Chuck D and LL Cool J induct Beastie Boys into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame:



Mike's and Adam's acceptance speech:



Mix Master Mike, The Roots, Kid Rock, and Travie McCoy perform a medley of Beastie Boys song at the induction ceremony:

From Rolling Stone:

Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch Will Not Attend Hall of Fame Induction
Group will be unable to perform at induction ceremony in Cleveland tonight

Adam “MCA” Yauch of the Beastie Boys will be unable to attend the group’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland tonight, a representative tells Rolling Stone.

“Beastie Boys regret that Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch will be unable to join Mike ‘Mike D’ Diamond and Adam ‘Adrock’ Horovitz at the band’s induction into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in April,” reads the group’s statement. “Mike, Adam and Adam are truly grateful for the honor but with only two of the three Beastie Boys attending, they will unfortunately not be able to perform at the ceremony.”

Yauch revealed he had cancer in a salivary gland in his neck in July 2009, which delayed the group’s touring plans and scheduled September 2009 release of Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 1. The album, now titled Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2, eventually came out in April 2011. Last year, Yauch announced that he was optimistic about treatment, but was not yet cancer-free.

Cey Adams's handy work for Kings of Rock photo exhibition

I got a sneak peek of the Kings of Rock photo exhibition, featuring photos by Sunny Bak and Talib Haqq, at Rush Arts Gallery yesterday afternoon. If you are in the New York City area, you should make an effort to see this great collection. The photographs capture a special period in both the Beastie Boys's and Run-DMC's history.

Sunny kindly agreed to allow me to videotape her photos with her narrating the story behind them:



Sunny's photos in this exhibition are available to purchase as 16 x 20 limited edition prints. All of the photos, with the exception of the first photo seen in the video, are $1000. The first photo (Beastie Boys on 18th Street) is $1200. You know you want one on your walls.

Talib Haqq's photos are of Run-DMC and the Def Jam/Rush Mgmt family. Talib agreed to be videotaped too, but unfortunately his photos were not hung on the wall before I had to leave so the video didn't get shot. Talib entertained me with stories of the Beastie Boys and Russell Simmons back in the day. Talib is the person who introduced Cey Adams to Russell Simmons, so he says Cey owes him for his career. Oh, snap!



In addition to Sunny's and Talib's photos, the exhibition includes several hip hop photos by other photographers and two new art works by Cey Adams, one of which is shown below.



The opening reception for Kings of Rock is today (Thursday, April 12) from 7-9 pm. It will be preceded by a presentation and book signing related to the book Def Jam: The First 25 Years of the Last Great Record Label with Bill Adler, Dan Charnas, and Cey Adams from 5-7 pm.


Bill Adler checks out Sunny Bak's photos at Rush Arts Gallery

When the Kings of Rock exhibition closes on Saturday, April 14, Sunny will be showing her photos at Ivy Brown Gallery in Manhattan in May. She also has plans to show the photos in Brooklyn, Boston, Europe, and Japan.

Rush Arts Gallery
526 W. 26th Street, Suite 311
New York, NY 10001

Photo by Sunny Bak

Kings of Rock Photo Show at Rush Arts Gallery on April 12
Three-Part Event Marks Beastie Boys' Induction to Rock Hall of Fame

Just two days before the Beastie Boys are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, New York's Rush Arts Gallery is marking the occasion with a special photo exhibition and book event. The opening reception will be held at Rush, 526 W. 26th Street, Suite 311, on the evening of Thursday, April 12. The show will stay up through Saturday, April 14.

Titled Kings of Rock, the show will feature a dozen of Sunny Bak's iconic mid-'80s photos of the Beastie Boys, and a complementary selection of photos titled "Wadeva Images Present Rush Artist Management, 1981 To the Present," featuring the photos of Talib Haqq.

The reception will be preceded from 5 until 7 pm with a presentation and book signing devoted to Def Jam: The First 25 Years of the Last Great Record Label, featuring Bill Adler and Dan Charnas — the book's authors — and Cey Adams, the book's designer. (The Beastie Boys recorded their first album, Licensed to Ill, for Def Jam.) The reception itself will run from 7 until 9 pm.

Sunny Bak, a student of Phillipe Halsman, was shooting the downtown scene for Details magazine when she was introduced to the Beastie Boys in the early '80s. Her best-known photo of them graces the centerfold of Licensed to Ill.

Talib Haqq, like Russell Simmons, came of age in Hollis, Queens. One of the earliest documentary photographers to set his sights on hip-hop, he began shooting many of Russell Simmons's management clients in 1981, starting with Kurtis Blow. He may be best known for the cover of Run-DMC, the debut album by the legendary trio, which features his stark black and white photos.

Def Jam Recordings: The First 25 Years of the Last Great Record Label was published by Rizzoli in October of last year. It was praised in Library Journal as "an extremely readable and browsable book, with glorious photos."

For more information, please contact Charlotte Mouquin at the Rush Arts Gallery: charlotte@rushartsgallery.org or 212-691-9552.

Hard Rock Cafe has organized an exhibit honoring some of the 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees. Code Breakers of Rock and Roll features memorabilia of Beastie Boys, Guns N' Roses, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, and spotlights the career of music journalist Jane Scott. The exhibit, which is located at The City Room, a temporary exhibition space between the Cleveland Ritz Hotel and Hard Rock Cafe, opens Friday, April 6 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The exhibit is free and open to the public through April 16.

A friend was invited to a sneak peek of the exhibit last night and snapped the following photos for us: