Cross|talk

Audio

Sat, 26 May 2012 22:25:33 -0400

On obituaries

Sun, 13 May 2012 18:43:00 -0400

There have been many eloquent and thoughtful remembrances of MCA written since his death a week ago (this piece at the top of my list and the Times obituary as well) and little can be said that hasn’t been already.

Yet something struck me about Adam Yauch’s death that I’ve only now been able to put into words.

The Beastie Boys put out relevant music for the better part of 25 years. Quite simply, this isn’t done by artists anymore, particularly with groups. When I first heard their music, I was struck by it’s energy and promise, though admittedly dismissed them as a “one trick pony” of rap/rock.

Then I heard Paul’s Boutique. At eight-years-old, I didn’t even know what sampling was, but I recognized that there were songs on there that sounded like other records in my father’s LP collection. In what would become a life of record collecting, DJ-ing, producing records of my own, and annoying friends with obscure musical references…I had just identified my first sample.

Many years later, I’d meet Adam a couple of times briefly. He was courteous and kind, seemed genuinely interested in the ongoings of others, and was a bit more quiet than I expected. We weren’t friends, but I miss him strangely. One thing that pop music does is that it sells us on the notion that living forever is possible. Or—at the very least—that the eventuality of death isn’t worth fretting about at this particular moment. The Beastie Boys surged with contagious abandon; it made people happy, it made people think, it gave frat boys an anthem and rap nerds a purpose, it made people nostalgic for all of that kind of stuff Peter Gabriel was going on about.

And that’s what makes it hard to accept the death of MCA and our other recent losses. For them to live forever, one day we’ll have to let them go.

Black Moth Super Rainbow (Taken with instagram)

Sun, 13 May 2012 02:37:46 -0400

Black Moth Super Rainbow (Taken with instagram)

Now play nice… (Taken with instagram)

Wed, 02 May 2012 03:26:32 -0400

Now play nice… (Taken with instagram)

Drops! (Taken with instagram)

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 00:07:03 -0400

Drops! (Taken with instagram)

Yeah! @shinytoyguns Melodie Lens, Ina’s 1969 Film, No...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:38:22 -0400

Yeah! @shinytoyguns

Melodie Lens, Ina’s 1969 Film, No Flash, Taken with Hipstamatic

This week’s listening: a little old, a little new. (Taken...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 03:29:56 -0400

This week’s listening: a little old, a little new. (Taken with instagram)

This modern love.

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:33:49 -0400

This modern love.

Lots of listening for the week (Taken with instagram)

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 03:33:51 -0400

Lots of listening for the week (Taken with instagram)

Sunday, bloody Sunday (Taken with instagram)

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 18:31:24 -0400

Sunday, bloody Sunday (Taken with instagram)

"With “The Letter,” at a minute and 58 seconds long, it took the Box Tops less than two minutes to..."

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 16:40:53 -0500

“With “The Letter,” at a minute and 58 seconds long, it took the Box Tops less than two minutes to accomplish what it took Jethro Tull hours to not accomplish.”

- Lester Bangs, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman in the film Almost Famous (via bigstarblog)