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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0No, I am not talking about the TV show <\/span>Better Call Saul<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0I am talking about Saul Hudson. \u00a0Don\u2019t ask me why, but I have always been fascinated with the real names of actors and musicians who are better known by their stage names. \u00a0Take Peter Horlebeeke, the singing drummer for one of Michigan\u2019s biggest bands of the 1960s and 1970s, Rare Earth. Horlebeeke went by the name of \u2018Pete Rivera\u2019 then and still does to this day. \u00a0Gordon Sumner? He is much better known as \u2018Sting\u2019. The name was bestowed upon him when he was the bass playing lead singer of The Police and liked to wear a black and yellow (think \u2018bumble bee\u2019) sweater. \u00a0Saul Hudson is a busy man and has been since his first band imploded twenty years ago so it is a wonder that <\/span>Classic Rock Magazine<\/span><\/i> got him to sit still long enough for an interview in the early summer of 2018. \u00a0You probably know him better as \u2018Slash\u2019; he of the curly mane, oversized top hat and the blistering guitar licks that graced hit after hit for Guns \u2018N Roses. \u00a0Until I read this interview, the origin of the Slash moniker had always been a mystery.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It turns out that young Saul used to hang out with actor Seymour Cassel\u2019s (<\/span>Rushmore<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>The Royal Tenenbaums<\/span><\/i>) son and it was the elder Cassel who started calling him \u2018Slash\u2019. \u00a0Yes, it sounded cool, but no one really knew what it meant. When Guns were touring behind their <\/span>Use Your Illusion<\/span><\/i> albums, Slash ran into the senior Cassel in Paris. \u00a0Not knowing the answer himself, Saul asked Cassel why he started calling him by his now familiar nickname. \u00a0As Slash related the story in his autobiography, \u201cHis reason for calling me \u2018Slash\u2019 was that I never stood still for more than five minutes. \u00a0He was right. I\u2019ve never stayed still. I am perpetually in motion, often saying goodbye while saying hello, and Seymour summed that quality up in a word.\u201d \u00a0<\/span>CRM<\/span><\/i> writer Scott Rowley seems as taken with the nickname thing as I am. \u00a0He expands on Slash\u2019s own explanation, saying, \u201cHe\u2019s \u2018Slash\u2019 in the sense of \u2018and\/or\u2019 or \u2018yes\/no\u2019 – not slash as in knife wound. \u00a0He\u2019s not a split, he\u2019s a join, a conjunction. He\u2019s not one thing, he is both. A slash is used to link alternatives: black\/white, English\/American. \u00a0He\u2019s a walking paradox, a duality.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rowley got so into the whole \u2018Slash\u2019 thing, he even researched the French origins of the word: \u00a0\u201cThe word \u2018slash\u2019 has roots in the old French world \u2018esclachier\u2019, meaning \u2018to break\u2019. He\u2019s been breaking things his whole live – records, rules, bones, hearts. \u00a0But his appetite for destruction was matched only by his work ethic.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Never would I have thought the Slash of Guns N\u2019 Roses fame existed on such a deeper plane. \u00a0I like the music he created with G\u2019N\u2019R, Slash\u2019s Snakepit, Velvet Revolver, and (most recently) with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, but I never gave him much credit for being articulate in the English language sense. \u00a0Being much less outgoing than some of his lead singers (Axl Rose and the late Scott Weiland as examples), Slash never had to be very chatty during interviews. Pursuing his own projects, he became the de facto \u2018talking head\u2019 of his solo bands, sometimes alternating between \u2018yes\u2019 and \u2018no\u2019 interviews and more expansive discourse. \u00a0The problem for me was his liberal use of the \u2018F-word\u2019 without regard to who was interviewing him or who was watching or reading the interview. Granted, the most recent <\/span>CRM<\/span><\/i> article was more than chock full of that word that shall not be mentioned (yes, sounds a lot like that bad guy in <\/span>Harry Potter<\/span><\/i>), but Rowley still finds a more likeable side to Slash\u2019s personality. \u00a0<\/span>CRM<\/span><\/i> admits that they perhaps have been on the G\u2019N R (and thus, Slash\u2019s) bandwagon more than most trade publications (including four Slash covers over the last few years). \u00a0\u00a0Rowley makes the point that it isn\u2019t because there is a personal connection here. According to Rowley, \u201cMusic writers and rock stars do not normally become fast friends.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With that said, Rowley goes on to relate a story that made me reassess this F-bombing character with the cool name. \u00a0Back in May of 2018, we covered the fall and rebirth of <\/span>Classic Rock Magazine <\/span><\/i>(FTV: \u00a0The Power of Print \u00a05-30-18). The thumbnail version goes like this: \u00a0the company that had purchased <\/span>CRM<\/span><\/i> made some bad business decisions that led them to pink slip the whole magazine staff just before Christmas of 2016. \u00a0Through a series of small miracles, <\/span>CRM\u2019s <\/span><\/i>\u00a0previous owners repurchased the company and kept <\/span>CRM<\/span><\/i> and her sister publications alive and their whole publishing team working. \u00a0Naturally, Rowley was in a funk about the whole process when the pink slips were issued. \u00a0He had worked at the mag since 2004 and was facing an unknown future until their Christmas miracle occurred. \u00a0\u00a0Rowley explains, \u201cTwo days later (after the pink slipping), I was home, shell shocked. I had no clue what to do next. \u00a0I was cooking dinner for my kids when the phone rang: \u201cHey, Scott?\u201d says a soft, American voice. \u201cIt\u2019s Slash. What the (expletive deleted) is going on?\u201d \u00a0There where many kind gestures over the next weeks .. . but Slash calling me at home – one small personal gesture, but one he didn\u2019t have to do – was one of the standouts.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0Slash explained his reasons (for calling) when he made a follow up call to Rowley: \u201cI was sort of devastated when I heard . . . there\u2019s not many magazines left and I had a relationship with you guys. \u00a0It was really sad. So I was really happy that it turned around like it did . . .We\u2019ve known each other for a long time.\u201d Minus the F bomb that I edited from the above passage, I was struck by a side of Slash that I hadn\u2019t seen before. \u00a0He is still too busy to stand still, but I was impressed that he took the time to contact Rowley when <\/span>CRM <\/span><\/i>looked to be heading down the tubes.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rowley took it upon himself to seek out others who had stories about crossing paths with Slash. \u00a0A fan named Betty said that she had missed a concert meet and greet with the band due to an illness. \u00a0Five years later, Slash heard about the incident, got Betty tickets and a backstage pass to a concert where he held a private meet and greet with her. \u00a0A fledgling photographer named Alissa said she was at stage front trying to shoot pictures of the band with a cheap camera. Slash saw she was having difficulty so he ambled to that side of the stage and posed for over a minute so she could get the shots. \u00a0Then there was Robert, a fan who took his son to see Velvet Revolver because the son was a big Slash fan. Back stage, Slash was having an argument with the concert organizers and yet when Robert asked if they could get a picture, Slash came over and had a chat with them before returning to the previous row with the promoters. \u00a0Slash seems to have a knack for making a positive impression on just about everyone he meets.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The fact that Slash became a good friend of the late Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead isn\u2019t much of a surprise. \u00a0As far back as 1992, Slash appeared on a couple of Motorhead tracks (on the album <\/span>March or Die<\/span><\/i>) and as Slash tells it, \u201cWe became good drinking buddies and whatnot.\u201d \u00a0Slash told those in attendance at Lemmy\u2019s funeral, \u201cLemmy was one of my all-time favorite (expletive deleted) human beings.\u201d \u00a0It turned out that both Slash and Lemmy had suffered with the same cardiomyopathy, an enlargement of the heart brought on by excessive drug or alcohol use. \u00a0Slash heard the warning call and has been sober for the past 13 years. Unfortunately for Lemmy, his diagnosis hid the cancer that eventually took his life. When Lemmy sang <\/span>Dr. Alibi<\/span><\/i> on Slash\u2019s first solo record, the lyrics seemed a preface of where Lemmy was headed, \u201c<\/span>I went to see the doctor \/ he said your pretty sick \/ You\u2019ve got some real bad habits \/ You\u2019d better stop right quick . . . Don\u2019t you know I feel alright \/ \u00a0doing what I do \/ I\u2019m not going to toe the line \/ not till I turn blue.\u201d <\/span><\/i>Slash remembers Lemmy as being one who dispelled the notion that one had to act like a punk and wear leather to be a rock star: \u00a0\u201c He was a (expletive deleted) perfect gentleman. Very considerate and polite to everybody around him<\/span>, <\/span><\/i>and yet he was as hard core a (expletive deleted) rock \u2018n roller as you were ever going to find.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When asked on his book tours if he wants his kids to read about his rock \u2018n roll lifestyle, Slash says that his kids don\u2019t really want to read what dad has to say about anything. \u00a0In the next breath, however, he admits that his 15 year old son did indeed crack the book: \u201cSo now anytime I have anything to say to him about school or work, or whatever it is that he doesn\u2019t necessarily want to hear, he can (expletive deleted) fire back at me, \u2018Well, in your book you said\u2026\u2019.\u201d \u00a0Divorced from his wife of 13 years, Slash is back with his old band and in a renewed relationship with a woman he had spent time with when he was twenty five. His new album with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators came out in September of 2018 and he will hit the road with them as soon as the rest of the G\u2019N\u2019R dates play out. \u00a0The new LP is called <\/span>Living the Dream<\/span><\/i>, but the title refers to the current state of turmoil in the world, not living the rock and roll dream: \u00a0\u201cI mean, if you were to sit there and put on any news channel right now and spend a good two hours watching it, that\u2019s when the sarcastic \u2018<\/span>living the dream\u2019 <\/span><\/i>statement comes to mind.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After all the negativity that surrounded the end of Guns \u2018N Roses, how did they manage to get back together for the \u2018Not In This Lifetime\u2019 tour? \u00a0When Axl and Slash got around to talking about things, Axl mentioned that the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival had repeatedly offered them some major cash for a reunion. \u00a0Other bands had done similar reunions at Coachella (Alice in Chains, The Stooges, The Pixies) leading Axl to remark, \u201cYou know, Coachella would be sort of fun, wouldn\u2019t it?\u201d The plan was to do a couple of warm up dates and then the festival. \u00a0It has gone a little farther than anyone expected. The on-going tour is now the fourth biggest tour of all time.<\/span><\/p>\n Slash has hinted that it might lead to a new G \u2018N\u2019 R record, but it is too soon to tell. \u00a0He does, after all, have his own album out and will be touring in support of that. In spite of Axl\u2019s past history of not showing up for shows on time, this go around Slash says, \u201cAxl has been (expletive deleted) great. \u00a0Axl has been (expletive deleted) amazing. He has been so professional it blows my mind. It has been quite a (expletive deleted) positive experience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Slash tends to post quite a bit of stuff on social media, but he claims he doesn\u2019t have time to bother with reading what people write about it. \u00a0He doesn\u2019t want to get involved in the time suck that social media can be, but he does recognize the importance to bands today: \u201cI\u2019m on social media for the marketing. \u00a0I mean, to promote a gig or to promote a record. You can talk to the fans in a direct way that you couldn\u2019t before. I just don\u2019t want to be in that world where you are just glued to what everybody else thinks and everybody else has to say about it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As Rowley neatly summed up his interview, \u201cSlash may not be, by is own admission, much of a talker, but he certainly seems to have a lot to say.\u201d \u00a0Will listeners be hearing <\/span>Living the Dream<\/span><\/i> on WOAS-FM? \u00a0I would say that is pretty much a lock, but as with all Slash records, it will need to be previewed to make sure no pesky (expletive deleted)s sneak on the air. \u00a0Stay tuned!<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Slash and Co at the Hollywood Palladium – nice venue, got to see Truth and Salvage Co. open for the Black Crowes there some years ago…back when the Crowes were still talking to each other!<\/p>\n