A funky Flea celebrates his birthday, his school's founding

LOS ANGELES – Flea had a funky birthday. So did the euphony schoolhouse helium co-founded that has go an LA institution.

As the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist turned 59 connected Saturday, and his Silverlake Conservatory of Music turned 20, they celebrated with a associated enactment successful the parking batch for the Los Angeles schoolhouse that often serves arsenic a de facto show abstraction for its module and students.

Flea led a set assembled for the juncture done a bid of funk standards including James Brown's “Gonna Have a Funky Good Time,” banging his orange-beanied caput and scissor-kicking crossed the makeshift stage.

“This is the champion imaginable day acquisition I could person imagined, being present with everybody, celebrating that we got to bash this for 20 years,” Flea said. “I’m truthful grateful for the accidental to beryllium portion of a assemblage and to enactment unneurotic with radical to uplift young people.”

His bandmates for the nighttime included keyboardist Cory Henry, members of Fishbone — different punk-funk hybrid set from 1980s LA — and members of the school's younker chorale, who joined them arsenic backup singers connected the Meters' “Hey Pocky A-Way.”

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The kids, who person hardly sung successful beforehand of radical since the commencement of the pandemic, took halfway signifier earlier successful the evening for a singing of Patti Smith's “People Have the Power.”

“It felt truly good,” said 13-year-old Isla Farris of Pasadena, 1 of the song's soloists. “We were each benignant of a small spot panicked but it was a truly bully acquisition for each of us. We enjoyed it aft we got retired of our heads.”

She and different students got to cognize Smith erstwhile she precocious visited the schoolhouse to grounds a podcast with Flea — 1 of the perks of being a conservatory student.

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” histrion and comedian Jeff Garland, who served arsenic the night's emcee, expressed his jealousy aft proceeding the kids sing.

“Nobody told maine erstwhile I was a kid that radical had the power,” Garland said. “If I’d known Patti Smith, I mightiness person known it. But I lone knew the Partridge Family.”

Flea, calved Michael Balzary, founded the nonprofit schoolhouse successful 2001 with his longtime person and sometime philharmonic collaborator Keith “Tree” Barry. It’s unfastened to each comers, but specializes successful serving the younker of the surrounding assemblage successful eastbound Los Angeles, providing scholarships to kids who request them.

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The assemblage Saturday nighttime was afloat of existent and erstwhile students, immoderate of whom are adults who were tiny kids erstwhile they started studying.

Even astatine 13, Farris remembers singing successful the tiny abstraction successful the Silver Lake vicinity the schoolhouse was jammed into earlier they built their current, much cushy digs a mile distant successful Los Feliz 5 years ago, with rehearsal rooms named for salient sponsors similar Eddie Vedder.

“I’ve conscionable been present truthful agelong and I person an utmost attachment to it,” she said. “It’s conscionable an astonishing place. I’ve ever loved doing choir here.”

Another schoolhouse ensemble, the Hollywood Highsteppers, a New Orleans-style second-line brass band, performed tunes including, naturally, “Happy Birthday.”

Flea was presented with a barroom arsenic they played, but COVID precautions meant nary candles. And determination was a batch much missing, arsenic he's decades past the decadence of youth.

“No sugar, nary wheat, nary dairy,” helium said. “It's a Flea cake. I'm gonna devour it close up.”

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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton connected Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton

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