Red Hot Chili Peppers!

I still remember the first time I ever heard the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was the summer of 1992, when everyday was spent playing volleyball on the side yard at my good friend Jim Menke’s house. On that now momentous day, our friend Greg brought over the tape of “BloodSugarSexMagik”, popped it in the cassette player and played “Give It Away”. The album blew my mind, and for the rest of the summer that album was the soundtrack for a couple of 15 year olds.

In 1999, the Peppers released “Californication”, famous for the single “Scar Tissue”. The summer of 99 I lived in Maui. Days spent cruising the island in our rented Jeep, going to Big Beach and various waterfalls, we played the Peppers new album religiously. Whenever I think back to those memories from my first encounter in Hawaii, certain RHCP songs inevitably start playing in my mind.

Needless to say, I am pretty big fan of this band. Horribly, I had never seen them in concert. Incidentally, back in April 2000, (right before I was going to spend 2 years in Micronesia as a smelly Peace Corps Volunteer) my good buddy Brad Smith called me up to tell me he could get us tickets to that nights RHCP concert at Starplex. Like a complete douche bag I responded that as cool as it sounded, since it was a Wednesday night, I didn’t want to be tired at work the next day. (To this day I am flabbergasted that as a 22-year old such a despicably lame comment ever came out of my trap!) For the past few years I have often thought about what a big mistake that was. This was only further compounded by the last 2 albums that RHCP have released, “By The Way” in 2003 (which again was the soundtrack to my life during the 6 months I lived in LA) and “Stadium Arcadium” in 2006. “Stadium Arcadium” practically never left the CD player in Veronica and I’s Ford Explorer (aka Black Beauty) for a full month from initially putting it in.

So what does this all mean, these 3 paragraphs of recalling my love of the Red Hot Chili Peppers music? What it means is that finally, after waiting like Moses wandering the desert for 40 years, the stars fell into place, the planets aligned, and miraculously Veronica and I went and saw one of our favorite bands play a glorious, funk induced, gospel of good times music! Is it pathetic that damn near cried like a 13-year old school girl when the Peppers sauntered onto the stage and busted out “Can’t Stop” to begin the show? Frankly, I don’t care what anyone thinks, because the show ruled! Emphatically RULED! Writing this I am still practically getting goose bumps just thinking about the melodic utopia of sounds emanating from the stage last night. And did I mention that we were sitting in the nose bleeds? We were so high up I thought it probable someone could base jump onto the stage from our seats if only they had a parachute. But it didn’t matter, all that mattered is that Veronica and I got to see one of our favorite bands play a kick ass show in Sydney. Highlights of the show were when they played "BloodSugarMagik", and their encore of "Give It Away" was absolutely marvelous. A one word summation of the show would be, GLORIOUS!

P.S. The photos of Veronica and I on the bench, and of Veronica standing on the bench were taken at Sparks Park, quite possibly the world’s smallest park. Sparks Park is located on the North side of our building, and while it is an enjoyable little spot to sit around and let the sun wash over you in the late afternoon, it is not exactly a place to go walk your dog.