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Scar Tissue
by Anthony Kiedis with Larry Sloman
Hyperion
ISBN 1-4013-0101-0
Published October 2004 - Hardcover - 465 pages - $24.95

Anthony Kiedis, born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is the lyricist and lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, one of the more enduring bands from the early eighties.  This is his story of how he moved west to Hollywood at age eleven to live with his dad, but not after having been moved to Florida for a spell, back to Michigan, to Los Angeles, and back again.  His parents split and reconciled often but when Anthony was four, and with his father in L.A. (his father had discovered pot), he got his first whiff of what would later change his life.  Dad was then off to live in London and Anthony and Mom went back to Michigan.  This is the turbulent story of young Anthony Kiedis' life as he came into contact with extraordinary things for one so young.  This was the sixties and his first experience smoking pot was at twelve years old, in California, with his father and a friend around the kitchen table.  It's a fascinating yet sad story of his subsequent drug addiction, his rehab and his lapses back into the underworld and ugly side of the drug scene.  How he recalls the details of where he was and who he was with I found remarkable.  I was gripped by his story and yet somehow very saddened that he is by no means alone in going through cocaine and heroin addiction.  In fact, it's pretty frightening and should deter anyone from going where he went.  There is no glamour where he went.
Conclusion - Very intriguing and worth reading.