Adam Yauch during “Awesome; I Fuckin’ Shot That!” New York City Premiere at Loew’s 34th Street Theater in New York City. Photo by J. Kempin/FilmMagic. ADAM YAUCH 1964-2012. Musician, rapper, activist and director Adam “MCA” Yauch, founding member of Beastie Boys and also of the Milarepa Foundation that produced the…

LOS ANGELES — A popular music event like the Grammy Awards tends to divide people, with fans of indie artists claiming the best “now” musicians get left out. That’s a valid claim. With the exception of The Arcade Fire last year and Bon Iver this week, the big winners…

U2 360 Tour production in progress in June 2011. Roman Gokhman/STAFF. This story originally appeared in the Oakland Tribune. OAKLAND – It’s the largest touring concert stage ever built – but the claw rising above Overstock.com Coliseum this week for the U2 concert Tuesday is just one of three…

A train that will house members of Old Crow Medicine Show, Mumford & Sons and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros sits idle at Middle Harbor Shoreline Park in Oakland during the Railroad Revival Tour on April 22, 2011. Photos: Roman Gokhman/STAFF. This story originally appeared in the Oakland…

U2 performs during a “Good Morning America” concert at Fordham University in the Bronx, New York on March 6, 2009. This story originally appeared in the Oakland Tribune. NEW YORK — I’ve been excited about the March 3 release of U2’s No Line on the Horizon since last spring,…

Keb’ Mo’, Wayne Shorter, Bono and others jam with B.B. King at an Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz event at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on Oct. 26, 2008. Photos courtesy: Alexandra Wyman/Getty Images for Thelonious Monk Institute). This story originally appeared in the Oakland Tribune. Some of…

Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective, courtesy. This story originally appeared in the Oakland Tribune. The Caribbean music community and the country of Belize lost an icon this week after Garifuna singer and punta musician Andy Palacio died after a series of strokes and heart attacks. He was 47.…

Dublin Death Patrol band members Willy Langenhuizen and Chuck Billy pose for a photo at Dublin HS.(Jay Solmonson/Tri-Valley Herald) This story originally appeared in the Oakland Tribune. DUBLIN — In the late’70s, Dublin was farms, barns and backyards. At night these would fill with teens, alcohol and rock and…