Las Vegas Weekly

August 28, 2008 · 1:49 PM

Avalon the phenomenon

By Jennifer Grafiada

"Who that dude sleeping with your girlfriend? Getting nude and rude in your bed? Same dude that your sister like. Mickey Avalon, call me Mr. Right."

Who is Mickey Avalon? He has been, at various times of his life, a drug-using kid with drug-addicted parents, a young husband and father, a prostitute in Portland trying to fund his heroin habit and a hot hip-hop star living the Hollywood highlife.

Who knows what constellations aligned, what karma conspired to transform Avalon -- whose grandparents are Holocaust survivors -- from prostitute/heroin junkie into a legend. You can’t deny that he deserves his superstar status when you hear hits like “Waiting to Die,” “My Dick” (featured on Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay) and “Jane Fonda.” You also can’t deny the rockstar magnetism and raw sex appeal of his unkempt dark hair, strong features, tattoos and thin and pale druggie’s body.

Avalon left the back alleys of Portland for the bright lights of Hollywood and was befriended by former MTV VJ Simon Rex (a.k.a. Dirt Nasty) who encouraged him to rap. The two made demos and passed them out in L.A. clubs, where Avalon’s strong beats and irreverent, in-your-face hooks soon earned a following.

Lately, you’ll find Mickey Avalon on international tours, appearing in commercials with Young Jeezy and Jermaine Dupri and collaborating with artists like Travis Barker. Tonight, on the 51st floor of the Rio around midnight, you can catch the glam rap artist in action.

In his own words…

“Remember the boy next door that played records all day, and at night kept you up with songs of his own? He left home one day and was never heard from again. He moved to the big city, living in cheap motels, eating dollar hamburgers, working the boulevard with ex-models, thorazine freaks, transvestites, mothers, fathers, drunks, junkies and punk rockers alike. He struggled during many long, lonely, desperate nights under the dizzying city lights but made a vow that he would never forget the magic in this world the things he loved the most: his first fix, his first girl and most importantly the first time he rocked a mic. Mickey Avalon has done whatever it took to get him to and off Hollywood Blvd. to invite you into his world. And I guess that’s what it is, his world.” (From his MySpace page)

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