New photos have surfaced of reclusive former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante with fans. In the latest photo, Frusciante is seen with a huge smile on his face. The other photo sees Frusciante in Italy with what appears to be a bag for an instrument, but far too small to be a guitar.
Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea discussed teaching at the Silverlake Conservatory of Music in a recent Billboard interview.
“There was one six-month period where I was away from work and I taught there regularly and there was one kid I had, he had been living in foster homes and had been kicked out of a few and then was living in like a municipal run home for youth, which is pretty rough,” he says. Flea would drive him to and from the school, taking him out to Lakers games and making sure he was taken care of. “When I started teaching him trumpet, he … had a wildness to him; going through a really hard time and kind of scattered. But I noticed when he picked up a trumpet, there was determination in his face to play the thing,” Flea continues, his voice cracking as he emotionally recalls this.
This summer, Flea expanded his efforts southward with a new music program he started with friends in Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood and is looking to open music schools in other parts of the city.
“A lot of these kids down there are growing up in really extreme violence, gang culture and stuff,” he says. “They were so happy to be playing music, you know? I mean, all kids are different, all communities are different. All places are different. But every kid deserves an education in the arts. To not have that really is tantamount to child abuse. It’s a drastic, drastic mistake.”
