Ad-Rock DJs for Pussy Riot in Brooklyn
Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz made his first public appearance since fellow Beastie Boy Adam "MCA" Yauch died in May this year. He was drawn out to DJ at a benefit concert held at Brooklyn club Death by Audio on the 12th of June, for the imprisoned members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot.
Ad-Rock’s DJ set featured as the headline act among live performances by Heliotropes, TinVulva and Shady Hawkins, in an event organised by feminist art group Permanent Wave. The show was held in order to raise money to assist with the legal fees of the three Pussy Riot members who have been remanded in jail since March this year, and are facing up to seven years in prison.
Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samucevich were charged with hooliganism after allegedly participating in a demonstration against the regime of Russian president Vladimir Putin in February this year. All five members of the band broke into the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow, and staged an impromptu performance of their song "Holy Shit" on the altar, as an act of defiance against the church’s support of Putin.
Featuring the lyrics "Mother Mary, drive Putin away", the song entreats the Virgin Mary to expel Putin from Russia, and criticises Kirill I, a public supporter of Putin and patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The harsh response the band has received has provoked a public outcry and criticism of Russia's largest religious institution.