first North American tour in more than nine years.

"We believe all of these individuals participated in crimes ranging from causing a disturbance to taking part in a riot, criminal mischief, and breaking and entering," said spokesperson Sarah Bloor of the Vancouver City Police Department, which posted the Web site on Wednesday.

Bloor said three suspects marked as "identified" on the site represent a trio of fans identified before the page went up. They are expected to face charges related to the rioting but have not been charged yet. So far no tips from the site have led to the identification of any suspects.

When Guns singer Axl Rose failed to show up for the November 7 concert, approximately 8,000 fans began to riot, causing more than $400,000 in damage to General Motors Place (see "Fans Riot After Guns N' Roses Tour Kickoff Canceled: Kurt Loder Reports"). Police have struggled to identify and arrest those suspected of inciting the riots, which is why they decided to try this unorthodox method of policing, Bloor said.

"The Web site allows us to go to a wider market internationally and nationally and might allow people from British Columbia or Alberta to help us identify these individuals," she said.

The images and video clips of the suspects were obtained through warrants served on media outlets who covered the heavily hyped tour kickoff.

The concert was canceled before the doors to the venue opened, angering fans who then rammed glass doors with metal barricades and threw bottles and rocks. Rose's management company has said the singer was en route to the venue when the plug was pulled (see "Axl Rose Claims Canceled GN'R Show Could Have Gone On"). After 20 minutes of unrest, police moved in with dogs, pepper spray and batons.

Bloor said visitors to the site can anonymously identify the suspects if they wish. Though she did not have a count of how many people have visited the site, Bloor said police have received three dozen tips over the past week.

The future of the band was thrown into doubt when the tour was abruptly canceled following a second Axl no-show and riot in Philadelphia (see "It's Extra Official: Promoter Says GN'R Tour Totally Off").

A Guns management spokesperson would not comment on the Vancouver investigation but confirmed that "Axl and the band are continuing the recording of Chinese Democracy," the group's long-delayed new album.

behind-the-scenes look at how the band gets constructed, from the songwriting, singer search and studio sessions to whatever the end result may be. But don't call the constant swirl of TV cameras monitoring Slash's re-pairing with Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum a "reality show."

"That sounds exciting," Slash said, "but realistically, 'documentary' and 'reality' are two different things, and when you say 'reality show,' it just sounds stupid, as far as I'm concerned. There's something inherently wrong with the whole concept of reality shows. With the whole slew of reality things that are going on right now, watching everybody's trials and tribulations, the stupidest aspects of everyday life, or whatever it is that goes on, usually border on stupidity."

Instead, Slash has classic rock documentaries — "backstage stuff from Zeppelin, that kind of thing" — in his mind's eye, though he concedes that he doesn't exactly know how this will turn out (neither, by the way, does VH1, as it's still a work in progress).

"What we're doing with VH1," Slash explained, "is just documenting what we've been doing as far as looking for a singer, and then [we're] going into the studio and all that kind of stuff, basically — just the whole process of putting this band together. They're not going to our house and coming out with us to dinner and going with us to the gas station and watching us fight. So let's put that whole reality concept to rest."

Slash said that he doesn't know when the show will air, since it's contingent upon his bandmates filling the vacant singer spot (see "Former Guns N' Roses Members Form Band, Don't Rule Out Courtney Love As Singer"). Auditions have been ongoing, with the recently added feature of cameras rolling in the background. Slash said that it hasn't changed the dynamic of the tryouts too dramatically.

"There's only really a couple of guys shooting, and they sort of become part of the scenery so they're not real intrusive," Slash said. "So when somebody comes in, at first we don't really pay much attention to the whole shooting aspect because these guys really aren't in everybody's faces. They're really sort of at a distance. They're all over the place, but never right in your way. And so what basically happens is if somebody's coming in to audition, we sort of hint at the fact that there's cameras around, and ask if they're cool with that."

A long list of vocalists have tried out, including former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach, Buckcherry's Josh Todd, Neurotica's Kelly Shaefer and Psychotica's Pat Briggs, while actress Gina Gershon and Waylon Jennings' son Shooter, who fronts the L.A. rock band Stargunn, have stepped up to the mic for the band's few live appearances thus far (see "Gina Gershon Fronts Ex-GN'R Members At Sundance Concert"). Since VH1 started documenting the singer search, at least three more solid potentials have tried out, with only one of those declining to allow cameras to roll.

"There's been so many people since Sebastian," Slash said, "but I'm not going to name names. I'm trying to be discreet, just trying to be cool about who comes in and all that kind of stuff. That aspect of it is a bit private on both ends, you know what I mean? As soon as I get somebody, I'll make a long list. I'll mention a couple of people — with their permission — of who tried out. But as we speak right this second, we haven't chosen anybody."

On the need-not-apply list? Heavy metal-screamer types. "As soon as we hear that, we're just, like, not really into it," Slash said. "We've had a lot of demos of like Judas Priest-type stuff, a lot of the Sum 41/Good Charlotte-style pop punk, pseudo punk rock kind of guys."

More female singers have also tried out since Gershon took the stage with the band at Sundance, but Slash thinks that ultimately they'll end up with a guy. "We haven't closed the door," he said, "but at the same time, we're used to working with guys all the time. But you never know. It'd have to be someone really uniquely gifted for this thing, somebody with the real growling kind of rock and roll voice."

spokesperson.

"You snooze you lose," Offspring singer Dexter Holland said in a statement. "Axl ripped off my braids, so I ripped off his album title."

Holland referred to Rose's new hairstyle, which was premiered at last year's MTV Video Music Awards (see "Guns N' Roses Cap Night Of Spectacles From Diddy, Eminem, Timberlake"). Holland, meanwhile, has long since retired the 'do he rocked during Offspring's breakthrough LP, 1994's Smash.

Produced by Brendan O'Brien (Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine), the Offspring's Chinese Democracy, their follow-up to 2000's Conspiracy of One, is scheduled for an early summer release. GN'R's LP, meanwhile, remains in limbo (see "Axl Rose Says GN'R Waiting Game Won't End Soon").

Whether the Offspring's jack move will cause Rose to alter plans for moving forward with the title he has been flaunting for about seven years is not yet known. An Interscope spokesperson did not return calls by press time.

Should Axl stick to his guns, which he has every legal right to do, it wouldn't be the first time several albums shared a title. Home, for instance, has been used by, among others, Spearhead (1994), Deep Blue Something (1995), Sevendust (1999), and most recently, the Dixie Chicks (2002).

Reports that surfaced last week claiming the Offspring were to call their new LP Chinese Democrazy (You Snooze You Lose), originated from a fan site and were never confirmed by management, according to the Offspring's spokesperson. Another post on that same site also alleged that Rose's attorney's sent the Offspring a cease-and-desist letter, of which management said it had no knowledge.

Coincidentally, Josh Freese, who played with A Perfect Circle and is now the replacement for departed Offspring drummer Ron Welty, also worked with Rose on his Chinese Democracy.

soundtrack as well. Though the band's original deal with Universal Pictures only secured the song for the movie itself, it will now be released as the only song with vocals on the soundtrack, the rest of which features a music score by Danny Elfman. The soundtrack is due in stores June 17. ...

the ideas presented below, in this week's episode of "The Wrap," premiering Sunday at 7 p.m. on MTV and 9:30 p.m. on MTV2.

My first truly great concert experience came in the summer of 1988. Two friends and I hooked up with someone we barely knew to score a ride from our small, rural Pennsylvania town to a dusty racetrack three hours down the road for an Aerosmith concert. At the time, the band was riding the comeback wave after their Permanent Vacation album yielded a string of top 40 radio hits. But they weren't the main draw for us.

The promise of a 30-to-45-minute opening set doesn't usually count for much, but the promise of a 30-to-45-minute Guns N' Roses opening set was enough to get us to drive across 140 miles of Pennsylvania highway. From the unrelenting force of "Nightrain" to the mighty stomp of "Mr. Brownstone" to the stripped-down beauty of "Patience" (a preview of the band's then-upcoming GN'R Lies), the band's set that night not only justified our drive; it made us rethink everything we thought we knew about rock.

After coming of age in the era of Duran Duran, Debbie Gibson and pop metal, here was true rock in its most ballsy and dangerous form. Every element of the band — from Axl Rose's manic presence to Slash's buzz-saw guitar to the deep-pocketed groove of drummer Steven Adler, bassist Duff McKagan and rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin — seemed to project swagger. By the end of the set, I was sure that my skull was made of steel, my fists were hand grenades, and pure kerosene pumped through my veins. Eyes opened and asses kicked, we pulled on our brand spankin' new GN'R T-shirts, jumped in the car, and hit 81 South on the way home before Aerosmith even hit the stage.

The surge we felt that night — courtesy of that combustible combination of players — will always be GN'R to me. That's why I think that Axl Rose should retire the Guns N' Roses name, and why a band of entirely different players led by Axl Rose is not the same thing. At all.

Many acts are driven by the sole creative vision of one artist, leaving room for deep lineup changes (Nine Inch Nails come to mind). That wasn't the case with Guns N' Roses. Far from a one-man show, GN'R were the sum of the group's key components. Axl, Slash, Duff and Izzy drove the band's creativity and energy and formed GN'R's soul. It was an exciting force, but one that was extinguished in the early '90s as those key members went their separate ways. Metallica are more than James Hetfield, the Rolling Stones are more than Mick Jagger, and Guns N' Roses are more than Axl. It's hard to imagine Bono breaking ties with the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. yet still soldiering on under the U2 name.

Of course, there's no doubt that Axl was the lynchpin of Guns, and that he brings considerable talent to the project that he's currently working on. He undoubtedly has an ambitious and unique musical vision, and in tapping an accomplished group of musicians he has built a fantastic band and a force to be reckoned with. Technically blessed drummer Brian "Brain" Mantia cut his teeth with the likes of Primus and Tom Waits, and bassist Tommy Stinson spent a good chunk of his teen years with seminal punks the Replacements. The guitar wall of Trent Reznor collaborator Robin Finck and bizarro virtuoso Buckethead add a daunting element to whatever Axl has up his sleeve. Surely this musical partnership is strong enough to survive under its own banner without adopting the moniker "Guns N' Roses." Give it its own name; to do anything else doesn't do much of a service to what GN'R built in the '80s and '90s, nor does it do a service to the men who stand beside Axl now.

And certainly, one of the most well-known rock icons of the last 20 years doesn't need the brand recognition. Axl's name alone on a project would carry a tremendous amount of weight, without slapping the GN'R name across the top of it.

Both Axl's project and Slash and Duff's recently launched Velvet Revolver are unique, interesting and thick with promise, and I'm very excited to hear what both groups are cooking up. However, they simply aren't GN'R. Of course, the name and concept of Guns N' Roses legally belong to Axl to be used however he sees fit. But as Axl himself asked rhetorically during an interview with MTV News' Kurt Loder last year, "How do you make a whole bunch of guys into something that already was?"

You don't. You make them something fresh, something exciting and something new.

— Robert Mancini

all agreed to create Tosh covers for The Peter Tosh Tribute Album, a toast to the late reggae great.

The album will be out in February, and proceeds will be used to build a medical clinic, a library, a Tosh museum and mausoleum, and fund a music initiative in Belmont, Jamaica. In an effort to maximize profits, album coordinators Mike Malott (a former Tosh promoter) and Tosh's son Dave have chosen to release the record on reggae indie Stone Tiger instead of a major label.

The Sean Paul track, "No Nuclear War," will feature vocals and instrumentation from the original master recording. Cypress Hill will cover "Legalize It," and the Guns N' Roses survivors, who are currently playing together in the band Velvet Revolver, have not yet decided what track they will record.

Also contributing to The Peter Tosh Tribute Album are D.C. hardcore heroes Bad Brains, who will record "African"; organic rocker Ben Harper, who'll take on "I Am That I Am"; brother Andrew Tosh, who will tackle "Get Up, Stand Up"; and bluesman Jimmie Vaughan, who will cover "Stepping Razor."

In addition, the disc will include several previously released covers. Eric Clapton's version of "What'cha Gonna Do" was recorded in 1973 and features Tosh on background vocals. It originally came out on Clapton's 1988 box set, Crossroads. Jerry Garcia's rendition of "Stop That Train" was released on the 1990 double live album Jerry Garcia Band.

Others appearing on The Peter Tosh Tribute Album include the Motels' Martha Davis, Bob Andy, Lasana Bandelé, Donald Kinsey, Edi Fitzroy, Tippa Irie with Better Chemistry, Luciano, Jeffrey Gaines, Lucky Dube, Maxi Priest, Aswad and David Lindley.

Tosh was born Winston McIntosh on October 19, 1944, in Grange Hill, Jamaica. At age 15 he left his tiny town to move to Kingston, where he met Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer and Junior Braithwaite and formed the Wailers. The group recorded four albums together before Tosh left to pursue his solo career full-time.

His 1976 debut, Legalize It, showcased his developing interest in political issues and proved Marley was not the only driving force in the Wailers. Over the next 11 years, Tosh recorded seven more albums. During that time he toured with the Rolling Stones and shared a duet with Mick Jagger on the song "(You Got to Walk and) Don't Look Back."

His career was cut tragically short on September 11, 1987, when former friend Dennis Lobban and a group of thugs broke into Tosh's Kingston house and opened fire on Tosh and six of his friends. Tosh was shot in the head and died, as did two others.

Two Tosh retrospectives, The Essential Peter Tosh: The Columbia Years and Best of Peter Tosh 1978-1987, were recently released.

four tracks. "A couple of them I did more than orchestrating," he told IGN. "I actually wrote some melodies and stuff. On one song, I actually wrote a guitar part." Song titles, he said, included "Seven," "Thyme," "The General" and "Leave Me Alone." ...

McKagan in the GN'R lineup, is shopping around songs and looking for a label deal. Though if you think Stinson's solo stuff will resemble "Welcome to the Jungle" or "Paradise City," you're as off-base as the folks banking on using the long-awaited GN'R album as this year's stocking stuffers.

The tunes were closer to the Replacements' more somber moments — even Stinson's voice was fondly reminiscent of 'Mats singer Paul Westerberg — when they were first played acoustically on tour in June. Reserved as they were, their dynamic pop structures were expectedly fitting for a member of one of the most influential rock bands of the pre-"alternative" era.

When he hits the road backed by the pop-punkers the Figgs for three weeks beginning Sunday in Albany, New York, the songs will no doubt be treated to a fuller rock sound.

Some of the 16 songs Stinson's been touting have been works in progress for the past decade. One of them was the last song he wrote before the Replacements broke up in 1991.

"They're all loosely based on people and places I've been," he said. "Most of them are composites of various characters kind of meshed together. There's only one song on the whole thing that I actually wrote about a friend of mine."

Given that he joined the Replacements, who were noted for their often-inebriated rock and roll lifestyle, when he was 14, Stinson, now 36, has seen and done more on the road than most musicians his age.

Being a member of the volatile Guns N' Roses lineup, with its sporadic work schedule, afforded Stinson the time to plug away at his song cache, though he kept them mostly closeted. It was former D Generation singer and solo artist Jesse Malin who encouraged Stinson to perform the songs live when Malin asked Stinson to play with him in Los Angeles.

Don't expect to hear any Replacements songs on Stinson's current trek, however. Although a mere glimpse of the dapper rocker onstage resurrects memories of "Bastards of Young," "Can't Hardly Wait" and "I'll Be You," the band's biggest commercial hit, Stinson's reason for not succumbing to fans' misappropriated desires is simple.

"I didn't sing them," he said dryly. "So what would be the point in that?"

The only previously released material that makes it into the set are selections from his post-'Mats bands Bash & Pop and Perfect, who released the EP When Squirrels Play Chickens in 1996. A full-length LP was supposed to follow but was shelved. Restless Records is expected to finally release it later this year.

The ultimate goal of Stinson's tour is to land him a record deal, but that doesn't mean he's willing to compromise his integrity over it.

"I'm not about to go whoring it out," he explained. "I made a record that I'm pretty close to. I like all the music. I'm going to go with the right arrangement; I'm not going to go door-to-door trying to sell it. I'm just going to find someone to put it out who seems right and who's on the same page."

Tommy Stinson and the Figgs tour dates:

• 8/24 - Albany, NY @ Valentines
• 8/25 - Buffalo, NY @ The Continental Club
• 8/26 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
• 8/27 Hamtramck, MI @ Smalls
• 8/28 - Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club
• 8/29 - Green Bay, WI @ Riverside Ballroom
• 8/30 - Minneapolis, MN @ Uptown Bar
• 8/31 - Minneapolis, MN @ Uptown Bar
• 9/2 - Chicago, IL @ Double Door
• 9/3 - Columbus, OH @ Little Brother's
• 9/5 - New York, NY @ Knitting Factory
• 9/6 - Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell's
• 9/7 - Philadelphia, PA @ North Star Bar
• 9/8 - Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
• 9/9 - New Haven, CT @ Toad's Place
• 9/12 - Providence, RI @ Met Café
• 9/13 - Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Club

does, Piazza appeared on New York classic rock station Q104.3's nationally syndicated Friday night show, "Friday Night Rocks ... With Eddie Trunk," with a CD marked "New GNR" which he said he received in the mail three weeks ago. He persuaded Trunk to play the song "I.R.S." at 12:15 a.m. Saturday morning.

Almost immediately the station was flooded with calls. One listener described it as combining rock and techno — Axl Rose's distinctive voice on top of Buckethead's unorthodox guitar work.

"It reminded me of Use Your Illusion-era stuff, with some modern flairs to it," said DJ Eddie Trunk. "The song had a loop track in the beginning, but then, when it kicked in, it was that same dramatic Guns N' Roses hard rock."

Not all of the calls were complimentary, however. One was from GN'R management, which issued a verbal cease-and-desist order.

"We've gotten hundreds, dare I say thousands, of e-mails since, urging us to play it again," said Q104 (WAXQ-FM) program director Bob Buchmann. "But we can't because the management flipped when they heard it on the air."

Because Trunk often deals with the same management company and has a professional relationship with them, he didn't argue with the request. There still was the matter of having a new GN'R song in circulation, though.

Trunk believes a fan aware of Piazza's love for all things rock sent him the CD-R, which also included the instrumental and complete versions of two other songs. So whoever sent Piazza the disc must have obtained it through the studio, he reasoned.

"People who listen to my show know that Mike is a fanatic about this stuff, as much as I am," Trunk said. "They know he's a regular part of the show ... And someone must have thought that this would be a cool way to leak the track."

The GN'R camp was so eager to retrieve the disc that they arranged to meet with Trunk, to whom Piazza had given the CD, as soon as possible. And that just happened to be at Shea Stadium on Sunday, while the Mets were hosting a game with the Atlanta Braves.

Since Trunk's show can be heard nationwide, it's likely not the last we will hear of "I.R.S." Although all traces of the segment were removed from taped broadcasts of the show, it's broadcast live in Minneapolis and Truck says many listeners routinely tape the show, which airs from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Axl himself has been lax in protecting access to his band's new material. Two months ago, the singer played new songs at a Las Vegas strip club in order to gauge the reaction from the dancers.

"I.R.S." joins "Madagascar," which Guns N' Roses premiered at the 2002 Video Music Awards, as new material that may appear on the band's long-overdue new LP, Chinese Democracy.

A spokesperson for Guns N' Roses' label, Interscope, had no comment, but given the fact that management "flipped," they wouldn't have had a reason to were it not the genuine article and instead a tune by Paradise City, Mr. Brownstone, Bent Axle or any number of the GN'R tribute bands.

As for Piazza being comeback rock's new litmus test, Buchmann said it happens more often than you'd expect.

"Mike is a huge music fan," he said. "The truth is, Mike is so passionate about certain music that I would argue that he's on the top-10 list of real music fans that a band might circulate their unreleased stuff to. Piazza's a riot. He's as passionate as they come."

The lucky catcher has probably been listening to those new Duran Duran joints for months now, too.

This story updated 09.03.03 at 4:12 p.m. ET

a report issued by the Vancouver police commissioner on Friday. One concertgoer — who did not appear to be resisting police in footage of the incident — had two teeth knocked out by a police baton that night, and later had to have six teeth removed as a result. …