11 Oct 08 Beastie Boys launch “Get out and Vote ’08 Tour” in swing states and support Obama Barack
While driving around in the car with the boys, I started singing the refrain to “Funky Cold Medina” by Tone Loc, who arguably had/has one of the funkiest raspy voices around. Well, since I’m still working on my “acute” bronchitis, my voice was a bit like his (for the wrong reasons)… anyways, the boys giggled and asked me what I was singing. We then broke in to a discussion about funky vs. hip-hop… and then they said they had almost forgotten the Beastie Boys. I reminded them about the robots in the Intergalactic video, and the b-boys rapping as pseudo-teletubbies in the other video… and their eyes lit up and both wanted to watch it here tomorrow…. 
Always in their casual yet tenacious style, the B-boys want to remind all eligible US voters to get out there and exercise their right. To back it up, they’ve announced a “voter awareness tour” called Get out and Vote ’08 which kicks off in several so-called swing (critical) states including the following shows which were just announced:
October 28 Richmond, VA at Richmond Coliseum
Beastie Boys along with Sheryl Crow / Jack Johnson / Norah Jones / Santogold
(wow what a line-up)
Nov 1 St. Paul, MN at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium
Beastie Boys / Ben Harper / Tenacious D
(another nice trio of top level artists)
Nov 2 Milwaukee, WI in the U.S. Cellular Arena
Beastie Boys / Ben Harper / Crosby & Nash / Tenacious D
Again C&N with B-Boys ? Wonder if they’ll do an on-stage mashup ?
I love how Adam, Mike and Adam finished off with “we are very excited about obama. hope you all feel the same.”
Here’s the full PR:
(more…)
Tags: Beastie Boys, Concerts, hiphop, Music, obama barack, Politics, Tristan, Zachary
03 Sep 08 Beastie Boys support Obama in US Election ; encourage voters to register
Just got this a few moments ago. Again, I’m not suprised; on the contrary, I’m pleased and I agree. That being said, as a Canadian I can’t vote in your election but hey, a bit of positive linklove can never hurt!
From: Beastie Boys [mailto:BeastieBoys NOSPAMMMMERS@artistnews.capitolmusic.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2008 6:50 PM
To: majumdar**** @ ****.***
Subject: election time on the horizonparty people,
just wanted to reach out and make sure everyone is registered to vote
this year. in many states you need to register well ahead of time. this
is a friendly reminder so you don’t get caught with your pants down.let’s get obama into that oval office and get things back on track.
adam, mike and adam
Tags: Beastie Boys, Music, Obama, Politics
20 May 08 Kanye West & Rihanna tonight at the Bell Centre in Montreal – good tickets ?
Quick lunchtime food and food for thought…
Well, tonight’s the night! The last show I saw at the Bell Centre was the Beastie Boys and man was that a blast. Now granted, I haven’t been a fan of Kanye West since the mid-eighties as is the case with the B-boys but I sure am looking to hearing his words and grooving to his rhythms… as well as those of Rihanna.
I’m in a great seat (in great company mmmm) in the 100 level… and was surprised to see that Kanye tickets are still available … interestingly enough the resale price is about the same for 100-level reserved seats as they are for the floor seats which are general admission. The price for tickets varies between about $140-225 for the good ones (which were about $100 face value)…
I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s like in reserved seating as opposed to being in GA on the floor. I was on the floor for the Beastie Boys and it was amazing… mind you, the arena sound reinforcement systems are designed to throw the sound and therefore a lot of people further back and higher (in the 300, 400 and loge levels) actually felt more bass than I perceived down on the floor.
I sure hope there’s enough low end…
Tags: A-Trak, Beastie Boys, hip hop, Kanye West, Music, Rap, Rihanna
21 Mar 08 Beastie Boy Adam Yauch sends shout out about Tibet…
Got this from Adam Yauch about the current situation in Tibet – the B-Boys have always been pretty strong supporters in the fight for freedom in Tibet:
From: Beastie Boys [mailto:capitolrecords@e.emimusicna.com]
Sent: March 17, 2008 1:28 PM
To: ***********
Subject: Tibet17 March 2008
hey all,hope you don’t mind me hitting you on the b-boys blast line, but things are really getting intense in tibet now. it’s coming to a head. i just hope that all of the suffering that the tibetan protesters are enduring leads to some positive change, hence this letter. we can push our governments to lean on the chinese government to stop the cultural genocide.
attached below is a news bulletin that i got this morning. if you are a US citizen please take the time to write to your local congress representative and ask them to get to work. if you are a citizen of another country, you can ask your government reps…
it would be sad if what is happening in tibet now had no constructive result.
thanks,
adamUrgent Action: Tell your Congressional Representative to Support Tibet
In horrific late breaking news, Radio Free Asia is now reporting that up to 80 or more Tibetans have been killed in today’s violent clashes with Chinese military. Chinese authorities responded with brute force today to ongoing protests in Lhasa and across Tibet. Supported by tanks, thousands of armed troops have sealed off the three major monasteries where nonviolent protests were initiated on Monday. Chinese police have fired live ammunition into crowds of unarmed Tibetans and unconfirmed reports from eye-witnesses in Lhasa say that 26 Tibetans were gunned down outside Drapchi prison. While the international public and media have been appropriately horrified by China’s clampdown, the U.S. has made only very weak statements. White House Spokesman Tony Fratto said, “We believe Beijing needs to respect Tibetan culture. They need to respect multi-ethnicity in their society. We regret the tensions between ethnic groups and Beijing.”
Please contact your Congressional Representatives now and urge them to support Tibet by calling on the U.S Government to strongly condemn China’s actions.
FIND OUT WHO YOUR LOCAL MEMBER OF CONGRESS IS
TAKE ACTION
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/world/asia/16cnd-tibet.html?hp
Well, I’m not a US citizen, but there are actions that Canadians can take as well… although I’m on the fence (thus far) about boycotting the Beijing Olympics.
Rob
Tags: Beastie Boys, hiphop, Music, Politics, Rap
