Beastie Boys at Williamsburg's McCarren Park Pool

Although I don't know you people all that well I am going to share something with you, something that I haven't wanted to admit to myself, let alone to Natasha. I am officially old.

Now don't get me wrong, this is not about mind, spirit or body. After all, I can still pull off a hoodie without looking like a chump or shovel rocks all day without being immobilized for the following four. What I'm talking about here is that last week I ticked off the third and defining box of musically old.

The first tick is that day you wake up to the clock radio playing music from your college days on the oldies station. The second, when you see a current college student wearing a thread bare "vintage" concert tee shirt from a show that you saw drunk out of your gourd 19 years ago. But this, my friends, is a hangover you can't shake off with an Advil or by simply hitting that clock radio's snooze button another 15 times.

So the third tick of musically old. This is when you see a concert that features a hip hop group whose members share the same birth year and longing for credibility and relevance that you do.

Here is my dilemma; how do I offer you all an honest critique of last week's Beastie Boys concert in Williamsburg's McCarren Park Pool in good conscience considering my current state? Would I be reporting to you through clouded nostalgic eyes while commenting on each song that made me smile and pump my fist in the air like I still had hair? Do I tell you that their current work's instrumental material was was an important and mature experimental excursion and exploration of their jazz, R&B and punk roots? No, I will most certainly not, I may be old, but I am not lame. However, I will and without shame, admit that I experienced a chill and a real sense of musical history as those greying lads delivered a heart-felt rendition of No Sleep 'Till Brooklyn" as their final song on a night that marked their first performance in Brooklyn in a carreer that has spanned and influenced the direction of hip hop since 1986. Mock me if you will, but remember that one day you will have to pry "Licensed to Ill" from my cold dead cassette tape player.

Oh, the cheese burger? That's from the Sparky's concession stand at the concert. It gave me the strength and courage to fight for my right to party responsibly.