The Smiley Smile Message Board

From Scott via FB:

A NEW CHAPTER
Well friends after nearly 23 years I have performed my last shows with The Beach Boys.  It has been a dream come true for me to play those amazing songs night after night, year after year for all the great fans out there.  I’m very proud of the work I did to honor the musical legacy of The Beach Boys – with the help of my bandmates Brian Eichenberger, Tim Bonhomme, Keith Hubacher, Randy Leago, Christian Love and especially John Cowsill.  Also the great BB crew - Swifty, Tara Ricart, Mike Czaszwicz, John Bracken and Adam Richter.  I want to thank Mike Love and Jacquelyne Love for the many opportunities and experiences my family and I have had during my tenure.  Many of you don’t know that I actually started touring in 1993 with the show TOMMY, so after 30 years I’m looking forward to being a bigger part of my family’s lives, and for my next adventure, big or small.  I hope we cross paths again.

Mike Love:

Our live show and band family was blessed by both Scott & John’s contributions for 23 years. Change is a part of life despite being difficult to accept.  Although Scott and John may not tour regularly with us, they will always be my family, my brothers in music and great friends in life.  This is not goodbye, just see you soon 🙏
My Love & gratitude to Scott & John and best wishes for a fantastic next chapter.
Peace & Love,
Mike & Jacquelyne

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I haven't seen any statement from John and only learned of his departure through Mike's message.
 
(https://i.ibb.co/CJpDVjK/ttaten.jpg)

Someone online mentioned they thought this might signify a slowdown for the touring operation.  I suspect it's the opposite.  The tour never stops,  and the only way to take a long break is either a pandemic, or leave the band.  It's why Chicago has rotated in and out like 27 members in recent years. 

Both, Scott and John, were the highlights in Mike&Bruce's band for me. There's a reason they were invited to join the Beach Boys' band in 2012 among with Brian's guys. They did add a lot and I would have loved for that band to stay together. And from what I've heard and read Scott and John enjoyed the tour and working with Brian's band members very much.
I remember in the early 2000s before Scott became musical director Mike&Bruce's band was sounding terrible (check out the AVO session). When Scott took over (and probably not coincidenntally when Brian started to tour) that changed and the band became a potent performance act.

I do wonder though what this means for Mike&Bruce's act. They may find someone to fill in for some shows but in the long term, keeping the band together and rehearsing them....  ???

Someone also said the band has fewer shows scheduled this year, so I suspect it is the start of a slow down. All I know is they are not playing the Puyallup Fair this year; Chicago is the only band on the schedule I would go see.

Well, that's about the worst thing that could happen to the current touring band.

The band's schedule looks just as full as ever! I think this is more evident that perhaps Scott and John have had enough of the touring life after an outrageously incredible run. I'm also surprised that no one here has reported that Mike and David are appearing at the Chiller Theatre Convention in Parsippany, NJ all this weekend. Bruce is not. To my knowledge, Mike has never done an autograph-show type appearance before, and certainly not with another original Beach Boy. I can't help but wonder (and hope) that perhaps David could become a fixture of the touring band once again? It would certainly add more validity and this would certainly be the time to do it. I also wonder if this is signifying that Mike (and David) are finding ways to stay "touring" without necessarily performing...

This could also be an opportunity for Bruce to (finally) bow out. Hire a music director that actually plays audible/prominent keyboard parts, and let David take on Totten's guitar work with the responsibilities of MD. One could also wonder (and hope) if Brian's recent announcement that he's "busy doing nothing" (strongly implying final touring retirement) has opened communications between Mike and Al about the future. There was lots of footage of the two of them looking chummy backstage at the Grammy Salute. But of all these conspiracy theories swirling in my brain, that one is probably the biggest reach..."The Beach Boys" are booked for three nights leading to 4th of July at the Hollywood Bowl...could be an opportunity to welcome others onstage...

An interesting time for sure.....

An end of an era for sure!  Both will be greatly missed.  Will be extremely difficult shoes to fill but hopefully a good team steps up to take the band home for its final stretch...

New drummer is Oldsurferdude!    >:D

A Facebook message on Scott’s page mentions they had known for some time so I don’t think it is a sudden decision. I suspect this is the only news for a few days as a sign of respect and any new members will be announced soon.
I only saw them live with the C50 and they were great additions to Brian’s band. Good luck to them. Just thinking also their tenure was longer than Dennis. 😔

The Chiller Theater convention is actually next weekend, April 28 to 30. Interestingly, Carnie Wilson will be there Fri and Sat too. Mike and David are top-billed, above Priscilla Presley.

 The convention’s site refers to Mike as making a “super rare” appearance. Usually, if a Chiller guest has never appeared at a signing show before the site will play that up, but it may be that Chiller’s people decided against saying it was Mike’s signing-show debut because there are dozens or maybe hundreds of these shows going back close to 30 years, and if a guest is mistakenly billed as making such a debut someone will point that out later.

Some other musical notables there will include some members of the Blues Brothers band (the living members that were in the first movie minus Steve Cropper, plus Tom Scott who was in the band initially but left before filming); Jimmy Hart, who will attend in his capacity as wrestling legend but I guess will be happy to sign his old Gentrys records; and Bebe Buell, who according to the site will sign musical items - that is, her records as a singer - as well as photos.

Someone posted this on Wikipedia before the announcement was made, so I assumed it was some sort of stupid prank like the people that post every year that Steve Perry is rejoining Journey.  I guess I was wrong, and someone got a hold of the information earlier than the rest of us.  I agree with everyone that Scott Totten and John Cowsill were the highlights of Mike and Bruce's band (along with the occasionally rotating falsetto role), and they will be missed.  I've seen M&B (and Scott and John) twice: 2015 and 2019.  I always doubted I would go see Mike again, but now I really doubt it.  

I know I could use Google, but what is this Chiller Theater convention?

Ha! Good thing I didn't sell my drums!!

Looks like that Chiller convention is a general pop culture convention that I'm assuming started as more specifically horror-themed.

I know Mike has done some side deals over the years for autograph signings and whatnot, but it's a little bizarre at this point that he's doing the Con circuit.

He's listed here:

http://www.chillertheatre.com/gt/gtc4.htm

Note the joke "Obituaries" header that is stamped with "Guests." Makes sense for a horror convention, but maybe a bit less so for hosting elderly guests?

Also, I've seen some folks wonder if David's appearance at this convention might signal that he's rejoining Mike's band. While I have no information or knowledge about who's replacing Totten or anything to do with the personnel with Mike's band, knowing what I know outside of the realm of Mike's band, I would not count on it being very likely that Dave would be rejoining.

Meanwhile, a name is already being thrown around for the drummer replacement. Not surprisingly, Mike is likely to tend to higher musicians who are not in their 80s.

I'm also seeing a lot of speculation and intricate breakdowns trying to figure out if this signifies a longer term strategy Mike is employing for the day when he's no longer actively touring. But I think it's just more a case of the usual personnel changes. This one just happened to involve some long-time members. While Mike has occasionally talked about what he envisions for when he's no longer touring (I recall him mentioning he'd be okay with holograms for instance), I don't know that he would want to, or would even be able to, plan for when he's no longer touring. That is, especially with Iconic being the majority stakeholder, if Mike was no longer touring, that might upend the entire touring process. Who knows, maybe it would be easier to just keep the license going with the same operation, just sans *any* actual Beach Boys.

I suppose it's a testament to the known state of relations between members that I don't really see any fans wondering if Al Jardine might reappear.

I do think they are indeed past the era of doing like 180 shows per year. But they're still doing a pretty active schedule, and I would tend to doubt a *slow down* in dates is why Totten and Cowsill would depart, unless they resurface touring with a band that does even *more* gigs. But it certainly sounds like Totten is planning on *less* touring and tour travel.

Also, stating the obvious, but I think the pandemic/shutdown led to/hastened/forced a fair amount of professionals in some fields to make bigger changes that might have been in the offing at some point down the road.

Some people learned they really wanted to be at home more, and for those that have the luxury of optioning to do just that, I could envision in the early days of 2020/2021 as folks like Totten and Cowsill geared back up to go out on the road, it was a point in time to being winding all of that down.

Had Mike held off longer on going back out on the road, as opposed to being of the first touring acts to go *back out* in 2020 doing isolation pod shows and "drive-in" shows, you might have seen more personnel changes occur during that time.

8) 8) 8)

While it's usually pretty obvious that when *two* people depart at the same time, it's probably not a case of the members just organically choosing to move on, another interesting thing that sometimes might indicate that a member is not particularly fed up with playing the music or touring is when/if they start appearing in the various off-shoot tribute bands.

I'm curious if Totten or Cowsill will re-emerge with any of the varying combinations of Figueroa, Carter, Farmer, Kirsch, Baker, etc.

Or maybe the Cowsills (for John)....

So... Mike saw the Convid ?

Sad to hear. Great additions to the Mike and Bruce band

John Cowsill was the drummer at the tribute for the Rascals’ Dino Danelli last night at the Cutting Room in NYC. Eddie Brigati sang some numbers and Gene Cornish attended, but apparently Felix Cavaliere was absent.

My guess is that either Christian will play the leads or (more likely) that Randell Kirsch or Rob Bonfiglio returns but moves to lead guitar. I don’t have a guess for a drummer, though.

That’s interesting about John Cowsill sitting in with some former Rascals. Did the two survivors that attended do any songs together?

That's a real shame, but they've really given their all for the past 20+ years. Scott and John were always highlights of the Mike/Bruce band for me. With David being billed at the convention with Mike and the footage/rumors of Mike and Al having a good time after the grammy salute, maybe this is opening the door for Al and David to join the touring band. It'll be tough to replace John, though. His drum work is top notch and he has a hell of a voice! Darlin' with John on vocals always sounded incredible. And Scott's musical direction really took their shows to the next level and brought them into being one of the best touring acts of the 21st century. Best of luck to the both of them.

Are you sure it was Felix that was absent, not Eddie? Felix and Gene have been doing some work together recently. Eddie doesn't want to be a part of it.

Eddie was onstage, several photos of him at event on FB. Also pics of Gene looking reasonably good, but he took a bow from the audience and didn’t play. Pretty impressive lineup of drummers besides John: Corky Laing, Steve Jordan, Simon Kirke, Dennis Diken. Paul Shaffer on keys. Will Lee and even the Alessi brothers.

Just looked at Instagram and there are some photos of Mike and David at Chiller Theater, plus over a dozen of Carnie - who celebrated her birthday at the convention.

There's video floating around of the new guys in Mike's band. While it has been apparent for some time what Mike is aiming at when he adds/replaces members, it's very clear here in my opinion that he's swapping members out for younger members. They're obviously not fresh out of high school or anything, but a bunch of guys in Mike's band all kind of look the same now. I swear, Eichenberger, the sax player, the bass player, and now the new guitarist all look like they fit that same demographic; they all look really similar. 40-50-ish with that same hairdo with the frosted/slightly gray hair.

The new drummer appears to be one of those players that plays a really low-to-the-ground kit on a high stool, so it kind of looks like he's playing a kid's drum set, or that he's standing while playing.

I'm seeing some YouTube comments and comments in other places that truly seem to think Totten and Cowsill just retired. C'mon people. This isn't rocket science. When two guys are gone at the *exact same time*, that's doesn't sound like an organic decision to retire. As with the vast, vast majority of backing band changes over the years, I don't believe this was a voluntary exit.

I'm guessing that getting younger guys at a cheaper price hit two of the main goals that could have motivated Mike in this decision.

All just my opinion of course....

I saw the video you're referring to from May 6th. Looks like Eichelberger has replaced Totten on guitar and in his spot on stage next to Mike son Christian love. Looks like the new guitar player on the opposite side of the stage don't know who he is. And you're right the new Drummer looks like he's actually either standing or playing a kid's drum set. Looks really strange. Would be nice if they were announced as to who they were and what their backgrounds were but knowing Mike love we may or may not get that. And PS I have to continue to say after all these years I still don't care for Christian love voice it sounds extremely Bland and toneless

Are Scott Totten and John Cowsill that much older than some of the newer additions (their replacements, the bassist, and the saxophonist), though? I don’t mean to doubt your expertise, HeyJude, but I really doubt Scott would have given Mike such a pleasant Facebook post if he and Cowsill were canned. I just FB friended Scott; while I don’t plan to ask him about this, I have to say I am tempted.  ;)


I’ll have to look around for this video. From lurking on the other board, there was a rumor that the lead guitarist might have worked with The Righteous Brothers before jumping over to Mike and Bruce. Agreed with you 100%, Tony, on Christian Love’s voice. While I was lurking over there, someone said Christian doesn’t even like the band’s music; I think that explains a bit of what we don’t like about his voice. I don’t understand how those who praise him genuinely like his voice; he sounds nothing like Carl to me.

Others tracked down the names of the new members. Jon Bolton is the new drummer apparently. John Wedemeyer is the guitarist.

I don't know their ages. But to the point above regarding age, I think age is at least one of the general factors. Not so much like there's a specific age where you "age out" of the band. But according to Wikipedia, John Cowsill is 67 years old. I don't know how old that Jon Bolton guy is, but he appears to be quite a bit younger.

The Wedemeyer guy is, I'm guessing, younger than Totten, though perhaps not as much of a gap there.

I think the age factor is more like maintaining an overall sort of median age for the band. And yes, I've also had it theorized to me from folks over the years that there is a less professional/artistic reason Mike would want younger guys in the band around him, similar to why he seems to be so enthusiastic about getting John Stamos on stage as much as possible.

As for Totten's pleasant Facebook message, I think that's a case of being professional and understanding. I'm not saying Totten and Cowsill's departure was necessarily epically acrimonious. I'm just saying my take on it is that it's not voluntary. I think it's difficult to draw an exact analogy between this type of job and other "regular" jobs. When there is a subjective nature to the sound and look and presentation of a band, you might see changes made that you wouldn't in other "fields." That could dictate that someone who is "let go" might be more understanding on some level (and be well aware that no place in the backing band is ever permanent), but wouldn't really be exactly *happy* about it.

While a dual member change like this screamed "probably not voluntary" from the get go in my opinion, I've also had multiple other folks indicate to me that their understanding is that this was not a case of two guys simply concurrently choosing to "move on to other things."

As for Mike announcing personnel changes, we may or may not see something. In the past, Mike has sometimes announced members leaving or joining, and other times not said anything. I recall he did a double posting back to back announcing Randell Kirsch's departure and Eichenberger joining (the first time he joined). Whereas, I don't believe he announced Christian Love returning when he last rejoined.

I think it's more likely that Mike at least says *something* when it's someone who has been in the band for a long time, as Kirsch, Totten, and Cowsill were.

Not anymore:



University of St Thomas Beach Boy Concert, 6 May 2023


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xztUf5-DFBg

Hi Rocker, thanks for posting the link.

Not too much to draw from that clip and honestly, it doesn't sound vastly different. Only two major differences I'd note is tempos feeling rushed, particularly on "Good Vibrations" and Christian's lead vocal on "Darlin'"  ::)

That looks like a typical in-between-tour-legs private-ish gig that Mike has been doing for years. It's like doing an off-Broadway show; I'm sure the perfect place to give the new players a dry run. A University Gala audience is like the last place you'll see audience members noticing anything amiss musically.

Yes, I'd agree that one of the only possible takeaways from these short clips is that the tempo does feel a bit rushed. That's what you sometimes get with a younger drummer. The new guitarist is neither here nor there. I still find it kind of weird that Mike has a non-vocalist (more or less) bass player and *three* guitarists, instead of just having Eichenberger play bass as he used to, and then you could eliminate the bass player. I'm not trying to advocate for the guy not having a job. It's just ironic, as we've mentioned in recent years, that Mike seemed to find the larger 50th anniversary tour band to be anathema to his mode of running a lean touring band and operation, yet after the anniversary tour he added *two* extra members (an extra bass/guitar and the sax guy).

Let's be frank. Mike's band struggled in the aftermath of the Carl and Al being gone in the late 90s, and it was clearly Totten who, as one noted commentator said some time back, probably saved Mike's reputation as a touring act by improving the whole thing on multiple fronts. If anyone didn't already know that, it was clear when Totten (and Cowsill) were the only two players brought into Brian's band for the reunion. With those two gone, as well as Foskett, I think the band is kind of plateauing into more of a blandness. It kind of feels like it's Mike and Bruce and like 6 Keith Hubachers.

As someone also noted in the first few years after the reunion, when Foskett was poached for Mike's band, Brian (who at that point was very actively touring) should have poached Totten and Cowsill. Especially once Brian lost a few members to a variety of circumstances.

Are we sure Totten and Cowsill would have happily moved from M&B to Brian?

As in getting the right type of offer? Who knows? I'm sure it would have probably required a pretty good offer. But Brian was very actively touring in the 2016-ish timeframe, such that for a year or two, Brian's tour outgrossed Mike's.

If we're asking if Totten and Cowsill would have had so much allegiance to Mike that they never would have considered moving to Brian's band? I think all of these guys know the gig is never a forever gig. So I think most anybody in their position would at least entertain it under the right circumstances.

Foskett jumping from Brian to Mike was a thousand times more political than Totten or Cowsill jumping to Brian's band would have been, though that still obviously wouldn't *not* also be seen as a bit of upheaval in the BB touring sphere.

A ton of guys that have exited Mike's band have ended up playing with Al and/or Brian subsequently. And some of the guys that ended up in Mike's band had *previously* played with Brian or Al (Eichenberger of course, and also Randell Kirsch had done gigs with Al prior to joining Mike).  There is a large pool of ex backing band members. You can end up seeing combinations of oldtimers (Carter, Figueroa), ex-Mike guys (Farmer, Baker, Kirsch), Al guys (Matt) and even Brian guys (Probyn) all playing in the same band.

As I've mentioned previously, it will be interesting to see if Totten or Cowsill end up doing gigs with any of these off-shoot/tribute bands. Cowsill would seem more likely, as he was sort of doing that circuit prior to playing with Mike, having toured with Jan & Dean as I recall.

It will be interesting to see if there are any set list changes . I always believed Totten had a lot to do with Mikes set lists becoming more creative .

I've been wondering the same thing. I've watched Totten interject songs that were "maybes" on the setlist, to Mike's chagrin at times, that were deeper cuts. I recall him tallking Mike into/pushing the band into songs like "Good To My Babye", "Please Let Me Wonder", "All This is That"...at various shows I've seen, when they weren't printed on the set.

It seems there is no thread for Mike&Bruce's tours of this year, so I post this here:


Your chance to see the Beach Boys like never before

Don't miss a chance to see the Beach Boys perform with the Nashville Symphony. For more information, please visit nashvillesymphony.org/beachboys (https://www.nashvillesymphony.org/beachboys)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9kjfXIIVqw


There's a promo video on the nashvillesymphony link. Interestingly you obviously see Mike in that video, you never hear him. It's like someone deliberately only used songs that feature Brian clear and front (apart from "Kokomo", but they only use the chorus of that).

That's hysterical. That's been a nearly annual stop for them for well over a decade.

Meanwhile there are more recent videos of Mike & Bruce online, this is one of them:


Live in Montgomery, Alabama (May 17, 2023)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEJjMtbARTc

John Cowsill is a smart guy. He recently posted this on Facebook. As is usually the case, I suppose *someone* out there will miss the not-at-all subtle subtext (well, in this case it's literally not subtext but actual text) explaining A) At least some of the impetus behind why, or whom, made the decision to change drummers and B) Whether this was voluntary or not:

"Hi you guys and gals. I wanna say I love your loyalties and fandom/friendship over the decades. I’m an elusive private type of person. Still working on that! Lol but I need you all, if you can, to support the change by The Beach Boys, Jon Bolton is a sweet kind and solid drummer. He’s gonna bring some flash and fun to the music. It’s his turn to take the throne! And that’s the new direction John Stamos has in mind for his friends The Beach Boys. It’s all good. If you Love The Beach Boys music, I guarantee it’s still the same songs and it’ll be entertaining! I’m gonna see them in Nashville when they get there. I miss my crew bus family. Love to all of you! Now help me spead that around!!! XOXOXOXO"

In case anybody needs extra emphasis, here it is:

"Hi you guys and gals. I wanna say I love your loyalties and fandom/friendship over the decades. I’m an elusive private type of person. Still working on that! Lol but I need you all, if you can, to support the change by The Beach Boys, Jon Bolton is a sweet kind and solid drummer. He’s gonna bring some flash and fun to the music. It’s his turn to take the throne! And that’s the new direction John Stamos has in mind for his friends The Beach Boys. It’s all good. If you Love The Beach Boys music, I guarantee it’s still the same songs and it’ll be entertaining! I’m gonna see them in Nashville when they get there. I miss my crew bus family. Love to all of you! Now help me spead that around!!! XOXOXOXO"

I'm not denying he's trying to be positive and professional, just as Totten was. Just as pretty much every backing band member who has rotated through, either because they're genuinely trying to be kind and professional, or because they signed NDAs, or whatever. But this seemingly polite, amicable statement I think gets the points across that the author wants to get across.

In past years we all wondered if someone like Jeff Foskett was angling at the BB license once Mike was no longer using it. But what if John Stamos is the one angling at it? I'm genuinely just barfing that open question out there.

Okay so the mentioning of Stamos sure is odd. What on earth would he have to do with changes in the Mike & Bruce show? Legally, none I would think, unless Mike signed something off to him (which I can’t imagine).

To repeat my post on Endless Harmony:

Was Nelson Bragg looking over John C's shoulder whilst that statement was being typed?

Yyyyeahh, I don't think the implication is that Stamos is literally the manager of the touring band with direct firing authority. I'm not trying to be snarky, but I'm not sure how much more clear the implication could be.

I guess, imagine one of the other Beatles saying in 1970 "Let's all support John in his solo career. Leaving the Beatles was the new direction Yoko had in mind for her friend John Lennon."

The new drummer posted on Facebook that Stamos got him the gig:

https://fb.watch/kK41X1tTk_/

Yeah, that statement by Cowsill is a bit painful. Ouch. :(

Yeah, I think when one doesn't want to (or can't, perhaps due to NDAs) really give a long detailed interview about everything, this is about the best way to get the main gist of what went down across (meaning addressing whether it was voluntary or not) and letting people have a bit of insight into the current feelings about the situation.

As I've said before, as we all know, the gig is never a permanent one. Anybody who joins surely knows that. There's only one guy left in the backing band who played with Al and Carl (and he joined only shortly before Al and Carl left) and five guys who joined post-50th anniversary.

We don't have a great deal of detailed insight into how and why most backing members have come and gone. I'm sure this is a mixture of lack of interest from those who would conduct interviews, and also NDAs in some cases possibly as some have alluded to over the years.

Based on what we know, I think it's safe to say the vast majority of departures have not been voluntary. We have a few who have gone on record for interviews describing to some degree their departures (Foskett's first departure in 1990, Ernie Knapp, I think one if not several members have described an apparent short-term purge of members around 1977 of non-TM-practicing members, and a few other stories over the years).

I think it's also fair to say that dropping Cowsill and Totten is one of the more surprising and headscratch-inducing moves of the last couple decades, and probably the most so of the post-Al/Carl era of Mike's band.

From what I can tell, Mike used to see some value in having long-serving members in the backing band. I recall up until Kowalski's departure, Mike would often mention in interviews that his drummer had been with him since 1968. Clearly, he no longer sees a need to project that to audiences. Hence the band is being back-filled with (relatively) younger members, and is taking on a rather homogeneous look and sound as I've mentioned in past posts.

I'll be honest, This whole thing makes no sense to me. I guess I don't follow the ins and outs of Beach Boys and Beach Boys adjacent backing groups. Can somebody spell this out for me? Mike is taking advice from John Stamos on how to run his group?

For what it’s worth, one small observation from me at aBeach Boys concert last year in Tilburg,The Netherlands. Stamos was present that night and doing his thing. At one point he took over on drums which was not to Cowsill’s liking. I don’t know ifStamos was supposed to play drums those particular songs, if it was planned, or not. John Cowsill made gestures and was saying things and from his body language and facial expression I could tell he was irritated. Stamos notuced this and tried to talk to Cowsill, while he was drumming. Cowsill did not make eye contact with Stamos and took a tambourine and remained on stage to sing harmonies.

Yes.

If you take even a cursory glance at how Mike interacts with Stamos versus how he interacts with almost anybody else, you can see that for whatever reason, he is literally a thousand times more happy and literally glowing when he's around Stamos. Look at him at a gig or in an interview with Stamos versus, say, Mike's demeanor during the 50th anniversary sitting next to Brian and Al for interviews.

As someone said many years ago, I personally have little doubt that Mike would boot his own kid off the tour if he could replace him with Stamos full time. Yes, Mike is truly *that* enamored with Stamos.

I literally cannot think of a time where I've seen or heard Mike happier than he is when he's around John Stamos. It's like every type of interaction/relationship rolled into one. They've got a dudebro friendship going on, they've got a mutual celebrity fistbump thing going on, and they both act towards the other as a kind of sycophantic fanboy. Mike literally namedrops Stamos at concerts and has for years, even when Stamos is not at the gig. Like, Mike is a guy who has co-written, sung, and performed literally some of the universally-recognized greatest music of all time. He's met, known, and performed alongside countless luminaries. Yet, what he wants everybody to know is that he's best friends with John Stamos.

The plot thickens. John Cowsill just posted a photo of him with his arm around his replacement.

Interviews with Mike:


Don’t miss your chance to see The Beach Boys take over Nashville


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COTcfaGU_48



Mike Love - The Beach Boys' Tour - FOX17 Rock & Review


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSlV8PMbokc

It’s official. In a comment on a Facebook post about his website, John Cowsill wrote “I was let go by The Beach Boys.”

Awful, Mike's letting Stamos run his touring band. BW needs the BBs name back before we get a stamos run touring act.

Presumably, he bares no ill will toward the new guy, and doesn't want him to face any misguided rage from the fans.

But the level of implied involvement from Uncle Jesse certainly did raise my eyebrows...

I didn't see that comment anywhere, just curious as to where you saw it on Facebook? Usually when other band members have departed in the past there's supposedly been some sort of gag order in place, so I'd be surprised if JC bluntly stated that he was let go. Would be curious to see that in writing from him.

Cowsill said it in a response to someone's comment under one of his posts (I think the one with simply a link to his website).  You have to dig through them.  It's way down in a chain of posts and responses.  But yes, he writes "I was let go by the Beach Boys."

FWIW I don't think Brian is ever gonna tour again.

Does anyone know the real reason  why Scott and John left the Mike Love Beach Boys. 

Thx in advance, for any responses



Parlay

Knowing Mike it was probably dollar related. However as far as Castle goes it sounds like Stamos had something going on behind the scenes favoring a friend of his and used his influence on mike. It sounds like Stamos and Castle worn on the best of terms from some of the recent commentary though I could be wrong

Interesting little side note. Jeff Foskett was involved in recruiting John Wedemeyer.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/entertainment-columns/kats/its-still-surreal-vegas-musician-backs-beach-boys-after-righteous-brothers-2921358/