Stealth Concert: Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Henry Miller Memorial Library

As the LA Times recently twitted Angelenos:

"Is there a lovelier place to see live music in California than Big Sur's Henry Miller Memorial Library? Alas, Los Angeles, there is not. And as if to add insult to regional injury, they've gone and booked an excellent lineup of summer and fall shows that could easily pull audiences well beyond the library's 300-capacity lawn."

And the above accolade couldn't even foresee Wednesday night's stealth, invitation-only Red Hot Chili Peppers' concert — which was a surprise inauguration to the band's upcoming world tour celebrating the release of their 10th album, I'm with You.

Here are Rolling Stone's and Spin's reviews of the evening.

But no better prelude to what would transpire than the introduction given by Henry Miller Memorial Library's president Maria Garcia Teutsch:

"Once again Emil White's little cabin plays host to a mad group of geniuses, The Red Hot Chili Peppers. We would begin by thanking them for supporting us here, hanging as we are on the the side of a continent, with condors overhead flipping the bird to extinction.

Big Sur resident Flea at Wednesday's stealth concert at HMML. A fan photo that appears in Spin magazine."And the Red Hot Chili Peppers are on their own cliff edge at the beginning of a world tour, with a new album humming and vibrating, waiting in the wings to be released next month, and we, the few joyous souls gathered here in this tiny canyon, get to be a part of its first flight, what a rare moment to be alive under these redwoods, under these stars close enough to 'drink.'

"We are also very grateful to the kind people at (((folk YEAH))) without whom this most special event would not have happened with such gossamer strings of perfection. Thank you.

"As a coastal watershed, we here at Henry Miller Library know something about the fragility of this ecosystem, and the beauty inherent in the Big Sur community, our neighbors, on this, our 30th anniversary season.

"It is important to us to maintain our commitment to artistic freedom, to the environment, to inspiration, and for this we could ask for no more fitting band than the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who are also close to their thirty year anniversary, and who, in all that time, have never failed to 'let her rip.'"

Maria Garcia Teutsch

President, Henry Miller Memorial Library