News & Blog

Adam Yauch, “MCA” of the Beastie Boys, passed away from cancer yesterday at the age of 47.

It’s impossible to measure the influence of the Beastie Boys on my life. They’re one of my favorite bands of all time, though when their first album, License to Ill, came out in 1986, I didn’t get what they were about. I was a senior in high school and “Fight for Your Right” was in constant rotation on MTV. I thought the video was juvenile, the music uninteresting, and their voices grating. When it came to hip-hop, of which I only knew a small amount, I was much more into Run-DMC. I was certain the Beasties would be a flash in the pan.

I was wrong. In college, once I heard the entirety of License to Ill, I finally understood the smart, often witty playfulness of their songs. I was a quick convert. In 1989, when their second album, Paul’s Boutique, was released, I rushed to the Sam Goody near campus and bought it on cassette. (I know, I’m old, get over it.) I thought it was even better than License to Ill, frankly, and it remains one of my favorite albums to this day. After that came 1992’s Check Your Head, which was on par (“Professor Booty” remains the apex of their oeuvre, I think), but after that my interest in the Beastie Boys began to slide downhill. I thought 1994’s Ill Communication was nothing special, despite a few standout songs like “Sabotage” (which gave us one of the greatest music videos of all time) and 1998’s Hello Nasty was completely forgettable (except maybe for “Intergalactic,” which I don’t think is a great song, but is definitely another of the greatest music videos of all time). When the Beastie Boys made a comeback in 2004 with To the 5 Boroughs, I was excited and rushed out to buy it. (It was, in fact, the first Beasties album I bought on CD instead of cassette!) Alas, aside from the song “An Open Letter to NYC,” I found the album lackluster enough that when they returned again in 2011 with Hot Sauce Committee, Part 2, I didn’t bother picking it up. My time with the Beasties was over. Either my taste in music had moved on, or the guys simply couldn’t recreate that late ’80s-early ’90s magic anymore. (I never heard their instrumental albums, 1995’s The In Sound from Way Out! or 2007’s The Mix-Up.)

But I still listen to them regularly. Paul’s Boutique comes out of its case at least once a year, and the song “Professor Booty” is constantly lurking in the recesses of my mind, springing forth like a hungry panther whenever it decides it needs to be heard. “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” is on my workout mix, so I hear it probably once a week. The Beastie Boys will always be a favorite of mine, right up there with Pink Floyd, Planet P Project, early Nine Inch Nails, Fish-era Marillion, and all the others that had such a big impact on me. Their music was fun, their lyrics often far more intelligent than one might think, and their prowess as actual musicians underestimated. MCA was like the older brother of the three members, his hoarse growl as iconic as the King Ad Rock’s nasally whine. I’m sorry it’s been silenced.

As someone said on Google+ yesterday, he finally reached Brooklyn. Sleep well, MCA.

I think I forgot to post this earlier. This is Fabio Listrani’s amazing illustration for my story in Zombies Vs. Robots: This Means War, “The Sorcerer’s Apprenticebot.”

(Copyright IDW Publishing, reprinted here by permission.)

Pretty damn cool, huh? Now go see what all the hubbub is about by ordering your copy of Zombies Vs. Robots: This Means War today!

I can’t believe we’ve had Olympia for two weeks now! It’s been going very well. We kept her shut away in our home office during that time, and she would spend most of her time in the carrier. Sometimes she would fall asleep while we were in the room with her, which I took as a good sign that she was getting comfortable around us. Also, she snores. A lot. Sometimes she would leave the carrier and explore the rest of the room when we weren’t there, and later we’d find her under my desk or Alexa’s. She’s been eating and using her litter box like a pro. She’s still not cuddly, and may never be, but she has come to let us pet her on the head on occasion, either with our hands or with the soft “petting stick” we made out of a Quickie microfiber long duster. She developed tapeworms from back when she used to have fleas, so we brought her to the vet and got her dewormed. We also got some shmear to put on her and on Galapagos should the fleas decide to make a reappearance.

She walks low to the ground like a lizard, due to her inner ear issues that put her off-balance, and somewhat lopsided. It’s kind of cute, actually.

I absolutely underestimated Galapagos. I thought she was going to make poor Olympia’s life a living hell from day one, but instead she’s been great. There was some growling through the door between the two of them, but that was it. Otherwise, Galapagos has remained calm and affectionate.

Last night, we finally opened the door to let the cats introduce themselves for real, and to give Olympia free run of the apartment. There was some hissing and growling, but no fisticuffs (pawsicuffs?). They’re keeping their distance from each other and not fighting. I’m enjoying the quiet while it lasts. In the meantime, Olympia has already made herself at home:

Here she is having stolen Galapagos’ pillow in the night. See, right at home? This makes me think Olympia may wind up being the more dominant of the two after all. I suspect it may be because she’s been a mother and knows how to keep other cats in line. That’s just a wild guess, though. Olympia is currently hiding under the wingback chair in the living room while Galapagos sneaks drinks from Olympia’s water bowl, so who knows how this will turn out?

Well, I do know one thing. Despite my worries that Galapagos would never share her home with another cat, it looks like this is going to work out just fine.

(Edited to add: Galapagos just chased Olympia into the office with me, and now she’s flagrantly drinking from Olympia’s water bowl right in front of her. The struggle for dominance continues!)