The Smiley Smile Message Board

The Jardines lived in Lima, Ohio before moving to California shortly after Al's birth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lima,_Ohio#Lima_in_myth_and_legend

It totally makes sense that Al was raised by people who lived in a place like that.

or not

that's a pretty broad brush stroke if it's not a joke.

Yeah, I just thought it was funny that Lima's place in pop culture is as a town full of backwards, boring idiots.

I have relatives in Lima and it really is a boring, sterilized, sanitized whitewashed town. High culture there is an SUV, a big screen TV, golf, and Abercrombie clothes. Like most places, I guess.

I grew up the next county over from Lima and it pretty much is everything you guys say it is, but welcome to the rural midwest.

For clarities sake, Al's family didn't actually live in Lima, I believe they lived in a farm house off of State Route 117.  I don't think they did any actual farming though.  My grandpa is a fire chief in a nieghboring township so it would probably be pretty easy to confirm that, but I have some merchandise I got from the early days because someone that my grandpa knew knew the Jardine family or something.  They had an Al Jardine day in Lima in August, 1993.  The whole band (-Brian, natch) was in the area because they played a show the next night at the Columbus Zoo (about a 90 minute drive) but none of them were in attendance for Al's honor.

Not even Al himself?

Is that why Ohio features in 'Back Home'?

Just asking.

Al was there, along with his kids, but no other band members or anything

My parents were born & raised in Lima and when they were in their early 20s moved away. After years & years of being away, they moved the fam back to Lima when I was about 11. I've [unfourtanley] been here since, with the few exceptions of me moving out.  & I wasnt born here.

But anyway, Lima is verrrrrry boring & hum drum. Its just like any other small "city" in the midwest. Its no different then a city in PA, IN, MI.

Lol pretty much the only thing I have to brag about this city is the fact that Al is from here or from the area [as someone said Al's family actually lived out in the country outterskirts of Lima.]

So was the late and great hall of fame jazz musician Joe Henderson.  He was one of the very best tenor sax players in history.  He had an amazing ability to make simple music - sound complex, and to make complex music - sound simple.  He was a BlueNote superstar.   

I'm curious to know what enlightened areas the critics above call home?

 Gary Griffin is from Ohio too!
 1975 Reds aka The Big Red
 Machine.... The Best!

Don't get down on Ohio, it is a great place to live.  I am from around Bellefontaine (right down the road) very similar, but at least Lima has more than two restaurants and it has a mall, it sucks, but hey, it's still a mall.  I just finished my master's at Ohio State and live in the Columbus suburbs now and it's great.

By the way Phyllis Diller is also from Lima

Ohio is a large state with a lot of variety in landscape and culture.  And Joe Walsh is from Waverly.  Believe it or not, Cincinatti and Cleveland are FUN places!  And the little communities that dot the farmlands still look like they are out of a Twilight Zone small town setting......