Events

    “Tony O’Neill is a man who has taken the term rock & roll poet to its furthest edges…” – The Guardian   The latest page-turning romp from Tony O’Neill, author of Down and Out on Murder Mile and Hero of the Underground, Sick City is an outrageous adventure of one legendary sex tape, two desperate dope fiends, and all the trouble in the world.   Jeffrey has nowhere to go when his sugar-daddy boyfriend, Bill, croaks. But before Jeffrey sets off into the glare of LA, he grabs a few parting mementos: two grand in cash; a handgun; Bill’s police badge; a wild assortment of drugs; and a film canister that contains a treasure greater than all the rest combined: a reel featuring Steve McQueen, Mama Cass, Yul Brynner, and Sharon Tate in a never-before-see, drug-fueled orgy.   Randal is the fallen scion of a great Hollywood family. His drug addiction and his rehab bills have been long overlooked by his indulgent father; however, with him no dead and gone, Randal’s left to the zealous sanctimony of his younger brother who has admitted him to Clean and Serene, a celebrity treatment center run by TV personality Dr. Mike, which is where Randal meets Jeffrey.   Together the new friends scramble to unload the sex tape before their pasts, and a killer, catch up with them. Sick City rollicks in the absurdities of celebrity culture, entertains from first to last, and reads as if Elmore Leonard co-opted the métier of Irvine Welsh.   Tony O’Neill’s books include Digging the Vein, Down and Out on Murder Mile, and Hero of the Underground. He is also the co-author of Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway by Cherie Currie. O’Neill’s essays, poems, and short stories have appeared extensively online and in print. He is a survivor of heroin addition, crack abuse, rehab, fatherhood, and stints in the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Kenickie, and Marc Almond’s band. He lives in New York with his wife and daughter.   "Sick City is a disturbingly twisted ride through Hollywood's underbelly with a degenerate cast of colorfully interwoven characters. I loved the whole fucked up journey." -- Slash, rock'n'roll legend   "Sick City is fun, twisted and brutal. One of the best books written about LA in a long time. O'Neill could be our generation's Jim Thompson." -- James Frey, author of A Million Little Pieces, Bright Shiny Morning   "…this ensemble of grotesques stumbles through skid-row L.A. like a Robert Altman film scripted by Charles Bukowski and William S. Burroughs … the characters are unforgettable; they live and breathe, and you sure as hell wouldn't want them to breathe on you. Sick City is appealing in its unsentimentalism, disgusting in its details—and almost unbelievably funny." -- Booklist  Rumor has it that Cisco wine accompanies Tony this evening...