The Smiley Smile Message Board

I didn't read this here, so I wouldn't've known about it if it weren't for the fact that my roommate is an intern on Conan. But yeah, Brian's the musical guest tonight. I hope my roommate comes back with some good anecdotes.

But why hasn't this been publicized more?

http://www.nbc.com/Late_Night_with_Conan_O'Brien/calendar/index.shtml

Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson performs "Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl" from the album That Lucky Old Sun.

He did California Role last time right? Or was that Jay?

Such a shame he's not doing Midnight...that would suck in more people to check his music out then surfer girl...

He did "Goin Home" on Leno. I wish he would do "California Role" tonight - can't wait to hear it live Saturday!

I'd prefer "Goin' Home" or "Southern California."

Any regular Conan watchers here? Since I'm going to have to set the VCR to catch this one, does anyone know if Conan slots his musical guests at the end of the show like Leno and Letterman? Or do I need to shift the whole show? TIA.

pretty sure he has musical guests at the end, like everyone else  :-\

I heard from my roommate Brian also performed California Girls (they film the show early), but it probably won't make it to TV.

Just saw it.  "Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl" followed by the second half of "California Girls". 

God, that's the worst Brian TV appearance I've ever seen. Really bad.

I watched it twice and I have to say I cannot beilieve this is the same man I saw on Sunday. His voice was so much better, he was less bloated., even his hair looked nicer. He seemed to be very tired or nervous. I thought he would be killer after what I just saw. Glad they showed the vinyl though.

I saw him do Goin Home on Leno...I hate to say it but he should probably not do TV.  I love the guy and I cringe watching those performances on late shows.   No one seems to look good on these shows.....with the exception of SNL.....where the performances seem more natural somehow.  But as I recall...Brian bombed on SNL

Sorry to have to say, horrible. It seems only the name Brian Wilson is why he gets on TV. The band is very good but Brian just doesn't show anything that would impress the average Joe. In fact, Joe might ask, why is he on there?

http://www.nbc.com/Late_Night_with_Conan_O'Brien/video/episodes/#vid=846162

Go to minute 37 of this link to see it.


No worse than ever.

Can they velcro his hands to the keyboard?

Yikes...he was quite obviously just going through the motions. Wrong song choice, too. I mean, it's a good song, but it doesn't work out of context.

Hmmm...I disagree on the "it doesn't work out of context part"...when the demo first streamed last year, it only took me a couple of listens to decide it was a great song, and that was out of context from the rest of the album.

What was scary was after Conan shook Brian's hand and left.  Brian just froze, like he was in a trance. 

And yeah, velcro his hands to the keyboard.  He doesn't even pretend to play it.  I'd have him hold a bass, maybe he could just plunk out a few notes on occasion.

Pet Sounds lp grafted to the Carl & The Passions lp. So tough....

yeah, i notice the freeze. But it wasnt that bad, was it? i didnt think so. And yeah, thats one of the last songs id figure he'd perform

Brian definitely shouldn't do any more NBC television appearances. "Goin' Home" on Leno and "Surfer Girl" on Conan both suffered from extremely dry mixes. Even the band sounded cluttered, and while this may be due to them being tired, there's absolutely no reverb on the microphones and the instruments all blend together (and not in a good way). Yes, Brian was decidedly out of sorts, but with the right sound mix it could've sounded substantially better. Brian's SMiLE TV appearances ran rings over his recent ones (the terrific appearance on "Live from Abbey Road"), let Brian rest and record, possibly tour. No more live TV appearances (even though Conan's taped at 4 and Broadcast after Midnight), no more...

Not good. Far worse than when i saw him last weekend. But he's been a slow starter most times I've seen him: I wonder if a big part of it is the nature of these shows, with just a song or two.

Very correct Luther. The track record is clear. Brian cannot do TV well and his people should be smart enough to recognize that by now. But it's an "ego thing" I believe. When I saw Brian at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas back in 1999, I ran into a crew member in the elevator the afternoon of the show and he was just so proud of his tee shirt embalazoned with Late Night with David Letterman. That's the mentality I'm afraid and these TV appearances are hurting him more than helping. I caught grief from my own brother who called me up after Leno exclaiming that "Brian should go home all ready." Sad.

Well his band is young, and they were plucked out of nowhere, those guys must get such a buzz from being on Leno, and Conan, singing in front of the Queen and all that stuff.

Lucky.

OK, Brian ususally doesn't do well on these things.

But "worst ever"?

Worse than Long Beach 1981? Worse than Farm Aid '98? Worse than Daytona 500 2005?

 I wasn't that impressed (Mike's right, tho - the concerts have been FAR superior to this) but it didn't offend me either.

I didn't see Daytona 500, but Farm Aid 98 was worse, true. Long Beach, well, he sounded worse and better at the same time...at least he was trying. He looked bored as f*** on Conan.

This is a weird observation, but you can usually tell how Brian's doing by how  the cuffs on his shirt are in proximity of his hands. If the shirt is too long, he usually will have a bad day. I don't know why that is.

That's genius. 8)

So this whole time, he's just been upset about his sleeve length? He just needs a better tailor and he'll be back to his old 1966 self!  :lol

About the "his band is young" thing, I'm not sure how accurate that is. They've been together a decade. I think most of them are over 40. Not that it matters, but it's funny to still read some articles that still refer to "Brian's crackerjack young band."

True, Amy. Of course, it's all relative. For aging journalists and an aged Brian Wilson, people in their 40s are pretty young! To your average teenage pop music fan, they're all ancient.

Well, yes. But in rock and pop, "young band" usually means teens or 20s. A band in their 40s are "veteran," and a band in their 60s are "aged" or "venerable."

And in the case of the Stones, miraculously alive and/or undead.  ;D

What about NKOTB? They ain't no spring chickens! Who and why would anybody go to see them? There's nothing relative about it. Why would anybody even care? Maybe if some youngin' got free tix at the record shop.  >:D

Also allows him to wipe is nose!

You can usually tell, if Brian's sleeve is wet, he will actually do a better job with Mike Love's parts. If his sleeve is dry, well, he usually will have a bad day.

Can someone upload the mentioned Conan episode and maybe the other performances that were mentioned on youtube? The link wont let me see the show outside US.

The whole thing sounded dry as noted and the band as a whole wasn't all that tight.  That said, I thought it didn't sound all that bad....it looked awkward for sure.  Get rid of that keyboard and give Brian a stool and a hand-held mic.  The hand motion stuff is retarded looking.  Also Brian looks like they just woke him up and said, "Your on!"   

The worst TV I recall was a skin tight leather suit with Brian singing "Night Time" from the original solo album with only a backing track.  Brian attempting to sing and dance in a leather suit was not an attractive sight.   This Conan performance wasn't even that geeky!

I don't know about skintight leather suit, but I think this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNACeq9hV7w) performance of Night Time with the backing track is pretty cool. Weird, but cool.

:lol

I think what I was trying to say (and it might not have come out the way I intended) is that whenever Brian looks like he just got out of bed in the morning, he usually doesn't perform that well.  Not the cause of it but rather a sympton.

I've mentioned this before but Brian did dumb hand gestures from the get go when his hands were not busy.

Most of you have seen the demo video of I Get Around from one of the documentaries.

"I'm a real cool head (points to head) making real good bread (slides thumb over fingers as if flashing bills)"

He didn't do this when he was playing the bass during the same era.  Why can't he tinker with a dead keyboard and only occasionally gesture?  Its like he has tardive dyskinesia.   

The late Eddie Arnold had really weird hand gestures when performing ...and lets not forget Joe Cocker :P

He seemed cool to me on the I Get Around video. They weren't jerky awkward movements. Maybe he took emcee lessons from Mike!

When I saw Elton (I've seen him three times, and I can remember him doing this twice), he did all kinds of weird hand motions during a song called "Sixty Years On." Macca also has a tendecy to do them when he is just focusing on singing and doesn't need to play his axe (I'm thinking "She's Leaving Home" and "Eleanor Rigby"). Brian's hand motions are far more weird and extensive, but that's just the game with Brian.

(Completely O/T on the subject of hand motions, I remembered Macca doing them on "She's Leaving Home" and found http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2mFfP1q50o, with him doing them; and I remembered why I'm such a Macca. You can argue that Brian's a better composer (I think they're even), you can say that he's getting help on the falsetto (which he is), but he still has one heck of a voice!)

I love "Sixty Years On," it's one of my favorite Elton songs.  There is a video on Youtube of him doing it in 1970 that is amazing.  That particular performance he didn't make any overly weird hand motions, although it was odd just to see him not behind a piano. 

Unfortunately I don't think there is much that can be done with Brian's hand motions.  Ideally he could just bang out chords on the piano, but he doesn't because he is trying to focus on his singing (that's my theory anyway).  He needs something to do with his hands, and without an instrument to play, they just have minds of their own.  I doubt he even thinks about what he's doing, and nobody is about to tell him "hey Bri, could you not do those weird hand gestures?"  It is what it is.

I might be making this up, but I think one of the band members said he likes when Brian is doing hand motions because it means he's in good spirits and enjoying the music. It's when he just sits there and sings that there might be a problem.