Adam Yauch, MCA, Cancer and a Beat Up Old 1980 Buick Skylark

It is official, MCA of the Beastie Boys has cancer. Wow man, I'm getting old. It feels like it was just yesterday that I was cruising in the back seat of my buddy's car screaming... "No Sleep Til...nah, nah...naaaah na...Broooklyn". What an unforgettable gut tingling, head swimming feeling. Flying along in that darn, beat-up old car, I thought I would live forever and ever.

Jeez, high school, I was so young and dumb. And what a great way to be, really. I miss it sometimes and I vow to never ever give up that innocent part of myself. Sure, I have bills to pay, articles to write, three year old birthday parties to attend on occasion, but you can never entirely relinquish high school. It lives on in your heart, and you just gotta revisit that part of yourself sometimes, if not frequently. I know I do.

That night in the car is actually one of my finest memories of early high school and gosh darn it that was almost twenty years ago now. The Beastie Boys are and will always be a just really cool group of guys to me personally. I like there music and their style and they were a part of my younger days. They inspired and showed our generation that people can be who they want to be and that boundaries are really an illusion. Yeah, they did all that. Just look at what they accomplished, how their music changed over the years, expanded, how they just recorded what they liked, not what a record label wanted them to do. Cool guys.

And now, Adam Yauch, aka MCA has cancer of the salivary gland. I didn't know or care what a salivary gland was in 1989. I just knew that I wanted to drink Budweiser in the park and not get caught by the freakin' cops. I wanted to ride in the back of my buddy's 1980 Buick Skylark with the windows down, blasting the Beastie Boys on the way to the Castle with no hassle (ghetto liquor store). Dude, that was the 80's. It was a different era in a whole lot of beautiful ways.

I'm getting older. Adam, ol buddy, we... are getting older. Cancer. Even though it's treatable and you're probably going to be all better real soon. We are still... getting older. Let's pray that the next twenty years are even better than the last twenty. Let's face the new challenges with a youthful spirit and a wiser mind. Keep that music keeps flowing, keep the Beastie Boys a-touring, keep freedom for Tibet from getting forgotten, and keep Buddhism and enlightenment shining on the world with it's ancient and immutable knowledge.

Adam Youch, MCA, my brotha, I wish you god speed and another twenty, heck another one hundred years of health and wealth and love. Cheers. No Sleep Til...nah, nah...naaaaah na.