Blackie Dammett

John Michael Kiedis (/ˈkiːdɪs/ KEE-diss; born December 7, 1939), better known by his stage name Blackie Dammett,^[1] is an American actor, author and father of Anthony Kiedis, the lead singer of Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Biography

In Scar Tissue, Anthony describes how his father frequented the Rainbow Bar and Grill where he sold drugs to rock icons such as the members of Led Zeppelin and The Who's Keith Moon. As an actor, he appeared in the films National Lampoon's Class Reunion (1982), Meatballs Part II (1984) and Lethal Weapon (1987), among others. He also made frequent television appearances, on such shows as Starsky and Hutch, Trapper John, M.D. and It's Garry Shandling's Show. For many years Dammett was the president of the Red Hot Chili Peppers fanclub. Nicknamed Head Honcho, Dammett would help run the band's website, be in charge of all fanclub events, mail out the band's fanclub magazines, and he had a close connection with many of the band's fans, which he still maintained through his personal Facebook page up until 2015, when due to health issues, he decided to step away from the internet. He still likes to keep in contact with fans through letters he receives in the mail. Anthony has written lyrics in his songs about his father such as 1991's "Breaking the Girl", 1999's "Savior" and 2016's "The Hunter".

Family

According to Anthony Kiedis' autobiography, Scar Tissue, Blackie Dammett's grandfather Antanas Kiedis and grandmother Julija were Lithuanian immigrants from Tauragė.^[2] John Alden (1914–1984) was the youngest child in the family and the only American-born. He met and married Molly Vander Veen and had Blackie Dammett.

Blackie was close friends in the 1970s with actor and musician, Sonny Bono who eventually became Anthony's godparent.^[3]

Autobiography

Blackie has signed an exclusive publishing deal with Christopher Matthew Spencer's The Spencer Company. Dammett's autobiography Lords of the Sunset Strip was released on April 1, 2013 through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.^[4] The book reached #38 in the Kindle store while it peaked at #77 on Amazon.com's "Biographies and Memoirs" chart.^[5] A paperback version of the book is also available.

Spider and Son television series

Spider and Son is the title of the possible future television series which will be based on both Anthony Kiedis and Blackie Dammett's autobiographies. In 2008 it was reported that Anthony Kiedis was developing a television series for HBO titled "Spider and Son", loosely based on Anthony's autobiography Scar Tissue. The show was originally scheduled to premiere in late 2010 but was not picked up as a series, despite a pilot script penned by John Sayles.^[6] The rights to the show were picked up by FX in 2011 although according to Dammett, production has been "mothballed" and he hoped to re-visit the project in 2013 when the Chili Peppers finished their I'm with You World Tour.^[7] As of 2016, there has been no mention made on the status of the series by FX, Kiedis or Dammett and it appears to no longer be happening.

Filmography

Television appearances

• Hammer, Slammer & Slade (1990)
• Adam-12 (Emmerson Cooper)
• Hunter (guest star)
• Crime Story (guest star)
• Night Court (guest star)
• Who's the Boss? (guest star)
• Trapper John, M.D. (guest star)
• The Fall Guy (guest star)
• The Lady in Red (Immigration Officer, guest star)
• Starsky and Hutch (Charles Deek, guest star)
• Charlie's Angels (guest star)
• ALF (guest star in unaired pilot)

References

External links

• Blackie Dammett at the Internet Movie Database
• Blackie's Facebook page