Blessing a guitar god’s shrine

ON a recent Saturday night, I went to the Hard Rock to interview Slash at a dedication ceremony for a memorabilia case for the guitar legend formerly of Guns N’ Roses and currently of Velvet Revolver. According to Paul Davis, vice president of entertainment for the property, the main floor is the most coveted spot for a memorabilia case. “On the floor we like to have things that are iconic and timeless blended with stuff that is hot. Slash is in the fabric of rock, and this reminds people what this property is about.”

Slash admits he never actually played at the Hard Rock with Guns N’ Roses. “But I did come to a Guns show in Vegas to see Axl’s new band, and they would not let me in,” he said, referring to former Guns mate Axl Rose. “That was memorable.”

But Slash has had plenty of opportunity to play Vegas over the years. I once interviewed him when he performed with side project Camp Freddy at the opening of a topless bar. That night, his first words to me: “No questions about Guns N’ Roses.” He also has played the Hard Rock with Velvet Revolver. I was sent to review Velvet Revolver on New Year’s Eve 2005 at the Hard Rock, where I saw a wasted Slash on stage.

He fesses right up: “We had a big party in my room. I’d been drinking wine. I have a very even way of drinking wine and sustaining alcohol without overdoing it. One of my friends says that it is New Year and I’ve got to do a shot with him. I wound up doing three shots of Jack, and that took me over that little edge.”

Now, he isn’t drinking anything as he nervously participates in the dedication. “It was really nerve-racking. I am not good without a guitar in front of me.” Since there is also a Mary J. Blige concert in the Hard Rock’s Joint right next to the Slash case, we hustle to a nearby VIP lounge with security, while desperate fans thrust their own memorabilia at Slash to sign. (Why do people ask a guitar player to sign a drum skin?)

Anyway, Slash, 41, is old school; he asked security to arrange an orderly way he could sign autographs later.

“There is a story with everything in the case,” he says. “The jean jacket is something I got off of somebody in Canada a long time ago. I wore the jacket in the ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’ video. The top hat is one of the ones I’ve had for years, and it was sort of hard to part with it. But I get it back one day. They hold the stuff here, but I can take it back. The guitar has the best story. I stole that from the Hard Rock in Orlando. It was in the dressing room. I didn’t know what it was doing there, so I took it. I mean, it was in the dressing room and no one claimed it. So I’ve had it all these years and been playing it. But then I thought what better way to honor the Hard Rock for honoring me than to give it back, sort of.”

What happens outside of Vegas

Did you know prostitution is legal in much of Nevada? Probably more of a surprise to people is that prostitution is illegal in all of Clark County, including Las Vegas. But the legal brothels just outside Clark County, in Nye County, have been banned by Nevada law from doing any advertising of their services in Las Vegas.

So you don’t see in Vegas billboards for the totally legal Chicken Ranch (about an hour by car from Vegas) the way you do for topless bars and topless shows and, ahem, “private dancers” who go direct to your hotel room. But this month, a federal judge in Las Vegas struck down the 1979 law banning legal brothels from advertising on 1st Amendment grounds. A proud moment for the founding fathers indeed.

Actually, the people I’ve spoken to in the Nevada brothel industry seem sort of nervous about this victory. Especially in southern Nevada, the legal brothels have traditionally tried to keep a low profile by avoiding using famous porn stars as guest workers or making HBO specials. That stuff happens in northern Nevada and has helped those brothels get attention despite the advertising ban.

But the fear among the legal brothels down here is that changing demographics mean many newcomers to Nye County are California transplants and Vegas commuters who lack the Nevada libertarian spirit. And the brothels want more than anything to be the best neighbor you never see. That is because under state law, brothels are especially vulnerable to extinction, as they are only one Nye County Board of County Commissioners vote away from becoming as illegal as brothels are in the rest of the United States.

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For more of what’s happening on and off the Strip, see latimes.com/movablebuffet.