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Friday night Slash hosted his after concert party at TAO. After opening for Ozzy Osbourne, Slash, his wife Perla and a large group of friends gathered for a dinner of signature dishes at the Asian Bistro, including the rocker’s favorite, General Tso’s Chicken.

On the red carpet he shared that he loves coming to Vegas because it is so close to Southern California and he has so much fun here. He said he has some projects coming up for his movie production company, Slasher Films, but said there are no plans for him to get in front of the camera as he is only going to produce.

Slash and the group, including Laura Croft from Holly’s World, arrived upstairs in the club to great fanfare, taking over several tables on the dance floor as fans crowded to get pictures. He joined DJ Ross One in the DJ booth, announcing to the crowd that he was going to play make shift DJ and, “and interrupt your regular programming for an hour or so.” Slash started off his set with Sweet Child O’ Mine, Welcome to the Jungle and Crazy Train, setting the stage for the perfect night. After getting the party started, Slash returned to his table to watch the crowd enjoy his specially selected play list.

Photo credit: Tony Tran/Powers Imagery

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Here’s a great photo of Slash as he performs at the sixth annual MusiCares MAP Fund benefit concert to celebrate Women In Recovery, held in honor of former first lady Betty Ford and the Betty Ford Center at Club Nokia in Los Angeles last week.

Rockers and politicians are no strangers to each other of late, with top artists like Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Will.I.Am and more campaigning during the last two presidential elections. But punk and heavy metal icons like Slash, X’s Exene Cervenka, Motorhead’s Lemmy, Kiss’ Ace Frehley, Nashville Pussy’s Corey Parks, Billy Corgan and the Runaways’ Cherie Curie appearing at a tribute to former First Lady Betty Ford is a different kind of event altogether.

The incredible lineup honored the wife of late President Gerald Ford at the Grammy Foundation’s annual MAP/MusiCares concert, held at L.A.’s Club Nokia. Even Ford’s daughter, Susan Ford Bales, the current Chairman of the famed Betty Ford Center, a home for drug and alcohol treatment, was in disbelief. “I’m really proud of that and the fact that she is being honored by this group even though she is 92 years of age,” Ford told Spinner before the event. “It’s a real honor for her that they acknowledge her and what she’s done for women.”

RIYL: Guns n Roses, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper

Duff McKagan is the newest member of Jane’s Addiction; Scott Weiland is back with STP; Matt Sorum has a Pussycat Dolls-like rock review with his Darling Stilettos, and Dave Kushner most recently co-wrote the theme song to “Sons of Anarchy.” What about the man in the top hat and the very soul of Velvet Revolver? Slash has left his Snakepit behind to release a guitar player’s record in which a different vocalist is featured on each track. So often these types of records are uneven because the vocalists skew the music so drastically apart, the end results feel like a series of singles slapped together. Most of the tracks are polished musical metal pop songs that his vocalists end up fitting into, adjusting their style to fit into his vision. On most of the songs, he doesn’t make the mistake of trying to build material for the singers except the collaborations with Adam Levine and Kid Rock, which feel more specific for those artists and sound like tracks that would be recorded by the vocalists on their records. Slash is fun, ripping good and more accessible then the two Velvet Revolver records. Contraband and Libertad had their moments, but weren’t very consistent regardless of the commercial and critical hoopla.

The formula mellows a bit for Kid Rock’s funky “I Hold On.” The Adam Levine-sung “Gotten” sounds a lot like a Maroon 5 groove. “Mother Mary” is an earthy effort by Beth Hart that conjures up a Janis Joplin vibe. “Watch This,” featuring Dave Grohl and Duff McKagan, is the lone instrumental and a tasty one at that. Slash compiles an eclectic guest list, but because the music is based on his bluesy soloing and magnificent crunchy riffs, the record has a remarkable consistency. Ozzy also appears on the very predictable sounding, “Crucify the Dead.” Doesn’t it seem like every Ozzy track these days kind of sounds the same? The copy available for this review also featured a Cypress Hill/Fergie collaboration for a cover of “Paradise City.” It has a weird sort of charm and works as does most of this record. Slash is a pleasant surprise and even with the diverse set of singers, is one of the better records thus far in 2010. (Dik Hayd 2010)

Slash MySpace page

Renowned guitarist Slash has been preparing his very first solo album since 2007. The former Guns ‘N’ Roses and current Velvet Revolver member plans to release the record, Slash and Friends, sometime in 2010. The list of these “friends” is very lengthy. Those announced so far include Flea, Ozzy Osbourne, M. Shadows, Alice Cooper, Chris Cornell, Ron Wood, Iggy Pop, Fergie, and Adam Levine. Now Dave Grohl and Duff McKagan have even entered the fold. Josh Freeze will drum and Chris Chaney will play bass on the majority of the album.

“Doing a track for my record with Dave Grohl on drums & Duff on bass tonight, it promises to be killer,” Slash tweeted about the studio session before returning the 140-character Website to report “Great jamming w/Duff & Grohl tonight, the track is a killer instrumental, very heavy.”

With this effort, Slash is slowly becoming our generation’s Jeff Beck, recruiting established musicians to enhance his guitar work. For example, The Jeff Beck Group’s 1969 album Beck-Ola featured vocalist Rod Stewart and Ron Wood (again!) on guitars. The Jeff Beck Group would evolve over the years until Beck completely broke out on his own, recording whatever the hell he wanted to at the time.

The thing is, with these albums, the music rarely sounds cohesive. Slash has created a definitive guitar sound, but mixed with these various vocalists and eccentric musicians, I think the record is going to be all over the place. Oh well, I’m sure a few tracks will rip!