Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

Last Friday, shortly after I sent in my Idelic column, I heard the news that Adam Yauch had sadly passed from cancer at the age of 47. MCA was the quietest of the Beasties. He was the kid who I knew the least, but the voice I respected the most.

Not only did MCA have “rasp and grit” but he was the first, and maybe the only, white rapper who made absolutely no attempt to sound “black.” The kid was not from the projects but he was street. As MCA eloquently put it, “While I’m making my record, your mother is sucking my mother fucking dick.”

It’s the way we grew up; upper class Jewish kids on stoops smoking joints and downing quarts of malt liquor. Although years later he would retract and apologize for his rude and sexist lyrics, MCA’s delivery and lyrics brought us and our cultures crashing together.

So, this week’s Idelic Hour is dedicated to MCA, Mike D, Ad-Rock, and all of us Beastie friends—a bi-coastal crew. Props to us New Yorkers who brought our “hanging on the stoop-graffiti” culture West.

Props to Drakulis and Rick, Sunny Bak, Haze, Matt Dike, Fab 5 Freddy, Ricky Powell, and others. And those LA dudes with their skateboards and laid back lingo (dooode!) Props to the Emquies brothers, Glen Friedman, Lyor, Fredco, B Dub, Kim White, and the Double B.

Over the years I’ve thought about the day The Beasties would turn from boys to men. Now the Beasties live with the Beatles and The Doors. Call the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame what you may, but it was great seeing them honor us all.

Love live MCA, long live The Beatie Boys, New York City rules the world—and I love LA too!

The Idelic Hit of the Week:
The Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather

“My favourite record store in New Zealand is called Conch, and it’s located in a suburb called Ponsonby in Auckland.”

“I like it for several reasons. Ultimately, they stock the kind of music I like: reissues of 60′s/70′s world music obscurities and the like. And they are great sales people for the music I’ve put out under different monikers, especially when it comes to putting it in the hands of people from out of town that come through the shop.

It’s also a great hub for the musical community I tend to associate with in general, so it’s nice to know I’m likely to bump into some friends there when I’m in town.

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Given the twenty-year cycle of music trends, Britpop is due for a major revival, as we’ve seen the last great Brit behemoths disintegrate (and reunite for a few commemorative gigs) and Coldplay assume the of English rock superstardom.

Somewhere beneath the hubbub lies Keane, who have been faithfully been plugging away at their swooning brand of piano rock for almost a decade. You still may know the British threesome best for their mega-hit “Somewhere Only We Know,” but Keane has kept busy since their 2004 moment in the sun, putting a twist on the ‘90s Britpop tradition with their signature guitar-less piano ballads.

Keane play the Strathmore on June 14th in support of their fourth full-length release, Strangeland, their first since 2008′s Perfect Symmetry.

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