It's raining MCA. Damn.

[SlowMotionApocalypse]

Lolla 94 was one of the best festival headlining sets ever.

I was always hoping that Hollywood Bowl show would be rescheduled. Last time was the Gala Event at the Wiltern which proved how divese they were and how comfortable shifting styles.

[Tubesock Shakur]

Went to the Hello Nasty tour in Denver when I was in high school around age 17. I brought my friend Becky with me. I remember all the monks handing out flyers about buddhism while we were walking in. We were very close up in the now torn down McNichols Arena and Money Mark opened up from them. This group of guys in front of us pulled out this seriously long joint, like a foot long, all wrapped up and looked like something out of a cartoon. The bass from Money Mark was so heavy it pushed us back into our seats. The guys in front of us lit up the joint and it was the first time I got high. The second hand smoke from it seriously knocked us out. We both awoke around the second song of Beastie Boys already into their set. They jumped, jived and played every instrument on a circular rotating stage. The whole thing still feels like weird dream, an amazing, sonic wet dream of funk, rap and beats.

??? It was Tribe called quest that opened for them wasnt it?

[Tubesock Shakur]

I also remember mix master mike throwing down one of the most incredible "Rush" mixes.

[schoolofruckus]

I had reservations about re-posting my Adam Yauch story because I don't want to be self-aggrandizing. But it makes me a little less sad to re-read it.

I guess it's time I told this story here. Whether he's playing around or not, it was the coolest project I've ever worked on. I'm a Studio Operations Manager at Warner Bros., which basically means I'm a landlord/site rep/liaison for all the shows that film at the studio (or a third of them at least, as I'm one of three who have this position). Part of this entails scouting with non-WB clients (usually some combination of producer, director, location manager and production designer) who are interested in shooting at the facility and trying to get them interested in using the facility. Well, one day in early October, my boss calls and says I have to take out a music video group that wants to see the backlot. I groaned, because I fucking hate music videos; they're usually heinously disorganized and thrown together without proper prep time. I've had two separate video jobs on which I have had tech scouts that lasted literally 7 hours, because the director was mapping out every single shot and he hadn't gotten any time previously to visit the set. Anyway, I ask my boss who the band is this time. "It's the Beastie Boys - they want to do some huge crazy video where they're trashing the street and vomiting all over the place with a bunch of big name actors like Will Ferrell. They have a big-name director who's coming by with the production supervisor and the designer."

Needless to say, this changes my level of enthusiasm quite a bit, and it grows even more when they walk in the office and the "big name director" turns out to be MCA (hey, he is in the Criterion Collection...). He's one of the nicest, most laid-back dudes ever - still pretty gaunt and nursing some nasty neck scars (presumably from tumor removal), but really cool. I don't really do the starstruck thing, but let's just say it was obvious that I was on board and wanting to help them out. So I took them out to our Hennesy Street set, because it's the one that looks like New York City (Lower East Side, really). Adam (yes, I'm justified in doing this) really liked the street, and he liked it even more when I showed them the interior space that has a finished stairwell, as that's where the video opens on the morning after the "Fight For Your Right" video. At this point, they're more or less sold, and they want to book it for their four days in late November. There's just one catch - we don't book backlot dates outside of 20 days, in order to protect our TV productions (which are 90% of our business) who can't make a schedule much earlier than that. I explain this to them on the street, and they ask me to try to see if I can get an extension. This ends up going back and forth for the next week or so - the production supervisor calls me and asks for help, I check with my SVP and get a no; supervisor calls my direct boss, asks for help, we get another no; Adam's producer sets up a phone meeting with my SVP so they can try to sell him on why they need an extension, but it doesn't really go anywhere. We keep telling them that if they can bear waiting for the street, give us a call when you get to 20 days out. The problem for them is if they wait until it's that close to the shoot, and another show books those dates, then they're super fucked - 35 celebrities donating their time, but scrambling for a place to shoot. I figured there's no way they would put themselves in that position.

Then one day about a week later, I'm driving around on a golf cart supervising a shoot for "Conan" (one of my other productions), and I get a call from a 949 area code. "Hi, this is Samantha from Adam Yauch's office, I have Adam holding for you." My mouth says "Sure, I'm available" but my mind says "Who's fucking around with me?" Nope. Suddenly I'm taking a direct call from a man who has a beard like a billie goat, begging me to let them shoot on our lot. Unfortunately, I couldn't really offer any help beyond what I'd already said, but I told him that if they want to wait, I would do everything in my power to get them on. Well, they decided that Hennesy was worth waiting for, and when it came time to book, no one else took the street. I spent four days in November watching them make ruckus. Highlights include escorting Jack Black in through the gate, giving Maya Rudolph a ride on a golf cart, and driving a taxi cab with a suitcase full of coke on the front seat. And now apparently my name is onscreen for the first time ever (EDIT: outside of Walk, that is).

[Grandma]

this really, really, really sucks. heres to one of the best bass riffs ever written...

[nationocean]

??? It was Tribe called quest that opened for them wasnt it?

i think it was money mark, then tribe then beasties. but it was the first time i got high lol. so i don't remember tribe at all.

[tubescape]

such a sad day. I will miss MCA and the Beasties. Just won't be the same. I was holding my breath they would come back and headling Outside Lands, but I guess not. May you Rest In Peace MCA.

I saw these guys twice and both times they put on great performances. First time was in high school, 1992, Check Your Head tour with Henry Rollins and Cypress Hill. Wow was that a good one. Rushed the pit at the Universal Amphitheater, saw Rollins whack some guy in the face with the mic, saw someone jack a Cypress Hill skateboard deck (that they had given to the Beasties) from the stage and exit with a stage dive. Second time was 15 years later, 2007, at the Santa Barbara Bowl and they still brought it. Loved every minute.

[Phenomena]

[ialvarado2]

I hope the people at the hospital are taking good care of his head...

[Tubesock Shakur]

i think it was money mark, then tribe then beasties. but it was the first time i got high lol. so i don't remember tribe at all.

Yeah I remember missing the opening act, because we were getting high in the parking lot and hearing the beginning of tribe while waiting in line to get in.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

Here is the entire Paul's Boutique album to listen to if you're at work and don't have it handy.



Surprisingly it's actually making me a lot sadder listening to them now.

[nationocean]

I hope the people at the hospital are taking good care of his head...

http://emilyxleyva.buzznet.com/user/...-beastie-boys/

[shotglass75]

The Raspy Voice of a Generation

[SoulDischarge]

I never got to see them and that sucks. I hate Bonnaroo and their shitty scheduling even more now.

[Phenomena]

The last Beastie Boys/spike jonze collab ever. It's sad but made me feel better.

[tyles]

Saw the news this morning via a tweet from COS. I was hoping it was a huge prank. Obviously, now we all know.

Two of my favorite bands growing up, and two this day are the Ramones and The Beastie Boys. The B-Boys "Hello Nasty" world tour wasn't my first huge show, but it certainly could have felt that way. Easily the show I compare all others to. I, fortunately, got to see them four other times, including an awesome "secret" show and the Fonda in Hollywood, and in the front, no less.

From the point at which very hour that Hello Nasty hit the streets (I was just getting out of a show, and a near-by record store was selling it at Midnight) to "Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2," I bought every Beastie Boys album and dvd day of release, including going to Best Buy on Tuesday two weeks in a row to get the Criterion Anthology set, only to hear it had been bumped to the next week.

I'm crushed right now, and listening to all their albums, in chronological order is the only thing really saving my work day.

RIP Yauch.

[tyles]

Also, schoolofruckus, your story is awesome and I'm very jealous.

[Somewhat Damaged]

I had reservations about re-posting my Adam Yauch story because I don't want to be self-aggrandizing. But it makes me a little less sad to re-read it.

That's an awesome story. It's incredible that somebody of his stature could be so easygoing to deal with.

[nathanfairchild]

i remember how excited i was when they were added to the ACL 2009 lineup. It was gonna be my first chance to see them but then he got diagnosed that summer and they had to drop.

[schoolofruckus]

Is listening to the Beasties making anyone else sadder today? Or is it just me?

[TallGuyCM]

Yep. Just finished Paul's Boutique and am now onto Check Your Head.

[Grandma]

[invisiblerobots]

I'll be rocking my Nathanial Hörnblowér shirt tonight in his honor. It only comes out for special occasions and, well, this is a day for it.

[Nealocus]

So bummed. I honestly thought I had a good shot to see them sometime in my life during Coachella or some reunion tour, but this kills me. I'm 23 and this is the first time I've had one of my favorite bands of all time lose a founding member (at least when I've been as conscience of music as I am now). Feels worse than I thought :/

[paulb]

Too sad. Im shocked and deeply saddened. I cant believe this is true. I owe everything to them and Yauch. This day has been tough to say the least. A great man and father will be missed.

[FEELS]

such a bummer, RIP Adam.

[tyles]

Yep. Just finished Paul's Boutique and am now onto Check Your Head.

Started a bit after noon today, begining with "Some Old Bullshit" (since that material would be chronologically correct). Just now getting more than halfway through "To The 5 Boroughs."

[bballarl]

Is listening to the Beasties making anyone else sadder today? Or is it just me?

I was having a shitty day before I heard MCA died. Their music actually made me feel a whole lot better, like it always does. The only bummer is that there won't be any more of it. That is what hurts. By the way Gabe: that was an awesome story.

This is the first musician that I can think of whose death is making me genuinely, truly sad. I got into hip-hop solely because of the Beastie Boys. I don't even remember why Licensed to Ill became a staple of my listening, but sometime around freshman year of high school, it did.

They were the reason I found out about Coachella; I was wondering why they hadn't played live in forever except for some music festival that the White Stripes and Iggy & the Stooges also played, found the lineup and decided that I wanted to go (the Pixies being on the bill the following year cemented it.)

I remember buying Paul's Boutique the summer between freshman and sophomore years of high school, listening to it in my mom's car on the way home, and being totally overwhelmed by how different it was (and loving it at the same time.) I remember buying a poster of them as action figures the same summer at some random record store in Tahoe City. It remains on the ceiling at in my room at my parent's house.

I remember convincing my dad to buy me Ill Communication from a Best Buy in Tracy on my way home from a soccer tournament. We listened to both in the car on the way home. He didn't get it. I thought it was the coolest fucking thing EVER from the moment the flute started on "Sure Shot."

I was so stoked when they were announced for BFD 2004 along with the Strokes. They opened their set with "Root Down" and just fucking killed it. Two of my good friends and I were on the rail when they played Bill Graham Civic Auditorium a few months later. They opened with "Sure Shot" and the whole place lost it. They put on one of the best shows I have ever seen. I am really bummed I never got to see them again.

MCA always stood out to me because of his flow; I think he was the best true rapper in the Beasties. They are responsible for opening up my musical taste (and by extension, my world) to so many new and wonderful things. I'm gutted by this. 47 years old is too fucking young for anyone, but it hurts even more knowing how much more they would have given to us. Fuck.

[LickTheLizzard]

Is listening to the Beasties making anyone else sadder today? Or is it just me?

I listened to all of Paul's Boutique and Check Your Head today, and it made the loss feel worse. I've never been a die hard fan, but the thought of a world without the beastie boys making music makes me really sad. I hate that I never got a chance to see them live. I always assumed I would see them at Coachella someday.

[unit300021]

The first song I remember falling in love with was Paul Revere. Except I heard it for the first time in 98 and didn't know the name of it, I just new it was the Beastie Boys. I just assumed it was their newest single so I went to the store and asked for the newest album from them and they gave me Hello Nasty. First album I ever bought right there. I was so disappointed to discover it wasn't on there after the first listen. After a month of saving up what little money a 10 year old kid I finally got Licensed to Ill, the second album I ever bought. So upset I never got to see them either. My parent's thought I was to young to go see them. then I'll admit I stopped listening to them for sometime. Then I saw them on the OSL line up in 2009 and that made me rediscover them, and then the cancer happened. Sad day for all of music. RIP MCA