Flea was the headliner at a local bookshop called Skylight Books in Los Feliz circa 1997. He was part of a reading by several local writers and poets. Flea, being the badass muscle-bound bass player for the CPs also played expendable tough guys in movies. The audience at Skylight was under strict instructions that they would not be able to leave the bookstore once in and they locked the doors right before it started. Flea, for some reason entered from the back of the store and arrived with a bodyguard who stood just offstage, crossed his arms and stared at the audience while Flea read. There couldn't have been more than 40 people there. It was the most ridiculous (and pretentious) thing I'd ever witnessed from a celeb. Especially being that Flea was a resident of Los Feliz, a small relatively friendly community just east of Hollywood where you'd bump into neighbors and familiar faces on Vermont ave or at House of Pies. I could give / take Anthony Kiedis. I always thought he and his hairless nipples were ridiculous. And, that end shot of him running at the end of Under the Bridge was even more reason to hate him. Anyhow, I think this album came after the band had already been replaced by other crappy bands like Incubus, Dashboard Confessional and others. In many ways RHCP had jumped the shark and then they put out this album, which was .... as much as I hate to say, catchy and enjoyable. Even now, more than 10 years later this album is still fun. There's nothing new here, it's the same RHCP, this album doesn't break any boundaries or explore the far reaches of late 90's rock and maybe that's what I like about it. It's less pretentious, almost like an admission by the band ... "Yep, we're old and your parents probably listened to us when they were young, but we can still put together a song with some melodies and entertain you." Since then, Anthony Kiedis put on a shirt, and grew a little caterpillar on his top lip. And, tho I don't know for sure, I'm hoping that Flea ditched the bodyguard and decided to either get his ass beat or fight his own battles when reading poetry. https://youtu.be/GLvohMXgcBo?t=202 but with a little less fanfare and was ridiculous wThis album is similar in that it believes it's very deserving of all kinds of airplay and praise, to be held in high regard it's much better than it is and deserves airplay and praise