Mega Metal

Dave Mustaine has long been a punchline — if not a punching bag — for Metallica fans. The group’s founding lead guitarist was famously expelled by his bandmates in 1983 for his alcoholic antics, just before Metallica became the biggest metal band in the world. Mustaine had his revenge, though: His subsequent band, Megadeth, has enjoyed a successful yet erratic run that includes a string of essential thrash albums (plus a clunker or two). Despite successfully establishing his own sound, Mustaine drew further ridicule later in his career for his right-leaning political views. But a tentative and touching (if sorta whiny) reconciliation with his former Metallica-mates in the 2004 documentary Some Kind of Monster finally cast a sympathetic light on Mustaine. And his new autobiography, Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir, is sure to make him out to be even less of a misanthrope and more of a misunderstood genius. Which, at least in the metal realm, he kind of is.

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Mustaine will be at the Tattered Cover at 1628 16th Street at 12:30 p.m. today to sign copies of Heavy Metal Memoir. (He won’t be reading from or discussing the book, but that’s cool: You can hear him vent — at a far greater volume — tonight when Megadeth plays Magness Arena.) Admission to the Tattered Cover event is free; for more info, call 303-436-1070 or visit www.tatteredcover.com.
Wed., Aug. 25, 12:30 p.m., 2010