Brendan Mullen, who helped launch L.A.'s punk scene, is remembered in a story with a memorable byline

 
Calendar’s appreciation of Brendan Mullen, who founded L.A.’s first punk venue and died Oct. 12, carried a startlingly short but certainly distinctive byline.

 “Flea,” it said.

Otherwise known as Michael Balzary, the bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers was given the nickname that became his four-letter “nom de rock”  — as a colleague once put it  — while joking around with friends in the late 1970s as a student at Fairfax High School. 

-- Valerie J. Nelson

Photo left: Flea performs with the Silverlake Conservatory Ensemble on Oct. 3 at the Hollywood Bowl. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Photo right: Brendan Mullen founded the Masque punk rock club in Hollywood.