The Smiley Smile Message Board

I've read some incredible stories from Smiley members about their experiences in real life relating to the Beach Boys. Meeting them in real life for instance, and having Bruce Johnston wish death upon you with his eyes. My personal favorite story is the guy who shouted during a C50 show, and had said shout appear on the live album (from a show is Texas I believe). Both of those stories are rather interesting.

So, share any Beach Boys story you have, I'd love to read them.

I was at the Sands reunion show and Mike and Al pointed to me and the other guy next to me. We both laughed because we were acting a bit dorky  :lol

When I saw the band in Camden I was so happy that they played Marcella that I cheered for a good fifteen seconds or so after the song ended. Mike pointed to me and was like "well, thank you very much!"

This isn't a Beach Boys story...it's a Brian Wilson story:  I'm young (23), so Brian Wilson has always felt like a black-and-white mythical legend more than a real person.  When I got the chance to see him live (in the flesh!) two summers ago, he finally seemed real.  (I went with my dad--the one who introduced me to the Beach Boys!)

Before the concert, I decided to scope out the venue's back-lot.  Sure enough, there was a tour bus and a small crowd of people waiting around it, all waiting for a chance to just see Brian.  Lucky for those of us who were waiting there, he decided to sign autographs, so I hopped right in line.  I didn't have a camera nor a thing for him to autograph--I didn't care: I just wanted to meet Brian.  I stepped inside the tour bus and I got to shake his hand.

This is how I like to put it, though: I met Brian, but Brian didn't meet me. lol, what I mean by that is that he didn't seem "all there", or at the very least he was distracted, and he didn't seem to know I was there hah.  No complaints here, though--it was truly a moment of joy that I'll always remember.

I haven't met any of the Beach Boys, but at the C50 show in Cincy last year Scott Bennett walked by where I was sitting on his way to the sound board (about 45 minutes before the show), and I stopped him, shook his hand, and chatted for about 15 seconds.

Kind of lame, but it was memorable for me. I think he was surprised I knew who he was.

born in '73, i always loved the Beach Boys but didn't even hear Pet Sounds in its entirety until '98. i became a hardcore fan almost overnight, read the Gaines book, saw Endless Harmony, became fascinated with SMiLE, discovered the box set and entire discography. and then Brian announced shows for the following spring.

I drove through a blizzard from N. Carolina to see the first show in Ann Arbor in March of '99. what an amazing and spiritual experience it was. stood by the bus hoping to meet Brian and get an autograph. No luck, but I did talk to Nicky who is cool as can be. We were both so happy that Brian was out playing his music again, and doing some rather obscure things to boot. I remember wishing out loud that Brian would play Busy Doin Nothin and Nicky agreed.

In July of 2001, I saw Brian at Jones Beach when he toured with Paul Simon. During that tour, he was setting up an autograph table after his set so I came prepared. I was completely starstruck and Brian couldn't sign his name fast enough, but getting that chance to say "Hi Brian" and tell him thank you was so fulfilling. I stood in line twice and got autographs on my Mt. Vernon & Fairway 45 and a Pet Sounds cover with Mike Love removed (I was a graphic design student learning how to have a little fun in Photoshop. I thought it was funny and Brian didn't even notice)

In May of 02 i made it to L.A. for the Roxy shows. I bumped into and spoke to Melinda briefly before the show. It was an amazing setlist that night in the most intimate of venues and I was right up front for it. When Brian played Busy Doin Nothin, he looked directly at me as I sang along word-for-word... a brief but very cool "moment" for me!

I was able to purchase a front row seat at the very last minute before the SMiLE concert in Melbourne, FL in 2004. That was a religious experience sitting basically at the master's feet as he played his psychedelic Americana masterpiece that I was hearing for the first time in its entirety. More eye contact was exchanged but I think I left my body at some point.

All I have to say is that everyone I know makes fun of me for liking The Beach Boys. :/

Summer 2005, backstage in Birmingham (England) after the BW show, hanging with the band (and about 30 other fans), the tour manager stuck his head through the door at increasingly shorter intervals, pleading with the band to get onto the tour bus - next days show was in Glasgow - and eventually almost threatening to drive off without them. Darian turned to him and said, pointedly, "we're talking to our friends". That literally charmed me: not "these fans", not "these people", but "our friends". Told me everything about the bond that had formed with the UK fans and Brian's band since early 2002 (and it's the same with the members of Mike & Bruce's band too: stars one and all).

Trying to think of any other band with such a relationship with the fans... and pretty much failing.

Nice story AGD.

Brian and Al are the ones I have been able to converse with and interview. Both very nice people, both seemed to enjoy getting non typical questions. Best part my job is this of course, especially when the people turn out to be as cool as them.

Mike got an autograph after the show in 1993, too noisy too talk as he was getting off the stage, but he stopped and took a minute when he did not have to.

Carl autographed a picture sleeve of I Get Around for me. I knew a guy from a studio (I think he was recording Like A Brother) that told him about me so that was nice and pretty shocking in a good way.

Bruce and David just have talked to them a few times online. BBB for Bruce like everyone else, but I got a good answer from him about I Will Always Love You by Barry Mann and Carl's version of it..

That's f**king amazing  :o

I've had one BB encounter (shared this before.)

I saw the C50 show in Hong Kong, which blew my mind. That started the current obsession which has escalated to a hobby.

Much later in March, I was going to see Mike and Bruce. When waiting for the ferry, I saw Bruce, who I went to talk to. He was incredibly friendly, and I talked to him and Tim Bonhomme for a little while. Met Mike too, but briefy.
Tim made sure that he take my name and number (giving me his cell to call) so he could get me a backstage pass for the Rugby 7's the following day. In Hong Kong the Rugby 7's are a pretty big deal. Even a regular ticket is expensive and pretty hard to get. So I spent the next day hanging out backstage in The Beach Boys area, along with some of the best rugby players in the world.
I bumped into John Cowsil after they played and I asked him for an autograph. He signed, and then pulled the drumsticks he used out of his pocket and said "Here, these are collectors items." They've got his and the BB C50 logo.

In short, they are some really nice people.

I saw you've also met Mike personally at a show. How did that go?

OK, so here goes my credibility in certain quarters, but just great. Hung out pre- and post-gig, had a goodly amount of one-on-one time. He's a very funny guy, but in a dry English way, and exceedingly gracious (he almost agreed to remove "B-f-A" from the setlist but the MD overruled). Very protective towards his family, and his cousin. We talked about this and that and I gained new insights into a lot of things, recent and historic. Some of us here think we know this thing called The Beach Boys, and the individuals therein, just a little bit. Fact is, we know next to nothing... except what we choose to believe.

Big props also to Jacquelyne Love, Tim Bonhomme and Jay Jones for arranging everything. Except the penguin suit.

I'm glad to hear you had a good experience talking to Bruce. As has often been discussed around here, he seems to have his good and bad days.

I was at a pre-show gathering for Danish fans, when Mike and Bruce played in Copenhagen in around 2004,... or was it '05? Quite a few years ago at least. We were only about 10-15 hardcore fans gathered at a small meeting room we had booked at the venue. One of the fans went outside to catch some fresh air before the show, only to bump into Bruce who apparently was having a stroll around the venue. So this fan tells him about the fan gathering, Bruce says he'd be glad to stop by and say hi and the two of them come up to where the rest of us are. I then think that Bruce was underwhelmed by the poor turnout in there - I don't know if the fellow fan had given him the impression that there was hundreds of us there or a bunch of blonde, goodlookin' female fans. :-) Whatever, he came across as very grumpy, even dissing a teenage guy who asked him a, admittedly dumb, question. ("I can see in this old Danish teen magazine that when you played here in 66 you were wearing RED striped shirts. I thought you guys only wore blue stripes?") I can't remember how Bruce responded word by word but it was something along the lines of "how the f*** would I know or even care about what we wore that many years ago?" I don't blame Bruce though - it was a strange question. He seemed in a pretty bad mood and it was all pretty bizarre. Got to shake his hand though and have him sign my copy of Friends.

For me personally, such an encounter doesn't change anything at all. Being surrounded by geeky fanboys like myself mulling over the most inane details of your career could surely also piss me off.

Hahaha, oh my god. That is so in line with all the other negative stories.  :lol
Sorry to hear that it wasn't a good encounter. Still, it is great just to hear someone of his position speak. That's the guy singing on all those records!

Never met any of the BB so maybe this doesn't belong here (Ok, it definitely doesn't belong here, but I like to share my BB fandom history at any rate)...

Throughout my life thought the Beach Boys were a corny surfin/cars/fun, fun, fun light music band that was NOT to be taken seriously. I vacillated between loving The Beatles, Electric Light Orchestra to Genesis. One day while browsing in a Best Buy I decided to buy Sounds of Summer and give these Beach Boys a legitimate try. I was shocked by how many hits they had, but still I couldn't put that thought in my mind that they were just light, airy, not-to-be-taken-too-seriously.

My wife & her father saw the M & B Beach Boys in 2009 or so but I knew enough to not have that be my Beach Boys experience. Although my band history was very rudimentary then I skipped out on the show because Brian Wilson wouldn't be there.

Skip ahead to 5/19/12 and I saw the C-50 stop at The Borgata in Atlantic City. I was hypnotized by Brian's presence and that has launched me into a period of obsession that has continued pretty much unabated since then.

I purchased all their easy-to-obtain 2fers (no MIU/LA--got that on iTunes) used through Amazon resellers (about $4 each on average) and purchased all the literature I could about all things Beach Boys, again used.

Now I anxiously await the arrival of MiC by listening to Summer In Paradise for the first time this morning (finally found a free download online--I am comedically inept with PCs) and some Landlocked.

Seeing Brian & Jeff Beck in October in Philly where my Beach Boys obsession will continue unabated for the next undefined period of time. Smiley Smile keeps me fueled and I love the idea of these types of fan pages. I imagine us all at a large cocktail party engaged in many different side conversations simultaneously and for that, I am very grateful that Al Gore invented this thing called the internet.

Thanks for reading this lengthy and generally-unrelated post. Cheers!

When I was 14 (in 1993), I somehow got ahold of the group's mailing addresses and sent all of them fan letters. Carl was the only one to respond, and he sent a personalized autographed photo, which I still have. I think this speaks to him as a person ... I think that he and Denny were the more fan-oriented of the group. I often wonder if Carl and Dennis would be more involved in boards such as this if they were still with us ... I suspect they would!

I also met Brian (and Jeff Foskett) right around the Smile Sessions box, but he seemed like he was having an off day -- sort of spaced out. Jeff was nice and Brian autographed my picture sleeve of Mt. Vernon & Fairway.

I met Brian in Los Angeles in June, 1976. Then I hung out with him for about an hour at his house in Bel-Air.

Also met, Mike, Carl, Al, and Bruce and had them sign stuff. Dennis almost signed stuff but he was too pissed off and intoxicated.

You got Dennis drunk, and then he was pissed at you for doing it?

The night before Thanksgiving 2006, Beacon Theater, New York...my wife and I and a few friends fell ass backwards into getting tickets to the show and all-access passes, courtesy of one of the guys in the band who will be nameless out of respect...

After the show, my wife wanted to go backstage just to thank said band member, which we did, and I thought we were on our way out, until we see Brian himself walk in and pour himself a drink. My wife grabbed my hand and said, "Come on." And I'm all "Uhh...honey, what are you doing??" We get closer to Brian. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING???"

My wife walks up to him, looks him in the face, and says, "Hi, Brian. My name is Mrs. 37!WS, and this is my husband 37!WS." Brian smiled and said, "Hi, Mrs. 37!WS!" and shook her hand, and smiled and shook my hand, making eye contact with us both. I think I managed to get out a "Thank you for your music, Brian!" while my wife said "We met because of Pet Sounds!" to which Brian laughed and said "WHOA! Great!" and, still, smiling, just casually walked away. But wow...he actually demonstrated social skills to us for a few seconds! Totally NOT what I was expecting! I was expecting a forced smile and a "yeah, whatever" kind of reaction...

A few minutes later we kind of got caught up in the crowd and talked to Al Jardine briefly. (He was touring with Brian for a short time in 2006.) My wife told Al that as an English teacher, she loves that he included a reference to Travels With Charley in "California." He said, "I'll letcha in on a little secret...I never actually read that book!" (Obviously -- because the lyrics sheet spells Charley's name incorrectly, and the book doesn't really take place in Salinas.) She laughed at the time, but she kind of looks back on that with disappointment; she can't help but feel a little let down.

That's really my story at this point...but I'd like to share a friend's....I don't think he posts on this board...but our friend Dan is a massive Dennis fan and is sometimes even listed in the acknowledgements of BB product that has some new Denny stuff (in particular, the 2008 POB reissue), and he runs the Dennis Wilson Dreamer web site. Anyhoo...in August of 2005, my wife and I were spending some time in Chicago and found out that the cancelled Clio, Michigan Smile concert was rescheduled for....the Park West in Chicago, the last night we were going to be there! Naturally, we pounced on tickets, and with the help of another friend ended up at the head of the general-admission line, and made a bee line right to the stage when they opened the doors; we sat so close that my wife literally put her arm out and was touching Brian's keyboard stand. Dan was right behind us at the same table, and he was wearing a custom-made Dennis Wilson t-shirt; I don't remember if it was from the Greg Larson collection or if he commissioned it himself, but...

Anyhoo, at some point during the concert, Brian actually pointed to Dan and mouthed the words "Where'd you get that t-shirt??" I remember Dan's jaw just dropped...this is the same guy who was the last guy at a Brian meet-and-greet and got a sh*t ton of pictures with him and Melinda, yet he was still in awe of being singled out by Brian! heh...

Oh...also, I met Ricky Fataar at Beatlefest in 1997. I asked him if The Flame would ever get back together. He laughed and said, "You know? That was a WEIRD album!" I asked him something about "We Got Love," and he just said "Hmm....well, I WROTE the bloody song, but...I don't remember!" Saw him the next day in the hotel restaurant and asked if I could get a picture, to which he immediately said of course. And right before I snapped it he said "WAIT..." and he held up the restaurant's menu, which featured a collage of drawn coffee cups (or, to a Rutles fan, tea cups) and put on his sunglasses, and said, "OK, now go ahead!" I love that picture...I know the guy is from South Africa, but he spoke with a very British accent...

In january 1979, I attended a Blondie Chaplin concert at Whiskey a Gogo.
He played a beautiful version of Sail on Sailor that night.
Then along with Alice of BB Freaks United (the name of the international  fan club at the time) we interviewed Blondie.
When I told him about the german and first pressing of  Holland vinyl album featuring We Got Love, he was totally surprised and really interested in getting one copy.
The man was very kind and pleasant that night . the interview was published a little later in BBFUN newsletter.

In 1988, I introduced Brian at the BBStomp convention with Pete Whitfield.
All 3 were frightened! Brian appearing live in front of 300 fans
and Pete and I because of the surprise of the day.

I ll remember those 2 strong events forever.

I paid $35 bucks for my physical copy of MIU/LA from eBay :/  (It's hard being a completionist...)

I've mentioned my Mike and Bruce stories elsewhere.  My first Brian meeting was brief, as he left the venue to get on to his bus after playing Glasgow Armadillo 2002.  Got a quick signature before the poor guy almost got crushed.  Felt bad about that. I also got a nice picture with Melinda before the gig as she was sitting right behind me.  At the end I met Taylor Mills and got a picture with her.  Very nice!

Next time was Edinburgh, same year.  Brian shook the hands of people at the front of the stage and I was one of them!  After the gig I thought there's no point hanging about outside so I think I'll walk up to the Balmoral Hotel on the off chance Brian was staying there.  After a wee while the tour bus pulls up. First man off the bus was Brian!  I had my Pet  Sounds album in one hand and a camera in the other, my heart was pounding.  Brian signed my album and posed for a picture, which his assistant took.  Then he went into the hotel.  I was chatting away the whole time. Brian didn't say a word but seemed quite relaxed as there was nobody else around.  Then all the band got of the bus and chatted and signed, apart from Jeff, who signed but didn't speak and had a towel round his neck.  Someone else said he was protecting his voice!

2004, met Brian again at a meet and greet in Newcastle and got my Smile poster signed.  Brian didn't say anything.

2004 Glasgow again, I'm hanging back after the show talking to Scott Bennett.  Everybody's getting ready for a meet and greet, which I didn't have a ticket for.  Next thing a table gets pulled up next to a door.  I'm first in line, Smile programme at the ready Brian comes out, sits down.  I tell him, "thank you" for all the music and a great show.  He looks up and says to me, "thank you"! The emphasis in his voice made it seem like he was thanking me for being a fan rather than for what I had just said.  I was thrilled.  He seemed very relaxed and happy.

I've also been fortunate enough to meet Darian and Probyn on other occasions too, great guys.

I'm very lucky and thankful that I've had the chance to meet these guys and not been disappointed.  They have certainly been very gracious with their time.

I also think it's pretty cool that there are people here like AGD that I've seen at these gigs too, never spoken to you Andrew, and all the other familiar faces that go to all the gigs.  It's always good to meet Beach Boys friends every so often and have a blether before the gigs.  There's always a good atmosphere.  Maybe some of them post on here to.

"Travels with Charley" documents the driving trip John Steinbeck took in his camper with his dog Charley around the United States in the 1960s. He wanted to see the U.S. on a personal level, since he made his living writing about it. He wanted to know first hand what Americans were really like. However, he found that the "New America" did not live up to his expectations. He started his travels in Long Island, New York, then throughout the North, the Pacific Northwest, into Monterey, then down into his native Salinas Valley, across to Texas, up through the Deep South, and then back to New York. His whole trip encompassed nearly 10,000 miles.

Steinbeck was born and he grew up in Salinas. Steinbeck also wrote about the romance of his parents near Salinas in "Travels with Charley". Salinas is also a central location in many of Steinbeck's works. He spent much of his time on Fremont Peak (near Salinas). His goodbye to his past in "Travels With Charley" is some of Steinbeck's finest writing.

I happen to live near the "gateway" to Steinbeck Country. This area also includes Big Sur, where Al lives. He may not have read the book, but he knew exactly where he was writing about!

Have you ever been down Salinas way?
Where Steinbeck found the valley
And he wrote about it the way it was in his "Travelin's with Charley."

P.S. I gotta ask Al where "Penny's Place" is/was.  Never been able to find that spot...

Eh... I would probably have ignored you anyway. It's a long-established fact that I don't talk to mere fans at gigs and am, in fact, a complete asshole.  ;D

The Bruce Johnston way of doing things then? :lol

We wouldn't want to spoil your image, but......he's actually fantastic!

If you're ever in Salinas, Make sure to visit the Steinbeck Museum; it's a really great place!  

"I'll Bet He's Nice"  :)

I've had a lot of really memorable moments, brushes with the boys so to speak...don't want to brag, I'm a fan and sometimes it just hits me how ridiculously cool/lucky/weird it is to have occasional interactions with my heroes that, well, make the fan in me go wow! I've met all of them and was really lucky, early on, before I was a writer, to meet Dennis in '78, Brian in '79 etc... But here's a few that stand out for me.

I was at Brian's solo gig in Orange County in 1999, this is before any of my books had been published, I know Brian had no idea who i was (he probably still doesn't)...but this night there was a short reception in the lobby area after the concert. I'd gone to the show with Ed Roach and we'd had an amazing time, so I'm just chilling in the lobby watching all these people swarming around Brian. He's chatting with friends and fans, signing stuff, he's really getting massive attention from too many people. Ed was off talking to people and I was standing alone. I was on the opposite side of the room from Brian, probably 100 feet away with 100 people in between us. I was just leaning against the wall, drinking a beer, watching Brian deal with the throng. Suddenly he locks eyes with me from way across the room. Its that intense Brian stare. I'm looking behind me, around me, thinking he must be looking at someone else. Right then he just bolts through the crowd, and like a lazer guided Wilson, he is walking straight towards me... still staring at me. And I'm still thinking he must be coming over to see someone else, or maybe there's a door here for him to disappear through. But no, he walks directly up to me, puts out his hand, and says with a great big smile, "thanks for coming to the show tonight!" I'm stunned as I shake his hand, and then he's gone. What? Did that just happen? No explanation. It was so cool, and so Brian.

Years later after some of my books had come out, my friend and collaborator Dave Marks and his wife Carrie are visiting my home. It just happens to be the weekend that I'm moving my family to another (better) house across town. So here's Beach Boy David Lee Marks schlepping my moving boxes from my garage to my van. That's right, David Marks is helping me move. As we're loading the van for another trip across town my phone rings. I run into the house and grab the phone, the caller ID says "Al Jardine"...i say hello, the voice (obviously Al) says, "Hi..is Dave there?" Ummm...yeah...hang on a sec, he's carrying boxes of my sh*t to my van..as I'm tracking down Dave, the phone beeps, its another call, I have call waiting...with Al on the line, the caller ID says the call coming in is from "Neil Young"...I say to Al, "can you hang on a minute...Neil Young is on the other line"...Well, it wasn't actually Neil himself, it was John Hanlon Neil's recording engineer who was at Neil's house mixing that day. "Sorry John i can't chat right now I have Al Jardine on the phone, and Dave Marks moving my furniture." This was one of those head shaking moments. BTW Al was confirming with Dave that he was driving up to see him, which he did the next day, my house is near Morro Bay, just an hour drive or so to Big Sur.

One more...I'm sitting with David at his home in NY, just mellow, on the couch both of us have guitars. Not really jamming, just noodling, He's an easy guy to hang and play a little with because he's generous and relaxed about it. I'm a novice guitarist compared to him, but he never makes me feel that way. We're just talking, playing, a very nice afternoon...and i start to play In My Room. Dave says, "actually...this is the way we played it"...and boom, its the record sitting next to me, but its alive. Hard to describe...but my mind was melting...just something so genuine, authentic, THAT sound...the fingers that recorded the classic, two feet away, showing me how. He says, "Carl did this, and I did this..." I'm drooling. Then he showed me how they played "What'd I Say"...and it sounds EXACTLY like the live Australia "64 version, that riff. Put it this way, sitting and hearing dave play that stuff is the absolute closest you can get to Carl Wilson now that he's gone. Carl's very unique guitar technique lives within David's DNA, he could play an interchangeable guitar dance with Carl, and he knows both partners moves in a way no one else does. This was a moment that gave me chills.

No one will top these.  :thud

I have. And it is.     But.....where's Penny's Place?

Oh! Oh!  Are we suppose to top each other's stories here??  I didn't know that!  I should post more in this thread then!  I mean, sh*t. That's what this board is about, right?  One-upmanship??

Nah, its about reading amazing posts like yours and Jon's and loving this band even more

Great stuff Jon and I know you don't take it for granted. I've been lucky enough to have this happen for me with The First Edition and I can't tell you how rare it is that real friendships evolve from the groups you write about.

Mikie, cool stuff, can you tell us more?  Did you get a sneak preview of 15 Big One's - or were you just shooting the breeze and enjoying the day?

Yeah, it's a long story, Alan. One that I like to embellish and milk for all it's worth. 

Just kidding. I'm gonna send Jon my story and let him tell it. He's a better writer than I am. ;D

Lived by Mikie; told by Jon Stebbins! 

A killer combo - Sign me up  :lol - cheers, man - A

Considering his mood and his opinion of Friends, you're lucky you got a signature  :o

Wish I could remember all my stories, if only to relate them to Jon so he could regale you with mine also   ;)

:lol  Aren't better placed to visit Peter Reum?  Can't let Jon get all the scoops.

The pair of you should both be featured in ESQ, as far as I'm concerned.

Mikie and I were both at the same Beach Boys concert on July 2, 1976 at the Oakland Coliseum. Day on the Green. Brian was there too. And the Beach Boys came back in December and played the indoor Oakland Coliseum Arena. Bet Mikie was there too. So was Brian.

Interesting... someone I expected to be all over my last post hasn't said word one.

Also, in response to the off-board questions, I though I'd done the "Brian-played-"Rhapsody In Blue"-for-me-in-1985" story to death.  :)

No, you haven't! Do tell again, haven't heard this one...

Ha ha, yeah, I was wondering when someone would pick up on that. In all fairness, I didn't know how he felt about the album back then. But yeah, asking him to sign it probably didn't help his mood one bit.  ;D

I, for one, would love to hear that story. Do tell....

Glad this thread is here, you guys have some amazing stories! 
Keep em coming...  ;D

Marvellous!

I wouldn't attempt to top Jon's stories, but here's another one.

I nearly became a Beach Boys fan several times. My parents played the Live In London album all the time when I was a kid. I remember dancing to Good Vibrations and God Only Knows when I was five, but the live versions were all I ever heard. The other track I really remembered was "Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring" — the harmonies got me right away. But I never heard any studio versions of anything, and by seven, I had forgotten all about the Beach Boys, like you do at that age.

In 1988, my Dad mentioned that Brian Wilson was thinking about releasing his abandoned album SMiLE when a (Landy-sponsored?) story about it appeared in one of the UK weekend papers. I was a big Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel fan, and was fascinated that there was a whole classic 1960s album somehow sitting unreleased. I was also interested that the Beach Boys even *had* a weird 60s off-the-wall album at all. I couldn't imagine anyone more square at the time — the band had recently had their hit with the Fat Boys in the UK, and I was heavily into electronic music. A couple of years later, in about 1991, the story of the Fire session was related in a Melody Maker special book about unreleased albums, and I remembered the article my Dad had shown me. I was again briefly curious that the clean-cut, super-square Beach Boys had a drug-fuelled album of craziness filed away somewhere, but again, I never followed it up.

By 1995, lots of music journalists in the UK were talking about Pet Sounds and I wanted to know more. I also saw the Don Was film when it was first shown on TV. The short performance of Brian and Carl at the piano singing God Only Knows reminded me of that ancient copy of Live In London, and the clip of Brian singing Til I Die in that tickled my musical sensibilities (that ending! those harmonies!). I bought a Greatest Hits compilation, the Was soundtrack, and, remembering SMiLE for the third time, also got the nearest thing I could buy in 1995: the Smiley Smile/Wild Honey twofer. I was instantly fascinated by Heroes and Villains (and enjoyed reacquainting myself with 'Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring') and then became a full-on SMiLE nut, scouring the nascent Internet community of Beach Boys fans for information. Then it was business as usual round here: mixing my own SMiLE tape on a four-track, buying bootlegs, and so on and so on.

In 1999, I had a chance to go to California with my work for the first time, to a musical retail trade show (yawn). I had never been to America before, let alone California. The NAMM show (a trade-only event for musical instrument retailers) was in downtown Los Angeles that year. Normally it's held in Anaheim, south of LA, but for some reason it was at the LA Convention Centre for a couple of years around the Millennium instead. My work got us rooms at the Holiday Inn in Hollywood (which has now been demolished and replaced with the Renaissance hotel behind the Chinese Theater), within sight of the famous sign.

OK, so I hadn't boarded a time machine set for the 1960s Hollywood Boulevard, but this was the next best (and of course, in the absence of Bill & Ted's phone booth, the *only* available) thing. I was very California-struck and lapped up the ambience throughout the trip, visiting Venice Beach, and checking out the studios on Hollywood, the Hollywood Hills and the Farmer's Market at Fairfax & Third (anything about the address give you a clue as to why...?). I also did something that Dauber (I think) wrote about on the Internet years ago, about coming in to land at LAX, looking over the roofs and houses of South LA and thinking 'the Beach Boys grew up somewhere down there. And if there's any tapes left with SMiLE on them, they're SOMEWHERE DOWN THERE. How weird is that??' I did the same.

Anyway, I got ready for the mind-numbing dullness of a music biz trade show, and got myself to the LA Convention Center about half an hour before the doors opened to the public on the first morning. I had an exhibitors' pass, so I was allowed in early and I wandered through one of the large foyers next to an exhibition hall, psyching myself up for a few days of mindlessly pressing flesh and schmoozing visitors to the show.

Suddenly, I saw a big guy and a petite lady ambling down the foyer towards me. "Huh, crazy," I thought. "My first ever trip to LA and I run straight into a bloke that looks just like Brian Wilson. Hey, this guy even walks like him..."

You can guess the rest. It WAS Brian, checking out the keyboards at NAMM as he is wont to do every few years. I believe the lady with him may have been Lauri Klobas - she was certainly organising him and 'straightening his tie', metaphorically speaking.

Well, I'd love to say that I impressed Brian with my wit and love of steak so much that I ended up jamming all night at Ocean Way with him, high on ReddiWhip, but of course I didn't — I did what most of us here, I suspect, would do. Knowing full well already what the answer was, I stammered out "Are you Brian Wilson?" and when he shambled out a sort of broken "Well... yes I am!" in return and the lady started trying to head me off, muttering something like "Brian really has to get to an appointment right now..." I just about managed to thank him for all the music he'd made and tell him how much I loved Pet Sounds (I remembered not to mention SMiLE - these were the days when you weren't supposed to do that to Brian...), shook his hand, made my excuses and left the foyer, my head absolutely spinning.

I still can't quite believe that of all the 315 million people I could meet in public on my first ever trip to the United States of America, I ran right into Brian Wilson, who by then was a musical hero of mine and one of the country's most favoured, yet reclusive sons — and I shook his hand. The odds against it were and are staggering — but it happened. I swear I am not making this up!

I continued going to the NAMM show for the next decade, but it was all downhill from that moment. I mean, where do you go from there...?

I can't even imagine...I'd be starstruck beyond being capable of verbal communication.
Fantastic!

Yeah, the  time I tracked Brian to his hotel after a concert here, I'm not certain who was more tongue tied, him or me. Asked him to sign my Child Of Winter 45 on the label. best I got was on the generic sleeve. His keeper rushed him away immediately after. Thinking this was 75/76. 

I'm liking Matt's story, that's how it happens (happened) in L.A. When you try it never happens, but when you least expect it it, you find yourself crossing paths with a Wilson. I literally ran into Mike in Century City one day in the early '80's, both of us trying to occupy the same piece of sidewalk, oh..excuse...whoa! He gave me that look, like, yeah...you know who I am. I did.

One more little one...this one has taken on a bigger meaning due to what has since transpired. I was at Alan Boyd's house in about 2009-ish, we were sitting on Alan's patio outside, probably having a beer, Nelson Bragg was there, as were Steve Kalinich and Dave Marks. Stevie's cell phone rings...he answers, "Oh hi Brian, ...I'm sitting here with Dave Marks and some other friends." Stevie says to Dave, "It's Brian, he wants to say hi." Dave takes the phone..."Hi Brian...uh huh...uh huh...ok...yeah...I love you too." He hangs up. So I'm sitting there with my eyes bugging out of my head. "What'd he say?" Dave answers..."He said we're all going to be together someday." We all just smiled and thought that was really sweet. But now, looking back, it seems like Brian knew what was coming.

Because today is the 47th Anniversary of this Brian and Marilyn signatures on the cement slab in my avatar photo, and because I just went through the glorious MIC box into the night last night, I'll re-post my backstory and close encounters at the risk of boring some of the older members. Coincidentally, Darian recently wrote to me about wanting to see my BW/MW cement slab if I was in L.A. THAT would have made my day, hanging out with that wonderful man again (I spent a little time with him in Burbank during the week I was there shooting the SMILE LIVE gig for the DVD). So even a man who has spent a great deal of his adult life with Brian is still able to hold something of the mythic wonder of it all at the same time. That's why he, of all people, was the right man in the place at the right time, I give him a great deal of the credit for the Resurrection of Brian Wilson...

So forgive the real estate grab, but I hope you find some of my story interesting. I tend not to post much banter, so I figured I'm entitled to re-print these every once in awhile.

Part 1 - THE BACK STORY

The Beach Boys existed for me initially as the purveyors, as Leaf says, of “the California Myth”. Growing up in the suburbs of NYC, the mythical vision of the eternal sunshine of the SoCal mind worked its way from the TV set, record player, and movies into my noreaster bones. I grew up loving the AIP Beach films (the first 45 that I bought was DAWN by the 4 Seasons, but it was the flip side, NO SURFIN TODAY, that really haunted me –  kind of a flip at the Boys, but a weird, ghostly song), Sandra Dee as GIDGET (but especially in the wonderfully icky TAMMY AND THE DOCTOR, w/ future hipster Peter Fonda), All American Carol Lynley in UNDER THE YUM YUM TREE…the California girl golden blonde hair/blue eyed shiksa goddess etched itself onto my young brain as the vision of the Surfer Girl that I have probably been daydreaming about most of my life since (and have occasionally fallen in love with). RIDE THE WILD SURF was also a primal scene for my city boy liquid dreams - still a great surf buddy film fantasy, along with its darker mirror, BIG WEDNESDAY, for this skinny surfless jewish kid from Queens. Big Sur was beckoning me...

My formative years of pop music were shaped primarily by my big sister’s record collection in her 45 case – we’re talking about that bland “pop idol” period between Elvis’ Army and February 9/64 that every critic hates, but I happen to LOVE  mostly from early imprinting – Bobby Vee, James Darren, Bobby Rydell, the Girl Group sound, Paul Peterson and Shelly Fabares – viz., the sound of the production of JOHNNY ANGEL, to be precise, that ultra-white, fetishized Spectorized, reverbed, petticoated, high heeled and stockinged sound – David Lynch knows it well, evident from his smart use of Connie Stevens’ 16 REASONS in MULHOLLAND DRIVE. The sound of the studio-made star doing essentially what were essentially publicity singles from COLPIX records and the Philly Idol driven CAMEO/PARKWAY record company. Unlike Brian, I never cared much for Annette, however…(but do love Spring).

So I was well aware of the Beach Boys in the early sixties, of course, but mostly through all of their cultural influence. Starting in 1966, however, I was really taken by the Wouldn’t It be Nice/God Only Knows single (I distinctly remember hearing it on a hayride with a lovely girl at a dude ranch, back when ‘dude’ had a different meaning), but I only had a vague notion of PET SOUNDS and certainly had no idea what it was. GOOD VIBRATIONS, of course, was everywhere that year, but I don’t think I even had the single at the time. The Four Seasons, those Jersey boys were IT for me in those early days. Loved Frankie’s falsetto then even more than Brian’s at that time, and the studio drumming and tom-tom fills of the great studio drummer Buddy Saltzman. Still love those records (and Jersey Boys was a terrific approximation). OPUS 17 (DON’T YOU WORRY ‘BOUT ME) and their version of SILENCE IS GOLDEN still rock my world.

Pete Fornatele and Jonathan Schwartz on the great FM station from NYC, WNEW-FM, both loved the Beach Boys and gave them hip cred on the burgeoning cool FM airwaves (you cannot believe how creative and relaxed those stations were – such an education and so hip in their choices and they had great leisure and silence around them), and I remember hearing SMILEY SMILE being played without interruption one afternoon and thinking how very strange this was – and then the DJ named Roscoe played Wind Chimes and I taped it on my SONY reel to reel deck and kept listening back to the exquisite deep-welled chorale at the tail. Again and again, like Brian with BE MY BABY. I was a pretty straight kid (viz. drugs) in high school (graduated in ‘71) but I knew something was going on here, Mr. Jones…I had a great job in the record department of a huge department store during 1968-69, when it all broke open – and that’s when my Beach Boys and Brian Wilson awareness really took off. My primal scene was, oddly enough, the (stereo) single of BREAKAWAY (with CELEBRATE THE NEWS on the flip side) on the new, ugly, orange, non-Beatled Capitol logo. Couldn’t play it enough (“found out it was in my head”) – especially the sheer SOUND of it (and wasn’t it great to hear BW cover it on the last tours?). Who was this Reggie Dunbar, I wondered?? From there, I went backwards in my Beach Boys education. 20/20, Friends, Wild Honey, etc. I started reading wherever I could about Brian Wilson (you have to remember that any serious rock press was still in its infancy) and became somewhat aware of the myth (though SMiLE didn’t really enter my consciousness until I later found the infamous Siegel article reprinted in a pretty far out book I found re-printed in my college bookstore in the 70's (can't recall the name, thought it was an R. Meltzer book).


Part 2 - Pet Sounds and Carnegie Hall

So, now I was caught up and waiting for news of any new release (there was only Rolling Stone and Creem in the States, really). I distinctly remember going to the EJ Korvette’s department store (they always had the best prices on lps) and suddenly seeing the beautiful cover for SUNFLOWER in the stacks (someone else posted on the nature of the surprise when you went record shopping back then). I held it in my hands for what seemed like hours, staring at the photos, reading Mr. Desper’s highly technical and entrancing liner notes. Back then, buying a new album was a highly sensual experience – smelling the inks, opening the gatefolds, looking for clues, etc. I took the album home, got high (yes, it was my big sister once again who turned me on to weed), put on the headphones (stereo was still a relatively high tech and wondrous technology for me) and then went to a place of undying infatuation for this group and those voices, a place from which I’ve never returned. There was simply nothing else like it. Out of the body voices. Still the best sounding pop album ever made, in my view. I remember reading Jim Miller’s short, loving rave review for Rolling Stone where he referred to the Beach Boys as “pop geniuses, plastic madmen”.

Summer, 1971 – drove across the country in a new GTO with my best friend (his car) with an 8-track cartridge player in the car. We had a lot of singer-songwriter tapes with us on the way (Taylor’s first two, King’s Tapestry, Nash’s Song for Beginners) as I recall. Finally made it to the magnificent Big Sur and camped on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Went to LA and we bought PET SOUNDS (at the famous TOWER on the Strip) on 8-track and it was the first time I really got into it. At first I thought the songs seemed awkward and unwieldy- -couldn’t find the hooks -  but by the time we hit the Penn turnpike (which is endless), I was knee deep into SOUNDS.

It all came to a head when I returned home from my first week at college (Harpur College, Binghamton, NY, for film school) and my Surfer Girl (Rosie) and I went to 7:30 pm show at Carnegie Hall on September 24, 1971 (Thanks Jon and Ian for verification!). I still have that Carnegie program somewhere (too late for the book!). I will never forget the incredible excitement – and the love and energy coming from and returning back to the stage. This was really a new start for them, and they seemed to be aware of the class and importance of both the venue and what was at stake in terms of becoming culturally relevant again (the program really played up SURF’S UP). They played with what seemed to be a HUGE ensemble and the sound and the performance were simply stunning. SURF’s UP was just out the week before, so there was a tremendous buzz in the air, and when Carl came up to the front extension of the stage and played the song on a keyboard (electric piano probably), I just about died and went to heaven, as they say…I was a goner, a lifer, this show was my church and gospel. The other stand out in my dusty memory was Bruce’s DISNEY GIRLS (hit my fetish and nostalgia buttons for a TV childhood just before my time…) and a scorching bongo/conga version of ITS ABOUT TIME. My first (and still the best) experience of the Beach Boys. Seeing all of these faces that I’ve read about and heard about was such a gas, like Cool Water…

72 – I spotted a shiny new album cover called Carl and the Passions on display in Korvettes – what’s this? (again, I had little access to any advance press, unlike today where people have downloaded the thing 4 months in advance…). What? A new Beach Boys album? With PET SOUNDS attached? Took it home, put on the headphones again, lit up, and I distinctly remember hearing YOU NEED A MESS OF HELP TO STAND ALONE and thinking who the hell is this? (I also remember the separation of the stereo voices in the phones, of all things, but couldn’t tell which Beach Boy was which). I thought something has gone terribly wrong here. It wasn’t until I heard ALL THIS IS THAT that I could recognize the Beach Boys that I knew. It was a troubling experience, not having any background advance on the album and the changes that were going down. Again, without the pipelines we have now, these changes that groups went through were full of genuine leaps and surprises (I remember when I first saw the 45 cover of Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields and thought the moustaches were a disguise…)

May 12, 1973 (Thank you, Ian - I knew they did that gig at Binghamton and your book confirmed - I just had the wrong year - it was 73, not 72!) The Boys were coming to my school in Binghamton for two outdoor shows. I was hitchhiking to school (back when everyone did that) and a huge RV pulled up to pick me up. Who else but Dennis Wilson at the wheel… He asked me for directions and then I got in – and there were several cute women around, some students, a piano….he was great. I was in a dream – no one was going to believe this…That night, a storm came in and they had to move the shows indoors. I had to convince all of my dorm-mates to go to the show (most were Deadheads and the Beach Boys were still having trouble in hipsterville). My dear friend Sharon fell in love with Blondie. They played in the gym, and they were great shows (went to both). But one moment stays in my mind above all was when Carl was singing Surf’s Up, and drunken boys, as usual in the USA, were yelling out for the hits – and right in the middle of the song, Dennis leaned into a mic and screamed, at the top of his lungs, “SSSSHHHHHUUUUTTTT UPPPPP!!!” Well, it freaked everyone out, including Carl. But he continued, and the weird vibe was overcome by show’s end.

Part 3 - Holland, So Tough and the College Years

Saw them many more times during college in upstate NY college tours during the Jack Reilly era – Cortland (where I had a nice chat with Bruce about Brian during intermission when he wandered around the audience and sat down with me), Cornell, Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo, Roosevelt Stadium (with the Kinks – great, great show), Central Park (am I remembering that correctly?) About 15 shows or so across the 70s, and maybe one or two in the 80s. I continued to search for anything with Brian’s name on it, and found in the record store one day, to my great surprise, Charles Lloyd’s WAVES, with Brian and Carl and maybe Al and Mike (?) doing gorgeous backgrounds. Still love that record. Payback for his SURF’S UP stint.

1973 – Went to Vestal Records, the college oriented record store, and picked up HOLLAND. So excited by the advance buzz I was hearing (times had changed). Looked on the back cover and saw that scary picture of Brian – his long unkempt hair and that unforgettable, paranoid scowl – and was very, very worried. One of my classmates in a Shakespeare class had visited what must have been Bellagio and told me about seeing Tandyn Almer there, and what a wild and chaotic (and very disheveled) scene it was. Took home the record and was immediately hit first by CALIFORNIA, which sounded like the loping bass, fulsome voiced Beach Boys that I knew. My friend Sharon adored Blondie’s LEAVING THIS TOWN and would listen to it non-stop. Even my deadhead roomie got into the album eventually. It definitely had a hip aura about it, especially with the beards and Blondie and Ricky…I loved STEAMBOAT, TRADER and ONLY WITH YOU (and the Jardine dual harmonies on the part of the Saga, IN DAWN’S NEW LIGHT, etc.). Now I love the backing tracks to Mount Vernon and Fairway from the Box.

Sometime in the 70s, my friend saw that the Holmes SMiLE booklet was for sale somewhere – probably advertised in the back of Rolling Stone, I can’t remember. He ordered one, but it never came. He was going to surprise me.

Sometime in the 70s, my friend and I called The Radiant Radish, but I think it was already closed – no one answered, but the phone number was listed. We did call Van Dyke Parks, whose number was also listed, and spoke to him quite awhile – VDP was polite and forthcoming, as always. He and I share the same birthday (January 3), along with George Martin and Victor Borge.

1975 – Brian was back, but my Surfer Girl had to leave to find another life. I was getting too far out, too far gone – becoming an artist, as it were…(and still am) - and she wanted to lead the straighter life.  This was my definitely my road not taken moment. Suddenly, what I thought was my private world, my personal obsession about Brian Wilson, seemed to have exploded into public view. He was everywhere. But it was shocking to see Brian in those windbreakers and under that mountain of skin and unkempt beard. 15 Big Ones finally seemed so …forced, lumbered. That golden voice that seeped its way into my soul was unrecognizable.

1976- I was utterly saddened by Brian’s appearance on SNL. Jodi Foster hosted. They made Brian wear a police uniform in a sketch. He looked like a bear caught in the headlights. They made him play GV in a sandbox, and his voice sounded as if it was put through a shredder. I was so embarrased for him - it was excruciating. There was the TV special. More humiliation. I remember Lester Bangs’ great review of LOVE YOU in CREEM, where he talked about it as truly child-like music. But, in truth, I didn’t quite get it at the time (except for the middle part of THE NIGHT WAS SO YOUNG). I have since come to hold a lot of affection for it, like most of you, but back then it seemed like just one more sad story. Where was that soaring above the clouds falsetto that I longed for, that whine, as Marilyn once called it, now replaced by this chain smoked ravaged bark…I remember seeing that someone had a sticker on his car bumper: WARNING. I BRAKE FOR BRIAN WILSON…I remember all the interviews where Brian would inevitably ask the interviewer if they had any drugs and Marilyn talking about him withholding ejaculation during sex - more than we needed to know. The beginnings of our current obsessions with rehab, etc. The Healing of Brother Brian, The STOMP magazine article, on and on.

It was around this time that I ran into an article by Jules Siegel in Playboy about his friend, the writer Thomas Pynchon (I was completely smitten with GRAVITYs RAINBOW in college). He talked about his now famous Saturday Evening Post article and researching the Beach Boys, and turning Mr. Pynchon on, and then turning him on to PET SOUNDS. Mr. Pynchon, who was skeptical about his friend’s interest in the Beach Boys, then said, “Ohhhhh….I see.” He then accompanied Siegel to Brian’s house with a girlfriend. They did the the tent thing, etc. Brian later asked him to leave, according to Siegel, because he thought Pynchon’s girlfriend was - a witch. The coincidence of my two artistic heroes in the same time and place was one of those stoned, cosmic moments where the stars align...

Part 4

The 80’s - The first SMiLE bootlegs started to appear on vinyl. When my best friend surprised me and brought it over, I stared at the cover for a long time – we had finally found the Grail. Many thing were revelatory and exciting, other parts simply strange (and wrong, as it turned out), but here was the can of worms that was to continually open up for the next 25 years (if memory serves, the double came first, then the triple – multi-colored vinyl? -- then the single? Still have all of them, but don’t remember the release order, quite.

80s - Seeing Carl play his solo gig at a small intimate venue called The Paradise in Boston, and being amazed at the incredible funk coming out of his bass player, but disappointed with the MOR qualities and rather uninspiring “White Soul” that he was taken by at that time – was moved by Heaven and Seemed So Long ago and Carl was in great spirits and great form. Hung out a little after the show to say hello – he was very available.

Sometime in the 80s, the Beach Boys and Brian Journal boots appeared. Then the SOT’s appeared in the Village booty stores in NYC – I bought all the originals, as they came out. What a thrill. Still the greatest encyclopedia of the recording process ever devoted to a band – and surely one of the only bands worth listening to this way. A fascinating gateway into Brian’s work process. Those boxes are beautiful. I am very, very grateful for them.

Fast forward to 2000 – on my honeymoon, my wife and I drove from Colorado to SF and LA (and Big Sur and the Big Sur Inn, my favorite). On a whim, we go up Laurel Way and arrive at the House (Thanks to AGD, who honored my request for the number from the old list). I get out and start videotaping the outside of the place, when the current owner comes out and starts to write down my license plate number. I tell her about my honeymoon, my lifelong love for Brian Wilson (an Iranian women who bought the house from lawyers, but was well aware of the legacy from the occasional streams of visitors). We had a lovely talk, and then she said that she had something that I might be interested in. She was re-modeling the house and the pool in the back, and brought me out to the side of the house. On the ground lay this Grauman Chinese Theatre size slab of cement that she had removed from the poolside, with the inscription “Brian and Marilyn 8-27-66”, carved within a heart and written with two different handwritings. I ended up buying this from her after deliberating for a day. But in my excitement to get it into the trunk of my car with her construction worker, I lifted the damn thing up with him, and I felt something rip…my back went out – for about two years. We schlepped the “slab”, as we came to call it, back halfway across the country, with me in a back brace and utter agony (ruining my honeymoon, and eventually my marriage, in this last crazy moment of my prolonged adolescence). But here it sits in my house, a rarity among rarities, with a little piano on top of it. Was signed by Brian and Marilyn exactly 47 years ago today...


(http://musings.philsolomon.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/n599858804_1136792_4505.jpg)


Late summer, 2004 - I get an email from a friend whom I had not heard from in years, though I was aware that she was producing most of Brian’s DVDs since his move to Chicago. She wrote to me (knowing full well my extensive collection, knowledge and love of the music) saying that they were going to re-film the SMiLE concert in LA (David Leaf did record the full London premieres, but for many reasons, BRI-MEL – especially MEL – were not happy with it. They wanted a happier, more upbeat and polished SMiLE, a smiley-er SMiLE, if you will). Maggie and I (and the director, John Anderson) exchanged lengthy emails (I sent a note by note dream shot list, based on the kind of instrumental coloring and emphasis that classical music DVDs use in their very useful and tasteful direction). I was listening to the Albert Hall concerts for my reference. Turned out that the director already had a 40-page shooting script, with every instrumental and vocal detail accounted for. They invited me to spend a week in LA to attend the rehearsals, to watch the taping of inserts, shoot some hand-held behind the scenes footage, and attend both shows. It was one of the greatest weeks of my life. Stayed at a hotel with the Chicago contingent (Paul, Jim, and Bob) and got to talk to them quite a bit. I was introduced to Brian within five minutes of arriving on the lot, and, as I was ready to tell him just how much his music has touched my soul or "was the soundtrack of my life" (like virtually everyone else who meets him), he quickly shook my hand and said “Thank you” and then walked away for lunch. I had lunch that first day with Darian and Probyn and they were just great, answering every question I had for them. Later in afternoon I walked into a rehearsal room and had a virtual “private screening” of the entirety of PET SOUNDS and some of GIOMH, as they were rehearsing all of it for Nelson, who was a newcomer and still learning his bits. That was incredible, glorious - standing up against the wall and hearing them so close, without any distractions. I kept thinking that someone was going to throw me out, but the atmosphere was so loose and fun and Brian was in great spirits and incredibly patient all week long. Met and talked with all most the people I had read about all those years, including David Anderle (who indeed remembered Brian’s inscription surrounding the Laurel Way pool – you can clearly see these cement squares in the Sloop John B "jumping in the pool" promo), Steve Kalinich (who was overcome with joyful tears after the show), Van Dyke (who, to our great consternation, told my friend that Song Cycle was “a waste of time…a waste of time.”), Tony Asher, and Melinda (who, I must say, seemed to be a remarkably benevolent presence for the crew and the band – and her husband). Left work one day and Brian was walking out by himself at the same time – again, I stumbled something out about how great the rehearsals were going, he said thanks, and then I watched him – rather shockingly – get into his Mercedes sports car and drive himself home on the freeway. So much for "braking for Brian Wilson…"

Well, Brian simply hit it out of the park for the first show, and it was unforgettable – a roomful of 250 of his friends, family, and these people who were all so deeply invested in this music. The whole thing, all of the above, came full circle for me when I turned around to the row behind me and saw Van Dyke Parks, with his head down, cupped in his hands, weeping during Surf’s Up…It truly was a dream come true, that whole experience, and offered me a great deal of closure to the part of my life that began by spinning BREAKAWAY some 35 years earlier. After the first show, I filmed Brian’s exuberance as he came backstage and proclaimed to John, Maggie, Alan (Boyd), and Stephen (Kalinich) that this was the very best performance of SMiLE they’ve ever done. I walked out in the hallway with my head spinning, and saw Van Dyke chatting it up with David Anderle and Jeff. it all seemed so dreamlike and yet so natural and right. The live DVD of SMiLE is it for me, much more alive and dynamic than the CD release. (BTW, I think its one of the best rock DVDs ever done, in terms of John’s detailed and knowing direction, Maggie’s prodding of Brian to be at his best and to stop constantly reading the video prompters, and Mark’s superb surround mix). I spotted myself in the audience in 16 different shots, so its become a great personal keepsake for me. These videos of my shooting of the SMILE DVD can be found on my Vimeo pages: https://vimeo.com/24394172

So there you have it.  We are all so lucky to be living during his time. I remain terribly grateful for having lived through the age of rock and roll - I do very much miss that more innocent time, when everything seemed possible. It seemed well...like the sun was out, 1960-1967. It began to get very cloudy in 1968, and now oft seems like it's pouring the world over...

I LISTENED TO MIC LAST NIGHT THROUGH ITS ENTIRETY AND RE-LIVED MY LIFE WITH THIS WONDERFUL BAND, MY BAND, OUR BAND. AND FELT GRATEFUL TO BE ALIVE TO HEAR IT ALL. A MAGNIFICENT ACHIEVEMENT.

(http://www.philsolomon.com/download/Beach%20Boys%20VIP.png)

That's me, before the incredible RED ROCKS show, leaning in between Brian and Mike, seeing, as Lennon once said about the Maharishi, "if he would slip me the answer..."

This is probably old news, but "Penny" is long-time Big Sur resident Penny Vieregge, now in her mid eighties (at least).

Couple of links here: In the first one she's in a photo on page 9 (http://www.bigsurgazette.com/issues/007_February_1979.pdf (http://www.bigsurgazette.com/issues/007_February_1979.pdf));
no idea where she is in the second one, lol (http://www.bigsurgazette.com/issues/009_April_16-May_14_1979.pdf (http://www.bigsurgazette.com/issues/009_April_16-May_14_1979.pdf))...


(http://bigsurkate.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/dsc_00631.jpg?w=497&h=33)

As to where her "place" is----well, I suppose a lady is entitled to her secrets...

With thanks to a good friend for this information.

I'm waiting to hear of the time OSD met Mike Love.

Thank you, John!  Was going to ask Al in person a couple of years ago who she is, but forgot!  I've searched the internet high and low and all around for information on her and came up empty. Thanks for this!!

And PS "slab" is exactly 47 years old today!  :thumbsup

it bore repeating.  :angel:

A friend of mine sent me an email with a cool BW story from when he lived in LA (maybe 10 years ago?) ... he's not a die-hard Beach Boys fan, but appreciates their stuff casually:

"Brian Wilson -- I was sitting on a bench in a park in beverly hills writing in my journal and he was sitting on a bench adjacent to me watching birds.  I thought about saying something for twenty minutes then he muttered something about the birds.  Smile and nod was the best I could do."

Would have been really cool if the bird flew away and Brian dozed off.

OK, the Readers Digest version: pitched up in LA March 1985 for about a week armed with a shitload of phone numbers and endless optimism. Got to meet VDP at his then house, Jasper Dailey, Steve Desper, Stevie Kalinich and thanks entirely to Bruce I spent a whole day in the studio with the band (less Mike - it took me until 2011 to meet him) while they did the final mix of their 1985 album. During a break in proceedings Brian headed to the studio floor and not being a complete mentally handicapped person I was half a step behind him. He sat at the piano, me in a corner and after he'd given me a thorough up and down state, commenced on some standard boogie, for maybe five minutes, before stopping then embarking on a beautiful melody. Took me maybe 30 seconds to realise it was "RiB". He played the entire piece, flawlessly yet with a distinct BW slant before segueing so sweetly into "Cast Your Fate To The Winds" that I didn't notice for about a minute. By nowq my eyes were on stalks and my lower jaw in my lap. Eventually he stopped, informed me "I love those songs" and we had a short chat abotu who i was, why I was there and so on. the change this music wrought in him was astonishing. He was relaxed, focussed, attentive, a regular Joe, but as we walked back to the control room you could actually see him tense back up.

That was the first meeting with Brian, and one of the best. Over the years I realised he's best one-on-one or in a non-social setting.

Great story AGD! You suggested the name for the LP to Bruce too didn't you? Brian is pretty normal when a crowd isn't present.

This is probably the most amusing post I've ever had the pleasure of reading on this board.

Great thread!  Here’s my small contribution:

In 1988 my wife and I were stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army.  Cheapskate that I am, I always tried to finagle a free concert ticket over the years, and had another chance in ’88 when the band toured Europe.  I free-lanced an article about them for the local paper in Berlin (each major Army post had a community newspaper as well as the Stars and Stripes), which was basically just stuff off the top of my head and didn’t include any interviews with them.  But it got me a couple backstage passes.

At that time, I also had contacts with their road manager because I was trying to write a book on the band – namely, a complete compilation of their lyrics (copyright wrangles and the Internet eventually doomed that project).  He suggested I meet with him when they were in Berlin for the show.

Now, the Berlin Wall was still up at that time, and there was one little catch -- the Beach Boys were playing in WEST Berlin but were, for some reason, staying in EAST Berlin.  So I had to go through Checkpoint Charlie and obviously wasn’t allowed to take a tape recorder or notebooks with me, so after I got through there, I found their hotel and met briefly – maybe for a half an hour – with their manager in the lobby.  I remember Bruce Johnston coming down for a moment and the three of us briefly discussed the coming show – I fairly nonchalantly wished him luck, I think, but didn’t get all fan-boy with him.

The concert that night sounded good even from backstage, but I didn’t get any personal contact at that time.  It was nice to see it from behind the scenes, though.  The audience was about half American and half German but they ALL were singing along.

Been to a lot of Beach Boys concerts over the years (some I did pay for!) and met Al, Mike and Bruce along the way, but the most memorable was going behind the Iron Curtain to see America’s Band.

Well... I could claim that, I guess. I asked Bruce what it was called and his response was that they didn't have a title yet, which was a problem as it was being mastered the next day, so I flippantly said "You'll probably end up just calling it The Beach Boys"...

The C50 show was a religious experience for me. I wasn't aware that the Beach Boys music was so powerful. I broke down crying at one point in the show, I just couldn't believe what I was witnessing.
Thinking back on that show now, that was honestly one of the highlights of my life. It was so profound, I still tear up sometimes just thinking back to what I felt.
I'm sure as superfans seeing the show, it must have been even more intense. I really wish they would do another tour, so I could see the show again knowing every song.

...anyone else feel something similar?

I just...I dunno...what other band can match this kind of thing? I've seen a number of the legends perform their music over the past few years, and the only ones who came close to replicating the magic were Paul McCartney and The Grandmothers Of Invention. And while they were great shows, they just didn't have that same authenticity the C50 show had.

I had much the same experience, with the added frisson of it being the very last show of all. It was easily the most amazing BB show I've ever seen, and possibly the best single gig I've ever seen. Almost perfect. Definitely transcendent.

almost?  ;)

They played a song I really, really, really detest.  ;D

Paul McCartney and The Grandmothers Of Invention ? Now that would be a combination I'd like to see, what did they play ?  ;D ;D

My bad, those were two separate shows  ;D
A joint show would be beautiful though

Yeah. They played 'Barbara Ann' at my gig too dam it! ;D

That's not the worst of it...

I danced and sang along.

That is a scary image

Tell me about it! 'Kokomo' too. :thud

(http://musings.philsolomon.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/n599858804_1136792_4505.jpg)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDWU2SR27g4


No stories but if I did it couldn't top the Brian slab.

Imagine if he knew that you were his alter ego  ;D

I am certainly one of his biggest fans.

Pynchon being mentioned above reminds me he has a new novel coming out in a couple weeks, Bleeding Edge. I thought for a moment of dusting off the Pynchon/BB's thread to put this post there, but I don't know if the new book has any mentions of our guys in it the way his last one Inherent Vice did.

Vice is being made into a movie by Paul Thomas Anderson, so I wonder if the guys will be on the soundtrack. It's set in 1970 so I figure "All I Want To Do" or "Cool Cool Water" could work pretty good in it.