I think about the possibility of the Appetite for Destruction lineup reuniting more often than I think about many of my dead relatives. So pop-culture website Uproxx’s three-part mini-documentary, One Man’s Plan to Reunite Guns N’ Roses, grabbed my fascination by its imaginary leather pants within seven opening seconds: A mid-’80s clip of grimy guitar hero Slash shredding away and Axl Rose in the midst of mic-stand-twirling, snake-dancing badassery, followed by a bold title-card proclamation: “There’s one man who can get Guns N’ Roses back together.”

The man is Marc Canter. As most GNR super-fans know, the Canter’s Deli scion — now owner — is a central figure in the Los Angeles rockers’ origin story. He’s been friends with Slash since they were 11, riding BMX bikes together. The first Guns publicity photo was taken in a Canter’s booth. As former bassist Duff McKagan says of Marc in part one of the Uproxx mini-doc, which posted April 22, “When Guns N’ Roses was formed he was sort of like a sixth guy in there. He was always around.” (McKagan is the only Appetite-era Gunner to appear in part one, so it will be interesting to see if any others show up in parts two and three.)

Besides featuring Canter’s excellent early GNR photos — from his 2007 book, Reckless Road — the documentary boasts compelling recent video footage. Canter opens up a residential garage door to show where, in 1981, he first heard a teenaged Slash jam on guitar. The space now stores bicycles, lawn chairs, a ladder and other typical junk. “It was such a rich, thick sound,” Canter says. “It was like seeing Eric Clapton or Jimi Hendrix or some old blues guitar player. It didn’t fit the 15-year-old kid.”

As the band took off, Canter not only helped support Guns N’ Roses “with flyers, ads, demos, equipment, food and friendship” as his website states. He also shot the group’s first 50 shows with his trusty Canon AE-1. Some of his photos appear in the Appetite album art. [LA Weekly]