Adam Yauch & the Dalai Lama – photo by Sue Kwon 2008
It’s been two days now, I never knew Adam Yauch, I’m really not a superfan of anything or anyone, but I still get huge tears in my eyes when I think of his passing this last Friday of cancer. His death hurts in a strange way. 47 years old. So young. So young. And seemingly SUCH a good guy. I’ve read lots of my friends, and journalists condolences and reflections of what he meant to them and their youth, paraphrasing lyrics and recalling good times. I can’t recite a single verse. But I can tell you without hesitation that if I had only one album I could play for the rest of my life, it would be In Sound From Way Out. I can also say, my favorite concert of all time was a Beastie Boy concert at RedRocks where mid set they busted out a rolling party float and did a full acoustical set in blue ruffled tuxedos with stand up basses, I couldn’t believe my luck. I can also tell you that my initiation to smoking pot was chaperoned by Ill Communication on repeat while I sat on that couch eating candy and watching my bf do laundry while I reveled in Shambala and Bodhissattva Vow. (thank you MJK).
One of my life regrets is not going to that first Tibetan Freedom concert with my friends, having returned from Nepal with a whole new outlook on life and religion and goodness in people, I knew I should be there, it was the beginning of my anti-China, Free Tibet days, I felt it, embraced it and believed in it with more than anything I ever had before. That concert was him, Adam Yauch, his doing. The Tibetan Freedom concerts, and the Milarepa Fund were a result of his own spiritual path and understanding of the Tibetans plight, which paralleled my own blossoming understanding of Buddhism, and sympathy for those that has fought for their own country and spiritual beliefs. This Adam Yauch of some hip-hop group that fought for “their right to party” (one of my least favorite songs) became someone I really looked up to.
47 is too young. Why so young? He was a good dude, doing good things for other people. I don’t know. Do what you love, and do it hard, and for the right reasons, and share the fruits. Adam Yauch, MCA, thank you, so much.
