Fleamail June 26, 2007

From: Michael Balzary

Sent: Tue Jun 26 06:31:20 2007

here in amsterdamn
last week i spent in the mountains
the beautiful mountains that embrace you like a babe in a milky bosom
of love
where you can be dashed like yesterday's ragdoll onto an unmmoveable
razorsharp family of rocks
or fall like a ray of sun of a friendly cliff into a genius swimming
hole in a cascading hippie river
and eat fresh baked bread
and carry your baby girl in a backpack woodsy hike
fuck i'm lucky
now i am in amsterdamn for a few days
so far on this leg we played bilbao it was fun and rocked
and some town i cant pronounce in holland and it was fun and rocked too
i played a lot of chess with josh last night
he beats me mostly but i get him once in a while
i've got instruments in my room and i play them and try to come up
with good musical ideas
it is a lot of fun when i strike upon something i like
listening to wayne shorter
reading saul bellow

December 8, 2006

From: "Michael Balzary"

hi
dec 8 over here in austria
its very late at night
528 am to be exact
been watching the news
i must say this whole war in iraq has seemed to move a modicum in a
more positive direction
with this study group's report that talking to people and trying
diplomacy
might be better than silence and rhetoric and the threat of violence
certainly a dialogue with iran and syria is better than none
if there was one problem worked out through the course of dialogue
then it would be worth it
talking can only help
and even for those people who think it is of paramount importance for
the u.s.a. to be the biggest political and economic influence in the
world
surely they can see that continuing this absurd war in iraq in the
current manner has only diminished respect and influence for the
united states world wide

of course, invading iraq was a catastrophic mistake from the get go
but at least this report being taken seriously by the united states
government is a small step in the right direction
the invasion of iraq was a moronic move that made the world a much
less safe and less happy place to be
and the hugest blunder of the united states during my life
time...........well i guess vietnam was a pretty bad waste of lives
too..........
this war has done nothing to stop terrorism it has only made it worse
on the tragic day when al qaeda took out the twin towers
a day that pains all of our hearts
al qaeda and osama bin laden were pointed out as the perpetrators and
we were told by our government they would be brought to justice
so they invaded iraq whose government had nothing to do with al qaeda
or with any radical religious fanaticism at all
under false pretenses, and made up lies about the weapons of mass
destruction they were supposed to have which were a threat to the u.s.a.
which iraq had none of
so they bomb the hell out of iraq
then they find saddam hussein in a hole with some snickers bars and
it is supposed to have some bearing on the terrible tragedy of sept
11th??????
something to do with stopping terrorism?
after sept 11th, the world felt for the united states, the sane world
cared about us
until the bush operation awe and kill or whatever the hell it was
called........
iraq was a sanctioned to death country which was no threat to the
u.s. at all, not to mention led by a secular government...
and yes, a lunatic of a leader who ruled his country in a terrible
way.......were they invading iraq to save the locals from the evil
saddam?
if so......where was our caring government during the genocide in
rwanda not so many years before?
or in darfur now?
geez....anyone who has paid any attention at all knows all this stuff
so why am i still blabbing on about it?
because thousands and thousands of people die violently for a lie?
and it continues unabated?
because for some reason completely beyond me there are those out
there who still think the invasion of iraq was somehow justified
aaaahhhhhh
anyways, maybe the u.s.a. can train these iraqi troops and leave a
place they have had no business being in the first place
maybe it is possible for people to have peace over there
maybe they can have their own government
maybe
maybe love is better than war
maybe diplomacy is better than dropping bombs on human beings
maybe there doesn't need to be bodies of disfigured children lying in
the street
maybe a tenth of the effort put into something as ridiculous as the
war in iraq
put into trying to create peace and understanding
could have a positive effect
maybe the united states which i love so much
could have a department of peace
as well as a department of war

Wednesday, December 6, 2006

From: "Michael Balzary"
To: members@redhotchilipeppers.com

hi
i love the beautiful thing in everyone
i love the freedom of everyone to be beautiful
i love the miracle of someone expressing their beautiful self
i weep with joy at the power of someone able to express their true
beauty in the midst of repressive forces
we have to all support the freedom and the beauty
it is our responsibility as human beings
it is the greatest thing we can do
our imagination is our greatest gift

i am in vienna
i purchased a nice jacket and waistcoat today
it feels so good the coziness of it

the red hot chili peppers have played a lot of concerts
wow
it is hard to imagine for me
even though i lived every single one
all the sweat and broken toes
all the rubber chicken necking
all the smiles
the sheer quantity of notes

and we played another one tonight in vienna
i am so proud of my bandmates
they always give their hearts
and i am so lucky to have ended up with them
tonight we played a little bit of the song 'nevermind'
we haven't played that song in many a moon
i cant remember the last time
but it was so fun
CAUSE WERE THE REDHOT CHILI PEPP ERRRRRRSSS!!!!!!!!
yeah it goes like that

there is a man with a red face who works here at the hotel
and whores in the bar

mozart is from around here
not from vienna but somewhere in austria

i am listening to ornette coleman right now 'love call'
whooo that dude is on fire
harmolodics
cant beat it
cant
impossible

has anyone seen the tv show 'the wire'?
anthony turned me on to it and i have been watching it with great
fervor
there is an awesome character in it named d'angelo
the actor who plays him is great
and undergoes an incredible transformation
as far as the 3 seasons i have seen he is the emotional center of the
whole thing
i really love it
though it is completely heartbreaking
and supports joe strummer's assertion that '"it is a sad and
beautiful world"

love to all

Sunday, December 3, 2006

From: "Michael Balzary"
To: members@redhotchilipeppers.com

so i see that snoop dogg has been arrested again......


let me tell you this
i have a non profit music school in los angeles
it is called 'the silverlake conservatory of music'
we have about 600 students and lots of them go for free and and are
supplied with quality instruments to play
it costs money to make this happen
last summer i asked snoop dogg if he would come down and record with
the kids in the studio
a bunch of kids got in the studio over at capital records in hollywood
and snoop doggy dogg the dee oh double g came down
and met with each kid individually, took pictures with all of them
signed all their autographs
and the kids rocked some funk grooves and snoop rocked rhymes with
them and it was recorded
he spent several hours doing it
and he showed them how he did it in the studio
for free
he was gracious, polite, and giving with the kids
and he had a gig that night that he had to get a plane to, but he
still showed up and spent the whole day with the kids
because he cared
there was no press, nothing to gain, no glory
he did it because it was the thing a person with heart does
and the recording was great and it will come out sometime soon and
raise money for the school
so kids that can't afford it can have free quality music lessons and
instruments
there you have it

Saturday, October 28, 2006

From: "Michael Balzary"
To: members@redhotchilipeppers.com

hi world
i love you
you sad and beautiful thing
i am here in new orleans having arrived early this morning from
driving through the night from atlanta
before atlanta we drove from philly
some big drives lately a good time for reading and movie watching
last night john and i watched the movie 'slacker'
we liked it alot and it was great to hear the butthole surfers
i love the butthole surfers
their records 'rembrant pussyhorse' and 'cream corn from the socket
of davis' were never far from my turntable
when they came out.......
they also put on some of the most awesome rock shows i ever saw in my
life
and without doubt the best visuals of any rock show i ever saw
they once had a dancer who danced for the whole show
she came out naked, painted green, and with tin foil over her teeth
and they would reflect all the lights
she was great and the music was true psychedelia and paul leary such
a great guitarist.......
king and theresa on the skins
gibby waling
and jeff was a great bass player
and they had a dog named mark farner
real psychedelic
not some wimpy 60's retro cartoon
not in any way am i dissing the mind boggling power of 60's
psychedelia, but the 60's was the sixties....................it ended
punk rock happened
hip hop happened

anyways

so we got into new orleans early in the morn and i was met by my
loved ones here and my was heart was lifted
it has been a great 24 hours

there are great things afoot in chili pepper land
tomorrow we play at the voodoo fest here and the meters are playing
as well
i love the meters so much
i have learned a lot from them
we are going to jam with them at the end of our set
that is very exciting to me
they are such innovative and important musicians who are one of the
main inventors of this music we call funk
the deepest kind of groove that could have only come from those guys
in this town
art neville! leo noscetelli! george porter!
ziggy modeliste!!!!
whooooooooo hooooooooo yeeeeeeeaaaaaahhh!!!!
so it is an honor to play with them

the other exciting thing that is on the horizon for us
is that we are going to make a video for the song 'hump de bump'
and it is going to be directed by someone we truly admire and respect
the comic genius chris rock
he has been so supportive of us
and it is a kind thing
for him to take the time to direct this piece of film for us
for someone who works as hard as he does
and is as insightful and as on top of their game as he is
and who has an incredible gift of being able to give hysterical joy
to as many people as he does
to associate himself with us in this working enviroment
we are grateful......................
and it gonna be as fonky as fuck.....
yeeeah


it is pretty heavy to be here in new orleans
it has always been such a magical and mysterious place
the home of such great music
and history
louis armstrong
bunk johnson
buddy bolden (read 'coming through slaughter' by michael ondaajte)
it is heavy to realize how much the people here have had to sacrifice
because of hurricane katrina
and how much they continue to sacrifice every day
anything anyone can do to help out with the people here they should do
habitat for humanity is a great charity that helps a lot.....

thanks for reading
i'll try to write more
but i wont make any more promises that i dont keep

Thursday, November 2, 2006

From: "Michael Balzary"
To: members@redhotchilipeppers.com

hi
today i am in grand rapids, michigan
it is the hometown of my very close friend of many years, anthony kiedis
today is his birthday
i love him so much and on this day i feel very grateful for our
friendship
he and i together have created lots of things
we created a way to steal from supermarkets and sneak into movie
theaters and skip out on restaurant checks when we were kids
then as we learned better, and were students of the kharmic lessons
that life gave us
we created ways to try to improve ourselves and be honest giving people
we jumped off many a hollywood apartment building roof top into the
swimming pool below
we went to many a punk rock concert and danced like untethered animals
we slept in toolsheds and bushes on the side of the road
we hitch hiked all around the place
when i was pulling into grand rapids on my big fancy tour bus today
i remembered when i came from los angeles on the greyhound bus to
grand rapids
it took 5 days and nights of sitting up on that damn bus
to visit anthony who was staying at his mother's house for the summer
and we jumped repeatedly of a train track bridge into a river
it was fun
except anthony got to go back to los angeles on an aeroplane
and i had to ride that damn stinky greyhound bus
i am so lucky to have found a friend as great as him when i was a kid
and we got to create so many beautiful things together
and here we are today in grand rapids, michigan
and we are gonna create one more beautiful thing tomorrow night at
the van andel arena

Saturday, October 28, 2006

From: "Michael Balzary"
To: members@redhotchilipeppers.com

hi world
i love you
you sad and beautiful thing
i am here in new orleans having arrived early this morning from
driving through the night from atlanta
before atlanta we drove from philly
some big drives lately a good time for reading and movie watching
last night john and i watched the movie 'slacker'
we liked it alot and it was great to hear the butthole surfers
i love the butthole surfers
their records 'rembrant pussyhorse' and 'cream corn from the socket
of davis' were never far from my turntable
when they came out.......
they also put on some of the most awesome rock shows i ever saw in my
life
and without doubt the best visuals of any rock show i ever saw
they once had a dancer who danced for the whole show
she came out naked, painted green, and with tin foil over her teeth
and they would reflect all the lights
she was great and the music was true psychedelia and paul leary such
a great guitarist.......
king and theresa on the skins
gibby waling
and jeff was a great bass player
and they had a dog named mark farner
real psychedelic
not some wimpy 60's retro cartoon
not in any way am i dissing the mind boggling power of 60's
psychedelia, but the 60's was the sixties....................it ended
punk rock happened
hip hop happened

anyways

so we got into new orleans early in the morn and i was met by my
loved ones here and my was heart was lifted
it has been a great 24 hours

there are great things afoot in chili pepper land
tomorrow we play at the voodoo fest here and the meters are playing
as well
i love the meters so much
i have learned a lot from them
we are going to jam with them at the end of our set
that is very exciting to me
they are such innovative and important musicians who are one of the
main inventors of this music we call funk
the deepest kind of groove that could have only come from those guys
in this town
art neville! leo noscetelli! george porter!
ziggy modeliste!!!!
whooooooooo hooooooooo yeeeeeeeaaaaaahhh!!!!
so it is an honor to play with them

the other exciting thing that is on the horizon for us
is that we are going to make a video for the song 'hump de bump'
and it is going to be directed by someone we truly admire and respect
the comic genius chris rock
he has been so supportive of us
and it is a kind thing
for him to take the time to direct this piece of film for us
for someone who works as hard as he does
and is as insightful and as on top of their game as he is
and who has an incredible gift of being able to give hysterical joy
to as many people as he does
to associate himself with us in this working enviroment
we are grateful......................
and it gonna be as fonky as fuck.....
yeeeah


it is pretty heavy to be here in new orleans
it has always been such a magical and mysterious place
the home of such great music
and history
louis armstrong
bunk johnson
buddy bolden (read 'coming through slaughter' by michael ondaajte)
it is heavy to realize how much the people here have had to sacrifice
because of hurricane katrina
and how much they continue to sacrifice every day
anything anyone can do to help out with the people here they should do
habitat for humanity is a great charity that helps a lot.....

thanks for reading
i'll try to write more
but i wont make any more promises that i dont keep