The Beastie Boys have been a part of my musical life ever since I was old enough to really appreciate my own music. I spent hours looking at the CD liners for Check Your Head, Pauls Boutique and Ill Communication. For my 18th birthday, Henry Wong (one of my best friends in high school), braved the embarrassment of asking the Tower records employee where he could find “Hello Nasty” because he knew I loved them. When they came out with side projects, such as the BS2000 record, I snatched one up. I was (and still am) an uber fan, and I wanted to be their best friend. I had more than a few Beastie Boys T shirts including the one below in my sophomore ID
I idolized these three boys to no end. They made incredible music of all genres, they made really cool videos, they ran a cool record label, they looked cool, they designed cool clothes, had cool hair, everything about them was cool. My adolescent heros. A few of my favorites over the years:
I remember watching and taping the above SNL performance. I probably watched that tape a thousand times. Sigh. Sad to hear of Adam Yauch’s passing today.
Teachers Have Lives Too! 
