ROSE'S FREAK SHOW COMING TO TOWN
- Compiled by Aaron Beck, Jerry Dannemiller and Curtis Schieber, Columbus Dispatch

* Guns N' Roses, CKY, Mixmaster Mike -- 7:30 p.m. Monday in Nationwide Arena, 200 W. Nationwide Blvd. (1-800645-2657)

Guns N' Roses 2003 is another name for Felix Cavaliere and the Rascals or any other state fair act with one holdout and a different beat. Original member Axl Rose leads this freak show. Buckethead, a guitarist whose stage gear leaves nothing to the imagination, wears a KFC bucket on his head. The drummer is named Brain. The keyboard player is Dizzy Reed. Bassist Tommy Stinson was a Replacement, and guitarist Richard Fortus played sessions for 'N Sync.

The tour's scheduled debut show in Vancouver, British Columbia, was a bust. Rose was late, making the promoter and the arena folk nervous. The show was canceled. The de facto debut show -- Tacoma, Wash. -- drew 6,000 fans and mixed reaction from reviewers.

Philadelphia metal band CKY, whose music has been featured on the MTV low-art thrill-ride Jackass, will perform first, followed by a set by daredevil DJ Mixmaster Mike.

CKY drummer Jess Margera, phoning last week from Fargo, N.D., said the band received the call to open the tour during a two-day drive from a Tony Hawk skateboard/rock festival in Detroit to a club gig in San Diego.

"We were 400 miles from San Diego when they told us to drive to Vancouver,'' Margera said. "We got there that night at 6:30, loaded in, sound checked, and we were hanging out in the dressing room when we heard the message over the speaker system: 'The show has been canceled.'

"It would have been horrible, but we got some great footage of broken windows and crap.''

CKY had played four shows before Margera called. He said Axl Rose "is a gentleman.''

"We've been hanging out with (Guns N' Roses) at the after-parties,'' Margera said. "They're great guys. Everybody tells these horror stories about Axl, but he's as nice as can be to us.''

Tickets cost $31 to $56 at Ticketmaster and the arena box office.