Joshua Lyon
Encyclopedia
Joshua Kennedy Lyon is an American journalist
and author
. Lyon has worked for several major print publications, as well as the Sundance Channel. He is the author of Pill Head: The Secret Life of a Painkiller Addict, published by Hyperion on July 7, 2009. Pill Head is part memoir, part investigative journalism and chronicles prescription painkiller abuse in America. His current residence is in Brooklyn, New York.
, the Colgate University
campus radio station. He majored in Literature at the State University of New York at Purchase
, also known as Purchase College and SUNY Purchase. He began interning at Interview
magazine during his Junior year at Purchase college. By the last semester of his senior year he was a paid freelancer at the magazine three days a week and began working there full-time immediately after graduation.
, in New York, NY. Lyon's refers to his boss, Leslie Russo, as a mentor and thanks her in his memoir, Pill Head. At CN Traveler he held the position of senior merchandising manager. Lyon continued to manage events and promotions, also working closely with Vanity Fair
and GQ on several joint events. Events included a celebration for photographer Brigitte Lacombe
’s Alfred Eisenstaedt
award, a traveling art exhibition of Raymond Meier and Gavin Bond photographs.
After less than a year at CN Traveler, Lyon was hired by Jane
magazine, also in New York, NY. He had always wanted to be a writer and felt lost earning a living throwing parties for publications. Jane, now defunct, was one of the few magazines at the time that generated all writing in-house, as opposed to freelance.
Lyon wanted to get a foot in the door and start writing for Jane, so he applied for the only open spot, a photo assistant position. He leaned on his experience working with photographer Brigitte Lacombe to get the job. While booking and producing photo shoots and learning photo editing, he also pitched story ideas and wrote articles. After two years he became a full time editor.
Accepting the position at Jane would eventually help Lyon become a professional writer, but he had to initially move backwards in title and pay. He took a 65 percent pay cut and lost many perks when he left CN Traveler. In the first six months he supplemented his income as a weekend weed runner for a delivery service in New York City.
In Pill Head, he describes the job as exhausting but cool—he got to go inside hundreds of different types of homes in NYC, everything from Chinatown tenements to massive lofts in SOHO. However, he was constantly terrified of arrest or losing his job.
Lyon spent four years at Jane and worked on many aspects of the magazine. Lyon wrote numerous features and cover stories. He was the editor of and contributor to Dish, the front-of-book pop culture section. He wrote the Home column, the Jane section devoted to home products and interiors. He was the editor of the letters, e-mail, and Whatever section, plus the Jane Needs Help column. He also covered the Sundance Film Festival
on an annual basis.
In his early career, Lyon initially covered pop culture and entertainment reporting. However, he was always drawn to darker stories about America, which began to show as he received more feature pieces. His first feature for Jane was in the December 2002 issue. It was about "jack shacks, places where men could legally go to pick out a woman from a line and masturbate in front of her.
Next, Lyon spent six months trying to infiltrate the world of fake snuff films. Once he did, Lyon went with photographer Stephen Shore
to report from a film set in the San Juan Islands
. The story was deemed too dark to be published. He worked on turning the story into a documentary with filmmaker Jesse Moss, of Mile End films. Again, the story was deemed too risky. However, Lyon was given a job at World of Wonder, based on that footage reel.
2004-2005. Lyon was a Field Producer for World of Wonder. He spent a year shooting footage with Lucas Cheadle, for TransGeneration
, a Sundance Channel documentary series about transgender
college students. The documentary series was a 2006 recipient for the GLAAD award.
Next, Lyon spent six months as the East Coast editor for V Life, a magazine devoted to the lives of Hollywood insiders. In this time he was responsible for booking, writing and editing of several columns that profiled celebrities. When the office closed, he returned to Jane as senior editor, until the magazine folded in July 2007. During that time he helped cast and produce several Jane & Good Morning America segments. Jane folded four days after Lyon sold the book proposal for Pill Head.
In the summer of 2003, Lyon noticed the amount of email spam promoting easy procurement of drugs like Valium, Xanax, and Vicodin
, without a prescription. In the name of "journalistic curiosity,", Lyon convinced his editor to buy the pills online.
Lyon acquired the online drug delivery with a budget of $600 provided by Fairchild Publications. Lyon wrote the article and later that night his curiosity led him to sample from the stash. Lyon recounted in his book that his editor called him in a panic, and asked what he had done with the pills. She was nervous that he had taken them. He assured her that he would flush the pills down the toilet, then promptly went and took three Vicodin. "That was all it took to seal the deal — I'd discovered my perfect drug," he said in the novel.
This began what would turn into a six-year battle with pill addiction.
Lyon is the ghostwriter for America's Next Top Model
J. Alexander, known also as Miss J. He worked side-by-side with Miss J on his memoir/self-help book about the lessons he's learned along the path to becoming television's most outrageous fashion personality. The book, to be published by Simon Spotlight Entertainment in November 2009, is called Follow The Model - Miss J's Guide to Unleashing Presence, Poise and Power..
The distribution of the proposal was not planned, merely a coincidence. The Time's article validated Lyon's proposal and led to an auction for his book. He has retained the film rights for the book, although none is planned at this time.
Michael Jackson
overdosed twelve days before the release of Pill Head. The new media interest in painkiller addiction brought a lot of attention to Pill Head. Lyon was invited onto Good Morning America
to speak about Jackson's overdose, the national pill epidemic and his new book.
He has also landed many of radio interviews on shows that might not usually be interested in a drug memoir.
Lyon relapsed on prescription drugs while writing the memoir. He found it difficult to write about how good pills once made him feel. His first relapse was brief, but after finishing the first draft, he relapsed again. This time he went to rehab and hoped to keep the relapse a secret from his editor. Lyon has said that these events give Pill Head a sense of immediacy not found in many drug abuse books.
and AOL Health are frank, educated discussions about his personal experience and the facts behind painkiller abuse in America. His articles in The Huffington Post
examine the negative effects of a federal crackdown, or ban on prescription pills and propose that the crackdown will increase street heroin use.
. They performed a fake marriage ceremony for the story so he could see what it was like to be her husband for three days.
Lyon has also interviewed Hilary Duff
, Evan Rachel Wood
, Patti Smith
, Charlotte Gainsbourg
, Adam Levine
, Jeremy Renner
, Mary Louise Parker, Holly Hunt, Chloe Sevigney, Renee Zellweger
, and Sarah Polley
.
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. Lyon has worked for several major print publications, as well as the Sundance Channel. He is the author of Pill Head: The Secret Life of a Painkiller Addict, published by Hyperion on July 7, 2009. Pill Head is part memoir, part investigative journalism and chronicles prescription painkiller abuse in America. His current residence is in Brooklyn, New York.
Biography
Joshua Lyon was born in Nashville, TN. His parents are Corinne Jorgensen and Payson Lyon. He attended high school at Hamilton Central in Hamilton, New York. While in high school he had a radio show on WRCU-FMWRCU-FM
WRCU-FM is Colgate University's student-run radio station. It is located in Hamilton, New York, and broadcasts a wide variety of music to the central New York region.-Format:...
, the Colgate University
Colgate University
Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York, USA. The school was founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary and later became non-denominational. It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university's endowment in the 19th century.Colgate has 52...
campus radio station. He majored in Literature at the State University of New York at Purchase
State University of New York at Purchase
Purchase College, State University of New York, is a public four-year college located in Purchase, New York, United States. It is one of 13 comprehensive colleges in the State University of New York system...
, also known as Purchase College and SUNY Purchase. He began interning at Interview
Interview (magazine)
Interview is an American magazine which has the nickname The Crystal Ball Of Pop. It was founded in late 1969 by artist Andy Warhol. The magazine features intimate conversations between some of the world's biggest celebrities, artists, musicians, and creative thinkers...
magazine during his Junior year at Purchase college. By the last semester of his senior year he was a paid freelancer at the magazine three days a week and began working there full-time immediately after graduation.
1990s
Lyon's internship at Interview magazine grew into a full time position as promotion coordinator. From 1997-1999 Lyon coordinated all details of more than 65 promotional events and sponsorships, including the opening of the Virgin megastores in Union Square, Miami and Chicago and the film premiere parties for Basquiat and I Shot Andy Warhol, in addition to the annual music showcases at CMJ in New York and SXSW in Austin, TX.2000
In January 2000 Lyon followed his boss from Interview magazine to Condé Nast TravelerCondé Nast Traveler
Condé Nast Traveler is a US magazine published by Condé Nast. It has its origins in a mailing sent out by the Diners Club club beginning in 1953, listing locations that would take the card. It began taking advertising in 1955. In order to attract more advertisers, it became a full-fledged magazine,...
, in New York, NY. Lyon's refers to his boss, Leslie Russo, as a mentor and thanks her in his memoir, Pill Head. At CN Traveler he held the position of senior merchandising manager. Lyon continued to manage events and promotions, also working closely with Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
and GQ on several joint events. Events included a celebration for photographer Brigitte Lacombe
Brigitte Lacombe
Brigitte Lacombe is a French celebrity and film photographer residing in New York City. In May 2009, she published a collection “Lacombe anima/persona” with her photographs covering her work from 1975-2008...
’s Alfred Eisenstaedt
Alfred Eisenstaedt
Alfred Eisenstaedt was a German-American photographer and photojournalist. He is renowned for his candid photographs, frequently made using various models of a 35mm Leica rangefinder camera...
award, a traveling art exhibition of Raymond Meier and Gavin Bond photographs.
Jane magazine
After less than a year at CN Traveler, Lyon was hired by Jane
Jane
-Music:* Jane * Jane *Jane , an album by Jane McDonald* "Jane" * "Jane", a song by Ben Folds Five from their 1999 album The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner...
magazine, also in New York, NY. He had always wanted to be a writer and felt lost earning a living throwing parties for publications. Jane, now defunct, was one of the few magazines at the time that generated all writing in-house, as opposed to freelance.
Lyon wanted to get a foot in the door and start writing for Jane, so he applied for the only open spot, a photo assistant position. He leaned on his experience working with photographer Brigitte Lacombe to get the job. While booking and producing photo shoots and learning photo editing, he also pitched story ideas and wrote articles. After two years he became a full time editor.
Accepting the position at Jane would eventually help Lyon become a professional writer, but he had to initially move backwards in title and pay. He took a 65 percent pay cut and lost many perks when he left CN Traveler. In the first six months he supplemented his income as a weekend weed runner for a delivery service in New York City.
In Pill Head, he describes the job as exhausting but cool—he got to go inside hundreds of different types of homes in NYC, everything from Chinatown tenements to massive lofts in SOHO. However, he was constantly terrified of arrest or losing his job.
Lyon spent four years at Jane and worked on many aspects of the magazine. Lyon wrote numerous features and cover stories. He was the editor of and contributor to Dish, the front-of-book pop culture section. He wrote the Home column, the Jane section devoted to home products and interiors. He was the editor of the letters, e-mail, and Whatever section, plus the Jane Needs Help column. He also covered the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
on an annual basis.
In his early career, Lyon initially covered pop culture and entertainment reporting. However, he was always drawn to darker stories about America, which began to show as he received more feature pieces. His first feature for Jane was in the December 2002 issue. It was about "jack shacks, places where men could legally go to pick out a woman from a line and masturbate in front of her.
Next, Lyon spent six months trying to infiltrate the world of fake snuff films. Once he did, Lyon went with photographer Stephen Shore
Stephen Shore
Stephen Shore is an American photographer known for his deadpan images of banal scenes and objects in the United States, and for his pioneering use of color in art photography.- Life and work :...
to report from a film set in the San Juan Islands
San Juan Islands
The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the northwest corner of the contiguous United States between the US mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of the U.S...
. The story was deemed too dark to be published. He worked on turning the story into a documentary with filmmaker Jesse Moss, of Mile End films. Again, the story was deemed too risky. However, Lyon was given a job at World of Wonder, based on that footage reel.
Sundance Channel/World of Wonder
2004-2005. Lyon was a Field Producer for World of Wonder. He spent a year shooting footage with Lucas Cheadle, for TransGeneration
TransGeneration
TransGeneration is an eight episode documentary series depicting the lives of four transgender college students during the 2004/2005 school year as they attempt to balance college, their social lives, and their struggle to merge their internal and external selves while gender transitioning.Two of...
, a Sundance Channel documentary series about transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
college students. The documentary series was a 2006 recipient for the GLAAD award.
V Life magazine
Next, Lyon spent six months as the East Coast editor for V Life, a magazine devoted to the lives of Hollywood insiders. In this time he was responsible for booking, writing and editing of several columns that profiled celebrities. When the office closed, he returned to Jane as senior editor, until the magazine folded in July 2007. During that time he helped cast and produce several Jane & Good Morning America segments. Jane folded four days after Lyon sold the book proposal for Pill Head.
Pill Head: The Secret Life of a Painkiller Addict
Pill Head is part drug addled memoir and part thoughtful, investigative journalism. It is the story Lyon's pill addiction told from first pill to detox. The book weaves together the stories and views of other addicts, doctors, experts and governmental agents—demonstrating how the lives and decisions of each are intertwined in America's new drug epidemic—prescription pills.In the summer of 2003, Lyon noticed the amount of email spam promoting easy procurement of drugs like Valium, Xanax, and Vicodin
Vicodin
Hydrocodone/paracetamol is a combination of two analgesic products hydrocodone and paracetamol used to relieve moderate to severe pain...
, without a prescription. In the name of "journalistic curiosity,", Lyon convinced his editor to buy the pills online.
Lyon acquired the online drug delivery with a budget of $600 provided by Fairchild Publications. Lyon wrote the article and later that night his curiosity led him to sample from the stash. Lyon recounted in his book that his editor called him in a panic, and asked what he had done with the pills. She was nervous that he had taken them. He assured her that he would flush the pills down the toilet, then promptly went and took three Vicodin. "That was all it took to seal the deal — I'd discovered my perfect drug," he said in the novel.
This began what would turn into a six-year battle with pill addiction.
Other Works
Pillhead is not the first novel written by Lyon, but it was the first to be bought by a publishing company. The success of his recent book has encouraged Lyon to resurrect his older novel Try Not to Breathe, in hopes it will be published.Lyon is the ghostwriter for America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model is a reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of America's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modeling industry....
J. Alexander, known also as Miss J. He worked side-by-side with Miss J on his memoir/self-help book about the lessons he's learned along the path to becoming television's most outrageous fashion personality. The book, to be published by Simon Spotlight Entertainment in November 2009, is called Follow The Model - Miss J's Guide to Unleashing Presence, Poise and Power..
Pill Head Backstory
Two days after Lyon's agent distributed the initial proposal for Pill Head to six publishing houses, the cover of the New York Times Magazine featured a massive investigative report on painkiller addiction.The distribution of the proposal was not planned, merely a coincidence. The Time's article validated Lyon's proposal and led to an auction for his book. He has retained the film rights for the book, although none is planned at this time.
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
overdosed twelve days before the release of Pill Head. The new media interest in painkiller addiction brought a lot of attention to Pill Head. Lyon was invited onto Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
to speak about Jackson's overdose, the national pill epidemic and his new book.
He has also landed many of radio interviews on shows that might not usually be interested in a drug memoir.
Lyon relapsed on prescription drugs while writing the memoir. He found it difficult to write about how good pills once made him feel. His first relapse was brief, but after finishing the first draft, he relapsed again. This time he went to rehab and hoped to keep the relapse a secret from his editor. Lyon has said that these events give Pill Head a sense of immediacy not found in many drug abuse books.
Advocacy
In the epilogue of Pill Head, Lyon wrote that the book was not written for anyone except him, and that he was just trying to make sense of what had happened to him. Recently, Lyon wrote that his view has changed and that the only way the book will be worth the time and sacrifice is if it helps other people. His interviews on NPRNPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
and AOL Health are frank, educated discussions about his personal experience and the facts behind painkiller abuse in America. His articles in The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
examine the negative effects of a federal crackdown, or ban on prescription pills and propose that the crackdown will increase street heroin use.
Celebrity Interviews
Lyon's first magazine cover story was with Lisa Marie PresleyLisa Marie Presley
Lisa Marie Presley is an American singer and songwriter, also known as the "Princess of Rock and Roll". She is the only child of Elvis Presley, and daughter of Priscilla Presley.-Early life:...
. They performed a fake marriage ceremony for the story so he could see what it was like to be her husband for three days.
Lyon has also interviewed Hilary Duff
Hilary Duff
Hilary Erhard Duff is an American actress, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, and author. After working in local theater plays and television commercials in her childhood, she achieved fame playing the title role in the Disney Channel television series Lizzie McGuire. She also reprised her role in...
, Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood is an American actress and singer. She began her acting career in the late 1990s, appearing in several television series, including American Gothic and Once and Again...
, Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
, Charlotte Gainsbourg
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg is an Anglo-French actress and singer. After releasing an album with her father at the age of fifteen, more than twenty years passed before she released two albums as an adult to commercial and critical success...
, Adam Levine
Adam Levine
Adam Noah Levine is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the front man and guitarist for the pop rock band Maroon 5. He is also a coach on the American talent show The Voice.-Early life:...
, Jeremy Renner
Jeremy Renner
Jeremy Lee Renner is a two-time Academy-Award-nominated American actor and musician. Renner appeared in films throughout the 2000s, mostly in supporting roles. He came to prominence in films such as Dahmer , S.W.A.T. , Neo Ned , 28 Weeks Later and The Hurt Locker...
, Mary Louise Parker, Holly Hunt, Chloe Sevigney, Renee Zellweger
Renée Zellweger
Renée Kathleen Zellweger is an American actress and producer. Zellweger first gained widespread attention for her role in the film Jerry Maguire , and subsequently received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her roles as Bridget Jones in the comedy Bridget Jones's Diary ...
, and Sarah Polley
Sarah Polley
Sarah Polley is a Canadian actress, singer, film director, and screenwriter. Polley first attained notice in her role as Sara Stanley in the Canadian television series, Road to Avonlea...
.
External links
- http://www.pillheadthebook.com/home.html