Dean Torrence book, "Surf City"

[JimC1702]

Nestled between Mike's book and Brian's book, we get a book from Dean Torrence.  It's a great read so far, I'm about 3/4 the way through it.  One of the first things that surprised me was, before "Jan & Dean", both Jan and Dean were in a vocal group called The Barons.  Jan had been playing piano but they decided to hire a new piano player and they hired Jan's next door neighbor, Bruce Johnston.  This was in 1958.

We all know the whole "Surf City" story, but it was interesting to see how Jan tweaked Brian's original lyrics.  And even though Murray forbid Brian from having anything to do with Jan & Dean, he went back and sang with them again on "Drag City".  There's a whole chapter in the book on The Beach Boys.

The book paints a nice portrait of life in California in the early 60's, and gives some interesting tidbits on the music business.

[Lee Marshall]

Always liked their sound...and lots of their songs.  [especially Drag City]  Think I'll buy/read Dean's book and "have a cookie".

[Rocker]

There are already two threads for this book. Check them out:


http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,24258.0.html

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,24301.0.html