1981 Brian/Les Chan interview

[Jay]

Does anybody know the "story" on this recording? When and where was it recorded? It actually sounds more like a disguised drug deal than an interview. I've been listening to this recording lately. It's very interesting. Brian talks quite a bit about songs that never ended up being released by The Beach Boys. He even sings a few lines of Stevie and Still I Dream Of It. Brian also says some very interesting things about Carl. He says that it was "foolish" of Carl to quit the group and do a solo album. He also says that the Beach Boys are Carl's "only source of income". I got the distinct impression that there was some tention between Carl and Brian at this time. Brian also mentions that the Beach Boys are going to play in South Africa, and that Carl will probably be there. These shows are not mentioned in Eric Anniversario's Beach Boys setlist archive.

[49ersphil]

Does anybody know the "story" on this recording? When and where was it recorded? It actually sounds more like a disguised drug deal than an interview. I've been listening to this recording lately. It's very interesting. Brian talks quite a bit about songs that never ended up being released by The Beach Boys. He even sings a few lines of Stevie and Still I Dream Of It. Brian also says some very interesting things about Carl. He says that it was "foolish" of Carl to quit the group and do a solo album. He also says that the Beach Boys are Carl's "only source of income". I got the distinct impression that there was some tention between Carl and Brian at this time. Brian also mentions that the Beach Boys are going to play in South Africa, and that Carl will probably be there. These shows are not mentioned in Eric Anniversario's Beach Boys setlist archive.

Worrying about Carl's income? Playing the apartheid S Africa?
If true it sounds like Reagan had Brian by his balls at this time

[Beach Boy]

He didn't sing "Stevie", he sung "Sweetie", which is btw a great song! 

[MBE]

Brian is much more lucid then he ever was later. I was shocked by that when I heard it but it's true.

[c-man]

He didn't sing "Stevie", he sung "Sweetie", which is btw a great song! 

Actually he also DID sing a bit of "Stevie" (the first stanza or so). 

This was reportedly taped December 5th, 1981, in Brian's hotel room in San Carlos, California.  They evidently played two nights in a row, two shows a night, and a show from the 4th (Denny's birthday) circulates, but Denny was back in his hotel "throwing up" according to Bruce (who attributed it to food posioning).  Anyway, some fans found Brian's room and snuck this tape recorder in.  Brian was quite candid and gracious.  The South Africa trip at the end of the month included Brian, but not Carl.  I've never found anyone who has those shows on tape, but they would be cool to have (apartheid aside) b/c they were Jeff Foskett's first gigs with the band.

[Ian]

I must say that if someone can give me the exact dates of the South Africa I'll send them a monetary award- I have searched and searched-but all I can find is late Dec 1981-Early Jan 1982. I want the exact dates!! Anyone know???

[c-man]

I must say that if someone can give me the exact dates of the South Africa I'll send them a monetary award- I have searched and searched-but all I can find is late Dec 1981-Early Jan 1982. I want the exact dates!! Anyone know???

My understanding is they played there ove the New Years', but that's as close as I can get.

[Ian]

I have a Mike Love and Al Jardine interview given to Pacific Stars and Stripes while they were playing there-but no exact date.  A two part app on Mike Douglas aired on January 5 and 8 and an app on Merv Griffin aired on Jan 6 1982- but all of these could have been taped prior to that tour. They were at Harrah's in Tahoe on Jan 15 1982

[Magic Transistor Radio]

Does anybody know the "story" on this recording? When and where was it recorded? It actually sounds more like a disguised drug deal than an interview. I've been listening to this recording lately. It's very interesting. Brian talks quite a bit about songs that never ended up being released by The Beach Boys. He even sings a few lines of Stevie and Still I Dream Of It. Brian also says some very interesting things about Carl. He says that it was "foolish" of Carl to quit the group and do a solo album. He also says that the Beach Boys are Carl's "only source of income". I got the distinct impression that there was some tention between Carl and Brian at this time. Brian also mentions that the Beach Boys are going to play in South Africa, and that Carl will probably be there. These shows are not mentioned in Eric Anniversario's Beach Boys setlist archive.

Where can I hear this?

[c-man]

I have a Mike Love and Al Jardine interview given to Pacific Stars and Stripes while they were playing there-but no exact date.  A two part app on Mike Douglas aired on January 5 and 8 and an app on Merv Griffin aired on Jan 6 1982- but all of these could have been taped prior to that tour. They were at Harrah's in Tahoe on Jan 15 1982

Ian, the Mike Douglas show appearance was taped around the second week of December, 1980.  Mike Douglas did this week long series of shows in Hawaii...in fact, he had wanted to get John Lennon & Yoko Ono to cohost the week with him, like they did in '72, and they were interested, but other commitments prevented it.  Douglas once said that if they had done it, John might still be with us.  Perhaps he didn't know that Chapman lived in Hawaii...considering that, I don't think John's murder could have been avoided.

Anyways, I remember the Beach Boys appearance airing initially in either January or February of '81.  Perhaps it was repeated in early '82, but '81 was the originally airing. 

[ronster44]

Mike Douglas was always good to the band. I remember seeing Mike solo doing "Everyone's in Love with you" (live with 3-4 non band musicians), AL solo on a different occasion and Brian solo...... He had a special fondness for them. Does anyone know where/how the Mike Douglas and BB relationship started?

[Ian]

C-Man are you sure that they didn't appear again in 1982? Are you sure these are just repeats of the 1980 app on Mike Douglas?

[Ian]

As far as the origins of the relationship- the BBs appeared on Mike Douglas three or four times in the 1960s-a few of these are on Youtube.  In those days his show was one of about five talk shows that attracted guests like the BBs- The main talk shows were The Tonight Show hosted by Johnny Carso, The Joey Bishop Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The David Frost Show, and the Dick Cavett Show.  The BBs appeared on all of these shows in the late 60s except Dick Cavett

[mikeyj]

The BBs appeared on all of these shows in the late 60s except Dick Cavett

Ian are you sure the band didn't appear on the Dick Cavett show? In Badman's book (which I know you have found many errors in) I'm pretty sure that I remember reading that they performed Do It Again on the show. I don't have the book on hand at the moment or otherwise I would check and indeed I haven't had the book for a good month and a half, so I'm just going off memory and so am most likely wrong.

[Ian]

You are right-August 1968- so they appeared on all the big shows of the day- I wonder if the Cavett footage survives-it has never been on Youtube-but that doesn't mean anything. Of all the talk shows the one I'd really love to see is The Les Crane Show from May 2 1968-the group discussed TM and the Maharishi for quite a while- pretty positive that the footage is gone though.  The Tonight Show app aired the same day and they sang Our Hearts Were Full of Spring (on their July-Aug 1968 tour they sang the song with the introduction "perhaps you saw us sing this on the Tonight Show")

[MBE]

I would love to see the 1976 Mike and Al Mike Douglas, and the 1968 one where they do Little Bird.

[Ian]

It is hard to know what happened to the film.  For example-there is an audio tape of the BBs app on David Frost (probably from May 71) where they sang Lady and Vegetables. Also Dennis discussed Two Lane Blacktop- so it makes you wonder where the film is...But noone can find it-Jon Stebbins looked into it. A shame-a very rare Dennis performance of Lady would be super cool to see.  Shows just weren't saved.

[ronster44]

It is true that many were never saved. It is sad...... i actually called many productions companies for many various talk/variety shows thinking that i could do some sort of money making website..... the overall answer was "not saved" like soap operas and other daily shows.....

what a shame..... i for one miss the old fashioned (most corny) celebrity variety shows..... many lost interviews with WW2 era stars and 50's&60's ... lost forever

[Jay]

He didn't sing "Stevie", he sung "Sweetie", which is btw a great song! 

Actually he also DID sing a bit of "Stevie" (the first stanza or so). 

This was reportedly taped December 5th, 1981, in Brian's hotel room in San Carlos, California.  They evidently played two nights in a row, two shows a night, and a show from the 4th (Denny's birthday) circulates, but Denny was back in his hotel "throwing up" according to Bruce (who attributed it to food posioning).  Anyway, some fans found Brian's room and snuck this tape recorder in.  Brian was quite candid and gracious.  The South Africa trip at the end of the month included Brian, but not Carl.  I've never found anyone who has those shows on tape, but they would be cool to have (apartheid aside) b/c they were Jeff Foskett's first gigs with the band.

Thanks a lot for your info!  One of the most interesting parts of this tape is when Brian calls Dennis on the phone. Brian says something about Dennis having the flu.

[c-man]

C-Man are you sure that they didn't appear again in 1982? Are you sure these are just repeats of the 1980 app on Mike Douglas?

Pretty sure it was just a repeat.  Their appearance was split into two separate shows, if I remember right, but I saw them (and taped them) the first time they were on.  They played "California Girls" and "Help Me Rhonda" (two 1965 songs), "Catach A Wave", "Hawaii", and "Surfin' U.S.A." (three 1963 songs), and "I Get Around" and "Fun Fun Fun" (two 1964 songs).  Brian was not present.  Mike D. talked to all the Boys.  It was actually pretty cool. 

[Sheriff John Stone]

It was pretty cool. "Catch A Wave" and "Hawaii" rocked. Dennis seemed into it!

[MBE]

Even Domenick Priore praised this appearence and he likes little from after Sunflower.

[carl r]

Does anybody know the "story" on this recording? When and where was it recorded? It actually sounds more like a disguised drug deal than an interview. I've been listening to this recording lately. It's very interesting. Brian talks quite a bit about songs that never ended up being released by The Beach Boys. He even sings a few lines of Stevie and Still I Dream Of It. Brian also says some very interesting things about Carl. He says that it was "foolish" of Carl to quit the group and do a solo album. He also says that the Beach Boys are Carl's "only source of income". I got the distinct impression that there was some tention between Carl and Brian at this time. Brian also mentions that the Beach Boys are going to play in South Africa, and that Carl will probably be there. These shows are not mentioned in Eric Anniversario's Beach Boys setlist archive.

This is interesting. It almost seems that Carl came back to the group out of resignation and defeat? Are there any interviews with Carl when he talks about any of this? It seems that he kept quiet about a few things. If he didn't play SA for ethical reasons that is cool. Just wish he had written and spoken out a bit more than he did.

[c-man]

Does anybody know the "story" on this recording? When and where was it recorded? It actually sounds more like a disguised drug deal than an interview. I've been listening to this recording lately. It's very interesting. Brian talks quite a bit about songs that never ended up being released by The Beach Boys. He even sings a few lines of Stevie and Still I Dream Of It. Brian also says some very interesting things about Carl. He says that it was "foolish" of Carl to quit the group and do a solo album. He also says that the Beach Boys are Carl's "only source of income". I got the distinct impression that there was some tention between Carl and Brian at this time. Brian also mentions that the Beach Boys are going to play in South Africa, and that Carl will probably be there. These shows are not mentioned in Eric Anniversario's Beach Boys setlist archive.

This is interesting. It almost seems that Carl came back to the group out of resignation and defeat? Are there any interviews with Carl when he talks about any of this? It seems that he kept quiet about a few things. If he didn't play SA for ethical reasons that is cool. Just wish he had written and spoken out a bit more than he did.

No, I think the reason Carl didn't play South Africa was b/c he just wasn't ready to return to the band quite yet (or they weren't ready to meet all his demands or come to an acceptable compromise), b/c they played on without him through several shows in the States after the New Year, including a tour of the South and East in March/early April.  He did talk quite a bit about it, especially in an interview to Geoffrey Himes (published in the Fall of '83 in Musician, and reprinted in an expanded form in Kingsley's Abbott's "Back To The Beach", revised edition).  He came back for a few dates in April, but said they needed a lot of work, hence a weeks' worth of rehearsals and the new show they rolled out in May of '82.

Basically, Carl's demands were:  (1) rehearse regularly and bring some different songs into the show (which they did) (2) stop playing all the lucrative casino gigs (for which he said a compromise was struck:  he would play all such shows booked on the current tour but none in the future...a threat which obviously fell by the wayside eventually) (3) record a new album (for which they tried to get the ball rolling on that year, but since they wanted to get Brian healthy first, it was a couple of more years before they started it).

[Smilin Ed H]

Wasn't this the period Carl visited some huge concert in Latin America - possibly Cuba - designed to break down barriers, but not officially sanctioned.  I remember it being reported in Rolling Stone.  Pretty sure Billy Joel played there; don't think Carl did, however.