MCA...rough voiced rough housed motherfucker. As with everyone I know this has sent a shiver of mortality down the collective spines of everyone in their 40's. Spring Break of 86 was a time of growth and cliche', working congruently to form the base of who I am...and I am going to take the liberty of speaking for just about everyone I know...say what you will about the Beastie Boys, they are one of THE unique pioneering acts of our generation, and if you don't like them, well...I probably don't like you....
I won't speak about MCA in a linear way..he was a Buddhist...and Buddhists don't hold a linear world view...they...we...believe that until you are enlightened, you are trapped in Samsara, the eternal cycle of life..bound by your desires, your thirst...Tanha...which cause you ceaseless Dukkha...suffering...so to look at life in terms of a mortal birth and a corporeal death is short sighted and shallow...which I am not...and I truly believe that if you examine your life, you will find that all of you needless suffering is born of desire...desire for what you want and what you can't have...desire for what you have had and lost...desire to know what lies beyond this mortal coil...after all...who really knows...so why waste your time thinking of the eternity which lies beyond your grasp...pondering where you came from and where you are going is begging for defeat...you, and I are here...now...
When I awoke to this news, I was in Siem Reap, Cambodia...the most spiritual place I have been...and I've been around...I immediately went to Gratitude, which is ironic as you never hear his voice on this song...what you do hear is the fattest, most moving bass lines of all time...and of course, gratitude is what we all feel for the eternal impact this man had on our lives...I made a point of listening to this song as I crossed the bridge over the Angkor Wat moat, gazing upon this inhuman majesty under the merciless Cambodian sun...I know this is what he would want...not in a contrived, Christian "He is looking down on me" way...but as a fellow musician and a fellow traveller on the difficult path of Samsara...
There are innumerable musical meomories of MCA...and all of us have them...the outpouring of his lyrics on Facebook have seved to legitimize such an often maligned platform...but this is a testament of the good it can do...bringing those together that may be separated by miles...tens of thousands of miles in my case...and uniting us in memory, freezing time in a place when we were all care free and happy...not that we aren't carefree and happy now...but Austin in the early 90's was an organic and special time, and I truly believe that history will give us our due...although it may live in infamy as the single most underrated scene in history...Lance, Matt, Nappy, JD, Peoples, Adam. Danny, Al, Sam, Kevin...the list of talented motherfuckers goes on...and on...and on and on...
His lyrics and voice were unique and raw...always serving as a stark contrast to his mates...and I often think of the irony of it all...the roughest Beastie Boy was ultimately doomed by the same throat that sent shivers up and down my spine at the drop of a hat...but...life ultimately has no pity for irony, so we live on...
or we don't...
But if we do...we mourn and we pay respect and we put on our headphones and we will always hear him as we knew him the first time we heard him, as this is our gift... his immortality...he may not live and breathe, but he will always live in my heart and soul...there will be memories I have which he will always be the soundtrack to...and there will be moments in the future which I attach his voice to...knowing that he would want it this way...
I love MCA...as I love Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charles Bukowski,Issac Hayes,Guru, SRV,Freddie Hubbard...
and I love you...
