In honor of Adam Yauch, aka MCA of the Beastie Boys, who passed away last year, Brooklyn's Palmetto Playground on Columbia Street in Brooklyn Heights will be renamed after him. The New York Post reports:

Beastie Boys fans fought for the right to rename a Brooklyn Heights playground after the group's late founding member Adam "MCA" Yauch -- and won.

City officials and members of the legendary hip-hop band are expected to gather Friday at Palmetto Playground on State Street for a ceremonial renaming in honor of the Brooklyn Heights native, sources said. The site will be called "Adam Yauch Playground."

...

The movement to rename the park grew out of a post last year on the Brooklyn Heights Blog that gained steam on Facebook. At first, fans pushed to have nearby Squibb Park renamed in Yauch's honor, but Brooklyn Heights residents said such a name change would dishonor pharmaceutical giant Edward Robinson Squibb. Squibb opened his first lab where Squibb Park now sits at Middagh Street.

Fans then pushed for the renaming of Palmetto Playground and were met with little opposition.

The renaming ceremony takes place this Friday (5/3) at 11 AM, and the two remaining members of the Beastie Boys, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz and Michael "Mike D" Diamond, are expected to be in attendance. The ceremony happens the day before the free 'MCA Day' at Littlefield which happens on the one year anniversary of his death (5/4). The flyer for MCA Day is below.

In related news, Mike D and Ad-Rock are also working on a Beastie Boys memoir, according to The New York Times. It will be edited by hip hop journalist Sacha Jenkins and is due out in 2015 via Random House imprint Spiegel & Grau (who also published Jay-Z's "Decoded").

Beastie Boys' video for "Sabotage" and MCA Day flyer below...

Continue reading "Brooklyn Playground being renamed for Adam Yauch; 'MCA Day' on Saturday; Ad-Rock & Mike D writing memoir"

Mike D & Sam Talbot working a grill in the Rockaways (cheftalbot20)

Thanks to Richard Young for pointing us to this picture of Beastie Boy Mike D helping out on his 46th birthday in Rockaway Beach yesterday (11/20). If you'd also like to help out Occupy Sandy in the Rockaways, head to their website for more information.

Following Ad Rock's lead, Mike D posted a message and picture of his own to the Beastie Boys Facebook and blog...

I know, we should have tweeted and instagrammed every sad, happy and inspired thought, smile or tear by now. But honestly the last few days have just been a blur of deep emotions for our closest friend, band mate and really brother. I miss Adam so much. He really served as a great example for myself and so many of what determination, faith, focus, and humility coupled with a sense of humor can accomplish. The world is in need of many more like him. We love you Adam. BTW this photo sent to me by a friend, (thanks Saslow) is just one awesome example of how NYC is such a unique place that amidst it's huge size and frenetic pace it really opens up it's heart in so many ways and on on so many levels in times like these. And though it makes me cry sometimes, it has been really amazing and moving to see.
Mike

He included the above picture from inside Madison Square Garden which is a nice accompaniment to our previously posted picture from outside MSG.

In related news, someone posted video of the entire benefit show the Beastie Boys played at Hiro Ballroom in 2006. Watch below...

Continue reading "Mike D posted a message too, pic from inside MSG included"

It is with great sadness that we confirm that musician, rapper, activist and director Adam "MCA" Yauch, founding member of Beastie Boys and also of the Milarepa Foundation that produced the Tibetan Freedom Concert benefits, and film production and distribution company Oscilloscope Laboratories, passed away in his native New York City this morning after a near-three-year battle with cancer. He was 47 years old.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Yauch taught himself to play bass in high school, forming a band for his 17th birthday party that would later become known the world over as Beastie Boys.

With fellow members Michael "Mike D" Diamond and Adam "Adrock" Horovitz, Beastie Boys would go on to sell over 40 million records, release four #1 albums-including the first hip hop album ever to top the Billboard 200, the band's 1986 debut full length, Licensed To Ill-win three Grammys, and the MTV Video Vanguard Lifetime Achievement award. Last month Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with Diamond and Horovitz reading an acceptance speech on behalf of Yauch, who was unable to attend.

In addition to his hand in creating such historic Beastie Boys albums as Paul's Boutique, Check Your Head, Ill Communication, Hello Nasty and more, Yauch was a founder of the Milarepa Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting awareness and activism regarding the injustices perpetrated on native Tibetans by Chinese occupational government and military forces. In 1996, Milarepa produced the first Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, which was attended by 100,000 people, making it the biggest benefit concert on U.S. soil since 1985's Live Aid. The Tibetan Freedom Concert series would continue to stage some of the most significant benefit shows in the world for nearly a decade following in New York City, Washington DC, Tokyo, Sydney, Amsterdam, Taipei and other cities.

In the wake of September 11, 2001, Milarepa organized New Yorkers Against Violence, a benefit headlined by Beastie Boys at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom, with net proceeds disbursed to the New York Women's Foundation Disaster Relief Fund and the New York Association for New Americans (NYANA) September 11th Fund for New Americans-each chosen for their efforts on behalf of 9/11 victims least likely to receive help from other sources.

Under the alias of Nathanial Hörnblowér, Yauch directed iconic Beastie Boys videos including "So Whatcha Want," "Intergalactic," "Body Movin" and "Ch-Check It Out." Under his own name, Yauch directed last year's Fight For Your Right Revisited, an extended video for "Make Some Noise" from Beastie Boys' Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, starring Elijah Wood, Danny McBride and Seth Rogen as the 1986 Beastie Boys, making their way through a half hour of cameo-studded misadventures before squaring off against Jack Black, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as Beastie Boys of the future.

Yauch's passion and talent for filmmaking led to his founding of Oscilloscope Laboratories, which in 2008 released his directorial film debut, the basketball documentary Gunnin' For That #1 Spot and has since become a major force in independent video distribution, amassing a catalogue of such acclaimed titles as Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy, Oren Moverman's The Messenger, Banksy's Exit Through The Gift Shop, Lance Bangs and Spike Jonze's Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait Of Maurice Sendak, and many more.

Yauch is survived by his wife Dechen and his daughter Tenzin Losel, as well as his parents Frances and Noel Yauch.

RIP MCA

DOWNLOAD: The Secret History - It's Not The End of The World, Jonah (MP3)

AA Bondy @ Webster Hall (more by Zach Stern)

today in NYC
* DANCE
* The Aquabats @ BB King's
* Rasputina @ The Wonder Bar
* Baroness, Coliseum & Minsk @ Maxwell's
* Kristen Schaal & Max Silvestri @ Sound Fix
* The Secret History & Mahogany @ Public Assembly
* Tom Gabel (of Against Me!) @ Knitting Factory
* Sondre Lerche & Sylvie Lewis @ Bowery Ballroom
* Previously on Lost & Reggie Watts @ The Bell House
* AA Bondy, Steve Burns & The Struggle @ Union Hall
* Wilderness, San Serac & The Violet Hour @ Union Pool
* Violens, Telepathe & Picture Picture @ Mercury Lounge
* Ours & Plain Jane Automobile @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Gabriel Kahane & Ethan Iverson (The Bad Plus) @ (le) poisson rouge
* Made Out Of Babies, Swear On Your Life, Les Sans Culottes, Hype of the States @ Europa
* CaUSE co-MOTION!, Cheap Time & others @ Ash's Place

==== THURSDAY 11/20 @ ASH'S PLACE (aka 234 WYTHE) ====

:: caUSE coMOTION!
:::: Cheap Time --------- In The Red records
:::::: the Beets
:::::::: Jacques Detergent ----- short set
:::::::::: White Diamonds ------ short set

[ ASH'S PLACE ] aka 234 WYTHE
234 Wythe Ave @ N 4th St | Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L-Bedford, JM-Marcy, G-Metropolitan | 8pm | $6 | all ages

[ curated by Mike Sniper ]

Mike D of the Beastie Boys was born today in 1965.

Jason Forrest will be at Le Poisson Rouge tonight as DJ Donna Summer.

Liquid Liquid performed at Special Disco Version at Santos Party House last night. Video below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Thursday?"