by Monica Gray
“We have nothing but our stories. Nothing. If you don’t live life, you’ve got nothing to write about. And we’re all journalists. We’re all documenting. We’re all rocking and we’re all rolling,” said Lonn Friend at a book signing for his new memoir, Sweet Demotion: How an Almost Famous Rock Journalist Lost Everything and Found Himself (Almost).
Friend has worn many hats in the entertainment industry, working as a rock journalist, as an editor at Hustler Magazine and as the editor of the illustrious rock and metal magazine RIP, where he was instrumental in introducing music legends like Guns N’ Roses to the world. However, in 1998, his role as a record company VP came to a screeching halt, when, according to Friend, he was “bitch-slapped by the universe.”
In Sweet Demotion, Friend chronicles the 29-month journey that followed, which proved to be a time “of personal deconstruction, spiritual madness, and bizarre anecdotal wordplay during which faith was lost in everything but the moment and the music.”
Friends, fans and family stopped by the One Lounge on Wednesday evening to celebrate Friend’s first Sweet Demotion book signing in the District. Dressed in a black baseball hat, GWU t-shirt and flannel pants, the heavy-metal fanatic worked the room, reading select passages to adoring listeners, including his daughter, Megan Rose Friend, a rising senior at GWU to whom Sweet Demotion and Friend’s first book, Life on Planet Rock, are dedicated.
Video embed: http://youtu.be/vy7bUP_cK3Y
