The Jeff Hanneman Memorial Celebration took place last night (Thursday, May 23rd) at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. The legendary SLAYER guitarist passed away on May 2nd at the age of 49.

TESTAMENT guitarist Alex Skolnick was unable to attend the memorial, and yesterday penned an update via his SkolNotes blog, of which an excerpt follows:

"Today marks three weeks since metal lost one of its preeminent soldiers, Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman, whose life is being celebrated at an official memorial today. I'm out of the US and can't be there, but I'm paying tribute by re-posting the link to my Premier Guitar piece on JH, which can be found here: Premier Guitar. Another, shorter commentary can be found in the LA Weekly, along with statements by other musicians: LA Weekly."

Later in the blog, Skolnick states: "One final thought... Since these initial posts, a new detail has been made public: though Jeff's unfortunate spider bite can't be discounted as a factor, a more common cause of liver failure can be attributed to Hanneman's passing: alcohol related cirrhosis. Though this fact was assumed by many, it was only right that it be kept under wraps until addressed by the only appropriate source: the Slayer camp."

Read the full blog entry at this location.

Check out fan-filmed footage below of a special memorial photo slideshow, along speeches from with his bandmate Kerry King, METALLICA's Robert Trujillo, Metal Blade's Brian Slagel and American Recordings's Dino Paredes.

Kerry King said of Hanneman's legacy: "Jeff was my doorway to punk and it really helped Slayer to become the doorway between the metal kids and the punk kids. Jeff hated being famous, but he loved being onstage."

Jeff Hanneman memorial slideshow:

Kerry King remembers Jeff Hanneman:

Robert Trujillo remembers Jeff Hanneman:

Brian Slagel (Metal Blade):

Dino Paredes (American Recordings):

30-minute memorial clip:

Jeff Hanneman send off: