The Smiley Smile Message Board

Forgive me if this has been posted, but I didn't see it anywhere yet:

"We invite you to become part of music history as we create The Beach Boys: Exclusive 50th Anniversary World Tour film!
 
The Beach Boys: Exclusive 50th Anniversary World Tour Tribute Film

 We invite you to become part of this once-in-a-lifetime moment in music history, as we create a film which documents The Beach Boys on their 50th anniversary World Concert Tour and their enduring impact on pop culture around the globe. With over 600 hours of footage from 75 legendary shows on four continents at some of the world’s most prestigious venues; as well as rare archive footage; and behind-the-scenes moments with other legendary musicians, critics, record executives, fans, crew, and The Beach Boys themselves. You can come along for the journey as this historic film unfolds.

This film is a solidification of The Beach Boys legacy; a tribute to creative endurance and artistic achievement that crosses all cultural and geographical boundaries. Now you can have a unique and exclusive view as the filmmakers work over the next 12 months to assemble a heartfelt, intimate, and unique perspective of the band that has altered the course of American popular music.

 The Beach Boys have reached this 50th year milestone as few bands have ever done, or even imagined. What they leave behind, as captured in this footage and eventually in this film, is a body of work that is indelibly etched in music history and has permeated our popular culture on a global level. This film is not a retelling of “The Beach Boys” story, but a unique portrait of their achievement and this journey and celebration around the world.

 Pre-order The Beach Boys: Exclusive 50th Anniversary World Tour Tribute Film, or some of the other unique and one-of-a-kind Beach Boys tour items that will become available at various times during this campaign, and receive bonus footage, behind the scenes sneak peeks of the tour, and the making of the film. Be part of the interactive process of sharing your thoughts with the filmmakers and help them pick specific moments to be used in the film. For example, we may ask you to help us decide which song or interview or trivia should be used, and thus allow the creative process to be open and a collaboration with you. All of this will be done here on our PledgeMusic page, so please visit frequently for updates.
 
So come join the celebration and be a part of history with us.
 
Disclaimer This is a collaborative project; the final product will be ready to ship December 2013. Don’t forget to download your digital poster and photos after purchase by clicking on the ‘Updates’ tab to the left."

SOURCE: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/thebeachboysfilm

There we go. Now we're talkin'!!  Gotta wait a whole year though.....

... Phil, are you there? ... Mr Cohen? Mr Cohen? Mr Cohen? ... time to wind up the misery machine and get it pumping for the next 12 months ...

I usually don't like pre-ordering stuff so far in advance, but I went ahead and bit on the Blu-ray package. Sounds like an interesting project.

That being said, I'll also quickly state the obvious cranky comment that while a complicated, collaborative project is cool, an additional much more simple project they could do without soliciting input and actual work from fans is a simple complete release of a show on DVD/Blu-ray.

Thanks for the head's-up!  This certainly sounds quite promising.  And boy, what a nice treat for Beach Boys fans come next Christmas season, huh?

Consider, Made in California and now this, both headed our way in 2013.  Of course, there has been mention made of a live album, too.

Toss in the potential for a reunion show or two and perhaps an LP of all new material (Rock and Roll / My Life Suite ?) and at the very moment that things seemed to be returning to the status quo, with momentum from the 50th finally waning, we have been given so much more to look forward to.  Pretty cool, if you ask me.

Jude, soliciting input regarding best selection of songs and venues is good. Also video quality/location and sound quality. Some shows were better than others (i.e. selected dates in the U.S., UK, and Japan). We also need a good comprehensive setlist (i.e. songs like Darlin' which were left off the first half of the tour). What better source for this information than the fans and the band members themselves? Solicitation of sources and opinions is a good thing!   :)

I sure hope to see one of the performances of "Summer's Gone" wind up on this release.  That, and special attention given to searching out the very best rendition of "Good Vibrations" to be found.

You know, among a hundered other things.

Hmmmmm… need to know more… there's no word as far as I can see as to who's behind this. Brad Elliott? Could be a compilation of YouTube clips for all we know…

Well that's more like it...this was the DVD we've wanted.

‘The Beach Boys Concert Tribute’ – DVD or Blu-ray: A two-hour ride through The Beach Boys 2012 world tour featuring footage from shows across the globe + special interviews & extended bonus footage.

But a whole year to wait?  I thought they were already working on it...from the sound of it, they've barely started work on it.

(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-k7jzfdwO6xQ/UNdd-2_-vpI/AAAAAAAAQfg/Spot98m7z_4/s616/fde.JPG)

And they're offering us to pay to have our names in the final credits?  :lol  Any way to make a buck!

Ha Ha Ha! I was thinking the same thing.  See the finished product before forwarding funds!

Justin, if they haven't seen it already, the setlist archive from this board should be provided to them. Best source on the internet for setlists and reviews on the 50th Anniversary Tour concerts! YOU should be on their credits somewhere, just for the maintainence of it alone!  Helluva job.

You're very kind Mikie!  I have to admit that I had a great time putting that all together and I never noticed the work for it because it was a damn exciting time for all of us.  Such great days!  If the powers that be need any help or consulting in this proejct--I'd be more than happy to offer my services! 8)

600 hours of footage?!
OH MY GOD YES!

Well the clip is Marc Bennett, who is behind the live DVD already released.

A 2 hour package from 600 plus hours of filming?

I'm sounding a bit negative. I better take a phil......I mean pill.

Yeah, I wondered about that.   Maybe they intended o say "with 600 hours of . . . . . to choose from . . . "???

awesome

Couple of interesting posts on the BW site about this project.......



micro77s

Registered: 07/19/12
 Posts: 4



Posted Today at 05:41 PM




If they needed Mike Love to step forward and personally fund That’s Why God Made The Radio, then they need to do this also.

Perhaps need isn’t the right word.  It’s more like want.

I am close to folks within The Doobie Brothers organization, and they have an in-house code term for funding everything they do -- O P M -- i.e., ‘other people’s money’ ...
That way, they can continue to do projects in this New Frontier of economic and music business drought and still maintain their previous rock star lifestyles.

I don’t blame them one bit.  I make music for a living and I have to do the same thing.  If I were in The Beach Boys and needed to maintain that standard of living, these are the kinds of things I would suggest doing.  It’s just the world we live in now.  Everyone has to tighten the belt one way or another.  What’s nice about this method is that it’s like going public on the stock exchange -- now we can all feel like we’re more a part of what they do and be rewarded accordingly.  That can be a nice payoff sometimes ~~ : )




Al Forsyth

Registered: 06/29/12
 Posts: 333



Posted Today at 09:35 PM


Marc is the guy who was recording the shows this past year and was talking to the fans outside of the Beacon, interviewing us.  He said that he was making his own "Last Waltz", figuring that this was in fact their swan song but was connecting it to the fans as well.  They were in the room recording the concert the night before and were about to go in and record the second night.  They did their work and looks as though they are looking for funding to front the project so that it can be done correctly. 

They were great in conducting their interviews. We got Probyn into the line for an interview and he was grand.  I would say it's real folks, as he was definitely the man there doing the interviews and filming the shows.  Looks as though this is his way of looking for backing.




 

"Last Waltz" type treatment sounds promising, as long as Mike doesn't get to be Robbie and they remember there are others in the band!

Done properly and coupled with a full "Live at Royal Albert Hall" would be a nice legacy.

Has anyone signed up yet?  Sounds cool but I'm a little leery.

I pledged the $3 for the poster and digital downloads.

The poster was an 11x17 PDF ad for the Live in Concert DVD that came out last month.  An exact duplicate of the DVD artwork--nothing special.  The few images were some backstage shots of the equipment, the marquee to the Chicago Theatre and one shot of Mike and Brian from the back wearing personalized sports jerseys. 

The one thing that looked very promising was an actual clip they posted of Russ Regan explaining how he came up with the band's name.  The clip looked pretty good (aesthetically, I mean).  You could clearly hear Marc directing and asking questions in the background.  From the looks of it, the whole film will be very respectfully done.  Too early to tell, I know, but I have a hunch it will be a bit more sophisticated than the Live In Concert DVD we got.  But anyone could have probably guessed that!

I look forward to a very well done project as most here have wanted but a few points as I see it.

Unless we get a decent vocal mix with only minor magic dust sprinkled, I will be dissapointed. Sure, 'The Last Waltz' had most of the instruments added later but lets not go overboard. The Live C50 DVD experience with Marc Bennett does not bode well though.

For $3 you get a cheap poster? On the wall in front of me now is $10 C50 poster full size and now laminated. The clips? Put them on youtube for anyone to see as a commercial.

For myself, I'd pay $100 later for a nice concert DVD/ CD combo. More if a ton of bonus footage could be included. 

That's a myth. All of the bass was rerecorded, however, and some of the horns and keyboards.

All looks a bit odd to me.

Yeah, not sure this thing is really "official"...

It was posted by The Beach Boys on Facebook...

They have a clip up from one of the interviews they conducted backstage at the Hollywood Bowl show.  Not sure how anyone else besides the official team can provide that?

I'm going by Levons book so if he was bitter when he said it, so be it.

 I certainly hope this progect is legit, but I'd feel better if there was some kind of official endorsement.

There was - like I said before, The Beach Boys Official posted this on Facebook.

The ESQ Facebook page posted about it too.

This is all a little wishy washy for me.  I have 1 major problem with it.  If the Beach Boys are promo'ing it, then why does the guy have to buck up the money (seemingly) to fund the project through a site like that?  Surely to god 100k or so would get something like this handled and the 'boys and capitol records dont' exactly have a cash flow problem.  If the Beach Boys are going to promote it, why are they letting the guy twist in the wind begging me to pay for it a year in advance?


I'm old school.  I like how capitalism used to work.  They make sh*t, tell me how much it costs, I buy it off the shelf somewhere.  That worked really good for me. 

The pre-doctored Last Waltz is available at Wolfgangs Vault to watch. You actually get to see and hear Richard. Plenty of Robbies guitar touched up too.

Yes. 4 hrs worth! Although the vaults become a user pays site now I see. Damn!

The website just added a new video for members...

It's a very short clip...40 seconds long and it's Brian backstage at the Hollywood Bowl show.  When spoken to about the audiences' great response throughout the tour, Brian responds his typical answer that they all love the songs like "California Girls" and "Good Vibrations."  To comment on the various standing ovations he's gotten Brian said, "Yeah I got a couple good standing ovations." 

Obviously nothing earth shattering but still proof that this is not some scam they've set up or anything....

 

I don't see this proving ity's not a scam; just proves someone has 40 seconds of backstage video

I don't think its a scam but I'm old school like Ron. Make sh!t and I'll buy it if its good!

Does seem a goofy plan to haul equipment and crew around the world filming then to beg for funding to put it out.

Oh wait....It's Beach Boys related! (hits forehead)

Care to define what the word "scam" means in this context then?  There might be a disconnect here with how I'm using it and how you (and a few others) are using it.  I am understanding the use of that word to imply that people believe that this site is not legitimate and it has no association at all with the Beach Boys thus labeling it a "scam."

I paid the $3 to become a donor/member and have been granted access to two videos that were obviously filmed by their official crew during the tour.  It wasn't iPhone footage or something very informal...lights, sound and cameras were obviously setup specifically for these interviews backstage.  The people behind this site are the very people in control of the footage shot throughout the tour therefore this site is not a scam. 

If  the issue of them holding the footage "hostage" until they get our money is a "scam"..then that is a different issue all together...

Personally: If they have all the footage, and simply need time to get it together, why bother to solicit all the $$? To pay them while they work on it?  Reminds me too much of BRad for me to commit any $$ before the product is available. Once bitten, twice shy, eh?

The funny thing is most of us have done this in a slightly different form already this year with the Beach Boys.

Anyone buy tickets to a later C50 gig prior to reviewing the first show in New Orleans? The band, or their managers, had my ka-ching 3 months before the show :lol

The fellow doing this interviewed me outside the Chicago theatre. He's legit.

There's a new backstage clip; this time Mike at the Hollywood Bowl. Just the sort of stuff I would hope NOT to see included in the finished product... Mike saying how somebody approached him to say they are going to the show along with their children & their children's children. (He also mentions the band member's families who would play with them that night.)

I have this terrible premonition: The disc is showing the Beach Boys playing "Wouldn't It Be Nice" & it is building up to the terrific climax. "You know it seems the more we talk about it"...  Suddenly, cut to John & Mary from wherever...
"This was our song when we were dating, and we loved it so much we had it played at our wedding, and our children all love it too, and our dog won't eat unless it's playing on the eight-track ..." and Brian is halfway through "IJWMFTT" by the time the performance resumes. 

 Cutting out in the middle of a song is EXACTLY what would ruin the DVD!  The interviews are fine, but this needs to focus on the music.  If this project is a DVD for the fans, why keep rehashing the same old interview comments.  We all know how the band got it's name.  We all know how they spent the food money to rent instruments.  What we WANT is complete performances of the the wonderful music they played this last year.  I can also imagine them showing a live clip of "Add Some Music" or "Our Prayer" with somebody talking over it.  This would be even more dissapointing than the lack of material on the live DVD that's already been released.

I love this so much.   :lol

I hope this doesn't happen but I wouldn't be surprised in the least if it did.  Not. At. All.

I did get to see the new clip and I was really disappointed by it.  Mike's comments were no more special than what we would've found on any of the YouTube videos they put up throughout the tour.  I hope there's some deeper conversations being had here.  This was pretty superficial stuff.

Not the best clip to showcase the DVD. Even I know not to take photos with a window behind the subject!

Not one of the clips thus far has been at all inspiring - as behind-the-scenes material they reveal some pretty poor direction and suggest that a liberal sprinkling of fairy dust might be applied post-production to gloss over some pretty lame material. The downloads were pretty meagre fare, with an appallingly clumsy spelling error on the "poster" (and how the f*** can a download be dubbed a "poster", unless they're gonna ship free printer, paper and inks [and Tippex] too?).

And yet I retain my optimism that the finished product will shine.

Present one example of Robbie's guitar solos being retouched.

Havent listened to the vault for a while but from memory both guitar and Garth's sax solo on It Makes No Difference sounded different. Particularly the sax but Robbies guitar as well. Maybe it was only the way it was mixed but I seem to recall some bends/distortion sounding different.

Oh yeah, the sax for sure! I'll listen to the guitar solos again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e27ndTv47xo&feature=player_embedded#!

Latest teaser from Blast Media. Gotta assume this is cutting room floor stuff, or rough, unedited, with proper soundtrack still to be dubbed on.

mmmm....crappy sound on the concert clips and poor camera work. That said...i really like the official concert dvd. There was a reason i think it was not official released  8)

To be perfectly honest, I don't think that's much of a teaser.  If they want us to get on board, why can't they post one good solid clip that we'd be interested in?  I like the idea of this project, but so far, they have given us pretty much nothing.  How can you get excited over a clip like this?

I wouldn't say they've given us nothing… I'd say they'd given us a pretty grim picture of what's likely to result.  But I'm optimisitic. I'm in, and hope, as always, for the best.

Thanks for the heads up!

I really like what I'm seeing here...even though it's raw footage with undubbed professional sound.

Here's that clip of Bruce at Red Rocks that one of the editors was working on that he posted on Instagram a looooong time ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fEzJNHVwZU

More Concert stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IafMFU12rVA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWhgRZJYYDw


Fan clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmww9kiqv2Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z6L9hFfJXU


Mike, Brian Interviews

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2Wb23SL4Gw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWMpHLN5DOo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRIMZ6INODk

Heavens, I fear that I do not think this to be  too far removed from trawling youtube for existing videos; I can't imagine a leap in quality. I respect the work of trying to put together the fragments in some grand historical way, but I am going to wait for an actual professional production. I can't endure so many fan moments, and the kissing. May I say "yuck"? Sorry not to be supportive. I am going to have faith that something slick and yet genuine will be made by the BB, Capital, etc-those who used high quality equipment to film and record the shows officially.

This *is* the professional production, the only one we're going to get. Those teasers are all single-camera shots, mostly from the fixed cameras on people's instruments. This was filmed by the same people who did the live DVD from last year and will be done to the same standard as that when it's finished.

I will keep an open mind. Thank you for this helpful clarification. but who is the official producer of this project. with this clarification, I am sure I will be a customer when it comes out.

It's being produced by BlastMusic, the same company that made the live DVD last year. They own the "BlastEntMedia" YouTube channel that those videos are on, and Patrick Stapleton, the producer of the live DVD, has answered a few people's questions on the PledgeMusic site.

They're obviously a small company, and useless at internet stuff ( blastmusic.com is a bad Wordpress page full of lorem ipsum and "under construction") -- they *look*, in fact, like a scam to take people's money. But they put out the live DVD and, whatever other criticisms people have of it, it was a professional product.

The sound on this interview sucks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDv-WpkK1OI

If they are trying to generate some interest and funding for the project then I'm afraid this shoddy workmanship does not give me any encouragement.

Yeah -- the sound is off in all the clips, and I can't imagine that's anything other than their 'raw, unedited' state, and it'll be mixed properly in the final film, but right now every update they've had has been utterly awful, and has suggested that the film will be full of "Whoo! Beach Boys! We love you!" fans, rather than anything anyone might actually want to see.

I only hope that when they say they'll be listening to the people who pledged towards the cost of the film, they actually mean that.

and you have to hope that they choose folks that pledged that are really into this, and not "Whoo! Beach Boys! We love you!" fans. 
I haven[t pledged. Don't see an upside at this point. Is there anything I'll miss as a collector that should make me pledge?

Which is the main reason I've pledged.
If you don't want to have whatever small amount of influence pledgers get, then right now I don't see there being a good reason to pledge. If you know you're definitely going to buy it when it comes out, it's probably worth it because more of your money will go directly to the people making it than it would if you bought it off Amazon, and there has been talk (but so far only talk) of more interesting things later. Also, apparently when the DVD actually comes out, they'll be doing a draw and giving one pledger a guitar signed by all five Beach Boys, so if you want a chance at that you might want to.
But as far as any good stuff you'd be getting now -- no. Even the 'exclusive' video clips are, as you can see from this thread, all on YouTube.

And now there's a chance for fans to vote for the name of the project:

 Good Vibrations
  The Last Wave
  In Harmony
  Forever
  Gettin' Around


 :-\

Forever seems like a good sign, in that it suggests that at least some of the less well-known songs may make an appearance.
As for The Last Wave... well, those who are still holding out hope for more reunion work might not be so happy that that is being considered.
I voted for Forever as the least horrible title.

Gettin' Around would be just about the worst title for any DVD ever if that wins.

Voted for "Forever" as well.  Some pretty weak choices there.




I'd bet you money that it's that one that wins.  I'm not even really sold that they're really allowing fans to actually vote for it.  I'm sure they'll go with "Gettin Around" anyway.

Gah that's piercing. It's like someone is throwing grains of sand onto my eardrum.

Forever is definitely the best choice, and In Harmony is OK too.  The Last Wave is kind of depressing.  It would definitely be a Beach Boys product if they had this really cool document that celebrates their legacy and the reunion and it ends up being called "Gettin' Around."

50 years of cliche titles, why stop now...

My post on the site:

"Not the best choice of options – two have already been used on commercially available DVDs (did no-one check?), one implies that they'll never tour together again, and the last implies that they're promiscuous. So might go for the least bad option, unless the options change."

Clichés-R-us or what?

Hey, works for me :D

God, I thought you was trying to be funny when I saw that post. But those are for real!? But that choice of  utterly awful titles makes it seem much more like a legit Beach Boys release

It almost sounds like they asked each BB for a name:

Bruce:  Good Vibrations
Al:   The Last Wave
Brian:  In Harmony
David:  Forever
Mike:  Gettin' Around


In truth, they are all horrible names, but the one that best reflects the content is sadly "Gettin' Around"...

 I'm glad someone voiced this on the actual site of the project.  So far, the producer or producers have done a poor job with this product.  I want to get excited about it, but it's hard when crap like this keeps happening.  They are gonna have to start listening if this project is actualy going to develop into something of substance. 

The last time I hung out with my friends, I was near passed out while some of my other friends were still up and talking. I had The Beach Boys on random, and "I Get Around" came on. And one of my friends exclaimed "hey! that's the Hoveround song!", and began to sing the chorus. So, please....I should hope no form of "Gettin' Around" should be the title of any new Beach Boys related issue.

Oh geez...

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=zRU972iKRsQ#t=34s)

I looked at that pledge site, and I must say I do not like the whole concept of gathering opinion and trying to reflect pledges and input, etc on a grand scale. If you have talent, make the film and see if people buy it. Concert film by committee is idiocy. If you want to do a marketing survey and see what people want, fine, but not like this. Just make a great DVD, well produced, with tons of BB songs in high quality in every respect.

Good points Mr Professor. If I ran my business like this I'd never get a project of the ground.

However, the the opinion gathering so far has been absolutely minimal. The wee exclusive bonus clips have been neither exclusive nor essential. I suspect the only motivation in this approach is the start-up cash, which I wouldn't have minded at all, extras or no.

If the producers really valued our opinion they'd be here, on this board, asking the right questions.

 You have some very good points.  Honestly, I've not seen one bit of evidence yet that shows the producers have any idea of what they're doing or what the fans want.  I'd like to be optimistic, but it's not looking good.

With the Veronica Mars' KickStarter program all over the news, it goes to show you just how well a project can get off the ground when it's completely funded by the fans--if there are fans there to support it.  They asked for $2 million and they're now close to $4 million.  Pretty astonishing stuff. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/559914737/the-veronica-mars-movie-project

The Beach Boys are doing something really weird with this PledgeMusic thing... I have no clear idea what exactly they're doing here.  The site has been pretty dead since the tour ended and there's really no signs of this actually coming through.  Had they actually put up some goals and benchmarks for us as fans to follow, we'd know how/where to help.

But anyway, it got me thinking, what if they moved this campaign over to KickStarter and set up a fund to help get this concert DVD finally going.  Do you think they could really put it off? Let's say they offered:

A 2 DVD/BluRay set of the Beach Boys Celebration Tour.  Disc 1 would contain a 2 1/2 hour documentary, detailing the band coming together to do an 80 stop tour.  Interviews with the band, discussing every aspect of the tour, backstage footage, rehearsals, meetings and tons of live clips from the tour (including a huge portion from the final Wembley show).  Disc 2 would be the complete, uncut full presentation of the Royal Albert Hall show in HD, and 5.1 sound.

Bam...official concert DVD right there.  They just need our help to fund it.  How much would this cost to make.....around $150,000?  I have no idea what these things cost.  How much would you actually donate?  Do you think they could get enough backers? 

I think I'd be wiling to pay about $150 for this project.  Do I think they'd get enough backers to get this off the ground?  Maybe.  Not totally sure though.  How about you? 

Trouble is, a bunch of us have already put varying modest amounts down on this. If t'producers get flummoxed an' start muckin' abart  wi' t'carrots, us'll be reet brassed off tha' knows.

You'd pay $150 for two BBs DVD's?  Do you think anyone else would pay that?  ( definitely not me) 

Anyone had notice of any "exclusive" bonus updates on this recently, btw?

I guess Veronica Mars fans want their movie more than BB fans want this DVD?

The pledge gifts for the Veronica Mars movie for $100 include, a DVD, PDF of the script, t-shirt and digital download of the film.  Not exactly a bigger bang for the buck but still close to 5,000 fans have already pledged for that level.  It'd be interesting to see just how many people could back the BB if they went this direction.

Perhaps a little different to compare this to the BB but it makes you wonder how much we really want this thing if it were up to us.

Maybe I should do a kickstarter to pay my mortgage :lol

I'll throw in $5 for ya!  ;D

It'd cost far, far more than that. There were 62 songs performed at the Albert Hall. The sync rights for a Beach Boys song would cost, on average, $10,000 per song. That means that for *just the right to use the songs* -- not paying for production costs, editing time, not paying the band anything for their performances, anything like that, a complete Albert Hall DVD would cost $620,000. Factoring all the rest of those things in you're probably not looking at much under a million dollars in costs.

The most successful Beach Boys DVD ever, the Knebworth DVD, took five years to sell half a million dollars' worth of copies.

There will quite simply *never* be a legitimate DVD release of a full show from last year's tour. It's sad but true. No matter how good it is, it won't sell even half the numbers needed to break even. Doing it through Kickstarter or anything else wouldn't change that.

Thanks for the sobering figures, Andrew.  I had no idea it would cost that much even though it seems a bit high.  Now that you've provided us with more realistic figures, it makes us realize just how much these things cost.  With that said, if they needed $1.5 million dollars to get this going, would the fans be there to help support it?  For that huge of a number...probably not.  I doubt they could muster enough fans to help fund that much money.  Sad but true.

In the meantime, I'm officially taking this DVD off my radar...there's no reason to believe it'll come out any time soon or ever, at this point.  Maybe they'll whip something up with this footage  to commemorate their 60th Anniversary, who the hell knows?  Until then...que sera sera.

What then for those whom have already made their donations?

Not sure what you want me to say...does it look like I represent the producers of this DVD?

I donated money to this as well but it's not like I lost hundreds of dollars here...what did you exactly drop on this project that makes you feel completely ripped off?

Me, nothing.
 I wasn't expecting a definitive answer from you; I just wonder, given your statements, what those who have donated might expect for a finished product

Honestly, I think the producers have some questions to answer.  If the project is still going forward, then they need to be obligated to keep the funders up to date.  If they have canceled the project and haven't  refunded the money that they took, then it's a case of fraud.

Actually, the fine Mr. Hickey brought the cost of this endeavor to our attention months ago. I figured then and there that it would never see the light of day.

I am absolutely sure that this DVD *will* come out. I am equally sure that it won't be a full-concert DVD -- which the makers have never, at any stage, claimed it will be.

I meant as a full 60 song set. I haven't really kept track since late December or whatever, but I know for the longest time now, most here keep referring to it as a full set list show DVD.

Yes, and all along I've been telling people that there's no indication that it'll be a full set live DVD, but nobody's wanted to listen. I've said this here so often that I just got an abusive pseudonymous comment on my blog about my 'endless lecturing' and saying I'm talking 'bullshit' on the subject. But I've only been saying this because so many people have been making the totally unwarranted assumption that this is a full live show -- a claim the producers have never made -- and I don't want to see people disappointed.

Just to make clear, though, nothing I have been saying here has been down to any kind of insider knowledge, and I've tried, repeatedly, to make that clear. I'm going from information in the public domain, such as:

The cost of sync rights for a song in the US varies *enormously*. It's usually between $1500 and $15,000, but a popular song can be $25,000 or more -- reportedly the sync costs for the Beatles songs used in Across The Universe were $300,000 per song. Without attempting to license all the songs in question, I have no idea how much the various publishing companies involved would charge. but I'd guess that some songs (say I Get Around or Good Vibrations) would be at the $20,000+ end of the scale, while others (say Isn't It Time or All This Is That) would be very much lower. My guess is that it would average out at around $10,000 per song (in a set with about as many huge hits as obscurities like the Albert Hall one), but even if you halve that, that's still over $300,000 for the sync rights.

According to AGD's site, the Knebworth DVD was certified gold in 2008 and no other Beach Boys or related DVDs have ever had that level of sales. A music DVD in the US has to sell 25,000 copies to reach that, and that DVD came out in 2003. Assuming $20 per copy sold, that would mean it took five years to reach $500,000 in sales (not in money to the DVD company, in total sales).

The makers of the DVD have said on their site that it's "A two-hour ride through The Beach Boys 2012 world tour featuring footage from shows across the globe + special interviews & extended bonus footage. " -- the Albert Hall show was over three hours long. Even the shortest show on the tour was well over two.

Put those facts (all of which can be checked with two seconds' googling) together, and it looks to me like a full-show live DVD is not even remotely financially viable, and like nobody has ever said that's what we're going to get.

But I've not been saying that to 'lecture' people, or to act as if I have some special secret knowledge -- just to stop people from being horribly disappointed when the DVD comes out in nine months and it's more along the lines of the Brian Wilson On Tour DVD or It's OK special than the full-show DVD everyone wants. If someone knows better, I'd be delighted to hear it -- I'm only going here from public information.

Maybe  ALL of the BBs will get tgether with their puiblishing companies and agree to give the sync rights for ten cents on the dollar, so that their fans can enjoy/relive the celebration with all 60 +songs, without having to break the bank...

Anything's possible -- but the Beach Boys themselves don't own the publishing for those songs, and don't get to make the decision. I'm sure all sorts of deals could be made, but huge multinational entertainment conglomerates like Universal Music Group (which owns A&M, which owns Rondor, which owns Irving Music, which owns most of the 60s hits... I think -- I may be wrong there) aren't generally known for doing things out of the goodness of their hearts.

Seems to me like it's been a while since there was any update on this project.

Is it too early to call it a bunt grand scam instead of a grand slam punt?

Still hopeful but very disappointed at the lack of news.

This “Pledge Music” site is a legit site, so I don’t think this Beach Boys project is a scam at all. It’s just kind of being run and updated in a lackluster way compared to other similar projects, and compared to what it could be. They could be updating it all the time with little bits of video, and something more substantial than like a minute or two of boring interview outtakes. They could be polling the fans on more things, especially more than offering all horrible titles to vote on for the release.

But I don’t think this is literally a scam. It’s a high profile (relatively speaking) website that hosts other homebrewed and charitable projects, and I believe this project has been pointed to and linked via facebook and the like as well.

I am curious if they really saw this as a way to solicit input from fans, or if it was really just way to bankroll the project via pre-order “donations.”

I'm keen to know the level of support it has attracted; presumably if it doesn't raise enough, then the project won't come to fruition. Given that all levels of sponsorship still appear to be open, it hasn't been bankrolled just yet.

I know the Pledge Music site is legit and have seen the project linked from the official BBs site, which is why I haven't given up just yet. But a similar project here in the UK for a film about the Cairngorm mountains raised the required funds before I had time o hit the "support" button, and has updated supporters very regularly since. It's also gone from concept to finalisation within about seven months.

These C50th DVD guys have had a lot more time than that to be working on first edits, updates for supporters and so-forth.

"Lackluster" seems apt.

I've dropped those behind the project a query about progress via the Pledge site and will report back if any info is forthcoming.

Fingers crossed

On Hold:

Hi John,

The project’s team is on copy to advise on this for you.

Thanks so much for pledging,
Anneliese
Team Pledge

What is that illiterate idiocy? I don't get it; is that a letter from the so-called producers of this DVD? Nigerian spammers write better.

Your call will be answered in the order it arrived. Press 1 for badly edited footage of doughy men in Hawaiian shirts saying "This is the best band ever!" Press 2 for a harsh lesson in crowdfunding. Press 3 for Al Jardine to give a gripey interview about it two years from now.

I almost think that no news is better than those worthless "updates" we were regularly receiving which consisted, at best, of a few seconds of the BB taken from behind the stage, and, more commonly, some remark from "John and Mary" about how they got engaged while "Wouldn't It Be Nice" played in the background. Maybe not that exactly, but very similar tripe. While I'm sure something will be thrown together from all of this, I'm not encouraged that it will be worthwhile. Hope I'm wrong...

I love that we all have the same exact image in our heads on how bad this DVD could be.   It makes you wonder though who the hell they think they're aiming this DVD for when they pull this type of thing?  Who'd want interviews and talking heads splattered all over live concert footage?  I sure hope they don't do this to us. 

haha...wait a minute..I'm assuming that the DVD is still actually being released!  Yeah we'll see...