So I'm writing today because my heart has been crazy heavy since Adam Yauch, best known as MCA, of the Beastie Boys passed just a few weeks ago.
Originally written June 3, 2012.
I don't want my blog to turn into a tribute to artists who've passed. But every now and again a passing is just too personally significant to just let go. I missed the boat on blogging about Davey Jones of the Monkees. Had I blogged about them upon Davey's passing, I would have included stories of visits to the dentist to get my retainer adjusted and of my childhood best friend and her little sister who lived directly across the street from me as well as a nod to the video game Asteroids. Trust me it would have all come together in the end.
So I'm writing today because my heart has been crazy heavy since Adam Yauch, best known as MCA, of the Beastie Boys passed just a few weeks ago.
Of the Beastie Boys, I know their songs well and get hype whenever I'm out and about or driving in the car and hear them, but I wasn't ever a huge fan. So why am I so motivated to write about them now? Why, since MCA's passing, have I watched Horseplay, an unauthorized Beastie Boys documentary, searched the web for reference to the group to learn more about their story, and laid claim to my office's recent edition of Rolling Stone magazine with MCA on the cover? In three words: because I remember...
I vaguely remember a time before MTV and then the summer MTV dropped and everything changed. Of that I mostly remember Aha's 'Take On Me.' I just loved loved loved that video. But it took them some time to warm up to the rap thing. With a lot more clarity I remember coming home after school to Video Music Box where Special Ed, Public Enemy, Kurtis Blow and the Beastie Boys were daily staples of the regular programming.
I remember hopping in the car with my cousin who lived with my family for a few years in the early 80's and my older brother who was in his early teens at the time and heading to the RKO on route 17 (where they would dare play our films) and being transfixed for 97 minutes by Krush Groove.
If receiving Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' as a gift for my 6th birthday was the number one most significant foundational music moment of my life, then watching Breakin' , learning to scratch on my brother's turntables and making up rhymes to gain access to the Sega or Collecovision and listening to Biz and Boogie Down Productions and Eric B. and Rakim and the Beastie Boys in the mid 80's is the second.
Because I Remember
...Due to work and getting the flu, I haven't been able to attend the hot yoga class that I love in weeks. My preferred class is called Prana 2 Music where typically the instructor plays kind of atmospheric indie rock throughout the hot yoga class. Last week I decided that no matter what I was going to hot yoga on this past Thursday evening because my body desperately needed the workout. Then on this past Wednesday, as I confirmed the timing of the following night's class, I learned that specific class was 75 minutes instead of 60 minutes. I much prefer the latter. That extra 15 minutes is beast. I went back and forth all day Thursday and finally decided, I would just wait until my usual class on Saturday to return to Prana 2 Music. Saturday arrived and I made my way to class where I learned the theme for that day would be "No Sleep Till Winchester*" complete with a playlist that was 100% Beastie Boys. Suffice it to say I felt the Universe ensured I'd be in attendance with that specific instructor at that specific class.
Throughout the class I wondered, what Beastie Boys song would the instructor use for Sivasana? I just could not figure out which of their songs would be appropriate energetically speaking. My best guess was that the instructor would play a non Beastie Boys song to close the day but she was one step ahead...
RIP MCA
*Winchester is the city in which I attend hot yoga.
“So I'm writing today because my heart has been crazy heavy since Adam Yauch, best known as MCA, of the Beastie Boys passed just a few weeks ago.”