Talib Kweli talks about his experience touring with the Beastie Boys in an interview with Rapnews.co.uk:

My fondest memories were watching the Beastie Boys get prepped to come on stage. They had a lot of antics and they play a lot of basketball… then they were giving out cameras to the crowd, and performing from the bleachers… The most important thing I learnt was that you control your crowd, not the other way around. They would chastise the crowd for being too rowdy if it looked like people were gonna get hurt. That was cool.

Mike D at the Jivamukti Yoga Center opening
Is that a wig?

So what happened this grand month of May in Beastieboysland? Not much. Yoga devotee Mike Diamond made an appearance at the opening of the Jivamukti Yoga Center at Union Square on May 18. The New York Observer reported that Mr. Diamond "skeptically watched a yogini contort her body" at the event, while the Beastie Boys ol' buddy Russell Simmons, who was also in attendance, admitted to the press that he got into yoga because there were so many hot girls doing it. Ick.

Earlier in the month, Adam Yauch was sighted appreciating art at the Dia:Beacon in Beacon, New York. Who knew he had interests beyond Xbox?

Adam Horovitz has been up to stuff too, but it's a secret.

In the media: Coming to the party a litle late, Popmatters.com published an interview with the band, talking about Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That! (Shout-out to Nick). . . What fans will find on the Awesome dvd was spelled out in a press release distributed by the film company last week. The dvd will have more than two hours worth of special features, including band commentary, alternate angles from the HD cameras (i.e., the non-fan cameras), acappella vocal tracks, a "Hidden Detours" feature that allows the viewer to see extra footage shot by the fan camera operators, A Day in the Life of Nathanial Hornblower short film, Pageant Tour intros and shout-outs, and the movie trailer. . . The British press, including NME, have begun reporting on the premiere of Awesome in England. At this point, nobody is saying anything about the band making an appearance in England; however, I'm going to predict that they will be representing in Londontown.

Have you noticed how most established artists have a lot of fan sites devoted to them? Have you ever wondered why the Beastie Boys -- a band with a long, successful career -- have so few fan sites? I can tell you why: They are not active enough to have anything to write about. The band work at a snail's pace and communicate little information about their future projects. It's a wonder that they have any fanbase with the way they operate and communicate.

I created this site for Beastie Boys fans, not as some shrine to the band. The information and articles that I link to are with the fans in mind. I don't make judgements about what is interesting or not interesting. Every fan has an angle of interest that differs from another fan. For example, I don't find it particularly interesting to read about one of the band being sighted in a restaurant in New York City; however, a fan who is a chef in New York City might find that same information highly interesting. Follow?

My angle of interest in the band has always been and always will be live performance, which I sadly predict there will be none for a very long time. Knowing that no concerts are in the near future makes it difficult for me to want to write about the band or even try to follow what they might be doing -- especially when I am on the road following one of my favorite bands on tour and have other interests. I will, however, continue to maintain this site for all the great Beastie Boys fans I have come to know. Please contribute articles and information when you can to keep this site alive.

Providing more evidence that he is the weirdest of the Beastie Boys, Adam Yauch has written a Sasquatch-themed haiku, titled "Lady Mountweazel's Lament," to help kick off a haiku contest to promote the book Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger by Margaret Mittelbach and Michael Crewdson. (Crewdson and Yauch are old Brooklyn Friends School mates.)

Yauch's haiku is:

sasquatch o sasquatch
stricken down with crotch rot; BOOF!
old yeti ya-ro

Asked by New York magazine if he might go professional with the haiku, Yauch replied, "Are there professionals? That would be an interesting job. 'Honey, I had a hectic day at the office today. My second line had six syllables, and I just couldn't make it work.'"

I love how Beastie Boys fans take matters into their own hands. A new message board has been created by Beastie Boys Message Board member Dandyfop. Register to become a member of BBMB Sluts Anonymous today. It's Saudi hacker-free!

I have received many queries about the status of the Beastie Boys Message Board. Everyone asks the same thing: "What's up with the board? Why is it down?" Unfortunately, I do not have any answers. No one has reported witnessing another hacking, so I can only assume that it's down for maintenance reasons. I contacted an administrator and will share anything I learn from him here.

In the meantime, fans can communicate with one another at a number of places. For starters, you can communicate at this site via the comment feature in the blog. A Yahoo 360 account is free and simple to use. Very soon, I intend to offer something cool to all people who are registered as a friend to this site. So register now if you want to be in on that fun.

Another place you can communicate with other fans is at the Beastie Boys Youtube.com group, which is moderated by Midzi. You can watch and discuss more than 200 Beastie Boys-related videos.

BBMB member Timmie has a forum at his Beastie Boys fan site, but not a lot of dialogue is going on there at the moment. Perhaps you can change that.

Finally, many BBMB regulars are communicating with one another at Myspace.com. You can find me on Myspace.com here.

Update (5/9): The board is down because it was hacked again.

"So you think you are strong because you can survive the soft cushions!"
--from "The Spanish Inquisition" by Monty Python

This video from the panel discussion the Beastie Boys did at South by Southwest in March 2006 may make you wonder when Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz traded names.

SXSW offers an iPod video download (.m4v) of the interview, so you can repeatedly watch the Beastie Boys being tortured with bad questions in comfy chairs on your favorite media player.

(Word to my girl Bizzy-Midzi)

It's official. The Beastie Boys are no longer trying to keep things real -- Mr. Horovitz excluded. They're going celebrity on us, Paris Hilton-style. First, our man Yauch participated in a red carpet photo opportunity at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this week. Now, his buddy Mike D is smiling pretty for the paparazzi.

Last night (May 4), Mike was seen and photographed at not one but two events in New York: Rolling Stone's 1000th issue party at the Hammerstein Ballroom, where the Strokes performed, and at the opening of Mr. Chow in Tribeca. An entertaining account (i.e., let's snicker at the lameness) of the Rolling Stone party can be read at Gawker.com. The story doesn't mention Mike -- which is a good thing in this case -- but it does draw a good picture of the event he attended.

All these photo ops from a band who have not participated in such fluffery in the recent past makes a person wonder what's going on with the Beastie Boys. Are they bored and craving some attention? Or are they stepping into the spotlight because they intend to promote something soon? Really cool people normally avoid the red carpet and paparazzi unless they've got something to pimp.

Adam Horovitz is keeping busy with remixing work. He has confirmed that he will be remixing a song for Measles Mumps Rubella's next single "Dynamic Disaster," which is scheduled for release this summer. Horovitz' association to the band can be explained through his relationship to new wife Kathleen Hanna, whose band Le Tigre toured with Measles Mump Rubella in 2004. (Le Tigre and MMR were once label mates at Kill Rock Stars.) Curious about MMR? Check out the band's Myspace.com page.

Other work from Horovitz to watch for release in the coming months includes a remix of a Matisyahu song and several songs with Lady Sovereign, whom he has been producing.

Radio 1's Zane Lowe premiered a new remix by Adam Horovitz and Mike Diamond on his radio show yesterday (May 1). Horovitz and Diamond have remixed Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" for a Fatboy Slim greatest hits record titled Greatest Hits: Why Try Harder? to be released in June.

You can listen to the show stream at Radio 1's web site (Click on the "Listen to Monday's Show" link) or download an mp3 of the remix that I made from the stream.

A Reuters photographer snapped this pic of Adam Yauch before the premiere of Mini's First Time at the Tribeca Film Festival yesterday (May 1). Whether or not he has a connection to the film somehow (e.g., a friend or colleague associated with the film) is unknown. He's probably hitting a bunch of films at the film fest.

Yauch was also photographed at the film's afterparty at the W Hotel Union Square.

VH1 has announced that Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That! is among the films being added to its documentary series "VH1 Rock Docs." The Beastie Boys concert film will begin to be shown periodically on the music television channel later this summer. Hopefully, this means the VH1 viewing audience will not be subjected to Showgirls anymore.

(Shout-out to Midzi)

The good people at Beastiemania.com got their hands on one of the Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That! screener dvds, which were distributed to a small number of retail outlets a few weeks ago. The screener includes the complete film, but not any of the bonus footage.

Other than the silly notes about a "massive awareness" campaign for the film that never happened, the one other interesting item to note on the screener package is that the bonus material is subject to change. Good news to those fans who were hoping for more or different material!


Click to enlarge.

Review more of the screener details at Beastiemania.com.