The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword

A New Project

July 1987

My best friend Alexandria Van Zant has been my best friends since we were small. We both grew up in Alabama, her dad Ronnie died in 1977. She was raised by her mom and I was raised by my grandparents. Our dads were really good friends, we think they still are.

Alex and I moved to Los Angeles after high school to go to UCLA. We're now in our twenty fourth year, Alex has always been pretty with blonde hair and brown eyes she's a model.

My grandmother always said I had my father's gift with words, I became a reporter for the Rolling Stone. The whole reporter thing is working out well, since I carry the same last name as my father my career picked up some speed. I've interviewed some of the biggest rock stars on the planet. It seems like everyone I interview knew my dad in some way. It's kind of having a connect to the man I lost when I was so young.

Almost everyone knows my dad's song Skylar's Blue Sky. It seems that I always get the same question. Am I the Skylar from the song? That song was written about me. My father wrote it the day I was born in the hospital room while my mother and I slept. I mean that's what my grandmother told me.

I remember everything about my dad. His smile. How he taught me guitar at such a young age. I remember how we went on tour together. Dad bringing me out on stage on my birthday and Father's Day to sing me Skylar's Blue Sky. I remember his laugh and how he took his coffee. I remember him running around with me on his shoulder so I could touch my blue sky. My dad is my hero.

I wake up to my phone going off. I open my eyes and groan. I was up late last night finishing up an article on a Bon Jovi interview I did a couple weeks back. I yawn and walk downstairs to the phone.

"Hello?" I say into the phone.

"Hey, superstar." Henry, my boss, says.

"Hey Henry." I smile.

"Tell me, superstar, how's the Bon Jovi article coming?" He asks.

"I finished it last night, I'll drop it off later today." I say.

"Wonderful because I have a new project for you." Henry says and I grin.

"Let me have it." I smile.

"Mötley Crüe, tonight. I want you to interview Nikki Sixx." He says.

"Tonight?" I ask.

"Yes my dear, tonight." Henry says. "I want you to get anything you can."

"Anything in particular?" I wonder.

"Anything on their next album." He asks and I nod.

"Yeah, okay I'll try my best." I say.

"Thank you, Skylar." Henry says as he hangs up.

I start to dial Alexandria's number. She loves Mötley Crüe, well she loves Vince Neil. Like I think she has a secret shrine to him somewhere in her house. It's probably the funniest thing ever I've ever seen when she drools over pull out posters of him.

"Hello?" She answers.

"You're gonna love me." I say and she laughs.

"And why is that Sky?" Alex asks.

"Well Van Zant, I have an interview at the Crüe concert tonight." I start.

"So you're gonna be talking with Vince Neil?" She squeals and I laugh.

"Not exactly, Nikki Sixx." I say. "Want to come with me?"

"I don't know, I mean I have a shoot tomorrow morning." Alex starts and I roll my eyes.

"You might be able to sneak into Vince's dressing room." I say and she laughs.

"I do look good in prison strips." She smiles. "I'll be there."

"Great. I'll pick you up at nine." I laugh.

Nikki

"Nikki!" Is screamed from downstairs and I groan.

"Tommy! Go away!" I yell and I hear him walking upstairs. "Shit." I mumble.

"Nikki, this is a huge problem." He states as he opens my bedroom door. "You have an interview tonight right?"

"Yeah before the concert." I mumble into my pillow.

"With who?" Tommy wonders.

"Some broad. Star or Stacy or something." I say sleepily.

"Skylar Roxford?" He wonders and I sit up.

"Yeah that's her name." I yawn.

"Have you ever read any of her articles?" Tommy wonders.

"No." I admit.

"Well I have, you have to be careful." He warns me.

"You can read?" I wonder and he rolls my eyes.

"You remember the band Toxic Waste?" Tommy wonders and I rack my brain.

"Should I?" I ask.

"Skylar completely buried them." He tells me. "You've gotta be careful, Nik. You piss her off and she could bury Crüe."

"This would be one broad's opinion, T-Bone." I say. "Roxford? Why do I know that last name?"

"Broad's dad is Tobi Roxford, he died in a car crash back in '72." Tommy says and everything clicks in my head.

"Skylar's Blue Sky." I say and he nods. "Shit, this broad has pull."

"Yeah she has a lot of pull, Nikki. You've gotta be careful." He says and I nod.

"I will but can I go back to sleep?" I wonder and he nods.

"Yeah. I'll see you at sound check." Tommy says as he walks out the door.

Skylar Roxford, shit. Her dad was such a great musician and that song he wrote about his daughter was beautiful. I wonder if she's as beautiful as her so---

My thought is cut off but a loud thump and I roll my eyes. Tommy rolled down the fucking stairs.

"Tommy!" I yell. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah Nik!" He yells back. "I just, I uh missed a stair. That's all."

I roll my eyes before closing them again. Only Tommy Lee could manage something like that.