Mickey Avalon, Dirt Nasty

With a childhood rough enough to guarantee him rock star success, by the time he was out of his teenage years -- at least according to the few details he's given -- Mickey Avalon had sold pot (with his mother), been addicted to heroin and dope, worked as a graffiti artist in L.A., converted to Orthodox Judaism (his parents were both non-practicing Jews, and his paternal grandparents were survivors of Auschwitz), got married and had a daughter, prostituted himself for drug money, watched his father die, and found his sister's dead body. All of this gave ample material for his rhymes, which he started writing after his pal, the former MTV VJ Simon Rex, encouraged him to compose his own songs. Avalon, Rex (who rapped under the name Dirt Nasty), and Armen Melik (aka Andre Legacy) began recording and releasing their own material as the Dyslexic Speedreaders, an irreverent group that gave a satirical and often lascivious look into the L.A. club and drug culture.

Avalon's stage presence, which mixed a kind of hyper- and often ambiguous sexuality akin to the trashy glam rockers of the '70s, gained the attention of DJ and aspiring manager Kev-E-Kev, who was soon helping Avalon hawk his self-titled CD -- wrapped in a newspaper advertising adult services -- on the streets. His music, in particular the song "Jane Fonda," thanks to its appearance in the HBO series Entourage as well its availability on his MySpace site, started gaining an audience, and in 2006 his album was reissued as the first release from MySpace Records in joint collaboration with Interscope.


Simon Rex was first introduced to television
audiences as an MTV VJ. Soon after, Simon hit
fame and popularity delving into acting on
shows such as Felicity, Jack and Jill, and What I
Like About You. Rex also made guest
appearances on Baywatch, Everwood, and
Summerland and starred in the Lifetime Series,
Monarch Cove. He has also acted in feature
films including Scary Movie 3, Karate Dog,
Superhero Movie, Scary Movie 4 Hotel
California, King Of The Avenue, and Scary
Movie 5.
As his alter ego "Dirty Nasty," actor, musician,
producer, and comedian, Simon Rex has
developed a die-hard and rabid fan-base across
the world since the release of his debut rap-comedy albums 2007 release. Dirt's
second album (2010's "Nasty As I Wanna Be") debuted and stayed at the top of
Billboard's comedy charts for weeks and featured guests such as Ke$ha, LMFAO and
others.
His music and persona have excitedly received a cult following which are not only
dominant on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Vine and iTunes; but at his sold
out shows and concerts across the globe.
Most recently, Simon (or Dirt Nasty) teamed up with super-producer Diplo, and his
friends Andy Milonakis and Riff Raff to form the group "Three Loco." November of
2012 saw the release of an 8-song album on Diplo's own Mad Decent record label
which garnished them critical acclaim from the likes of MTV, Pitchfork, Vice Magazine
and Perez Hilton just to name a few.
August 20, 2013 marks the release of Simon's third album as Dirt Nasty entitled
"Palatial."