The Getaway
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Release Date: June 17, 2016
Label: Warner Bros.
Length: 54 minutes
The Red Hot Chili Peppers have a new album called The Getaway. There’s maybe nothing more fitting. Last Sunday I biked from Buena Vista, Colorado to Salida (pronounced sal-eye-duh), Colorado: 32 fairly flat miles at about 8,000 feet above sea level. Not a staggering feat, but I earned my lunch. I rode fast. I felt like I was finally getting away from a lot of stress. On the side of the road there were cows, alpacas, and prairie dogs. A red-tail hawk screeched like it was straight out of a western: warning me of something ahead. Luckily, there was no danger. Salida is a small town full of coffee shops, bars, and thrift stores. Not New York City thrift stores, where things are same-as-new prices (if not marked up). These are packed-to-the-gills-with-everything-good-for-cheap stores. I picked up a cycling jersey, a pearl button shirt, and 4 CDs. All for ten bucks. (The truck I’m driving these days has a CD player). Californication was the first one out of its (broken) jewel case. I graduated from high school in 1999, so the Chili Peppers make me sentimental. But they’ve done a lot in the past 17 years, as we all have. The Getaway was produced by Danger Mouse, and you can hear his influence. This album is playful, and almost experimental at times, but solidly the Chili Peppers. This has been a long time in the making—almost as long as it takes to make an escape from city life to mountain life. “The Getaway,” “Dark Necessities,” “Go Robot,” and “This Ticonderoga” will make you happy. They’ll make you roll your window down and enjoy the summer breeze.
Drink:
Local kombucha on tap: it’s time to give this stuff another chance. Some of it even has alcohol! Ginger or lavender…anything weird and refreshing.
