Brian Wilson - Live 1996 @ Will Geer Theater, Topanga Canyon, CA

[onkster]

I was at this show! It was an early b-day present from my then-wife.

Brian was pretty good at this, if--yes--mostly dicking around. "It's the wrong foda-ing words!" He didn't sing OCA with Van, sadly, and it seemed that there was still some tension between them around this time. Van sounded very guilty about having abandoned SMiLE, and he also told an apocryphal story about being in a gay bar with, I believe, Ry Cooder.

Rickie Lee Jones sang a very sweet singalong of "Don't Worry Baby" to Brian at one point.

As I went down to the outhouse at one point, I caught Brian leaving from there!

[Chris Brown]

Wow, that was quite a revelation to listen to.  It's great hearing him so animated, although I suspect that, behind closed doors and in a comfortable setting, he's probably still like that to some degree even today. 

His voice was so fantastic on this too, it's great hearing him nail the falsetto on "Do It Again."

[seltaeb1012002]

I was at this show! It was an early b-day present from my then-wife.

Brian was pretty good at this, if--yes--mostly dicking around. "It's the wrong foda-ing words!" He didn't sing OCA with Van, sadly, and it seemed that there was still some tension between them around this time. Van sounded very guilty about having abandoned SMiLE, and he also told an apocryphal story about being in a gay bar with, I believe, Ry Cooder.

Rickie Lee Jones sang a very sweet singalong of "Don't Worry Baby" to Brian at one point.

As I went down to the outhouse at one point, I caught Brian leaving from there!

Wow. Sounds like a night to remember!

I have the original flyer somewhere in my files, as well as photos that I shot that day.

Dude, would love to see those photos! Would you consider uploading them for viewing purposes?

[onkster]

It was during the afternoon, actually. Lovely, sunny day. (For those of you who dig old LA, it was also the last day CC Brown's on Hollywood Boulevard was operating...missed that for this. Wanted both!)

Here's my journal page for that day--not sure who took the photos:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4684368388882&set=a.4684367948871.192665.1284044443&type=1&theater

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I remember those pictures...they used to be on the main page on the old Wheeler board!

[seltaeb1012002]

It was during the afternoon, actually. Lovely, sunny day. (For those of you who dig old LA, it was also the last day CC Brown's on Hollywood Boulevard was operating...missed that for this. Wanted both!)

Here's my journal page for that day--not sure who took the photos:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4684368388882&set=a.4684367948871.192665.1284044443&type=1&theater

Oh sh*t nice! So that's where that picture of BW & VDP comes from. Very cool.

[onkster]

Yeah, if anybody remembers who shot the pix, I would love to give credit.

More details: Chris Douridas was the host that day, and other guests included Billy Swan, and Stan Ridgway--who did some weird song about a roadside killing or something, that made Brian's eyes get very wide and freaked-out looking.

I was hanging around outside before the show when Brian was doing his soundcheck and his voice was just BOOMING. So powerful!

[guitarfool2002]

Brian was c*cky as hell on that tape, and the way he sang was just totally different from what I even heard live on his first comeback tour a few years later. The question becomes, what exactly happened in the meantime?

Listen to the way he sang "Be My Baby", and I'm saying listen very close to the way he phrases the lead vocal. Not only does he sing the notes, but he manages to match that uniquely weird vibrato technique of Ronnie Spector's voice, and that vibrato is not at all what Brian himself used or uses on lead vocals. In fact I've heard him do that tune in person several times and he didn't try to match Ronnie's voice anywhere near what he did at this performance. And he did that voice almost note-perfect...pretty amazing.

I think like other tapes of this sort, what we hear manages to shatter a lot of preconceived notions of what was actually going on outside of the few public hours of these people's lives which we have heard in the way of films or interviews.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I believe, at least according to this article, http://articles.latimes.com/1998/may/14/entertainment/ca-49446  that it was actually 1998.  I have the original flyer somewhere in my files, as well as photos that I shot that day.

June 8th, 1996.

[curth]

The pix and the video were taken by Joanne Pollack and her husband Bob. Joanne used to be a fixture in the old Wheeler chat room.

Yeah, if anybody remembers who shot the pix, I would love to give credit.

More details: Chris Douridas was the host that day, and other guests included Billy Swan, and Stan Ridgway--who did some weird song about a roadside killing or something, that made Brian's eyes get very wide and freaked-out looking.

I was hanging around outside before the show when Brian was doing his soundcheck and his voice was just BOOMING. So powerful!