Gothamist

A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.

Gothamist

WNYC Listen Live

Donate

Arts & Entertainment

Beastie Boys Photographer Dusts Off Decades-Old Photos For NYC Art Show

Jen Carlson

Published May 14, 2012

Modified May 14, 2012

FacebookTwitterRedditEmail

Never miss a story

Email address

By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .

Jen Carlson

Published May 14, 2012

Modified May 14, 2012

FacebookTwitterRedditEmail

We rely on your support to make local news available to all

Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

Photo by Sunny Bak

Last week Sunny Bak held the opening for her new show at the Ivy Brown Gallery on Hudson Street in Manhattan, about eight blocks from her old studio, where her friends the Beastie Boys filmed their video for "Fight For Your Right (To Party)" (add 876 Broadway to the walking tour). The show, Solid Gold Hits: A Tribute to the Beastie Boys, is a collaboration with Cey Adams, who did a lot of the band's design and artwork, one of the first being the lettering that spelled out Beastie Boys on the album cover of the 1983 release Cooky Puss. The opening party for their show was held on May 3rd, and sadly, at 9 a.m. the next morning, Adam "MCA" Yauch succumbed to the cancer he'd been battling for three years.

Below Bak shares some of her photos and talks about the old days with the Beastie Boys... though when she first met them, they were called The Young and the Useless.

Photo by Sunny Bak

When and how did you meet the Beastie Boys? I met them in the early '80s through my City As School intern Dave Scilken, who was in The Young and the Useless with Horovitz. Adam Horovitz, Dave and I had all gone to CAS (along with Jean Michel Basquiat). They were the guys who came along with sweet little Dave. Dave, who we lost too soon, another death I am not over...

Photo by Sunny Bak, with Cey Adams

Do you have any favorite memories from those early days? I have so many memories of the early days, hanging in my studio, Milkbar, Palladium, the street, Chung King studio sleeping on the floor till dawn, walking up from Chinatown with them, Rick Rubin asking me to shoot the guys at the hemisphere in Flushing for License To Ill, on the road in the tour bus in the drive thru liquor store outside Cleveland, mothers pulling their young daughters out of the venue because the boys had young dancing girls in go-go cages with hardly anything on, Adam on the huge speakers in Detroit, Dave as the "trim coordinator" [Editor's note: Scilken got a shout out for this in the Beastie Boys' "Lookin' Down the Barrel of a Gun."], the Beasties bbq-ing at my mom's apartment in LA and the letter from the board complaining about the noise.

Rodney Dangerfield in the Sunset Marquis and the guys being so excited about it and calling him on the phone (the gatefold pic on Solid Gold Hits), so many softball games (that was just last week). So many years of memories.... No favorites they're all my favorite.

Photo by Sunny Bak

How did the "Fight For Your Right..." video come about to be shot in your studio? The video was shot at my studio because I probably had the biggest place. It was low budget so all our friends were in it. I didn't want a pie in my face so I wasn't in it. I had whipped cream in my bathroom carpet forever though. And all my photos are in the video. Little known fact is my photos of supermodel Carol Alt, Village People cowboy Randy Jones, Eric Clapton, and ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev are all in the video.

The current show opened just prior to Adam's death. Did you get to reminisce with him at all before he passed? Adam Yauch and Cey Adams did get to see all the photos before I selected them a few years back when I pulled them out after 25 years... It was a walk down memory lane. He did not get to see them blown up. I miss him.

Photo by Sunny Bak

Below you can listen to a recent WFMU broadcast dedicated to MCA, it features two hours of interviews and music.

Ivy Brown Gallery is located at 675 Hudson Street, #4N. The show runs through June 21st.

Tagged

art

beastie boys

cey adams

interview

ivy brown gallery

photography

sunny back

the beastie boys

Jen Carlson

Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

MORE arts-entertainment

Will Barnes and Noble in the East Village spell doom for smaller shops? It's complicated.

Independent booksellers are grappling with whether the big-box chain is a threat or an ally in the fight against Amazon.

Sonia Rao

Published Oct 16, 2026

Can eligible NYC singles find love with 30 minutes and some really spicy food?

We went to the Spiciest Supper Club singles night to take the temperature of New York City's dating scene.

Elizabeth Shwe

and

James Ramsay

Arts & Entertainment

Can eligible NYC singles find love with 30 minutes and some really spicy food?

We went to the Spiciest Supper Club singles night to take the temperature of New York City's dating scene.

Elizabeth Shwe

and

James Ramsay

How the NYC Marathon has changed in the last 50 years

Hannah Frishberg

A visit to Art of Play, the Brooklyn store in an animatronic bird beef with Kelly Clarkson

Sonia Rao

The hottest way to show you're an authentic New Yorker is… riding a Citi Bike?

Lindsay Lee Wallace

Never miss a story

Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.

Sign upEmail address

By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .