so here we go. summer days. hot weather. hotter sidewalks that would test an indian firewalker. scorching in-car temperatures that claim your skin when you lean back on the cooking car seat. warm side-shore winds that feel like a blow-drier in your face. packed beaches, overcrowded line-ups, kooks in the water, kooks walkin’ around with fins mounted backwards on their boards. “jersey shore” look-a-likes, beach towels everywhere, ankle high waves. so why am i all-smiles? figure it out.

i remember listening to the beastie boys for the first time in 1986 in the US. i was 12 and was immediately hooked by the song (you gotta) fight for your right (to party). at the time i was into such different things as mötley crüe, red hot chili peppers, run dmc and the clash. and the beastie boys seem to mix it all up in one style. my close friend John was the first to introduce them to me. he had the licensed to ill cassette at the time (or was it Jack’s tape?). we’d listen to it in a damp basement somewhere in hartford, mixing it up with mötley crüe, run dmc, ll cool j and whitesnake. a couple of bad-ass 12 year olds listening to nyc hardcore street music, just before running home to watch nickelodean and eat chocolate chip cookies with milk. ah, those rebellious days.

so it’s really sad when people you grow up listening to leave you forever. cancer took the beastie boys’ Adam Yauch away. MCA as he was known left way too early. he was only 10 years older than i am. the beastie boys were a big influence on my musical taste. and on thousands of others’ musical taste. and sure enough cancer being the fucking bitch that it is, took another talented soul away. but it will never take the music he left. and all the memories that go along with the music. so excuse me while i go get a glass of milk, some cookies and blast “no sleep till brooklyn” on my ipod. RIP Adam MCA Yauch.