The Smiley Smile Message Board

This would be the first shot I have seen with a hatless Bruce for what....5 years? Looks like a good crop still.


http://washingtontimes.com/photos/2009/aug/21/54629/

But the white pants and footwear guys? :p

I think that making the promo picture a high-key photo with the white background and the colorful clothing was a good idea, something new for the band.  However, I really think they should have let Bruce keep the hat so that he would stand out like Mike does as one of the official Beach Boys.  Also, last time they did a promo picture, Chris Farmer was in between Mike & Bruce in the back, which was a little distracting.  Now having Randell back there in the middle is even more distracting.  I think that he should have been on the far right perhaps.  Also distracting is how Bruce's hands are just kind of hanging there while everyone else is striking a more natural pose.  It's cool that the band is all wearing contemporary clothes to give the band the younger look that Mike has been wanting. 

Were there other photos released from this shoot?  Both the photographer and the Beach Boys fan in me want to see more...

People would be able to recognise both of them more easily if Mike was carrying the sax and Bruce was wearing short shorts.

Edit: If Bruce keeps pulling faces, one day the wind will change and his face will stick like that.  ;D

Man, he shouldn't wear dark shoes with light pants!

What's with Mike's pinkie? Arthritis?

What's with Bruce's smilie??? New teeth???? And Mike's shirt......I think I had one like it back in the late 60's. Well fashion is like anything else, you keep it long enough and it will come back.

It's definitely an improvement over the promotional picture! I think this is good.

I would've gone back to matching striped shirts though!

it annoys me all the time that Mike Love and a bunch of young, no-name, cover dudes go by "The Beach Boys". Brian has way more ownership to that title.

Bruce'll like that description of him as young!

attach a bicycle horn to Mike's belt and you've  got  Happy the Clown- and by the way, Mike, lose the sandals-nobody wants to see your feet. :lol

A short article can be found on that page under 'entertainment"

Wolf Trap on Sunday.  Hmmmmmm.....I could make that in 6 hours!

Brian and, by your criterion, a (different) bunch of young, no-name, cover dudes, go by the name "Brian Wilson." I think he has more of a right to that name than the Beach Boys name, which he, as a board member of BRI, licensed to Mike.

I had some really long winded thing on here making points about Mike that I'm sure people have stated many times over, so I deleted it to say this-

you're right about the legality of the name.

As Beach Boys fans, the name is sacrosanct to us, but in reality it is the property of a corporation, and for Brian, it seems to represent something that he just does not want to be a part of.

But let me ask you all this... what if the Brian Wilson Band was called the Beach Boys? Would That Lucky Old Sun have sold more?

I wonder if Brian's people ever considered having Brian tour under the Beach Boys' name. Then again, not that I want to jump on the Mike Love Bashing Bandwagon ™, but the brand name has been diluted to the point where music fans tend to view it more as something like Menudo than a real band. If Brian had adopted that moniker in 1999 or so and his band was the "Beach Boys," it also would have possibly constrained him more artistically then he already was.

At the same time, Mike is entitled to the name for a very good reason - for better or for worse, he has kept the machine humming all of these years when it comes to the live show. He may not be a Wilson brother or a drug addict (which automatically makes him a clyde/square)  and he is not an artist like Brian is, but he is a damn good performer.

I met Mike in 1999 and he was kind of a jerk. I'm very, very aware of the man's flaws. I am not here to be his defender (SJS can take care of that for me), but I will say this:* if I were Mike Love, I would be hugely resentful of the way the hardcore Brian-fans perceive me. Mike has paid quite a dear price for being an uptight rube in the 1960s and varying points thereafter. It's a damn good thing that I didn't become publicly successful at the age of 19 or 20. Like most of you, I have the benefit of doing all of the stupid sh*t I constantly do and making myriad mistakes and faux pas in every aspect of every endeavor I undertake, whilst not being observed by a large group of people, besides the NSA.

I've been a hardcore Beach Boys fan for a while now. I have felt disgusted and dismayed by Mr. Love's actions quite a few times... and still, I can't fathom the utter hatred some fans harbor towards him.

I have also felt disgusted by some of Brian's actions; of course, he gets a free pass because he is mentally ill and a recovering addict. Ditto with Dennis. What about Carl queering the pitch and ruining what could have been an excellent last album by the Beach Boys? Oh wait, he was dealing with lung cancer at the time.

Mike Love.... well, he's been reasonably healthy his whole life... no drug addiction... so I guess his behavior is just inexcusable. And therein lies the answer. If Mike Love had, instead of meditating, started doing Heroin - just a tiny little bit of heroin, but enough to call himself an addict - every day for 10 years, from 1965 to 1975, and had become clean for the 15 Big Ones fiasco, had his ups and downs in the 80s with cocaine abuse, and started a relationship with his cousin's daughter... well, he would be a legend!

Instead, he has the temerity and gall to be alive and healthy with a positive outlook. What a loser.

The reality is that Mike Love, like Brian and Dennis and Ray Bulger and b00ts, is a human being... and as much as I want to laugh and point at the pretend Beach Boys, they put on a damn good show, and those sidemen that are derided by some ignorant factions of the Beach Boys community are some of the most skilled and dedicated touring musicians out there today.

Now, let's blast Bruce. What a prick!

DSamore, I'll ask you what could be a rhetorical question for some, and I'll even give you a hint that the question could be answered with one word.

Why do you think Brian Wilson voted to give Mike the license to tour as The Beach Boys? Does THAT annoy you? Sorry, that's two questions; lost my head again....

Nice to see what the current group looks like. Just two things that need to be done imho
a) try to get some tastefully clothing
b) stop with the dancing and the fake rockstar-poses

Everything else seems to be fine

I thought the reason the new band photo took so long was that there was some question about how long Bruce was going to continue touring, as in he was going to be being fired.  I guess he and Mike must have worked out their differences after all.

Tell us more!!!

...and who's the chick with the drumsticks? ;D

Lets just say that Times are a Changin' and Bruce's job isn't as secure as he would like us to believe it is.

Boots -- a nice post. I mostly give Mike a pass these days; he seems to have gotten the band's act together, and "Cool Head, Warm Heart" is a nice tune.

That being said, I find the lawsuits of the 90s and 2000s (the Smile one, in particular) to be, at a certain level, unforgivable. The fact that Mike would sue Brian over his greatest critical and commercial success of the past 30 years -- well, sour grapes don't begin to cover it. I don't care for the man, the voice, the attitude or the persona.

But. If these last few years have brought anything to the BB/BW world, it's a somewhat more nuanced attitude toward Brian, Mike, Dennis, Carl and Al. They are people, and flawed and talented and good and bad all at once. And to deny Mike his humanity -- and his very real contributions to the group -- is to deny reality.

The first time I heard "The Path Of Love" by the Cowsills, I asssumed the lead vocal was a very young Susan Cowsill. Imagine my shock when I found out it was actually a pre-pubscent John.

Man that picture blasts sunshine. I like it, really do. They all look great  ;D

Mike hasn't changed in ten years.

I've never heard ANYONE ever defend Carl over that.

I was wondering why Bruce always wore a hat.  He lost almost all of his hair.  Hung out with Mike Love too much.

 
 "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"........ 

   

Am I the only one who found that photo shocking?  It doesn't seem to represent reality -  skin tone and the way those faces are pulled over their skulls looks really plasticy.

Either there's been plenty of Photoshop work done or Mike's treated the entire band to facelifts with the proceeds of his last court victory.

 Hangovers?

Yes, you did. Re-read what you quoted from me. I defended him.

Hang loose, Mike (http://l.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/101.gif)

Cool pic, but they look airbrushed or something.

Hmm that's interesting news SurfDude147 but don't you think Mike would be up the creek if he fired Bruce ?  It's kinda hard to have "The Beach Boys" with just one person, at this point Bruce is the only one keeping things The Beach Boys given that there are no more original members besides Mike and Bruce left in the group thanks to Mike and his habit of firing people.

 If Bruce was to be fired all that would be left  is Mike Love and his (insert your own name here) band and let's face it how many people are gonna wanna just see Mike Love ?

  SD147 = Beach Boys Insider!

Nice photo, but Mike, get a new stylist. How about the 1966 look? That was pretty good.

I guess I have mixed feelings about Mike using the Beach Boys name. On one hand, I feel like he's duping a lot of people, kind of like the Temptations. On the other hand, it's pretty obvious, looking at the photo, that the younger guys were not in the original BBs. And, he's keeping the name in people's minds. Plus, Mike wouldn't get anywhere touring under his own name. He's an okay lyricist and an okay singer. That's it. People aren't going to flock to buy tickets to see Mike Love. As for Brian, he (not Mike) is the NAME in the Beach Boys, not that he's that well known to casual fans. Publishers are interested in bios of him. When was the last time there was a bio of Mike? Brian's people were right to have him tour under his own name. He's trying to make a name for himself, literally, as a composer, a producer, and a singer. As "the genius of the Beach Boys." He's THAT guy, and that sells tickets. Maybe not a lot in the U.S., but a fair amount. So in that way, things are as they should be.

I think the feelings about Brian and Mike have mellowed a lot. I know for me, my feelings have mellowed a lot. I still think Mike is probably not the nicest person in the world--I can't stand when he talks about "my cousin Brian's" problems and "my cousin Dennis's" drug addictions--because I think that's just petty jealousy, like he can't praise them without throwing in a criticism. He doesn't strike me as an empathetic soul. And I have a knee-jerk negative reaction to loud shirts and giant rings.   :-D  But I recognize that he has a good side, and I recognize that Brian has flaws too.

To em, looks like they all have a lot of make-up.

Brian has flaws?  :o ;D

 That's Saint Brian.

hi eric,

scott told me back in may before the fire that the band was going to have a new photo shoot around the weekend they were to be in vegas. at that time i was going to go to vegas and see them but the fire changed all those plans...so i guess the photos date from late may or so...

Nice post, Amy.  I find myself agreeing with much of what you're saying.

Something about that picture really creeps me out. Not sure what it is, though.

I too agree with most of that. Boots made a great point about the boys in general, and a very well-articulated point at that. The only thing I don't buy is that if Mike was on drugs, he'd be a genius. Hardly. He has written some good stuff, granted...but nothing IMO that affords him a title of genius, drug habit or not. Dennis got praise because he wrote/performed not only BB stuff but had damn good solo effort(s). Carl...well Carl had a sweet voice and Cancer, so RIP good sir.

Mike is a mediocre live performer at best. Disagree? I can find you better singer/performers playing locally in your hometown. So what that he has energy? I've seen men his age exercise for hours. His voice isn't good and you know it....it never was! Maybe it's got a soft spot in your heart, but at least you can admit that technically it's not good. And I'm not trying to dog the hired guns of the present day BB, they do a wonderful job. But so can a million other no-name tribute artists out there and we all know essentially that is what the BB have become with Mike Love granting his presence and the BB name.

Overall, I'm agreeing with most of the points made except for the fact that he would be considered a genius. Plus,  it's well-known that Mike's a jerk. So I feel less sympathy for him in any case.


P.S. Bruce??? Whoop dee do. Once I read about fans getting "way more into the BB lore than I ever have...it's just a job" and I paraphrase, I lost respect. Plus, his BB efforts weren't that great IMO anyway. I liked his stuff outside of the BB and he has a nice voice though. But again, his presence in the band doesn't do that much for me personally, but I may just be speaking for myself here.

You go, man but get ready for the Mike and Brucinistas here to come tumbling down on you-anything here describing their performance as anything other than say, wonderful, steller,etc,etc is downright treason with very little hope for any parole. :p

hahaha thanks. certainly it will be a good and entertaining show, no doubt!

I hereby declare that DSamore's opinion is wrong.

Brian seems to disagree, too. :)

Mike's singing was good and can still be good when he wants to do so. He just had the misfortune of  being in a  band with Carl Wilson and the young Brian Wilson who were great singers.  The best of his own songs were nice. (i.e. Everyone's In Love With You)  Again, he had the misfortune of being in a band that had arguably the greatest American pop composer of his generation and, in Dennis Wilson, a singularly gifted and beautifully raw musical gift.  We, the fans might like that stuff, but outside of our little group, the music  audience at large is still gonna praise Pet Sounds and perhaps Pacific Ocean Blue.

I really think Mike has a good voice. I don't see much harm in him having the rights to the Beach Boys name, personally. It would be nice if Brian did, but it still wouldn't be the actual Beach Boys even if Brian could use that name, even though Brian pretty much was the band. It would most likely just be him and his band, right? That's basically what Mike and Bruce are doing.

I see what people mean about biographers and people in general being more interested in Brian, but look at what the man's been through. Sensational stories like his are what sells, and that applies to everything. Brian's breakdown, drug use, Landy's involvement in/takeover of his life, etc. all while being the mastermind behind one of the greatest bands of all time makes Mike's life look like a walk in the park, which isn't interesting to most people.

That being said, the two just have some different interests, anyways. Brian likes being known as Brian Wilson, not just a Beach Boy. Mike recently said that being a Beach Boy was the biggest honor and the most fun he could ever have, and that's just what he wants to do. So really, it's working out fine for them.

Well said and I agree, Nicole.  People always worry about the name, including me at times, but in twenty years the Beach Boys won't be evaluated according to what's happening now, any more than the Drifters or the Coasters are for the various bands that had those names in later years.  We all know what the legacy will be, and it's as safe as milk.

The only thing that I think would seriously affect the band's legacy from here forward is if in about twenty-five years BRI didn't renew the license, and on his last night as a Beach Boy, at the Opelika Pumpkin Festival, after closing with one final searing, chicken-dancing, instrument-smashing "Papa Oo Mow Mow", 93-year old Mike climbed to the top of a light tower, yelled "Top of the world, Ma!", and blew himself up, like Cagney in "White Heat".  But I really doubt that'll happen.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would read an analogy to Cody Jarrett on a Beach Boys' message board, but, you know what, it's not as strange as I would've thought. And that scares me... :police:

Sorry, Sheriff- just got carried away.  I love that movie.  ;D

All of surviving BB put on great shows. Why mess up a good thing? The only people for whom a BB reunion would matter to would be us. As far as Joe Public is concerned, the BB never broke up.

Well, people can hate  on me if they want, but critics, book writers, and journalists will back my point up 'til the end of time. Noone's gonna be singing praises about Mike Love down the line when we're all gone 150 years from now. It's gonna be one man alone whose song will be sung and it's Brian Wilson....the man to whom everyone (including us fans) owes everything BB related to. Noone's gonna praise the genius of Mike Love or Bruce. It's not an over the top thing to say. It's just fact. So you may think I'm wrong, but the record books will indicate otherwise. Movies that Mike Love had his hand in the angle of...well those come across just as ol' Mikey himself- extra cheese. God and those moves and banter...awful.

I may venture off into obscurity here if the board as a whole hates me but I'm sorry. I love The Beach Boys far more than anyone I have met in my life and it's to a fault. It's an obsession. I may not like them more than some here, but I don't "know" you all so I feel that shall suffice.

Am I really alone in thinking that the BB could have been SO much better than The Beatles  if everyone instead of whining about Brian's "ego", got behind him 100%? It would have been truly amazing if a team effort were in place. Instead of messing with the "formula?" Who wants a formula anyway besides some Money-grubbing nasaly whiner who has got women to chase? I'm not trying to be a jerk to any single person here, I just really love that band and the man behind their signature songs, albums, and sound. If anyone wants to hate me for it, so be it. I have never been on a message board in my life and my goal by joining this was not to anger/enrage anyone at all. If I'm unfavorable, I'm sorry I have cause a disturbance. Either way, I know we can all agree that The Beach Boys are the greatest!

Much respect for liking them that much, if nothing else!

I love the band more than you, because I love all of their songs and creative input, not just Brian's. I already think they're better than the Beatles. I think "Student Demonstration Time" is better than "You Never Give Me Your Money".

Oh my, is this thread a time warp and I'm back in Mike Wheeler's Cabinessence Board circa '96?  :lol

AKA, Rob's Glory Days.

I think the Beach Boys are better than the Beatles, too. I love both bands, but I don't think I've ever been as interested in (or obsessed with?!) anything or anyone as I am the Beach Boys.

Btw RobMac, I love your picture and the caption under it, LOL. TMZ's my guilty pleasure :-X

All Things Must Pass, man.

I have practically every post on this  board to remind me of that!

Mine too. I am dying to know what's in Harvey's sippy cup!

There are people here that were on there back then too?  Wow, I remember having to take a years-long break from any BB message boards after the bashing I took on there.

Actually, I think that the BB are SO much better than the Beatles, period.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it.  I will take the Beach Boys over the Beatles any day, 100% of the time, for the rest of my life.

 The Beach Boys were boss!

There are a few, but some monikers change, then it's hard to keep track.

But... Why did you take the bashing?  :)

Unfortunately it's me with ("suggested staightened hair") and a wax museum make up job...enjoy. No one is enjoying (or not) this picture more than the subjects in it...oh dear. I am playing my favorite music and putiing my kids through school doing it. Wouldn't you?...lol

And doing a great job! By so many accounts, you really add a lot to the show. Thank you for that.

Welcome to the board!! I loooove "The Rain, The Park, and Other Things"!!!

John, I apologize for mistaking your lead vocal  on "The Path of Love" for your sister. 

Count me in as another Wheeler board guy -- I think I was calling myself Clay back then, too. Rob and I bonded back in the Imagination days.

A certain Sexy Moderator was another Mike Wheeler regular.

Susan Lang was a regular before she became the mod.

As in what was the reason or why did he take it?

The reason.

Eric praised Summer In Paradise.

And yes, I was probably one of the ones giving him a hard time about it.

Nicole I agree...well I still dont think Brian is the Beach Boys though, but overall I totally agree with what you all said. I get so tired of people bashing on Mike & Bruce's Beach Boys. If they enjoy doing it, people attend the shows...leave em alone.

I'm starting to find that Beach Boys related message boards are starting to become as self referential as the Beach Boys ....  ;)


I loved the old Cab Board - living in a global backwater of Beach Boy info, news and fandom it was a relevaton to go online and discover I wasn't alone in this universe. I especially used to enjoy the chat feature and having direct interface with others - Mike Wheeler actually taught me a lot about internet marketing that I used in my job at the time.

 
 It’s a lovely photo

Those truly were the days. and I mean that in all seriousness. It was the newness of having all of this access that made it seem glorious.  Andrew Gladwin and Susan have done a wonderful job keeping the flame alive, but the innocence of that website was gone when Mike vanished.

I STILL think of Imagination as recent even though it was 1998!

Another Cabinessence veteran here!

That really was THE place to go for BB stuff at that time, back in 1995-98..  :old
That and the PSML..

Interesting...

puts us closer to my dream of having the Beach Boys reunited sans Bruce but with Brian, Al, and David Marks...probably won't happen but would be cool.

I can't make the same claim. In 1995-98 I wasn't even a Beach Boys fan yet, just aged 19-22 and still mostly thinking of the Beach Boys as the oldies group represented on my parents' Endless Summer LP. I got Pet Sounds around then, and by '98 maybe began digging further into the Smile stuff, but not much. The stereo was pretty much devoted to Frank Zappa, Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis.

As for being online about it back then, heck no. If the stereo was for Zappa, Monk and Miles, the internet was for sports and porn.  ;)

btw, cool to see John Cowsill posting here.

Damn right I'm sexy.

Yeah, I'm not a good judge on  male "sexy". ;)

I was on the wheeler board too way back when :)

Those were the days and I had good chats with Rob, Lisa, John Barone, Wendy (?) and others.

Probably this isn't the place to whine about the Mike Love bashing that ran rampant then. Ok, I won't. Just a little tale.  :)

In a TV show, the host called every Beach Boy by name. When he said Mike, the Lovester answered 'aqui', which means 'here' in Spanish. Well well well, the next day there were several pages of complaining in PSML or Cabinessence that Mike considered himself the 'KEY' in the Beach Boys. Several. Total rage. RI-DI-CU-LOUS.  :lol

another Wheeler board survivor... mind you, didn't say much then... and err, don't say much now...


but I listen good    ;D

Ahh...someone remembers!!!

I still love that album to this day, but probably not as much as I used to.  It was in my top 10 BB albums back then, even after having heard all the BB albums by that point.

I still enjoy it.  I love this board because it's so much more civil, and a lot more fun!

Lisa, I still remember you as a pen pal that I met from the BBFC newsletter! You and another Lisa (Brandt) from Orange County I think.

What ever happened to him?

Wow, we're the same age.  You, me and at least a couple of other people on this board....

I remember that, Eric! I was one of the few who AGREED with you ! :lol

One of my arguments was that "Island Fever" should have been a single (instead of Hot Fun, Under The Boardwalk, and Summer Of Love).  I remember feeling really frustrated with the band's selections for singles.  As a young person back then, I really felt like "Island Fever" would have had a chance in 1992 or 1993 or even 1995, if it was marketed to radio stations as the new "Kokomo". 

Not sure if I still agree with that assessment, but I do think it definitely would have done better than Summer Of Love, which, unlike the other two singles, didn't chart ANYWHERE despite being featured on what was supposedly the top-rated show in the WORLD back then (Baywatch).

My question exactly. I vivdly remember posting a lot of reviews for several b**tlegs to Mike W. at around 1993-95. Didn't have the courage yet to post on the board though (being a fan for only 4 years). After that I didn't visit Mike Wheeler's board (or any other) for a while... and when I started looking at Cabinessence-site (and many others for that matter) and started posting on SmileySmile and ShutDown a lot had changed. (except for that b**tleg-section which still reminds me of my -ehm- typical "Dutch" English... which means "not so good"...  ::)  )

I still think "Strange Things Happen" was the best track on the album, and "Forever" would've gotten the Full House viewers interest.

I like both "Island Fever" and "Strange Things Happen", but the best one for me is "Lahaina Aloha". It would be nice to see some of the better ones features on the inevitable next summer compilation.

BTW, I haven't been on any BB-related message boards all that long, but even on this board when I posted that Summer in Paradise wasn't as bad as it's reputation is, I got some pretty harsh reactions for an opinion. I can only imagine what the old message boards were like!  :-[

I think it went like this... He was having stress situations at work, and the website activity raised even more of that for him, with the debating about the future of Brian's career etc. He took that stuff somewhat too seriously. So he stepped off. After that Susan took care of the Cabinessence message board for a while, but it didn't work out with the bugs and other stuff, then she created the Shut Down vol. 2 message board and that was that.

For what it's worth, I was the same age as Eric and Luther then too -- roughly. I was 19 in '97.

I remember the aqui fights! I do!

It was so different then -- Brian was much more of a cult figure then -- he was slowly becoming the reference du jour for the Pitchfork set, but it was slow. People saw Mike and the touring BBs as much more of a threat to his legacy. Of course, Carl was still alive, so people were still holding out hope for new group material --

Whew. I mean, the only reference point people had for current BW in those years was "This Song Wants to Sleep With You." It was his only new song, practically, from 1988 to 1997. And the original BW solo album was out of print and hard to find. Paley songs hadn't been booted.

For better or worse, that all changed with Carl's death, Imagination's release, and Brian's tour beginning.

I kinda miss those days,Brian being a cult artist.

These days it is actually more "hip" to slam Pet Sounds (and indeed, Brian himself)as being "overrated".

But yeah... I know what you mean. Remember how starved we were for new BW music that there actually a serious discussion on the Wilsons album?