Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch has cancer, Beasties cancel all dates

The Beastie Boys have just announced, via YouTube video, that Adam Yauch (aka MCA) has cancer in one of his parotid glands. As a result, they are canceling all tour dates for this summer and pushing back the scheduled September 17 release of their album Hot Sauce Committee Part 1...

By Cory Casciato

July 20, 2009

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "12017618",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17242653",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18838239",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17261320",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18838239",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17261321",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

The Beastie Boys have just announced, via YouTube video, that Adam Yauch (aka MCA) has cancer in one of his parotid glands. As a result, they are canceling all tour dates for this summer and pushing back the scheduled September 17 release of their album Hot Sauce Committee Part 1 while Yauch seeks treatment and recovers. The good news is that the cancer is not in an area that affects Yauch's voice and it is localized and treatable. His doctors expect him to make a full recovery.

While the album won't be available for a while, you can get a sneak peek at one track, "Too Many Rappers," which is being released as a special, live version today in select independent record stores (details here). You can read more about Yauch's cancer and the Beasties' plans in Billboard's coverage, or just hit the jump and watch the video message from the Beasties themselves.

KEEP WESTWORD FREE... Since we started Westword, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Denver, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.