The Smiley Smile Message Board

Not a very revealing picture, but just found this on the 'net. Apparently at the UNICEF concert from December 1967...

http://beatlephotoblog.com/george-and-john-at-the-beach-boys-concert#comments

This will cause a flamewar and a few bans on the Hoffman board.

Cool, didn't know they were there.

Can't see why - those pix have been around for decades.

I knew they went but did not know they saw The Beach Boys show.

Didn't they intrduce Dennis to Maharishi at that occasion ?

Even here, on this board, there is no escaping the stench, and hypocritical
hyperbole of the bloated fly drawing hulk known as the Hoffman Board.

I think McCartney and Harrison both made a number of public comments
praising the genius of Pet Sounds, even going so far as to say it was
the best album ever. If there is any surprise it would be Lennon having
a greater endorsement of the album.

Apparently Lennon did, Tony Rivers has mentioned it at a couple of the BB Stomp Conventions I've been to and mentions Lennon's praise of the Beach Boys on his site...

http://www.craftweb.org/web/tony/cast4.html

Also didn't realise they'd been around for decades, came across this one too with the Maharishi...

http://www.granger.com/searchresults.asp?inline=true&image=0111329&wwwflag=1&imagepos=22

http://www.beatle-girls.com/2009/11/1967-beach-boys-concert.html

According to this website, this picture of the BB's with the Maharishi was taken after the gig? But Brian didn't play the concert and Bruce isn't there? Did Brian go to France but NOT play the gig...

http://chainedandperfumed.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/cute-band-alert-26/

But Bruce is in this one, is this on the ill-fated tour or is this after the UNICEF concert rather than the one with Brian above?

http://www.pondichery.com/french/maharishi/Beach-Boys_and_maharishi.jpg

(EDIT) The UNICEF footage shows Bruce has the infamous 'tache, so unless he shaved it off the day after the gig the picture above must've been taken on the Maharishi tour...

Interesting to note that among many of the 60's icon Lennon put down or lost respect for (namely Dylan and the Rolling Stones) I can't recall him ever slagging the BB off.

70's: John Lennon and Brian Wilson hung out and apparently had some LSD trips together with the likes of Harry Nilsson, Micky Dolenz, and other Hollywood rockers in the early 70's. Dolenz told the story of his last trip which found John Lennon staring into a swimming pool for hours and Brian Wilson playing the same note on the piano over and over again. He's suggested they all hung out and fooled around with music in his home studio at various parties too. Wonder if Micky has any secret tapes they made together...

60's: Prior to those photos the Beatles met up with the Beach Boys in Portland, summer 1965. They met Mike and Carl, and according to Larry Kane: "Ringo, the ultimate Beach Boys fan among the Beatles, was dazzled by Wilson and Love. 'A thrill to meet them' he told me later" Another source said that on that same tour, John and George were overheard discussing Brian Wilson on the infamous flight where the plane's engine caught fire and made an emergency landing.

They play some Beach Boys during the "Get Back" sessions, don't they? And Geoff Emerick, one of several who said this, remembers having a turntable brought into Abbey Road and Pet Sounds was played constantly in late 1966 into 1967. You hear it all over Penny Lane for one.

It's not surprising they'd not only be fans but also want to take in a BB's show when they were able. I think the Beatles were duly impressed and also a bit in awe of how Brian particularly was able to create such an ideal image of his home California through his music. They were definitely fans, Ringo the biggest fan apparently!

Brian was not on the Dec 67 trip to Europe.  They only played one concert on that trip-the UNICEF show.  However-the BBs were so jazzed by the Maharishi and wanted Brian to get into TM as well-so when the Maharishi visited the U.S. to lecture at some colleges (January 19-23 1968) the BBs went east to see him and meet with him again and convinced Brian to go with them.  He recieved his mantra from Maharishi at a private meeting in NY-photographed by Linda Eastman (soon to become Mrs. McCartney).  As we all know-the Wilson's drifted away from TM-but Mike and Al remained devoted. 

By the way-I should mention that while they were in London in Dec 67-Mike and Bruce attended the premiere party for Magical Mystery Tour and hung out with all four fabs there. It was written up in NME.  And of course-Mike spent a month with the Beatles in India in Feb-Mar 68.

There was always lots of love in The Beach Boys for The Beatles. Carl adored The Beatles and had photos posted in his bedroom in the Hawthorne house. I think Brian loves Paul`s abilities as a composer. Paul has obviously had an affection for Brian`s work through the years. He was said that he thought Brian`s band circa the Smile 2004 debut was one of the best he`s ever heard. So it is nice to see that John and George liked some of Brian`s music too. Brian has sung on a couple of Ringo`s albums, and he has drummed on Brian`s work...lots of mutual cross pollination. Then there`s Happy Birthday Michael Love from several Beatle boots. Girl Don`t Tell me is a Brian tribute to John Lennon. Back in the USSR is a Paul tribute to The Beach Boys...I never understood in the 60s why you couldn`t like The Beatles AND  The Beach Boys AND The Four Seasons.

Probably because it wasn't (and still isn't actually) about the music but about hipness, etc. That way a lot of great music gets unheard.

Well, in the sixties I grew up in...in California, practically everybody had both Beatles and Beach Boys records in their homes. Another thing that's misleading is calling the sixties the "60's" as if it all was the same. The difference between 1964 and 1968 was about as wide as the difference between 1985 and now.

I'd also add the Beach Boys paid a great tribute to the Beatles and showed their respect and admiration by recording several of their songs on the Party! album, in fact those covers might weigh a bit more in historical context because the songs they covered were fairly current when Party! was recorded. That to me is one of the better tributes a group or artist could give to what some might call "the competition" for airplay and sales.

I can't think of any animosity or hard feelings expressed publicly between the bands until Mike's Hall Of Fame rant in the 80's.

What are the chances this has any basis in reality?  At least as far as Brian taking LSD trips with these guys in the 1970's...

You'll have to ask Micky Dolenz, he said that incident was the last LSD trip he experienced. Maybe Brian wasn't on LSD but Micky thought he was, or Brian was just goofing on them? I don't know. It's odd that Micky describes Brian hitting one note at the piano and Brian in one account of a trip described sitting at a piano and all the piano keys seemed to meld into one.

Another way to frame the question: Do you believe Brian's accounts of the relatively small number of times he claims to have taken LSD in his life? Or that he never took it after, say, 1966? The Hawaii concerts alone prove he was understating it a bit...

That's interesting - so it's entirely possibly that part of Brian's description of his 2nd trip in the mid sixties is in reality someone else's description of Brian at a party (maybe tripping, maybe not) five years later.  Gotta love Todd Gold - he's consistent.  ;D