Monday, November 11, 2024

Clever, Quick and Unexpected Cancer


I'm feeling better today and I'm sorry I wasn't able to write the blog yesterday

I'm sorry I wasn't able to write the blog yesterday. A few hours before I was to do it, I'd heard that Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys had died of cancer. I had no idea he was battling the big C. I've been living in something of a bubble for the last few years since I moved my studio out of New York City.

I vividly remember the first word Adam ever spoke to me. "Ruling!" It was his answer to my question, "How are you doing?" It was at the Palladium nightclub in New York, the night of their concert at Madison Square Garden with Madonna. His answer cracked me up because it was Clever, Quick, and Unexpected - just like Cancer, the disease that claimed him.

I have to see my doctor on Monday to deal with my cancer post-op follow-up blood work. Hours before I'd heard the news about Adam I'd had lunch with someone who has to have chemotherapy treatments every three weeks for the rest of their life. It's the only way doctors can control the size of their inoperable tumor. At the end of lunch I said, "You're my new hero!"

I can't imagine what that must be like to live like that. I've described my various procedures as "one step below medieval torture," but chemo-therapy every three weeks for the rest of ones life seems incomprehensible. That's the reality of Clever, Quick, and Unexpected Cancer.

 


I've been living in something of a bubble for the last few years since I moved my studio out of New York City


The Beastie Boys in front of a Madonna poster


The Beastie Boys also Played wit Madonna at Radio City in New York near the same date they played The Garden, which is almost unheard of


I've described my various procedures as "one step below medieval torture."


RIP Adam Yauch (August 5, 1964 - May 4, 2012)