ADAM YAUCH . . . “MCA” of the BEASTIE BOYS . . . passed away on Friday morning, after a three-year battle with cancer.  He was 47.  In July of 2009, he revealed that he had a tumor in his salivary gland.

–Last year, there were reports that MCA’s condition was improving . . . but in a message to fans, he said those reports were premature.

–He said, quote, “While I’m grateful for all the positive energy people are sending my way, reports of my being totally cancer-free are exaggerated.  I’m continuing treatment, staying optimistic, and hoping to be cancer-free in the near future.”

–MCA wasn’t able to make the Beastie Boys’ Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction last month . . . and in his absence, the group opted not to perform.

–MCA started the Beastie Boys with his friends Mike Diamond a.k.a. “Mike D” . . . and Adam Horowitz a.k.a. “Ad-Rock” in 1979.  Their most recent album, “Hot Sauce Committee, Part 2″, was released last May.

–It’s too soon to say how or if the Beastie Boys will continue.  There’s been no comment yet from Mike D or Ad-Rock.  (–The Beastie Boys blended punk, rap and rock music, and have sold over 40 million albums over the past 30 years.)

(–Here’s the video announcement that MCA released in 2009 where he explains his diagnosis.  It’s sad, because at the time it sounded like the doctors caught it early, and he had a good chance of beating it.)

Above is MCA’s last performance at Boonaroo back in 2009.

What i did over my summer vacation

aug 5 2009

hey all,

hope you are doing well.

so i’m about a week and a half out of surgery now and rapidly recovering from it. i haven’t taken any of the pain meds, which supposedly speeds along the healing process, or should i say, taking them slows it down. anyway, i spent 1 night at the hospital after the surgery. the hospital was too crazy to get any rest so i headed home to relax, have home cooked food and hang out with the family.

i’m pretty well detoxed from the anesthesia that they pumped me up with to keep me under for all that time. that took several days to get out of my system. my neck and jaw are still pretty stiff from the surgery, but it gets better everyday. had the stitches out this past monday… so things are moving along.

but no sooner am i on the mend from this first torture than are they lining up the next one. the next line of treatment will be radiation. that involves blasting you with some kind of beam for a few minutes a day, 5 days a week, for about 7 weeks. that will start in a few weeks…

saw the jay-z cover of no sleep, and the coldplay one of fight for your right from APW on youtube. good shit. and i heard karen o wore a “get well MCA” armband, and that q-tip gave a shout out too….. very kind of them.

just wanted to thank them and everyone else who sent positive thoughts my way. i do think that all of the well wishes have contributed to the fact that my treatment and recovery are going well.

much love back at all of you!

adam

Jay-Z, who replaced the Beastie Boys in the All Points West festival lineup after the group’s Adam “MCA” Yauch was diagnosed with cancer last month, paid tribute to the Beasties and the MC during his performance at the fest on Friday night.

Jay opened his set with a roaring version of the Beasties’ 1986 classic “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” — changing the song’s “Beastie Boys at the Garden, cold kickin’ it live” line to “Jay-Z, All Points West, kickin’ it live” — as images of Brooklyn street signs flashed on the video screen above him.

Jay, a Brooklyn native like Yauch, then tore into his own “Brooklyn Go Hard.”

He later dedicated his entire 80-minute set — which featured tracks from his forthcoming Blueprint 3 LP, including the live debut of “Run This Town” — to Yauch.

Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who also performed at the festival on Friday, wore an armband that said “Get well MCA” during her group’s set.

The Beasties announced late last month that they would be canceling all of their upcoming shows and pushing back the release of their new album, Hot Sauce Committee, Part One, so that Yauch can receive treatment for cancer in his parotid gland, a salivary gland in the throat; doctors are optimistc that he will make a full recovery.

In addition to APW, the cancellations by the hip-hop trio include Lollapalooza, a headlining slot at the Osheaga Fest in Montreal and another at the Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco.

ADAM “MCA” YAUCH of the BEASTIE BOYS has announced that he’s been diagnosed with cancer. In a video posted on the band’s website, MCA explains that a cancerous tumor has been discovered on his left salivary gland.

There is SOME good news, though. MCA says the tumor was discovered early and doctors believe the cancer is confined to that one area. His vocal chords are not affected by the tumor and he expects to make a full recovery.

In the video, MCA says, quote, “It’s a little bit of a setback it’s a pain in the ass but this is something that’s very treatable, and in most cases they’re able to completely get rid of it, and people don’t have continuing problems with it.”

However, he has to undergo surgery right away meaning that the Beastie Boys will have to shut down for a while to give MCA some time to deal with this.

So they’re canceling their upcoming tour dates and postponing their album release.

Their next album, “Hot Sauce Committee, Part 1″, was scheduled to hit stores on September 15th and they had gigs lined up at several summer festivals, including Lollapalooza, All Points West, Outside Lands and Austin City Limits.

Naturally, there probably won’t be any updates on when the album WILL be coming out or when they’ll be back on the road until after the surgery, when they’ll have a better idea how long MCA will be out of commission.

MCA says, quote, “[It's] in the parotid gland, and it’s also in the lymph node right in that area. I’m actually going to have to have surgery probably next week, coming up, and then after that have to have some radiation done.”

The parotid is the largest of the salivary glands. It’s sort of wrapped around the jawbone and secretes saliva to help you chew and swallow.

He adds, quote, “I apologize to everybody, for anyone who’s made plans or was psyched to come to these shows that are coming up. We’ll be back doing this soon.”

The new BEASTIE BOYS album, “Hot Sauce Committee, Part One”, will drop on September 15th.

The album will feature guest appearances by NAS and SANTIGOLD.

It sounds like there will be a “Hot Sauce Committee, Part Two” . . . since they added “Part One” to the title. But there’s no official word on a sequel yet.

Check out the Beastie Boys 5 point plan and new album traclisting below:

1. The reissue of “Ill Communication” is imminent.
2. A reissue of “Hello Nasty” is released on the 25th of August.
3. A club show occurs in Chicago on the 6th of August.
4. The new Beastie Boys feature length LP entitled “HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE PART 1″ is unleashed on the 15th of September. (See below for track listing*)
5. The music industry is saved.

*Tracklisting

1. Tadlock’s Glasses
2. B-Boys In The Cut
3. Make Some Noise
4. Nonstop Disco Powerpack
5. OK
6. Too Many Rappers (featuring NAS)
7. Say It
8. The Bill Harper Collection
9. Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win (featuring Santigold)
10. Long Burn The Fire
11. Bundt Cake
12. Funky Donkey
13. Lee Majors Come Again
14. Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament
15. Pop Your Balloon
16. Crazy Ass Shit
17. Here’s A Little Something For Ya