Red Hot Chili Peppers Book

just published book "Band Together" explores four bands, including the Chilis. cost: $35. release from the publishing company:

Internal Dynamics in U2, REM, Radiohead & The Red Hot Chili Peppers Revealed in New Book

Toronto, November 30, 2006 -- A groundbreaking new book by Canadian author Mirit Eliraz explores the inner mechanics and communal life of the four most popular rock bands in the world.

In Band Together: Internal Dynamics in U2, R.E.M., Radiohead and the Red Hot Chili Peppers (McFarland & Company Publishers, 2006), the members of these iconic groups discuss the long-term collaboration within their respective units. Band Together looks at the relations between the bandmates, their shared artistic vision, their chemistry, the division of labor and proceeds within the group, the roles each member plays, how they cope with collective fame, how they remain united (and what factors test their commitment to each other), how the unit is governed, how the musicians collaborate in the studio, how they interact on tour, and much more.

“If you have ever wondered what it’s like to be part of an enduring and tight-knit rock band, this is the book for you,” says Eliraz.

The book features photos of the bands, as well as an extensive bibliography and detailed index.

McFarland (www.mcfarlandpub.com ) is a leading U.S. publisher of scholarly, reference and academic books that are sold worldwide. The company is recognized for its serious works in a variety of fields, including the performing arts.

Description
From The Joshua Tree to Blood Sugar Sex Magik, from Automatic for the People to OK Computer, they produced some of the most memorable rock albums of the post-punk era. Beyond the music, though, the members of U2, R.E.M., Radiohead and the Red Hot Chili Peppers share several common bonds. Having emerged from punk’s do-it-yourself ethos, they embody collective creativity over individual artistry. With the exception of the Chili Peppers’ revolving-door guitarists, each band’s lineup has remained stable while the groups outlasted most of their contemporaries. The twin factors of group-inspired music and long-term collaboration make these four bands important case studies in modern rock and roll.

With a focus on internal creative dynamics, author Mirit Eliraz studies four of the most popular, critically acclaimed, and prolific rock bands of the last quarter century. Introductory chapters offer band bios; reasons for formation; and each group’s friends, collaborators and business partners. Middle chapters discuss the governing structures and general relations within the bands; obstacles to unity and survival; how diverse elements are merged into a productive whole; role divisions; the collaborative process; and life on the road. Concluding chapters cover external influences on band dynamics; the evolution of each band’s communal life; and challenges to the band paradigm.
author's email: bandtogetherbook@gmail.com

Happy Together

utah musicans Seve vs. Evan cover of the Turtles classic... Happy Together. i adore this song. their other stuff is pretty cool too.

Hi I'm Adam From Africa

geneticist Spencer Wells traced human DNA back to its origins and discovered that every human, no matter what we look like, descended from people in Africa. science and religion are always battling it out but here's the ironic thing, science unites humans but religion divides us. race always divides us too but we all are descendants of a black man, separated by 2,000 generations, according to Wells.

Wells, by taking blood samples and studying DNA, proved that the Native Americans started with as few as 10 very hearty Chukchi people-- they live in 30 below weather in Russia with reindeer-- who crossed the Bering Strait about 15,000 years ago are the ancestors of every Native American. He traced the Chukchi people to a family in Kazakhstan. he traced the Kazakhstan people from Africa.

here is the question answered:

Where did Adam (the original male) live and what did he look like?
The unequivocal answer is that he lived in Africa. Every piece of DNA in our bodies can be traced back to an African source. The Y-chromosome traces back to eastern or southern Africa, around 60,000 years ago. The present-day inhabitants of Ethiopia, Sudan and southern Africa carry the clearest signals of our earliest ancestry, signals that have been lost in the rest of us. So they give us a glimpse of our 60,000 year-old Adam. Adam would have been fully modern, both in terms of his appearance and his brain function. It is speculation, of course, but perhaps the San Bushmen of the Kalahari - who in many ways are a composite model of facial features from people all over the world - give us a portrait of Adam and his fellow early humans.

spencer traces the journey of man in his book, "Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey."
here's the whole darned interview because i think it's fascinating:

AN INTERVIEW WITH SPENCER WELLS

Geneticist Spencer Wells spends his life traveling the globe taking blood samples from men and women in order to unravel the secrets of the human story: Where did humans come from? How did they spread over the globe? How did different races evolve? In THE JOURNEY OF MAN: A GENETIC ODYSSEY (Princeton University Press), Wells answers those questions for the first time using the latest discoveries of human genetics. We talked to Spencer as he sat for a moment between trips to Lebanon and Tunisia:

You say that there really was an Adam--a common male ancestor for all humans. How did you find that out?
We study a historical document carried in the blood of everyone alive today - DNA. Tiny spelling mistakes - changes in the DNA sequence - that occurred in the past can give us clues about genealogical relationships. If two people share a change, then they are likely to share an ancestor. If we look at the spelling mistakes carried by people all over the world, we find that ultimately all of us share a common ancestor. In the case of the male line, defined by a piece of DNA known as the Y-chromosome, this analysis allows us to trace back to a common male ancestor for everyone alive today. In other words, Adam.

Where did Adam live and what did he look like?
The unequivocal answer is that he lived in Africa. Every piece of DNA in our bodies can be traced back to an African source. The Y-chromosome traces back to eastern or southern Africa, around 60,000 years ago. The present-day inhabitants of Ethiopia, Sudan and southern Africa carry the clearest signals of our earliest ancestry, signals that have been lost in the rest of us. So they give us a glimpse of our 60,000 year-old Adam. Adam would have been fully modern, both in terms of his appearance and his brain function. It is speculation, of course, but perhaps the San Bushmen of the Kalahari - who in many ways are a composite model of facial features from people all over the world - give us a portrait of Adam and his fellow early humans.

Why do you focus on men? What about Eve?
It turns out that the Y-chromosome gives us two very important clues to the question of how we populated the world. First, it shows us our most recent common ancestor (Adam). This man lived in Africa around 60,000 years ago. The significance of this date is that it means that all modern humans were living in Africa until at least that time. In other words, within the past 60,000 years - only about 2,000 generations - our species has populated the entire planet. Clearly, we are all very closely related. The second clue provided by the Y-chromosome concerns the routes we followed in our migrations around the planet. Due to something I describe in the book as 'sexual politics', the male line gives us the best view of the routes followed. So, the Y - a piece of DNA that really doesn't do much more than to make men men - is one of the best historical documents ever written. Women also have a female history written in their mitochondrial DNA, showing the path to Eve around 150,000 years ago. For reasons explored in the book, the mitochondrial signal turns out to provide less resolution for studies of population history than the Y. Again, it comes down to a long history of sexual politics.

How does the genetic Adam relate to the Adam of the bible?
It's interesting that both genetics and the Bible show that there is a common origin of humanity. According to genetic data we come from a single male ancestor. In the Bible too it is mentioned that there is a single male Adam and single female, Eve. I don't equate our results one-to-one with the biblical story, of course, because if you count back through the generations described in the Bible, Adam should have existed in 4004 BC, and our Adam existed 60,000 years ago. Also, our Adam and Eve weren't the only people alive at the time, just the lucky ones who left descendants down to the present day. But it is nice to know that we arrive at the same general conclusion: we're all related.

If we all came from a black man, how did men and women of different colors come into being?
The accepted explanation for skin color differences is that we first evolved in a tropical region, in Africa. The tropical sun is quite strong, so the skin needed the protection provided by the natural sunscreen, melanin, which makes skin dark. When we started moving into the Northern Hemisphere 40,000 years ago, the sun was not as strong. Anyone who's been to London in February can tell you that! And because the sun helps us to synthesize Vitamin D, which we need to grow strong bones, we had to lose some of our pigmentation to allow enough sunlight through.

So what do our genes tell us about the biological differences between, say, Europeans and Africans?
They are literally only skin deep. We are all African cousins separated by - at most - 2,000 generations.

Has research on genes told us something about the first people to arrive in America?
Yes. Our data tells us that we could not have been in the Americas prior to 20,000 years ago, and the most likely date of entry was around 15,000 years ago. This is because the oldest Y-chromosome lineage in the Americas originated in Central Asia 15,000-20,000 years ago, and then migrated to the northeast, across the Bering Strait. If we were still in Central Asia 20,000 years ago, we couldn't have been in the Americas until after that date.

How do other scientists and the public react to your research?

In general, there is more and more agreement among paleoanthropologists, archaeologists, geneticists and historians about the details of our past. I suppose one thing that some people still find hard to accept is that we left Africa so recently, and blitzed our way around the world, but it does seem to have happened like that. I urge them to read the book, where I discuss the archaeological, linguistic and climatological clues that fill in the details of our journey. It is a synthetic look at the past, not simply a genetic tale.

Heroes Tim Sale

Peter P. He flies
by way of galley cat, an interview with the comic book artist behind my new favorite show, NBC's Heroes.
vote heroes best new TV drama
Hiro's blog

Mikah Sykes

an interesting interview with the portland, oregon musician who is a friend of john frusciante's girlfriend, emily kokal. he talks about his experience recording in john's home. i checked out mikah's myspace and i didn't really like his music much but apparently, john does and perhaps you will.
i do like this though.

Chili Peppers Roundhouse London

one of the best reviews of a chili show that i've ever seen and some awesome pics. this was a show at the roundhouse in london the day before thanksgiving. john truly does look troubled -- no turkey with loved ones? i imagine being on tour is a bear at times. Here's some more fabulous pics.
here is short video of what looks to be an exhausted or bothered john.

John Frusciante's Sleeping

okay, so i stuck around cause the chili peppers were gonna be on the American Music Awards. welp, there they are in london by satellite, winning the favorite pop rock/band/duo category and anthony says John is back at the room sleeping. ugh.
funny stuff. oh well. rest up dear johnny!
oh, and i forgot, john must be resting up for the show ms. flo is going to see tomorrow in london. have a blast!

a link to the roxy show video that i *didn't* win tickets to :-(
some roxy show photos
Brandy

It's a John Frusciante Evening!

Fox on the Run


gorgeous Murderers from To Record Water for Only 10 Days

Ode to John

Frusciante, that is....
this is way fab from a crafty gal across the pond.

here's another tribute set to "song to sing when i'm lonely." the ultimate happy song.

Save the Cheerleader

save the world.... does anybody watch Heroes? this show is the best, but i've heard zero buzz. i hope it doesn't get cancelled. it's about ordinary people with extraordinary powers. a cheerleader who can heal her body, a cop who can read minds, the heroin addicted painter who paints the future. one of the funniest characters, hiro, who's from japan, can travel through time. they're all getting around to meeting each other. who knows what they're supposed to do but we've been led to believe that they are going to save the world from some doomsday.

but there are bad guys with super powers. sylar and the the evil politician who can fly. just what the world needs. Ha!

there are others who may be good or bad. we don't know yet.
it's a large cast of mostly unknown actors as far as i can tell.
it all kind of takes place within a graphic novel. watch it! you'll be hooked.

God's Gonna Cut You Down

Chili Peppers appear on the new video for the Man in Black's song off American V

Evanescence singer Amy Lee, Coldplay's Chris Martin, U2 vocalist Bono and Plus 44 drummer Travis Barker, along with Flea and Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, all appear in the new video for the Johnny Cash song "God's Gonna Cut You Down." The concept and video treatment for the clip came from Justin Timberlake, who also appears in the video. A total of 36 artists show up in the clip, including Iggy Pop, Kanye West, actor Terrence Howard, Chris Rock, Jay-Z, Kate Moss, Sheryl Crow, Tommy Lee, the Dixie Chicks, Keith Richards, Kid Rock, Johnny Depp and many others.

The video features each artist in a separate vignette as they reflect silently on hearing the song for the first time. The video was directed by Tony Kaye, who recently helmed the clip for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Dani California."

The first choice to direct was Mark Romanek, who handled the video for Cash's celebrated cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt," but scheduling conflicts forced him to bow out.

The video was shot in Los Angeles, New York and London, with Richards' sequence filmed in Amsterdam.

The song comes from the latest Cash release, American V: A Hundred Highways, which the musical legend recorded shortly before his death in 2003 at the age of 71.

Blood Diamond

bling is dead?
the movie "blood diamond" out dec. 8 shines a light on the sparkly jewel and the bloody ways it's used to fund organizations such as al quaida and african war lords.
"in america it's bling bling. out here it's bling bang," says leo dicaprio in the movie trailer.
but hold on, it's only so-called "conflict diamonds" that are the trouble, estimated to be less than 1% of the diamonds sold.

Who's Rumsfeld?

from the guys doing the work:

"Rumsfeld’s out," he said to five marines sprawled with rifles on the cold floor.

Lance Cpl. James L. Davis Jr. looked up from his cigarette. "Who’s Rumsfeld?" he asked.

that dose of reality thanks to a new york times story today.

Chili Peppers Secret Show

i didn't win :-(
but LAist says that some tix are available to the public if you've got time to stand on line tonight:

Tickets are free to the public and EXTREMELY LIMITED.

Tickets can only* be picked up tonight at the Circuit City at 4400 Sunset Blvd in East Hollywood starting at 7pm on a first-come-first-serve basis. Tickets come in pairs.

Chili Peppers to do Secret LA Show

from the LAist! the show is tied to micosoft's new zune music player. woo hoo! i signed up with only minutes to spare before the deadline. fingers crossed.

Rumsfeld Out

can the news get any better today?
wahooey!
here's an excerpt from a CNN story:

In brief remarks, Rumsfeld described the Iraq conflict as a "little understood, unfamiliar war" that is "complex for people to comprehend."

that's what made him arrogant and obnoxious. he thinks we're all just a bunch of dumb dumbs.

Deep Beneath the Cover

of Another Perfect Wonder,
ah, thanks flo. here's the chili's new video Snow: http://www.stadium-arcadium.com/main/video/snow.htm.
it's a low key video, black and white shots and concert footage. love this song.

Snow lyrics:
Snow (hey Oh) by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Come to decide that the things that I tried were in my life just to get high on.
When I sit alone, come get a little known but I need more than myself this time.
Step from the road to the sea to the sky, and I do believe what we rely on
when I lay it on, come get to play it on all my life to sacrifice.
Hey oh...listen what I say oh I got your hey oh, now listen what I say oh
When will I know that I really can't go to the well once more time to decide on.
When it's killing me, when will I really see, all that I need to look inside.
Come to believe that I better not leave before I get my chance to ride,
when it's killing me, what do I really need all that I need to look inside.
Hey oh...listen what I say oh come back and hey oh, look at what I say oh
The more I see the less I know
The more I like to let it go - hey oh, woah...
Deep beneath the cover of another perfect wonder where it's so white as snow,
Privately divided by a world so undecided and there's nowhere to go;
In between the cover of another perfect wonder where it's so white as snow,
running through a field where all my tracks will be concealed and there's nowhere to go. Ho!Went to descend to amend for a friend All the channels that have broken down.
Now you bring it up,I'm gonna ring it up, Just to hear you sing it out.
Step from the road to the sea to the sky, and I do belive what we rely on,
when I lay it on, come get to play it on all my life to sacrifice
Hey oh...Listen what I say oh I got your hey oh...listen what I say oh
The more I see, the less I know The more I like to let it go - hey oh woah...
Deep beneath the cover of another perfect wonder where it's so white as snow.
Privately divided by a world so undecided and there's nowhere to go
In between the cover of another perfect wonder where it's so white as snow
Running through the field where all my tracks will be concealed and there's nowhere to go.
I said hey hey yeah oh yeah, tell my love now. Hey Hey yeah oh yeah, tell my love now.Deep Beneath the cover of another perfect wonder where it's so white as snow, Privately divided by a world so undecided and there's nowhere to go. Deep Beneath the cover of another perfect wonder where it's so white as snow...Running through the field where all my tracks will be concealed and there's nowhere to go.I said hey oh yeah oh yeah..tell my love now Hey yeah yeah...oh yeah

My First Blog

today, i celebrate my two-year anniversary blogging. below is an essay i wrote and posted to my first blogsite (hosted somewhere else at the time). my great disappointment that prez. bush won the election was the reason i started blogging.

here we are again, election time. i didn't want to vote but did anyway because i could mail it in. when you have politicians insulting your intelligence with ads such as "i was fat." that's from mr. bustamante, running for office here in cali. he tries to say that because he lost weight he can do the same for california, or something absurd like that. who are these ads targeting?

here's my prediction: despite the media yammering on about people wanting change, it will still be a republican congress once the votes are tallied. who doesn't want to see change? but for me, i can't tell the difference between a republican or a democrat. one is as good as the other. they're all the same. the democrats, sadly, haven't done anything to stand out. the only politician i've seen that's remotely intriguing is barak obama.

anyway, this is the one of the only times i'll ever blog about politics. after my first post in november 2004, i decided i didn't want to write about politics. i felt like i needed a year-long shower. besides, there are so many bloggers that write about politics, either left or right, and their discussions are so full of venom.

really, i don't consider myself either D or R and i think that we've been pushed to take sides, thanks in large part to our current leadership. these days, i don't think the country is as divided -- red and blue -- as we are made to believe. i think we just have a leader who is a divider not a uniter.

i still think that picking a fight in iraq was a monstrous mistake in every regard, so big that we'll not feel the full effects. future generations of the world will. here's another thing, i don't think that anyone truly believed there were WMDs in Iraq. i know everyone says they did. i think americans, still smarting over the terrorist attacks, just wanted to believe and wanted revenge, even if it was the wrong target.

americans rationalized that Iraq was A target. sadaam was a bad guy, so why not? everything got mixed up. are we fighting osama or sadaam? are they brothers? and then the prez put the fear of god in the people, who were already scared. and the people fell for it. i don't blame the prez anymore because i think he's trying his best. i don't think he's evil. he's merely a reflection of the american people.

speaking of evil reflections, what a nice coincidence ;-)that ted haggard, the leader of the evangelicals that were so influential in 2004, has been found to be a hypocrite. i remember when he condemned homosexuals and non-christians to hell on a barbara walters special. why would anyone follow a man who believed that? why would anyone follow a man?

poor guy. he's just a gay man who has tortured himself his whole life for being gay. if the planet is still around in 40 years, homosexuality will be a non issue. the funny thing is, if mr. ted had been true to who he is, he'd be a more christian human being. i don't think his outing was a coincidence. but there i go mixing religion and politics.

My First Blog, Nov. 2004:

Why am I so angry with my mother for voting for George Bush?
Why am I so disheartened that 59 million of my fellow Americans voted for
Bush?

Why am I so depressed?

One of my friends sent me a consoling email: "The depression is deep and widespread," she said. Someone else I know is making black armbands.

I am not alone. I know that. But still, I’m miserable.

I honestly thought that Sen. John Kerry was going to win in a landslide. I ended all of my emails "Kerry in a landslide!" I know, many of you are laughing, thinking of me as a poor naïve liberal Democrat. (I did vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger and I’m registered as Independent).

I thought the people were going to rise up. I had such hope and faith that a new era of enlightenment was here. I imagined the look on Bush’s face when he found he was out. I pictured him having a tantrum.

I imagined the red-faced, contorted look on right wing talk show host, Rush Limbaugh, the one who my mother listens to.

I knew Kerry was a good man. I was convinced after I watched him on C-SPAN as a younger Kerry speaking out against the Vietnam War. He spoke eloquently, was enlightened and way ahead of his time. Still is.

I knew he was peace-minded. Then came the debates. I could see he wanted to make a difference. I knew he was smart.

I didn’t vote for him to vote against Bush. I thought he was the cat’s pajamas. To me, he was hope.

Today, I’m wondering how Kerry would be handling Iraq and would the Red team feel so awful with Bush out of office? Would the stock market have plunged if Kerry was elected?

I got Kerry.

I didn’t get Bush. I don’t get Bush.
I didn’t understand what he was saying. Does "freedom is on the march" actually mean "Christianity is on the march?" Do people think that God speaks to Bush?

Perhaps the biggest mystery of all: Bush won on "moral values?" I’m truly dumbfounded.

Does that mean the rest of us have no "moral values?" I have plenty.

I believe that you should help the poorest long before you help the richest. I believe we should take care of the environment even though we may not live long enough to see the results. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with two people of the same sex being in love or having a life together.

But this leads me to wonder: Are these the people that go to church, the ones that have "moral values?" Is that what they teach in church?

I don’t go to church. I don’t believe that "church" is a place. I believe everyone should be able to worship the way they choose. I believe if people are more aligned with their own faith, rather than trying to convert others, the results will be better for all.

Aren’t we all under the same umbrella?
But I guess those are different values.

I feel disconnected. But it has spurred me to try and "get it" or be lost in despair, worse yet, give in to the awful oppression that I feel.

I want to understand the Red team and what makes them tick. So if you see me at your church taking notes, be kind. Feel free to explain to me why war is okay but abortion is not. (For the record, I’m not for abortion but I am for a practical approach that would help solve the problem). Why tax breaks to the rich is okay, but breaks for the poor is not? Why forcing "democracy" and "freedom" on other countries is okay but racism, which squashes freedom and democracy, persists in the U.S.

It’s not likely that I’ll cross over to the other side to be a Bush supporter. But at least I’ll understand.

A note to the Democratic Party: I’m not interested in a candidate that would appeal to the Red team.

I’m on the Blue team now and although some people I love dearly aren’t on my team, 56 million people are, and for that I’m hopeful.

Vote John Frusciante Best Guitarist

do it here
i love this song! "city of new orleans" by John. the original, part of my 45 collection, is by arlo guthrie. John messes up but then the audience spurs him to go on. that's what makes his solos the bestest parts of the chilis shows. they are often songs he just learned. he's also doing fleetwood mac's songbird. i'd like to see him do a gordon lightfoot song or the carpenters.

National Novel Writing Month

i didn't know. now i do. november is national novel writing month, where people of all abilities write a book in 30 days. it doesn't matter if it's bad, only that you write 50,000 words (175 pages). dare i? what fun.
today is day one.
i've lost one day.
but i'm in.
here's the blog

Sylvia Plath Ennui

Sylvia's recently discovered poem at Blackbird. it was inspired by The Great Gatsby.
read how it was found
here's an original typewritten draft