RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS 
After leaving Code Blue, Michael Ostendorf was in an all-star line-up called Toni and the Movers that was formed by singer-songwriter Toni Childs in 1979. The other bandmembers were Jack Sherman, who has had an active career in music and is best known for being an early member of Red Hot Chili Peppers and playing on their debut 1984 album, The Red Hot Chili Peppers; and Michael Steele, who was in two different all-female rock bands, the Bangles and the Runaways (she was known as Micki Steele in the latter band). (September 2012) * * * In 1998, an organization called Native American Music Association & Awards was started in order to bring awareness of the contributions of Native Americans to music in all its forms; the Awards have been presented annually since that time. The surprise at taking even a quick glance at their “Did You Know” roster at http://www.nativeamericanmusicawards.com/halloffame.cfm is the incredible number of stars of popular music who have Native American blood – the tribe or confederation name(s) are given in parentheses here and elsewhere in this post: Elvis Presley (Cherokee), Jimi Hendrix (Cherokee), Hank Williams (Choctaw), Willie Nelson (Cherokee), Ritchie Valens (Yakui), Aaron Neville and the Neville Brothers (Choctaw/Cherokee), Loretta Lynn and her sister Crystal Gayle (Cherokee), Kitty Wells (Cherokee), Wayne Newton (Powhatan), Michael Jackson and the Jacksons (Choctaw/Cherokee), Link Wray (Shawnee), Richie Havens (Blackfoot), Robbie Robertson of the Band (Mohawk), Tina Turner (Navaho), Cher (Cherokee), Rita Coolidge (Cherokee), Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen (Native Hawaiian – Native Americans who are not among those often called Indians), Tori Amos (Cherokee), Toni Tennille of the Captain and Tennille (Cherokee), Billy Ray Cyrus and his daughter Miley Cyrus (Cherokee), Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers (Mohican), LL Cool J (Cherokee), Beyoncé (Creole), etc.
Tommy Allsup (Cherokee) was a member of Buddy Holly’s new band in 1959; he “lost” a coin flip with Ritchie Valens and was thus not on board the airplane that crashed on the day the music died.
(August 2013) * * * Opposition to the unfair imprisonment of two women in Pussy Riot became a cause célèbre of many Western celebrities plus musicians from every genre imaginable: Bryan Adams, Beastie Boys, the Black Keys, John Cale, Peter Gabriel, Green Day, Nina Hagen, Kathleen Hanna, Paul McCartney, Moby, Yoko Ono, Pet Shop Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Patti Smith, Sting, Pete Townshend, etc. Pussy Riot was featured on 60 Minutes as well.
For their part, the bandmembers in Pussy Riot that were not in prison distanced themselves from all of this attention and were quoted as saying: “We’re flattered, of course, that Madonna and Björk have offered to perform with us. But the only performances we’ll participate in are illegal ones. We refuse to perform as part of the capitalist system, at concerts where they sell tickets.”
(December 2013)
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Enthused by the reaction at South by Southwest, and desiring a follow-up to their first album, Boyskout recruited two acclaimed record producers, David Schiffman – who had worked with Nine Inch Nails, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, and Jimmy Eat World – and Donny Newenhouse (Film School, the Coachwhips).
(January 2014)
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The Lovemasters opened for Red Hot Chili Peppers during the tour to support their second album, Freaky Styley (1985) when they appeared at St. Andrews Hall, an important Detroit music venue since its beginnings in 1980. (March 2016) * * * Allmusic reports that the Weirdos reformed in 1988 with original members the Denney brothers (John Denney and Dix Denney), Nicky Beat, and Cliff Roman, plus Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers; they released a new album in 1990 called Condor. I haven’t heard that record, but I couldn’t resist sharing the above cartoon that was on the back cover of Destroy All Music. Greg Shaw used to put this kind of thing in his Bomp! Records releases and publications like Bomp! Magazine all the time. (March 2017) * * * The liner notes for High Tide (Big Noses & Pizza Faces) relate the time in 1985 that the Tell-Tale Hearts opened for the Red Hot Chili Peppers (right after their first album, The Red Hot Chili Peppers came out) and the Cramps, one of their idols. “When the Cramps finally took the stage around midnight, we were absolutely blown away. The level of talent and professionalism was beyond belief – higher than we could have ever aspired to – yet they managed to lose none of their raw, powerful edges. . . . We were further treated to a backstage meeting with the group later that night, who said that we ‘looked and sounded just like the Shadows of Knight’. They truly must have understood how much that meant to us. A nicer, more down-to-earth group of people would be hard to find.” (September 2017) |