The Smiley Smile Message Board

Just got the latest edition of Endless Summer Quarterly today, and after a grueling day at work headed down to my local watering hole to soak it in...

Great new insights on two of Brian's side projects from the early 60s. Other than raising an eyebrow at the May 9, 1963 entry in Andrew Doe's timeline, and having a WTF feeling, I hadn't really heard anything about the session Brian did with Vickie Kocher for "The Summer Moon." I've since YouTube'd it, you can be sure of that.  It's a shame that Brian apparently never followed through on recording Vickie singing "Teach Me To Surf" (aka "Little Surfer Girl"). I've always been intrigued by that snippet on the Good Vibrations box set. Lee Dempsey mentions that that track was found on a partially-erased tape; does anyone know if there's anything more to that recording than they put on the box set, or is that where the tape gets erased?

Lee Dempsey also asks Vickie if she'd be interested in hearing her track on a future Brian Wilson Productions compilation... does anyone know of anything I don't??? Are there plans in that area maybe?

And the Sharon Marie interview was FANTASTIC. Nice job AGD. So great to get some background information after all these years. How crazy is that, how she got the gig basically by singing off-the-cuff at a Beach Boys concert in between songs/sets. So it's confirmed that the June 14, 1963 "Black Wednesday" session was for tracking only, no vocals. Best guess based on her recollection is a vocal session in early September. What does everyone think about Ms. Marie's claim that Mike Love played the sax on Runaround Lover? I never would have thunk it possible. It's more than the usual two-note honk that's for sure. Jay Migliori is on the session sheet, so color me skeptical. Especially since she wasn't at the tracking session. Anyway, the whole interview is captivating. I loved the tale about how Summertime came about.

As a follow-up, I say ESQ should track down "Rachel" (Betty Willis) of Rachel and the Revolvers next!

Why ? It's AFM documented, according to someone I trust completely.

Sharon Marie was an interviewer's dream - truthfully, I hardly edited anything, just asked the questions.  As for Mike, there are two saxes on that song, so I'm guessing Brian got him to add a simple line during the vocal session to beef up what was there.

No no no no... not at all what I meant to convey. I never doubted your veracity Andrew. I only meant that I came across that entry and I was thinking, 'wow, what is this all about?' Because I hadn't heard about it before.

By the way, I've been diving into that timeline the past 4 days. During stolen moments at work, I'm importing it all into Excel, so I can sort and filter by category and do all kinds of nerdy things. As I've been doing this, it has been hitting me how much work you must have put into that behemoth. I'm basically in awe.

The shows section is maybe 5% my contribution - the vast bulk of it is the tireless work of Ian Rusten, who is still updating and correcting what we already have, and has been instrumental in confirming or disproving some long held assumptions. Probably the only major contribution I made was discovering that the much-touted 1962 40-date tour of the midwest never happened.

As for the sessions, more of that's mine, but again I've had serious, serious help, notably from Craig Slowinski (if you've not visited his sessions site - BeachBoysarchives (http://www.beachboysarchives.com/page1[/color) - do so, now), Lou Shenk (his Smile primer still rules) and other archivists who prefer anonymity.

I've only just got the winter issue and am half-way through it but have to say it's the best issue yet; has always been a fine magazine but the Sunflower issue is stellar.

You guys are just wetting my thirst for the spring issue!

That's funny - earlier this very evening I was visiting Craig's Beach Boys Archives site for the first time. And speaking of the latest issue of ESQ, it mentions in there that Craig will be contributing to the SMiLE Sessions book. That came as great news to me. Craig, the tiny bit I know about him anyway, seems to me a perfect mixture of objectivity and passion. As much as I revere Domenic Priore for how he kindled the Smile flame and kept it alive, and for what he compiled, I do share concerns that others have expressed that he sometimes has a tendency to blur speculation with established fact. My hope is that between Craig and Alan Boyd, a good deal of even-handed historical objectivity might creep in.

Totally agree about Lou's Primer. Of all the SMiLE-related material I own it's the one thing I keep coming back to over and over again.

Andrew, I'm curious how and when you 'discovered' this because I would have bet my last dollar this was first uncovered during the earliest days of researching for the Lost Beach Boy (2 or 3 years before it came out) and that further research has only confirmed that no shows could be found in the mid-west.

Fair point - my use of words was poor. Jon emailed me quite early in the writing of said excellent and essential tome to ask me what I thought about the mythical tour and, pitching the band's chart success to date - viz, one #75 single and a new release that wouldn't hit the Billboard Hot 100 until early August - against the possibility of them being asked to do a 40-date tour outside of CA on the strength of that, my opinion was that in 1962 they couldn't have mounted a 40-date tour of Southern California, and that someone was misremembering the 1963 summer midwest tour. 'Discovered' is a mite excessive, I agree.

Where would I find Lou Shenk's Smile primer?

Well speaking personally, it's in the BB folder on my desktop here.

I']ll just have to send the Shenk stealing worm your way then

Only if he digs worms -_-

I wasn't trying to call you out on it. Really. You know I have total respect for your wealth of knowledge and the high standards you demand from all things related to BB research.  So, I know you will appreciate how, I won't say 'discovered' because clearly those involved always knew the truth...so I will say, how we uncovered the error in reporting.

During the summer of '05, Jon Stebbins came to NY to pick David's brain for a couple of weeks.  When he left, he left behind a very detailed outline / timeline for the book with various elements we could nail down.  David has 2 very clear memories of touring the mid-west.  He remembers Al Jardine being there when they took off from LAX on the 1st tour and Brian being there for the 2nd tour when he quit...and we had physical evidence to back up both of those memories with dates / photos / memorabilia from Spring and Summer '63  tours.

However, there was this big blank on the timeline under the section for '62 Midwest tour that we couldn't get our heads around.  We determined David either had vivid memories of tours 2 and 3 and had amnesia on tour 1 (unlikely) or the '62 tour never happened.  Shortly after that I found a newspaper article dated Oct '62 in an old box and Murry says the band hadn't played outside California yet...so that pretty much busted the myth.

Jon had the difficult task of breaking the news to the experts that this key piece of history never happened and knew support from you and Ian would be smart...and it was!  I am very thankful for everything you and Ian contributed to the book. Craig and Alan, too.  But I have to admit my shoes were a bit scuffed at the idea of credit for nailing down the 'true' story of the '62-'63 era BB's going anywhere besides the Lost Beach Boys.  Thanks for clearing it up! ;-)

Carrie, you know better than anyone that while David can be worse than useless as regards actual dates, his memory for events is scary. If he says it happened, it did: if he doesn't recall it at all, it didn't.  ;D

Lucky ME!  The mail today included my inew issue!!!  \
The Vickie Kocher article was GREAT! Haven't finished the rest yet, but thumbing I found a couple of revelations for me from the rest:
  Al's adding two songs to the Postcard "reissue", so I'm glad I haven't bought it yet. 

  Mike and Bruce have evidently dropped the Name "The Beach Boys" for this years tour, in favor of using their own. 

I am so looking forward to when Mike & Bruce set off on the Smile Sessions Fall Tour. What a mind blower that will be. ;)

Maybe they'll work "Car Crazy Cutie" into the Smile set!  ;D

Happy April 1st all!

Depends on where you're from...still 31 March where I'm at :lol

April 1 for me. Havn't been punked yet but early days!  :p

Every day I wake up and it's March 31 all over again....

Glad I didn't get my ESQ on April 1, tho I'm thinking maybe that was the plan, what with the Al and Mike/Bruce news.

I thought Groundhog Day was Feb 2nd....

yeah, sure, make light of mental trauma....

Not so bgas…
Since they tour as three different shows it is my editorial discretion to use their names…because they are all Beach Boys.

I'd like to add my kudos to Andrew for an excellent job.  Sharon Marie's story was very interesting - it seemed that Mike as instrumental as Brian or more in bringing her into Brian's circle and getting her a record deal AND seeing the record through the production and the promotion process.  He was quite the entrepreneur even then.

Great issue...Andrew`s interview is groundbreaking!

Yes… I thought that EMI came through in spades with those great pictures too.

I got my copy last week. Already read it. And love it. Especially the interviews. Would be nice if this was the start of a whole series of interviews with groups and artists that Brian produced.