A NIGHT OUT WITH
Tommy Stinson: A Rock Legend 24 Years

Here's GN'R mentions:

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Mr. Stinson still has excellent rock-star hair, and he needs it because he is now the bass player for Guns N' Roses. While he (and everyone) waits for Axl Rose, the leader, to finish his eternally delayed album, Mr. Stinson decided to do a minitour with a garage band he loves, the Figgs. That's what brought him to New York from Los Angeles.

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At Niagara, Mr. Stinson ordered a Guinness, then another. His friend Richard Fortus, a Guns N' Roses member, stopped by with his girlfriend, and the rockers briefly commiserated about "going back on Axl's clock" in Los Angeles. But Mr. Stinson conceded that he had nothing to complain about. Paying for everybody's drinks, he recalled how when his post-Replacements career was fizzling he had become a telemarketer. The boy wonder of indie rock was, at 30, selling toner on the phone: "I was great at it. Made more money than I ever had from music."

Axl Rose rescued him from toner, inspiring a fierce loyalty. "People say I sold out when I joined Guns N' Roses," Mr. Stinson said. "But I've never met anyone who cares less about what people think."

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You can read the whole article at nytimes.com.