Guns N’ Roses set lists. Another collecting obsession, thanks in part to Marc Canter.

I must admit after collecting RNR memorabilia for almost 15 years, I really had no deep interest in collecting set lists.

I assumed most were all copies, there were dozens and dozens made for each show, and they had no real value.

That was until I bought Reckless Road by Marc Canter.

http://www.recklessroad.com/

When I saw Marc’s incredible collection of early GNR set lists and flyers, I quickly changed my tune. I found them fascinating. The different styles of writing, the various notes on them and the condition they were found in. These crumpled, torn, taped, beer and sweat stained, handwritten and copied concert gems often duck taped to the stage by guitar techs, were pieces I had to add some to my collection.

Slash appears to have written most, if not all of the GNR set lists. His handwriting style or printing is very distinctive and he has a very specific style to certain letters. Check out the G’s. They are usually all written the same way. He approached writing the way an artist would. And he IS an accomplished artist.

In the early days Slash was the driving force behind the design of the band’s gig flyers. Often creating the original art and handwriting for them. He has an incredible ability to create intricate and interesting hand lettering.

*Check out Marc’s book to see early examples of his handiwork for his own bands, Tidus Sloan and Roadcrew.

The “Welcome To The Jungle” video set list. As verified by Marc and Slash through Matt Sorum. This is THE original written in black marker by Slash himself. My only original, and not a bad one to have.

http://garyrocks.wordpress.com/2013/02/03/yup-its-the-welcome-to-the-jungle-video-set-list-and-the-mystery-is-finally-uncovered/

Also in Slash’s hand this set list from the 1988 show at the Celebrity Theatre. A cool little drawing by Slash on the bottom. He liked this little guy. You can find him wearing a shirt with this face on it in many early GNR photos. Here’s the shirt on the front of Kerrang! magazine in 1988. I imagine the shirt came first, then the drawing.

The Paradise Club Boston set list, Oct 27, 1987.

Here’s the original.

The Orpheum Theatre Boston set list, May 11, 1988.

Tickets to the shows the set lists come from are also cool to collect. Makes a nice grouping to frame up together.

Here’s the stub from the show with the Boston Globe review.

Rare Love You Live record store display. Only two known to exist.

I have been fortunate to have just picked up this rarity. To the best of my knowledge, I am aware of only two that exist. And it took a bite out of my wallet.

Ok, enough with the bad puns….

This record store display promotes the Stones 1977 live album, “Love You Live.” Artwork by the famed pop artist Andy Warhol. Stones collectors are more than familiar with this album and the promotional items produced for it. They are some of the most sought after collectibles ever produced by the Stones. They also have a strong cross over interest to Warhol and pop art collectors as well.

It is well know Warhol was less than pleased with how Mick and the Stones used his art in designing the materials to promote the album.

He in fact has stated publicly he hates Mick’s handwritten treatment of “Love You Live” that appears as the typography on the cover design. As he puts it, ruining the beautiful image and art he created.

This display holds an actual album that sits and is help supported by Mick’s teeth. The “biting” was a theme that was used in all the materials Warhol designed.

Here are a few other items that shows Andy’s obsession with teeth…

Andy and Mick hanging out at the release party for the album at Trax in NYC in 1977. The album Mick is holding is my signed album from the Art Collins collection. Art is standing in the background patiently waiting for the photographer to snap the picture, so he can get his album back.

The album.

Happy Hunting.

Gary Rocks.

“Chicks In Chains,” yup, another politically incorrect, incredibly offensive, yet very typical Slash t-shirt.

Here’s another Slash t-shirt from the Julien’s auction back in March of 2011.

This shirt graced the inside cover of the Julien’s auction catalog, as well as being prominently featured in a Japanese magazine, called Player in 1998.

Slash is photographed in his studio by Rick Gould/ICP wearing the shirt.

A little more info on the band…..

Slash’s Snakepit were an American rock supergroup from Los Angeles, California, formed by then-Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash in 1993. Though often described as a solo or side project, Slash stated that Snakepit was a band, with equal contributions by all members. The first lineup of the band consisted of Slash, two of his Guns N’ Roses band mates—drummer Matt Sorum and guitarist Gilby Clarke—as well as Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez and former Jellyfish live guitarist Eric Dover on lead vocals.

Their debut album, It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere, was released in 1995. For the supporting tour, Slash enlisted James LoMenzo and Brian Tichy, of Pride and Glory, in place of Inez and Sorum who had other commitments. They played shows in the US, Europe, Japan and Australia before Geffen Records pulled their financial support for the tour, with Slash returning to Guns N’ Roses and Slash’s Snakepit disbanding.

Following his departure from Guns N’ Roses in 1996, Slash formed the cover band Slash’s Blues Ball. After a tour in 1997, Slash approached Blues Ball bassist Johnny Griparic about forming a new lineup of Slash’s Snakepit. The new lineup consisted of Slash, Griparic, singer Rod Jackson, guitarist Ryan Roxie and drummer Matt Laug (Roxie and Laug were both former members of Alice Cooper‘s solo band). They recorded and released their second album entitled Ain’t Life Grand in 2000, which was preceded by a tour supporting AC/DC and followed by their own headlining tour. For the tour, Keri Kelli joined the group in place of Ryan Roxie, who departed following the completion of the album. However, after the final show, Slash disbanded Slash’s Snakepit due to a lack of commitment from his band members.

Rare original art produced for a billboard promoting The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed found.

The Rolling Stones are certainly not strangers when it comes to the art of self promotion.

They rule. Plain and simple.

There has been no other band in the history of rock n’ roll that knows how to stir up controversy and buzz over what they are doing or about to do, better than Mick and company.

And Sunset Blvd in LA is where we saw a lot of their ideas come to life.

Shown here are several examples of billboard advertising, an all but dying medium these days, where the Stones strutted their stuff.

Usually the Stones used billboard advertising to promote a new album.

The LA scene is where you can find about every artist during the 70′s and 80′s using this larger than life opportunity to deliver their message.

And as we know the Stones didn’t shy away from imagery that would infuriate and disturb anyone who looked at it. The infamous “Black and Blue” board whose image of a bound and beaten woman eventually had to be pulled down.

Even in announcing their upcoming “50 And Counting” tour, the Stones took to the streets to create anticipation and buzz around the announcement.

The above original art was recently found looks to be created to promote the Stones new London album “Let It Bleed.” It is unknown if in fact the art was ever used or made it’s way to a billboard. This is first major introduction of Mick Taylor as well.

As you can see from the recognizable clothing, Mick is his iconic omega shirt and scarf, this is clearly from the 1969 Ya Ya’s period.

I’m thrilled to now own this incredible never before seen rarity, coming from my good friend Jeff Gold of Recordmecca.

Thanks Jeff.

This one is a keeper.

Happy Hunting.

Gary Rocks

“Reckless Road” by Marc Canter. Not a book about Guns N’ Roses, but a book about a deep friendship.

Reckless Road by Marc Canter is a visual documentary of the making of the best selling debut album of all time Appetite For Destruction released in July of 1987 by Guns N’ Roses. Reckless Road is the only book ever released authorized by all 5 original members of Guns N’ Roses: Steven Adler, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan, Slash and Axl Rose.

The author, Marc Canter, is a third generation owner of the landmark Canter’s Deli in the Fairfax District. Canter’s, originally in Boyle Heights, moved to the Fairfax District after World War 2, converting a Yiddish movie theater into a delicatessen. In the 1960′s, an adjacent area became the infamous Kibitz Room where The Doors, Frank Zappa, Joni Mitchell and in later years Guns N’ Roses played. Canters Deli was bestowed a Historical Landmark by the city of Los Angeles.

Before Marc was to take the helm of the family business at Canter’s, Marc, as a young kid, becomes an avid collector of sports cards and signed memorabilia. Later, as a teenager, his sports obsession turns to music. When Marc entered the 5th grade, he met and became friends with a shy, multi-racial classmate from England named Saul Hudson who went by the nickname of Slash. Like Marc, who was deeply rooted in the family business and the surrounding culture so too is Slash. Slash’s family is deeply rooted in the arts and its surrounding culture. His father was an album cover designer and mom was a renowned fashion designer. At 14, Slash’s maternal grandmother, an artist as well, gave him his first guitar. The life long friendship between Marc and Slash is based on this similarity, but above all, it is the shared love of music.

Throughout their teenage years, Slash joined many bands. In 1985, along with Axl Rose, he created Guns N’ Roses, and Marc is right there capturing every moment with his camera. He attends every rehearsal, gig and band meeting. During this time, money was scarce for Slash and his bandmates. The costs to play and promote a band in clubs are high. Often times, Marc would step in and buy unsold tickets to please the promoters, print flyers needed to advertise a gig and even feed them a meal at Canter’s. It is common knowledge, if it were not for Marc Canter, Guns N’ Roses might have never existed or would have faded into oblivious like so many others. Marc is considered the unseen 6th member of Guns N’ Roses. Slash describes Marc as his best friend and the only person who has remained constant in his life.

As seen in Reckless Road, Marc’s hobbies of photography and collecting memorabilia have served him well. He has amassed one of the biggest rock n’ roll memorabilia collections of its kind. Along with the photographs of the band, Marc includes pictures of the unique memorabilia and is one of the highlights the book.  Reckless Road is narrated by interviews of the people who were closest to Guns N’ Roses and tells many of the infamous stories of the band firsthand.

The stories are all true and are meticulously documented. The photos are vast and every picture tells a story. It is a must read, not just for Guns N’ Roses fans, but for anybody who enjoys a great story, amazing photos, who root for the underdog or just want a voyeuristic glimpse into the underworld of the gritty 1980′s Hollywood music scene.

Reckless Road is not another biography of a band. It is chronological uprise of one of biggest and most controversial bands of all time told by insiders. Winner of the 2008 Best Pop Culture Book by the Independent Publishers Association, Reckless Road has been called by critics and fans as definitive, unique, raw and honest.

This piece was written by Patricia Degen, Writer/Agent.

Taken at Marc’s wedding.

Slash:

“Marc’s my best friend and one of the only good friends that is consistent in my life. There isn’t a better person to actually release any material having to do with the coming together and history of Gun’s N’ Roses, Where it went and what was going on behind the scenes.”

Duff McKagan:

“When Gun’s N’ Roses formed, Marc became like the sixth guy in the band. He believed in us from the beginning and had a much broader view of what the band was about than even we had. He documented the whole thing tirelessly.”

I’ve been a rock n’ roll fanatic since the age of 10.

I’m a rabid Stones, Aerosmith, GNR fan… to name a few.

I must have literally hundreds of book on these bands and others. Stacked on the floor 5 feet high in my study. I need a bookcase. Seriously.

I will say Reckless Road is by far one of, if not THE best book ever done on a band. Period.

I don’t care whether you like Guns N’ Roses.

I don’t care if you’ve ever bought any of their albums.

I don’t care if you’ve never seen them in concert.

You must buy this book. It’s beautifully written and exquisitely designed. The passion and love Marc has put into this book pours out of every page, every never before seen photo, every never heard before story. The memorabilia is mind blowing.

I own this wonderful print from the book I bought from Marc.

Marc believed so deeply in this band, he could only be described as a visionary.

This is a must own book. Stop reading this post and go buy it. Or go buy a print from the book.

Thank you Marc. This book is a treasure.

Check out the trailer. http://marccanter.com/trailer.html

RN’FR.

Gary Rocks

 

Finally….after many years I’ve added some Who to what I’ve been collecting..

The photos here are from a recent purchase that came from Ken White. He was given the above items from Alan Smith who received them from Mick Bratby, member of the Who’s crew during the 1976 tour of US and Canada.

The Who Tour 1976 was The Who‘s second concert tour for their The Who By Numbers album.

After spending most of the last three months of 1975 supporting The Who By Numbers, the group again embarked on a series of tours in 1976, with two stints in North America and several shows in the United Kingdom and Europe. The group added “Slip Kid” to the act in February-March, playing to a backing tape recording much like with “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again“, but it was dropped from the act after eight shows; otherwise “Squeeze Box“, and “Dreaming from the Waist” were the only songs the band played from the new album, while they continued to do a lengthy Tommy selection as in 1975.

“The Who By Numbers” tour poster for the 1976 tour.

1976 was also drummer Keith Moon’s final year touring with the band, as the London performances on 15 December, 1977 at Kilburn and 25 May, 1978 at Shepperton Studios weren’t actually part of any tours, but rather were special shows filmed specifically for inclusion in The Kids Are Alright film.

The first show of the group’s first North American tour of the year in Boston began disastrously, (figures, my home town) with Moon collapsing on stage after only two numbers, forcing a makeup performance three weeks later. Lead singer Roger Daltrey explained that Moon was very ill, adding “Why do our tours always start like this,” obviously referring to the incident at the Cow Palace during the first show of their 1973 North American tour, when Moon also collapsed.

I had friends that went to this show and are still pissed off.

The band’s second North American trip featured Moon’s final U.S. concert at the Seattle Center Coliseum in Seattle, Washington on 14 October, as well as his final concert before a paying crowd at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto on 21 October. The group would not perform at all between the Toronto and Kilburn shows, the only band activity during that time being early sessions for Who Are You.

A crew jacket bearing the Indian logo for the tour.

So…Slash comes to Boston, what does he wear? An Aerosmith t-shirt of course.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007 Slash and Velvet Revolver roll into town to play at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield, MA for their Libertad Tour. They had entered Aerosmith country. And Slash knew it. So he paid homage to his “Guitar Hero” Joe Perry by wearing an Aerosmith Bootleg Live t-shirt.

And now I’m happy to say, I own it.

Another gem from Slash’s Julien’s Auction in 2011. This was sold in a lot of three shirts. Two Aerosmith shirts and one Megadeth. Funny story about the Aerosmith shirt. The guy I bought the shirt from was at a meet and greet at that show and a fan was actually wearing the shirt. Slash liked it so much that he asked him if he would give him the shirt for a VR shirt. The guy said the only way he would do the deal is if he wore the shirt that night onstage. Of course, he did. So Slash right?

I was able to find some incredible photos from this show. Check these out…

Please note…I will NOT be wearing this, as tempting as it may be.

Right now, Slash is probably wearing a t-shirt that’s going to piss someone off.

There’s is actually a blog dedicated to Slash’s fine collection of vintage offensive t-shirts.

http://fuckyeahslashshirts.tumblr.com/

Check it out. Pretty funny….

I have always been interested in collecting artist and stage worn clothing. Recently I was fortunate to be able to buy two of Slash’s t-shirts. Both were part of the sale of his incredible personal collection that went up for auction at Julien’s in Los Angeles back in 2011.

http://www.juliensauctions.com/auctions/2011/slash/index.html

There were literally hundreds of t-shirts in this auction. Not sure where I was, or what I was into at the time, but I missed this amazing opportunity.

Luckily, I found someone who was there and bought plenty.

The t-shirt pictured above is one of my recent buys. It has solid photo reference from the “Use Your Illusion” tour book, shot by tour and well known GNR photographer and historian, Robert John. It’s also signed by Slash.

This next shirt has plenty of photo reference, as well as being one of Slash’s favorite bands, Metallica. He owned several Metallica shirts that can all be seen in the auction catalog. This one got plenty of stage time. It has faded from a dark black to a soft, well worn grey.

Their logo as well as the line “Metal Up Your Ass” is sprawled across the chest of this now infamous shirt. Slash liked cutting the collar and sleeves off his  t’s.

I was able to track down rock icon photographer Paul Natkin, who shot this show and had tons of photos for me to choose from. It was The Monsters Of Rock show I believe.

It doesn’t hurt when the photos are published as well. This shirt was seen on the cover of Revolver Magazine’s Legends issue. These early shots by Paul have been seen in various music and metal magazines as pin ups and posters as well.

A picture of slash wearing his “High On Life And Glue!” shirt before he hacked the crap out of it.

In the first photo Slash can be seen in the studio wearing his “Chicks In Chains” t-shirt. This photo was the inside spread of the Julien’s auction catalog. The second photo spread is from a Japanese music magazine.

So remember, a picture is worth a thousand…..dollars.

Maybe more.

Peace.

Gary Rocks

The lost art of bass drum head design. Bring back 70′s, 80′s and hell, might as well bring back the 20′s.

So about a year or so ago I had the pleasure of being able to buy a few drum heads from Joey Kramer’s collection. After I purchased them, I became obsessed with buying drum heads.

It occurred to me what a lost art form this in fact was.

When you think about it, it’s really one of the first forms of music marketing. A logo or design that sits on the bass drum acts like a billboard for the band. Something to recognize and identify with the band. Something that can also be used in printed materials, press releases, posters and merchandising.

You’d be hard pressed to find anyone, music fanatic or not that couldn’t identify The Beatles logo that sat on Ringo’s drum head.

The evolution of the art of the bass drum head dates back to the early days of the 20′s and 30′s jazz, and blues bands as well as college and high school marching bands. Clubs and organizations also emblazoned their names and designs on their marching drums to parade throughout the cities and towns they lived in.

Before the classic Beatles logo we all know, here’s a photo of Ringo with another kit. Check out the bass drum.

This was Ringo’s Premier kit used when he first joined The Beatles and at the end of his tenure with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.

Above are perhaps some of the greatest drummers in the world of rock with their classic kits. Ginger, Keith and Bonzo.

All have their own distinctive drum kits and unique bass drum designs.

The drummers of the 80′s metal bands were clearly influenced by their drum heroes and decided like their music, would pushed the boundaries of drum design.

My “Use Your Illusion” Tour drum head signed by Matt Sorum is the ultimate in 80′s skull and death design.

Here’s Matt with my latest purchase. A signed drum head from the last GNR tour.

 

Then again, sometimes a drum head doesn’t need a fancy design or logo. Sometimes just a nice sentiment does the trick.

Or even this….

Yup…It’s The “Welcome To The Jungle” Video Set List…And The Mystery Is Finally Solved.

I posted this back in October after buying a set list from a woman in LA claiming it was from one of the four Perkins Palace shows back in December of 1987.

Guns N’ Roses, Stop N’ Smell ‘Em! Perkin’s Palace, December 1987.

Oct26

Read the post if you can….

There was lots of buzz around why “Welcome To The Jungle” was written on the list three times. General consensus was that it had to be from the WTTJ video shoot and that’s why the song appears three times. This bugged the crap out of me. This woman was dead sure that she got it from one of the Palace shows. But as we all know that was way back then, and our memories aren’t what they used to be. Especially for those of us that survived the 80′s.

So I sought out a few experts to help me figure this out. Matt Sorum, Slash and Marc Canter. Not too shabby heh?

I sent it along to Matt, who passed it along to Slash.

Here’s what he said….

Next stop, Marc Canter author of “Reckless Road” and GNR Historian. Here’s his response.

So what we know is that this IS in fact the set list from the video shoot. We have a pretty good idea of where the video was shot. Slash is currently on tour and probably gave this a pretty quick look on his phone. But him verifying that it is in fact his writing and from the WTTJ video shoot is good enough for me. I spent hours online looking for information as to where this video was filmed and got answers that were from The Whiskey to an old warehouse.

But nothing definitive. I’m no Columbo, but I’m pretty satisfied with what I know now.

Whew….glad that’s over.

Some more info I found online. No shortage of confusion as to where this video was filmed. Read away.