Mike on his dad ...

[Wirestone]

From Facebook. Says a lot about the man and his background, I think. And it's pretty darn well-written, to boot. Mike really should do a book.

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For my birthday this year, I received a very special gift from my brother Stan. It was a book my Mom had written which I’d never read. Before my Mom passed away, she wrote a book and dedicated it to my father.

The dedication reads: “This book is dedicated to Milt, the father of my six wonderful children. Without his support, we couldn’t have had the environment that lead I think to our children’s success. Thank you for all the years you left your warm bed at 5 in the morning. Love Glee”

I remember those mornings, hearing my Dad start up his car to head to work before 6 am. My grandfather, my father and my uncle Stan all worked at Love Sheet Metal for many long years during the 40s and 50s. And work hard, they did. Sometimes 6 and 7 days a week if a job needed completing by a certain time. That hard work paid off for we children.

In the home where I spent my junior high and high school years, we had in our living room a Steinway grand piano, a Hammond organ and a Lyon and Healy harp. My mother was a great lover of music. Now, as Mother’s Day is approaching, I reflect upon the music in our home that gave us so much happiness.

May 4, will mark the 95th birthday of my father, Milton Edward Love. He’s had some tough times this year, falling in January, hospitalized and for a time, we didn’t think he would survive a bout with pneumonia. But Dad is a pretty strong guy and he, with the help of the doctors and the love of his family, will celebrates his 95th birthday Saturday.

Someone once remarked that The Beach Boys touring schedule is hard. No, I said “What my dad did was hard.” It made me respect so much the values and dedication I took to provide a great environment for not only his 6 children but our entire extended family. So I hope, for my Dad, on his 95th birthday that he really knows how much he’s loved. Sometimes the love can be a bit undemonstrative emotionally. My Mom provided more of the music and emotion to nourish us as kids growing up. My Dad has made no secret of how much he adored his Glee. He has always had my respect and love for being a great guy, who happens to be my father.

I know a lot of people on earth and in heaven also are wishing you happy birthday as well.

Happy birthday Dad.

Love, your son, Michael

[SMiLE Brian]

THIS is the Mike who wrote "Warmth of The Sun" and other early classics. The man needs to believe in himself again to do good work with BW or whoever he wants.

I am really impressed to say the least.

[Jason]

I don't think Michael wrote this to impress anyone...

[MBE]

I posted that he's written a lot of fine things, but this is among the best!

[halblaineisgood]

.

[Letsgoawayforawhile]

This is great.
I didn't even know his dad was still alive, that's incredible. I hope Mike sticks around for that long. I'd love to see him on stage at 90!
 

[Bean Bag]

Wow, right on!  Happy Birthday Milt!!!

 

[Pretty Funky]

The moral of the story for me is stick to 2 kids and sleep in!

[Don Malcolm]

The moral of the story for me is stick to 2 kids and sleep in!

 

Seriously, though, those are wonderful sentiments from Mike. And here's to many more years of life for "Papa" Love.

A good time to cue up one of Mike's sweetest set of lyrics, "All I Wanna Do"...

[Shady]

Like the rest of you I wish Mike's dad many more years, and Mike too 

I guess there's two Mike's, this is the good Mike.

[Kurosawa]

My dad passed away last year at 83, and he was my hero. So when I hear or read something like this, it really makes me appreciate again how lucky I was. Mike is very fortunate to have a father like that, and he knows it and he's proud to say it. One has to remember: monsters like Murry are the exception, not the rule.

Very happy Birthday to Milt.

[Russ_B66]

I find some of Mike's behavior confusing at times but I also believe that he is underappreciated. He works his ass off and really kept the Beach Boys going. Yes Brian deserves a great deal of credit for the groups success but Mike has been supportive of Brian. It may not seem like it because everyone always assumes the worst about Mike.

I try to remember that I have not had the same experiences as Mike. There most certainly was behavior that he witnessed that could only be described as unprofessional. If we worked with someone who often did not show up or was not in a condition to perform their duties, it would be easy to resent that person after a while. He has a strong work ethic and he has given his best very consistently to audiences.

Clearly Milt and Murry were very different men.

[gfac22]

I'm happy to see that there are no negative comments on Mike's facebook post.  Usually every thing posted on his page is bombarded with ignorant people bitching about him firing Brian.

[Paulos]

I'm assuming Mike and Milt have patched things up in recently as I seem to remember that at some point that hadn't spoken in years.

[SMiLE Brian]

I don't think Michael wrote this to impress anyone...

I know that, I am impressed because he wrote something heartfelt and true that came from the same place his early lyrics did.

[the professor]

Oh Mike (Th eProfessor writes through tears), call Brian and write songs. What spirit; I feel a little bit bigger in the universe today after reading what Mike wrote; his eyes are on the divine here. Wow.

[Wirestone]

Mike acknowledges that their relationship isn't perfect in the post -- he just does it in a rather subtle and elegant way. Men of Milt's generation weren't exactly warm, and it's clear Mike rebelled. But it's also clear that he ultimately grew up in a more stable and functional environment than BW.

[Mikie]

I believe that Milt is the one who instilled the work ethic in Mike. Also, I think that when Love Sheet Metal failed, Mike saw the hardships it created in the family on Mt. Vernon & Fairway and he was really affected by that. For life. Sometimes I think that's why he's continued to work on the road all these years almost non-stop. Even while he wasn't on the road, he had projects going outside the Beach Boys in the studio. It's almost like in his head he was always concerned that his career would end at some point and he would end up like his Dad.

Could be wrong. But millionaires have been known to have low points in their careers, sometimes after becoming famous. After 50 years of pumping gas, working in sheet metal, and then The Beach Boys, he's pretty well made sure that he has a home to go home to. Many of them.

Who was it, Milt or Glee who threw Mike's clothes out on the lawn when Mike was kicked out? Wasn't that after he got his girlfriend (later his wife) pregnant?

[Paulos]

I believe that Milt is the one who instilled the work ethic in Mike. Also, I think that when Love Sheet Metal failed, Mike saw the hardships it created in the family on Mt. Vernon & Fairway and he was really affected by that. For life. Sometimes I think that's why he's continued to work on the road all these years almost non-stop. Even while he wasn't on the road, he had projects going outside the Beach Boys in the studio. It's almost like in his head he was always concerned that his career would end at some point and he would end up like his Dad.

Could be wrong. But millionaires have been known to have low points in their careers, sometimes after becoming famous. After 50 years of pumping gas, working in sheet metal, and then The Beach Boys, he's pretty well made sure that he has a home to go home to. Many of them.

Who was it, Milt or Glee who threw Mike's clothes out on the lawn when Mike was kicked out? Wasn't that after he got his girlfriend (later his wife) pregnant?

It was Glee who threw Mike's clothes out.

[urbanite]

I've met people who went through the Great Depression, who were always careful with money.  Never extravagant, always looking to save because you never knew when hard times could return.   I've read that ML filed bankruptcy at least once, and blew a lot of the fortune that he was lucky enough to have at such a young age.  Perhaps those experiences made an indelible imprint upon him and he knows one day it could be all over and money hard to come by.

[monicker]

Also, I think that when Love Sheet Metal failed, Mike saw the hardships it created in the family on Mt. Vernon & Fairway and he was really affected by that. For life. Sometimes I think that's why he's continued to work on the road all these years almost non-stop. Even while he wasn't on the road, he had projects going outside the Beach Boys in the studio. It's almost like in his head he was always concerned that his career would end at some point and he would end up like his Dad.

I've always thought this very thing too, and suspected that this was one of the main driving forces in Mike's decision making process/personality/life. I think that was the mentality behind "don't f*** with the formula"--he was probably scared of losing the security that the Beach Boys' success had given him (which was totally unexpected in the first place), and reverting to the hardships with which his family was well acquainted. He was also probably driven to help out his parents financially, and didn't want to see his ability to do so slip out of his hands. The unlikely level of success the Beach Boys had, that i imagine he saw as a blessing, must have been on his mind a lot, accompanied by the thought/fear of seeing that slip away. Growing up (and even in the first year of the formation of the Beach Boys), he probably thought that he would stay in the same town doing manual labor and that that was just what was in the cards for his life. Imagine suddenly being a worldwide success that seemingly can do no wrong. And then imagine not being the person running the show, maybe feeling like you have no control of the situation, but you really want things to stay on course, to continue bringing you success, but you can't directly do anything about it because someone else is in charge. This is one of the reasons why i don't get down on Mike for trying to pull Brian back in when Brian was veering off in new musical directions. From a purely artistic standpoint i don't agree with Mike, but at the end of the day these were people with their own struggles and insecurities and baggage, of which we can't ever know the extent because we weren't there then and we aren't them. So in that sense i see where Mike was coming from.

[PhilSpectre]

Nice stuff from Mike there. I am quite stunned to learn that Mike's father is still alive. Pretty few septuagenarians have parents still living, even these days. Good for them.

Hey, just imagine, Murry Wilson would be only 96 this July, were he still with us. I bet later Beach Boys history might have been a bit different were Murry still around and kickin' (as it were).  

He mighta kept those boys in line when they went off the rails bigtime with all that Kokomo crap. Then again, knowing Murry and his cheesy listening tastes , he would have loved stuff like Kokomo and all of Summer in Paradise   .

[Sheriff John Stone]

The unlikely level of success the Beach Boys had, that i imagine he saw as a blessing, must have been on his mind a lot, accompanied by the thought/fear of seeing that slip away.

And, of course, after Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, and Friends, it did slip away, accompanied by Capitol Records not renewing their contract. In some ways they literally had to start over again. When Endless Summer/Spirit Of America hit, all the old problems started re-surfacing, and Mike must've been experiencing deja vu-like feelings. He didn't want to lose everything again. It might explain why he stepped up and took the leadership role that he did, for better or worse, depending on your point of view.

[Cam Mott]

Deleted by me for being off topic.

[EgoHanger1966]

Mike on his dad....

maybe he should get off him, then!