![]() Nobody in 1977 had a crew cut, you know, unless you were an old man with a belt buckle, you know, three inches above your belly button - and glared at me with the meanest face and - lay off him, or I'll kill you - something like that. He's real muscular, and he's got a crew cut. You get a kid in a headlock, and you grind your knuckles into the top of their head. I don't know if you know what a noogie is, but it's when.įLEA: Yeah. And I had him in a headlock, and I was giving him a noogie (ph). And I had this one friend who - we had a kind of an antagonistic relationship. Obviously lead singer of the Chili Peppers, someone you call a chosen brother.ĬORNISH: Tell me about the first time you meet him.įLEA: The first time I met him, I was at Fairfax High School in Hollywood. And I really bonded with my friends in a way where I was looking for them to fill that void of family.ĬORNISH: But into this moment walks Anthony Kiedis, right? This is.ĬORNISH. And I think, like, in that yearning I had for the familial comfort and the structure of a loving family, which I wasn't getting, I looked for love in the street. And I found like-minded kids who were also kind of wild in the street. Like, I just got up in the morning and went out and often didn't come home till 5 o'clock in the morning 'cause I was running around on the streets, hustling and getting into what I could get into. And combined with that, I wasn't watched at all. Home was an uncomfortable and scary place. It almost felt like you were describing the life of a runaway.įLEA: I didn't want to be home. And breaking into buildings with your friends. You're kind of spending your days jumping from roof to roof in Hollywood.ĬORNISH. And you basically go, for lack of a better term, feral. As a kid seeing it, I - though I couldn't intellectualize it, I felt it.ĬORNISH: Your family moved to Los Angeles when you were 10. But I would see him play his instrument in a fury, in an absolute rage - you know, his eyes closed, just, like, in this ether he was propelled into by virtue of his pain. And as a kid, you know, you don't understand this stuff or know how to make sense of it. This stepfather is very troubled.įLEA: He was a pretty scary guy, prone to fits of violence and going into these rages where he would destroy the house. But the problem is I can't now tell the listener that this is the beginning of a beautiful musical relationship. And you know, I could've taken flight and had wings, and it wouldn't have been any more surprising or stunning to me than seeing and hearing and feeling these guys playing that music.ĬORNISH: I'm picturing you as this kid rolling around on the floor, having a moment of joy, probably because when you performed in the band, you have a very infectious and joyful and physical presence onstage. I just - you know, I fell and rolled on the floor and laughed. It was a miracle taking place in front of me. And all of a sudden, my mom takes off with this jazz musician who was a junkie who lived in his parents' basement.ĬORNISH: The book is called "Acid For The Children." In it, Flea writes about the day he first saw his new stepdad playing bebop jazz in the living room one Sunday afternoon.įLEA: When I saw that, I didn't even know what to do. Instead, it's about Flea the child, a kid whose family moves from Australia to the United States when he's just 4 and whose parents separate almost immediately after.įLEA: My dad was a pretty button-down, straight, square guy - wore a suit and a briefcase, went to work every day. In fact, the entire book takes place before the Chili Peppers take the stage for the first time. But this one's not about Flea the rock star. And like countless rock stars before him, he's written a memoir. What I got, you got to give it to your papa.ĬORNISH: Flea is now 57. RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS: (Singing) What I got, you got to give it to your mama. ![]() The Red Hot Chili Peppers are known for many things - a wild, thrashing stage presence performing just about naked and aggressive, funky bass lines by a man named Flea.
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