Press Conference at Festival Pier

[kleptomaniac]

from Phawker (http://www.phawker.com/?p=4958) -

ch-check out pics from the show here (http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa42/Phawker/)! :cool:

So I run this blog called Phawker…
Adrock: Oh, you're Phawker…

[nods] And we ran this contest where readers could send in questions for me to ask you guys, but unfortunately we had the wrong date for the concert and most of the questions where along the lines of “Aren’t they playing TONIGHT?” and “That show is tonight, dumbass” — so my first question is just to confirm that the Beastie Boys concert is tonight, not next week.
Mike D: Correct.

OK, my next question comes from a Phawker reader who wants to know “When are the Beastie Boys finally gonna put out an official Beastie Boys buzzbee?” Does this mean anything to you guys? What the hell is a buzzbee?
Adrock: It’s a frisbee with a bowl on top and a little compartment on the bottom where you keep your, um, tobacco. You take a puff and throw to your friend.
Mike D: We have a lot of other merch we are planning to release that are ahead of that in the pipeline.

Such as.
Mike D: The Bart Simpson Bong.

Wow, you guys got the rights to that?
Mike D: It’s gonna be a collaborative thing [with Fox.]

[to Adrock] Any new developments in your Scrabble feud with ?uestlove?
Adrock: I don’t wanna talk about that because we finally put it to rest — even though I was winning. He’s a nice guy, and he’s bigger than me. However, I am fast. So if he wants to race me.
Mike D: I just want to say that we met up with him a couple of weeks ago and it ended with a tight hug.
Adrock: Not tight.
Mike D: It was pretty tight.

If you could go back in time twenty-something years ago to the beginning of the band, knowing what you know now, would you still call the band Beastie Boys? And if not, what would you have called it instead?
Adrock: Disco Three.
MCA: [looking off into space wistfully, as if imagining what life would have been like for Disco Three] If we’d had that name, who knows what we could have accomplished… :)

also, from In the Mix (http://blogs.phillynews.com/inquirer/inthemix/2007/08/beastie_boys_will_be_boys_1.html) -

The Beastie Boys opened their U.S. tour at Festival Pier last night. Before the show in a backstage press conference, Mike D., Ad-Rock and MCA reminisced about seeing Run-D.M.C., the Fat Boys and Whodini at the Spectrum back in the day, said they were considering following up The Mix-Up, their new lyric-less instrumental album with an a capella album of nothing but lyrics, and admitted how upset they were to not be considered as Rosie O'Donnell's replacement on The View.

Tonight, the Beasties play a "gala event" show at the Borgata in Atlantic City. No flip-flops allowed. More about all this in Saturday's Inquirer (http://www.philly.com/inquirer/).

[plutomama]

this was funny! i liked the questions! thanks for posting this piece.


take care,



pm

[kleptomaniac]

http://blog.nj.com/southjerseylife/2007/08/the_boys_are_back.html

After more than 25 years together, Beastie Boys Adrock (Adam Horovitz), MCA (Adam Yauch), and Mike D. (Michael Diamond) have found what they feel is the ideal solution to settling artistic differences.

"A two-thirds rule," Horovitz said.

"Yes, if it comes down to it. But," Yauch added, "each one of us also has veto power."

"Also, within all of that framework, we also fight―and enjoy that," Diamond quipped.

"Just fistfights though, no arguments," Yauch clarified. :D

Well, there can be no arguing that the New York trio continues to be a force, not only comically, but of course, musically. In late June, the group released their seventh studio album, the all-instrumental journey "The Mix-Up," and are currently on a nationwide tour that will feature them playing two nights in most areas, with one night being a more standard Beastie Boys concert and the second night being a special "gala event" show.

Speaking backstage before the opening date of the tour last week in Philadelphia, Diamond attempted to clear the air.

"Our regular kind of show, it's all mixed up. A lot of stuff with (DJ) Mix Master Mike ... stuff with the band ... stuff from all different records. We will dress nicely, although we are not dressed great right now, but it's a hot day. The gala event show (for the fans) is more dress to impress. The repertoire of that is focused around the band," Diamond explained.

The gala event "is more tuxedos" and the other shows are "like going to the circus," said Yauch.

"But Cirque du Soleil, not the local circus," Horovitz said. "This is nothing to sneeze at." :cool:

While the gala shows feature their songs as a band, they will also feature some of their hip-hop standards revisited with the addition of more standard instrumentation. Songs like "Sure Shot," "So What'cha Want" and "Root Down" are recognizable, but decidedly different.

For some fans of the early incarnations of the band, the idea of the band being a band may seem a little strange, however the concept was manifested naturally as a follow-up to 2004's all-rap "To The 5 Boroughs," the group's old-school ode to New York City and its early hip-hop culture that was a major influence.

"The reason we stared playing instruments was because 'To The 5 Boroughs' was all rap and we did a bunch of shows that were just rap shows," Horovitz said. "We missed playing," so, they dusted off their instruments "and it just sort of happened that we wound up making an all instrumental album.

"It's kind of the same as 'To The 5 Boroughs.' We started doing a rap record and we had to turn it in. So we are trying to get a jump on the next record."

"We are doing the vocals first, so if we run out of time, it will be an a cappella record," Yauch joked. :p

Over the years, the group has distanced itself from the wild, beer-guzzling, Volkswagen-hood-ornament-wearing loose cannons. They have become heavily involved in world events, raising money for Tibet, the victims of Sept. 11 and voicing their displeasure with the war in Iraq. For such a socially conscious band, hindsight makes it seem like an odd time to release an instrumental album.

"Agreed," Diamond nodded. "That didn't occur to us," he said with a smile. "There are current events that, if we made a 'normal' record, we probably couldn't help ourselves from saying something."

"The next record," perhaps the a cappella one, "is going to say some (things)," Horovitz said.

It is evident that Beastie Boys is a tight-knit group that has enjoyed its professional and personal time together over these two-and-a-half decades.

Playing off each other, they lamented not choosing the name Disco 3 for the group; longed to receive a phone call from Barbara Walters to join the cast of "The View"; discussed the pros and cons of buying records in Minneapolis as opposed to Rio and talked about their appearance on the cartoon "Futurama."

"I am personally disappointed," said an incredulous Diamond. "I thought my voice-over career was going to take off and frankly it didn't." :rolleyes:

Lucky for their fans it didn't. Had such distractions arisen, the group might have needed to enact the two-thirds rule on whether it was a good idea. Or they could rely on another old favorite pastime to settle disputes.

"We also put on the fencing masks and the white costumes and go at it all Three Musketeers style," Diamond said. (y)

[Funkyfreshgrape]

those pictures are huge.. dammmnn

[kleptomaniac]

ch-check out pics from the show here (http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa42/Phawker/)! :cool:

ah well, they got moved 'cause of the other pics, but you can still follow this link (http://www.phawker.com/?p=4958) and click on the slideshow to see the individual pics. :P

[AznAlice]

I've only read a few interviews and so far always fun to read.

I tried to check the link for the pics but, maybe will check at a later time, kinda hard because there's no folders or subfolders so I know exactly where it's located in you pb account.