Documad
03-31-2006, 08:03 AM
The link would be dead any minute at Minneapolis Star-Tribune website, but here's the text from our local reporter's interview:
(As on the radio show, Adrock is mentioning the vinyl stores)
March 30, 2006
Ch-check it out: The Beasties on big screen
Fans offer a perfect view of rap's favorite punks on film. In person, though, the trio is harder to peg.
Chris Riemenschneider, Star Tribune
AUSTIN, TEXAS -- Put them together in one room, and the Beastie Boys sure know how to test an interviewer's patience. Especially when there's an impatient publicist lurking outside the door, watching the stop-clock like a hawk.
"Where do I know you from?" Adam Yauch asks, seated in a leather recliner in a business suite of Austin's posh new Hilton hotel.
The Beastie Boy better known as MCA then proceeds to eat up about two minutes trying to figure out if we'd met before. As if the journalist wouldn't remember hanging out with the rap star.
The other Adam (Horovitz, a k a Ad-Rock) uses up more time when he hears the interviewer's city of origin. Never mind that the group hasn't performed here since 1998.
"Minneapolis?!" he asks, going down a list of the things he loves in the Twin Cities: record shops like Hymie's and the old Let It Be, the '60s-era Soma Records label (he's obviously a vinyl collector), some coffeehouse "right by a college in St. Paul" (um ... ) and, of course, Prince and Kevin Garnett.
"It's true -- he's been preaching love for Minneapolis for a long time," Mike Diamond chimes in.
Diamond flashes that ol' Mike D smirk, though, the one that leaves you hanging. As in: Maybe Ad-Rock really does love Minneapolis; or maybe Mike D loves calling out his childhood friend when he's blowing smoke at someone.
Interpreting the Beasties' jokes-between-boys has been a game ever since their 1986 debut, "License to Ill," became the first hip-hop album to go to No. 1 in Billboard. Many naysayers thought their initial success was a joke in and of itself.
But the group went on to become the rare hip-hop act with longevity in the '90s, buoyed by clever music videos and such acclaimed albums as "Check Your Head,"Hello Nasty" and "Paul's Boutique." The latter was the only record by a white act on Chris Rock's recent (and rather biblical) list of the 25 best hip-hop albums of all time in Rolling Stone magazine.
Along the way, the Beasties also turned into one of hip-hop's best live acts. They incorporated the instruments from their days as a punk-rock band, and their arsenal of hits became large enough to rival any rock act of the '90s.
Which brings us to their new concert movie, "Awesome: I ... Shot That," made (almost) entirely by fans who were handed videocams before a 2004 Madison Square Garden show.
Opening nationwide today, the movie was the reason the guys were in Austin two weeks ago. It screened as part of the South by Southwest music and film conferences.
While in town, the trio snuck in a "secret" live performance that was soundly triumphant, kicking off with "Brass Monkey" and climaxing with "Intergalactic." They also did a public Q&A session at the Austin convention center that was soundly ruined by dumb questions.
One poignant query, though: A woman asked how the 40-something rappers are "keeping it real" as a Brooklyn hip-hop act.
"I know more about the playground than the underground right now," admitted Mike D, who's married to director Tamra Davis and has two sons.
It's true, the Beasties have settled more into middle age and been less active and/or cutting-edge as a group. Some fans interpret "Awesome!" as their substitute for a tour this year.
Back at the Hilton suite, Ad-Rock joked (?), "Actually, we were hoping the movie would cover this year and next."
Wearing a Knicks hat and T-shirt -- fair-weather fan, he clearly is not -- Ad-Rock explained that the movie was made without much forethought.
"We were playing the Garden, so we thought it'd be cool to have it documented in some way," he said. "We'd had shows filmed by, like, MTV and people like that, but it never seemed all that special."
Said Diamond, "If you just show us playing onstage, it's dramatically different than being there. Our shows are so much about the fans and the interaction. And for us coming from hardcore and punk rock, there was never that separation of the audience and us."
The concept and work behind "Awesome!" came mostly from Yauch, who has dabbled in videomaking over the years under the moniker Nathaniel Hornblower (the credited director here).
"It was a pretty intense editing process [that] took us, like, a whole year," Yauch recalled.
While he was pleasantly surprised that the footage from the performance turned out so well, Yauch added, "I would've liked to have seen more of the crazy stuff that happens at concerts. I was surprised nobody even put the camera down their pants."
Said Ad-Rock, "I'd have done it."
And Mike D: "Remember the '94 or '95 Garden show when there was a guy passed out in the food court completely naked? Too bad we didn't have anything like that."
This back-and-forth answering continued for several minutes, though answers often had little to do with the questions.
The guys did respond to the idea -- which "Awesome!" clearly shows -- that they continue to cultivate a young audience. Their last new CD, "To the 5 Boroughs," was a more mature album reflecting on Sept. 11 that failed to generate much MTV or Billboard buzz. But best-of packages such as the new "Solid Gold Hits" remain hot sellers at any mall store or download site.
"We've reached a point where we're kind of in the category of 'Catcher in the Rye' or 'On the Road,' " Ad-Rock said. "At a certain age, you're just supposed to listen to us. A guy who listened to us when he was 16 passes our CD along to his kid brother when he's 16, that sort of thing."
Added Mike D, "We're a coming-of-age band."
And Yauch (to Ad-Rock): "I just thought up a song while you were giving that answer."
In the end, there was only question that didn't earn an answer or even a glib one-liner.
"What's next?"
Dead silence followed -- long enough to send in the publicist, who soon sent the journalist packing.
Chris Riemenschneider
©2006 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
(As on the radio show, Adrock is mentioning the vinyl stores)
March 30, 2006
Ch-check it out: The Beasties on big screen
Fans offer a perfect view of rap's favorite punks on film. In person, though, the trio is harder to peg.
Chris Riemenschneider, Star Tribune
AUSTIN, TEXAS -- Put them together in one room, and the Beastie Boys sure know how to test an interviewer's patience. Especially when there's an impatient publicist lurking outside the door, watching the stop-clock like a hawk.
"Where do I know you from?" Adam Yauch asks, seated in a leather recliner in a business suite of Austin's posh new Hilton hotel.
The Beastie Boy better known as MCA then proceeds to eat up about two minutes trying to figure out if we'd met before. As if the journalist wouldn't remember hanging out with the rap star.
The other Adam (Horovitz, a k a Ad-Rock) uses up more time when he hears the interviewer's city of origin. Never mind that the group hasn't performed here since 1998.
"Minneapolis?!" he asks, going down a list of the things he loves in the Twin Cities: record shops like Hymie's and the old Let It Be, the '60s-era Soma Records label (he's obviously a vinyl collector), some coffeehouse "right by a college in St. Paul" (um ... ) and, of course, Prince and Kevin Garnett.
"It's true -- he's been preaching love for Minneapolis for a long time," Mike Diamond chimes in.
Diamond flashes that ol' Mike D smirk, though, the one that leaves you hanging. As in: Maybe Ad-Rock really does love Minneapolis; or maybe Mike D loves calling out his childhood friend when he's blowing smoke at someone.
Interpreting the Beasties' jokes-between-boys has been a game ever since their 1986 debut, "License to Ill," became the first hip-hop album to go to No. 1 in Billboard. Many naysayers thought their initial success was a joke in and of itself.
But the group went on to become the rare hip-hop act with longevity in the '90s, buoyed by clever music videos and such acclaimed albums as "Check Your Head,"Hello Nasty" and "Paul's Boutique." The latter was the only record by a white act on Chris Rock's recent (and rather biblical) list of the 25 best hip-hop albums of all time in Rolling Stone magazine.
Along the way, the Beasties also turned into one of hip-hop's best live acts. They incorporated the instruments from their days as a punk-rock band, and their arsenal of hits became large enough to rival any rock act of the '90s.
Which brings us to their new concert movie, "Awesome: I ... Shot That," made (almost) entirely by fans who were handed videocams before a 2004 Madison Square Garden show.
Opening nationwide today, the movie was the reason the guys were in Austin two weeks ago. It screened as part of the South by Southwest music and film conferences.
While in town, the trio snuck in a "secret" live performance that was soundly triumphant, kicking off with "Brass Monkey" and climaxing with "Intergalactic." They also did a public Q&A session at the Austin convention center that was soundly ruined by dumb questions.
One poignant query, though: A woman asked how the 40-something rappers are "keeping it real" as a Brooklyn hip-hop act.
"I know more about the playground than the underground right now," admitted Mike D, who's married to director Tamra Davis and has two sons.
It's true, the Beasties have settled more into middle age and been less active and/or cutting-edge as a group. Some fans interpret "Awesome!" as their substitute for a tour this year.
Back at the Hilton suite, Ad-Rock joked (?), "Actually, we were hoping the movie would cover this year and next."
Wearing a Knicks hat and T-shirt -- fair-weather fan, he clearly is not -- Ad-Rock explained that the movie was made without much forethought.
"We were playing the Garden, so we thought it'd be cool to have it documented in some way," he said. "We'd had shows filmed by, like, MTV and people like that, but it never seemed all that special."
Said Diamond, "If you just show us playing onstage, it's dramatically different than being there. Our shows are so much about the fans and the interaction. And for us coming from hardcore and punk rock, there was never that separation of the audience and us."
The concept and work behind "Awesome!" came mostly from Yauch, who has dabbled in videomaking over the years under the moniker Nathaniel Hornblower (the credited director here).
"It was a pretty intense editing process [that] took us, like, a whole year," Yauch recalled.
While he was pleasantly surprised that the footage from the performance turned out so well, Yauch added, "I would've liked to have seen more of the crazy stuff that happens at concerts. I was surprised nobody even put the camera down their pants."
Said Ad-Rock, "I'd have done it."
And Mike D: "Remember the '94 or '95 Garden show when there was a guy passed out in the food court completely naked? Too bad we didn't have anything like that."
This back-and-forth answering continued for several minutes, though answers often had little to do with the questions.
The guys did respond to the idea -- which "Awesome!" clearly shows -- that they continue to cultivate a young audience. Their last new CD, "To the 5 Boroughs," was a more mature album reflecting on Sept. 11 that failed to generate much MTV or Billboard buzz. But best-of packages such as the new "Solid Gold Hits" remain hot sellers at any mall store or download site.
"We've reached a point where we're kind of in the category of 'Catcher in the Rye' or 'On the Road,' " Ad-Rock said. "At a certain age, you're just supposed to listen to us. A guy who listened to us when he was 16 passes our CD along to his kid brother when he's 16, that sort of thing."
Added Mike D, "We're a coming-of-age band."
And Yauch (to Ad-Rock): "I just thought up a song while you were giving that answer."
In the end, there was only question that didn't earn an answer or even a glib one-liner.
"What's next?"
Dead silence followed -- long enough to send in the publicist, who soon sent the journalist packing.
Chris Riemenschneider
©2006 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.