Flea is an Australian-born American musician and occasional actor. He is best known as the bassist and co-founding member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and co-founder of The Silverlake Conservatory of Music.
"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
"[Acid For The Children is] written with the same lyrical, holy
goof-ball energy its author brings to all his public activities,
and its earnest, eccentric prose reflects Flea's evolution from
Hollywood-scene knucklehead to reflective, spiritually clued-in
adult."--The New York Times
"[An] electric, surprisingly moving memoir...Flea is an enlightened
narrator, and this passionate, smart memoir will resonate with
readers whether they're fans of the band or not."
--Publisher's Weekly, starred review
"[A] sensitive, well-written coming-of-age memoir. Readers will
find much to relate to in Flea's life story and will hope that this
isn't the only entry in his writing career."--Library Journal
"A wild ride through the coming-of-age wilderness of the famed rock
bassist...Relentlessly honest, untamed, and often
revelatory."--Kirkus
"Flea is a surprisingly good writer...RHCP fans or not, readers
will find a unique coming-of-age memoir that's also an ode to
books, music, and performing."--Booklist
"Acid for the Children remains a vital, only-in-L.A. account of a
wide-open time filtered through an engaging, humbled voice reshaped
by his recovery and reconnecting to his spirit through art and
music."--LA Times
"[A] must read. . . Flea writes with gratitude of someone who is
amazed he survived everything thrown his way and with a deep
thoughtfulness."--GQ
"Flea has written a memoir not about music, but about a feral child
growing up in Hollywood who assembles a family out of the other
lost souls around him. The prose is like his bass technique - wild,
energetic, indelible. And in the final moments of the book, as the
Red Hot Chili Peppers are about to take the stage for the first
time, you can't wait to find out what's next."
--NPR
"Flea's got a compelling, vulnerable, self-interrogating writer's
voice. . . Acid for the Children is an artist's love story between
Flea and Kiedis, who meet as 14-year-olds and cleave like opposing
magnetic poles."--Rolling Stone
"The prose frequently mimics [Flea's] playing: occasionally
beautiful, occasionally outrageous, in conversation with a small
group of predecessors but unwilling to follow anyone else's rules.
. . Acid For The Children feels remarkably close to the bone, its
author nuanced in his understanding of himself, his hang-ups, and
his surroundings."--AV Club
"Written in quick-hitting vignettes, the utterly compelling,
engrossing must read takes us from his birth in Australia to moving
to New York as a four-year-old, from discovering music, from his
parents' separation to how moving to L.A. changed his
life."--Forbes
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