LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) One former Guns N’ Roses manager has responded to another Guns N’ Roses manager’s accusation involving a “satan specialist” and a curse on Axl Rose, calling the whole thing “just crazy pants.”
The odd-slash-amusing-slash-curious situation began when Guns N’ Roses dropped the 30th anniversary box set of Appetite For Destruction, giving a shout-out to the manager at the time, Alan Niven. It did not give a shout-out to later manager Doug Goldstein. That inspired Goldstein to go to the Twitter page of yet another manager, current GNR shepherd Fernando Lebeis, and cry fowl.
“Niven was with GNR for 3 years and hired a Satan specialist to cast spells on Axl and myself,” Goldstein posted. “I was with Axl for 17 years and more than doubled the bands royalty rate. Niven gets thanked on the new boxset, and NOTHING mentioning me.. WOW.”
Niven responded today not with a truncated Twitter post but with an old-fashioned statement, not only using the term “crazy pants” but identifying Goldstein with the full title “tour manager” – a variance in definition that completely shifts the role of Goldstein in the band’s hierarchy but adds, “Without doubt we can all say that Mr Goldstein presided over the rapid disintegration of the band.”
“The former tour manager of Guns n Roses has an integrity that matches his math; my contract with Guns n Roses was finally signed October 1986. I had started working with the band in August. Mr. Rose walked away from his obligations to the extended contract in March of 1991.
To my eternal regret I backed Mr. Rose in recording ‘One In A Million’. At that point I still believed he was not a gratuitous artist in his composing. I still believed him to be an artist, for that matter. He did not wear Manson T.shirts under my watch. He did not wear T. shirts denigrating Christ.
Furthermore Mr. Goldstein had absolutely nothing to do with the manner in which I brought David Geffen to the renegotiation table. I did not participate in those re-negotiations, or sign off on their content, since, dismissed, I no longer had responsibility for such negotiations. In that period I also supervised the renegotiation of the Artemis and Brockum contracts and directed Bill Elson of ICM to contract the initial dates of the upcoming tour.
Without doubt we can all say that Mr Goldstein presided over the rapid disintegration of the band. I, myself, have no doubt my exit was designed to allow Mr. Rose, to take over name, copyrights, etc. depriving the rest of the band.
The only people casting spells were Sharon Maynard, of whom I was unaware, and Mr. Goldstein, who directed her as to whom he wanted out of the picture. Yoda obliged by dismissing certain people’s images to Rose, and Goldstein, who by his own admission, in a bizarre letter that was posted on the internet, paid her. In the end one usually finds that evil is actually more banal than we fear, and based in greed and ego.
Didn’t get an awful lot done after 1991, now did they? By contrast I took an unwanted band to Wembley Stadium, my last act being putting that London show on sale.
I am long married to a light worker, renown in this area, my friends know my spirituality and that our home is full of positive spiritual talismen. By contrast, just last month I was warned that Mr. Goldstein was roaming the Southwest in a mobile home full of weapons. Do I think Mr. Goldstein and Mr. Rose are banal? You might ask that but I could not possibly comment, beyond saying …
“his statement is just crazy pants.”
– Alan Niven”
h/t MetalHeadZone
