GN'R Plans for Chinese Democracy Reissue, US Tour & the Return of Duff?

Metal Sludge
Hot rumor is that Axl Rose has fired Doc McGhee.

Very interesting. Word on the street for a few days has been that Doc McGhee was going to be fired as GN'R manager. Now it seems like that rumor just might have become a fact.

Insider talk has Jeff Kwatinetz of Prospect Park (formerly of The Firm) fingered as the new shot caller for GN'R in the way of management.

Read more here and here.

Sludge is hearing that the popular UK magazine Classic Rock is offering a solid near 6 figure payoff of ca$h money to Mister Saint laurent for his GN'R memory stick of personal documents. This includes an alleged Axl Rose autobiography, his personal emails, contracts for Dj Ashba, the good, bad & ugly:

On December 16, Guns N' Roses took the stage in Abu Dhabi to cap off the most recent leg of the never-ending Chinese Democracy World Tour.

On December 15, Guns N' Roses manager Doc McGhee was informed by members of the band that Tommy Stinson did not intend to take the stage.

And now, on February 2, those same band members find themselves uninformed, unpaid and searching for the same answers as the rabid GN'R fanbase ...

What is next for Guns N' Roses?

Answering that question is nearly impossible and Doc McGhee is just the latest in a long line of managers learning first hand that no matter what you have planned, at any point, W. Axl Rose may take his ball and go home.

While McGhee refused to comment for this story, documents recently received by mistersaintlaurent.com reveal a very thorough and dedicated plan to re-market Chinese Democracy in the US later this year.

A full North American arena tour and Best Buy exclusive reissue of Chinese Democracy would both launch on March 29. The tour would run through May 17 and hit 30 markets, including NY, LA, Vegas, Ft. Lauderdale, Boston, Detroit, Toronto, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Tampa, Philly, DC, Denver, San Jose, Calgary, Winnipeg, Omaha and Houston.

The album reissue would contain new artwork and a second disc containing bonus material. In addition to remixes of tracks from the album, the bonus disc would contain a new song "Blood in the Water" as well as a new version of "Better" featuring Dj Ashba, which would serve as the radio single for the reissue.

All of this would be announced February 7, with a secret show the day before the Super Bowl (February 5) at The Lodge in Dallas. Yet, it's February 2 and those in the GN'R camp that were willing to speak to mistersaintlaurent.com insist they have not received any airfare or itinerary.

While nobody would dispute that a very disappointed Axl Rose has holed himself up at home once again, most agreed he was justifiably upset.

"When we got back to the states, we expected Doc to have a US tour ready for us," said one member of Guns N' Roses that spoke with mistersaintlaurent.com. "When we found out things were still up in the air, everyone was deflated, but Axl took the news the worst," he continued.

But why is Doc McGhee having so much trouble finalizing a North American tour? Multiple sponsors have already signed on, including John Varvatos, Bloomingdales and Deleon Tequila. Companies such as Monster Energy and Harley-Davidson have had discussions with GN'R as well about sponsoring a tour.

The answer may very well lie with Axl's previous manager, the mega powerful Irving Azoff. With Azoff controlling everything from venues to ticketing, many have accused Azoff of interfering with Doc's plan of attack for 2011.

So with the tour appearing to be off, where does that leave things with Best Buy? Although Best Buy had been burned by the first release of Chinese Democracy, they've pledged major funds to help market a reissue. Will they continue to be so supportive when clearly it is impossible for Guns N' Roses to reliably stick to any sort of plan.

And if and when the band returns, who will be playing bass? It wasn't that long ago that Duff McKagan appeared on stage with the band, a move that shocked fans throughout the world.

But what wasn't publicly known at the time was that for years there have been internal discussions about canning Stinson due to problems with alcohol as well as his treatment of staff and crew. What role this played in Stinson threatening to not take the stage in Abu Dhabi is not known, but what is known is that as far back as 2008, Axl and other members of the band had many discussions about the pros and cons of a Duff return, a return Duff has privately expressed interest in repeatedly behind closed doors.

So what is next for Guns N' Roses? Unfortunately, not even Guns N' Roses itself knows the answer to that question.

But rest assured, this story is far from over.

BREAKING NEWS - DOC MCGHEE FIRED AS GUNS N' ROSES MANAGER ...

Again, the above is located right here.