Helen Luna's Page

I've said this so many times that I'm afraid of repeating myself. I have an emotional connection to this band. More than a taste for their music and an adoration for their awesome lyrics, I have reasons in my heart that attach me to them.

I know the band since 1988. My brother had an AFD vinyl and used to lock himself in his room and listen to it very loud while studying. But then I was only 6 and couldn't care less about a rock band. After, my brother-in-law gifted me a GnR shirt and borrowed me his UYI albums. But I just became a GnR fan in 1993, because of a very mystical situation that happened to me.

I grew up without any emotional support from my parents and siblings. My mother is very religious and forced me to go to church with her (kinda like Axl's childhood, yeah). My father was a drunkard and didn't save me from her repression. Every year I used to spend new year's eve at church, on my knees, praying. But that year my father was sick and he asked my mother to let me go home before midnight so we could celebrate together.

Church wasn't very far from home, and when I heard the fireworks, I ran back home. And in the way, a car went by playing "November rain" out loud. Odd, right? But it wouldn't stop there. It started raining. And after I heard a few notes of that song (which I never cared about) tears came to my eyes. It was like that song, or the few notes I heard, or Axl's voice, surfaced a lot of emotions in me, like: rebellion, rage, sense of justice, will to be myself and set myself free no matter the cost. I felt whole. I felt empowered. I felt I had been fooled for years and I had to and could fight back. All of that rose inside of me from listening to a song I didn't even understand the lyrics - because at the time I didn't speak English yet.

Since that day, my life changed for the better. I went after that band because it had proven to be capable of doing something inside of me, something I needed, or at least it could be a way of expressing myself through them. Guns since then has been an inspiration, a motivator, a lesson of integrity, a mind opener. It was because of the lines in The Spaghetti Incident "do yourself a favor and go find the originals" that I began to like and study rock and roll, and ultimately became a music addict - something that has changed my life in so many ways.

Still today, GnR brings the same feeling, that "I am alive and I'm gonna kick some asses, you'll never own me" feeling to me. GnR is a lifestyle. GnR is way better than religion.

I'm all for new GnR. Because I just know that what I always loved in them was their vision, their heart, their lyrics, their emotion, and that is with Axl. He has taken that to the new band. The guys with him, they share the same passion, the same attitude, and the result of that is extremely powerful in my life. I love Ron Thal, he's the coolest guy ever. he's been very nice to me the times we talked. I'm a member of his forum. I love Ashba too. I even came to lengths of making him a fan club. I like a lot Fortus, Tommy, Dizzy, Pitman, Brain and Frank. But I still owe them some attention. I know they're even better guys than what I make of them.

Needless to say I love Axl. He's my hero. My role-model. I don't think it gets any better. Chinese Democracy is awesome. I'm dying for the tour to start and come to Brazil. It only gets better the day my dream comes true: meet Axl in person and tell him, looking into his eyes, a big thank you for all that he's done in my life.

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