The Smiley Smile Message Board

Hey guys.

I've been trying to find pictures of Brian in the sandbox working at his Steinway but I can't find any. In the Love and Mercy film there is the infamous "Good Vibrations" clip where he is sitting at the piano playing the Steinway for Mike. However I don't know enough about pianos to identify what type of Steinway it is. Concert Grand? Baby Grand? Model M? Model A? Let me know what you think.

Ryan :bw

I have to say: one of the most surprising and unfortunate pieces of missing media in the BBs' story (other than the Good Vibrations multitracks) has to be that there are no photos of Brian in the famous sandbox with the piano.

I wonder how long it was that the piano existed in the sandbox? It gets mythologized understandably, but I have a hunch that it must have been a VERY brief hot minute that it was there for no photos to have been taken of it (which I think is my understanding). Even in the pre-digital age, one would think that this would have been worthy of a Kodak Brownie snapshot by Marilyn or a visitor or something had it been there for any longer than a very brief time.

I wonder if we're more likely to ever at some point have a photo turn of of Manson and any of The Boys, or a Brian/piano/sandbox pic. I wonder if any were taken, or simply lost (or in the case of Manson, understandably destroyed).

Right?! I completely agree. For the amount of mythos surrounding it, you'd think there would be at least some information about it. I know he kept it until he moved again (to my understanding the Steinway was in the Laurel Way house and moved with him to Bellagio), never to be seen again.

Of course, at the time, they didn't know that history was being made that would one day become the topic of dissection and conversation. Still, this would (to me) seem weird enough - even by 1966 Brian standards - to have documented by *someone* with a camera.

Maybe any photos were lost to the test of time... like you said, I doubt there wasn't documentation.

Here is an example:

It is possible that a photo exists in someone's personal collection or maybe in storage. 

You never know what might eventually turn up, such as the Milt Love collection recently discovered, or the extensive archives discovered in the storage unit a few years ago.

I've dreamed about going to Brian's house and looking through his photo albums!

It was the BR549.

What model number is this?

I think he's pulling your leg Ryan  :lol