It was a tough day, hearing about Adam Yauch’s passing. I feel very lucky to have known him, having met him through Cey Adams, my boss at the time, back in 1996. It was a dream come true for a Beastie Boys fan like myself - move to NYC, meet the band that had influenced me so much, and get to work on graphics for them. I spent a lot of time in their world, and in particular, working with Yauch. It was Yauch who christened me with the nickname ‘Billions McMillions’.

But I’m not writing to tell you about that. I’m writing to tell you about something I learned from Yauch one night, and I hope it resonates with some of the many creative individuals that read 12oz Prophet and happen to read this. Something Yauch gave me insight into that I try to remember every time I work on something creative.

It was fairly recently, back in 2008, during the recording of Hot Sauce Committee, Part I, which evolved into the album that eventually came out in 2011, Hot Sauce Committee, Part II. Yauch called and invited me to join him to see a screening of ‘TYSON’, the documentary film about boxer Mike Tyson. Iron Mike himself was going to be there, and the director, James Toback, was going to host a discussion afterward. We arrived a little early, sat near the front, and caught up. The band was deep in the songwriting/recording phase of that album. Yauch had his iPod with him - a second or third generation model he had owned for years, and one which he carried around during these periods, to listen to the band’s work-in-progress songs as he wandered around NYC or drove in his car.

He asked if I wanted to hear some of the new material. Of course I did. And no, I didn’t act very cool, geeking out knowing these songs had probably been recorded earlier in the week, maybe even earlier that day. As I donned the large, closed-ear headphones and Yauch guardedly picked a song with the iPod’s dial, Ice-T wandered in and sat in the row ahead of us, a few seats to the left. Yauch said “hello” and the two of them started talking, but I couldn’t hear them as I was immersed in some raw mixes of some very early versions of Beastie Boys songs.

Three songs played - a rough mix of the track ‘Too Many Rappers’ with Nas, two others which I don’t recall, and then the iPod went silent. I pulled off the headphones and turned to Adam, who immediately asked “Well?”

I answered “Those are sounding great!” or something like that, and then I mentioned the beat on the final track that I had heard.

His eyes widened a bit and went straight to the iPod, and he said “What? Is that on there? Oh… Wow. I didn’t want to play that…”

“Why? It sounded good! What’s the problem?” I asked.

“Ahhhh, well,” he smiled, “it’s not… done yet. It’s just a little… embarrassing, at the moment.”

And that was the moment I wanted to tell you about.

Something very simple, that Yauch probably forgot about immediately, but nonetheless something that has stuck with me ever since: Even Adam Yauch, one of the coolest, most creative, driven, detail-minded and successful creators that I have ever spent time with, was still not immune to the process, to the unsure pause that most of us feel as we try to create something and it doesn’t land exactly as we want it to. Even Yauch had to fight through the “embarrassing” levels to reach the finished state. It was a revelation to me: Beastie Boys songs didn’t always fly out of their mouths on the first take as the songs we all know. The song wasn’t how he wanted it yet, but that wasn’t going to stop them from working on it until they were happy.

I mean, this gets a big “duh,” right? “Hard work yields good results” is not a mysterious new concept. But my point is that it’s easy to forget that even the heaviest of professionals still go through it. It was an inspiring reminder. Even the most accomplished, those like Yauch, who make it look effortless, also need to polish and refine their ideas sometimes.

I often think back to that moment as I work on a project in its formative stages. I remind myself that the results I’m wanting will require more work, and that I have to avoid the trap of pulling the cake out of the oven before it’s baked just because I can’t visualize the icing yet. To stick with an idea even if it isn’t exactly right on the first attempt. Have you ever revisited old work, and realized it wasn’t as far-off from good as you felt it was when you stopped working on it? That’s the gap we all need to close.

Yeah, I know: it’s obvious, and It’s important to point out that it’s me that put the band on that ‘perfect’ pedestal - Yauch would likely laugh and say “C’maaaan….Of course we don’t get everything right in one try!” if he heard me talk about this. But I wanted to share that moment with you because maybe you’re like me: I don’t often think about the many revisions others do with their work, just as we all do with our own. We often only admire other’s end results, and wonder if we can ever do something as complete in ours.

Thank you, Adam, for the many years of friendship and inspiration, and for the many opportunities you gave me. And especially for allowing me to see that even the best aren’t always finished on the first pass. It’s helped me a lot with following through on my own work.

My man Kenton Parker (fellow SDSU graphics department alumni, WHAT) asked me to be part of this group show he’s curated. I’ve been finishing a few new pieces for it… Here’s the flyer for the show, and a detail of my new piece called Frank Lloyd Right.

Opening reception is tomorrow night in Los Angeles… More details here.

Scion Installation L.A.
3521 Helms Ave. (at National)
Culver City, CA 90232
scionav.com/space

No one on the internet needs another post about a t-shirt, but my man Matt at A Bathing Ape told me about   this Mike Mills/Beastie Boys/BAPE collabo to raise money towards the BAPE “Rescue Rebuild” charity fund, and I though it was worth mentioning. Available November 5th, in conjunction with Tokyo’s Fashion’s Night Out.

Ridiculous view from where we stayed in Montmarte

Saw some cool letterforms and signage

Stainless styles

This is a “No” in any language

Le Cop on rollerblades. Stop it, guy.

This thing got painted over the next night by some crew

Terry Richardson had a signing for his book Mom and Dad at Colette

Crazy cheese game at the supermarché.

Elsa at Deyrolle, the illest taxidermy shop I have ever seen. Must-go destination in Paris, on Rue de Bac. Rooms of lions, rabbits, polar bears, a giraffe, an elephant… I bought a few moths from Elsa in the insect room. Wes Anderson did a photoshoot there a few years back.

I liked this dude, his sign, and his cats. I left him some euros.

Toy designer and artist Tristan Eaton asked me to be part of a book he was putting together last fall and it’s finally out - The 3D Art Book is now available. A bunch of artists were involved and there’s a signing party tonight at the Opera Gallery at 115 Spring Street in NYC. I can’t make it but several of the artists in the book are scheduled to be there.

Above is a section of a piece I did for the book called Never Breath A Word About Your Loss. If you have some red/blue glasses laying around, the 3D even works OVER THE COMPUTER INTERNET. Wow, man.

For many who write on this site, and certainly many of the visitors, the culture and people of Japan are a huge influence. Japan has always been one of the first areas to take interest in my projects, and I flat out love the place.

Of course we all know about the beating the place has taken in the last six weeks and when my friend Mayumi Tatsuta contacted me about being part of tomorrow night’s JAPAN: RISNING, an auction and fundraiser for the Japan Society’s Japan Earthquake Relief Fund that she’s helped organize, it was a great chance to help in any way.

I wanted to create something specifically for the show so I made this sculpture called For Japan, a 12” by 12” piece in four wooden blocks that set together, forming a cherry-blossom accented frame around the sun of the Japanese flag.

My piece and many others are being auctioned tomorrow night at the event. The event is invite-only, but I think that only means you have to e-mail a request for one to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). For more details and some images of other works being sold tomorrow, visit http://www.japanrising.org.

JAPAN: RISING, a silent art auction and fundraiser
Thursday, April 28, at Milk Gallery, 450 W. 15th St., NYC

All proceeds will help support the Japan Society’s Japan Earthquake Relief Fund, to benefit the survivors of the Tohoku earthquake and tsumani disaster.

Rob and Arnaud over at   Alife asked me to join a group of artists in submitting something for their new project, Art Machine - An Exhibition if Art & Automation, a show at   The Hole Gallery, on Greene Street. The show runs until the 21st of February, and all I know is that there are a lot of great pieces and editions available via a vending machine. For my piece, I did a variation on my on ONE MILLION silkscreened money blocks, which wouldn’t fit within the 5” x 5” x 4” boxes that the machine takes. So I made them fit.

Presenting the “Your Cut” edition of ONE MILLION, edition of five, available at The Hole this week.

Art Machine at The Hole
February 10-21, 2011
104 Greene Street, NEW YORK CITY

I’ve been driving past this sign every few days on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. It’s a painted-over abandoned sign with that weird old pre-internet Scientology logo, eerie and supernatural looking. Love it.

For some reason, in some form of loopy free-association, every time I see it I think of Raekwon’s classic banger “Criminology Rap” -

And in allowing that free-association to consume me for a just minute more, I was reminded of two of my favorite websites - Hip Hop Is Read, a great website that specializes in dissecting the samples used for various classic hip-hop albums, and Operation Clambake (  Xenu.net), a great website that specializes in dissecting Scientology.

So spend an hour checking out how someone finally figured out the sample for ‘Ice Cream’ and what the fuck is up with L. Ron Hubbard’s Sea Organization, the Scientology Navy. Yeah, they have a navy. More like a cruise ship, but yeah.

Stay “clear,” everybody!

I wish I could buy you all of these. I really do.

2011: LET’S DO THIS!

FedEx delivered my cake to the Caked Up! show last night, as planned. See yesterday’s blog post for ‘before’ pics.

I still woulda eaten that - I’m grimey with desserts, yo.