Lonn Friend
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Lonn Friend | |
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Born | Lonn Michael Friend Los Angeles |
Lonn Friend (born July 29, 1956) is an American
During his tenure at RIP, Friend documented the making of Metallica's The Black Album.[citation needed] Friend also appeared in several documentaries profiling the band, including A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica, Classic Albums: Black, AURAL Amphetamine: Metallica and the Dawn of Thrash, and VH1's Behind the Music: Metallica. The cover art of The Black Album debuted on his Friend at Large segment for MTV's Headbangers Ball in August 1991.[citation needed]
RIP was the first magazine to feature a full-cover photo and story on Guns N' Roses, titled "Metal's New Supergroup," which appeared in its June 1988 issue.[citation needed] Guns N' Roses performed their last club gig for the third-anniversary RIP party at the Park Plaza Hotel in October 1989, prior to their four-night opening stint for the Rolling Stones at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.[citation needed]
In addition to hosting his spot on Headbanger's Ball, Friend helmed the syndicated Westwood One radio program, "Pirate Radio Saturday Night." He penned weekly columns for the influential industry tip sheets HITS and the Album Network, and co-authored the Rolling Stone cover story on Slash from Guns N' Roses (with Jeffrey Ressner). He served as music supervisor for Adam Sandler's motion picture debut, Airheads.
Friend co-founded Maximum Golf magazine with former Details/Men's Journal editor Michael Caruso in 1999.[citation needed] Friend served as the innovative lifestyle publication's consulting editor for its year-long run.
Friend composed the liner notes for
Friend is a frequent contributor to VH1, having appeared in numerous Behind the Music documentary episodes, including "Metallica," "Bon Jovi," "The Year 1987," "Red Hot Chili Peppers Ultimate Albums: Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik," "Mötley Crüe," "Anthrax," "Top 40 Hair Metal Bands of All Time" and "When Metal Ruled the World." He was featured in the October 2006 E! Entertainment's two-hour expose, "E!s 20 Acts of Love Gone Wrong," the June 2007 "E! True Hollywood Story: Steven and Liv Tyler," and consulted for and appeared in two new 2009 productions: E!'s "Rock Wives" and VH1's "Do it for the Band: The Women of the Sunset Strip." Friend also consulted on the 2010 documentary Rock Prophecies about rock photographer Robert Knight, directed by John Chester.[citation needed]
The U.K.'s Sexy Intellectual Productions featured Friend extensively in their recent DVD releases, Guns N' Roses: 2 Classic Albums Under Review (Use Your Illusion I and II) and AURAL Amphetamine: Metallica and the Dawn of Thrash.
Friend relocated to
Life on Planet Rock (Morgan Road/Random House) was released domestically on July 11, 2006, and is in its second printing. Planet Rock was published in the U.K. through Piatkus Books.
I wrote my memoir while in Las Vegas, during those 29 transforming months on the sands of Babylon, chronicling my journey for local publications and encountering the light people amongst America's most shadowy metropolis.
His second book, Sweet Demotion: How an Almost Famous Rock Journalist Lost Everything and Found Himself (Almost), was published by AuthorHouse in 2011. Picking up at the end of Friend's stint as an executive at Arista Records, Demotion follows his move to Las Vegas and the spiritual pursuits that shaped his further involvement in the music world.
Friend co-edited, with Rob Hill, the coffee table book Naked Ambition: An R Rated Look at an X Rated Industry, by celebrity photographer Michael Grecco. Published by San Francisco-based Rock Out Books, Naked Ambition was published in November 2007.
As resident video archivist and board member for the Guitar Center's Hollywood Rock Walk, Friend conducted interviews in 2008 and 2009 with such notable inductees as Michelle Phillips, Lou Adler, Keb' Mo', George Thorogood, Zakk Wylde, Terry Bozzio, Slash, Ronnie James Dio, Debbie Harry and Chris Stein of Blondie, Yngwie Malmsteen, the Germs, Kenny Loggins, The Smashing Pumpkins, Steve Vai, and others.
In 2008, Friend composed artist bios and conducted electronic press interviews for several bands. In this regard, he covered
Friend contributed editorial content to Dr. Gabrielle Francis' upcoming health and fitness book, The Rockstar Remedy, being published by HarperCollins in Fall 2014. The musicians he interviewed for the volume include Steven Tyler, Ted Nugent, Kevin Cronin, Steve Lukather, Phil Collen, Orianthi, Dave Navarro, Fred Coury, Rudy Sarzo, Share Pedersen Ross, Scott Ian, Pearl Aday and Serj Tankian.
In 2016, Friend became a freelance contributing writer for Chicago-based, In The Loop Magazine, with articles that have included Roger Hodgson.
References
- ^ Roberts, Chris (August 19, 2006). "Review: Life On Planet Rock by Lonn Friend". The Guardian. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
- ^ Friend, Lonn (February 12, 2014). "A Chef, His Brigade and the Indomitable Next Course". Vegas Seven. Retrieved May 8, 2014.