FLEA: My dad was a pretty button-down, straight, square guy - wore a suit and a briefcase, went to work every day. And all of a sudden, my mom takes off with this jazz musician who was a junkie who lived in his parents' basement. Acid for the Children is the debut of a stunning new literary voice, whose prose is as witty, entertaining, and wildly unpredictable as the author himself. It's a tenderly evocative coming-of-age story and a raucous love letter to the power of music and creativity from one of the most renowned musicians of our time. Ok so Flea is a great author? Did not see that one coming. Prejudice on my part, and sometimes it's so much fun to be confronted with your own prejudice. He has a great way with words – some bits are read-out-loud-pretty – and tells his story candidly, without shying away from his own selfishness and wrongness, mistakes everyone makes when young. There’s no denying that Flea had an extremely wild childhood, and that’s putting it lightly. Following his parent’s divorce, his father returned to Australia, and Flea and his sister found themselves alone with their mother and her new, unpredictable boyfriend Walter. Their stepfather struggled with mental health issues and was often the cause for fear and anxiety in the two children, though his passion for music gave Flea an early insight into the wonders of playing instruments. Later in his childhood, Flea returned to Australia to live with his father, an upright and tough man who struggled to accept Flea’s wild ways. Upon returning to live in the States with his mother and Walter, who often hosted grand jam sessions at their house, Flea fell in love with jazz and became a talented trumpet player, idolising the likes of Miles Davies and Louis Armstrong. Despite the passion for music in his household, there were also frequent bouts of aggression and physical violence, usually fuelled by alcohol. Feeling increasingly alone and anxious, Flea, at the age of just 13, turned to cannabis to help cope with his issues. But the more I read about his youthful dynamic with Anthony Kiedis, the more I recall my own Flea/Anthony experience I wrote about in my book, a story called, "Peppers for Breakfast."

CORNISH: And your childhood - have you forgiven folks who - I don't know - maybe didn't allow you to have a full one? In April 2014, Flea started writing his memoir. The book was expected to chronicle Flea's unconventional childhood (including his move from a "normal" life in the New York suburbs to a " bohemian" lifestyle in Los Angeles with his jazz-playing stepfather), his adventures in the L.A. streets, his "sometimes complex friendship and collaboration" with Chili Peppers co-founder Anthony Kiedis and the overall "tumultuous creative journey" of the band, which formed in 1983. [5]Dejo por aquí un fragmento que está ya por el final del libro y que me ha dejado rotita por dentro: Michael Balzary Flea rođen je u Australiji u kojoj je proveo prvih sedam godina života, nakon čega se sa porodicom seli u Njujork. Odrastajući u velikom gradu, sa roditeljima koji su se par godina nakon dolaska u Ameriku razveli, uvijek bez istinske ljubavi i pažnje koja je djetetu njegovih godina bila potrebna, Flea pokušava da shvati dinamiku međuljudskih odnosa, roditeljskih, vršnjačkih, dinamiku bivstvovanja u nemilosrdnom svijetu. FLEA: I think I improve as a father over time. I think at my worst, I've had the bad elements of both of those guys. And at my best, I'm thoughtful, kind, present, understanding, energetic and a bottomless pit of love who sees the sun rise and set every time his kids walks into the room. Ljubavi bez koje ništa ne bi bilo moguće, ljubavi koja se nalazi u svemu - u dobrim stvarima, u lošim iskustvima, književnosti, džezu, u samodestrukciji, gubitku, samoći. There is a lyrical lilt to Flea’s prose, his voice clear and authentic. I was moved by his enthusiasm for life, the way that he has always been unapologetically himself. And perhaps most surprisingly, this memoir challenged my assumptions, making me think in unexpected ways and reminding me of the beauty inherent in life and those who walk through it with us.

Flijev stil pisanja je iskren i poetičan, ulice Los Angelesa postaju nam poznate, muzika dopire iz njegove sobe, malih zadimljenih klubova, iz automobila. At the end of Acid for the Children, Flea leaves us with several lists of books, movies, and music that are significant to him, including “Concerts that Changed My Life.” Here’s mine... I whipped right through this. Michael Balzary (Flea) is a former client in my audio business, so I knew he had a love of esoteric jazz, and that he is a deep, thoughtful man. This book is yikes city. Flea waxes poetically about all kinds of vibing with the sound, connecting with the Earth etc since he was a kid, but in a very ‘first grader who is enlightened’ vocabulary. Isnt this man sixtyish by now? Some of the book I’ve found to be endearing, but most of it is unfortunately pure gibberish - and I say this as someone who loves him and the RHCP.

Also according to this book and how its written: Flea never met a gay man without explaining it with ‘I met this gay man’. He apparently also never saw/met a person of color who wasnt described as such before even their name was said, or at latest in the next sentence if he was trying to be mysterious (their brown cinnamon eyes/face).

Acid for the Children is not an as-told-to, nor is it written "with" someone. These are Flea's words-excitable, jazzy, regretful, disarming, popping and writhing away in his biological bass zone. Insecurities to the fore: He worries that he may be producing "a thorny jumble of trash." But he's actually a lovely writer, with a particular gift for the free-floating and reverberant. He writes in Beat Generation bursts and epiphanies, lifting toward the kind of virtuosic vulnerability and self-exposure associated with the great jazz players....Flea-elegant nutcase, funk-at-high-pressure bassist, wildly cultured and culturedly wild man-has written a fine memoir. You'll put down Acid for the Children with your human sympathies expanded; you'll feel less alone."-- The Atlantic And we just were inseparable. Our friendship kind of waxes and wanes. We're very different people, but here we are...P.S. His childhood love of jazz and learning music is likely one reason he began his Silverlake Conservatory of Music, where my daughter took guitar lessons. Flea raises funds so children of all incomes can attend. CONS: ultimately I’m a prude and could not take the F-words. There weren’t a lot in the beginning of the book but by the time you’re at his drugged out antics in high school the f-bombs kept coming. It affects me. And I cringed a lot at the way he explains his developing sexuality - ultimately I just didn’t want to read about it. It made me really sad to put it down because I was loving it but I know the end of the story.... he becomes the famous bass player for the Red Hot Chili Peppers - a band I loved in my youth so I felt like I could say goodbye to the book. Long after I’m dead, someone will erect a statue of Flea in West Hollywood. He’ll be slapping that bass in mid-flight, wild-eyed, legs spread, his pants half-way down his ass, and with such a look of joy on his face that it will become a place of pilgrimage for young and old alike.