sea_dragon
09-26-2004, 12:02 PM
Somehow I missed this last weekend (apologies if it's already been posted, but I didn't see it when I searched):
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2002038603_beastieboys19.html
(And yes, Patrick McDonald is an ass) (ETA: witness the fact that he gets Adrock's age wrong. And that he seemed to think they were going to play Fight for Your Right)
Concert Preview
Party boys to rock Seattle's boroughs
By Patrick MacDonald
Seattle Times music critic
Sasquatch travels all the way from here to New York to confront the Beastie Boys in the wild, funny video for "Triple Trouble," the second single to be released from the rap group's latest album, "To the 5 Boroughs."
Turns out the monster that supposedly lurks in the Northwest woods is quite well known to the New York City-based party boys, who bring their latest tour to KeyArena tonight.
"I spend a lot of time in the Seattle and Tacoma area," Beastie Boy Adam "King Ad-Rock" Horovitz said in a phone interview. "Olympia. Lacey. You know, I'm hip!"
He said he was especially pumped about playing KeyArena, because he's such a basketball nut.
"I'm a Sonics fan," he confessed. "I'm a Knicks fan first, but I got a soft spot for the Sonics. I love Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp and that era. And so to play in the same building where that happened is, like, intense."
Horovitz also has had an eight-year relationship with Kathleen Hanna, head of the New York punk band Le Tigre. One of the original Riot Grrls in the '80s, she was in Olympia's Bikini Kill, an influential all-female punk band.
Hanna also was the late Kurt Cobain's girlfriend when they both lived in Olympia, which is why she got famously sucker-punched in the face by Courtney Love, his widow, backstage at Lollapalooza '95 at the Gorge.
I was hoping Horovitz had a comment about that, or about Le Tigre. But, while he acknowledged his relationship with Hanna, he refused to talk about it.
"I don't feel like talking about relationship stuff to the press, y'know?" he said, testily.
Asked, at the beginning of the interview, where he was calling from, Horovitz replied, "I'm in Manhattan, New York City, New York." It happened to have been the last day of the Republican National Convention, the night President Bush spoke. Although there are a couple of virulent anti-Bush raps on the new album — "That's It, That's All" and "Time to Build" — and the Beastie Boys are actively supporting John Kerry, Horovitz said he wouldn't be joining the protests in the streets that day.
"I've already had three different friends arrested," he explained. "Honestly, I don't feel like getting arrested right now. I got a lot of [stuff] to do. I've been arrested before and I didn't like it. I guess we're protesting more over the long term."
"So what were you arrested for?" I asked.
"It has nothing to do with this," he shot back.
I noted that the Beastie Boys' Web site (www.beastieboys.com) had a poll in which almost half the respondents said they were either not interested in politics or they wished the Beastie Boys, and other entertainers, would shut up about it.
"It's unbelievable," Horovitz said. "It's like a fine line of how we can go out and talk to people and make people understand it's crucial. In my young lifetime [he turns 37 on Halloween] this seems like the most crucial election. It's a shame. It's really a shame.
"But, you know, it's a party. We're there to have a party, and to put on a party and, you know, that's what our goal is for our concert. But there's no reason why you can't get deep at a party."
Certainly one of the highlights of the party/concert will be the Beastie Boys' signature hit, "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)," the song that made them instant stars in 1986, and made their debut album, "Licensed to Ill," the first rap album to hit No. 1 in Billboard.
Horovitz, son of noted playwright Israel Horovitz, was 14 when he joined Adam "MCA" Yauch and Mike "Mike D" Diamond, also sons of wealthy New York families, in the Beastie Boys in 1982. They released several singles and EPs and became local rap stars in New York before making it big.
Their slammin' performance style, clever, funny lyrics and partytime image made the Beastie Boys one of the most popular bands of the 1990s. Their last album, 1998's "Hello Nasty," debuted at No. 1 in Billboard and yielded the hit "Intergalatic."
After six years without an album, there was much anticipation for "To the 5 Buroughs," which was released in June. It sold briskly initially, earning a platinum certification for selling a million copies. But it has been a major commercial disappointment for an album that was expected to be one of the blockbusters of the year.
Its major problem is that, while rap has moved on, the Beastie Boys haven't. The album has lots of energy and fun raps, but the music sounds stale and flat. Rap production is more sophisticated these days, but the Beasties seem stuck in the '90s.
Concertgoers tonight probably won't want to hear much from the new CD. They want the stuff from the Beasties' heyday, the mid- to late-'80s, including such hits as "She's On It," "Hey Ladies" and "Intergalatic."
Horovitz wouldn't say how many of the songs from the new album would be in the show (not many, he hinted), adding that the set list changes every night. But, he assured the fans, "We will play all our music."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2002038603_beastieboys19.html
(And yes, Patrick McDonald is an ass) (ETA: witness the fact that he gets Adrock's age wrong. And that he seemed to think they were going to play Fight for Your Right)
Concert Preview
Party boys to rock Seattle's boroughs
By Patrick MacDonald
Seattle Times music critic
Sasquatch travels all the way from here to New York to confront the Beastie Boys in the wild, funny video for "Triple Trouble," the second single to be released from the rap group's latest album, "To the 5 Boroughs."
Turns out the monster that supposedly lurks in the Northwest woods is quite well known to the New York City-based party boys, who bring their latest tour to KeyArena tonight.
"I spend a lot of time in the Seattle and Tacoma area," Beastie Boy Adam "King Ad-Rock" Horovitz said in a phone interview. "Olympia. Lacey. You know, I'm hip!"
He said he was especially pumped about playing KeyArena, because he's such a basketball nut.
"I'm a Sonics fan," he confessed. "I'm a Knicks fan first, but I got a soft spot for the Sonics. I love Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp and that era. And so to play in the same building where that happened is, like, intense."
Horovitz also has had an eight-year relationship with Kathleen Hanna, head of the New York punk band Le Tigre. One of the original Riot Grrls in the '80s, she was in Olympia's Bikini Kill, an influential all-female punk band.
Hanna also was the late Kurt Cobain's girlfriend when they both lived in Olympia, which is why she got famously sucker-punched in the face by Courtney Love, his widow, backstage at Lollapalooza '95 at the Gorge.
I was hoping Horovitz had a comment about that, or about Le Tigre. But, while he acknowledged his relationship with Hanna, he refused to talk about it.
"I don't feel like talking about relationship stuff to the press, y'know?" he said, testily.
Asked, at the beginning of the interview, where he was calling from, Horovitz replied, "I'm in Manhattan, New York City, New York." It happened to have been the last day of the Republican National Convention, the night President Bush spoke. Although there are a couple of virulent anti-Bush raps on the new album — "That's It, That's All" and "Time to Build" — and the Beastie Boys are actively supporting John Kerry, Horovitz said he wouldn't be joining the protests in the streets that day.
"I've already had three different friends arrested," he explained. "Honestly, I don't feel like getting arrested right now. I got a lot of [stuff] to do. I've been arrested before and I didn't like it. I guess we're protesting more over the long term."
"So what were you arrested for?" I asked.
"It has nothing to do with this," he shot back.
I noted that the Beastie Boys' Web site (www.beastieboys.com) had a poll in which almost half the respondents said they were either not interested in politics or they wished the Beastie Boys, and other entertainers, would shut up about it.
"It's unbelievable," Horovitz said. "It's like a fine line of how we can go out and talk to people and make people understand it's crucial. In my young lifetime [he turns 37 on Halloween] this seems like the most crucial election. It's a shame. It's really a shame.
"But, you know, it's a party. We're there to have a party, and to put on a party and, you know, that's what our goal is for our concert. But there's no reason why you can't get deep at a party."
Certainly one of the highlights of the party/concert will be the Beastie Boys' signature hit, "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)," the song that made them instant stars in 1986, and made their debut album, "Licensed to Ill," the first rap album to hit No. 1 in Billboard.
Horovitz, son of noted playwright Israel Horovitz, was 14 when he joined Adam "MCA" Yauch and Mike "Mike D" Diamond, also sons of wealthy New York families, in the Beastie Boys in 1982. They released several singles and EPs and became local rap stars in New York before making it big.
Their slammin' performance style, clever, funny lyrics and partytime image made the Beastie Boys one of the most popular bands of the 1990s. Their last album, 1998's "Hello Nasty," debuted at No. 1 in Billboard and yielded the hit "Intergalatic."
After six years without an album, there was much anticipation for "To the 5 Buroughs," which was released in June. It sold briskly initially, earning a platinum certification for selling a million copies. But it has been a major commercial disappointment for an album that was expected to be one of the blockbusters of the year.
Its major problem is that, while rap has moved on, the Beastie Boys haven't. The album has lots of energy and fun raps, but the music sounds stale and flat. Rap production is more sophisticated these days, but the Beasties seem stuck in the '90s.
Concertgoers tonight probably won't want to hear much from the new CD. They want the stuff from the Beasties' heyday, the mid- to late-'80s, including such hits as "She's On It," "Hey Ladies" and "Intergalatic."
Horovitz wouldn't say how many of the songs from the new album would be in the show (not many, he hinted), adding that the set list changes every night. But, he assured the fans, "We will play all our music."