Saturday, November 06, 2004
White Castle Fries Only Come in One Size
If only the whole world wore matching Adidas track suits.
With cockeyed baseball hats, loopy grins, lopsided white boy shuffles across the stage and a little bit of tiki kitsch, the Beastie Boys showed the real reason why retrograde humility is in and affected consciousness out. They drink more chai than Chivas these days, but they're still acey deucey loosey goosey.
It could've been a street corner in Brooklyn, the last subway car on the A train or a chop suey shop in Chinatown, but it was the United Center, and we were in the Pageant Pit right next to the right side of the stage. One launch over the railing and I could've grabbed Ad Rock's ankle, but Juan the stage-side security guy was not as cool as Earl the Beastie Bouncer who salvaged us from our decent section 217 seats. How come I don't get Bruce karma like this?
So the show could've sucked and it still would've been all right. But watching the B-Boys perform is like guffawing at the class clowns at the back making fun of the teacher and everything that's serious in the world . Still, their cavalier attitude makes what they have to say important, because they're saying it in my terms.
The Beasties paid homage to Run DMC and Curtis Mayfield but really, they built a shrine to old school good times and everything that used to be right. They were rhyming and stealing like Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and came out for the second set in matching red shirts and balloon Dickies jeans -- red shirts that each proclaimed their favourite board games (Mike D -- Critter, Ad Rock -- Scrabble, MCA -- Mahjong. Ad Rock, will you pick me!). They guffawed at the videos that spooled in the background, like the one of a afro'd black brother trying to do a backflip over and over again but landing on his head each time. They shot each other cheeky winks and cracked up like Jimmy Fallon at their own jokes and raps. At one point, Mike D stopped in the middle of "Shake Your Rumpa" to flip off his mesh trucker hat, revealing an almond butter sandwich that's been on his head for the first hour of the show. He eats it because he's hungry. Lorne Michaels, are you watching?
There was almost not a single comment on the election results. Except that at the end of the encore, they dedicated the last song to Bush, and immediately launched into a scathing airplane-taking-off rendition of "Sabotage." This is why it's OK to never grow up, if you've got a sense of humour.
With cockeyed baseball hats, loopy grins, lopsided white boy shuffles across the stage and a little bit of tiki kitsch, the Beastie Boys showed the real reason why retrograde humility is in and affected consciousness out. They drink more chai than Chivas these days, but they're still acey deucey loosey goosey.
It could've been a street corner in Brooklyn, the last subway car on the A train or a chop suey shop in Chinatown, but it was the United Center, and we were in the Pageant Pit right next to the right side of the stage. One launch over the railing and I could've grabbed Ad Rock's ankle, but Juan the stage-side security guy was not as cool as Earl the Beastie Bouncer who salvaged us from our decent section 217 seats. How come I don't get Bruce karma like this?
So the show could've sucked and it still would've been all right. But watching the B-Boys perform is like guffawing at the class clowns at the back making fun of the teacher and everything that's serious in the world . Still, their cavalier attitude makes what they have to say important, because they're saying it in my terms.
The Beasties paid homage to Run DMC and Curtis Mayfield but really, they built a shrine to old school good times and everything that used to be right. They were rhyming and stealing like Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and came out for the second set in matching red shirts and balloon Dickies jeans -- red shirts that each proclaimed their favourite board games (Mike D -- Critter, Ad Rock -- Scrabble, MCA -- Mahjong. Ad Rock, will you pick me!). They guffawed at the videos that spooled in the background, like the one of a afro'd black brother trying to do a backflip over and over again but landing on his head each time. They shot each other cheeky winks and cracked up like Jimmy Fallon at their own jokes and raps. At one point, Mike D stopped in the middle of "Shake Your Rumpa" to flip off his mesh trucker hat, revealing an almond butter sandwich that's been on his head for the first hour of the show. He eats it because he's hungry. Lorne Michaels, are you watching?
There was almost not a single comment on the election results. Except that at the end of the encore, they dedicated the last song to Bush, and immediately launched into a scathing airplane-taking-off rendition of "Sabotage." This is why it's OK to never grow up, if you've got a sense of humour.
// posted by Desiree @ 11:44 AM 
