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Flea (born 1962) is an Australian American bassist, trumpet player, and occasional actor. He is best known as the bassist and founding member of the alternative rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. His work with the band incorporates several musical styles, ranging from aggressive slap bass, to more subdued and melodic techniques. Aside from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, he has collaborated with many artists, including Jane's Addiction, Nirvana, The Mars Volta and Alanis Morissette. Drawing influences from funk and punk rock, Flea centers his bass playing on simplicity and minimalism, viewing complexity as a device that should be used in moderation. Originally a trumpet prodigy, Flea initially learned to play bass in high school after being taught by close friend and future Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak, who required a bassist for his band Anthym. Flea joined the group, but quit several months subsequent in order to play for the punk rock outfit Fear. He soon rejoined Slovak to form an intended one-off band along with fellow high school alumni Anthony Kiedis and Jack Irons; the impromptu collaboration would ultimately give birth to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. (more...)

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August 19: Afghan Independence Day; National Aviation Day in the United States

• 1782 – American Revolutionary War: Ten months after the British surrender at the Siege of Yorktown, a combined force of British rangers and American Indians routed Kentucky militiamen at the Battle of Blue Licks.
• 1812 – War of 1812: American Navy frigate USS Constitution (pictured in 1997) defeated British Royal Navy frigate HMS Guerrière off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, earning her nickname "Old Ironsides".
• 1960 – Russian space dogs Belka and Strelka began to orbit the Earth aboard the Korabl-Sputnik-2 spacecraft.
• 1991 – During a Soviet coup attempt led by Gennady Yanayev and other top level government officials, it was announced that Mikhail Gorbachev had been relieved of his duties as President "due to illness".
• 2003 – A car bomb destroyed the United Nations headquarters at Baghdad's Canal Hotel, killing Brazilian diplomat Sérgio Vieira de Mello and 21 others.

• More events: August 18 – August 19 – August 20

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