Flea Power

[montrocity]

I bought Stadium Arcadium last week and holy jeez!!! I used to like Flea but now I think I really like him. If you don't own this album (a two disker) you definitely might want to check it out.

[SundanceChile]

some would beg to differ...(but I <3 stadium arcadium)

[Grueber]

I really like his playing on this one too. His basslines are very diverse, plus he's got licks that will put an eye out

[Matt Till]

I didn't enjoy what I heard of the new album, but I will say I'm glad Flea got over his slapping octaves = roxxorz phase. When I go back and listen to his early basswork (or watch his "instructional" video) it kinda makes me mad that I ever thought that was cool. His newfound (well, since Rick Ruben kicked his ass into shape) love of melodic, yet rhythmic basslines is a step in the right direction for sure.

[fenderx55]

Yeah this album is really growing on me (keeping the 2 discs in ur car for a month will do that). I learned "hard to concentrate last night, it really is a beautiful song and my band jammed on Readymade last week. I <3 riffage.

[fleabee]

I still like Flea but not into the fender tone at all

[BassNoob?]

^+1. It really sounds kind of boring. He said he was being serious about his tone on this album, but I think his punk bass had a much more "serious" tone. It really matched the Chili Pepper's style.

I can't wait to see them in October!

[Sundogue]

After reading the interview in the recent Bass Player magazine, I have new respect for him.

I was never a big fan of the Chili Peppers, but I've always liked his playing. It was good to read a bit more of his philosophy and gain a bit more insight.

[fenderx55]

As big a fan of his playing and RHCP as I am (and i'm seriously a big fan), lately I've come to regard a lot of his talk as complete and utter bs. I don't think anyone on earth is THAT sincere about anything. I read the interview with him in BassPlayer and Guitar World, and as much as I hate guitar world (just a subpar publication) I take john as the really spiritual one and flea as the kind of guy that finds symbolism in something after it happens. In other words, John is the real artist.

[ajb]

I have to agree with the last post. I like Flea as a player quite a bit, but his "philosophy" (as expressed in this month's Bass Player mag) makes me want to vomit. Pretty cheesy stuff.

I thought Charlie Haden's thoughts were pretty lame too. Why do you have to think you're a worthless speck of dust to be creative on bass? I don't get it. And being giving and selfless and all that crap, give me a break. It's been my experience that the most talented and creative people are really quite egocentric and selfish, which is why they're talented and creative to begin with! Charlie Haden can delude himself all he wants, but his thoughts are just silly IMO.

[fenderx55]

I think he's a preacher or something on the side...or at least pretty spiritual. It's a christian thing. Flea is just into the whole, "i'm not a rockstar" humble kind of thing which annoys me. You can be a nice guy and acknowledge you're famous. It is possible; Dave navarro: stand up gent (sorry for the name drop). John strikes me as very approachable, as do a plethora of other famous people. Flea's niceness strikes me as...i don't wanna say fake, but i guess I already did in my first post. Take it as you will.

[Sundogue]

Originally Posted by ajb

I have to agree with the last post. I like Flea as a player quite a bit, but his "philosophy" (as expressed in this month's Bass Player mag) makes me want to vomit. Pretty cheesy stuff.

I thought Charlie Haden's thoughts were pretty lame too. Why do you have to think you're a worthless speck of dust to be creative on bass? I don't get it. And being giving and selfless and all that crap, give me a break. It's been my experience that the most talented and creative people are really quite egocentric and selfish, which is why they're talented and creative to begin with! Charlie Haden can delude himself all he wants, but his thoughts are just silly IMO.

You are taking that quote out of the context in which it was offered.

Being an amateur astronomer I can relate to that idea. Once you realize you are insignificant, it makes you profoundly more significant in everything you do.

You'd have to be brain dead to look at the night sky through a telescope and not have an epiphany like that.

[ajb]

Originally Posted by Sundogue

You are taking that quote out of the context in which it was offered.

Being an amateur astronomer I can relate to that idea. Once you realize you are insignificant, it makes you profoundly more significant in everything you do.

You'd have to be brain dead to look at the night sky through a telescope and not have an epiphany like that.

I guess I just don't get it. How does realizing you are insignificant make you "profoundly more significant in everything you do"? I would think it makes everything more profoundly insignificant. And please don't say, you either get it or you don't. I really would like to hear an explanation because maybe I'm missing out on something.

And just to be clear: I don't want to get into a discussion about whether or not we're actually significant creatures or insignificant creatures. That's an endless debate. Let's just take it as a given that we're insignificant (although I don't really believe that). What I want to know is how your actions become significant once you accept the fact that you are insignificant.

[Sundogue]

Originally Posted by ajb

I guess I just don't get it. How does realizing you are insignificant make you "profoundly more significant in everything you do"? I would think it makes everything more profoundly insignificant. And please don't say, you either get it or you don't. I really would like to hear an explanation because maybe I'm missing out on something.

And just to be clear: I don't want to get into a discussion about whether or not we're actually significant creatures or insignificant creatures. That's an endless debate. Let's just take it as a given that we're insignificant (although I don't really believe that). What I want to know is how your actions become significant once you accept the fact that you are insignificant.

Well, it is a bit of..."You either get it or you don't", but I'll try.

Just imagine the sheer immensity of our universe and our place in it.

The distance between the Sun and Pluto…3,660,000,000 miles.

But as large as our Solar System is, our Sun is only one of billions of stars in the Milky Way and our Solar System is just a speck in the Milky Way Galaxy. And the Milky Way is but one of billions of galaxies!!!

A “Light Year” is 5,865,696,000,000 miles (or how far light travels in a year’s time). Let’s just say 5 trillion miles.

The Andromeda Galaxy is roughly 2 million light years away from us…or 5 trillion X 2 million miles away!!!

Despite an almost unimaginable distance away, you can see the Andromeda Galaxy with the naked eye. I can see the bright core of it and some dust lanes through my telescope. But I'm only looking at it as it was 2 million years ago. I won't be able to see it as it exists right now, for another 2 million years!!!

It's just mind boggling. When you consider that we have discovered hundreds, if not thousands of planets orbiting other stars in other galaxies, it makes you wonder how significant you are. Or how significant everyone here is really. Everything we do, as the entire human race, is much ado about nothing in relation to the universe. In the grand scheme of the universe, in all it's time and immensity, does it really matter if you forgot to play a line in a song, or you forgot the words to a song? Does it matter if you forgot to pick up milk on the way home? On a bigger level (which is even nothing in relation to the universe) do world wars even matter? In all the billions of years, among all the billions of stars and galaxies, does anything that happens on earth even matter?

It's that realization that everyone here on earth (even as a whole) is just so insignificant that it only then dawns on you...Despite this insignificant feeling, you realize that although we are but a single person among the billions of people on a planet among billions of planets, stars and galaxies in the universe, we are still a part of the very fabric that makes it up.

It does affect your approach to life...at least it does me. I put more into everything I do, and I live life with more of a passion for everything I do. I no longer live my life in some kind of vaccuum, with selfishness and naricissism. There is more to life than me, or my family, or my friends, or my country...or even this planet we live on, or the solar system or galaxy it floats about in.

Looking outward and beyond yourself, your fellow man...and all that is known, allows you to truly look inward and resolve the meaning of life in a more significant way. And that does affect everything you do, including your approach to music.

In a nutshell...realizing your insignificance humbles you. It's that humbling that will then give your life (and everything you do) meaning.

It's probably all as clear as mud now though, huh?

[()smoke()]

bump de hump

[fenderx55]

yeahhhhh... While I completely appreciate the concept of feeling insignificant in the face of the universe--it's so huge that it's pretty much impossible for the human mind to fathom--I just find it incredible that people put more into their lives in the face of that.

I don't mean to say that I think it's unwise or stupid, but that I would have thought more people would have taken a more nihilistic approach to life after coming to this realization. Like when you find out the world is going to end and start looting--There will be no consequences so why bother worrying. Likewise, if we are so insignificant, than what does it matter if I don't have a job or don't clean my house or if I beat my wife (I do none of these things...just putting that out there) if it's not going to make a difference in the grand scheme of things.

To qualify this, I don't necessarily feel that way. But I don't give in to your paradigm, in other words, I don't let it effect my life because I only think about the enormity of the world around me when I have to sit through some Earth Science class or when I stumble across completely hijacked threads on tb . Long story short, be mindful, don't let it control your life.

From your neighborhood fence-sitter,
Chris

[Sundogue]

Originally Posted by fenderx55@yahoo

yeahhhhh... While I completely appreciate the concept of feeling insignificant in the face of the universe--it's so huge that it's pretty much impossible for the human mind to fathom--I just find it incredible that people put more into their lives in the face of that.

I don't mean to say that I think it's unwise or stupid, but that I would have thought more people would have taken a more nihilistic approach to life after coming to this realization. Like when you find out the world is going to end and start looting--There will be no consequences so why bother worrying. Likewise, if we are so insignificant, than what does it matter if I don't have a job or don't clean my house or if I beat my wife (I do none of these things...just putting that out there) if it's not going to make a difference in the grand scheme of things.

To qualify this, I don't necessarily feel that way. But I don't give in to your paradigm, in other words, I don't let it effect my life because I only think about the enormity of the world around me when I have to sit through some Earth Science class or when I stumble across completely hijacked threads on tb . Long story short, be mindful, don't let it control your life.

From your neighborhood fence-sitter,
Chris

Well, it is exactly this insignificance you realize, that humbles you. In turn (success-oriented creatures that we are) it drives us to become significant in light of that. You know you are nothing but a speck on a gnat's ass, and you desire to be more...you desire to give your life some meaning.

Once you realize that...it doesn't control your life, but in fact it does the opposite. It is quite liberating.

OK, Philosophy Channel signing off for the day. I return you to your regularly programmed discussion of Flea.

[ajb]

We're so deep.

[Sundogue]

Originally Posted by ajb

We're so deep.

Yeah, deep in poo.

[ajb]

This might be the deepest thread ever on talkbass. Thank you for assisting me in completely hijacking the thread.