Stoneman

Legendary guitarist Slash was interviewed by CNN's Piers Morgan on Wednesday night, where he said that no amount of money could ever get the original Guns N' Roses to reunite. Slash explained, "I don't think it's a matter of that; it really isn't. I think you've got a situation where nobody involved wants to revisit. It's not just me -- it's the whole band. And so I don't think there's a price tag that anybody's put in front of us that's going to make that work."

Asked about the kinds of offers the band has gotten to get back together for a tour, Slash replied, "I've heard a lot of numbers, but I've never been handed a specific offer. But I'd say it starts off with seven figures and then sometimes it starts to get even more grandiose than that."

And now for something completely different

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Van Halen has postponed 31 concerts starting from their July 7th show at Uncasville, Connecticut's Mohegan Sun Arena through their September 25th concert at Milwaukee's Bradley Center. There's been no statement as to why the shows have been postponed, whether they will be rescheduled, or any information regarding refunds.

Although neither the band nor it's promoter, Live Nation, would comment on the scrapped gigs, an unnamed insider close to the band told Rolling Stone that Van Halen's members "hate each other" and that "the band is arguing like mad. They are fighting." The magazine questioned an industry source as to why the band is, seemingly, shelving such a large amount of dates, saying: "You want to know the absolute f***in' truth? I have no f***in' idea." A source at the 10,000-seat Mohegan Sun Arena, where the band was scheduled to play on July 7th, said: "It's selling pretty good -- I don't know why they would say it's being canceled."

POSTPONED VAN HALEN TOUR DATES
July 7 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena
July 9 - Hampton, VA - Hampton Coliseum
July 11 - Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center
July 13 - East Rutherford, NJ - Izod Center
July 15 - Baltimore, MD - 1st Mariner Arena
July 17 - Rochester N.Y. - Blue Cross Arena
July 19 - Detroit, MI - Joe Louis Arena
July 21 - London, ON - John Labatt Centre
July 24 - Toledo, OH - Huntington Center
July 26 - Grand Rapids, MI - Van Andel Arena
July 28 - Cleveland, OH - Quicken Loans Arena
July 31 - Fort Wayne, IN - Allen County Memorial Coliseum
August 2 - Columbus, OH - Schottenstein Center
August 4 - Knoxville, YN - Thompson-Boiling Arena
August 6 - Memphis, TN - FedEx Forum
August 8 - Birmingham, AL - BJCC Arena
August 10 - Greenville, SC - BI-LO Center
August 12 - Cincinnati, OH - US Bank Arena
August 21 - Spokane, WA - Spokane Arena
August 23 - Portland, OR - Rose Garden
August 25 - Sacramento, CA - Power Balance Pavilion
August 28 - Fresno, CA - Save Mart Center
August 30 - Reno, NV - Reno Events Center
September 4 - Salt Lake City, UT - EnergySolutions Arena
September 8 - Albuquerque, NM - Tingley Coliseum
September 11 - El Paso, TX - Don Haskins Center
September 13 - Austin, TX - Frank Erwin Center
September 15 - Oklahoma City, OK - Chesapeake Energy Arena
September 17 - Wichita, KS - Intrust Bank Arena
September 21 - Moline, IL - Iwireless Center
September 25 - Milwaukee, WI - Bradley Center

Van Halen tour dates (subject to change):
May 19 - St. Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center
May 22 - Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center
May 24 - Denver, CO - Pepsi Center
May 27 - Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand Garden Arena
June 1 - Los Angeles, CA - Staples Center
June 3 - Oakland, CA - Oracle Arena
June 5 - San Jose, CA - HP Pavilion
June 12 - Anaheim, CA - Honda Center
June 14 - San Diego, CA - Viejas Arena
June 16 - Phoenix, AZ - US Airways Center
June 20 - Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center
June 22 - San Antonio, TX - AT&T Center
June 24 - Houston, TX - Toyota Center
June 27 - New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Arena

JUST OUR OPINION

Fan reaction has been pretty brutal, from attacking Eddie Van Halen for falling off the wagon, David Lee Roth for being a pain in Eddie's ass, to slow ticket sales in some markets. In all fairness -- all of the above could be true. That said; if you think that Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth spend more than six minutes together offstage, you're insane -- so the "at each other's throats" angle is a bit ill-informed. This is a massive cash grab. Emotions don't really enter into it. (Don't believe us??? Go ask the Eagles. . .)

BUT: Before Van Halen heads off the road, they're still playing over a dozen shows throughout the remainder of May and all of June. If this was some massive blowout between Ed and Dave, it'd probably be handled differently than canceling the final 30-plus shows -- it's not quite the same as walking out and slamming the door shut six weeks after the fact. It could be Eddie's health -- he's had hip replacement before.

As much as we would love to knock Van Halen for screwing this thing up again, something's telling us that it's either due to slow ticket sales or somebody's -- in or out of the band's -- health.

ZZ Top's latest song "I've Got To Get Paid" is featured in the new online commercial for Jeremiah Weed beer. Ultimate Classic Rock posted: "In the apparently unscripted spot, stage lights and a repeating drum beat emanating from an otherwise normal-looking store beer cooler lure a series of customers into opening the refrigerator doors, revealing ZZ Top in all their full-bearded glory, performing the new song as if they're headlining an arena."

There's no word as to whether the track is the first single for their long-delayed first album with producer Rick Rubin, or simply the jingle for the beer company. Guitarist Billy Gibbons told Noise 11 the album's holdup is due to Rubin -- not the band: "I guess the irony of the whole picture is the band is wondering, 'Where is this thing? When do we hear it?' But Rick's funny like that. We've been friends for, gosh, as long as I can remember -- triple decades. And this is the first time that we've broken the mold as business pals.

Neal Schon says that the only way to see Steve Perry back on stage with Journey would be alongside current vocalist, sound-alike, Arnel Pineda. Schon, keyboardist Jonathan Cain, and Pineda spoke to The Huffington Post to publicize the new documentary, Don't Stop Believin'': Everyman's Journey, which premiered at New York City's Tribeca Film Festival, and talked candidly about what it would take to have Steve Perry ever rejoin Journey, with Schon saying, "I don't think there's any way not to have Arnel at this point. Who can say never? You can never say it's never going to happen. Maybe ten years from now? Six years? Who knows? But if that situation ever came up, I think it would be the both of them. And I think it would be at the point where it's a farewell tour. . . and we're done. That's the only appropriate way to go about it."

He recalled the search to find Pineda after going through two frontmen following Perry's departure. Schon explained, "We needed someone to really nail our catalog. I looked for a couple of days, non-stop on YouTube. It was a different way to go about it, instead of flying people in from all over the world. I looked and looked for like two days, and Arnel popped up at the last minute in a link. I heard the voice and went, 'He's got the high tenor voice.' I realized he was very, very strong and covered a lot of area."