They’ll make some noise one more time!
Fans of Beastie Boys founder Adam “MCA” Yauch, who died in 2012, will celebrate his life and musical talent at the final “MCA Day” at Littlefield on Aug. 5. The founder of the annual party, who lives in Boston, said that over the last five years, the event had become larger than he can handle.
“It does get bigger and bigger every year, it’s very hard and time consuming. A ton of blood, sweat, and tears go into it,” said Mike Kearney. “It’s very, very bittersweet — I’ve gotten to know so many people all over the world and have established so many new friendships, with people I otherwise never would have met and crossed paths with, but now are connected forever because of Yauch and the Beastie Boys music.”
In fact, Kearney was not planning to fight for his right to party this year, but after the rise in hateful speech that followed Trump’s election, it seemed more important than ever to amplify Yauch’s message of unity, peace, and action, he said.
“I just felt a lot of people in the country have been emboldened to come out with hateful rhetoric,” said Kearney. “This year’s ‘MCA Day’ encourages fans to not only celebrate Yauch, but take it on themselves to be the hall monitors and call people out on their b——-, and there’s no better community to do that.”
Kearney said that the last “MCA Day” will go out with a bang, and that he has some surprises in store for those who ch-ch-check out the final celebration of the Beastie Boys emcee.
“Some stuff I always keep under wraps. It’s exciting for me to bring these surprises to the table to the people who put so much effort to come out,” he said. “I can easily say this is going to be one of the best events we’ve had.”
Kearney did mention that the hip-hop group’s longtime collaborator and sound engineer Mario Caldato will take the stage to speak about working alongside Yauch.
“He had a front row seat to Yauch’s growth as a musician and person, and I can’t think of a better guest to speak to that,” said Kearney.
The room will also be packed with art created by Beastie Boys fans around the world, and disc jockeys will spin tunes all day.
This year’s grand finale, which was funded through Kickstarter, is a collaborative effort to not only remember and celebrate Yauch’s life, but to inspire his fans to continue fighting for the causes he strived for, said Kearney.
“I’m hoping this year is just as much a celebration as the life of Yauch as it is a call to action,” he said, “to become empowered and moved to action by the physical manifestation of Yauch and ‘MCA Day.’ ”
“MCA Day” at Littlefield (635 Sackett St. between Third and Fourth Avenues in Gowanus, www.littl
