and the other two London gigs -- are important for the band: "It's just a couple in London -- just for the fans on the site. Just 'cause we want to play. We don't like sitting 'round doing nothing, but like I said, it's important to do it, because otherwise your passion and your inspiration becomes habit. And that's a bad deal, 'cause then it's cheated."

Sammy Hagar has stripped his name from the third and most recent Cabo Wabo Cantina, which opened in August in Fresno, California. Hagar, who also has Cantinas running in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and South Lake Tahoe, Nevada performed at the Fresno Cantina last month.

Pollstar ran a statement from Hagar saying, "This is a really unfortunate situation. I developed the Cabo Wabo Cantina concept as a place for everyone in the community to come together and have a great time with exceptional food, drinks and music. Contrary to comments from other parties inferring otherwise, the license has been terminated and the location will no longer be a Cabo Wabo come 2009. I have always stood for providing an exceptional experience for my fans and associating myself with like-minded business partners... If the owners of the current license in Fresno intend to keep the location open... it will not be under the Cabo Wabo brand."

Hagar had entered into a licensing agreement with developer Milt Barbis' Fresno Rock Taco LLC, which owned and operated the new Cabo Wabo. The problems sprang from Fresno's Granite Park development, which has been slow going in building a food and recreational center, which Cabo Wabo would have been a cornerstone of. The facility is reportedly millions of dollars in debt with rumors of the city's 420-acre development winding up in foreclosure.

U2's next studio album, No Line On The Horizon, is not the only musical project the Irish supergroup is cooking up for 2009. Singer Bono and guitarist The Edge were hired a while back to write the songs for Spider-Man, a Broadway musical based on the Marvel Comics superhero. Actress Evan Rachel Wood was recently cast as Spider-Man's love, Mary Jane, and told us what she thought of the music she has heard: "It's amazing. Bono and The Edge are doing the music, so they're like rock songs. And I think it's some of the best stuff they've done. I didn't know how they were gonna be able to write for the stage, you know, but it's really great. It's really, really good."

Spider-Man is being directed by Julie Taymor, who was behind the successful Broadway adaptation of Disney's The Lion King.

There's no word yet on who will play Spider-Man or when the production will premiere.

Wood can be seen in the new independent film The Wrestler with Mickey Rourke. She recently ended her nearly two-year relationship with shock-rocker Marilyn Manson.

U2 pushed back the release of No Line On The Horizon from late 2008 to the first half of 2009 because the band wanted to add more songs to the disc.