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Acid For The Children - The autobiography of Flea, the Red Hot Chili Peppers legend
Acid For The Children - The autobiography of Flea, the Red Hot Chili Peppers legend | Flea
6 posts | 6 read | 5 to read
Flea, the iconic bassist and co-founder, alongside Anthony Kiedis, of the immortal Red Hot Chili Peppers finally tells his fascinating origin story, complete with all the dizzying highs and the gutter lows you'd expect from an LA street rat turned world-famous rock star. Michael Peter Balzary was born in Melbourne, Australia, on October 16, 1962. His more famous stage name, Flea, and his wild ride as the renowned bass player for the Red Hot Chili Peppers was in a far and distant future. Little Michael from Oz moved with his very conservative, very normal family to Westchester, New York, where life as he knew it was soon turned upside down. His parents split up and he and his sister moved into the home of his mother's free-wheeling, jazz musician boyfriend - trading in rules, stability, and barbecues for bohemian values, wildness, and Sunday afternoon jazz parties where booze, weed, and music flowed in equal measure. There began Michael's life-long journey to channel all the frustration, loneliness, love, and joy he felt into incredible rhythm. When Michael's family moved to Los Angeles in 1972, his home situation was rockier than ever. He sought out a sense of belonging elsewhere, spending most of his days partying, playing basketball, and committing petty crimes. At Fairfax High School, he met another social outcast, Anthony Kiedis, who quickly became his soul brother, the yin to his yang, his partner in mischief. Michael joined some bands, fell in love with performing, and honed his skills. But it wasn't until the night when Anthony, excited after catching a Grandmaster Flash concert, suggested they start their own band that he is handed the magic key to the cosmic kingdom. Acid for the Children is as raw, entertaining and wildly unpredictable as its author. It's both a tenderly evocative coming of age story and a raucous love letter to the power of music and creativity.
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Julsmarshall
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Next #audiobook Love the Chili Peppers!

Megabooks Enjoy! It‘s good. 4y
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review
Cinfhen
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Mehso-so

So....I wanted to LOVE this memoir but it wasn‘t anything I was expecting. This is Flea‘s story of his youth and teen years leading up to the creation of RHCP 🌶🖤🎶🎸Parts were entertaining and when Flea talks about his lifelong friendship with AK & the loss of Hillel, I felt the magic 🥰 But for the most part this was musings and memories of some very wild and crazy drug fueled years. An easy read but not much substance.

Cinfhen I didn‘t love it @BarbaraBB 😢😢😢 4y
BarbaraBB Ah I am sorry to hear that, but I was obvious no objective reader. I loved the parts about his friendship with Hillel and AK the most too I admit. 4y
Heideschrampf Oh no! I was thinking about getting the audio book read by himself, because of course it would be fun but i was hoping for some substenance aswell. I did enjoy scar tissue when it came out 4y
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Cinfhen This is in similar vein to Scar Tissue, which I think I appreciated more @Heideschrampf It‘s not that Flea isn‘t awesome, but his story while sad at times wasn‘t very inspiring or moving. I think I had too high expectations 4y
Megabooks This was one of my favorite celeb memoirs of the fall/winter. I‘m not a huge RHCP fan, but I‘m really glad I read this. I like reading about the non-famous times. 4y
Cinfhen After recently reading Me by EJ this memoir from Flea just didn‘t match the breadth of material and intensity that Elton shares @Megabooks but I‘m glad you found Fleas‘s memoir enjoyable ❤️ 4y
britt_brooke I loved this one, but I think it‘s partly because I listened to the audio. He‘s a spectacular narrator! I also loved the Elton John memoir. 💚 4y
Cinfhen My expectations were too high @britt_brooke but I did find Flea to be very authentic and I still ♥️the music he creates. 4y
91 likes8 comments
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LapReader
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Pickpick

I‘ve got it! @Lizpixie Thankyou. I am currently perusing it with a cuppa and a small piece of that delicious chocolate. Bliss. As you can see our decorations are still up. I just can‘t pack them up yet. I love the silly season.

BarbaraBB Such a great book ❤️❤️. I am surprised there‘s a censored edition, I have never seen a censored book before. (edited) 4y
Lizpixie Oh thank god! I hope you like the book, I actually got it myself from my swap partner @thegirlwiththelibrarybag Did you like the chocolate? It‘s from a small artisan chocolatier at Emu Plains, they roast their own cacao beans and make it all themselves. I love the hot chocolate in their cafe, it‘s rich & thick. Yum. 4y
Lizpixie @BarbaraBB I know, I‘ve never seen one before either. The funny thing is, in the same shopping centre the QBD Bookstore had it without the censored but BigW next door had these censored ones. I didn‘t even realise there was two versions at the time! 4y
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thegirlwiththelibrarybag Haha - that‘s a little bit funny @Lizpixie ! I haven‘t spotted the censored cover before. 4y
Crazeedi Did you ever receive my note with recipes? 4y
47 likes7 comments
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britt_brooke
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Some of my top reads of the year happened in November:

🍂 Acid for the Children
🍂 American Kingpin
🍂 The Dutch House

#novemberreads #novemberwrapup

Cinfhen Great month!! I started Flea‘s memoir on Audible but his voice was actually irritating me 😬so i just ordered a physical copy of the book 😉 4y
britt_brooke @Cinfhen 🤣 Yeah, his voice is .... unique. Hope you enjoy it in print! 🤞🏻 4y
Crazeedi I enjoyed dutch house too!! 4y
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britt_brooke @Crazeedi Did you listen to the audio as well? I had reservations, but Tom Hanks was perfect. 4y
Crazeedi @britt_brooke NO!!! I didn't know he read it, that would be awesome !! 4y
britt_brooke @Crazeedi I‘m happy to know it‘s great in print, too! 💚 4y
Reviewsbylola I can‘t wait to read Dutch House! I‘m waiting on the lovely Waterstones edition. It‘s our January book club pick! 4y
britt_brooke @Reviewsbylola Can‘t wait yo hear what you think! I‘m hit or miss with Patchett, but was pleasantly surprised. I loved the audio (Tom Hanks!) so I‘m curious to hear what you think of it in print. 4y
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review
britt_brooke
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Flea refers to this as his origin story. It begins with his parents and ends just before RHCP. Unsurprisingly, he‘s a gifted story teller. And this is a must on audio! His narration is fantastic and quirky. Flea is way more than a genital sock donning bass player, he‘s a massive reader, devout Vonnegut fan, and a quality human. I wish to be his friend. I sincerely hope he writes a follow up.

Reviewsbylola Sounds like this one is right up your alley! A fellow Vonnegut lover! 4y
britt_brooke @Reviewsbylola I may have squealed! 🤣 4y
wanderinglynn I listened to an interview with him when the book was first coming out. He sounds like an interesting person. 4y
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britt_brooke @wanderinglynn I really knew next to nothing about him going in, but he sounds super interesting. I‘d love to hang out with him. 4y
BarbaraBB Can I join you when you‘re going to hang out with him? He seems such a sweet, smart and inspiring man and of course he kicks ass on the bass ❤️. Great review. Still waiting for my copy 😬 (edited) 4y
britt_brooke @BarbaraBB Hell, yes! Wouldn‘t that be a blast? Hope your copy arrives soon! 🤞🏻 4y
CoverToCoverGirl Great review, it makes me want read it and I didn‘t even know who this guy was until I read the blurb. 🙊🤷‍♀️ 4y
britt_brooke @CoverToCoverGirl It‘s a solid memoir! I‘m not a huge Red Hot Chili Peppers Fan, but he‘s such a charismatic presence. He chose to end the book before music success, so it‘s about his early life. 4y
Megabooks I think I‘m going to stack this! Not a huge RHCP fan, but it seems like he‘s had a journey worth reading about. 👍🏻 4y
britt_brooke @Megabooks I‘m also not a huge RHCP fan, so I think you might like it. I loved One Hot Minute when I was in middle school - I mean LOVED - but not much since. This is a fantastic memoir. Audio is so good! 4y
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britt_brooke
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DAY 10 #GhostTown | Went for a 3-mile run this morning and the greenway was a ghost town. It‘s a nice, sunny 50°F out. Where was everyone? ??‍♀️ Really enjoying this Flea autobiography so far. His narration is perfect and was a good distraction from my slow, terrible run.

#MOvember
@Cinfhen

LauraBeth This looks like a great place to run! 4y
britt_brooke @LauraBeth It‘s great! We are lucky to live near 2 greenways, so I alternate between them. This one runs behind our library. 😍 4y
Cinfhen I forgot this audio released!!! Thanks for the reminder 4y
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Cinfhen Did you get this one yet @BarbaraBB ???!!?! 4y
LauraBeth My greenway also runs behind my library. 😂 I love it - so convenient! 4y
britt_brooke @LauraBeth So perfect! 😆👏🏻 4y
britt_brooke @Cinfhen Yes ma‘am! Yesterday. I didn‘t even know it existed until @Liberty mentioned it earlier in the week. 4y
BarbaraBB @Cinfhen I preordered it months ago. Still waiting for it to arrive! Have you got it yet? @britt_brooke so jealous you‘re already reading it! 4y
britt_brooke @BarbaraBB Hope yours arrived soon! 🤞🏻 It‘s really good so far. 4y
Cinfhen I was waiting for the audio @BarbaraBB and I just used an Audible credit to purchase it!!!! 4y
BarbaraBB @Cinfhen Is he reading it himself??? 4y
Cinfhen Yup!!!! He certainly is @BarbaraBB 😁😜🥰 4y
BarbaraBB @Cinfhen oh man. I can‘t resist that! I‘m off to buy it 😍 4y
Cinfhen 9 hours of Flea whispering in your ear @BarbaraBB 4y
BarbaraBB @Cinfhen Lol 😂 I can‘t find it without subscribing to Audible. I think I‘ll stick with the paperback which will hopefully reach me soon! 4y
Cinfhen Bummer 😫 @BarbaraBB 4y
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