Adam Yauch's "Gunnin'" Premieres; Nestle Corporation Complains

It's been a big week for Beastie Boy Adam Yauch's new career in the movie business: Last night his new documentary Gunnin' for that #1 Spot had its New York premiere at Magic Johnson's theater on Fredrick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem. The basketball film follows eight of the nation's top high school prospects as they converge for a game at Harlem's famous Rucker Park; last night, towering top NBA pick Kevin Love — who's featured in the movie, and also happens to be the nephew of Beach Boy Mike Love — showed up to toss toy basketballs into the crowd. Prospects Brandon Jennings and Lance Stephenson made the scene as well. Yauch got some more press when the film Flow — which his distribution company, Oscilloscope Pictures, is putting out — angered representatives of the Nestlé Corporation at the Nantucket Film Festival. Nestlé, a co-sponsor of the Festival, is heavily criticized in the film for its initiatives to privatize the water supply in developing countries.

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Song Stories

“The A Team”

Ed Sheeran | 2011

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.

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