| Tim
Sommer
The name Tim Sommer should be familiar to those who own
Beastie Boys' Some Old Bullshit release. It is Tim's
voice you hear saying, "we're going to hear one now
from the Beastie Boys. This one is called 'Eggraid on Mojo.'
They're one of New York's best." That sound clip, as
well as the other one that appears on Some Old Bullshit,
was lifted from old tape recordings of Tim's weekly "Noise
the Show" broadcast. Tim's thirty minute long radio
program started out in 1981 as "Oi the Show" in
a Tuesday evening time slot on college radio station WNYU
and then switched over to 7:30 P.M. Wednesday nights. In
addition to his radio show, Tim was also wrote several articles
about the New York music scene for the British magazine
Trouser Press as well as several other punk 'zines.
In the July-August 1982 issue of
"Destroy LA" 'zine, Tim wrote the following about
what it was like to be apart of the New York punk/NYHC movement
during the time that the Beastie Boys first formed as a
group. "The late summer and fall of 1981 was an unbelievably
exciting time, no bullshit, and you probably can't have
any idea of what it was like unless you were there and sweating.
Punk and new music once again belonged to the streets, not
the art schools and hipsters. The growth of 'Noise the Show,'
constant gigs, more exciting bands from L.A. and Britain,
and the discovery of an unbelievably potent scene in Washington,
D.C. all combined to create more excitement and more inspiration
from the New York scene." Tim's role in promoting the
NYHC/punk scene can not be overstated, for it was his radio
show that gave much needed airplay to as many bands as he
could fit into his allotted half-hour on the air. Several
bands did not have a record out when their sound was first
pumped out across the skies of New York City. These bands
either stopped by the WNYU studio or provided Tim with a
demo. For example, the "Eggraid on Mojo" demo
received airplay more than six months before the 7"
Pollywog Stew e.p was pressed in July of 1982.
In an August 2005 conversation that
Tim Sommer had with Beastiemania.com he said the following:
"My interaction with and cognizance of the Beasties
actually predated both the recording of that early demo
(the one I played on the show) and the Playroom show. During
the summer of 1981, during my radio show I began getting
phone calls from these kids who would scream, screech and
holler about the Beastie Boys. They'd talk about how great
the Beastie Boys were and demand that I play them. With
a little investigation (very little investigation, in fact)
it was revealed that the band didn't yet exist. These calls
were more amusing than annoying. However, they were very
different from any other phone calls I got while on air.
Around this time, (I cannot remember the exact month) I
received a very primitive cassette in the mail. It appeared
to be recorded live in a basement onto a boom box or something
very similar. It appeared to be a one-of-a-kind original
(i.e., not a dupe of an existing recording, or a prior recording)
and it featured some very funny shouting and was rough and
badly recorded.
"I liked this tape, but it was of such poor quality
that I couldn't possibly play it on the show. However, the
humor and the energy on the tape did inspire me to contact
Adam Yauch and Michael
Diamond, whose phone numbers were on the cassette. I
invited them up to my dorm room (the legendary Weinstein
Dormitory at NYU) for a chat. This would probably be September
1981, but really that's just a guess. I never have been
that good with dates. To cut a long story short, I told
the two very polite kids that I thought they had a really
good band. I also told them that if they were willing to
take it seriously, I'd get them a gig. I had very good local
connections at that point. With just one phone call, which
I may have made it while they were sitting there, I got
them a gig opening for The Bad
Brains and Reagan Youth at the Playroom. I firmly recall
that the first words the Beastie Boys (specifically, Michael
Diamond) said when they got on the stage at the Playroom
was "This is for Timmy Sommer, who doesn't believe
we exist." I guess this would be the first thing the
Beastie Boys ever said on stage."
Tim Sommer's voice also makes a brief
cameo appearance at the end of the Beastie Boys song "Heart
Attack Man" on Ill Communication (1994). You
hear him say "…what do we know about partying
or anything else?" Tim actually knew quite a bit and
had the foresight to see the Beastie Boys' potential for
greatness. In that same "Destroy L.A." article,
which was penned prior to the release of the Pollywog
Stew e.p. (1982) and the rebirth of the Beastie Boys,
Tim speculates as to what band or bands may be the brightest
hope for '82. He cites a certain band by saying, "Beastie
Boys, brief stars somewhere in the fall (of 1981), nutty,
fun, and a bit bizarre, unfortunately dissolving (like A.W.O.L
Reagan Youth), before they could reach their full promise."
Tim also was very active with getting these bands onstage
for area punk fans to see. At one time, he was responsible
for the majority of punk and hardcore bookings that were
made in East Village. If only there were more people like
Tim Sommer today, perhaps we wouldn't need to purchase satellite
radio systems in order to hear something worthwhile being
played over the radio.
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