Rocky Pamplin's THE BEACH BOYS' ENDLESS WAVE completed and published

[Jim V.]

Hey Renaldo! "I'm not fawning over Mike Love" He's the "glue" that kept the band together??? Obviously, you still believe in The Tooth Fairy. He fired Al Jardine twice (the best voice in the group to date) and after Carl passed away. How is that keeping the group together. He fired Brian Wilson!! And, on top of all that, he thinks he is the Beach Boys. Nice slap in the face at both the Wilson brothers and Al who all were infinitely more talented than he will ever be. Get a grip, man.  :

I cant argue with your opinion. But your comment in a way makes exactly my point. The BBs still exist, and the one guy who's kept them there in the public consciousness is for low these many decades is, in fact, Mike Love. You and the knowledgeable and learned people on this site know all the back story of the group, but you exist in knowlegdable rarified air. The reason the band is still alive and still exists to the rank and file out there on Planet Earth is the one and only "Mike Love."
Credit where credit is due.
When I came aboard this project I was one of the multitude. I knew none of what is common history to those of you here. But I knew of the Beach Boys.
They were still alive in the world's view of the music scene, as a group, playing that miraculous and wonderful material. It wasn't just music on the radio, THEY WERE STILL OUT THERE. THE BEACH BOYS STILL EXISTED, STILL PLAYED, STILL LIVED AS A BAND in the public consciousness, ignorant public consciousness perhaps, but they were and even are, STILL THERE.
I was in the music and entertainment business most of my life. That is a rare and laudable accomplishment no matter how it happened. Ask yourself who was the one common denominator the the whole friggin time?
You may not like the answer but there is only one answer.

You just don't get it man. Just because he kept the "name" out there doesn't mean he did any good. Seeing him and his band on the CW channel doing his solo tunes isn't doing The Beach Boys name any good. And honestly, why are The Beach Boys really in the public consciousness since Carl died, Al was kicked out and Brian basically quit working within the group framework in the late '90s? Here's why (in roughly chronological fashion)...

Brian touring. Obviously this was a big deal. Nobody thought Brian would really end up being a road warrior. And now look!

The Stamos movie. This kept them in the popular conscience, but not necessarily in a great way. Definitely reinforced the "Brian as a zombie" from the SMiLE sessions and onward theory. But regardless, it did get some people interested in the group again surely, which can't be a bad thing.

Pet Sounds. The legend has grown and grown. You had The Pet Sounds Sessions set in 1997 and things have kept going since then. And you have Brian touring it in the early 2000s.

Sounds of Summer. This was a big, unexpected hit in 2003. The Beatles had 1 and that did great and The Beach Boys followed it with their own compilation and did big business as well. If somebody was to say this didn't matter to the Boys trajectory post '98, well....they're wrong.

Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE. 2004 was huge as far as the name Brian Wilson (and therefore The Beach Boys) was concerned. Just as Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy and Dr. Dre's Compton made their mark in 2008 and 2015 respectively, it was a huge story that The Beach Boys resident songwriter was finally completing and performing his lost masterpiece. And then the album. Highest Beach Boys chart placement since, what, 15 Big Ones?

Mike Love and Bruce Johnston touring. Yes it matters. But not to the extent Ronnie Raygun puts it. It's good for some spots in the local newspaper and a ticket giveaway on your local sh*t-rock station, but beyond that nothing. Really nothing. There's really no word of mouth among the world at large about Mike and Bruce Beach Boys shows.

The SMiLE Sessions. Obviously this was huge as well. It's The Beach Boys version of SMiLE and then some. There wasn't any way this wasn't gonna be a hit.

The reunion and That's Why God Made The Radio. This is where it all coalesced and I'd say The Beach Boys as an entity were at their highest recognition since...what? 1976? 1989? Regardless, this is where The Beach Boys name should be. And what happens you ask? The guy who is "keeping the band together" and "keeping it going" decided to rip the band apart, freezing out the songwriter and another founding member, along with their guitarist. So yeah, thanks Mikey boy!

[CenturyDeprived]

 
A lot of inconvenient truths by GF and Jim V. must make it tough for anyone who is trying to do pro-Mike spin here.
Any defender of this stuff has got to feel somewhat like Rudy Giuliani right about now

[mtaber]

Ron, you keep telling us how knowledgeable the members of this board are in regards to the Beach Boys (with the exception of yours truly), then repeatedly tell us how you should have the final say on Mike Love's importance to the history of the band. 

It's almost like you decided to go on this site with expectations of a totally positive reaction from the "experts", but then stubbornly refuse to validate the negatives pointed out by those same experts.

[CenturyDeprived]

CD, I apologize for not responding in a timely manner. I was busy with trying to convince a poster that I wasn't a bully. Imagine that! I've got to say how much I enjoy your insightful posts and consider you and GF my favorite posters and fans. You guys always nail it for me. In trying like hell to address your posts about Mike Love's contributions to the band, I don't think I'm qualified to supply a legitimate, unbiased answer that you're looking for from me. As a young kid listening to them in the early to mid60's, I didn't care about who was who and what they did. I only knew that I liked Brian's singing and was attracted to the tunes. I guess I was all of about 15 or 16 and what in the world did I know about anything except maybe about the music I liked and being on the high school wrestling team and taking my girlfriend to the drive in on weekends. Some world, huh? Of course as time went on, my fascination with Brian was on a growth spurt. These melodies were mind boggling and had difficulty in understanding how someone could create like he did. The lyrics were somewhat secondary and seemed like a necessity, but I often read the label credit and wondered if Brian had the lyrics in his head and maybe Mike helped fleshed them out a bit with Brian, who was always intimidated by Mike, gave in and gave Mike the credit. It's a case of not trusting the integrity of the lovester. The tunes you speak of were no doubt classic but always seemed like Brian's original thoughts that were really Brian's idea from the beginning and knowing the predatory nature of Mike, Brian caved and gave him credit with Love only adding a line here and a line there similar to Wouldn't It Be Nice. My take on Mike is that he was an insane opportunist who relied on the incredible naivety of Brian during those golden years. Add that to all that has gone down between then and now and I end up with a person in my favorite band of all time that I just can't feel anything but extreme disgust and dislike.

Thanks, OSD for the reply. I appreciate your honesty and self-reflective comments about being unbiased. That's big of you to admit. I don’t have 50+ years of fandom of this band (more like 20), and I’m glad you at least realize that it can be next to impossible for some people to divorce their feelings about a person’s behavior with being able to objectively give them praise for artistic contributions. All I can say is that I do understand and partially share some of your thoughts, although I think the truth falls somewhere more in the middle.

(Side note: if only the hardcore Mike defenders could let down their guard a bit and be as honest and self-reflective as OSD was, then maybe we'd have world peace)

Either way, it’s incredibly unfortunate that Mike grabbed for credit on songs like WIBN, which only further eroded at any benefit of the doubt that his detractors might have still been willing to give him.  I really wonder if he thinks it was worth it to grab for credit on that song when the result was having even more people doubt the honesty of his intentions on getting proper credit on songs in general (those that he truly deserved credit on). The sad thing is, he probably does think it’s worth it.  Mike, like a certain moron who's in the news all the time now, doesn't ever seem to self-reflect or apologize/regret anything whatsoever.

Mike was indeed screwed over by Murry (and Brian being complicit) and while he *should* have a lot of public empathy over that fact, he doesn’t for a variety of reasons (including the WIBN credit grab)… IMO part of the screwjob Mike endured could be Brian acting passive aggressively towards someone who was bullying him. I will to my last breath never understand how someone could deny Mike has acted like a bully to Brian. It seems pretty textbook to me. One doesn’t have to be Biff Tannen with fists to be an emotionally bullying, coercive individual.

Personally I think Mike has undeniable talent and has contributed some great stuff, but the amount of lame behavior that he’s exhibited over the years can really, really give people reasons to not want to give the guy his due. Denying Mike his due I believe is a toxic thing too, but I at the same time get that it’s human nature to *not* want to give somebody praise when they outright ask for it, the way he does; he seemingly never learned the lesson that this is not how things work, disgruntled as he may be about certain things.

In any event, getting back to the topic at hand, it’s absolutely laughable to try and reconcile Rocky’s posts and the tone of the book. I mean, there’s literally no amount of explaining about fear of lawsuits (understandable as that may be) that can give a project legitimacy when it started from a series of posts with a tone that is as different from the final product, as say, the tone/vibe of "Surf’s Up" is to "Summer of Love"... or "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" to "Rockin' The Man in the Boat"... from avant garde, boundary-pushing content to a tune literally about stroking the salami. Based on the portions Ron has posted of the book so far, it seems to be THAT level a difference in presentation and content compared to what Rocky teased on this board. As different as night and day, to quote the Patty Duke theme song.

Unfortunate for Ron to be caught up in this type of thing, but this should come as no surprise. You can’t tease a trailer of the 1976 film “Network”, and have the final product be “Police Academy 6” without people being dissatisfied. That was an extreme analogy, but I'm honestly trying to think of any book/film/music/tv project that turned out more differently than this one from its initial origins. I guess this book is the literal definition of Production/Development Hell.

I'm sure Ron tried his best, but it's an unenviable position to be in.

[The LEGENDARY OSD]

By the way, fantastic post Jim V. !! Enjoyed that immensely! Thank you!

[“Big Daddy”]

Looks like Rocky’s book got a write-up in the “Palisadian Post”: https://www.palipost.com/surfs-up/. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to get past the paywall.

[Zesterz]

Finally someone says it as it really is....Mike...and the "b" word.

Century Deprived explains the actual relationship.................and therefore no wonder Brian no longer submits to the victim role such  " b's" requure

.

[guitarfool2002]

Unfortunately this is not the first time such sentiments have been expressed, in fact the very same sentiments expressed by CD, Jim, and others here about Mike's various actions and behaviors in the past few decades especially has been brought out many times in discussions here. Ultimately, all that CD, Jim, myself, and others did was lay out the facts as they stand. No spin, no whitewashing, not stretching of the truth, just the facts of what happened. The pathetic part is how some tried to paint anything of the sort as "Mike bashing", "toxic", etc...as in, throw anything that either paints Mike in an unfavorable light or counters what some have tried to portray apart from the truth as "hate", "toxic", "bashing", "derangement", and other similar terms.

What struck me is how the saga of the Beach Boys, of Mike and his bands since 1998, of Brian, of Al, and especially of the C50 details have been written, spoken, hashed, and rehashed so many times over...Yet, here was Ron forming opinions and making statements of fact that suggest something other than a basic awareness of how it all played out, as recent as the events of 2012, and events which have been well documented. It's either being unaware, or choosing not to acknowledge it.

The most inconvenient truth of them all is that Mike had a chance to continue working with the other surviving Beach Boys in 2012, and he and he alone made the decision not to do that. Mike could have kept it plugged in, but instead he pulled the plug. And since Fall 2012 it has been a literal shitstorm of backpedaling, excuse-making, whitewashing, and even having supporters and defenders of Mike's taking to various outlets to reshape the history and accuse people of hatefulness and toxicity...when the real examples of that can be found by them looking in the mirror.

So it's sad, and beyond that it's sad to think how many fans or run-of-the-mill observers who do not have Ron's background in the entertainment business and who did not research and write a book might think events happened other than they really did.

[The LEGENDARY OSD]

Unfortunately this is not the first time such sentiments have been expressed, in fact the very same sentiments expressed by CD, Jim, and others here about Mike's various actions and behaviors in the past few decades especially has been brought out many times in discussions here. Ultimately, all that CD, Jim, myself, and others did was lay out the facts as they stand. No spin, no whitewashing, not stretching of the truth, just the facts of what happened. The pathetic part is how some tried to paint anything of the sort as "Mike bashing", "toxic", etc...as in, throw anything that either paints Mike in an unfavorable light or counters what some have tried to portray apart from the truth as "hate", "toxic", "bashing", "derangement", and other similar terms.

What struck me is how the saga of the Beach Boys, of Mike and his bands since 1998, of Brian, of Al, and especially of the C50 details have been written, spoken, hashed, and rehashed so many times over...Yet, here was Ron forming opinions and making statements of fact that suggest something other than a basic awareness of how it all played out, as recent as the events of 2012, and events which have been well documented. It's either being unaware, or choosing not to acknowledge it.

The most inconvenient truth of them all is that Mike had a chance to continue working with the other surviving Beach Boys in 2012, and he and he alone made the decision not to do that. Mike could have kept it plugged in, but instead he pulled the plug. And since Fall 2012 it has been a literal shitstorm of backpedaling, excuse-making, whitewashing, and even having supporters and defenders of Mike's taking to various outlets to reshape the history and accuse people of hatefulness and toxicity...when the real examples of that can be found by them looking in the mirror.

So it's sad, and beyond that it's sad to think how many fans or run-of-the-mill observers who do not have Ron's background in the entertainment business and who did not research and write a book might think events happened other than they really did.

[Juice Brohnston]

And since Fall 2012 it has been a literal shitstorm of backpedaling, excuse-making, whitewashing, and even having supporters and defenders of Mike's taking to various outlets to reshape the history and accuse people of hatefulness and toxicity...when the real examples of that can be found by them looking in the mirror.

Can you give some specific examples?

[Lee Marshall]

Specific examples?  Good gawd!!!  Do we really have to relive 6 + years of multiple ass-hole interview remarks, a dumb-ass auto-biography and piss poor album releases, of rediculous TV appearances with wannabe boy 'John' taking [almost] centre stage every 4th of July, of rubbing the same old salt into the same old wounds and, as a result, sadly retracing the denigration of a once illustrious name/brand?

Anyone with 1/2 a page of knowledge pertaining to the Sand Pail Sailors knows that ol' [and I do mean OLD] Money-Bags Mikey tours with the name only because it is LICENSED to him.  That he has Bruce tagging along for some semblance of cred is rather suspect.  Anyone referring back to that half page will recognize that the REAL Beach Boys tour with Brian...and Al...and Blondie.

'Pinch your nose and sing boy' was there along the long and illustrious path to glory [and the Rock 'n' Toll Hall of Fame]...sho-nuff...but generally?  Only from the waist down.  

And now?  That path needs to be weeded, stooped and scooped.

Meanwhile the thread about an artificial book, devoid of fact, labors on.  Unbelievable.  It's a sh*t in/sh*t out scenario.  Time to flush and lock the door behind you.

[mtaber]

Two more "5 Star" reviews of the book are up on Amazon this week. 

[Reynaldo]

CD, I apologize for not responding in a timely manner. I was busy with trying to convince a poster that I wasn't a bully. Imagine that! I've got to say how much I enjoy your insightful posts and consider you and GF my favorite posters and fans. You guys always nail it for me. In trying like hell to address your posts about Mike Love's contributions to the band, I don't think I'm qualified to supply a legitimate, unbiased answer that you're looking for from me. As a young kid listening to them in the early to mid60's, I didn't care about who was who and what they did. I only knew that I liked Brian's singing and was attracted to the tunes. I guess I was all of about 15 or 16 and what in the world did I know about anything except maybe about the music I liked and being on the high school wrestling team and taking my girlfriend to the drive in on weekends. Some world, huh? Of course as time went on, my fascination with Brian was on a growth spurt. These melodies were mind boggling and had difficulty in understanding how someone could create like he did. The lyrics were somewhat secondary and seemed like a necessity, but I often read the label credit and wondered if Brian had the lyrics in his head and maybe Mike helped fleshed them out a bit with Brian, who was always intimidated by Mike, gave in and gave Mike the credit. It's a case of not trusting the integrity of the lovester. The tunes you speak of were no doubt classic but always seemed like Brian's original thoughts that were really Brian's idea from the beginning and knowing the predatory nature of Mike, Brian caved and gave him credit with Love only adding a line here and a line there similar to Wouldn't It Be Nice. My take on Mike is that he was an insane opportunist who relied on the incredible naivety of Brian during those golden years. Add that to all that has gone down between then and now and I end up with a person in my favorite band of all time that I just can't feel anything but extreme disgust and dislike.

Thanks, OSD for the reply. I appreciate your honesty and self-reflective comments about being unbiased. That's big of you to admit. I don’t have 50+ years of fandom of this band (more like 20), and I’m glad you at least realize that it can be next to impossible for some people to divorce their feelings about a person’s behavior with being able to objectively give them praise for artistic contributions. All I can say is that I do understand and partially share some of your thoughts, although I think the truth falls somewhere more in the middle.

(Side note: if only the hardcore Mike defenders could let down their guard a bit and be as honest and self-reflective as OSD was, then maybe we'd have world peace)

Either way, it’s incredibly unfortunate that Mike grabbed for credit on songs like WIBN, which only further eroded at any benefit of the doubt that his detractors might have still been willing to give him.  I really wonder if he thinks it was worth it to grab for credit on that song when the result was having even more people doubt the honesty of his intentions on getting proper credit on songs in general (those that he truly deserved credit on). The sad thing is, he probably does think it’s worth it.  Mike, like a certain moron who's in the news all the time now, doesn't ever seem to self-reflect or apologize/regret anything whatsoever.

Mike was indeed screwed over by Murry (and Brian being complicit) and while he *should* have a lot of public empathy over that fact, he doesn’t for a variety of reasons (including the WIBN credit grab)… IMO part of the screwjob Mike endured could be Brian acting passive aggressively towards someone who was bullying him. I will to my last breath never understand how someone could deny Mike has acted like a bully to Brian. It seems pretty textbook to me. One doesn’t have to be Biff Tannen with fists to be an emotionally bullying, coercive individual.

Personally I think Mike has undeniable talent and has contributed some great stuff, but the amount of lame behavior that he’s exhibited over the years can really, really give people reasons to not want to give the guy his due. Denying Mike his due I believe is a toxic thing too, but I at the same time get that it’s human nature to *not* want to give somebody praise when they outright ask for it, the way he does; he seemingly never learned the lesson that this is not how things work, disgruntled as he may be about certain things.

In any event, getting back to the topic at hand, it’s absolutely laughable to try and reconcile Rocky’s posts and the tone of the book. I mean, there’s literally no amount of explaining about fear of lawsuits (understandable as that may be) that can give a project legitimacy when it started from a series of posts with a tone that is as different from the final product, as say, the tone/vibe of "Surf’s Up" is to "Summer of Love"... or "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" to "Rockin' The Man in the Boat"... from avant garde, boundary-pushing content to a tune literally about stroking the salami. Based on the portions Ron has posted of the book so far, it seems to be THAT level a difference in presentation and content compared to what Rocky teased on this board. As different as night and day, to quote the Patty Duke theme song.

Unfortunate for Ron to be caught up in this type of thing, but this should come as no surprise. You can’t tease a trailer of the 1976 film “Network”, and have the final product be “Police Academy 6” without people being dissatisfied. That was an extreme analogy, but I'm honestly trying to think of any book/film/music/tv project that turned out more differently than this one from its initial origins. I guess this book is the literal definition of Production/Development Hell.

I'm sure Ron tried his best, but it's an unenviable position to be in.

Thanks everyone for weighing in, at least those who did. I'm gonna stick to my guns here and acknowledge all the conflicting views as well. So much has been said about the current Beach Boys, how they got here, who was responsible in both good and bad ways, whether their shows measure up to their salad days, all of that, but once again, that's sort of my point. I cannot defend my position or opinion, but only offer the FACT that if someone wants to see and hear the band, they can. Can't say that about the Beatles. Right? That, in show business terms and history is a miraculous fact. How that happens and why that happens is down to one guy. I just have to tip my hat to him.
Don't know the guy, but I hope to. I'd like to spend some time practicing TM with him. We've both been at that for decades. There's something about that continuity, that perhaps savage tenacity, that made that happen. It's remarkable. One guy.
I remember the last shot in one of my favorite movies, "Papillion" (sp) where Steve McQueen is floating away from Devil's island on a raft of coconuts, something like that, and he says jubilantly, defiantly, and almost triumphantly, "I'm still here." For me, gotta luv it.
Even if you get beat up by someone like Muhammad Ali, as this site is, in its way, probably the greatest, even with the bruises exemplifying your shortcomings after the brawl, don't you think you strut your stuff a bit ? Ahh, I wax poetic as writers will.

As for me not being in an enviable position? I am in an enviable position and most certainly consider myself as such. For better, as may be proven elsewhere, or for worse, as is often the case on this site, I'm in the game with one of the greatest bands of all time. How I got there, perhaps due to foolishness or naivety, or whatever else doesn't matter anymore. The games a foot. The Book exists.
Thanks to all of you. I'll take my lumps, proudly, deservedly if you will, but "I'm still here." Glad for it.
Now go buy the book. Heh heh heh.

Thanks for posting the Palasadian Post article, btw, who ever that was. Can an 8 part mini series be far behind? There's an uproar in the making. wheee

[Reynaldo]

Looks like Rocky’s book got a write-up in the “Palisadian Post”: https://www.palipost.com/surfs-up/. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to get past the paywall.

Thanks for referencing that. How'd you like it? I'm learning, often with shock and awe, that what we think is happening may not be what's happening at all.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

I remember the last shot in one of my favorite movies, "Papillion" (sp) where Steve McQueen is floating away from Devil's island on a raft of coconuts, something like that, and he says jubilantly, defiantly, and almost triumphantly, "I'm still here."

There's been a lot strange things in this thread but for me the top two are,

1. That a published author is uncertain how to spell the name of one of his favourite movies
2. That he doesn't check the correct spelling, which would take about 10 seconds on Google, before posting it

[Reynaldo]

Looks like Rocky’s book got a write-up in the “Palisadian Post”: https://www.palipost.com/surfs-up/. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to get past the paywall.

Thanks for referencing that. How'd you like it? I'm learning, often with shock and awe, that what we think is happening may not be what's happening at all.

I'll post it here for you guys. One cannot get past the paywall without subscribing for $30.00 to get a pdf. Now lets see if I can get it to post on Smile. I've had little luck before.

Can someone instruct me as to how to post that review for Smile. It's a pdf icon. Thanks

[Reynaldo]

I remember the last shot in one of my favorite movies, "Papillion" (sp) where Steve McQueen is floating away from Devil's island on a raft of coconuts, something like that, and he says jubilantly, defiantly, and almost triumphantly, "I'm still here."

There's been a lot strange things in this thread but for me the top two are,

1. That a published author is uncertain how to spell the name of one of his favourite movies
2. That he doesn't check the correct spelling, which would take about 10 seconds on Google, before posting it

Thanks for correcting what is indeed a dumb mistake. Sheesh. Can't get a break around here. Ha. Luckily I got close enough on the mistaken movie title to get my point across. The BB are still here and it is because of Mike Love, for better or for worse, but that's the fact.
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE.

As for being a published author unable to spell? Thanks, got a giggle out of that. If those are the "Top Two" messes I've made in the thread, I've come up in the Smile world, eh? I've can say with relief I've been called much much worse, so thank you for the kind compliment. Wheee

[Jim V.]

The BB are still here and it is because of Mike Love, for better or for worse, but that's the fact.
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE.

Did you even read what I wrote? It seems like you are clueless. If we are talking about there being a band out on the road named "The Beach Boys" because of Mike Love, sure, I'll buy that. But as far as the group being anywhere near pop culture...once again, here are the reasons they've mattered since we lost Carl...

You just don't get it man. Just because he kept the "name" out there doesn't mean he did any good. Seeing him and his band on the CW channel doing his solo tunes isn't doing The Beach Boys name any good. And honestly, why are The Beach Boys really in the public consciousness since Carl died, Al was kicked out and Brian basically quit working within the group framework in the late '90s? Here's why (in roughly chronological fashion)...

Brian touring. Obviously this was a big deal. Nobody thought Brian would really end up being a road warrior. And now look!

The Stamos movie. This kept them in the popular conscience, but not necessarily in a great way. Definitely reinforced the "Brian as a zombie" from the SMiLE sessions and onward theory. But regardless, it did get some people interested in the group again surely, which can't be a bad thing.

Pet Sounds. The legend has grown and grown. You had The Pet Sounds Sessions set in 1997 and things have kept going since then. And you have Brian touring it in the early 2000s.

Sounds of Summer. This was a big, unexpected hit in 2003. The Beatles had 1 and that did great and The Beach Boys followed it with their own compilation and did big business as well. If somebody was to say this didn't matter to the Boys trajectory post '98, well....they're wrong.

Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE. 2004 was huge as far as the name Brian Wilson (and therefore The Beach Boys) was concerned. Just as Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy and Dr. Dre's Compton made their mark in 2008 and 2015 respectively, it was a huge story that The Beach Boys resident songwriter was finally completing and performing his lost masterpiece. And then the album. Highest Beach Boys chart placement since, what, 15 Big Ones?

Mike Love and Bruce Johnston touring. Yes it matters. But not to the extent Ronnie Raygun puts it. It's good for some spots in the local newspaper and a ticket giveaway on your local sh*t-rock station, but beyond that nothing. Really nothing. There's really no word of mouth among the world at large about Mike and Bruce Beach Boys shows.

The SMiLE Sessions. Obviously this was huge as well. It's The Beach Boys version of SMiLE and then some. There wasn't any way this wasn't gonna be a hit.

The reunion and That's Why God Made The Radio. This is where it all coalesced and I'd say The Beach Boys as an entity were at their highest recognition since...what? 1976? 1989? Regardless, this is where The Beach Boys name should be. And what happens you ask? The guy who is "keeping the band together" and "keeping it going" decided to rip the band apart, freezing out the songwriter and another founding member, along with their guitarist. So yeah, thanks Mikey boy!

If you disagree with this, fine. But if you're gonna go and do that, prove me wrong. Don't just say "hey man, Mike is why the Beach Boys still matter and fuckk you if you disagree."

[mtaber]

Jim, you apparently don't "get it".  Ron has years of experience in show biz, so that outweighs the piddly knowledge of people on this board.  The idea that Brian is the main reason for the Beach Boys "mattering" is delusional, as only Ron knows.  Mike has the brand name, so that's all that matters. It may be true that Ron has no actual experience with the group, but that isn't important.  Ron knows Rocky, so that's enough to make him an expert on the legacy of the Beach Boys.

Now I'm going to meditate...

[SMiLE Brian]

Mtaber "gets" it!

[Jim V.]

Jim, you apparently don't "get it".  Ron has years of experience in show biz, so that outweighs the piddly knowledge of people on this board.  The idea that Brian is the main reason for the Beach Boys "mattering" is delusional, as only Ron knows.  Mike has the brand name, so that's all that matters. It may be true that Ron has no actual experience with the group, but that isn't important.  Ron knows Rocky, so that's enough to make him an expert on the legacy of the Beach Boys.

Now I'm going to meditate...

Haha. In times like this I wish there was a like button. That was good!

[The LEGENDARY OSD]

Mtaber "gets" it!

Mtaber rocks! LuHv the "tongue in cheek" approach. Maybe someday Reynaldo will get religion concerning the crumbster lovester.

[The LEGENDARY OSD]

Mtaber "gets" it!

As does Jim V.!

[guitarfool2002]

A lot of inconvenient truths by GF and Jim V. must make it tough for anyone who is trying to do pro-Mike spin here.
Any defender of this stuff has got to feel somewhat like Rudy Giuliani right about now

Sadly this does not seem to have been the case.    Maybe we'll just keep reposting those inconvenient truths?

[Don Malcolm]

Funny how Ron's writing style is morphing into Rocky's...anyone else notice that ??