Magic Johnson

Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 13 seasons. After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA draft by the Lakers. He won a championship and an NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in his rookie season, and won four more championships with the Lakers during the 1980s. Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had contracted HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game, winning the All-Star MVP Award. After protests from his fellow players, he retired again for four years, but returned in 1996, at age 36, to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the third and final time.

Johnson's career achievements include three NBA MVP Awards, nine NBA Finals appearances, twelve All-Star games, and ten All-NBA First and Second Team nominations. He led the league in regular-season assists four times, and is the NBA's all-time leader in average assists per game, at 11.2. Johnson was a member of the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team ("The Dream Team"), which won the Olympic gold medal in 1992. After leaving the NBA in 1992, Johnson formed the Magic Johnson All-Stars, a barnstorming team that travelled around the world playing exhibition games. Johnson was honored as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996.

Mother's Milk

Mother's Milk is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on August 16, 1989, on EMI Records. After the death of founding guitarist Hillel Slovak and subsequent departure of drummer Jack Irons, vocalist Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea regrouped with the addition of guitarist John Frusciante and drummer Chad Smith. Frusciante's influence altered the band's sound by placing more emphasis on melody than rhythm, which had dominated the band's previous material. Returning producer Michael Beinhorn favored heavy metal guitar riffs as well as overdubbing that was perceived by Frusciante as excessive, and as a result Beinhorn and Frusciante constantly fought over the album's guitar sound.

The record was a greater commercial success than any of the Chili Peppers' three previous studio albums. Mother's Milk peaked at number 52 on the Billboard 200 and received widespread recognition for singles "Knock Me Down" and the Stevie Wonder cover "Higher Ground". The album became their first gold record in early 1990, and was the first step for the band in achieving international success. Although the record was not met with the same positive critical reception that its predecessor The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987) had garnered, Mother's Milk, according to Amy Hanson of Allmusic, "turned the tide and transformed the band from underground funk-rocking rappers to mainstream bad boys with seemingly very little effort".Mother's Milk would eventually go platinum.

Chili pepper

The chili pepper (also chile pepper or chilli pepper, from Nahuatl chīlli [ˈt͡ʃiːli]) is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. In Britain, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, India, and other Asian countries, it is usually known simply as the chilli.

The substances that give chili peppers their intensity when ingested or applied topically are capsaicin and several related chemicals, collectively called capsaicinoids.

Chili peppers originated in the Americas. After the Columbian Exchange, many cultivars of chili pepper spread across the world, used in both food and medicine. Chilies were brought to Asia by Portuguese navigators during the 16th century.

India is the world's largest producer, consumer and exporter of chili peppers.Guntur in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh produces 30% of all the chilies produced in India. Andhra Pradesh as a whole contributes 75% of India's chili exports.

History

Chili peppers have been a part of the human diet in the Americas since at least 7500 BCE. The most recent research shows that chili peppers were domesticated more than 6000 years ago in Mexico, in the region that extends across southern Puebla and northern Oaxaca to southeastern Veracruz, and were one of the first self-pollinating crops cultivated in Mexico, Central and parts of South America.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers, also sometimes shortened to "The Chili Peppers" or abbreviated as "RHCP", are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk rock and psychedelic rock. When played live, their music incorporates elements of jam band due to the improvised nature of much of their performances. Currently, the band consists of founding members Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Flea (bass), longtime drummer Chad Smith; and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who joined in late-2009, replacing John Frusciante. Red Hot Chili Peppers have won seven Grammy Awards and have become one of the best-selling bands of all time, selling over 80 million records worldwide. In 2012, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers (album)

The Red Hot Chili Peppers is the debut studio album by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on August 10, 1984 on EMI Records. The album was produced by Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill, and is the only album to feature Jack Sherman on guitar who was fired by the band at the end of the tour in support of the album and replaced by founding member, Hillel Slovak.

Critical and commercial response

The Red Hot Chili Peppers was released with the band disappointed in the production. It failed to chart on the Billboard 200, reaching #201 (meaning it "bubbled under" the main album chart for 8 weeks in the autumn of 1984). The album received college airplay and MTV rotation, and built the band's fan base. The reviews that were published of the album were mixed, with the first issue of Spin magazine giving, according to Anthony Kiedis in his autobiography Scar Tissue, a positive review.Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave the album a negative review, and stated that "their first effort didn't quite gel into a cohesive album," giving the album only 2½ stars out of 5. As of 2007, it had sold about 300,000 copies worldwide. Kiedis and Flea have mentioned over the years that they prefer the demo versions of most of these songs which were recorded with the original lineup featuring Hillel Slovak and Jack Irons. However, the band acknowledged in various books that Jack Sherman's contributions to the band, particularly his knowledge of funk music and music theory, were things that helped the band's development, which they hadn't had with Hillel.