The Smiley Smile Message Board

For anyone interested, Mike's facebook page just posted a link to the new band website: www.thebeachboys.com.  Looks pretty good.

http://www.thebeachboys.com/#go_page_0

This is actually really nice

Guess Bret Wheadon lost his domain name.

Bret's site is beachboys.com . There's been an official site at thebeachboys.com for quite a while -- this is just a major site revamp.
Too much animated JavaScript nonsense and not enough actual content for my liking.

Just in time for the 5........Oh wait!

Normal Beach Boys poor timing and missed opportunities has been resumed. :lol

'The Band' section shows the full group...

Bit troubling, the lack of distinction between the use of the 50th reunion logo and the M&B tour dates. Viewing on iPhone at the mo' and you'd assume the dates include Brian, Al etc. Am I being over-sensitive?????

I like that you can click on each member to visit their website, but when you click on Bruce and you get his wikipedia article.

There are some nice pictures in the photo section, and a few I've never seen before.  Hopefully they update it.

The tour dates page says:
"Keep checking back here for date announcements. The Beach Boys are led by founding member Mike Love and Bruce Johnston (who has been a member since 1965 after Brian Wilson retired from touring with the band), who along with Christian Love, Randell Kirsch, Tim Bonhomme, John Cowsill and Scott Totten continue the legacy of the iconic American band. "

I also don't see the fiftieth anniversary logo anywhere -- but it's clear that someone's still tweaking it. When Billy made his comment, "The Band" page just showed Mike & Bruce -- now it shows an outtake from the Surfin' Safari cover shoot.

Well, it's confusing for sure, but if you click on "TOUR," the picture above all the dates/venues is everyone's favorite pic of The Bruce Boys....

And now that text isn't on the tour dates page, but is on the news page. It was replaced on the tour dates page, in the time it took me to type the previous reply, with a photo of the Mike & Bruce band from 2008.

Clearly someone's still doing some frantic last-minute work on the site...

I do like the way Spotify's integrated into the site.

Landing page displays the C50 logo; band page has a pic of the reunion group around Brian at the piano; no text on the tour page explaining band composition, just tour dates with click-through to maps of venues.

When viewed on iPhone.

Refresh it -- it's changed a lot in the last few minutes.

Hilariously, even though it's an official site, one of the videos they link to (the Do It Again one from last year) errors, saying it's been removed on copyright grounds.

I wonder why The Bruce Boys don't play places like House Of Blues in major cities or The El Rey in LA or Henry Fonda theater? Why does it always have to be some out of the way, meat & potatoes, cotton candy and popcorn type of thing? I understand them playing those places, but they should or could still try and reach out to those "discerning music fans" out there. It would get them some respect.... Not like they care about any of that though.

Good call.  The House of Blues would be perfect venues for them to play some deeper shows like they do in the UK.

oh wow

No SIP or 85 in the album section I can see.

The 85 album is there, as part of the twofer with KTSA. SIP is of course not on Spotify (and not available anywhere) so not linked.

Tour page online now has a photo of the current touring band.

Pretty nice website, there is actually good potential with it. When you click on an album not only does it bring up the album on Spotify to listen to, but an option to buy on itunes and a space for comments. So one can write their own essay on why "Here Comes the Night" (disco version) actually IS the greatest thing since sliced bread, or explain the meaning of "Ding-Dang".

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Ha, I don't see Bruce mentioned as an founding member.  You joshing us Andrew?

In the photos section are only two featured Beach Boys - huge photos of Bruce and Mike.  Bad form in my opinion.

Cool site but doesn't work worth a damm on my tablet.

yup!  ;D

Still waiting for them to open Beach Boys Central...  six or seven years later however long it's been.

The site was actualized last years for C50. They just updated it again now


I think it would be nice to include Blondie and Ricky somehow

Still some errors on the tour page with dates and venues though...

It would be nice, but they won't do it. At least one band member says that they were never real Beach Boys, just sidemen, and shouldn't be included in lists of past and present members.

There are, however, a couple of photos on the site that include Blondie in live performances.

Well I certainly class them as Beach Boys even if it was for a relatively short period , how many songs did they record and indeed write with and for the BB's AND to think of all those live tapes i've heard from the period introducing Mike,Ricky,Al,Dennis,Blondie and Carl 'THE BEACH BOYS' ummmm sidemen don't get that attention  ::)  OH and that period was certainly the best as a live Band , just superb.........

And that band member is full of crap.

Agree with you 110%, Mr. Dean.  You had to be there.

Who is this member that says this?

Bruce has said they 'were sidemen and never royalty members' in the past. I think its the WOTS podcast series discussing 'Sail On Sailor' from memory.

The line 'and shouldn't be included in lists of past and present members.' may be from another interview but was not from the above.

I am not the biggest fan of Blondie and Ricky, but this just sounds like sour grapes from Bruce since he left the group around that time.

They should rename it Beach Boys Centennial.

Yeah, it was Bruce. I didn't want to say who because it was a private conversation, but he was definitely of the opinion that they didn't count.
Personally, I consider them members because they wrote, sang and played on three albums (plus a track or two on Fifteen Big Ones in Ricky's case) and were credited as members then, but I suspect it woudn't be politic for them to be listed as equal members.

Mike?

broooce.

Not to mention that in the few years Ricky and Blondie were in the band, they had a hand in writing almost as many songs for the band as Bruce did in all his years as a "legitimate" member.

Wow. Bruce just keeps delivering the hits. And what is his reasoning for him being considered an "official" member while Blondie and Ricky just being sidemen? Or just because?

I don't remember him giving a reason -- this was a brief conversation twelve years ago.
That said, I'd expect it might have something to do with his having been in the band for forty years to their three, his having been on eighteen albums to their three, his having been a corporate member prior to 1972 while they were never corporate members, his having been on 17 US top 40 singles (including two number ones) to their zero...
Or it might be any number of other reasons.

In all fairness, it must also be pointed out that Bruce has referred to himself as a sideman and 'just a hired hand' as well.

That's nuts....him, Blondie, AND Ricky are Beach Boys.

He might think that due to thinking Jack Reilly made them members to replace him.

I feel ya, but if you go by that criteria, does that make Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks truer members of Fleetwood Mac than Peter Green and Danny Kirwan? Fleetwood Mac had many more hits with Buckingham Nicks than they did with the other guys, and Lindsey and Stevie had been in the group far longer than the other guys, but that doesn't mean I'd discount the other guys.

My feeling (obviously) is a member is a member is a member. All of the above were at one point officially in said groups and no retroactive nonsense can make that untrue.

Least Ricky and Blonde made the most out of their short membership. Bruce has been coasting since 1980 and its scary how he gets paid to handclap/mic adjust.

I'm wondering if Bruce might have some hearing issues that might hinder his playing and singing. I mean, at the C50 show I saw, he sounded ageless on Disney Girls.

Love to hear him sing "I Write the Songs". They do some covers, why not that one.

Checking the domain registration records, it's been almost eight years! The domain name was registered July 5, 2005.

Because it's boring as hell.

"I write the songs" is terrible. Thank god they don't cover that song

Sure, but still was a huge, number one hit.  I detest "Barbara Ann" (cause I've heard it too much), same with "Be True to Your School".

But really, for the casino crowd and Sea World, "I write the songs" would go over well.  Just sayin.  Though you wouldn't find me paying to see it.