Story by Karin
Here's the thing. I was going to wait until the end of this thing to write my story and share my song. I had a shortlist you know - with a good mixture of sad memories and happy memories, but news today has meant the choice has been made for me.
It's funny because over the years I have memories of musicians and they day they died. I have a fuzzy memory of Elvis Presley dying. The house seemed dark and my mum was on the phone, then crying. I asked her what was wrong and I think she put Love Me Tender on the record player.
More vividly I remember the day John Lennon died. I was a massive Beatles fan very early on. My Auntie Inge owned Drum City on Broadway and I used to hang out there as a very little girl. I'd spend hours watching the musicians come in an out for drum practice, as I'd play out the back near the roller-doors. It was a maze out there, full of junk and fun. When I was bored of that I sit in the shop and watch the cars drive by on their way to King Street and I'd flip through all the records. For a very uncool, child of migrants kinda kid, reading that back makes me (ironically) actually cool. Anyways, back to the Beatles - I loved Magical Mystery Tour and for my birthday I was given a copy. I used to look at the album sleeves while listening to that record over and over. So when John Lennon died I didn't quite understand, but I understood enough to be sad. I remember taking my tape deck down to the bottom of the garden and playing Imagine over and over and over. Singing in the afternoon sun and dancing on the grass. I remember feeling sad, but also remember feeling that way because I knew thats how I was supposed to be feeling.
Then in the 90's with the passing of Stevie Plunder and Kurt Cobain, I was genuinely sad. Particularly for Stevie's death because he was a big part of that Sydney scene. The 90's were the best time for music in that city. I would see a gig pretty much every night of the week. I watched You Am I grow up from being obnoxious skater kids from Western Sydney to obnoxious inner city types. I'd ditch uni to go to the Hopetoun to watch the Rock Against Work gigs. Nothing like seeing the Hard Ons or Ratcat at 3 o'clock in the arvo with a cheeky VB schooner. Any weekend could be spent seeing Ride at the Phoenician, the Lemonheads pretty much everywhere and the beloved Ramones in my part of suburbia.
So this brings me to today's news, and I guess in years to come I will remember this being the morning I was painting in the cold of Canberra, drinking cups of tea to stay warm, with a snoring dog beside me - curled in a corner away from the mess. And just like that, I read of the passing of someone who had contributed to the soundtrack of I guess what could be described as my coming of age.
The Beastie Boys were such a big part of Sydney in the 90's. The music, the festivals, that shop in Surry Hills. I'm so glad I decided not to throw that tshirt away. What was it ? X-Large and the X-Girl label by Kim Gordon. A typical day was to read the Drum to check out the specials at Waterfront Records, drive across the bridge to pick up the signed poster, or limited edition CD or coloured vinyl then walk up to Surry Hills to browse through the X-Large shop. I'd be the one wearing doc martins, opaque tights, cut of denim shorts and some sort of band tshirt. I may or may not have had dreadlocks.
That was the Sydney that loved to tease with secret gigs and had started to embrace the outdoor festival. The Beastie Boys played that secret gig at Sydney Uni playing with Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. I remember being tipsy, the room dark and Jon Spencer screaming BLUES EXPLOSION. A lot. I left that gig smiling, walking through the morton bay tree with bats flying through the night time sky. And forget the Big Day Out. Summersault that new years eve, with the Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Pavement and Foo Fighters. At the time I had no idea how lucky I was. I do now.
Outside of Sydney the Beastie Boys bring back memories of trips to the US, each album to a different trip at a different time of my life. I could be getting the albums mixed up, but Hello Nasty was released as we drove across the US. I have a scrapbook with bits of paper and the memories of 40 something states, and a mixed tape of music in my head. So many hours spent driving and listening to Regurgitator, Smudge, Snout and You Am I. I know that for sure because that's what my travel diary tells me - a whole lot of Australian CD's bought at Amoeba Records in San Francisco for $2.99 each. I remember Intergalactic above everything else because it is awesome.
That trip crisscrossed America like you wouldn't believe and ended up in New York city in the heat of the summer. The city that is the Beastie Boys.
Adam Yauch will be missed by those who knew him, and those like me.
Artwork by Karin
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Well said
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