The Smiley Smile Message Board

I was born in 1974, so I missed out on what you might call "Prime Era" Beach Boys.  But I've always been curious to know what it was like to be around for the glory years.  So this post is for the old timers.  How much did the Beach Boys mean to you in your younger years?  I'm particularly curious if you stuck with the band through commercial low points like "Friends", "Sunflower" or "MIU".  Did you buy "Smiley Smile" the day it came out?  When did you first hear about the lost "SMiLE" tapes?  And most importantly, did you ever get to meet the guys in person?

I'm also curious to know if there was a stigma attached to being a die hard Beach Boys fan back then.  I hear it from some of my less musically savvy friends today-- "The Beach Boys?  You like the Beach Boys?"  Was it always that way?

Can't wait to hear some of your stories of "how it really was".   Any period photos of yourselves would be great too.  I imagine some of you looked like this  :afro or this  :hat and tried to steer clear of this guy:  :police:


In all seriousness, stuff like this fascinates me to no end!

This would be the best thread ever. Great idea, Jason. I think about these things all the time too. I try to relate how I go to shows every other night to see local/national acts with the times when the Beach Boys were touring constantly, releasing all the great stuff you mentioned.

As a fan, I don't go back as far as I would have liked to. I got into the Beach Boys in '74 when the older brother of a friend of mine was playing an 8-track of "Endless Summer" in his car while driving us somewhere. I was astonished by the vocal blend and harmony and started buying the band's singles soon after. Obviously I was in tune with the rest of America who were digging the Beach Boys as a nostalgia trip. I bought "15 Big Ones" when it came out and liked about half of it; I recall the "Rock & Roll Music" single being played on the radio a lot. I bought a lot of "teen-type" magazines around this time for stories on the band, but all of them were filled with "Brian's Back" hype. By the time "Love You" was released in '77 I owned pretty much all of the albums and was really enamoured with the more sophisticated material from '66 - '73. "Love You" was a disappointment to me as it appeared obvious that the band would not be returning to their previous creative heights. "Pacific Ocean Blue" blew me away, however, and I used it to try and convince friends of the quality material members of the band were capable of (most of them couldn't hear past Dennis' damaged vocals). I first learned about "SMiLE" in the liner notes to the "Smiley Smile/Friends" vinyl reissue two-fer released in '74 and learned a lot more about that period in David Leaf's book published in '78 (Made my first "SMiLE" compilation in '82 using "You're Welcome" and the alternate "Good Vibrations" from the vinyl "Rarities" album along with other officially released tracks). I saw all five original members perform in '78, but lost interest in the band after Dennis died. The release of Brian's first solo album and the appearance of the CD two-fers in 1990 brought me back as a fan.

Never met any of the band members until I met Brian in 2000.

There was a big stigma attached to liking the Beach Boys in the mid-70s (at least in America); none of the "serious" rock fans I knew wanted to hear about "Pet Sounds", "Sunflower" or "Holland" when all they heard was "409" blasting out of oldies radio all the time. Personally, I feel that Brian's solo career and the surrounding publicity has gone a long way to rehabilitating the Beach Boys image as an important part of pop music history. I believe today the band's impact and catalogue are taken more seriously than at any other time since 1966.

Sorry - no photos available!

I totally agree with Joe on this. Sometimes I wish I was born one generation earlier as well (born in 74 as well). To think that I was first triggered by the Boys when I heard Kokomo....  :P  . Luckily I recovered from that...Can't wait to read more stories on those 60s and early 70s.

I was born in 1952.  I have a brother who is 4 years older than me and he bought and played all the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean albums (yes, records).  Because of that, I knew all the songs and not just the ones that got radio play. 

In school, when the British invasion hit, particularly The Beatles, it wasn't cool to be a Beach Boys fan.  I resisted The Beatles for awhile but eventually became a huge fan, but always still listened to the Beach Boys and continued to buy their music up until "Wild Honey". 

After that I strayed for awhile and didn't get the later albums.  I've since corrected that error though. :)

I saw them live in the 80's and again in the 90's.  I started with Brian's music in '88 and kept up with his situation and music ever since.  In the past few years, I've become a fanatic; buying up all the music that I didn't have and most of the books and DVDs  on the BBs and Brian.

I got to see Brian on the "SMiLE" tour in the summer of 2005.  Most of the music on my mp3 player is Beach Boys or Brian and I listen to them daily.

I got bit by The Beach Boys bug with I Get Around in 1964. The first time I heard that sound I just knew this was great. I never had heard such great music and such great vocals. When I heard this song for the first time, I had a feeling that I’d known the song for ages. It became worse when I heard Help me Rhonda, California Girls and Barbara Ann, in Holland all minor hits. But then came Sloop John B. In three weeks time it hit the # 1 spot and stayed there for four weeks and became the 1966 # 1 Song Of The Year. Sloop John B was all new sounds, unbelievably hot.

Pet Sounds was the first album I bought. I had never heard such music; I played it night and day. The only album I played so much I had to buy a new one. Remember, it was all good music around that time. I still remember the moment I heard Good Vibrations the first time. A friend of mine had heard it on the radio and told me it was released, so we hurried to the shop where I heard it for the first time. At first I didn’t know what to make of it, it was so full of unheard things, you couldn’t get it right the first time. At home I played it over and over again. I still get chills when I think about it.

The Beach Boys became quite known in Europe, so the rock papers started writing about them and believe me, those days were quite fascinating years. A lot of news came through about the next album, Smile, but it took a lot of months before Heroes and Villains got released. Of course, the papers wrote about abandoning Smile, so when Smiley Smile came out, we, my fiend and I, knew it wasn’t something we were promised, but nevertheless, it sounded so unlike other things, so bizarre that it was a real task to get into it. I played the album a lot in those days. It was quite psychedelic, but what album was not psychedelic.

The trouble was, you knew there was a Smile and you didn’t believe Brian had thrown away the tapes. But we’ve always wondered whether something was from the Smile era or not. Never knew back then that Mama Says was a piece of Smile. The album Wild Honey got good reviews. I still like the album a lot.

Friends surprised me again, it took a while to get into it and of course we were looking for Smile clues. The album didn’t make much waves, though some music papers appreciated it. Busy Doin’ Nothing and especially Little Bird were the outstanding tracks. The problem was that in those days, you couldn’t get a good perspective of all the recorded songs. Some 30 years later, I knew what songs came from that era and all those songs fit like a jigsaw. All those songs from that era have the same structure and atmosphere. Friends to me was a special album: it was the first real stereo album and that made it sound so much better. I just bought a new stereo record player. That explains.

I was always excited when I heard a new Beach Boys song. Back then, you didn’t know how troubled the family was, you only heard the music and you dug it or not. I mean, it was quite natural to me then, that Do It Again was released within a couple weeks after the release of the album Friends. It was a huge hit in Europe. We were wondering why the end of that song was like that. Maybe it was something from Smile, as by then we heard about the weird scenes around Smile. And the hits kept coming. I quite liked the Dutch Bluebirds version because of the funny rhythms behind it. Didn’t know it wasn’t meant to be like that. Cabinessence, as my friend and I knew, was definitely from Smile. It was an instant favourite track from 20/20. I guess, this was the first time I knew for sure we had missed out on something great. From that moment, that album became my obsession as I collected everything from papers/magazines on Smile.

I remember the fog incident. December 18, 1970 was the big day. A Beach Boys concert at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. At 12 o’clock at night. But there were no Beach Boys. They got stuck in London at the airport. There was not only an airport strike that the Beach Boys had to deal with, there was also a big fog, so when eventually on board, the plane couldn’t land on Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. They had to fly to Brussels in Belgium and from there they took limousines to Amsterdam. At about 4 o’clock The Flame did their gig, followed by The Beach Boys at about 5 o’clock in the morning. In the meantime some local groups were playing on stage to kill the time. Great experience. The Beach Boys played a great set with songs like Aren’t You Glad, Country Air and Vegetables.

Being a Beach Boys fan in the 60’s was something different than one being in the 70’s. I remember visiting the rehearsals for TV show The Grand Gala Du Disque on February 25, 1972 and meeting Carl and Bruce and Alan. I remember visiting Brian’s home in Laren in 1972, but they weren’t at home. He lived quite near the lake and in the evening you could hear the crickets. Remember Mount Vernon? I remember calling with Alan Jardine in the studio where they were working on California. I got a job as a music journalist for a (then big) Dutch pop magazine and meeting Mike Love in 1976 when he made his PR tour round the world promoting 15 Big Ones. Nice guy. Back then.

It took awhile before Sunflower was released, although I had heard Add Some Music a lot earlier, which is still one my favourites. Surf’s Up was much welcomed and had some hits. From the 70’s I recall that the last record I liked a lot, was In Concert. I think it’s still one of the best rock albums. But hey, The Beach Boys were my first musical love and I stuck with them.

I wasn't born until 1977. I can't say that I wish that I was born 30 years earlier because I love a lot of current underground music. REM in a sense reminds me a little of the BBs, because their big hits came in the late 80s and early 90s in the US. However, I think that their best stuff was from the Up (1998?) and Reveal (2001?). Very artistic, but the difference is that REM doesn't have the bad reputation that the BBs had in the late 60s.

That was very interesting, Goin Bald. I am from the US and I have actually read about the concert inwhich the BBs didn't show up until 4am. From what I've read, in the US at that time, the BBs would show up to a concert in New York and about 100 fans would show up.

Did you say that you are from Holland? I noticed that you didn't say anything about the Holland album, one of my favorites. I especially love Brian's Fairy Tale.

Great thread idea. I was born in 1976, so I obviously can't remember any of those years, although I am endlessly fascinated by them. I have asked my parents a million times over the years about this band or that, but while they were (and are) very musical, they didn't get into it to the level I'd have liked, and by the time my favorite music came out (mid-60s), they had begun raising our family, so they didn't have a lot of time to spend thinking about pop music.

I love these stories--keep them coming.

I apologize in advance for going long...

In 1975, my best friend, who picked me up for school, played an 8 track of Endless Summer every day. Every day! And I hated it. At that time I was into The Doors, Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult, and Sparks. To me, The Beach Boys were wimps. They sang like wimps and their guitar work couldn't hold a flame to Robbie Krieger, Ace Frehley, or Buck Dharma. The only songs I would "allow" my friend to play were the fast ones, the rock & roll ones. I could almost tolerate those.

Then, my older sister bought the Endless Summer album. So I now had to hear The Beach Boys at night as well! But a strange thing happened. I also began to enjoy the slow ballads as well. So I guess that Endless Summer album and The Beach Boys weren't that bad after all. I hung that ugly blue poster from Endless Summer on my bedroom wall, right next to a bearded Jim Morrison.

After graduation in June 1976, a bunch of us went to the Jersey shore, and guess what I listened to all week long - Endless Summer and Spirit Of America. I was hooked forever. The same friend who picked me up for school loaned me the Ken Barnes' book on The Beach Boys. I then began to nickel and dime Beach Boys' albums in no particular order, because you were just happy to find them. Back in those days, Beach Boys' albums were either out of print, not carried in most record stores, or issued with deleted tracks! Some times you paid big bucks for imports. You couln't just go to the local record store and pick up Sunflower.

The summer of 1976 was an unbelievable time. The "Brian Is Back" campaign hooked me big time, and I became an obsessive fan. I read every book or magazine I could find, and there were many BB/BW articles. I scoured the TV guide for upcoming appearances. I couldn't really discuss The Beach Boys with many people, because, quite frankly, despite their newfound success, they were still considered old and "uncool". But, simply put, I wanted to read, see, and hear everything I could about The Beach Boys, and specifically, this intriguing saga of Brian Wilson. I distinctly remember seeing Brian on the Mike Douglas Show and Saturday Night Live. I remember thinking to myself, "I can't believe they're (whoever "they're" are) allowing this guy to appear on TV".   

The first "new" Beach Boys' album I ever bought was 15 Big Ones, and within about 6-7 months, Love You was out. I honestly believed that Brian was on his way back. You'd look for little clues, a falsetto here, a genius arrangement there. I still remember buying MIU, coming home, dropping the needle, and, when hearing Brian sing "She's Got Rhythm", almost doing cartwheels. And then "Wontcha Come Out Tonight", "Matchpoint", and the end of "Winds Of Change" - well, it was very emotional. Unfortunately, disappointment followed with L.A. and KTSA, and one got the feeling it was slipping away. But the mid/late 70's was a great time if you were a Beach Boys' fan. They were always on Entertainment Tonight, or an Evening Magazine show. It seemed like they were releasing a new album almost every year. They were touring all over the place. Brian was getting thinner and thinner. The Celebration albums filled the gaps. The "Almost Summer" single was all over AM radio. It was fun; the dirty laudry wasn't aired yet. Then David Leaf's book came out. I memorized that book.

I saw my first BB concert in 1978 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia - with Dennis on drums and Brian on bass! I got Mike Loves' autograph and stood backstage for "Fun Fun Fun" at the Hershey Stadium. I talked with Bruce Johnston at The Allentown Fair. And I shook Brian's hand and he autogaphed my Pet Sounds album at a booksigning in 1991. I've seen the BB/BW about 30 times. That's about it for now; sorry if I bored you...

I was 5 or 6 in 1962/3 when I became very aware of the Beach Boys through my two teenage sisters and my teenage neighbors and their friends. I grew up in suburban Northern California  and everybody who was "cool" knew about the Beach Boys in our town.  The main thing to remember is this was before the Beatles hit in America. The Beach Boys were definitely the most radical and hip thing going for suburban white California kids during those couple of years. NOBODY thought of them as a "vocal" group. They were trendy, edgy, gritty, decadent and thought of as an electric rock band...in fact they were really the first one with a national identity in America. the Surfin USA album was THE rock record of the year 1963. The guitars were as important as the vocals on those first records. Garage bands popped up all over, and all the guys were growing their hair longer cause of the Beach Boys, well Dennis and David mainly, but that trend to grow out your hair hit in California before anybody had heard of the Beatles.  There were regional bands like the Kingsmen and Wailers and Raiders in the northwest, and every big city had a few...but the Beach Boys were a national phenomenon. They were really the future of rock and roll, the self contained band with electric instruments and their own material and aura. Of course the Beatles came in '64 and wiped away the perception that the BB's had started something. But if you were where I was in '63 you know the BB's did start something on a smaller scale, but very similar to what the Beatles did in '64. I truly think the BB's helped get people ready for the Beatles...there was some kind of reference to bands with guitars, their own songs and shaggy hair thanks to the Beach Boys...plus the capitol records connection. I also remember some people staying very loyal to the Beach Boys, mostly males, when the Beatles hit. like the Beatles were for chicks and the Beach Boys were for guys who drove fast cars and surfed. but that didn't last. Just don't let anyone tell you the Beatles started the long hair thing...not in my town, not in California. The Beach Boys image on those record covers was part of why they were so popular, i had a house of teenagers telling me that everyday for two years before we knew who the Beatles were.

I was born 1950 in Sweden, in a working class environment.  Imagine in early '62 when I was 11 years old and I heard this great California music, which wasn't just about the music, but the whole environment, nice weather, beaches etc, that was a dream to anyone in snowy Sweden!

Beach Boys became huge there right away, even "Ten Little Indians" made it into the
Top 10 there! I was a loyal fan until about '71 when I somehow started to drift away.
The highlight years for me where '65-'66, from Help Me Rhonda to Sloop John B
and some other PS tracks (I didn't like all of them though at that time).

I still remember one day in '67 when I was in a record store and asked about Smile. A record company salesman happened to be there at the time and he told me Smile  was scrapped and would be replaced by Smiley Smile. I used to read the British weekly mags New Musical Express and Melody Maker all the time.
For some reason I wasn't into the Beatles at all, I liked the Rolling Stones more. Then the Byrds, Jefferson Airplane etc.

In later years when the Smile bootlegs started to appear and the GV Box set came out in '93 I returned to the Beach Boys. I saw them a couple of times in the US when I was there on business trips.
I still love LA. Actually a few days after my retirement (lived in Hong Kong at this point in time)
in May 2002 I went with my wife to LA and was lucky to catch Brian doing the Roxy show, with some of the Smile material played for the first time, that was a real highlight!

In summary the Beach Boys have meant so much to me! There's nothing else like it.

Thanks, Roland

If you read between the lines Magic_Transistor_Radio, I did say something about Holland, but on the other hand, you're right. I remember 1972 as one of the hottest Summers we had for years in Holland. Maybe because of the Beach Boys. As an album, I rate Holland as one of the best, yet it is Brian's last album he was creative. I had seen the Beach Boys in concert in May of 1972 in Rotterdam. A great concert. Carl & The Passions was barely out and I like that album quite a lot.  I always call it "The Band" album, because it reminds me of that kind of music. If you have an excellent stereo equipment, you're going to be blown away with Here She Comes. On stage they were also a bit more heavy. As was most of the music around us, the bands got louder and heavier. Musically, the early seventies were the best years of the Beach Boys as a live band. In Europe they were accepted as one of the great bands in the world.
I have always loved the input of Dennis' songs and I really treasure POB. It's only so sad that some of the most beautiful songs ever made, will remain unheard.

I totally agree, Goin Bald. I believe that Mount Vernon and Fairway is the only thing Brian did that surpassed Smile in creativity. I don't mean that it is better, but just a step further. I also love the live videos I've seen of the BBs in that time. One of my favorites is Blondie singing Wild Honey. I would also agree that Dennis was the only Beach Boy to take a step beyond Holland with POB.

So, what was the thought in your country when they became an oldies band again? Personally, I wish that Endless Summer would have never happened, and that they would of continued in that direction.

Can't tell by experience (too young for that at the time), but what I never understood was that since the recording of Holland the Boys only returned one more time for a concert in 1980. Since then as a group they never visited The Netherlands again. This still surprises me as they often reverred to their only foreign recording experience as very positive.

Great stories, all!  Can't wait to hear more.

One of the neat things about being a BB fan in the 1970's, which was also a drawback, were the surprises that were sprung on you. There was no internet or message boards. The fan clubs, which were few, didn't have a lot of information. So you really didn't know what was going on within the band, or what was gonna come out next.

For example, I remember going to the record store in the fall of 1977, just to browse, and there's an album cover with Dennis Wilson's face staring at me. I might've read a sentence in a rock magazine that he was working on a solo album, but that was it.

Also, I remember tuning into American Bandstand in the spring/summer of 1978, and Dick Clark is introducing Mike Love & Celebration WITH Brian Wilson. I had no idea they'd be on; must've missed it in the TV Guide. There was no ther way to know! I'll tell ya, those moments took your breath away when you were a (fairly) young diehard.

It's amazing how many of us are from '74!! And even though I missed those golden years, I can say that it wasn't really any fun being a BB fan in America in the mid-eighties. Every kid I went to school with thought I was a total moron for liking that stuff. Then, when it became cool to like BW in the nineties, I became the go-to guy for Smile, et al. Still, I think most hipsters are really only aware of PS and still dis the older (and newer) stuff, with LY as a possible, ironic, exception.

Interesting stories, guys!

Well, I was born in '89 but my father 40 years earlier. Today I visited him and asked him about the time when he was young and how popular The Beach Boys were in Slovakia. He told me that there were quite famous in the late sixties but they couldn't keep up with the Beatles. He went to the concert they have played in Slovakia, in 1968. In the "An American Band" documentary you can see some footage from the Czech Republic, but my father always says that a part from those clips are filmed in Slovakia, for example the "Carldon" hotel you'd see is in the capital from Slovakia, Bratislava. So, he went to the gig and the Beach Boys arrived 2 hours to late but the audience did go crazy from the beginning. After the concert my father went to the pedestrian zone where the Beach Boys walked and he said to them:"Please" and turned his back to them, they all gave him an autograph at his expensive, white leather jacket (Dennis might have been away). He collected some albums of them (some time ago he said that he had an album were the boys were covered with a surfboard) and after he moved to germany his cousin borrowed, in his absence, all 150 LPs and his jacket. After my father came back to Slovakia his cousin moved actually to germany and he'd never showed up.

In the 80ies my father lived finally in Austria (where I was born) and he bought the album "Still Cruisin'" and he likes "Kokomo" but the other songs are not so special for him, especially "Wipe Out". In '04 he went to the concert in Wr. Neustadt with my sister, he really thought Chris Farmer was Brian Wilson.  ;D After I told him that he was very dissapointed that Mike was the only Beach Boy present, he doesn't like Bruce, even Mike was in pretty good shape. My father loves the boys' music, but he prefers their hits: His favourite songs are "Sloop John B" and "Cottonfields" which are actually covers. From the original songs he likes "Do It Again" most. His favourite Beach Boys are Carl and Dennis. After my father went to a taxi concern, where he worked more then 20 years and he still works there, his boss couldn't vocalize his name "Dusan" he remebered Dennis Wilson and told to the superior to call him "Denny" and since then everybody says "Denny" to him.

That's the story of my father and The Beach Boys. Without him I wouldn't be a Beach Boys fan ... .

Peter

What was it like? Well, The Beach Boys took over my life in 1968 when an all ready eager fan was away at school in Austin, Texas from Cleveland, Ohio and free to do what I wanted to do for the first time in my 19 year old life. The band was announced to play in Austin and I met Mike Love in  the Hilton hotel lobby. I have a picture of that meeting and it is kinda shocking. There is Mike in his long white robes, preaching to us. What was to come was seeing the group live in 14 states and an unbelievable 90 shows. At one time I was being paid by the group, indirectly. But close enough for me. Of course my wife had to adapt to my life with The Beach Boys and then my children. All worked out very well. Even though I had a chance to meet Brian, it never happened.  I'll always remember with great fondness my meetings with the rest of the group. Yes, I have a small shrine in my office and my veterinarian's secretary's sister is married to Alan Jardine. So the beat goes on.

Dave, I couldnt let those sentences go by! Care to share any more stories or details on those? This is the perfect thread for it...  :police:

While growing up in the US Pacific Northwest one of the first songs I remember hearing on the car radio was Fun, Fun, Fun. Then while on  a trip to England in '67 my friends turned me on to the Best of (Volume 1) and I was hooked. It became the first album I owned when they gave me a copy (which I still have).   I didn't get many more records until a friend turned me on to the full Pet Sounds around 72.....then I started buying all the albums I could find, mostly the early 70s Brother Records LPs then the Reprise re-issues of SM/WH and Friends/20/20.  No "Endless Summer" for me-- I'd become a bit of a snob. But as suggested, being a snob about what BBs stuff to listen to at a time when it was uncool to like anything but Endless Summer was strange. 

But at least I got to see them live twice before Brian came back. Great shows!
A lot of the folks in the crowd could immediately recognize the oldies, but "Caroline, No"s opening brought out cheers only from a few of us "cognoscenti".

I had a few friends who also liked all things Beach Boys and the used record store owners were tolerant of a fan who would buy, but most of my friends and acquaintances weren't at all interested in then current BB music at all.

The 1970s Reprise two-fer LPs made me aware of the SMiLE story....and a vinyl SMiLE was the first Black Market vinyl I ever bought.

The great thing about music, especially this music, is that you can discover its magic whenever you were born......

Well Sheriff, on the first sentence. I am in the weather business and was hired by one of the largest Midwest promoters, during many Summers, to handle massive outdoor concerts. At least in that department. This allowed me total access to the venues and you can imagine how I took advantage of that perk. During subsequent years, after The Beach Boys were devasted by a storm near Lincoln, NE in June 1989, I was asked by the group (namely Bruce and Carl) to "keep checking the radar" when I was around. This paid off  for one partcular show in Wichita after a baseball game. I had the crew rush the beginning of the show and songs were cut because of the impending doom. By the way, I got to rub up against dozens of major acts during my stint with the rain insurance shows.  I was known as the rock and roll weatherman here in the Midwest. My television career sometimes was secondary. But hey, read my first post in this thread to get an understanding.
On the second sentence in question. Yes, of course, that first meeting with Mike is most memorable as it was my first and so personal. Mike and I met many times after that. No comment on his general dispostion over the years, but he waves at me from the stage at the shows I've been to the last 5-6 years. Once I helped Alan get his extended family into a show (Doobie Brothers were playing at that moment and he said, "Don't they sound good" as we trekked across the Arrowhead Stadium complex.) Some of my meetings with Bruce are notorious from other message boards such as the old Male Ego. God I miss that Board. Carl and I had a nice conversation about 1992 before a show and what an honor to hear him say to me, "Hi Dave, you've been around for years."  My family and friends hear that story all the time. Once I ran into Dennis near the dressing room before the Chicago-Beach Boys smash tour and just bellowed out, " It's the hard workin' drummer Denny Wilson."  What a grin I got back. He was with Karen Lamm and my girlfriend and I watched as the two of them headed to the stage. Each with a hand in each other's back pocket. Matt Jardine was really a nice guy to talk to, always. Really a good guy.  The mystique of meeting Brian remains elusive. Maybe on purpose.
On the third sentence. Well that's personal.
Thanks for asking Sherriff.

Great stories, Dave. Thanks for taking the time to share them. Doing something exciting like that, and being around those many personalities, you're a lucky guy!  :police:

Part 1

OK JASON, YOU HAD TO ASK… THEN, HERE IS MORE THAN YOU NEED TO KNOW FROM AN ‘OLD TIMER’ WITH ONLY 4 POSTS TO MY NAME, MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME, SHALL WE SAY…

The following tome is rather lengthy. But who else might be the least interested in ANY of it, except for you folks? Anyway, I thought I’d tell my tale, and address your specific questions this once, and be done with it. Thanks for your indulgence.

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 called GULTURE by R.Meltzer, he of “The Aesthetics of Rock” fame…).

Part 2

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 Carnegie Hall on September 9, 1971. I still have that Carnegie program. 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…

The rest of the story in brief:

72 – 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…)

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

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 in a sandbox on top of it. I’ll borrow a camera and send along a picture if this thread is still going.

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 500 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 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.

So there you have it Jason. Thanks for asking. Kept me up for a couple of nights, flooded memories. 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...

PS