| Urban
Blight
When one opens up the Licensed
to Ill cd booklet he or she is greeted with Sunny
Bak's photograph of the Beastie Boys standing in front
of one of the remnants left over from the 1939 World's Fair.
Other than the infamous photo, there is precious little
there to glean from the album's liner notes. However, upon
close inspection you may notice that the Beastie Boys said
"Thanks to Keene, Tony & Danny for horns and percussion
on 'Slow Ride'." To most people these names may not
mean a great deal; yet if you were at all a part of New
York's music scene during the early 1980s, you would recognize
that Nelson Keene Carse was the front man for the band Urban
Blight.
At one point during the early 1980s,
Urban Blight had become very prominent and could be seen
playing various venues around New York such as CBGB's. They
even headlined a performance at the Ritz on October 26th,
1984 for which the Beastie Boys opened. Tracking down an
entire album's worth of Urban Blight material is a challenge.
Yet, if you are willing to do a little searching, Keene
Carse and Urban Blight have recorded and appeared on several
albums in addition to their memorable contribution to Licensed
to Ill. For example, Keene Carse played trombone on
the song "Poison in the Brew." This cut appeared
on the Three Worlds Collide album put out by the
Boom Band back in 1995. Five years later another Urban Blight
song, "Just Like the Moon," was featured on the
Off and Running Soundtrack album. Besides those projects,
Carse has also played on a number of albums by the Fleshtones.
In addition to his work as a musician
and New York City native, Keene Carse is also known for
his graffiti work and murals. As a natural in the world
of graphic design, Carse founded Team Go. He attended New
York University with studies emphasizing computer art, multi-media,
and writing. However, it is contributions like his trombone
playing on Hello Nasty's "Song for the Man"
that makes a person wonder why more people have not heard
of Urban Blight and the great Nelson Keene Carse.
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