The Smiley Smile Message Board

7 PM Eastern time.   Also will be streaming live on QVC.com.

THanks for the heads up. DVR is set. Because I always remember shows are on a  couple hours after they're over.

So how many we got, 3 threads on this already?  ::)

Surely we can expect a greatest hits set?

The Greatest Hits Bonus CD is crap.  What, 11 songs?  C'mon.

I think someone's gonna get it for a Father's Day present though....   :)

Sorry for starting another topic on this.  I saw the one about the BB merchandise but didn't see where they were performing.

I've got my fingers crossed that they perform something live from the new album other than TWGMTR. If they do,  I'm putting my chips on 'Spring Vacation'.

They haven't played any other new tune aside from TWGMTR on the road....not sure they'd want to reveal a new song, played for the first time on TV?  It'd be bold as hell if they did though.

Where is this streaming? It's mentioned on the product page, but where can we find the actual video when the time comes?

The link on the left menu labeled Watch Live TV....

Do It Again up first

Brian seems thrilled to be there.  :lol

Is this the first time Mike is donning the new black BB 50 logo cap?

Brian is hating life. I don't blame him. Mike is great.

Catch A Wave

Sad to say, but it's painful to see Brian out there.

...and we've gotten plenty of shots of how the actual disc looks.

this woman is painful

Ugh...but why did they have to use the cover of the new album for the bonus greatest hits disc? 

lol mike is pointing out brian, brian is probably like "MIKE F YOU LEAVE ME ALONE" lol

"what song would you like us to do now?"
"leave me alone you crazy woman"

HA! 

Brian:  "What song do you want us to do now??!"

"What do you want us to do now?"  :lol

I've unfortunately seen enough of these types of things to know how annoying the host and format is, but I need to ask this rhetorical question: Why is this woman yelling? Good lord....... Did someone not tell her she has a microphone?

Looking like we're only going to get a hand full of songs when you factor in the yapping and the hard selling of this CD.

Somehow I doubt they'll be performing "All This Is That" or "Marcella" here....   :lol

"The Lady" almost seems scared to get too close to Brian.

this is probably the low of the reunion so far ha

Anyone who wants to listen to the most effects-free mix of the guys doing these songs on this tour...this is the show to watch.

spin move mike? really?  :lol :lol :lol :lol

man, that woman is painful to listen to...not sure this is worth watching when you have to listen to her between every song

The most interesting part of this is the chance to hear a non-audience recording rendition of some of these songs from the band. Given the format and the annoying, weird nature of this whole thing, the band on the whole sounds good.

DVR it and fast-forward it.

Wow! Awkward "Beach Boys Family and Friends" reference talking to Al.  :lol  :lol  :lol  :lol  :lol

What, they couldn't get AGD to host this?

i was hoping the album would be a paper case actually.

Wow, this lady actually makes the reference to Stamos less annoying. I actualy wish Stamos was hosting this....

I think Mike Love's got a real future as a QVC pitchman, he's doing a way better job than the host. Also, what would Dennis make of all this?

They look good, sound great and Brian's messing about with his keyboard while that woman is talking mince...this is amazing!  ;D

Hard to say for sure if this is the real, stock copy of the album or just a mock up. They showed the actual disc and it did seem legit, so I would lean towards this actually being the real product. But who knows......

So we learn that there will definitely be a DVD of various performances from the tour...Mike mentioned it in connection with the PBS special....it didn't sound like they were both really related though...sounded like two separate projects.

these close-ups are too close for me

Brian sounded great on the bridge!

I love the occasional big grin Brian gives  ;D I'm finding this enjoyable despite the host.

Flashing back to Dennis' appearance with the band on "Good Morning America" in 1980 is just another reason I wish Dennis were here to make the non-music portion of this QVC thing more interesting....  :lol

"for the ladies"? really mike  :lol
this crowd looks like they were their for a jerry springer taping.

Did you guys hear the mix on Surfer Girl??? I could pick out every one of their voices with ease and it was sublime. If Mike was hosting this instead of her this would be the greatest tv spectacle ever.

This hostess reminds me of Nancy Grace, and it's creeping me out.

Brian seems to have no patience for her.  :-D

i learned songwriting from mike love. AAND brian wilson of course lol

The way you phrased "Brian seems to have no patience for her." cracked me up!  :lol

for some reason just calling GOK a ballad doesn't sound right

Brian took Carl's harmony part in the bridge!  :o

Nice to have Brian's rendition of "God Only Knows" on this tour for the archives, as I would assume any resulting DVD will have the Carl video rendition.....

Awesome to hear Bruce do his part in the tag. Uncanny, too ... does that man's voice ever age?

I hope those 8,200 count towards the first week

Good to hear Bruce on the GOK outro.  Mike is a hound, putting some moves on the host.

TWGMTR sounds great.

"Gee Caroline, would you say that song was 'awesome'?"  ::)

Yeah, sounds like they re-arranged it a bit after the Fallon appearance. Sounds excellent.

Bruce did sound great on GOK didn't he! The Lovester is absolutely off the scale, this woman can't contain herself around his presence!

Whoa, whoa, Mr. Marks.... you're sounding classy and humble and soft-spoken....... not what this lady is about!!!!  :lol

Nice to see David get some face time

Appropriate Music...my favourite kind

They need to bring Mike up in the mix on Little Honda.

Was that Mrs. Jardine???

This lady is ridiculous....

Looked like it!

Was really hoping Brian would bring up LSD as the inspiration behind California Girls. Would have been amazing!

Mike Love with the Katy Perry diss.

13,000

That's a great start, in addition to the Amazon pre-orders, for first week sales!!

I liked Al's lol face. It really reads 'I can't believe this woman's for real' to me.

I wish that announcer lady wasn't wearing skin-tight, skin-colored pants. Givin' me some baaad vibrations.

well rock on, girl

This special should be subtitled "That's Why God Made the DVR."

Every time the host starts speaking, my fast forward button certainly comes in handy.  ;D

Thank goodness Bruce didn't add "I wish they all could be QVC girls!"

This count down sh*t is embarrassing

lol. david "iii'm not doing a pun"

Man, David Marks is awesome! Is any of his solo stuff avaliable?

Loved Brian's Cheshire Cat grin at the end of WIBN!! God bless those guys!! ;D

Yes! They messed up the lyrics to Wouldn't It Be Nice! If I ever see them do it live with the right lyrics all the way through i'll be disappointed!  :lol

maybe im missing something but is that not a really crap number for a huge band on a big tv show?

Um ... it's a basic cable shopping channel.

Wow - Bob Mackie just name checked the Elton show in '75 (the one where the 'Boys blew Elton off the stage!) Interesting.

That was a great tv performance. it really was. Live is live, and they looked and sounded good.

The host was irritating, but QVC and HSN hosts are supposed to be. ABC - Always Be Closing!

A "big" TV show that airs on cable--which only a small portion of the population actually watch.  Regardless, 13K in just one hour is significant.  In today's age where the compact disk is slowly being phased out, not sure what kind of numbers you're actually looking for.

My only quibble (outside of the hostess, who made me long for the restraint of a PBS pledge drive) was that a lot of the lead vocals seemed buried in the mix.  I kept thinking "See the guy that's singing? Turn the knob with his name on it up, please."

Did Brian think they were going to play "Good Vibrations"?

fair enough, i dont know anything about QVC really, just presumed it must have a big audience if they were bothered doing it

Yes indeed, that was Mrs. Jardine rocking out in the audience. Looked like she was enjoying the music as much as us.

In this day and age, 13,000 copies is more than enough to crack the Billboard top 100. Coupled with sales from other places and looks like they're going to have a very high charting album.

Saw Rod Stewart on one of those QVC-type shows around Christmas, hawking another one of his karaoke old standards CD's. Sold a boat load of 'em as I recall (although it was a 2 hr show as I recall). I'm thinking around 20K or so.

Definitely.

Btw, they announced "well over 14,000" before the last song.

If they wound up selling 15,000, $300,000 was generated in an hour. Not bad!

I recorded it, I have it uploading to YouTube as we speak.

What an asshole Bruth is. :o

The last number the lady gave was over 14,000 with 5 minutes to go before the show was over. They probably got near 16,000 in the hour.

Looking past the hostess (which is typical for any program like this) I thought the whole thing went really well. They sounded great throughout and it was great to see them. Loved getting to hear from David so much.

Awesome!

I have to wonder why the camera operators chose to focus on the most unattractive people in the audience.  :lol

nm

Myke's voice on the fast stuff is pure crap. He was coughin' up phlem. They ought to let Al or Brian do the heavy duty songs.

Um, this is QVC, those were the attractive people...

Like Al. Seriously, man: Crypt Keeper.

(http://www.bryanreesman.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Crypt-Keeper-231x300.jpg)

(http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Al+Jardine+1-GVhyJeg32m.jpg)

What's your account page?

A very entertaining hour. I thought the hostess was great. She was very upbeat and for the most part had her facts straight. It's not easy talking with the Beach Boys. Other than Mike, they're not the best at handling spur of the moment questions and thinking on their feet.

I thought Brian was better than I expected. His opening vocal/verse on "God Only Knows" sent shivers down my spine.

I like the chemistry between the five Beach Boys and I sense that the band is working well together, too.

A quick question....On "Little Honda", I heard one of those sliding, Dick Dale-like riffs. Was that a guitar or bass? Who was playing that? It was great.

That was great! I didn't hear any pitch correction, which is perfect, because they didn't need it. Brian sounded strong on GOK. Overall, it was definitely worth suffering through the pitch lady's spiel. Too bad they couldn't have Mike Rowe getting back into his old gig for this one...  :lol

Think that Totten did that Dick Dale type thing. Sounded cool huh?

You guys are really incredible. What did you expect her to do? They were there to sell, not a personal concert just for you. I thought she talked them up great. She interviewed all of the guys. She gave Brian his space and didn't push him to say too much. Short of Fred Vail, she did great. The guys sang beautiful. This year has to be their best on TV since the 60's.

Well, my normal account is beachboysvidz, but unfortunately I have to upload this one on my other one WDWparkvids    (I'm a Disney geek, whatever)

Brian is the man for being honest about the QVC event.

Watching now on DVR, this is actually making me really happy.

-Brian sounded great on God Only Knows
-When David Marks said "Brian was like my football coach" and Brian smiled wide, that was so great.
-Host is annoying, but whatever.
-Brian saying "it was a creative explosion" and the band cracking up was great.

Best moments were David's thoughtful thanks to the fans, and "I'm not going to use a pun" and Mike saying Katy Perry can't spell  :lol

I just about burst out laughing when Brian was looking into space during WIBN and then snapped into a big grin when he noticed the camera was on him.  :lol

The performances were great, everyone sounded on-point and the song choice was satisfying. Mike was too low on a couple of numbers (mainly Little Honda and Surfin' Safari) and it would've been nice to at least have two songs back to back without that lady jumping in, but it's understandable since they're all there to sell copies. Brian blew me away on God Only Knows, to many in the crowd it was just a "ballad" but I'm sure we can all recognize the importance of that particular performance. It was also pretty funny when the woman said she'd stand next to Mike and he's all "OH, absolutely." All in all I thought it was great. I'll never pass up an opportunity to see the Boys play in HD and the mini-interviews were actually pretty entertaining, especially hearing David speak.

(Disneyland nerd here)

 :lol :lol :lol

I give a lot of credit to Dr. Love for spinning around at his age on live television like that. Most people at age 70 don't have the equilibrium they used to, and there's nothing more embarrassing than losing your balance and falling on your ass in front of all those people. He took a gamble with that one!  :lol

Dave's the Man! I think he's enjoying this reunion just like us fans.

The mix on California Girls is kind of rough.

I sure hope he is, I've really grown to love that guy through all of this.

QVC is what is is. What were people expecting? Beach Boy fans will buy the new album. With QVC they were able to reach an audience that might not have bought the album otherwise.  

I thought the show was great! When the camera panned the group Brian put on a smile. Great to see ANY concert/show with the Beach Boys on TV. David gets some air time along with the rest on the group. Just fantastic.

50! :rock

That's a new one for those who've not followed Mike and Bruce's live outfit these past years. They've been doing it for a while now. Gotta love Totten.

what an awesome show! The host was perfect and clearly is a fan. So funny how there are negative comments on here. It's really bizarre. She was nice and complimented them so many times. Her little perverted woody joke was so embarassing/funny. I loved Little Honda, Dance, Dance Dance and Catch A Wave! It's so rare to see those types of songs outside of the concerts. Brian smiled a lot! Mike is just amazing. I think they should've thrown in a Help Me Rhonda instead of God Only Knows or something. David Marks is so cool!

Nice, stripped down performance with some great moments in there and some unintentional comedy genius moments. The Family/Friends reference was hilariously awkward! Bruce crediting Mike for songwriting...Bruce give it up he's not really your boss right now. Stop sucking up! What did Mike honestly teach you??
The lead vocals were too low throughout. I think they stuck to songs on that Bonus CD but I wish Brian and Al had another lead each and not as much Mike. His voice cracked on Dance Dance Dance a few times.  The hostess deserves a thread herself. Mike was doing a good job being the front man/spokesperson even though he is hoarse sometimes.  But overall I liked the tempo and energy. Brian had some great smiles, Dave is so classy. Mike's spin move was cool.

So... Who here actually bought a copy from QVC?

Honestly, it's been my favorite part of things for whatever reason.  Just seems like the guy should've been there all along and it's cool that he's getting this moment.  I recently bought his autobio as I slept on it before.

I'm so tempted just to have the stupid bonus disc package as a collector's item.  Pathetic, pathetic.

http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.item.F09851.cm_scid.PROM

Video is up, in really, really, really, REALLY shitty quality on their website.

Yeah, my thinking exactly. RESIST!!

Mike's spin move is gangster.  Only Mike could pull that off.   He actually didn't pull it off but he's such a bad ass everybody's afraid to say anything to him. 

Lol, Mike was pretty damned good tonight. His rapport with the motormouth saleswoman was spot on. Especially his reference to "Caroline, No," when he said, "She didn't change for the better like you did." That was pretty quick thinking, and pretty smooth.

Mike's shtick works excellent with the crowd he's working with.  To us we've heard all the stories and jokes a million times, but to the people watching QVC, they probably thought he was awesome.  None of the other guys could pull that off as well as he does, it's cool to watch him in his element. 

I feel like he's molesting me though when he grins into the camera, and points at me, then winks and licks his lips a little bit, then makes a coke bottle shape. 

BTW, they're selling a sh*tload of albums on this show.  If these all count as 1st week sales, this motherf*cker might debut at #1.  

Edit:

Here's this weeks album sales....

1. Carrie Underwood – Blown Away 120k
2. Adele – 21 101k
3. Lionel Richie’s – Tuskegee 71k
4. Now 42 65k
5. Norah Jones – Little Broken Hearts 60k
6. Silversun Pickups – Neck of the Woods 41k
7. One Direction – Up All Night 40k
8. Jack White – Blunderbuss 34k
9. Tank – This Is How I Feel 33k
10. Luke Bryan – Tailgates & Tanlines 26k

I think this album can easily make the top 10 when it's released, it'll be interesting to see where it ends up. 

I believe if you listen to the 'early takes' of the song, the lyrics are backwards from the single too... so they either messed up the demo or messed up the single. 

A question posted on the product page by a faithful QVC viewer:

What are the names of the Beach Boys? Is it true that one of them is Tom Hanks's dad?

That person must have really done some digging, to find out about the child Mike had with his junior high school teacher...

LOL!  That's quite random.  Is there ANY Tom Hanks connection at all with the Beach Boys, outside of the 6degreesofKevinBacon thing?

Really though, you have to admit: If this show wasn't on QVC, whoever that poster was probably wouldn't have bought the album (maybe they still didn't).  

Just realized: Tom Hanks is famously married to Rita Wilson.  


Can't make this stuff up, folks.  


I just googled it. Apparently, a chain email is being passed around claiming Tom Hanks father was the lead singer of the Diamonds.  Which isn't true.  So the poster confused the Beach Boys with the Diamonds, and confused the lead singer of the Diamonds with Tom Hanks father.... and apparently, many other people have done the same thing. 

Update: Mike just stroked himself in the middle of California Girls to show how tan he was. 

Aside from the lady talking way too much, I thought it was a great performance. But they could have played twice as many songs if they hadn't spent 5 minutes talking in between every song. I also thought the last song was going to be Good Vibrations.

Haven't read a lot from the thread, but did anyone else catch at the end when Brian was looking down doing nothing as the camera rolled upon him, but then suddenly realized he was being filmed and shot up quick, smiling and waving? LOL classic Brian moment.

I hope better quality versions of the performances make their way onto YouTube pretty soon (and stay up).

What was the name of that volleyball in Cast Away?

Haha...amazing.

Good catch.

I just finished the show in lo-fi, I thought it was exceptionally good.  I never thought these guys would be able to perform like this at this age.  I know 70's the new 55 but still.  We basically have 5 guys here who are functioning professionally at a really high level, and nobody's dropped the ball yet.  I hope I have the stamina and the will power to still be doing what I love to do when I'm 70, as well as they're doing it.  

Bruce sounds amazing, when he has a little vocal lick in a song, you see him singing his heart out with that same, classic Bruce smile, and that same, classic Bruce voice he had when he was in his 20's.  It's like time stops for a minute.  Listen to him on the end round in California Girls.... sounds awesome.

David is like a kid at Christmas, he realizes probably more than anybody in the band what the weight of this is, and he's enjoying every minute of it.  Up until a few months ago, his time in the Beach Boys was probably his fondest memories, and something he thought he had lost 50 years ago.  Now he's right back where he was when he was a teenager.  Television shows, world tours, new albums, working with genius musicians and the best friends he ever knew.  The best part about it: He knows it.  

Mike is rising to the occassion and working as hard as he possibly can to be great at what he does.  He comes across as well spoken, he sings to the best of his ability, and he acts like a gentleman for every interview, not just some of them.  If he hasn't turned over a new leaf, he's sure as hell putting on a good show.  

Al looks perpetually stuck in 1974, in a good way.  He's even wearing white suits again.  His ability to bury the hatchet with Mike is inspiring to me... and he comes across as the most down to earth (outside of David) of the group.  His voice still has the most energy in it, just like Murry telling him to enunciate, 45 years later he's still putting the swagger in the vocals where it needs it.  

Finally we have Brian.  Who knows what goes on inside that brilliant, well coiffed, half deaf head of his.  Like the last 30 years of his career, 95% of what you see is a little bit depressing... and then for 5% of the time, he either wows us with another one of those beautiful Wilson brother SMiLEs, or hits a note just right enough that you think it's 1965 again.  Just as soon as your ears or your eyes catch that little glimse of the Brian that once was, he's gone again, sunk back into his chair, slipping off the side of the camera, shrinking back into his oversized shirt.... waiting for the next little flash of hope he shows us.  

God bless these guys, may their music go on and on.  

David was in the band from 97-99, played hundreds of shows with the band, and even made a CD with them and was pictured on the front cover. But yeah, I'm sure it is cool for him to be on stage with Brian again.

The Beach Boys really WOWED me tonight.  Brian's vocal on God Only Knows also gave me chills!    Nice to see that Al's Postcard CD got a plug too.  By my count, I saw Mrs Jardine in the audience rocking and dancing 9 times.

No, I wasn't one of the 14,000 purchasing the new CD and bonus disc for $25 including shipping and handling.

Let me get this straight.  This show sold 14,000+ copies right? So, we KNOW that we'll at least double that number (probably quadruple it actually) with Amazon pre-orders and just plain old buying the album at a record store.  How can this NOT go number 1?  I mean, is the band expecting it to do THAT well?  Something seems fishy here.  What am I missing?

Oh, and the above post is beautiful Ron.  Very inspiring.  Well written.

David Marks' 1997-99 stint might've been bittersweet because of the circumstances that prompted his joining the band at that time.

Zach, I agree.  14,000 sales is HUGE right now.  I don't know the specifics but I guess album sales suck so bad because you can download them for free, and also because most people would likely prefer to just download and buy specific tracks instead of the entire album.  

So yeah, 1 damn store (basically) which really isn't even that big (who the hell watches QVC?) sold 14 K.  I would be shocked if the Amazon sales weren't at least 3 times that.  Add in all the mom and pop stores.  Add in all the Wal-Marts, Best Buys, add in all the other online stores.  Add in Itunes.  

NO WAY this won't go top 5.  

14 thousand, jesus christ

I really hope you're right.  That would be crazy.  A top 5 Beach Boys album in my lifetime.  :thud

I'll start by saying I don't know jack about how album rankings are done. But I'm assuming weekly sales are added by the week. So by the week they release TWGMTR, Carrie Underwood's current number 1--which seems to be way out in the lead, compared to the number 2--will have continued to gain sales. It's 120,000 right now, and it appears it was released roughly two weeks ago. How many will it sell in another two-three weeks? Probably less than another 120,000, but who knows? I wouldn't get my hopes too high for TWGMTR to get to number 1, but it doesn't look like there's a chance in hell that it WON'T easily get into the top 10. That's gunna be awesome.

With that said, I really hope it goes to number 1. Brian would love that, I bet.

Anybody got a link to a you tube of this? Brilliantly, I couldn't figure out that it was EASTERN time.

Let's make Mike Love's dream of a #1 come true, eh? Anybody who doesn't buy the album in the first week gets his ass kicked. Okay?

Just think about this...

The new Beach Boys album...in 2012...has the potential to beat Pet Sounds in terms of chart placement.

Landlocked:  Get this.... the 120k Carrie sold was THIS WEEK.  The album rankings are done week to week.  Now, there may be another big album released the same week as the Beach Boys, I don't know.... but Carrie's album was #1 by selling 120K this week.  The Beach Boys just sold 14K in one store, in 1 hour.  

Here's a link from QVC, but be warned: The quality is very bad. 

http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.item.F09851.cm_scid.PROM

I agree that Amazon pre-sales are going to outdo the QVC ones, but as far as "who the hell watches QVC?" comment: the Beach Boys demographic, that's who. Middle-aged women with credit cards who buy things on impulse. And the Beach Boys, for that demographic? Fuggeddaboutit! Nostalgia to the max. No surprise they sold 14,000+. QVC is broadcasted to hundreds of millions of people, so they have a very large viewership.

The June 5th releases are going to be a Joe Walsh album, and a Neil Young album... and the Beach Boys 'reunion' album.  I think the boys can win that battle. 

I really enjoyed that. The host did actually seem to be a fan, and I loved how she wanted to give all the guys a chance to talk. And she acknowledged the backup band. Brian in particular sounded great, I thought. Some of his stuff is not easy to sing, and he did well.

The only things I didn't like were that you could barely hear Mike and Bruce when they spoke, and that the host talked to Brian like he's a child.

OK, so you're saying the way it goes, is new albums by week? Like, Carrie's album can't be on the charts the same week the Boys release theirs because by then her album will no longer qualify as a new release? Or are you just saying that at the rate the Boys are selling album pre-sales, there's no way in hell they can't top her?

I think so, too. Neil has tons of fans, and he'll do plenty well, but he doesn't have the QVC legions on his side.

Hell yes. Why, on the show prior to the Beach Boys appearance an 80 year old woman called in and nearly died from the excitement of having packaged meat delivered to her house. THESE are the people who will help push this album to the top spot on the charts!

I suppose so, but still it's just a 1 hour show that I saw absolutely no promo for... so you're still only inside the marketplace of people who already watch QVC pretty religously (7pm. eastern?  Seriously?).... It wasn't even in primetime.  Less than 1% of the country was watching this show... and they still sold 14K.  Now granted I imagine a ton of the people watching bought the album.... but still.  

BTW, folks: The album and maybe even that package or a similar one will still be on sale on QVC.com and likely pop up on the television show too, from time to time, for THREE MORE WEEKS.  They're going to kill with this album.  

I really love this.. I am so stoked for the all involved!

I think that the label should really do their best to persuade QVC to re-run this show religiously over the next few weeks. Honestly, I think if they did, they would be almost guaranteed a number 1. QVC is the Beach Boys' bread and butter demographic. Does anyone know for a fact if/when they are going to re-air this?

No, it works simply like this: Every week, from tuesday through monday, they count how many of each album are sold.  Carrie sold 120 thousand albums in this week, and nobody else sold that many, so she was #1.  By the time the Beach Boys album comes out, Carrie Underwood won't be selling 120 thousand albums a week anymore, because many of the people who want the album will have already bought it.  So that week, she may only sell 30 thousand albums.  Since it's the first week of the Beach Boys album, they'll have all their pre-sales counted, plus whoever buys it off the shelf that week.  So the number will likely be the highest it will ever be, on that first week.  However many Carrie (or anybody else) has sold the weeks before is irrelevant, they only count how many are sold each week.  

I am ecstatic they sold that many records and that was just during the show

I was pretty down on this QVC idea but man did it pay off

None of the albums released the same day as the Beach Boys are charting higher than them on Amazon's best seller list.  HOWEVER, I did just see that Alan Jackson is releasing a new album the same day as them.  That will be their competition... He may be hard to outsell.  

Crystal clear, I got it.

I just read your comment about Alan Jackson. He's one of them good ol' country boys, ain't he? I guess you're right about him being their competition, since obviously them country folks still buy albums, as evidenced by Carrie Underwood's sales.

Thanks Ron for the link.

Why in the world is the audio so crappy?  Tweeting noise bugs me!

Can't wait to see the BOYS in Berkeley, CA!

I am still keeping my hopes up they will do Country Air or something else from WILD HONEY and something else from Sunflower!

Yes, do not underestimate Alan Jackson, that guy can sell records.  He's probably already got some unbelievably catchy hick song playing on every hick radio in the USA, and I'd probably like that hick song if I heard it.  I myself am a hick from time to time.  

Seriously though, he's the real deal, he'll give them a run for their money.  

Since it's QVC, they probably usually have clips up of them just pitching something that isn't music, so the audio doesn't have to be that good.  So they've used the same compression on this file, which unfortunately makes all the beautiful harmonies sound like sh*t.  Good folks are working, I'm sure, on uploading a nice quality file of this to youtube... when it played on T.V. it was in HD and a lot of people recorded it.  So give it a couple hours and you'll have good quality versions of all this. 

Here's the competition.  Alan Jackson's new album "Thirty Miles West" features the lead single "So You Don't Have To Love Me Anymore".  Alan's written 24 of his 34 #1 songs.... the only singer/songwriters who have written that many of their personal #1's are John Lennon and Paul McCartney (but you have to take into consideration a country #1 isn't a 'regular' #1)

"So You Don't Have To Love Me Anymore"


I’ll be the bad guy,
I’ll take the black eye,
When I walk out,
You can slam the door,
I’ll be the S.O.B,
If that’s what you need from me,
So you don’t have to love me anymore.

When you and our friends talk,
Make it all my fault,
Tell ‘em I’m rotten to the core,
I’ll let it all slide,
Get ‘em all on your side,
So you don’t have to love me anymore.

I will keep,
All those memories, of the good times.
Yeah, there were some good times.
So when you think,
Of you and me,
They won’t even cross your mind.

If the wine you’re drinkin’,
Leads you to thinkin’,
That you want what we had before,
Girl you can call me,
I’ll let it ring and ring,
So you don’t have to love me anymore.

Yeah, I will keep,
All those memories, of the good times.
Yeah, there were some good times.
So when you think,
Of you and me,
They won’t even cross your mind.

If you need me to make you cry,
I don’t want to but I’ll try,
So you don’t have to love me anymore.

Those lyrics are almost good enough to have made it onto Love You.

LOL Yeah it's definately not that great.  I gotta give the nod to Joe Thomas on this one. 

No way in hell are we going to be outdone by Alan Jackson.  Is it bad I've never even heard of him?

Bad? No. Odd? If you live in the USA, kind of.

He's huge.  H U G E.  If you're not into country though, it's completely possible you've never heard of him.  He's probably the third biggest selling country artist ever... and honestly, he's pretty talented.  He's a pretty simple person, really down to earth... most of his songs are really similar, although he sometimes does some surprising things with strings, or does an album of gospel songs, or whatever.  

He's probably best known for his 9/11 song, probably the best one anybody wrote.  Lots of country acts wrote songs about 9/11, but they ranged from being angry, to patriotic, or whatever... Alan's song was pretty brilliant because it didn't really comment on anyting negative, it just reflected on different reactions people had to the bombings.  

Anyways, if you want something decent he wrote, here's one:

Cowboys dont cry, and heroes dont die
Good always wins, again and again
Love is a sweet dream that always comes true
Oh, if life were like the movies, Id never be blue

But here in the real world
Its not that easy at all
cause when hearts get broken
Its real tears that fall
And darlin its sad but true
But the one thing Ive learned from you
Is how the boy dont always get the girl
Here in the real world

I gave you my love, but that wasnt enough
To hold your heart when times got rough
And tonight on that silver screen
Itll end like it should
Two lovers will make it through
Like I hoped we would

But here in the real world
Its not that easy at all
cause when hearts get broken
Its real tears that fall
And darlin its sad but true
But the one thing Ive learned from you
Is how the boy dont always get the girl
Here in the real world

Nice lyrics, aside from the cowboy reference  ;)

Yeah, I live in the states, but am not into country whatsoever.  So that's probably why.  I believe I probably heard his 9/11 song though.

Great post all around. Bruce really, really stuck out to me on the end of California Girls. He sounded absolutely fantastic.

I caught the last half of the show, and I have to say Brian looks miserable.  Not sure if anyone else caught this but towards the end of the show, the camera was panning across the stage, from right to left, and everyone's doing their thing.  It gets to Brian and he looks like he's about to cry.  At the last second, he realizes the camera's on him, straightens his slouch, puts on a fake grin and starts snapping his fingers to the beat.  It took all of five seconds, but felt like an eternity.

Hate to say it, but I'm not believing that his heart and his mind are into this tour.  You can see it in his eyes.  Love Brian Wilson, but it sucks seeing him this way.  

I agree. I feel bad for him. I'm assuming, from his demeanor from most of the footage I've seen, that he's only doing this because the people around him are pressuring him to. Which is not a surprise.

Zach, check this one out.  He wrote this when his father passed away.  

It was painted red the stripe was white
It was eighteen feet from the bow to the stern light
Secondhand from a dealer in Atlanta
I rode up with daddy when he went there to get her
We put on a shine; put on a motor
Built out of love, made for the water
Ran her for years, 'til the transom got rotten
A piece of my childhood that will never be forgotten

It was just on old plywood boat
With a '75 Johnson with electric choke
A young boy two hands on the wheel
I can't replace the way it made me feel
And I would turn her sharp
And I would make her whine
He'd say, "you can't beat the way an old wood boat rides"
Just a little lake across the Alabama line
But I was king of the ocean
When daddy let me drive

Just an old half ton shortbed ford
My uncle bought new in '64
Daddy got it right 'cause the engine was smoking
A couple of burnt valves and he had it going
He let me drive her when we'd haul off a load
Down a dirt strip where we'd dump trash off of Thigpen Road
I'd sit up in the seat and stretch my feet out to the pedals
Smiling like a hero that just received his medal

It was just an old hand-me-down Ford
With a three-speed on the column and a dent in the door
A young boy two honds on the wheel
I canö³t replace the way it mode me feel
And I would press that clutch
And I would keep it right
And he'd say, "a little slower son you're doing just fine"
Just a dirt rood with trash on each side
But I was Mario Andretti
When daddy let me drive

I'm grown up now three daughters of my own
I let them drive my old Jeep across the pasture at our home
Maybe one day they'll reach back in their file
And pull out that old memory
And think of me and smile and say

It was just an old worn out Jeep
Rusty old floorboard, hot on my feet
A young girl two hands on the wheel
I can't replace the way it made me feel
And he'd say, "turn it left and steer it right,
Straighten up girl, you're doing just fine"
Just a little valley by the river where we'd ride
But I was high on a mountain
When daddy let me drive

When daddy let me drive

It's good to see Brian plugging away at that keyboard

Brian did great. Keep your expectations realistic. This thing is a miracle.

Yeah, he seemed to be playing it a lot in some of the songs.  I think he has his up and down days.  When they tell him he's going to do a show purely to pitch cd's on an infomercial, I doubt that really gets him very excited to be there.  Today was probably a down day.  

I love it when BW said " I hope you like Good Vibrations because that's our masterpiece".

I'm a big believer with Brian that his interest and engagement can be easily measured by how good he sounds. He has generally sounded great during the tour -- easily on par, and often surpassing, his solo shows. No, he doesn't always look thrilled. But he doesn't always look thrilled during 90 percent of his public appearances. That's just his thing. If he was truly out of it, and truly didn't want to do this, he would not be singing leads at all. And no one could make him.

thank you for this lovely and very serious post; I agree. I too am hoping for a good HD version uploaded and linked here; the laptop youtube did not justice to the BB work.
BB for ever; this was so real and intimate. Only really silly moment was Al and Mike punning on titles, but Dave rightly took us back to direct, genuine expression and made it all real. That was my favorite moment.

the host woman was great; she's a pitch man, and she pitched hear heart out for the Boys; I loved her.

I thought Brian sounded amazingly great, considering the risk factor. I loved how he cut off that lady with "What do you want us to sing now?", as if he was thinking "Shut up airhead". :lol  Mike was ok, but seemed to have trouble on "Dance Dance Dance".  I would have liked to have seen Al have at least one lead. I think that Al often gets overlooked. The Good Morning America show from 1980 is a good example. Poor Al always gets pushed in the background.  ;D

I really love the guitar that Dave has been playing throughout the tour and on the QVC program.  8)

Lemme put it this way...  in one hour, they just sold more copies than "Summer In Paradise" ever did.

Cheers,
Jon Blum

Here it is folks!


http://youtu.be/QJJaeva9r_g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJJaeva9r_g&t=57m10s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJJaeva9r_g&t=57m10s)

Not sure if he looks like he's about to cry but he certainly doesn't look too happy either.

After hearing Brian sing God Only Knows, I wish he'd get to do it at the shows. They should still dedicate it to Carl & have the video & pictures on the screen, but Brian sounds really good, especially with the Beach Boys singing backup.

Anyone see the guy in the audience with the Summer In Paradise Tour T-Shirt on?  ;D

Who's doubling Al on the WIBN lead? Doesn't sound as distinctly Al as the Fallon performance.

Watching now...wow Brian sounded great on his part on Surfer Girl...possibly the closest I've heard him sound to the studio recording in a post-60s performance.

I agree that they should keep Brian on lead for God Only Knows, he sounds really great doing it. If I were in charge of the live show, I'd use archival footage of Carl singing Darlin' for his tribute as:
- no current Beach Boy can effectively sing Darlin''s lead
- it has been a sore omission from the setlist
- it's as much Carl Wilson's signature song as God Only Knows, he always destroyed it live!

Seeing Brian sing God Only Knows with The Beach Boys on the OVC program is slightly historic. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't thnk Brian's done that since 1982 when Carl was doing his solo tour.

Brian sounds great on all his vocal leads! Man surfer girl sounds great, I can really hear Al and Bruce in the mix. THE BOYS STILL GOT IT! ;D totally worth dealing with that annoying lady to get to some of these performances.

He did it at the New Orleans show, I think because there weren't able to use the videos of Carl & Dennis.

Whoever let out a hearty chuckle at "Mike Love, you sound EXACTLY THE SAME!" is a champion. I like to think it's Brian.

David Marks seems like a total bro.

Ew at 'Appropriate music'. This woman is evil.

They sound ok. Foskett sounds a bit off, mind - he was hurting my ears during TWGMTR.

Sorry if this was pointed out already- So the bonus disc is wrapped in it's own CD package that mimics TWGMTR's art:  http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.item.F09766.desc.Shp65-The-Beach-Boys-Thats-Why-God-Made-the-Radio-CD

For some reason that looks really cool to me....

George Jones' version of this song is great. That guy actually can sing. But Alan Jackson's voice is just so....well....un-authentic in a way.


Thanks for the youtube links ! I'm gonna watch that show now !

Is there a HD version of this somewhere?

When the woman says 13,000 and Mike points up saying "Go, Go, Go"

Well, that says it all really doesn't it  :lol

Brian never seems comfortable on any tv show.  He always has that "deer in the headlights" look and seems ready to bolt at a moment's notice.   I wish he would have sung SOMETHING on WIBN.  I think the reunion with Mike and Bruce is good for him because he doesn't have to be the front man.  Mike takes that role and handles most interviews as well.  Glad to see that it's mostly Brian's band on the tour. 

He's faked grins during his entire solo touring career. Gosh, I don't even know if they're fake or not. Perhaps he means them and does so when he comes out of his self absorption. He acted like he did not wanna be at his TNT tribute 10 years ago. His daughters were giving him flowers and he seemed indifferent. But then he'll react, crack a joke or smile (fake or not). He left before eating cake AT HIS OWN WEDDING PARTY!!! It's impossible to tell if he's into it or not just by his looks or antics. He's bizarre, extravagant. I guess you can only measure his commitment by the way he sounds, like Wirestone put it. And he's sounding pretty good.

The guitar solo on Dance,Dance,Dance sounds kinda weird

I'm really glad I discovered this board.  I'm sorry to be negative on my first post, but I sincerely believe the Boys are the most significant American pop/rock artists.  I was at the first Beacon concert and was it an amazing experience.  But I don't understand why they constantly diminish themselves.  Do their peers like McCartney, the Stones or Springsteen shill records on QVC?  Could you imagine Paul Simon, or Daltry and Townshend doing that?  And if the BBs want to do late-night for promo reasons, why appear on third-rate Fallon instead of Letterman?   Why does their management make these kinds of choices?  Don't they realize the national treasure that are entrusted with presenting?  At the first Beacon show, my  first BB show in 25, I was really distracted by the Stamos antics .  When I saw McCartney at Citifield, he brought Billy Joel on stage for one song.  It would be one thing for the BBs to have a major artist on stage as a guest - heck, why not invite McCartney?  But instead they lower themselves by encouraging this 4th rate Stamos clown to make a fool of himself?   One more thing, why is the video showing during the concert so lame?  As Dennis once said in an interview, the BBs were constantly being filimed.  They must have hours of unseen film clips and tons of photos they could have compiled for the background screen if they wanted to make the effort.  Contrast this with the effort McCartney's team put into his background screen, which was fantastic, including film of the Band on the Run cover shoot.   The BBs with Brian are my favorite group - I'm just sorry that they don't seem to appreciate their own status as icons.      

Isn't Brian on some medication that can limit his ability to express himself facially? That does not explain leaving the stage ASAP, looking at his watch, etc (we all know he doesn't always enjoy performing), but it's possible sometimes that a look of indifference isn't what it seems.

I watched this last night, I missed the first half, because I usually don't get home from work on Wednesdays until 6:30 CST. What I saw I really enjoyed though. Obviously the woman was annoying, and her tapered pants were awful, but I've seen much worse on shows like that. Overall it went really well. The mix was pretty good, and as someone else mentioned, you could really hear each individual singing. Since I'm not too familiar with Scott Totten, it was nice to be able to pick him out in the blend. I was also surprised to see Nicky back there, for some reason I thought he wasn't playing this tour, but he could have just been lost to me on Fallon and the YouTube stuff I've seen from the tour. The boys themselves all sounded great. Brian was Brian, and you have to expect that. I was really blown away by Bruce's harmonies though. The leads I've heard him do from this tour haven't been that strong, but man, did he bring it on California Girls. Plus, how freaking cool is David Marks? The interview segment with him was great. Like everyone has said, you can really feel his joy and it's contagious. If I get the chance to meet any of the Boys at this point, I really hope it's Dave. I hope that he realizes how much the fans do appreciate his presence.

I believe you can mark this performance as a success with the QVC audience. My mom is one of these middle-aged, high credit limit, QVC addicts, and she left me a voicemail a few days ago when she saw an add for this. Then, tonight, I was surprised when she called me after and talked about the performance. She usually rips on me for my dorky Beach Boys fandom and is into heavier '80s rock, so if she watched the whole thing and thought it was good, I imagine it left a nice impression on a lot of people.

What they will be remembered for is their studio work, not what show they were on, or who they have on stage with them at any given concert.

I can see that, although I still like Alan's version... you've got to think about the two singers there, though.  Although Alan wrote the song, he married his high school sweetheart, they got famous together, etc. and are still married.  Years after that song was released, he left her because of problems they were having, she wrote a book about it, and eventually they got back together and are happier than ever.  So although Alan wrote it, he's never really lived with the pain and regret the song suggests.

Meanwhile, George Jones really knows what it's like to lose somebody. 

I don't agree with any of this. 

Watched the entire show on YT and enjoyed it thoroughly. It was a lovely performance. I did not find the lady annoying. She is a master plugger, did her job -which was to sell records-, was respectful to the band, etc.

I just read a first post from a fan regreting that the BBs diminish themselves and their career choices do not reflect the cultural impact of their ouvre or placement as icons. I ackowledge that to a certain degree, but the BBs are and have been about that always... High art and lard together. That lack of self-notion may have been misleading, but it is part of who they are and it helped forge, in a way, some of their most compelling output.

I watched most of it live last night and finished it off this morning on youtube. Great concert. I don't mind the venue much. It was an awesome vehicle to sell CDs I am sure. Brian was looking tired by the end and only seemed to turn on when the camera was focused on him. But he was in sweet voice last night as were the others.

If you have been a fan for any length of time (and I am in no way suggesting you haven't) you this is how BRIAN ALWAYS LOOKS. It is not this tour.  That is Brian.

I'm surprised that no one noticed yet that Brian on this tour is just a 3 minutes hologramm played in loop.

True, and that strange combination is a large part of what has made so oddly endearing to many of us. They are great, brilliant.  But they never really quite get there like they should.  Frustrating.  And makes you root for them.

It may be more of a symptom of his illness than a side effect the medication:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blunted_affect

Fallon is quite popular. More young people watch him. Qvc was for the oldies

Absolutely.

Really enjoyed that

`Interesting to see John Cowswill using a metronome

Fallon doesn't get nearly as many viewers as Leno or Letterman, but the BBs are scheduled to be on Leno (who still has the top-rated late night show) the week of the CD release, so I think we can assume that this was all part of a package deal with NBC. Hopefully NBC will also give them a slot in their Today Show outdoor summer concert series.

Or how about using Carl-video for "Good Vibrations"? Brian really can't do it justice these days...

Maybe because Fallon was willing to devote a substantial proportion of the show to them? As I understand it, Letterman's musical guests get fairly little time on-screen (I'm in the UK so don't have a great deal of knowledge about US TV)


How do you know they haven't?


I have no love, or even liking, for Stamos, and think he degrades the quality of the performance. But roughly one in every three tweets, local newspaper articles and what have you I've seen from the American public at large about this has had some variant of "If Uncle Jessie ain't there, I ain't goin'!", "Where's Uncle Jessie?" "I hope Uncle Jessie will be at the show!"

Certainly the YouTube videos seem to suggest that the majority of the audience were excited to see Stamos. Now you might think (and I agree) that it's a travesty that this is the Beach Boys' audience, and it is, but it *is* their audience, and if they'll do This Whole World or Marcella for the benefit of the five people like me in the audience, boring half the rest who only want to hear the hits, I think it's only fair that the thousand or so people who want to see Stamos get what *they* want, too.

 
I haven't seen the video screens, of course -- but then, I won't be looking at them when I go and see the band anyway, because I'll want to look at the band! If the videos *are* 'lame' as you put it, then that may be because none of the people involved have ever performed with those kind of videos before (except Brian, a little for Smile and That Lucky Old Sun, which were a rather different proposition). Since they've already varied their set more than McCartney did on his last tour, I suspect that they need to have a lot of 'generic' videos that would work equally well behind, say, The Little Girl I Once Knew and Marcella. But even if they had no background videos at all, I'd hardly see that as them not appreciating their own status.

I've never seen one of these Q Sessions shows before, but I was surprised that they didn't play some actual samples from the new CD since that's what they were selling. Just seems kind of weird to me. It's not as if  it doesn't sound good. Maybe that would have been considered too sell-y or huckster-like (yeah- those probably aren't real words), and they didn't want to go there? Definitely enjoyed the free mini-concert  though. It was cool that it was so inclusive for all 5 members.

well they played the single and title song from the album.  Also, I believe ALL of the other songs played were on that greatest hits cd packaged for QVC.  Which would explain why they played stuff like Honda and Dance, Dance, Dance and no Help Me, Rhonda, I guess.

I betcha less people would've bought it, or they would've been confused. packaging it with the hits CD was genius because all the people wanting to buy the compilation end up buying the album along with it, it's great for album sales of TWGMTR.

Hey NYBBFan, nice to meet you. I agree about the video loop during the live show. It was cheesy and clearly put together by an intern.

I think you both have good points. The thing that continues to mystify me is the release date of June 5th. You had the Sunday Morning TV show appearance - no new album out. The Fallon show was a great vehicle and jumpstart - no album out yet. The tour started and they're performing a new song - but no new album to sell at the concerts. And now the QVC spotlight - and you have to wait 3-4 weeks to get the album they're pushing.

The QVC hostess mentioned a few times how Memorial Day and The Beach Boys's music go so good together. Yeah, it would've been cool to play the new album over the Memorial Day weekend. Well, I guess all those people watching QVC will have to tune in for the Sirrius radio special - or play Sounds Of Summer. Missed opportunities... 

Who knows? Maybe it was smart- maybe not. 14,000+ does sound like a pretty successful number. I just think that if you want me to buy a CD, then  it might just be a good idea to let me hear a little bit of what it sounds like first. Again, it just seemed kinda weird to me, but then I didn't really know what to expect from this show.

Yeah, compare it to the great one The Monkees had last summer, on a much smaller-scale tour....

Me too ... we need to start a 'Play Wild Honey songs in Berkeley petition' !

I was also surprised that they didn't suggest the CD package as a possible Father's Day gift, which would seem like a natural, since that's only 12 days after the CD release. That might have even been part of Capitol's marketing strategy for the release date. There's a lot of dads out there that loves them some Beach Boys.

Gotta agree here.  They no doubt have some considerable momentum working behind them right now.  It's just a total shame that the album isn't out for another two weeks.  If anything, they're doing a great job promoting that they're out on tour.  They don't have too many more appearanes in the near future, Leno..the PBS special...the Sirius performance...they can regain some momentum again to push the release but I really wish they would have timed this all just a little bit tighter.  

they did...mike even joked about christmas

My Mom already thought of that and guess what I'm getting for Father's Day?  'Course, I'll have it in my hands way before that....

Oops! My bad if I missed it. I remember them talking about Christmas gifts, but I thought that was absurd given the timing.

You realize you're talking about the Beach Boys, right?

haha yup...I supposed in the grand scheme of things they're doing monumentally well considering the alternatives!

Brian already appeared on QVC hawking his "Live at the Roxy" CD several years ago.  They can't exactly claim to be superior to the outlet considering their resident genius already appeared on it.  There are no other places they're going to get an hour of TV time like that.  If VH1 still played music, they might have had a chance to get a special to hawk their CD free of charge and have had an hour to perform.  I'm sure they or Capitol paid to get placement on QVC.  I don't think it's anymore degrading than Paul McCartney releasing an album through Starbucks.  What was even more humiliating for Paul is that there were stories circulating that several Starbucks baristas were complaining that they had to listen to Paul's "lousy" new album all day long.  At least the Beach Boys aren't forcing themselves on anybody by appearing on QVC, and they may have gained themselves a new audience of paying customers.  Many people never watch QVC, so they didn't harm themselves among people who didn't even know they were on.  

As for Kimmel, that was also a chance to get more extended exposure than they would have on Letterman.  Jimmy let them do a show-opening song, had them on the couch, then let them do two songs at the end.  He's obviously a fan and perhaps his show made an extra effort to get them and give them maximum time.  If they went on Letterman, they'd get one song at the end and maybe Dave would talk to them for a few seconds.  I haven't watched Letterman in years because all he does is mostly a lot of lame comedy bits and very perfunctory interviews, and very brief musical performances.  His ratings haven't been that great, either.  They will be on Leno, who has better ratings than Letterman.

Just a note, I've looked through QVC's programming schedule for the next three weeks, and it doesn't appear they will be repeating this performance.

Fallon

Let's not be too proud of Leno's high ratings---if anything it goes to show just what desperate measures people will take for "comedy" these days---but I digress.  The general format for a late night talk show doesn't bode well for music fans.  Bands are there to play their song and sell their CD, not sit down and have a VH1 Songwriters segment.  If Dave loves the music guest enough, they might squeeze in a very short sit-down at the end of the show but time restraints do not guarantee that.  Fallon is the exception because he's younger and more willing to tamper with the format.

The difference is that the Monkees had Andrew Sandoval putting that together, and that the Monkees had their own TV series and feature film, so they had something like 30 hours of professionally shot video (not counting outtakes), all the rights to which are controlled by a single entity, to draw from, much of which had already been designed for those songs.

With the BBs, by contrast, there'd be rights clearances for what footage there is -- you'd have to contact dozens of different organisations and get their permission. And on top of that there'd be the rather obvious point that the people in the video would be different people to those on stage. There's never before been a time when those five people have all performed together, so the show would be full of video clips with no Brian or David, and sometimes no Bruce. They're trying to make the Beach Boys look like a band and minimise the lineup changes. Showing footage which would feature nine different people in various combinations, only five of whom were on stage and in a different combination from whatever footage was being shown, would go against that.

You've obviously never watched the show.  Jimmy Fallon is the best late night talk show host currently on television.  Letterman is funny sometimes but he's worn out his shtick and Leno's just plain awful.  Fallon has a very humble approach, is very charismatic, has a relationship with his audience, plus he has The Roots who are just amazing.  He's also more popular than Letterman or Leno.  So what you're saying is merely based on your own personal opinion.

I bet the majority of QVC viewers (like the majority of Americans as a whole) are casual fans and were more interested in the greatest hits bonus CD than in the new CD.

Also, Fallon has a very young viewership: teens, college students, 20-somethings. They don't tend to watch TV shows when they're on, right? They DVR them or watch online later. So ratings aren't really accurate. The fact that the BBs were on for pretty much the whole show was a big deal. And the fact that Fallon said the BBs were cool was a big deal. His fans just adore him, and they'll watch the clips later, Tweet them, etc. Leno would have had the guys on but probably not gushed about their music or given them much time. Leno is unfunny and in my opinion comes across as less than genuine toward his guests. Fallon is the opposite.
Though I'm not sure Fallon is the best talk show host in the U.S. That honor might go to Craig Ferguson.

Is Brian officially banned from Letterman? He used to go on there all the time. But he has never returned since the horrific night he "sat in with the band". Clearly, Brian didn't want to do it, and he let his handlers know it with perhaps his worst television appearance ever ("The View" is a close second).

Wow I don't remember either one of those.

Brian sat in with Paul and the band?  Brian was on The View? 

Where was I?

Here's The View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQFNUMYd79k

Never saw this.

Me neither. I'd kill to see him sitting in with Letterman's band, though! Anyone have a link? I don't see it on Youtube.

I tape every Beach Boys appearance but this one was so bad I actually erased it. That's how uncomfortably bad it was.

Thanks for that!  Not as bad as I was expecting.  What was so bad...?

Oy, I got my Jimmys mixed up.  They don't look or sound alike, either.

He was making those snarling faces at the end of the song, which I imagine was off-putting for the daytime housewife audience watching at home.

Good question.

Awkward interview... check!
Missed cues... check!

seems like the usual to me!  ;D

That's true. I guess he couldn't help it, eh?

Me neither. Thank you !

I think Brian is sweet during the interview

Yeah I did notice the nervous tics but didn't think that ruined anything...I'll have to see that Letterman appearance to see how bad it could really get....

I thought the interview was charming. He apologized and said he was nervous. Never seen him do that before--an unusual acknowledgement of how the audience was perceiving him. Overall he seemed in pretty good form.

I love how Darian is constantly grinning behind Brian and laughing out as Brian tries to figure out the computer/website thing.

There are probably people here who think Brian's appearance on Mike Douglas in 76 was great.

Not great, but pretty interesting.

I cannot bring myself to watch the view.  It was all I could do to wade through QVC.

I like the version of Back Home he does there.  Especially if you compare it to the SNL version, it's pretty good.

 :)

There was a youtube link posted a few pages back.

Here's Brian on Kimmel....a great appearance. Brian is very talkative and at ease.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQjUgXLg8Fw&feature=related

He's also lip syncing. Just saying.

Mike Love rocked that 360 spin.

I thought it was funny the way he started to answer about Pet Sounds. "Let me say this about that".  ;D

Ummm....I think you got it confused with the View performance, where he was indeed lip syncing.


I vaguely remember the Letterman thing. Can someone please elaborate?

That summer Letterman's band kept playing Beach Boys songs as they led into commercial. Somebody got the bright idea that Brian should sit in with them and sing. He sat facing the wall and would sing a few lines here and there but generally gave up prematurely (before they fully cut to commercial) and coming in late (they'd return from commercial to find Brian sitting there doing nothing, then suddenly starting to sing again as if someone nudged him with a broomstick to wake him up). One of the guest was an actress (Liz Hurley? Can't remember) and she commented during her interview segment that she was a fan of Brian's so they cut to Brian and naturally he didn't hear her and had his back to her anyway (since he was facing the wall) so it took like 5 people to call to him before they got his attention and he turned his head and gave a half-hearted smile in the actresses general direction.

The whole thing was a nightmare. It was uncomfortable to watch. And it looks like there was fallout, because Brian never went back on the show. I'm glad the footage can't be found, it should remain lost and unseen. Only some sort of sick masochist would find enjoyment in watching a 65 year old man being tortured on national television.

That sounds pretty bad, but Letterman's had some odd/tough guests before and had them back. Two notable examples being Joaquin Phoenix, who was acting bizarrely aloof and unresponsive to anything Dave tried, and Crispin Glover, who actually tried to attack Dave. Both were invited back and Letterman was totally fine with it. Considering he seems to be a big music fan--I mean, the guy had Captain Beefheart on more than once, there's no way his producer could have been happy about that--so I assume he'd love to give Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, the seminal American band, another shot. Plus, he's in the know, as are his people, so they'd be aware that if Mike's there, he'll be fielding 95% of the questions.

It's not that big of a deal, I don't think.... I saw Slash on Letterman, almost the exact same thing happened.  He was sitting in with the band, and everytime they'd say something to him, he wouldn't heart it, and appeared 'out of it'... I'm not a die-hard Slash fan but I didn't think any less of him after seeing that, I just thought it was all good fun and Lettterman being goofy and taking a goofy idea too far like he always does. 

So my point is: that apperance didn't damage Brian in the public's eye, it was just a goofy idea that didn't work too well. 

God, that was horrible. Why don't you just stuff Brian and put some puppet strings on him already?

I mean, seriously, try to imagine young, 20 something Brian making all the sad faces he does here. Picture that despondent face at that age - it's heartbreaking. We try to normalize it, but it's so unfortunate. This has sapped my enthusiasm for the comeback. I don't want to be a spectator to this.

Yeah, but Phoenix and Glover were clearly doing characters Andy Kaufman style. Glover was playing his character from Rubin and Ed or somesuch. Phoenix was gathering material for his bullshit doc.

Brian is no Tony Clifton!

Why are a few people being so negative about Brian participating in the Beach Boys reunion and how he looks, when he looks exactly the same as he does on his solo tours, both in concert and on TV?  He never looks good on television and barely better when you see him live.  He actually looks more animated than usual.  I made a habit of sitting in the back when I went to his solo shows because I knew I didn't want to see his facial expressions.  The one time I did sit near the front, for the Smile tour, he looked stone-faced with an occasional forced smile thrown in, for the entire show.  

I remember that Letterman show.  Brian was wearing a black hoodie, and seemed to be really drugged up-- clearly out of it, and his singing was really flat, with clipped phrases.  I had forgotten about that show, perhaps because it was rather embarrassing... 

Really? At least at his own shows we get the illusion that his mic is turned on. Here, he's a lone figure banging away pointlessly at his keyboard. When I watch these performances, I find myself just wishing the guy could be happy. We all had high expectations for a BB reunion, seemingly Brian included.  But it's obvious here how much Brian hated touring under the limelight of being a Beach Boy. He was better solo, simply because of the reduced expectations. I honestly wanted to cry during the QVC performance. Take that for what you will.

You really think he sounded bad during "God Only Knows" on QVC?  He did a better job on that than he did on most of his solo gigs. I never got that he conveyed great joy touring as a solo.  I'm not sure he's any happier touring as a Beach Boy, but I truly don't believe he's any unhappier.  The guy is mentally ill and he's medicated.  That has more to do with how he looks than how he feels about touring with Mike Love and Al Jardine again.

When caught in a rip, don't swim against it, you will tire very quickly and likely drown.

He sounds better when his mic is on. I agree with that. Otherwise, I see a man that is sad he's been marginalized. Some of that is his fault - but then again, he's mentally ill. It's a conflicting situation.

As I've said, you can judge Brian's interest and engagement simply by the quality of the job he's doing. Clearly he didn't enjoy QVC that much -- but it was freaking QVC. He sounded as good if not better than his solo shows when he took his leads. That's enough for me -- as I'd said, if he truly wanted to just sit in the corner and not contribute, he would do it, and no one could make him do otherwise.

There is a great tendency with Brian to read things into his face that we fear as fans. So when we see him looking impassive, we worry that he's unhappy, being manipulated, tortured, whatever. The fact is, the man hears voices. He has to concentrate to make them go away. That's not always a happy place to be. But he's plowing through it.

He has what, two leads during the whole performance? And I don't think that's a slight on Brian by the folks in power (for once), you're just dealing with a band with multiple lead vocalists.

If your only role during a 10-ish song set was to do lead for two songs (and the option to play a bit of piano), you were nervous as hades to be on TV and you didn't really have much to do, you might be inclined to just hang back and participate when you feel like it, too. Especially if you were 70 years old.

It's far from his best recent performance, but you'll see plenty of video from actual live performances not in front of a QVC audience where he's very engaged, into it, and participating on most if not all songs. Given what we know about 'im, a few shows like this where he isn't especially into it should be expected, really. I certainly hope he's comfortable up there, but still.

I just remember the Brian that says he doesn't hear voices when he sings.  And I hope that's the case.  I hope he's happy. That's the most important part of this tour, to me. Then again, maybe he wishes fans like me didn't exist. I hope not.

^_^ Why would he wish ill upon those who wish he was happy?

I don't know. I guess I'm conflicted. Go Brian, go!

I think a good deal of it is back pain. I mean, if he's having trouble walking, it's gotta be pretty bad.

Admittedly, I had indulged in libations last night, but I'll still stand by my comments!

I think with Brian it's simply stage fright. He obviously has love for music and being with The Beach Boys but he just isn't comfortable on stage. He's not so uncomfortable that he can't perform, but he's just not comfortable doing so. I don't think much more should be read into it.

QVC is lame but I think it was a good idea for them to do it because what they were really doing is hawking their CD and hawking CDs is a trickier game these days. If they want to sell lots of them, they have to understand there are no more big chain record shops that their older fans can stroll down to at any local mall. They can either order them through Amazon or QVC or they can try and locate the one or two little indie record shops left anywhere remotely close to where they live.... It sucks.

I was fortunate to be seated in the first row when he brought the TLOS show to Portland. It was a tiny little theater, and when I say first row I mean jammed right up to the stage. Occasionally Brian would look down in my direction and you could see a resigned sense, a weariness - or a sadness, as you may call it. But then as the TLOS portion of the show came on, he snapped to and was smilin' and jivin' along (only to more or less shut down during the three song ba-ba-ba encore).

I say that only because I've seen the drill before, and while I'm not a psychologist nor play one on tv, I have seen him engage and disengage on stage many times. It's a gig, and more importantly it's a job. And He knows it. And yes, if Melinda pushes him to do these things I say good for her. The alternative does not bring happiness - only lethargy. My two cents...

I saw something last night that really makes we doubt that boredom, disinterest, or "he's just going through the motions" is the only thing(s) confronting Brian. If anyone present last night disagrees, please, I welcome your thoughts.

When the band came out for the encores, during "Kokomo", the first encore, Brian was totally disengaged. He might've sung one or two notes. He sat there, motionless, just following Mike as he was prancing around the stage, with a disturbing look on his (Brian's) face.

Immediately after "Kokomo", a roadie helped Brian strap on the bass. Brian walked out to the front of the stage, and as the band was repeating that famous riff to the beginning of "Barbara Ann", Brian motions to the audience, and starts to yell, "Well let me hear you say 'Yeah'..." And, just as Brian is yelling this, Mike talks over him (unintentionally), and goes into his "Thanks for coming to see the Beach Boys tonight". Brian looked totally confused, and stepped back from the microphone, looking around. Did he think he was at one of his solo concerts, and he was supposed to lead that part? Seriously. And, when they did go into the "Well let me hear you say yeah" part, Brian didn't join in. He barely sang any parts to "Barbara Ann".

Eventually, they got to the closer, "Fun, Fun, Fun". Brain started out dancing that little two-step shuffle, but quickly stopped. Then he sang a line or two backing, and stopped singing completely. He eventually just stood motionless, with just his thumb plucking the one string on the bass. Then he stopped playing.

Brian ended up just standing there, up front, doing nothing. He was staring upward and the lights were flashing and the music was blaring and the crowd was going nuts. All of a sudden, Brian starts walking to the back. It looked like he was trying to walk off the stage, but Jeff kind of cut him off. I could see Jeff half-smiling and shaking his head and saying, "No, it's not over yet". Brian stopped in his tracks, just staring at Jeff, almost waiting for a command. Keep in mind while all of this is going on, the music's blasting and the place is rocking. Then Brian pulls up his shirt to try to pull up his Adidas pants, which were falling beneath his stomach. It was a sad sight, really.... Brian hung around to line up to wave to the crowd, and then he quickly scurried off.

I will never forget the look on his face as he stood in the front of that stage, motionless, staring into what - the crowd, the lights, space? This was not a look of boredom, of disinterest. It was beyond that. It made me feel very uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. I wanted to just jump up on the stage and take his hand or something. It just made me wonder what was going on in his mind, in his brain. I trust he is OK. I trust his doctors have absolutely cleared him to do this tour. But, God, what demons he must be facing....

That's "just" the old stage fright mixed with everything else he has to go through every day. Demons, yeah. He has his off days, and his off moments. I don't think it's a general thing regarding his involvement with the tour. That is, I hope it's not.

To me, that sounds like he was embarrassed. He tried to do something out of his element and it didn't work-- he got (unintentionally) dominated by his extroverted cousin, and he was embarrassed that he got "shut down" on stage in front of everyone. It takes a lot for a shy, sensitive, introverted person to do what it takes to get a crowd going-- he gave it a shot and it failed. That's embarrassing, and maybe he was too sensitive to brush it off. Or maybe he thought Mike cut him off on purpose.

Man, that's terribly sad, especially the part where Foskett seemed to be telling him he couldn't leave yet.

Professionalism. That's just how it is.

It's complicated. It really is. Like most here, I've seen Brian engaged and non, on and off. I do suspect he is much more uptight about this being a Beach Boys tour. His backing band was assembled precisely to support him during his solo shows, whatever happened. Now he's with the other guys, and there's a competitive element all of a sudden. And decades of history. What an interesting place his brain must be tbese days ...

Yeah. I was thinking about that too. We get the requests for Cabinessence and Surf's Up, and sure - the band could do it. It would sound awesome! But even after slaying those old demons on BWPS, seeing those guys up on stage and reliving Smile might be asking too much of him. I can dig that.

Look up the symptoms of schizophrenia and related disorders (he's supposedly bipolar schizo-affective).  It pretty much explains much of Brian's behavior.  Sometimes he's fine, but other times, his neurology causes him to do things that are a little different than people who don't have symptoms of that disease.  It''s more than having hallucinations, it includes things called "negative" symptoms that makes the person seem withdrawn or apathetic at times.  Not all the time, perhaps, but sometimes. He's dealing with it, he's out there performing and living life with it, and it should be seen as more inspirational than sad that he's able to be out there and functions almost as well as any other person, other than sometimes behaving a little differently. 

Great description of those moments, Sheriff.  I was there and observed all of this as well.  Only other thing that I noticed is that Jeff (it seemed to me) started the "everybody say yeah" thing and Brian kind of jumped in.  I agree that Mike speaking over him was unintentional.  It really felt that Mike, in a semi-scripted moment, heard Jeff speak and was ready to say his thing, and Brian got a few words in the gap, only to be cut off.  Jeff is working hard up there between the music and coaching Brian- pretty impressive. 

All in all, I thought Brian hung in there pretty well throughout the night, but that was a tough ending.

Perhaps. But as to my emotional response: sympathy. That's just how it is.

Yes, he did hang in there pretty well for most of the night, that's why I was so caught off guard by the ending.

It's funny - and stressful - watching Brian. :)  You're listening to the song, and you know Brian's part is coming up, and you're hoping HE knows it.  And then, after sitting there and having that blank expression on his face, right at the very last moment, he hits his mark. What was making it more stressful last night was that Brian is now phrasing his vocals, which is a good thing. He was waiting a beat or so before he came in, almost like Willie Nelson! And then you could exhale. But, it was cool to hear, because it showed that Brian knew exactly how he wanted to sing the part. That was impressive.

I really felt bad for him during the "everybody say yeah" bit. Whatever mic that was (Dave's?) wasn't loud enough, you could just barely hear him say it.
I would be tempted to say it was an "off night" for him but his vocals were so great.
Did you catch during "Fun Fun Fun", Al came over to Brian and said something - and they both chuckled. That was nice.
Brian had his stone-face for most of the night, but there was one song (I'm blanking as to which one it was) that had a horn or flute solo and Brian kept pointing everytime it would come in. What song was that?

I was hoping by everyone cheering for Brian when Mike said his name early in the show, that he would sorta snap out of it. Besides his perfunctory thank you, he didn't.
Hopefully he'll be a bit more animated when I see him in Camden in June.

That is a good description; behavior-wise he was off, but he did sing well.

Yes, I think Al sensed Brian was in trouble.

Was the song "All This Is That"? Or "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times"? I remember the moment you're referring to, but I'm also drawing a blank. Brian did well on "All This Is That". That wasn't an easy song to keep up with but Brian did.

Might have been All This Is That. I don't think it was IJWMFFT. Anyone else?

Funnily enough, it seems that every other concert has a full, in order, set list - except this one! If they really did 46 songs, that's the most they've ever done so far this tour...

I also find myself kind of holding my breath when Brian's part is coming up, especially on live TV, wondering is he going to sing at the right time, is he going to hit the notes?  Is he going to do/say something that will turn off casual fans from writing off the group or buying the CD?  Clearly, I'm too codependent...

I hear ya. I do the exact same things. :)

He's an ill man.  He'll always be an ill man, and he's been an ill man for many many years.  Some of these things can't be corrected, only managed...

BTW, the behavior you describe isn't too much different from 70 year old men I know.  They're not all like that, but some of them zone out for a while.  I know a couple pretty excentric gentlemen, and I could tell you stories that would make the hair stand up on the back of your neck... Brian's more excentric than any of them. 



I think when we don't really KNOW Brian, (we just think we do because we love him from afar), we get worried about things we have no business worrying about.  Hell he may have done it on purpose for all we know. 

You've just got to trust the people that know him.

1.  Does his wife love him and want the best for him?  I think definately, without a doubt.
2. Does the band love him, and want the best for him?  I know some would argue, bit I think they have a 50 year history of showing that they do... and that includes Mike Love.
3.  Does his backup band on stage with him love him and want the best for him?  I think definately, unequivocally. 


So you have to realize that he's on stage with an entire cast of his friends, he has more people that love him STANDING ON STAGE than I do in my entire world. 

Don't worry about Brian, he's in good hands. 

And that includes Myke Luhv? Really! What incredible insight you have, Ronald. Funny how history repeats itself. Most fans will be more at ease after reading this most comforting tidbit. ::)

OSD is it safe to assume that you've never had a disagreement with a family member or an argument with a family member? Are there any arguments/disagreements with family members from 40+ years ago that you still obsess over and hate that(those) family member(s) due to?

If not....... please get over whatever merda happened with The Beach Boys almost 50 years ago and try to enjoy that they are back together.

Myke has your ass beat and he's gonna take it to the finish line..... Deal with it or find another band to be a "fan" of.

OR go get a canned ham from your local supermarket, dress it up in the worst Hawaiian shirt you can find, and run it over with your car (or your hover-round)! Oh, and please leave that signed Surf's Up poster for me in your will ;P

I've always thought watching Brian was like watching Evel Knievel. Chr!st you wanted him to make that jump but there was always the chance...... :o

Awwwww, is old sufer erectile disfunction dude upset at Mikey Wikey again?  Don't worry the nurses will be around with your cranberry juice at 5, but you're going to have to log off AOL for the afternoon.... it's sponge bath day!!! 

Old Surfer Dick doesn't have a car anymore, they had the "We're taking your keys, dad" convo with him about 20 years ago.  I'd probably be an asshole too if I didn't have my mobility anymore, I might start making fun of other senior citizens who were better than me at everything including walking, singing, and being alive. 

I'm liking the canned ham idea-maybe you could suggest whether a baseball hat or sequined turban would be appropriate for the ham. Oh, and by the way, you're in the will-poster's yours. ;)

I don't believe that you would ever be an asshole, Ron.

How cute, I have two of my haters in the same thread causing nonsense.  Do you guys have a bat signal or something to summon each other?

BTW, Old Surfer Loser, you haven't emailed me lately, what's up with that?

For those who haven't had the pleasure, he likes emailing people with semi homo-erotic comments like "How old are you" and "What color is your hair" and things like that, I suppose he either wants to set up a time to fight or f***. 

Ahahaha  :lol

I'm not a hater. I love you, Ron. Not in a gay way, unless you want it to be...

Can I have the Mike Love picture from your dartboard? 8)

You're now looking at my Myke Luhv dart board, however if you want to see a full monte ML dartboard go over to "F*ck You Mike Love.com and see what the real deal is. This is also required reading for Ronnie boy as well. :p