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MaryEllen Fillo | JAVA
August 14, 2007
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E-mail Print Single page view Reprints Reader feedback text size:  What would summer be without a good dose of some Beach Boys music?

Mohegan Sun will be serving up the seasonal fun, fun, fun at its concert arena Wednesday featuring original Beach Boy Mike Love.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, who, with cousins Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson and close friend Al Jardine, launched the group in 1960, may be best known as the group's lead vocalist but also co-authored many of the group's major hits, including "Surfin' USA," "Little Deuce Coupe" and "I Get Around." Married with children, Love also heads the Love Foundation for American Music, Entertainment and Art, which supports national environmental and educational initiatives.



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Mike Love and the Beach Boys Photo
But singing the songs of summer and reminding everyone that the beach is best is what Love does with most of his time these days, despite the disagreements, deaths and disorders that spilt the original group.

Love, in the midst of a Beach Boys concert tour that includes the group's 32-year veteran Bruce Johnston, took a few minutes during a perfect August day to spill the sun-and-surf-touched beans with Java.

Q: So when was the last time you were on a surfboard?

A: The last time was in Hawaii a couple of months ago. I'm not that great a surfer. I live in Lake Tahoe, so it's pretty tough to catch a wave - no pun intended. But I do consider myself an Olympic free-style hot-tub champion.

Q: What with all the lawsuits and countersuits, are you or aren't you part of The Beach Boys?

A: I have been the lead singer of the Beach Boys since the group started and am, with another longtime Beach Boy member, Bruce Johnston, the Beach Boys. There were five in the original group, and now we have nine, including my son Christian on guitar and John Cowsill [of the singing family the Cowsills] on keyboard. Al Jardine, who was part of the original group, has his "Endless Summer Band," and Brian Wilson is performing alone.

Q: What's your favorite song?

A: My favorite song is "What's Going On" by Marvin Gay. My favorite Beach Boys songs are "Kokomo" and "Good Vibrations," although I do like "Fun, Fun, Fun" because the falsetto at the end is phenomenal.

Q: Did you ever take singing lessons?

A: I never had any singing lessons. Our family was very musically oriented. My mother used to sing on the radio, and so did my uncles.

Q: The Beach Boys are known for quintessential summer music. What can we expect at the concert?

A: We'll be doing our surf songs, our car songs, summertime blues - everything form "Surfin' Safari to "Kokomo." And as far as quintessential, I think we are. My 11-year-old daughter came home from school and said her fourth-grade class voted "Wouldn't It Be Nice" as one of their favorite songs. And I will be wearing green at the Connecticut concert. I dress according to the planet of the day, and Wednesdays are Mercury Day.

Q: What is the biggest misconception about the Beach Boys and the group's music?

A: I don't know if there were any misconceptions, although I think a majority of people know us from hits on oldies radio. But if you get into it, you'll find that the Beach Boys vocally surpassed just about anybody because of the arrangements, the harmonies and the blends. A lot of singers can harmonize but the voices don't blend.

Q: What is something most people don't know about the group?

A: That we have played for more people in one day that anyone ever has. It was July 4, 1985. We played to 1 million people in Philadelphia in the afternoon and then about 750,000 in Washington, D.C., that evening.

Q: How old are you now? Is it embarrassing to be performing for 47 years after you started, or just a plain blast that so many people still want to hear you and music that for all practical purposes is old?

A: I'm 66, and I think it is fantastic. We have been invited to Australia next June and are also performing on a private charter cruise being arranged by a Washington businessman that will include Italy, southern France and St. Petersburg. It's still fun, wonderful and miraculous.

Q: Will you ever work with Brian Wilson again?

A: I never say never. He and I have talked casually about doing something together again. But his schedule, my schedule, it's tough to find a good time. We'll see.

Q: Your music seems to conjure up "going back" in most listeners' minds. Can you go back?

A: Our music chronicles mid-America growing up. There were a lot of fantasies and aspirations. But a lot of the music is about emotions that are timeless. So, for fans that are my age, maybe it is nostalgia. But for younger people driving their first car, falling in love for the first time, breaking out on their own, the music is new because it's about what they are feeling.

Mike Love and the Beach Boys perform Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Mohegan Sun Arena. Tickets, at $100, $45 and $25, are available at Ticketmaster.com.

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Copyright © 2007, The Hartford Courant

Unlike most Beach Boys fans I love Kokomo, but how anyone that worked on Pet Sounds, Smile, Today!, Friends, Sunflower and all those other incredible albums can name Kokomo as one of his two favorite Beach Boys songs is truely beyond me... Or would it just be because it's the only musical triump in his life that Brian had nothing to do with?

I think it's because like you said it's his sole music triumph on his own.... which, however you want to look at it, is a valid point for why he would consider it one of his favorites.  If I wrote it, and the Beach Boys made it a #1 hit, it'd probably be my favorite Beach Boys song, too!

Shelter, I agree with you about Mike's reasons for his choosing Kokomo as one of his fave songs-but also remember one thing about Mike-its mostly about the money-Good Vibrations and Kokomo made him wealthy. :smokin

There's something to be said for hitting number 1 on Billboards more than 20 years after your last number one (let alone hitting number 1 at all!).  Imagine the feeling that gave the band.  With all that they went through, I can understand "Kokomo" representing a favorite for Mike.  And yes, the boatload of money that came with it must've felt good, too!

And I will be wearing green at the Connecticut concert. I dress according to the planet of the day, and Wednesdays are Mercury Day.

Wow I have always wanted to hear an explanation for Mike's fashion statements over the years, and I guess this is it?!?

If you had a hit like Kokomo to feed your ego and your bank account the way it has for Mike, I think it would be one of your favorite songs too...  :lol

Mike Love's triumph: Big Sur NOT KOKOMO!  :o

I dunno. I really enjoy Sumahama... Really quite a good song and the lyrics don't suck too bad... I like the production too.

NO!  ML's triumph is his wardrobe.  Especially this planet of the day thing...  & people say Brian was the genius!

Didn't Mike have very little to do with the writing of Kokomo? Wasn't it just a few lyrics here or there, something like "Aruba, Jamaica ooh I wanna take ya" or something like that?

If so, that should be his proudest moment.

I thought Mike sang well on "Kokomo".

Auto Tune/Pro Tools

I liked Mike's lyrics, too. That "Aruba, Jamaica" part was a nice hook. A lot of people liked that song. I think it went to No. 1. It became a highlight of the live shows for many fans. "Kokomo" got The Beach Boys back in the public eye. I'll bet more people (including Al & Carl) accepted that aspect, though...

Summer in Paradise holds the distinction of being one of the first albums (by any band, not just the Beach Boys) to be made using ProTools.

I don't know for sure.  I remember an interview a few years ago where he was explaining, line for line, the blatently obvious things about the concepts in the song.  For instance the "by and by we'll defy a little bit of gravity" he claimed he put in there because through meditation you can levitate.  So that kind of thing kind of makes me think he probably wrote most of the lyrics, the whole song sounds very Mike Loveish. 

He changed the song from past tense to present tense which does make a big difference and he came up with the chorus. I never liked Kokomo but for it's worth Mike really shaped the song.

Obviously, but I was speaking from a commercial point of view of course.

I'd like Kokomo more if you replace the vocals with Homer Simpson's voice. Then you'd have a proper party album track which would progressively sound better after 8 beers.  8)

Don't forget Mike also played the saxomophone solo.  He must have done, cos you can clearly see it in the video.  :lol

Try nine beers...Mike then sounds like Homer I've found.  ;D

I find it interesting that someone would ask this to Mike. I wonder 'how' Mike answered the question. I mean, its one thing to read an interview, but you can't always see facial expressions. I wonder if he is embarrased about it. I suppose that he can just 'meditate' his embarasment away.

And you have been 'wondering' about this since August?  :o

Sleep easy now my friend.  ;)