The Smiley Smile Message Board

I've read and heard so much about this inspirational sandbox in brian's living room circa the SMiLE era, yet i haven't seen one picture of the thing.  Is there a picture out there that i've simply overlooked?

There's no known pictures of it. 

No photos.  Amazing!

There must be some pictures of Brian and Van Dyke at the piano in the sandbox, but with the sandbox being cut off from the picture because it was too low to the ground for the camera lens to capture. Maybe........

OK...let's nail down a few things about this sand box business

1.  What house?  Bellagio or Laural Way?  If Laural Way it appears to have been removed buy the time the Surf's Up footage was shot.  There is no evidence that Brian's in a giant sand box.  If he were I think that would have made for some great footage.

2.  How long was in in place.  By any estimation this whole thing appears to have been rather short-lived.  A week....two weeks.  They said the dogs were crapping in it and trailing sand all over the house and Brian said the sand was too "cold" to be comfortable.  Therefore my guess is that this particular indulgence didn't last long at all.

3.  Van Dyke said he found it to be insulting or some such description...I don't think he had anything to do with it.

4. Are there any specific songs Brian said originated in the sand box?  If so that would be a clue as to when the thing as in.

I bet there aren't any pictures because who could stand this thing in the house with dogs, cats, and who knows what else.

Just my 2 cents.

opps....double post

I think I either read or saw a doc where it said H&V, Surf's Up, Cabin Essence, and Wonderful were written in the sandbox.

I'm pretty sure that comment was in the Smile doc, from Brian.  That would lead me to believe that it was there a bit longer than a few weeks, although I suppose all of those songs could have just been written quickly. 

I think we may be on to something, in terms of the length of time the box was in the house.  You never really hear about that, but, given the litter box situation, it may very well have been a shorter time than you, at least I, sort of picture.  As we know, Brian was prone to act on a whim, so it may have been there and gone in a relative flash.  I think those four songs mentioned were actually written pretty fast.

Now, obviously the production of them took much longer.

Don't forget the piano tuner incident - Marilyn recalled that when the guy turned up to tune Brian's piano, he nearly pitched a fit when he found out it was full of sand. Now that didn't happen overnight, even allowing for a little exaggeration for effect.

It was Laurel Way, for certain. Ron Swallow's the man to ask for details on the sandbox, since he helped build it.





 

Hmm...Ron would actually be a great person to ask about a lot of things.  He's "around", then, I take it?

When asked about filming Brian at home, Inside Pop cameraman Bernard Hirschenson mentioned the sandbox and tent. So it was probably still there in December or whenever the home-stuff was filmed. Don't know if "Surf's Up" & the other songs ("Child Is Father Of Man", "Heroes & Villains", "Open Country Song" & "Sunshine") were recorded in the sandbox, perhaps they had another pianos in the house.

Tony Asher says it wasn't there when he and Brian worked at Laurel Way.

Marilyn has said it was in place during Pet Sounds.  Al Kooper has said it was in place in early May '66.

OTOH, Michael Vosse says it [and the tent] went up just after he began working for the BBs  mid October '66.

Was there through November and December '66 when Jules Siegel, David Oppenheim and the crew of Inside Pop saw it.

Was still there in the 3rd week of March '67 but Brian was saying it had "got to go".

So something like, nov 66-mar 67, 5 or 6 months.  That seems like the appropriate honeymoon period.

About the same as his honeymoon with SMiLE some might say [maybe just me].

If it was 5 or 6 months you would think that there would be some pictures taken of it

People in the eye of the storm don't seem to grasp the enormity of their lives.  If it was me, I wouldn't have taken a picture of it.

It was likely tuned when it was first placed in the sand box.  I imagine 3 or 4 guys had to man handle the piano to get it in place - likely needed to be re-tuned right away.  I assume the piano in question was Brian's Chickering.  I know that piano was sold or auctioned in the late 70s - there was an add in the BBFUN Newsletter at the time (I was like 16 or 17 with no cash) - who owns it now?

If it was there as late as March 67 maybe they took it out to help "sell" the house.  Whose gonna guy a house with a sandbox in the living room?  The move to Bellagio was May?

It was mentioned in the 5/6/67 Derrick Taylor article has being in place during November 66.


To some extent I think the story has reached such legendary status more people "saw" it than actually laid eyes on it.

I'm looking at the CBS film....all head shots basically....does he look as if he is elevated beyond normal in any way?  I gotta believe that would have made the film in some way.  Maybe it made to cutting room floor.....

I interviewed Ron for the Dave Marks book. He was extremely helpful, and had a lot of historically important first hand recollections regarding Dave and his time in the band.

Ron seems like he'd be THE guy to ask about equipment stuff.

Maybe whatever stays in the sandbox and tent, stayed in the sandbox and tent  ???  ???



 :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

Didn't the author Thomas Pynchon get high with Brian in the tent and then they just stared at each other without saying anything?

Yep, and after that they ate sandwiches.


Huh?

Billy Hinsche mentions the sandbox during in-between song patter on his live at the Cannery album -  he was at the house to write Lady Love with Brian and mentions walking past the sandbox on his way to see Brian, who was in bed.

I'm reliably informed that Marilyn has two photos of the sandbox in her private collection.

So, there are at least a couple in existence.  Aha.

Huh?
[/quote]

A play on the saying "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." etc.
Misbehave if you like and we won't talk about it afterwards.

Kind of like Las Vegas!?

If memory serves (from Jules Siegel's PLAYBOY article), Brian apparently got spooked by Siegel's girlfriend (or was it Pynchon's?) thinking she might be a "witch" and so he asked them to leave after a time... Anybody remember reading this? Before they went up to Laurel Way, Pynchon had been somewhat skeptical of Siegel writing an article on the Beach Boys. After Siegel turned him on and then turned him on to Pet Sounds, he said something like "Oh....I see..." This is one of the great little sidebars of SMILE - Pynchon and Brian's worlds colliding...(Indeed, I first found Siegel's SAT EVE POST article reprinted in an edited collection of rock articles around the same time I discovered Gravity's Rainbow in 1973).

   

I agree, to me, "Smile" as a concept is almost more interesting as a "time period" than an actual "album".  It was such an interesting time in pop culture and LA was it's ground zero.  There are so many interesting stories like Brian meeting Pynchon, you know, so and so hanging out with so and so, e.e. cumming spending an evening on a yacht with Paul Revere and the Raiders (made that one up)...

Dom's Smile book touched on these cultural touchstones, but I'd like to see something documenting the whole scene, a step back from the Beach Boys.  The cross-pollination, the "meeting of the minds".  Lots of great little stories.

I looked all over the web one time for a picture of the sandbox and piano.  I recal finding one small image that MIGHT have bee the sandbox and piano but is wasn't clear if that was actually what it was.

Yes.  Amazing there are no pictures given its place in BB lore.

Maybe Marilyn has one.

Two, actually, like I said two days ago.

That was a litter box. Wait, that's what the sandbox WAS.... :police:

It's interesting that Brian had a sandbox built for "inspiration" because I didn't think he even liked the beach, or at least the surf....

Just because he was afraid of the water doesn't mean he didn't like the sand.

look listen vibrate smile! - by priore - page 168 Brian in his living room 1966/67 with table in the sand (sandbox)
LOOK OUT

Anyone have a scan of that?

It's page 166 in my copy. Looks like sand indeed... But it could also be a thick carpet.

Its page 166 and it looks to me like thick shag carpet.  He is sitting in a recliner-like chair (next to sofa) in front of a coffee table.   I don't ever recall hearing he had his living room furniture (other than piano) in the sandbox.......although who knows this is Brian we are talking about.

Plus, I think that in "Beautiful Dreamer", someone says that it was the "finest, purest, whitest" sand one could find. Hardly the words that'd come first when I look at that picture: it almost looks like wet, dirty sand. My guess is that it's just a thick carpet.

(http://img213.imagevenue.com/loc348/th_36447_PICT1261_122_348lo.JPG) (http://img213.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=36447_PICT1261_122_348lo.JPG)
(http://img193.imagevenue.com/loc409/th_36450_PICT1262_122_409lo.jpg) (http://img193.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=36450_PICT1262_122_409lo.jpg)

I think that this is definitely legendary sandbox.

If not, thats one ugly carpet...

That's an ugly carpet.  No footprints....shag was cool at that time.

Yeah I think that's just a carpet.