Born Frank Feranna

Comments (0) By Michael Leaverton Wednesday, Apr 13 2011

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If you're forced to pick the coolest guy in hair metal, pick Nikki Sixx, despite Duff McKagan's decades-long body-art project to mirror the life cycle of a fermenting peach. For one, Sixx died, medically died, then came back to life to record Dr. Feelgood, which, if you're into that sort of thing: devil horns. But you're probably not into that sort of thing, because it all happened more than 20 years ago, and hair metal has not and will never come back in any nonironic capacity until unchecked sybaritism and Cabo Wabo flood the land. Sixx, however, isn't waiting: He's admirably branched out, offering fans a clear-eyed look at his new interests — the world of recovery — without VH1, Dr. Drew, a baldness bandanna, or a heart stoppage in sight. His book The Heroin Diaries sat on The New York Times best-seller list for half a year, and this month he releases a book of writing and photography, This Is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography, and Life Through the Distorted Lens of Nikki Sixx, which is anything but your typical easy-money hair-metal memoir. That would be Vince Neil's 2010 book, Tattoos & Tequila: To Hell and Back with One of Rock's Most Notorious Frontmen. Also Tommyland, by he who shall not be named.
Thu., April 14, 6 p.m., 2011