In the 411 Mania’s column top 5, this week’s theme is Top 5 comeback albums and, according to Dan Marsicano, What The Hell Happened To…, News, Reviewer, Californication made it to the top. And, naturally, the explanation focuses on John.

5. Californication: by Red Hot Chili Peppers - The mid-90’s were probably the bleakest period for the funk metal band Red Hot Chili Peppers. 1995’s One Hot Minute didn’t sell as well as their previous albums and relations between new guitarist Dave Navarro and the band deteriorated. Former guitarist John Frusciante was near death from a drug addition that was eating him alive and the other band members started to sub come to the deadly temptation of heroin. Navarro left and Frusciante was brought back into the band. Songs would take a while to come out, but finally, in 1999, Californication was released and brought the band back into the spotlight. The album sold over 15 million copies worldwide and hits “Scar Tissue” and the title track would top the charts nationwide. Californication is the album that saved the band from obscurity and showed that they still had some life left in them.

And, according to Blake Lauderback, Californication would be the second album on his list.

The argument against this being a great comeback album is that its predecessor, One Hot Minute, actually sold very well, but it was not very highly regarded by the fans, or for that matter the band itself. Dave Navarro was given his walking papers shortly after its release. Californication is the first album after the return of guitar player John Frusciante, and his presence made all of the difference. Not only did Californication continue their financial success, but it put the band back on track creatively, and they are still riding that wave of greatness to this day. Plenty of can’t miss tracks including “Otherside” and the title track.

*Thanks to orangevarld for the correction.

As it was announced earlier, Bram van Spluteren’s amazing documentary on various bits of Red Hots’ career, focusing on John and his contribution to the band as well as going to hell and back; was one of the movies shown on Beverly Hills Film Festival, and that was its world premiere on the big screen and overall premiere in North America.

I’m very very glad to inform you that the movie WON the audience choice award for the best documentary! And, in his short speech, mr. van Spluteren told the crowd in the room that he hoped this award would help make the release possible of the film on DVD, so all Chili Peppers fans can finally see the documentary in a proper fashion, and not in poor quality and cut up to pieces on You Tube.

Until that happens, just to remind you of how good the documentary is, here’s an excerpt from it. Stay tuned for more regarding this subject.

Many many congratulations to Bram van Spluteren on the behalf of all visitors of Invisible Movement!

As some of you have probably seen on the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ official website, the documentary which was first aired last year after the show in Nijemegen will be shown again on Nederland 3, VPRO at 19.50 CET. However, there’s much more to it….

…this stunning documentary is making its USA premiere today, at 2:30 PM at the Beverly Hills Film Festival. It will be shown without Dutch subtitles, entirely in English language and, of course, in a quality much better than ever before.

Here’s the author’s own synopsis:

When Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante was living the life of a junkie in a tiny appartement in Venice California in the mid nineties, Dutch filmmaker Bram van Splunteren was the only one to ever film him.

Van Splunteren has been a good friend of the band, since he made a documentary about their first European tour in 1988.

After that he filmed them on many occasions both in the States and in Europe.
In the summer of 2007 Van Splunteren looks the band up again, during their world tour. With bassplayer Flea he looks back at those years right before the band became a huge stadium act.
“A Dutch Connection” shows the history of the Red Hot Chili Peppers with lots of exciting footage from the band both live, in rehearsal and on tour. All from a unique and very personal point of view, that of filmmaker Bram van Splunteren and focusing on the role of guitarist John Frusciante.

And here’s how the movie is described on the festival’s website:

A story of the Red Hot Chili Peppers like you’ve never seen it told before, by Dutch filmmaker Bram van Splunteren, a friend of the band. The film focuses on the role of guitarist John Frusciante, who started out being the saviour of the band, then fell from grace and became a junkie, and then again joined the band and rose with them to great fame.

So, if you’re able to attend the documentary premiere, click here to get the tickets. Many thanks to mr. van Splunteren himself for the heads up on this.

This is for all of you who desperately search for photos, once again. Here’s a nice photo of John with friends at the premiere of Daniel Lenois’ movie, Here Is What Is. Daniel Lanois performed in conjunction with two screenings of his movie on Thursday, March 27, at the Vista Theatre in Silver Lake.

The image has been slightly resized to fit the column, so please click on it to see it in its full size.

For more information about Mr. Lenois’ movie, click here.

As a part of Popmatters’ look back at the year 2007 in music, William Carl Ferleman remembers the controversial situation at the RHCP show in Oklahoma City on 12th March, where John criticised the audience for having booed Mickey Avalon; and shares some obviously non-biased views, yet is contradicting himself.

Frusciante’s impromptu outspokenness on the matter was not only hilariously ironic, but also indelibly hypocritical. Last time I checked, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, you know, the band for which Frusciante plays guitar, is one of the most well-known, mainstream bands in this universe. Frusciante himself smiles proudly on the cover of the February issue of Rolling Stone, the magazine’s readers named the Peppers the best band for 2006, and Stadium Arcadium was declared its top album of the year. What’s more, the Peppers’ website tells fans to tune into MTV to watch the new video for “Hump de Bump.” And didn’t they receive five Grammys this year?

Nonetheless, judging from this performance, the band (and its resident virtuoso) seem to be steering the ship into new utopian seas. Departing from previous Peppers concerts, this time Frusciante wore the pants in the band—though they appeared to be of the thrift-store variety. The usual suspects—big-bopper, talk-rapper Anthony Kiedis and invariably quirky bassist Flea—could not compare to Frusciante’s raw energy and talent. In addition to lambasting the crowd, Frusciante illustrated his considerable and innovative guitar technique: virtually every song was played with unmistakable showmanship and vibrant musical gusto.

This was just an excerpt of the article. To read the whole piece, do click here and feel free to comment and share your views by commenting on this, as comments on Popmatters website are, apparently, not an option…

Young talented guitarist Zack Wiesinger, discovered by and opening concerts for Steve Vai, is known for not being interested in celebrities, modern ways of fame and similar; which makes his not recognising John, who would probably be similar if he wasn’t the guitarist in the today’s biggest rock band in the world, even more interesting.

He had brushes with celebrity, but was unfazed. After hearing him at the King of the Blues competition, a VH-1 representative invited him to a “Save the Music” event where actors and musicians were scheduled to attend.

Wiesinger forgot to go; he spent the evening working on his own projects.

Another time, Vai introduced him to John Frusciante, the guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

“I didn’t even know who he was,” Wiesinger says. “I feel bad about it. Mr. Vai said, ‘Here’s my friend Johnny,’ and I said, ‘What’s up?’ It was so weird.”

If you’re now curious and interested in Zack’s work, you can read the whole article here, or you can go to his band’s myspace or website.

One of Invisible Movement’s greatest acquittances, Tanya Vece, has graced us yet another great John-related feature in her Horse Cronicles Magazine. However, this time John is not the one it’s written about, nor the one answering the questions. On the contrary, he is interviewing Dhani Harrison, son of the legendary George Harrison!

JF: Your father taught you guitar, but I heard a rumor John Lennon’s some what guitar playing is what inspires most of your music right?
HARRISON: No, my dad showed me all the chords that I could possibly cram into my head, and then I had learned all those.I was inspired to play piano by Lennon and just decided to pick it up by ear.

JF: Did your dad ever share any of his technique with you? His slide technique, for example?
HARRISON: I watched the guy play slide a million times, and I can’t even tell you how he got those sounds!

JF: Anything about us in LA compared to those of you in the UK?
HARRISON: LA?They’re complete freaks out there.”

Click here to find out when we’ll get to see more of this And an enormous thanks to Tanya for having spontaneously put a link to Invisible Movement on the bottom of the page.