Me and My Friends #20 - A Deep Dive Stream
Hello all,
This shuttered world has become one of low resolution up-the-nose conference calls, fan streams, and quarantine specials, and here’s one more for the pile!
Leandro Cabo (who you may remember from the extraordinary RHCP Live Archive) and I have been working the past few weeks on a “deep dive” video into some rarer or less-known aspects of Chili Peppers history, and it’ll be premiering on Saturday. Here’s a link to the video so you can be reminded of it when it goes up.
The video is a Greatest Hits of sorts - full of songs from first shows, last shows, first performances, only performances, demos, rare studio out-takes. All that sort of stuff, all with historical context on the screen to give you some background. We figured if the band weren’t gonna get off their caboose and put something out there, we could do it for them.
I hope you’ll join me and Leni on Saturday night or Saturday morning or whatever it is for you. The initial “broadcast” will be live, and we’ll both be there for that, but that video will remain up so you can watch whenever you like. I hope there’s something in there that you haven’t heard before.
This month’s random RHCP fact. What’s the connection between the Chili Peppers and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? No, it’s not “The Zephyr Song”.
Did you know, the mother of one-time RHCP guitarist Dix Denney is… Mike Teavee’s mother?
Nora Denney! How about that?
If you haven’t been living under a rock, you’ll know about the Black Lives Matter protests currently unfolding across most of the Western world. I’ve already made my opinion pretty clear on Facebook and Twitter; it was a relief to see that the people that follow me there clearly seem to feel the same way. (Also: there’s never a bad time to listen to Green Heaven.)
For a band with a predominantly white face, the Chili Peppers have an extensive black history that’s less evident. Aside from the fact that they spent the first ten years of their career explaining why they were playing “black music”, there’s also the people they played with and for: Gary Allen, George Clinton, DeWayne McKnight, D.H. Peligro, Arik Marshall, Brian Burton… that’s just the surface. Take a look at the Black artists they’ve covered: Jimi Hendrix, Thelonious Monk, George Clinton (again), The Meters, Robert Johnson…
Their very career (and, of course, the career of any rock musician) is based upon the work of black artists, and I know the Chili Peppers know this and celebrate this, but it can’t hurt to say it again.
While we’re on the subject of bettering the world, one thing I would like to highlight which is band related: the Watts Community Core, a food/resource bank in LA that are currently having an art fundraiser. Flea and his family appear to be visiting them once a week or so, and are getting deeply involved, and it looks like they do great work. It’s inspired me to see if there’s anything similar near me that I can get involved in.
Maybe you could do the same? It’s easy to find your local food bank if you’re in the US or UK – or you can just google “food bank near me” and something will surely pop up.
In fact - the first person to respond to this email with proof that they’ve donated some money to a local food bank, I’ll send them a free copy of this 2006 book:
Shipping included. All it takes is a donation.
So, until Saturday, hopefully. Or if not, until next month.
Hamish