We're not the sole proprietors of a local beverage-distribution concern, but we're going to guess that there's a simpler way to get your hands on a can of Dr. Pepper than to have a superstar metal band spend about twenty years and $15 million on a long-rumored album that likely will never appear. However, if the looooong-awaited Chinese Democracy by Guns N' Roses finally does show up anytime in 2008, Cadbury Schweppes cannily promised this week to give a free can of Dr. Pepper to every citizen of America. Axl Rose, the band's creatively dreadlocked and creatively deadlocked frontman, issued this response yesterday: "We are surprised and very happy to have the support of Dr. Pepper with our album 'Chinese Democracy,' as for us, this came totally out of the blue. If there is any involvement with this promotion by our record company or others, we are unaware of such at this time." (Other things Axl Rose is unaware of at this time: When this damn album will be finished; the current president of the United States; the time.)