The Smiley Smile Message Board

Be awesome if the Q&A session could be edited down to all the questions Brian answered.
Quite a treat. Thanks to Brian and this Board for the opportunity.

I just set it up so all of the answers from Brian appear as the first topics going down the list. If anyone wants to complie them, just go post to post down the list.  :)

The most interesting answer was the love you tour question. They have "talked" about doing one.

Brian likes cheese pizza. Well, now I know that, there's no point in doing any more research, is there ?  :o

Strangers in the night piano demo

The cheese pizza answer was hugely disappointing, I thought Brian had better taste.

I'm so honored he answered my Sinatra question (well, not exactly, but he at least acknowledged it). Now hearing his "Strangers In the Night" demo is my new Holy Grail.  ;D

"Meant for You" was simply edited down because it was better that way.
Dunno why I never considered that.

Well I know what I'm having for dinner tonight

Break Away: His dad did the lyrics and Brian did the music. Murry had the idea for Joey Bishop the talk show host - he used to say let's break away.

That Murray was on Be Here in the Mornin'. I think we knew he was on Friends but not what song.

A whole lot of neat tidbits. :-D

On BW.COM he said he's going to Berlin in February. Love & Mercy is in Berlin film festival.

Pretty cool.

He also pretty much confirmed a tour on his board too. I guess we'll know dates soon.

That Brian had laryngitis while recording "Chapel of Love"! Does this enlighten us more about the gruff voice?

Should/Could i post ALL the questions/answers in one post here?

That would be very cool

That's the one that got me. Reggie Dunbar (Murry) got half the credit on the song, but I never knew how much involvement he really had. Brian confirmed the lyrics were Murry's, but still not sure if they were ALL his or partly his. The lyrics fit Brian's status at the time, so Murry was actually writing like Brian would have written about himself. Murry was also present for at least one session for the song.

Ok cool i just wasn't sure if there would be some special rule to make it special for just the separate board or whatever, let's make it easier for everyone:



(http://i59.tinypic.com/33vhi8j.jpg)

Thanks so much Ziggy!

Sure, no prob ;) as for myself tho i wasn't there on time, very happy that some questions adressed attention to Wild Honey or Love You, and some Friends too! that's awesome, hope it makes it keep in mind for him in his team.

What did we learn? To limit the number of questions to posters with more than 1000 posts (which rules me out for a start) so that the long-term members and scholars/historians get the look-in they deserve. Worth keeping in mind for next time. :=)

Unfortunately, there were some real softball questions and he answered some of those instead of the good ones that required some thought. I was hoping he would answer the question concerning his voice change ('74/'75) which was asked here in different ways by a couple of different posters and one poster at the BW board. Brian didn't want to touch questions like that - opting for questions about whether he liked cake or pie. Geeeez. Again, I know the questions can't be screened prior to the Q&A period, but there's only 1/2 hour for Brian to answer all of them (including the dumb ones). And even some of the good questions were answered very basically and/or not thoroughly enough as I kind of expected going into this thing. Better than "Yes" and "No" answers, I guess........

Meh, if they are truly scholars/historians then they should have resources/connections/time at their disposal that most people don't have. A chat in an online forum should be precisely for those people who don't have those luxuries/resources.

How about no.

Now I'm asking myself if his cake/pie taste changed in '74/'75... oh well, next Q&A! :-D

I love that out of all the unfinished songs Brian has, the one he thought of wanting to revisit was Lana!   ;D

How about yes.

How about no.

Never going to happen.  NEVER.

That sounds.. wrong. For so many reasons.

That wasn't an unfinished song. I think Brian misinterpreted the question. Maybe he was thinking of do-overs.

For instance, he didn't finish "Sandy" in '65 but eventually finished it 11 years later and released it in another form years after that. I think that's what the poster was looking for- that kind of answer. Songs that were unfinished or in demo form but not finished and released.

What is there left to say? His voice changed around 1975 and then once more in 1980. He had laryngitis both of those years. It happens.

It has been speculated that there is some bad blood between Brian and VDP. However, when asked for his favorite lyricist, he didn't answer Tony Asher, or Scott Bennett, or even Mike Love -- but Van Dyke Parks. I found that very interesting.

What's left to say? Confirmation on whether he inadvertently damaged it with drugs/alcohol/cigs or whether he did it on purpose to sound older. Even Marilyn says he did it on purpose which I've always disagreed with. I always thought he damaged his vocal chords by accident and if he knew at the time what was going to happen, he would have tried to prevent it.

I'm not talking about laryngitis. I'm talking about the PERMANENT damage that he did to his voice in 1975.

Set the limit at 2,500 posts and it's a deal. ;D 2,503 would be ok too. :-D

 SO glad that people are happy with the inane answers supplied.  But then, did anyone really expect Brian to supply moere than one word/line answers? 
Maybe someone can get Pee Wee Herman to register here and we can ask him questions next

I agree. Aeijtzsche, for instance, had a very interesting question about something he's been doing research to for years, something that quite some people would have loved to see the definitive answer to. And Brian never even got to see that question.

But hey, at least we got to know that Brian likes cheese pizza (no offense to whoever asked that question)....

WHY would he answer that.

Maybe "Lana" WAS unfinished, despite being recorded and released. It's certainly always sounded to me like an unfinished song.

What did you expect from a 30 minutes Q&A? He 'answered' about 30 Qs. That's one A per minute.

What I learned? Don't post your question until seconds before the deadline.  Post early in an orderly fashion?  Brian'll never get all the way through the umpteen pages of 'queries' to where you're so, in fact, well hidden that camouflage is a 100% waste of time and money.  {A duck-call might come in handy though...or something really LOUD that sounds exactly like a cheese pizza.}

It's a rare occurrence where we agree, but this is one of them.

I also support limiting submissions to posters who've been here for at least, say 6 months or so. Or the 1000 posts idea. Maybe lower it a bit to 500.

Maybe I'm being a sour grape, but I'm saddened that we had some really great questions ready from yesterday that all got bumped by lame, last minute softball questions at the last minute.

Not trying to rain on the parade, just saying the format for future Q&As could be improved.

Why not? It was asked THREE times by other posters and it's one of the top 5 questions I would have asked him. Why waste time and ask him questions (i.e. about his new album that will be forthcoming very soon anyway)?

This. This is the only true answer

I wouldn't be too upset guys.  Like with other Q&A sessions he sidestepped a lot of the questions and a few of the answers didn't even make sense.  I do think that there should something put in place next time so we don't waste time with questions like what is his favorite pizza.

There are some who came out of the woodwork to ask questions. Poster's names I haven't seen in ages or not at all. Some with alias's with new names and 500+ posts. Some with just a few posts under their belt. I wonder how many registered just to ask questions.

This is what you get from a BW interview, folks.

Narrowing it down wouldn't have helped. The man knows how to dodge and weave.

Misdirection, evasion, brevity. That's his style, and he's not changing it now.


And don't hate on the pizza question. He picked it.

Because they are likely to be answered. And no matter how perfunctory, for thrill of Brian's dictated response.

"YEah, I PERMANENTLY damaged my voice in 1975... don't forget to b uy my new album!! I'll be doin' lots of singing on it -with my permanently damaged voice!! Love, Brian     P.S. Thanx 4 the fun question!"

Exactly, he picked it...

I'd say because there's not much point in wasting your chance on something Brian likely won't answer.  What did you get out of it?  Also...as it's been awhile since he did any of these on-line visits...you want to ease him back into to it like someone stepping into a swimming pool one inch at a time.  You want him to think that  'the waters' fine'...and hope he'll come back for another swim.  Once he starts to jump in...you can open up with the questions.  IF WE EVER GET TO THAT.  Meanwhile I figured WHY is Brian doing this?  And at 2 sites NO LESS all on one day?

To promote the new album primarily.  So?  What to ask?

That's the thing about having ONLY experts ask all of the questions...1...the experts know the answers to stuff most folks want to know and subsequently won't ask those questions...and 2...newbies and fans ask the stuff that Brian wants to answer...the stuff he's comfortbale with...the stuff that isn't so cold that it'll shrink his private parts.

I liked your question Mikie.  But I don't have the answer for you.  For that you gotta get the MOST Honoured Guests to respond.  Try the previously mentioned extra loud cheese pizza noise maker.

I was about to say this too smh.  I wish this could've been a week event where everyday at the same time he would come on and finish answering questions.  But at least he said he was gonna come back  ;D

Gosh, I get that some people are bitter about not having the questions answered, but this is crazy.

Wanting to limit the submissions to veteran posters with 1000 posts? This place is a community, we all have opinions and questions regardless of our account stats. Don't cut out a massive chunk of people just because you want a better chance of being answered.

Yeah, I know. Still.

No, I will hate on that question. It's a stupid and pointless question and he only picked it because it's an easy and non-illuminating question to waste time answering. Which is why we ought to limit the next one to serious questions only, imho. Let the blue board ask the fluffy stuff.

Maybe we ought to have an Answerdome ahead of time and whittle it down to a representative couple of screens full of questions.

I knew mine wouldn't be answered. I just think stupid questions shouldn't push down far better ones to the bottom just because they asked last minute. If anything, if you were too lazy that you waited until he got here, *your* question should be on the bottom of the list, I say.

These are the sort of questions that Brian obviously feels comfortable answering. I think forcing complicated, super-fan questions on him would just be an unseemly thing to do. Obviously, there are a lot of bad memories linked to some of these topics that are being brought up that Brian probably doesn't feel like reliving.

If Brian is comfortable and enjoys answering the simpler, easier stuff, then I'm all for it.

Lazy? Don't you mean cunning??

I thought of this as sort of a once in a lifetime thing.  If I had one chance to talk to Brian (or any celebrity I admired) I would want it to be meaningful.  :-\

Exactly.

And guys, I'm not saying I expected complex answers about SMiLE for example (tho that'd be awesome) but asking about pizza and cake is just a complete waste. It's like being given a chance to ask God a question and asking if the sun will come up tomorrow.

People can ask WHATEVER they want, they don't have to quiz Brian about minor details from 40-50 years ago like he's an information machine. The important thing is that this one was fun, and I hope Brian had fun doing it.

I really didn't expect an answer. just wanted to put something out there. And hey, it was near the bottom.

Well, he's done 3 Q&As in the past 12 months roughly, so who knows, he might be developing a taste for it  :-D

Yup.  Here is what I asked: Hi Brian, I'm wondering if "The Night Was So Young" possibly dates back to the Pet Sounds era.  It sounds a lot like "That's Not Me" with the guitar being almost (if not exactly) the same.  Or was it really a new song that you just decided to go a bit "retro" on?


Maybe the answer is already known (I couldn't find anything), but I think that was a reasonable question that didn't require too much thought.  He might have answered it if it wasn't buried in the thread.

Some of us have been on this forum for months and years and maybe don't post too much, it doesn't make us less deserving of getting questions answered people! Can't we just be happy some got their questions answered? What were we really expecting in this instance? Brian to come out with mind blowing information about a lost album?  :smokin

Agree, let the fans interact with one of their idols. He can answer any question he likes.

I'm just thrilled that Brian came here, and to the other site, and answered whatever questions he chose. I'm glad he gave some detail to my Break Away question, more than I expected! Man, I got lucky. Mine was the last question he answered. It was a very exciting hour. I have nothing negative to say. All good. Pizza and all. I'm ordering Dominos tonight...

From the questions he answered I see a mix of light and heavier questions. As wirestone says, he evades the complex ones anyway so it's not as if he was ever going to tell us what the original lyrics to cifotm were even if we asked that. We did learn some cool stuff, like which bit Murry sang on Friends and which parts Murry wrote on breakaway. I think this is as good as we could've expected and should just be grateful that the mods managed to get him here in the first place.

And if we get another chance we'll be better prepared!

Brian answered a lot of different questions (ranging from the shortening of Meant For You, to yes what's his favorite type of PIZZA). Who the hell cares? We're all fans with different curiosities. We should be grateful that this thing ever took place, that Brian recalls seeing cobblestone roads in Holland, that he recorded a demo cover of 'Strangers in the Night' 12 years ago. Instead of bitching about the types of questions that were asked, be thankful that we got a lot of interesting questions answered.

Well he did say his favorite lyricist was VDP and I thought that was interesting!!

I'm totally asking what his favorite type of calzone is ;D

I missed that when I scanned through. Definitely interesting.

The number of people who registered after the Q&A was announced who asked a question was 0.

I'm going to ask how he eats neapolitan ice cream. Does he prefer to eat one flavor at a time, or does he mix them together to make a 'harmony' of flavours  :3d

Yes, we can be, and we should.   If anyone who feels more valuable than other board members wants their questions to get a higher priority, they should arrange an interview with Brian.

C'mon.

If Dennis came back in a time machine and logged onto the internet for 15 seconds and told you what his favorite pizza was you'd be THRILLED.

Gregg asked this -

"What brings you the most joy and happiness in your life  these days?"

and Brian said, 'Music actually', which I thought was interesting, as the stock answer to such a thing is to say one's kids, family etc.  A pure, honest answer.  Brian must be really pumped for his new album and making music right now.

I asked this -

"Have you made many home recordings during the last decade or so?  How much music would you say you've composed during this time, but which is unreleased or unfinished?"

which went unanswered.  I was wondering just how many unfinished songs and fragments etc of him at the piano he might have from the last few years, given that he's not been that prolific with released original material since TLOS (just three cover albums, effectively, plus one with the BBs).   But he replied to someone else that he writes a lot in the studio, so maybe that partially answers it, if his practice is to do his writing more in the studio, rather than at home.  Anyway, some poster probably knows rather more of his current working habits than I do and knows the answer anyway.

As for the whole 1000-post limit thing, there were pointless questions by folks with thousands of posts (IMHO), so I'm not sure setting some random limit to squeeze out others really makes much sense.

Sure, but I wouldn't have asked him that  :lol...that is a nice thought though, Denny and Carl coming back in a time machine  :p

I gotta be honest, knowing the intelligence of this board (not to mention the people who complain about never getting the chance to "interview" the Beach Boys and/or get their questions answered and use that as an excuse for some really poor behavior) I was embarrassed at the level of questions.

Thousands of words traded about the history and politics of this band, posters complaining over who knows what, and why this or that happened -- and it all ends up 6th grader "how come you made that shorter?" and, yes, food preferences.

I truly expected Brian to be deluged with the most brilliant, hardcore questions from this crew. If not here, than where?

Not all were awful -- but on the whole, it was slow pitch McCartney.com fan level.
I was actually waiting for the big question: "Brian, do you like me liking you?"

If the thread continues in the same fashion it has been, he's probably not coming back. Cool it, guys.

Yeah, the level of nastiness toward BW's reaching out to his fans is shameful.  :(

I don't think that's fair calling someone's question a waste of space.  In many ways, asking Brian what kind of pizza he likes is in a way the perfect question to ask him.  It's casual, it's something personal that makes him a bit more real to the rest of us and it's the type of question that allows Brian to answer in the one way he knows how:  quick and to the point.  And it's not like the board was flooded with a bunch of these type of questions.  It was one goofy one out of the 30 he answered.  

Agreed, Justin. There is something strangely charismatic about BW's short answers. 8)

Really?  To be honest  I would have been pleased if he had answered one of my questions either here or there...but the never got that far down the list...ANYWAY...

The ONE thing I really thought we'd learn TODAY...AND...WE DIDN'T...

When is the new album gonna 'drop'.

We still don't know.  And I figured that was reason 1 for these two Q and A sessions. ???

It makes me sick that anyone is even complaining about ANYTHING.

We sit here and browse/read/post/comment about Brian Wilson. This is what we do. On a constant basis. It's what we live for.

The man, THE MAN, the one we obsess over on a daily....hell, hourly, secondly basis, comes to a non-official fan board to ACTIVELY ENGAGE us and answer some questions. He owes us nothing, we owe him everything. Be thankful.

Oh heavens, yes. I thank and salute the moderators for structure and guidance, but the level of questions from the board was somewhere between 4 and 8 year olds, shamefully vacant of substance. Pizza, delis, when is the album coming out, how do you write songs. Really!?


 

There was a very healthy balance of light hearted and serious questions. Brian opted for a lot softer questions, he had a choice and he chose to answer the pizza question.

Exactly. I expected more from this board's members too, Howie.

Exactly again. That's a great idea!

I don't think THAT question was actually asked.  I think we all just expected to find out...you know...to hear it from Brian.  This was a PROMOTIONAL  event after all.

And what would YOU have asked 'Professor'?

Exactly. There were plenty of heavy questions asked, and plenty of them were ignored. If there were ONLY heavy questions I'm sure we would've gotten a lot of "I don't know" or "I can't remember". What a great Q&A that would be guys.

Instead, a lot of really interesting questions were answered. As Mujan said, we just got the opportunity to ask God anything. We did. And he answered us. And some of you are complaining and whining about it :lol

Brian said Murry "wrote the lyrics". That sounds to me like ALL of the lyrics, but who knows if it's part or the whole thing? Anyway, it conforms that Murry got credit for writing lyrics for Breakaway.

Well that's what we do, right??   >:D

BTW, Brian was right to truncate "Meant for You"!!!!!  :smokin

in defense of my question, regarding Brian's favorite Four Freshmen song, my intentions were thus:  I wanted to ask Brian a question that I truly thought would get an answer.  He was here for 30 quick minutes.  He wasn't ever going to answer the questions that required thought and time to respond.  It would have been nice, but it wasn't going to happen.  And I didn't want to ask about the Dodgers, or calzones, so I asked a question that seemed truly interesting to me.  You know, Brian's music just blows my mind.  He has influenced me in so many ways.  I thought, what makes Brian go 'holy sh*t, this is frickin' incredible'?  He gave me the answer that I wanted.  I checked the song out, and the vocal arrangement is stupid good.  You should check it out as well. 

So, I'm sorry that a lot of really great questions did not get answered.  I wanted to hear the answer to H's (Josh's) question as much as he did.  But it wasn't to be.  Brian only had 30 minutes.  I'd love for him to come back and do this again.  I will bow out next time, and let someone else's question get answered. 

A.

Wouldn't be Smiley Smile if we didn't! :lol

(http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/gallery/20131016-brianwilson-jeffbeck-20-x595-1382028048.jpg)
"They want to ask me about Smile."

His reply to the question who was his favourite lyricist was  - 'Yes, Van Dyke Parks', which sounded as if someone might have prompted him with an answer.  On the other hand, the person  who was relaying the questions might have reframed it as 'Do you have a favourite lyricist' in which case the 'yes' makes more sense.

Can we stop shitting on the lighter questions? It's quite belittling to those that wrote them and has an aura of the 'elite' fans not considering them worthy enough or some stupid crap.
It was Brian who chose what questions to answer. A lot of members, (perhaps quite wisely) realised that complex questions were going to be ignored so chose to ask less heavy questions so that they could have a shot at getting a reply. I expect a bit better from this forum, y'know?

Well done to all of you who got your questions answered, and for the rest of us.. there's always next time! ;D :hat

As usual we end up bickering. My thought? A lot of the answered questions were "soft ball" ones, the very ones he chose to answer. I bet he felt comfortable answering those, and that's a good thing. Next time maybe he will choose something a bit more difficult to answer. Probably not tho. I think the question answered were the ones Brian was comfortable with.

I think we should all be thankful that he even came here. Over the years he's been treated like a "lab specimen " by many
Posters here. We have been intrusive in his personal life.

ONE word in caps.

rab2591 -- I'm not complaining.
I didn't read the thread looking to answer my questions.

I'm merely stating that, for the most part, the questions posed were sophomoric and well below the standards of both the board and Brian.
I think that when and if Brian does this again, people should bring their A-game.
(e.g. "A-Game" would be a followup to the Paley mention.)

(http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat/brianwilson.jpg)
"This is how I originally planned to perform the second half of "Surf's Up"."

If Darian and others couldn't get the answers to the SMiLE questions what chance did we have?  It was a relaxed Q&A for Brian and we learned a few things we didn't know.  What do people expect.  Some folk were posting clips to youtube and stuff.  People just wanted to be able to say Brian answered their question.  Nothing wrong with that, I wish he'd have picked mine but hey ho! ;D

I totally see your point and I agree with it. Unfortunately, there was more than one "goofy" question. Did you read the ones on his own board? I could lay out a few here. But you're right - to make him feel welcome and at ease, ask him casual stuff. Not personal ones like, "Why do you have 12 dogs", which he probably would not have a good answer to and  probably make him uncomfortable and he would avoid.

 :lol :lol

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/79/The_Simpsons-Jeff_Albertson.png/222px-The_Simpsons-Jeff_Albertson.png)

In all seriousness, I know I asked Brian about his favorite non-BBs '80s and '90s songs because I thought he might answer, and I find knowing the favorite artists of the artists I like gives me insight into what they're tuning in to. It was a light question but I thought he might answer. If I thought he'd tell exactly how the Wild Honey sessions went I'd have asked, but that's not the vibe I got from his interviews I've seen.

Jeez, maybe you should have actually asked a question rather than just waiting until after and complaining about the one's other people asked.

I asked the "6th grader" question because I love that new version of the track and wanted to prompt him to talk about it in anyway I could. I thought about other questions as well (What sort of talking did you originally intend to have in the quiet spaces on Love to Say Dada? What was the original intention for the "doot-doot-doot Heroes & Villains" chants (B-Side of the single? Auditioning choruses for the A-Side?) but I figured he's probably sick of SMiLE questions so I asked something about Friends.

Also, someone not having a lot of posts here doesn't mean they don't read everybody else's. It does probably mean that they don't get involved in all the arguments around here though.

Why is it that any expression of disappointment or constructive criticism is now considered "nastiness" just because it's not 100% blind praise. Relax. Opinions are like assholes, something something amiright?

Anyway, alternative idea...

What if, instead of a post limit or 6-months thing, what if we make it so all us posters can upvote questions we like, and have the most upvoted show up first/on top next time? That way preference is given to the "best" questions, not the ones that got posted last minute?

Brilliant, hardcore questions would have been impressive sure but I think most people here approached the situation realistically.  It was only 30 minutes--with the primary goal being to answer as many questions as possible (more questions answered means more happy people).  Most people's questions were appropriate given these limitations.  I'm really not sure how much things would have been different if all the questions were of the scholarly/academic level.  Brian responded to each question in his own way--there was no guarantee he would have answered a superfan question about Smile or Love You in the way that would've satisfied any one of us. 

Looking at all the questions submitted, it appears to me that most everyone designed a question that was easy and fun for Brian to answer but that was also at the same time simple enough so that it would allow other members' questions to still get through.  I think it went as well as it should have

(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/18/28/f7/1828f739d85db93e4f73538e3aad4e1f.jpg)

(http://s15.postimg.org/g0y7ylw07/Signs_Point_to_Yes_300x189.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/g0y7ylw07/)

I dunno. Going into this, considering the 30 minute window I didn't expect any drawn out Q & A. You can't really conduct an in depth interview with a one and done question format. It's much like consulting a magic 8 ball! Such is the enigma of our good friend Brian - questions wrapped in riddles.

I didn't expect any response on my Phil Spector Vegas residency question, but I did think it would be a nice back-door method towards that rock n roll album we've all been jonsein' for. If that somewhat winded question disturbed the parameters of a proper Q & A, I apologize. I was just trying to fly a trial balloon.

Let's be easy on ourselves - the Smile historians and the pizza historians.

I think Brian did more with the “soft” questions than people realize.  Someone asked him what he remembered about Holland and he mentioned the cobblestone roads.  LOL Funny!

The forum was 30 minutes on a “fan site”.  For people to expect “deep, heavy, abstruse, recondite” questions that only the Elite and Esoteric Knights of Sainted Brian would know is bizarre at best and churlish at worst.

I thought all the questions were delightful and Our Esteemed Hosts are to be commended!

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/67/Dungeon.gif/250px-Dungeon.gif)

Not sure that one would sell a lot of tickets...

I think a lot of people here will be quite disappointed when they'll learn that Brian's upcoming autobiography will only contain his favorite pizzeria recipes of the last seventy years.  :lol

I'm just enjoying the fact that Brian is still around and shares a few details of his life with us. You can't expect Brian to deliver profound answers to our sophisticated questions. On the other hand it might be something else if Mike or Al chose to look around for a Q&A...

If a few not-completely-positive posts on the internet spoil your fun, you ought to get out more.

I love Brian Wilson and appreciate the mods here as much as anyone. But that's not to say we couldn't make improvements for next time if there is one.

Do it in small venues, clubs even.

Just Brian with a snare drum... That'd be artistic courage!  :smokin

Yeah, a few Love You shows could be epic. I wouldn't expect a tour, but they owe use by their refusal to put one Love You song in the regular set list. Seriously, how would the "The Night Was So Young" mess up the show?

Exactly.   I think I did notice a few members jumping over at BW.COM repeating the same question they asked here!

It was a 30 minute Q&A right?  Quick questions, quick answers.  

If you feel you were deprived of an in-depth interview, you should probably put a lot of effort into getting one, and that takes some serious strategy.  If you look at the best interviews, they were done by knowledgeable people who earned the artists' trust through their study of his/her life and work, earned some credentials and offered a level of integrity proven through time with the artist.  The "experts" here can surely get their own interviews, right?

In the mean time, do you really NOT want Brian to do Q&A's?  He's probably just as happy not doing them, but wants to interact with his fans.  He was doing a nice thing, I thought...

Perhaps what we really learned today was a little something about our self-entitlement. There's a White Stripes song that covers this topic very well, "Take, Take, Take": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FgQzgUfr_c

Did you ever eat pizza while working with Redwood?

Is it true that Andy Paley was dismissed after offering to bake you a pizza?

We're all going to die so why not get back together for one last slice?

Questions like "what advice do you have for songwriters" or "what song of yours do you think is underrated" are good questions BUT they have been answered before by Brian, multiple times. So something like the pizza question may seem overly simplistic but at least it's something different.

Right you are! Next time he's around, we'll shove our entitled, intelligent questions down his throat until that man coughs up blood or answers! I'm not a picky man, I'll take whatever comes first. Who cares what Brian wants and that he likes smaller questions? It's about me, dammit!
BRIAN, BRIAN - PLEASE WRITE ME AN EMOTIONAL NOVELLA ABOUT EVENTS FROM YOUR PRIVATE LIFE 50 YEARS AGO.

Josh, you are the man!!!!!!! :lol

Debbie, I'm sure you saw what Brian's answer was to the question, "What is your favorite song on Beach Boys Love You"?  :)

Totally agree with Debbie.
We should all be happy Brian took the time to post here, I mean that in itself is a thrill.

I too liked the pizza question!

those simple questions are better than asking the big fella the same questions
people keep asking him year after year...

and now we know he likes Cheese Pizza.....

he is human after all, I like to know of his life outside of the usual music question's..

RickB

No hi-hats though!  He HATES hi-hats!!!  :lol

So he's taking "No Pier Pressure" on the road.  So he'll have to do the songs without the guest artists parts or somebody will have to do the guest artist's parts as I don't think all those guest artists will appear with him at every gig!

Also, regarding "Cheese Pizza".  I can't imagine eating ANY pizza without cheese on it.   And cheese pizza by itself?? Nahhhhhh!  :-D

Very pleased with my answer, he seemed to go a little more in depth than I expected, I know he's saidd "Just do it...""...Write the song in one go" before... but this time I really feel it! :D

Geez people! It would serve this board right if he never came back! How ungrateful we are.  Seriously, these events are the equivalent of chit chat at a party. Yes, you get the occasional insight, but you also get talk about pizza and other fluff.

It's a fun fan Q and A, not an interrogation.

Cheese Pizza has now reached the higher echelons of Brian Wilson comprehension:

Phil Spector, Norbit, Shortenin' Bread, Steak, Pleasure Island, Birthday Cake and now, Cheese Pizza.

Personally i'm crushed he's not a pepperoni man. HOW COULD YOU BRIAN? How could you?  :-[ >:(

Debbie, I wasn't deprived of anything.

I've easily interviewed Brian a dozen times, in depth, over the past decade. I've never not started and ended hardcore with him.

I simply believe that the posters of the board -- especially the ones that bemoan the fact that they have no access to Brian (the main culprits actually stayed away -- unless they used other make believe "handles" for their questions) finally had the chance to get the answers to the questions they think some of us have denied them and they pulled a punch by not doing so.

I just think the whole "We've only got him for 30 minutes -- better keep it light" line goes against the very nature of this board, which is unlike any other.

For instance, Bubbly Waves wasted the all important 1623th post on a graphic in response to someone else's response, rather than asking Brian something he must've wanted to know.
That post could've been used to pose a great question regarding how Brian felt about Stephen Moffitt's mic-ing at Brother in comparison to Desper's at Bellagio -- y'know?
It so easily could've been THAT instead of silly-gooseness.

Like the old saying goes: "You only get ONE chance at a 1623th post."

That's all I'm saying Debbie.
 

You don't read his Q&A on his board. He likes apple pie more than cake (!).

Howie, you have no excuse to get upset with other people for not asking the questions that YOU wanted answered. You're lucky to have been given the opportunity to interview Brian all of those times, you've been allowed to go more in depth with him. You had the chance today to ask that question about the mic-ing. But you didn't.

For a lot of fans, we just want to recieve a reply from the guy who brought us all here in the first place. We know we aren't going to get in depth answers so why can't we just have fun while we're at it? Do you really think we're going to get replys to complex questions on a fan forum like this?

As someone who's never been in a position to interview the man I can say that being given an answer to a question from Brian Wilson would be one of the greatest thrills a fan could hope for. Let's not sh*t on what questions were asked, but rejoice that they were answered by the man himself.

Hah! Yup, exactly...

I was very torn about what to ask him, personally. I wanted to ask him a question about his collaboration with Mini Mansions, but there's already enough info about that out there. I thought about asking him a food question, too, but ultimately I decided, "Hey, this is a rare opportunity, he probably won't answer me anyways, so what the heck, I'll ask a hard question." So, I asked the man his opinion on SIP. Do I regret asking it? Kinda. I'm sure he doesn't like to reflect upon that period in his life. Yet, how much has he ever spoken about that album, if at all? And do any of us truly know if he's listened to it or even considers it part of the BB canon? So, that's what I asked. In retrospect, kinda wish I asked him about "Any Emotions," because I seriously dig that song.

If he comes back to do this again I'll certainly be asking a better question. Overall I learned a lot today, the Q&A had so many nice bits of information. Thanks to the mods for arranging all this. It was really cool and much fun.

AMEN. I think most of us are completely satisfied with the way the Q&A turned out.

I guess next time we'll barrage Brian with an onslaught of introspective SMiLE questions which he's sure to answer! ;)

I did, and I never knew if was his favorite on "Love You."  So I learned something, too.  And hey, when one of you snags that in depth interview, don't you want to know what pizza to bring?  I surely would...

Gee, I didn't see Howie sh*t on anything. He just brought up a couple of valid points, which some of us just happen to share. Sam seems to be in a rough and tumble mood today. Hasn't contributed to this board in light years, but decided to come outta the woodwork today just for the Q&A session.  ;D

okay here are my thoughts, there were simply too many questions for 30 minutes, in fact I can't see how he could possibly had a chance to look through them all, and then as he starts answering the questions people start posting NEW questions, that kind of confused me because it kept pushing the other threads down making it harder to find Brian's answers, and then people would respond to his answers with a "thank you" which pushed the threads down even more making the older questions go even further down the thread and making it even more confusing, so here an idea for the next time, have people ask questions up to an hour before Brian comes to answer them and make it so people can't ask any more questions (or respond) after that so that it is ONLY Brian answering, that way he can read the questions with out the threads moving down and that way we won't get lost reading his answers. and I guess also we should be limited to one question a person two tops (even though I asked 3 lol) next time around that way it makes it easier for him to go through the questions and for us to read what he posts without new questions popping out of nowhere ..also an hour is better than 30 minutes (hint hint)

No, Sam, you're missing the point: I DID ask Brian about the mic-ing.
The topic of this thread is the question: "What Did We Learn At The Q&A" 

In my opinion the answer is "cheese pizza."

I notice we have a 'cheesy' smiley face, any chance we could get that changed to a cheesy pizza?  :-D

Howie, what I said wasn't directed at you specifically, just the general tone of some people being kinda' bitchy about a gift from Brian, and taking it out on each other.  Not exactly a surprise, but still... and you've made it quite clear here that you've interviewed members of the Beach Boys.  So, during the next Q&A, you can post the question you feel meets your standard, right?

The only way to satisfy the "too many questions/too many low-quality questions" criticisms would be, next time, submit all questions to the moderators and let them decide which ones get posted for Brian to see.   Of course, that wouldn't really stop the complaining, it would just change the focus of the complaints.

I'm all ears. Let's compare notes, and I'll try to explain how and why some things were done when necessary. I was going to open up a separate thread for that, but here is as good as anywhere else.

Is anybody whose been a fan for a while surprised at all by how this went?

I enjyoyed it. No way we'll get our fanboy minutiae answered. Some substantial questions remained unanswered but all is fine.

I only regret he did not answer the "favorite movie" question. Had the answer been "Norbit", that would have been the best answer ever!

Amen.

Well, I learned that a question should be able to be answered in a single sentence, which, in retrospect,is a quite reasonable limitation. My question would have required a more extensive reply.

Live and learn. I have no complaints.

Man, I was waiting for it, it would've been legendary!

I totally agree with the sentiment that next time we should ONLY ask questions that won't get an answer. Or barring that, force him into answering a hardball question. After all, he's given so much to us for decades, it's only fair that we finally force him into accounting for the things that we obsess about rather than read the things that he wants to talk about. I mean, fair's fair, right? Also, I'd like to limit the questions to people who are the following heights:

5'10
5'8
6'1
5'4
6'3 1/2

I reiterate the suggestion that perhaps we board members vote for what questions we think are the "best." Everyone's question gets posted but those with the most votes are placed higher up in the board so they're the first one Brian sees. And yeah, no more submissions up to one hour or so before Brian arrives. Just my suggestion.

Or, I guess, what you guys do best. Take everything I say and skewer it into the most over-the-top unreasonable interpretation possible and act like that's what I actually said. Wonderful.

The format for the questions was just fine. A method to allow the consensus "best questions" out of the total number submitted is what's needed. But the problem with that is that most automated methods for that (thumbs up/thumbs down, like/dislike, etc.) are subject to manipulation.

If you could bypass that, however, you could achieve a consensus ranking of the questions that would select, say, fifty for Brian to choose from.

What we can't predict (despite Howie's apparent sudden ascension to "all-knowing" status) is whether a list of such questions, many of which might be seen as too tough (as opposed to "So Tough"...), would get answered at all.

It would actually be an interesting exercise in "group dynamics" to see which of the questions submitted for this Q&A session would be ranked as "the best" by the use of an automated "consensus" mechanism as described above.

This approach, if able to be implemented without potential pitfalls, would avoid the problems that Charles alluded to in his post. Clearly, however, there's no foolproof method.

And I admit that I took the wrong approach with my question...I should have asked Brian what the "Chicano Rumble" was...  :hat

I'm butting in, but my only suggestions are:

1. Cut off limit so threads aren't being made when Brian is replying
2. Maybe scramble the order of the threads so everyone has a chance

Also, I'm surprised the site didn't crash from heavy traffic

And I meant to thank the mods, too for the efforts that went into this.  I suspect it wasn't as simple as many here might think, and probably everyone is learning as they go as to what would be the best way to organize any future Q&A's.

I do shudder to think what will happen here if "best questions" are selected by anyone but Brian.  Do you really want to put the mods through the nightmarish accusations they'd undoubtedly endure from that process?

It went fine and was a good thirty minutes of fun on a Monday. No need for the mods to go through even more hoops and set up excruciating barriers for a Mike Love Q&A... unless questions get answered in order of baldness. I could see the merit in that system. A Jardine Q&A could give priority to those who get enough fiber in theirs diets. No need for reddit-style upvotes!

Here's the thing -- I asked my question yesterday and got it answered. Brian wasn't only answering last minute "softball" questions as is being suggested here. I just can't believe he didn't answer the question asking if there a way to get out of the dungeon without using the wizard key.

There's always room for improvement. If absolutely nothing else, I'd say just have all submissions ready to go BEFORE Brian gets here. Constructive criticism doesn't equal berating the mods or anything of the kind.

Am I crazy...Or did you post another face over his before? What, did you edit it back...Or am I hallucinating?

It was fun. Brian-freaking-Wilson was a Smiley-Smiler for 30 minutes.

He still is. Just...Not logged in for now.

I'll address this: With the logistics and actual work involved in getting everything up and running, ready to go, something like this would not have been possible. If it would be possible at all. Set up a poll, post 150 or more questions, have board members vote...then open up a separate board? Have a moderator copy and paste each question - But we can't move individual posts into other topics, so if we quote then the actual person asking the question wouldn't have his/her name attached to the question. It just isn't as workable given everything else that had to (or has to) happen in order to make something like this happen.

Next: The question submissions.

This was a genuine first for the board. As much testing and checking and confirming as can be done, there is simply no way to predict how it will go under the combined weight of possibly 3 or 4 times the usual number of daily visitors and posts. Or how cramming how many hundred of those into a small time frame will affect the server.

My plan up to the actual event was, just for one example, to delete any posts that came in after the session started. This was something I specified ahead of time, as did SmileHolland in our instruction posts. No posts after the session starts.

The session started today, posts started to come in after everyone was told not to post. I was set to delete them as was the plan, which would be moving rather than deleting, but when I tried to do something totally unrelated I noticed the board was struggling. Several times on my end, I got the "server busy" screen, when I tried to do something minor it stalled and I got the "server busy" screen...this within the first minutes of the session starting.

Snap decision: Brian Wilson is online, the largest audience ever on the board at one time was online...Moving a topic post would have jeopardized the whole setup...that was my thinking. Again, snap decision...do I start making adjustments to remove late posters, or is it more important to keep the event going and hope the servers and the board itself holds up.

I chose to keep the board going. It was frustrating to see posters add their questions after being specifically instructed not to. And the instruction not to was given to *avoid* having Brian's answers and the questions from those who followed the instructions shuffled lower in the queue by the latecomers.

If posters had followed the rules, this wouldn't have been an issue at all. Something to consider.

As far as a cutoff time for submissions being earlier, that is something to look into. However in the format which was discussed and worked on and decided back and forth as the best way to go *given the limitations of the board design*, it would still be difficult to remove any topics from late posters for more reasons than i think anyone here really wants to know, but which were a factor today and in the planning leading up to this.

But the suggestion is something to consider, for sure.

And feel free, here, to voice similar concerns. I'd rather have the actual reality of what happened offered by those who were involved versus comments and complaints based on no knowledge of what actually happened. If I can answer anything, explain, respond, I'll do it and in return take any comments and suggestions, appreciating that they're offered to help improve anything in the future.

Again, all ears.  ;)

It went as good as could be expected, there wasn't much else the moderators could do unless they could find a way to randomise the questioning as SinisterSmile said. I've got to applaud them, imagine how stressful it is to control all of that!

Thanks guitarfool for the post.  You totally made the right call by letting the server do its thing rather than move a bunch of posts around during probably the most critically important moment the board has ever had. 

I suppose the only other way to organize this to be "fair" to everyone is to have the questions come in live starting from the moment Brian comes online---like it was a Reddit AMA or something.  Not sure how the server would hold up with everyone clicking "submit" all at once but that might be the only workaround if people are concerned that older questions posted to the board were buried. 

I appreciate you taking the time to explain your reasoning and position you were in. Thank you for that. I guess it isn't as simple as only allowing one poster to post in a certain board for a limited time? Hmm...

Well, for the votes...perhaps users could comment "+1" or something ? And then it's just a matter of having the threads with the most replies be given priority? I'm not sure if such a thing is as easy as I'm making it sound? Probably not, I guess.

Well...it was just an idea. Maybe someone else has a better one.

Funny you mention Reddit. Honestly, I always wondered why Brian didn't do that instead of the Facebook Q&A for example.

But, really, older questions weren't buried.

I'd like to address this. The decision was made to put a temporary hold on new board memberships in advance of today, enough of an advance to be viable. That decision was in place leading up to this event. The reason why was simple: This event was for the fans on Smiley Smile. Registered members of the board would be the only ones who would participate and be able to ask a question. Anyone visiting from anywhere could browse and read, but only actual members could join in if they chose to.

There are many, many registered members here who simply do not post that often. They read, they keep up with what's going on, but choose not to post for their own reasons. Does this mean they should have been filtered out somehow, and if so how could that have been done to justify excluding a board member who has been here for several years but doesn't post as regularly as others? There is no way to enforce that.

Had new registrations been allowed up to today, it could have presented issues and problems well beyond the unfairness of thinking long-time members were shut out or somehow denied equal access to the question process by all the new memberships coming on to ask a question.

So I can confirm 100% that no newly registered members had signed up and came on the board solely to ask a question having not been involved or registered on the board previous to all of this. If some of them don't post as much as others, that's their choice, as was having access to ask Brian a question as a board member.

Because it's full of Reddit users!  ;D

That could technically work but you're betting that all of us would have had the restraint to not post a comment/joke/question in those threads.  It'd be very optimistic to think we'd be able to just vote and keep it simple like that.  Those threads would have been polluted with other comments/sidebar convos that would have no doubt cluttered up the designated area. I think the main goal moderators wanted to keep was that they wanted to make the experience for Brian (and his team) completely stress free and easy---without having to scroll through posts after posts of irrelevant conversation and just focus on the questions.  Why create a separate section all together if it would end up just like the main General On Topic Discussion section?

If people want the questions to be quality controlled,  the only solution would have been to create a 2 or 3 person committee to choose the best questions out of the bunch.  Doing that would have been a litttle bit more work and also radically changed the casual vibe of the event---and I'm not sure Brian and team would have wanted that.  Their goal was to interact with fans for an hour---nothing really more than that.

As much as could be done to prevent burying questions was done. I'd like to add to this that a modification was made to the board's design specifically for this Q&A. Normally the number of questions posted there would have spread out over four or more pages. The modification was done to allow all of the posts to Brian to appear on a single page, so no page turning and going back and forth to see the questions would be necessary during the time we had for the actual live event. All of the questions appeared on the same page.

The setup was done using what was available in the board's design, in other words what was there to work with. It was important that the questions which were already answered would appear at the top of the queue, to make it as easy as possible to find Brian's replies, and to know which questions had already been answered. This was the best option given what was available and what had to happen to make it work as a live event. All the readers needed to do was refresh their page with the F5 key to see the latest reply posted.

There were times when some new questions got in the way, and created some confusion over which was a reply or not.

Consider that this could have been prevented if the guidelines had been read and followed prior to the event.

I think it went well and I appreciate the hard work the mods put in. I know the server was struggling, because I got an error message a few times.

As to allowing more "important' questions to have priority, I strongly object to that idea.  I think the only person who can decide what question is best to answer is the guest themselves, not a board of super fans who want them to expound on some bit of forgotten trivia that maybe doesn't even interest them anymore. Some questions were silly, yes. But, if the guest wants to have a bit of fun by answering a few silly questions, let him.

It looks like, to me, a lot of people on here wanted their big important revelatory moment with Brian. Instead, he answered a question about pizza.  But, the way I see it, a Q&A is supposed to be a two way process. It's not just about what we want to ask, but also about what the guest wants to answer. Maybe the guest wants to have some fun with the fans, but really doesn't want to spend his time digging into obscure details from the past.  And, I don't think it's up to us to decide that. This should be his conversation, not ours.

Now, I do think it's a shame that questions submitted early probably weren't even seen. And, I did see at least one member bumping their post by editing in order to push it to the top. So, now that we know what the logistical problems are, we can begin to address them.

On one forum I was on,  we opened up a question thread for a few days prior to the Q&A, and submitted those questions to the guest ahead of time. They then chose the ones they wanted to answer from the full list and posted their answers in the Q&A thread.  Follow up questions and new questions were then asked "live." It was a smaller board, though, so I'm not sure if a similar thing could be done when over 400 people are crowding in to post.

That's good to know, GF. There seems to be quite a few new members in the last 2-5 days, some with under 5 posts and others with different names with hundreds of posts. One poster addressed me today that I've never seen/heard of before. Again, it's really good to know that Smiley Smile members are asking all (or most of the questions) here. Not that we're a bunch of territorial rats or anything; it's just that members of the board should have priority when joining the fray. And it's a great idea to somehow prevent questions from being submitted under the wire. A lot of good preparation of questions beforehand went for not because of last minute submissions.

How do you know this?   ;D

Absolutely -- and I just did a count and found that Brian answered 12 questions that were posted yesterday and didn't respond to nearly 40 questions that were posted today. So he wasn't only looking at the most recent ones.

Yep, It's hard to face the possibility that Brian liked the pizza question better than the question about the 500th retake of DYLW.

I thought it went well. Much better here than on his site.<better software>  I didn't ask a question I figured their were more than enough but I enjoyed the process.

I don't know. Back in my dating days, I always thought it was good conversation to talk about the minutiae of my work, rather than my personal interests.

How long have you been single?  ;)

To quantify this, what about the questions posted the day before yesterday? And what was the total amount of questions submitted? I witnessed MANY questions that were answered by Brian on both this board and his, which were already at the top of the list when he answered them. I was bouncing back and forth refreshing and saw new posts fly to the top.

As far as I can see, there were no questions posted the day before yesterday.


He answered more questions from today than yesterday, to be sure = 18 from today, 12 from yesterday. And again, he skipped through nearly 40 questions from today.  So while I do think he answered some questions as they were coming in, it would be incorrect to say that he was simply responding to the next one in line. The facts just don't suggest that to be the case. If anyone wants to count all the questions, please feel free.

There were no questions posted here the day before yesterday, the new forum for the questions and answers only went live what would have been Sunday morning my time EST. I'm speaking only for this board, the first question was my example question showing where to post in the topic and the text, then an actual question appeared. After that they were posted as they came in, and only questions posted after it went live were there today.

Thanks, R&R and GF.

Hey, Guitarfool?

and can I just say that as someone who has been on this forum since 2011 and spent most of that time as a lurker that i'm saddened some feel that people who don't post as much aren't worthy enough or are just coming out the woodwork, its that kind of attitude that makes me not want to post here.

It was a fun event and i'm glad that SmileySmile got some decent attention from it!

What's up?

Hey, I'm going to let you in on a little secret that will probably get me tossed off the board:  I don't own bootlegs. I don't even listen to  bootlegs.  OMG!!! What kind of fan AM I?!?!?!

Now, let me tell you where that is on my "give a damn meter."  A big fat ZERO!

Enjoy what you enjoy. Don't let anyone else tell you what kind of fan to be. Post when you want to, stay out of the  crap and I'll see you around.

Good job, man.

Hey, I saw a picture of you and I don't think you're fat.

You smooth talker, you….

 ;D

The best part about this is that Brian now has an account here and we can expect him to pop in now and then to announce something or answer a few questions.

It's fun knowing "The most honored guest" is here among us.

Thank you, Mikie.  :) And thank you to everyone on the board participating, reading, and doing the behind the scenes work. You made a very memorable and enjoyable day possible.

And credit to the forum for only crashing for a few seconds at a time  ;D

That was one of the great unknowns, but the ol' machinery pulled through.  ;D

The board is magic ;D

Well I thought it was extraordinary. Twenty years ago no one dreamed anything like this would happen. Well, maybe somebody did. I hope it happens with the rest of the band too.

Outstanding work Mods. Thank you Charles LePage.

I was kidding about an Answerdome. It doesn't seem to matter how brilliant our questions, Brian chose the ones he wanted to answer. It seems to me he passed on the "brilliant" questions, so go figure.

First, I just think it's so dang cool Brian Wilson (BRIAN WILSON) did a Q&A on the forum. He could have just done it on the BW board, he could have done it on Facebook, he could have tried to snake the BB board. He chose Smiley Smile, that's a credit to the moderators, the members and the distinguished guests who elevate the content and consideration of the content to the high standards the board holds. So cool!

I am happy that Brian selected my "Wild Honey" / "Love You" question and answered it, even though it was basically a "no" and a plug for his new album. I'm happy because it was a question I was legitimately curious about (because I know other people in his backing band had occasionally made "Love You" comments and obviously "Darlin'" gets a regular airing live), and I'd love to think Brian sometimes listens to his old music and has a laugh, enjoys a good groove and appreciates the truly cool stuff he (and the Beach Boys) have done that doesn't always get the "Endless Summer" attention.

But no, I wasn't surprised he doesn't listen to them.

In that context, I suppose my question can be deemed a useless one.

I am sorry folks didn't get their questions answered.

I had spoken with some board folks that I keep in contact with on Facebook, and I told them that I don't think Brian will answer deep / complex / provocative questions. Often in the past, when interviewers tried, he'd answer with things like, "I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. I can't answer that."

So it didn't make sense to craft more in-depth or challenging questions that he'd skip over. I didn't see a need to set myself up for disappointment.

I know some people think that if there were only 100 questions provided, and they were all of top-notch quality, asking for material that's seldom/never been addressed before, that maybe Brian would have divulged some great info. I'd love to think that, but I'm quite sure he wouldn't have.

I'm more of the mind that he'd have looked at the 100 challenging questions, then picked and chosen words in the questions he'd address (as he often did with some of them) and just say what he wanted. "Brian, how do you feel about the court stuff with Dr. Landy, how that led to conservatorship, and how Dr. Landy's credits were dropped from your music?" "Dr. Landy helped me and I miss him." That kind of thing.

Many people who've posted here have interviewed him to varying degrees of success, and can certainly bring heft to their arguments in any degree. I think, however, that the questions he chose, and how he answered many of them, speaks a lot to what Brian was looking to do. Setting post limits (minimums of X posts), time limits (must have been a member X length of time), etc. wouldn't change that. I've been a watcher for several years before I ever created an account. I don't particularly care if someone has been here for 5 years more than me and has 70,000 more posts than me, I am a fan, a legitimate fan, who has spent a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of nights and a lot of love with this man, this band, this music. I'm no one special, I don't have any special claim as a fan (I've seen BW live 4 times, I met him once on his tour bus, that's it), but I'm content with that. I'm just a fan. :)

I'm sorry my question got picked instead of yours. I really am. I would have loved for him to select the "hard ball" questions and the more meaty stuff. I would have loved to see 200 answers and all board members sated. I really would. I would like to see you all gratified in your quests for knowledge.

But I'm also glad that he enjoyed my question enough to at least address it. I'll refrain from asking any in future occasions so that others get a shot. That isn't said in a "woe is me" pity-party way, but in a legit, "Hey, I want you to have a shot at it!" way.

Best wishes to all. Seriously. :)

Looking forward to other discussions and new revelations and the new music. I'm hoping it'll be a great year for all of it. :)

This has been wonderful :)  Considering it's the first time for this, the mods did a great job.  I stupidly (and I hate myself to death for it) got the date/time wrong, (damn southern hemisphere).  I did not at all expect to get my question answered, but it is something I really wanted to know as I'm fascinated by the subject (synesthesia) and I know I read it somewhere!!!  Brian picked the questions he wanted to answer and his replies were exactly how I thought they would be.  Those who got answered, You must be thrilled to bits!  Congrats!   :woot

Yup, twas prime time 8 pm in Europe. Given the fact all can be read for years to come, I doubt I would have gotten up at 3 am for it. Would you have?

Hi Micha :)  Well considering I was still awake at 2am, yeah I could have  :'(   I don't really hate myself to death for it, I got sidetracked, and as you said I can read them at my leisure :)

It's the worst song on the album. Carl sounds horrid. What about "Let's Put Our Hearts Together" w/ Val  as a guest singer  (off Sean Macreavy band)? Though ideally, I'd like to hear my favorite "I Wanna Pick You Up". Just for that counter melody behind the 2nd verse!

Well, in that case it is a little bummer. A cute little bummer. :wink

Some thoughts from a newbie on the board of less than 10 posts.  I choose NOT (my option to do this) to post a question because I truly feel there are many more qualified members of the Smiley Smile Board deserving to post a question to BW than myself.  I watched it all unfold this morning for about 15 questions and then had to leave for the rest of the day. I just finished up the reading final Q&A and the 9 pages of arguments in this thread.  Some thoughts.................

I know we have Board members who have been blessed in their lives/careers to have interviewed BW previously.  I take with a LARGE grain of salt that every one of these interviews were easy one on one chats.  My lord, go on You Tube and see all of the very bad interviews that BW has been a part of over the last 50 years.  Lordy, some are down right embarrassing and I would bet BW himself would agree if he was forced to watch them.  Personally the only good BW interview I've ever seen was on the Canadian show Studio Q about 5 to 10 years ago. It was a one on one 30 minute show that I encourage everyone on the board to go pull up and watch. (Sorry I don't know how to link)  It was marvelous.  It's the only time I've ever seen BW give one two and three sentence answers.  just a marvelous show that got better as the show went on.

Today was a 30 minute Q & A chat.  Honestly did anyone even think that we were going to get anything more than  2/3/4/5 word answers.  This played out exactly to BW's weakness of avoidance.  He was able  to avoid the toughies and follow the path of least resistance. I love his music dearly.  I wish he was more open but its not meant to be folks.  Its neat he did this for his hardcore fans who love him dearly.  Yes it's was done in the name of publicity...of course it was....this is the music business.

Don't mean to come off as a jerk,  but I think many peoples "Great Expectations" (bad pun I know) were elevated way past the point of reality.  Focus on the movie, the album, and hey we learned today there may be a tour....I consider it a great great day for Smiley Smile.

We learned that Brian was nice enough to answer questions for all of you which is one hell of a lot more than some of the other so called rock icons.
Bravo Brian and thank for taking the time and effort.

I think it all went down as I expected. That is, the Breakaway info is a kind of revelation I did not expect - a very nice surprise. I found it unlikely Brian would answer my question, and he didn't, I'm fine. I think the mods organized it all in a most effective and comfortable way. Thumbs up. (And of course I was kidding about the 2500 post limit. :))

Maybe next time (if there will be one), we should collect all the questions that everyone has, do some of those "Survivors" rounds with them and only present the winning questions to Brian.  ;)

this was an awesome experience that we were all very lucky to be party to. it was meant to be fun, light, and casual. the way Brian likes it. and we actually got a few revealing and unexpected replies to boot.

hard to believe some of us are actually upset and trying to lay down rules and restrictions for the "next time"

there will likely not be a next time. pity you couldn't just enjoy and appreciate it this time.



for the record, I waited until 5 minutes before 11am to post my question. it wasn't answered.

but what fun! thanks to the mods for the extra hours you put into this. such a huge treat

Not so much upset than saddened seeing questions by erudite posters going by the board (no pun intended) and saying something about it instead of wisely keeping such thoughts to myself. That really is all. I'm certainly not criticizing the mods----anything but!----and I apologize if they think I am. It was a leap into the unknown and boy did they handle it well!       

Just a few thoughts...

1) Thanks to Charles and the moderators (and, of course, Brian and his team) for making this event possible! My question about the Baldwin organ got a reply, which is a thrill for me as I've been wondering about it for quite a while, asking questions over the years to various people who would know. Brian's answer might not be the most precise, but it gives me hope that this great instrument still exists in storage somewhere. Thank you again, Brian!  ;D

2) I'm surprised some people here aren't pleased with the way this lovely Q&A session went - wait, no, in fact that isn't a surprise at all.

3) I'm pleased Brian decided to answer the pizza question. We know Brian likes food, so someone asked a question about food, that had never been asked before, and got an answer. An unexpected one, by the way.

4) Brian should be the only one allowed to choose which questions he wants to answer. No "votes" or "+1"s from members of this board - just let him decide.

5) To people who would like to allow questions only from members with a certain amount of posts: you're selfish. As someone else said in this thread, many of us read the board without feeling the need to post everyday. Many people with 1000+ posts reached those levels by posting inane or irrelevant comments by the truckload.  :-X

6) To people who would like questions to be posted only after Brian comes on the board: again, you're selfish. Why? Timezones. Also, by giving people such a short time to write their questions, you're actually helping those with "stupid"/"childish"/"simple" questions, and you're saying you want none of these...  ::)

7) To people who would like others to post super-hardcore questions such as "how did you feel about Stephen Moffitt's mic-ing at Brother in comparison to Desper's at Bellagio?": again, and again, you're selfish. A vaguely satisfying answer to such a question would take at least 5 minutes of Brian's time. Do the math: for 30 minutes, this means only 6 questions of that caliber would be answered, instead of 30+. By the way, if you're privileged enough to interview Brian directly and regularly, please ask this question yourself. And don't forget to bring cheese pizza if you want to improve the odds of getting a detailed answer.  :)

I remember one seriously embarrassing occasion on the Blueboard when Brian turned up on an impromptu visit and there was nobody there! So I'm glad that both Smiley Smile and Brian's own MB were busy. There weren't many surprises for me - pretty much as I expected it to be. Still awaiting the exciting news but anticipation is part of the fun.

Hardly a shock that Brian chooses the easiest questions to answer...you have read Brian Wilson interviews before right? If most of those questions were at the top of the board flashing in huge text he still wouldn't answer them.

BTW I got my question in at 7.59 European time and it was deleted (not that it would have been answered anyway)  ;D

I have been on this board since February 22, 2006 reading almost daily. Post count means nothing.

You are quite right, sir. It was said in haste without thinking. Stupid of me.

The perfect approach, I think.  Gotta be realistic about what he'll reply to, while at the same time not throwing it away in a bid to just get any response at all.

I enjoyed it.  Had no issue with the pizza question.  He answered a good range.

Gotta agree with SloopJohnB's post...especially, but not exclusively, THIS one...

"4) Brian should be the only one allowed to choose which questions he wants to answer. No "votes" or "+1"s from members of this board - just let him decide."

...'cause that's how it's going to happen regardless.

I had suggested along the way to keep the questions short.  The format forced that to happen as only so much could be typed into a title box.  I also suggested that Brian would have an agenda for doing these Q and A's and THAT would be what he would prefer to delve into...and he did ... at least a bit.  Pretty sure he didn't set these sessions up in order to get 'grilled'...or to prove that one's memory isn't as sharp as it used to be once all the whiskers start to grow in white.

Over the years I've seen Brian do quite a few of 'these'.  Yesterday was really not all that different...in terms of what he responded to...and how he answered the questions...ie: quickly with few words...as he wanted to respond to as many folks as possible.

So...regarding questions...it matters little what the scholars here think of their merit or content.  In fact it matters not ... period.  All that matters is what the interviewee thinks of them.  Brian did all he could in the 31 1/2 minutes he was here and the 35 1/2 minutes that he was there.  The biggest problem was...he didn't have enough time to make everybody happy by answering every question posed.

I encountered quite a few board-related "errors" here when attempting to refresh...as I got home earlier than anticipated and got to poke in here.  When that happened I left as I knew the place was 'overbooked' and to have it crash would have been SO disappointing.  I knew I could read it all AFTER the fact.  So I went to Brians site and watched THAT unfold.  Then I posted in the Battle of the Bands over there and left as I didn't want to see the Blue Board sink under the weight of the volume of  visitors either.

Great reading at both sites ultimately.  Although THIS thread has been pretty weird.  In some cases it's like watching the scavengers in the wilds of the African Serengeti fighting over the leftover bones and scraps of meat.

Really?  In one word to all invloved in making yesterday happen...from the 'worst' question asked by whomever all the way up to the guy who responded to as many as he could in the time-frame chosen...Thanks.

Next time though...I'm still gonna post closer to race time.  And I'm going to change my name...to cheese pizza.

Interesting answer on the blueboard:

Posted 18 hours ago    #1
Heard that you had a few lessons as a kid, but do you ever try to play it now?

 Posted 18 hours ago    #2
When I was 14 years old! I took lessons for a month but never was very good at it!

I thought I'd read that he mastered a child's accordion but just never moved on to the larger one.

 ;D ;D ;D

PS: Grateful thanks to Ziggy Stardust for the heroic deed of combining all the Q's and A's in a single post.

[quote author=Cyncie link=topic=19801.msg496400#msg496400

Now, I do think it's a shame that questions submitted early probably weren't even seen. And, I did see at least one member bumping their post by editing in order to push it to the top. So, now that we know what the logistical problems are, we can begin to address them.

[/quote]
Does editing a topic really make it bumped up to the top of the page? If so, and if that was directed at me, that was not my intention but rather to edit out a followup question as per the instructions.

Very well put. Let the complainers put up some more of their problems with this event, have Brian read them, and decide to never do this again. Yeah, that's the ticket! ::) ::) ::)

Having been able to experience Brian Wilson visit this board and answer some of our questions was a huge thrill, and I would like to thank the moderators for their great work. Thanks to them Brian answered a question that I'd been wondering about for twenty years. I have nothing negative to say...except that I'm embarrassed about/for the people who just bitch about it not going their way. And the whole idea about only allowing people with a thousand or more posts being allowed to participate is crass. I would never want to play softball or scrabble with those people. Babies.  :police:

Hi all,

The questions I liked the most were about his favorirte pizza, what makes him happy and other that were about him.  I liked where his answer was playing with his children makes him happy.  That answer is priceless!!!  A reminder of what none of us can put a price tag on.  I like knowing he likes apple pie.  At birthday time I like cake.  Thanksgiving is pumpkin pie.  Christmas is apple pie.  Easter is chocolate bunnies.  It is marvelolus that Brian took the time to come.  The moderators did do a good job.  Brian has class!!!

 :)Loved thisi in-depth comment.  Hope the poster knows I'm referring to this particular  post.  It was long, but detailed.  I,  also, have been a long-time fan of Brian's music. Have been to three of his shows. Have traveled from coast to coast to see them I didn't take part in asking any questions. I am now reading the replies from fans.  So sorry some of the "fans" were disappointed in Brian either not answering their questions, or not ? answering their questions the way in which they would have liked.   If we are long-time fans of Brian, we know what he's comfortable answering!

Please, Brian, do not let those complainers discourage you from coming on this particular board in the future. There are so many of us who LOVE you and your music!  Your harmonic vocal chords and arrangements over the years have given us the sanity and calmness we've all so much needed.  And I believe that what  you have created in  your harmonic vocals and instrumental arrangements has given you a peace and calmness  that has helped you survive and thrive over the years; especially when you've been able to accomplish these things without outside interference -- as you had in the past.

Your band (including the, shall I write, the former Wondermints?) are so fantastic!  I spoke to Darian  in 2000-2001 when I attended your show at the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center in Darian Lake, New York after your show when you appeared before Paul Simon.  He took me into your trailer to meet you. What a thrill. He also took me into the trailer of the musicians.  Darian said to me that he and the other musicians loved your music so much; each note; each harmonic combination.  It's so great that your musicians are such fans of you!  They're just like us except they get to learn to play  your music. They're lucky pups.  At that time, Darian told me that he and the group were in the process of trying to "talk" you into singing again the song, "Marcella."  I believe they succeeded because in later shows that I saw on YouTube, I listened and saw you and your band sing "Marcella."  Oh you all sounded so great.  I love the songs YOU have chosen to sing with your band.
an

I got through the first 4 pages of this thread, and was very pleased to notice that the most talked about thing was my question: what's your favorite pizza. I find it amusing, that Brian Wilson comes here and answers a good bunch of great questions, a lot of people whine that he also told us his favorite pizza. What's the problem people, why some of you are so uptight?

I tried to come up with some mastermind question for Brian for the whole week. Thought about it every second. But when the last moments came, I realized that there's really not that much questions I'd really ask him, 'cause I don't know him, but in the other hand in some weird way I do know him. I knew he wouldn't answer questions like: what's the meaning of life, how do you really feel down deep about Dennis' death or where do I find cocaine, etc... Then I got the idea. Brian loves food, especially steaks. So I started wonder wether he likes pizza or not. I love pizza, it's my favorite food. So that's what I wanted, and could ask him. And I got to tell you, I'm extremely happy that he answered it. Got to be one of the best things ever happened to me.

Plus I'm very happy about the questions you others came up with also, found out very interesting stuff, thanks ya'll folks and Brian!

I thought there was cheese on every pizza.

I love the fact that Brian likes the same pizza as my other idol, Kevin from Home Alone.

The basic pizza and one close to my heart and tastebuds is the basic, old-fashioned, "pizza". Some places you need to order it as a "cheese pizza". Sauce, cheese, dough/crust...That's a real pizza. There have been so many variations since the advent of "California Pizza Kitchen", all kinds of these gourmet pies, "Buffalo Chicken Pizza", "Philly Cheesesteak Pizza", "White Pizza", "Dessert Pizza", etc...I never understood that. But, to each his own. You want pineapple and citrus with ham slices on your pie, go for it! But to me it just isn't a pizza.

Sauce (red sauce), cheese, crust...basic and perfect. Add some pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage, anchovies, peppers...all good. As long as the basics are underneath all of that.

But I've rarely if ever ordered anything but what we now know as "cheese pizza", the basic and the best. The kind where you pick up the slice, it kind of dips down and all the grease starts running off...not "crispy crust" or "deep dish" or any thing else, just a good, greasy slice of pizza.

See, this is what happens when I read these food questions around lunch time. I go off the rails.  ;D

You've never seen strips of sauce pizza at gas stations and truck stops? Very yummy actually...

Mohh, I hope there aren't any actual Italians reading this.

Does editing a topic really make it bumped up to the top of the page? If so, and if that was directed at me, that was not my intention but rather to edit out a followup question as per the instructions.
[/quote]

No it doesn't move it to the top of the page!  Don't worry, maybe it was aimed at me!  I edited my question several times before I was happy with it. ;D

 :lol That certainly would have been an interesting one...

I also thought there was tomato on every pizza. But I traveled through Thailand and Laos a few years ago, went to get pizza a few times and never got one with any tomato on it. Whenever I specifically asked for it, they usually just gave me a bottle of ketchup.

I must wholeheartedly agree with you, but for one exception... pesto pizza. There are variations, such as the Margherita pizza, but the pesto pizza that I know is essentially the same as a standard cheese pizza, except instead of red sauce, pesto sauce is used. Not much need for toppings, although tomatoes and spinach compliment it quite well.

Sadly I just found out I'm lactose intolerant, so I can never eat pizza in the same way again  :shrug

I agree with you completely about the white "pizza" and those California Pizza Kitchen things (which are actually made in Wisconsin about 10 minutes from my house).  They may be good, but it's not pizza.  I love a nice greasy slice of cheese and pepperoni, folded 'New York' style.  However, since I'm only three hours from the windy city, I do also enjoy a good Chicago style pie...cheese on the bottom, then the toppings, and the sauce on top of everything.  Delicious.  As good as it is, though, it's not really pizza either.  And Theydon Bois, everybody knows that pizza was invented in the good ol' USA.   ;)

I can't think of what could have been a better response to all of this. Well done!

I'll also add that the basic cheese pizza is my favourite. And it's also quite Italian.

I really enjoyed the questions everyone asked, and found it interesting that Brian said Van Dyke was his favorite collaborator. This may have been a dig at Mike, but I liked that answer!

Van Dyke's response on twitter :)


Andrew Hickey, @hickeywriter:
Nice to see Brian Wilson say @thevandykeparks is his all-time favourite collaborator.

Van Dyke Parks, @thevandykeparks:
FLOORED!

If he just wanted a dig at Mike, why not answer Joe Thomas or Scott Bennett, his most recent collaborators? I think he meant what he said.

I can tell that you live(d) in Philly. :)

Remember the interview where he was asked about his creative process and finished his answer with, "I like food. Creative food." The guy likes food, and he likes to talk about it. Not surprised that cheese pizza is his favorite. Did we really think he preferred artisanal artichoke, pineapple, and shitake mushroom pizza? He likes french fries, apple pie, steaks, and cheese pizza. Simple tastes.

Brian's been calling Van Dyke his favorite lyricist he ever worked with for 40 years. no surprise there.

So, anybody up for a Q&A with Al??

 :smokin

now we're talkin!

I can't wait to ask him what his favourite tooth is.

I thought Brian's answer to his favorite song on Love You (The Night Was So Young) was revelatory and if not revelatory, then still it was very very COOL.

Also, the fact that he's ever discussed TOURING with that album!  Whoa.

YEAH

The Q&A yesterday far exceed my expectations.  Lots of FUN and some VERY interesting nuggets to think about!

man, it would be a treat to hear that band tear into "Love You" one night with Al Jardine in the mix.

Really? We did keep an eye on multiple posts, but as far as I can see you only posted once. Strange... no clue what happened there. (apart from the ss-board being a total madhouse at around that time)

I can say 100% that not a single post was deleted at or after that time, for reasons I described on page 7. It just wasn't possible to delete any, so either there is a miscommunication or misunderstanding or something in the board. Because I laid out the reasons why none of those question topics could be deleted even if it were tried!  :)

Yes indeed! The quality of pizza, sandwiches, and the like in and around Philly spoiled me at a very young age. Especially the pizza back in the 80's. Now it's hard to find a decent slice at most places.  :-D

Yeah, I only posted once and it was actually there until the end of the q&a and then disappeared shortly afterwards. It doesn't show anywhere now as far as I can see..not on my profile or on that sub-forum. Anyway obviously it doesn't matter as he didn't answer it. Cheers for setting it all up guys.

After I butted in:

“@ClayWires: Well, who else would it be?”VDP: It could be the venerable Tony Asher. Or Brian himself "like a cork on the ocean"(unbeatable!)

I would have first laughed and then felt very depressed if he had answered "Joe Thomas."  But I liked his answer, as well as VDP's response.

I'm with you, ontor--wanna see a fully-worked up new live show with a lot of Love You featured in some kind of sustained sequence. I think they can "rock the casbah" with "Let Us Go On," "Roller Skating Jailbait Child" (actually not sure which of these to strike through, come to think of it...) and "Honkin' Down the Highway." (Al and Billy can trade off lines on that one...)

And you know what...Brian's response about VDP just might prove to be another olive branch in their complicated relationship. Wouldn't that be, er, NICE!!  :3d

An irresistible response.  So happy to see this...

I want to see VDP sit in with the BW band someday.....

I think the mods did a GREAT job yesterday.  Every decision they made seemed to be the right one.  For example, limiting the questions to one per member was a great idea.  Did you notice that they didn’t do that over at the BW board, and many of the multiple questions from the SAME posters got, well, a little “nutty” if you know what I mean.

Smiley Smile Mods Rock!

It has become crystal clear that Brian give short answers to interview questions.    this has gone on for years!   I am recalling the Terry Gross Radio,interview from NPR fresh air a few years ago.   this is how he is and was.  sometimes very straight and candid (the high hat cymbal answer) but always brief.  I didn't mind the pizza question.   I thought about asking him if he enjoyed wearing the old man nike Crosstrainers as much as I do.   Man those are comfortable shoes for old feet!

This makes me very happy

Yes, great idea and the icing on the cake or the ice cream on the pie,  :whatever, would be to see them work together once again, huh? :bow

that is so nice to read. see... these guys still love each other!

how great would it be if Brian took back the license and invited Van to join the touring Beach Boys?  :lol

No it doesn't move it to the top of the page!  Don't worry, maybe it was aimed at me!  I edited my question several times before I was happy with it. ;D
[/quote]

No, it wasn't you. At the time, I was watching a post that started in the middle of the page, but jumped to the top without any answer from Brian. Later it disappeared completely. Now that others are reporting disappearing posts and weird glitches, I think it may have actually been a board issue.

There were a couple mind-bogglingly bad questions asked to Brian. The worst one, in my opinion, was the one about Brian's favorite deli sandwich. Seriously?

I don't think it was a bad question. I read somewhere that the guy behind The High Llamas met Brian and all he wanted to do was talk sandwiches. Don't know how factual it is, but if you keep that in mind the question isn't awful.

yeah going to the deli is supposedly part of Brian's daily routine. I'm sure it interests him a lot more than any SMiLE-related questions, quite honestly.

What's wrong with that? It's no worse than asking him what kind of pizza he likes! To get his attention, I thought about mentioning the name of the deli and grocery store and park that he frequents and even what he thought of the salmon salad at the deli. But then I backed off and thought I'd sound like a stalker and decided not to ask him any questions. Anyway, the question I wanted to ask was already taken by two other posters here and one on his board so I thought I was already covered. He didn't answer either of 'em!

The pizza question is just as bad, in my opinion. Brian's a truly unique guy with a fascinating life story, and questions like those just seem trivial to me.

Sorry I derailed this thread with my post! :-D



Al will have to pass a test first (to be provided by Andrew) to determine whether Al's knowledge of the Beach Boys facts is good enough before he can be allowed a Q&A here. ;D

I wonder...if...there is something agreed to in writing which says that [at this time] only Brian and/or Mike are 'supposed' to talk about/represent the Beach Boys in any kind of official capacity...or even if...only Mike is 'supposed' to do that?

I ask because of the suggestion regarding Al.  And really...Brian was representing Brian here on Monday? ??? ?

But then Bruce posts on BBB with a degree of frequency.  So that blows THAT out of the water.  [kind of like Crocodile Dundee fishing]

Just a few weeks ago I checked out BBB and Bruce was on talking about his surfboard and surfing. Is there an expectation that he or anyone else will or should tackle in-depth, heavy, multi-layered questions instead of talking conversationally with their fans for a few minutes on a forum?

I'm asking this with a bit of humor, but lets say anyone here were to by chance run into a band member on the street or in a grocery store, etc. At that point, if a conversation were to start, would that be the time or place to ask or expect answers to multi-layered questions or would it be a more casual type of scene?

I don't think anything could be clearer than the fact this was a social interaction where Brian offered to chat with his fans and there weren't any "bad" questions.  If he picked the question and answered, he must have liked it, right?   Consider the context:  a 30 minute chat. 

While many here have spent decades studying every bit of minutiae about Brian and his work, it might be good to consider that he hasn't had the time to do that.  That's your job if you chose it and good for you.  It should be an excellent chronicle of this gifted man, as long as you've considered your sources carefully.  Some were excellent.  Some were out-and-out liars.

In the mean time Brian's been busy being Brian Wilson, living his life and creating new things.  I doubt he's had much time to pour over the old stuff, unless it happened to strike him that day.  If he wants to discuss the music in detail, he has the best band in the world to talk to (described that way by people much more knowledgeable than me).  Then again, he picks up the phone and calls Paul McCartney and gets him, or Carole King, or pretty much anyone, I'd assume.  But anyone might catch him at the right moment and then they'll have their magical music detail moment with Brian.

I would say this.  Possibly the most important thing I learned about Brian was that he really hated, and I suspect still does dislike, people trashing each other.  If you really want him to come back on a somewhat regular basis, you might keep that in mind and treat each other a little better, at least about this particular event.  He gave you this lovely gift.  I suspect if you're appreciative - even decent - about it, he may come back and answer your question next time... 

Well said Debbie.

I'll add that the positive reactions have far outnumbered and outweighed and criticisms or negativity. I think the overall positivity has strength in numbers over the negativity or perceived negativity which can sometimes stand out. Consider if you have a beautiful painting on display, and 99% of the surface area is occupied by the original colors on the canvas. Then there is a very tiny speck of paint that had been chipped off in a storage mishap through the years. Which element of that painting might stand out more depending on who is looking at it? The 99% that is the actual work of art, or that tiny speck of missing paint? I'd say if you'd focus on that chipped paint, you're missing the overall experience of enjoying that work of art.  :)

I don't know if a 1000 posts is the right threshold -- but I like the idea.  My God -- this is the Smiley Smile forum.  This is where the nitty gritty gets dissected and then dissected again.  To FINALLY have Brian Wilson on here FINALLY!!! and to get so many softball questions, I don't know.  I thought it was odd.  Like we sold out or something.  Were posters bussed in?

I'm not a critical person regarding what people post or how they post... so I hate to sound critical, I really do -- and I'm not being critical.  I'm just surprised, that's all.  It's a hard format to work in I suppose.  But I was surprised.

1000 posts is not the right threshold. I'm glad we didn't limit the questions to those with a certain amount of posts....if we did, we wouldn't know those interesting tidbits about Break Away...just sayin'... :angel:

You're right, of course, and so is the Frog. Even 500 posts is wrong. At that point I saw no other way of rectifying the fact that half a page out of the the three pages of questions had been answered. (I still don't.) I've since pulled myself together, apologized to one or two people and read the Q&A and think they're spot on, even the deli and pizza ones. (There's one at Brian's own website that makes these two look positively high-brow.) Very touching to think that Brian saw the Kingsman [sic] as competition! Maybe as a live band, who knows...

Even if the mods don't find a way round this "problem", I for one can certainly live with it now that we know what to expect...     

I completely understand. You're preaching to the choir here! Some people get offended and defensive easily and I understand that too. I think 1,000 is pretty high for a threshold; maybe half that or a little less would be just fine. Realistically, though, Chuckie & The Mods aren't going to impose any criteria like that here. It's cum one, cum all.

Why is everyone opposed to the post-limit filter?  Because it's not democratic?  I'm not saying I agree either, but any filtering or question moderation system wouldn't be democratic either.  

Ideally, a forum like this would strive to get into the weeds... cuz, we are the weeds.  The album cover that provides this board's name is amply suggestive of where we is at.  Deep in the jungle.

I liked learning that Brian likes F-sharp 7 and his favorite Four Freshman song.  And I get that Brian's only going to do what Brian wants... so in the end -- I think this Q&A was all well and good.  And how in the world did you guys swing this?!!??

 :rock

A post limit would mean that occasional visitors with demonstrable experience and knowledge (such as Don Cunningham, just to name one--and Don, apoiogies for dragging your name into this!) would be arbitrarily excluded.

And if you made exemptions for those, you would have lots of problem there.

No, the best solution is to amass the questions and let them be judged by the commons using one of the Internet programs that can rank them into a "best-to-worst" list. As noted earlier, you have to control for manipulation. Y

You also have to get someone to agree to take the time to set that up. It would likely have to be done on a separate site, and possibly by someone who should be compensated for the effort.

"Fairness" to all is not easy in any context. It's a problem everywhere. But if you want the set of questions submitted to Brian to best reflect the consensus of all the board members, then this process is your best bet.

As I said before, the best way to test this is to use the questions that were submitted for the Brian's first chat, create the "yes/no" mechanism permitting people to personally assess it, and look at the results. One of the intruiging things that could come out of such an exercise is that we would see how many questions at the top of such a "theoretical" list turned out to be ones that Brian actually answered...

  The post threshold is something that should probably be taken off the table, but inane questions are not. I don't believe most people come to Smiley to find out Brian's favorite pizza is Cheese.  If that's what you want to know, I say  post your questions on Brian's board !
If we/the mods limit questions to those with  substance, there'll be no opportunity for Brian/Mike/whomever to pick/answer silly stuff.
 Of course if that doesn't suit Brian/Mike/whomever, then he may choose not to do any more question sessions here.
Seems to me the only way to find that out is to impose the limit
  ( Typed while Don was postinig)

I was highly interested to see that Brian namechecled none other than – The Doors – in response to a question about favorite bands from the ‘60s.  Has Brian talked about them as a fave before this?  I don’t think so!

Another post for me, working my way to the promised land of 1,000.00 posts. I'll get there. Brian, don't come back until I reach my goal!

( this entire goal threshold is just nuts ! Are you people serious?)

Only 850.00 more to go. Wait for me Brian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jeff, they will ban you at 999 (if not sooner)!!!  >:D :police: :hat

Absolutely Guitar Fool - clearly people loved it and were appreciative, and I was guilty of being annoyed by people demeaning others' questions enough to focus on that, my problem.  I do have my bitchy moments... >:D

That said, who is going to determine what is an acceptable question?  Must it be scholarly?  Posted by a musician?  Posted by a historian?  I certainly don't object to such parameters if Brian or anyone else wants to do a Q&A...I'm just wondering how that would be determined.

So funny, I laughed out loud at your comment.

( 849 to go )

Now that I have just over a 1000, you're damn right I'm serious!!  :-D

Yep.  But that's a lot of work.  It doesn't need to be so scientific.

I'm fine with just posting questions to get all the stuff off our chests in a thread -- and just come to a consensus.  Like the album thread where we vote a song off the island to get to the best song.

I'm also fine with some smarty pants or self-appointed or duly elected Representative just picking a dozen or so.

Questions like "Hey... tell us about Adult/Child, Brian." or "Why did you say you burned the SMiLE tapes?  Did you burn any SMiLE tapes?"  Feel free to vote my questions off the island  ;)

It's a new one on me too. The last band in rockandroll's list was Love, so maybe Brian was just continuing the list. It's a logical follow-up item, the next big name on Elektra. Just a thought...    

Edit: I see now that David Anderle spent a couple of years at Elektra (1968-70). That may or may not be significant...

It reminds of Bill Clinton, back in '92, going on MTV for some "hardball" questions, and being asked if he preferred "boxers or briefs."

 :-\

I'm sure all candidates get this stuff now, but that was a first I think.  That was a real Twilight Zone moment.  Like when the main character in a movie realizes that everyone's in on it, and turns to the other main character, and they too are are in on it.

Poo.  Butt.  Farts.  You're are next President!

A lot of people like The Doors, though.  I think Brian attended the session for Horse Latitudes -- and was really freaked out.  I can imagine.  That song scares me stoned cold sober.

Do you know what the human brain and eyes do? The eyes will gravitate to that tiny speck of missing paint before looking at the rest of the picture and the brain will remember it. If you are fixing or touching up a chip or other paint defect on a painting or wall or whatever it is, then you touch it up and go away and come back to it, from then on you're going to look at that touch-up spot first to see if you did a good job; to see if it blended properly. That's just an example of how human nature is. It can be an obsession!

Also, you know that old expression, "He can't see the forest for the trees"? It's used to describe someone who is too involved in the details of a problem to look at the situation as a whole. You know, the big picture.

Once again, I agree with pretty much everything you're saying.

For real tho, I say Smiley ought to be where the "hardball" questions are asked. For Brian or anyone else. I know this is more on Brian and not the mods, but I also think 30 minutes was way too brief. That's primarily why my initial response was to feel disappointed; not because my question wasn't answered so much as it was over in the blink of an eye, and all the older, (mostly better) questions weren't even seen. It almost felt like a waste.

I know I'll get crucified for saying as much, but that's how I felt about it. And I'm a massive Brian fan.

Agreed. If the bio book due was and is based on these Q and A's then it is a major downer.
Let us hope interview sessions were conducted over good days/months and bad days/months, then reviewed and cross referenced.
Then probed for the best answer from our hero.

I think it's pretty egocentric to say that you should have a certain amount of posts to contribute to the Q&A or that your 'serious' question deserves answering over another fans.

We're all fans here from all over the world, we're a community. What makes this site brilliant is this multitude of different voices and attitudes. And some people want to take the voice away from certain users?

I get that some people are still bitter that their question wasn't answered, but that's the luck of the draw.

If you're STILL upset, I guess all you can do is build a bridge.

We're allowed to express our opinions on it same as anyone. If *you're* upset about THAT, then...take your own advice.

(http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/013/003/dead-horse.gif)

Sinister smile is right, it is not the amount of posts that matters. It's the content of the posts that matter.

I'm all for different opinions, I love it, but I'm not a fan of sour grapes.

We're all equal here, that's what's wonderful about this board. Remember when you said MY question should have been last on the list due to a critera made up in your head? That was toxic.

Hello gang.   Just posting to up my numbers and see where I stand.   My numbers would be higher but I think I started over a couple of times.   I didn't even attemp t to join the q and a.  figured it would turn out about the way it did.  I read this stuff last nite for the first time.   I trusted my fellow SS ers to ask all the right questions.   still, I wonder about those nikes worn during the reunion tour.    This is an important lifestyle common thread shared by many old fart musicians and their fans.   Those low, wide  clunky nike Crosstrainers are the official shoe for old farts with sore feet.  In many ways this conveys much more of a critical fan/star shared commonality than fav pizza.   Just my 2 cents.   

I thought the Q+A was a great thing.  *shrugs*

Anyway, my favorite question/answer was "What's your favorite chord?"

Great question.  There's an entire universe living within each chord of the musical landscape.  And someone like Brian Wilson understands this more intimately than almost anyone else alive.

"F sharp seventh is my favorite chord."


I really hope Brian enjoyed himself enough (and sees that it really did mean a lot to us) that he might consider coming back and joining us again, one day.

I didn't know that about Brian at the session. Thank you! Which brings me to the second group Brian mentioned in that answer----The Monkees. If my memory serves me right, The Doors and The Monkees were the first two groups to use a Moog, The Doors to treat Jim's voice on the title track of Strange Days and The Monkees slightly later as an instrument in its own right. Might that be why Brian brought up The Monkees next?     

Definitely fascinating stuff!

Production wise, I've always thought that Strange Days really took a lot of influence from Pet Sounds. It's great to know that Brian made it to one of those sessions.

Just because someone makes 1000 posts about how much they hate Mike or that Brian should get the licence doesn't mean they are more likely to ask 'better' questions. ;)

Just suggesting ways to improve the format for next time, which probably won't even be used anyway. No need to take it personally. I'm much more interested in the idea of a vote system now anyway. Again, probably won't even be implemented.

Stop accusing me of sour grapes. I knew my question had a 99.999% chance of not being answered. I just think it was kinda disappointing overall. Not trying to sh!t on the work the mods did for it, or Brian for taking the time. But...if he's only here for a half hour, I say let the easy softball obvious questions get answered elsewhere and let's try to get at least some insightful ones answered here. You don't have to like it, but that's how I see it.

I agree though, it wasn't a waste. Sure, the SMiLE and AdultChild questions were ignored, but we found out his favorite chord and he's thinking about a Love You tour, which is something. I disagree that food questions have to be asked to get him to liven up. This isn't an interview. If he doesn't like certain questions, he can skip em. I'd rather we got a few more "what's your favorite chord" type questions answered at least, rather than wasting time and space on things that, for the most part, are unimportant. Yes, I think it's unimportant how Brian likes his steak cooked or what his favorite ice cream flavor is. Sue me.

Frankly, I have faith in Brian's ability to choose the questions that he wants to answer. This wasn't meant to be an interrogation of the man...it's supposed to be informative, fun, and lively for all parties involved. If Brian wanted to answer heavy questions he would've done it....and he did give us some insightful answers to many questions.

If Brian wants to talk about pizza, who are we to complain about it? Oh we're supposed to blame the posters who asked the question? But not Brian who took his time to answer it? It's what Brian felt interested in responding to....let it be.

Thankfully, the negative outlooks on this Q&A have come from a very small minority of posters...I think most of us were more than happy with the way things were handled!

If Brian ever comes around again only people with 15 thousand plus posts can ask the questions...

Which means only AGD can ask the questions..

 ;D

UNLESS Brian waits three weeks AND  you , me, Mikie and Billy start posting 500 times a day

I'm up for that challenge  ;D

Perhaps we should play" Beach Boy Jeopardy" to decide who gets to ask questions. Would not Bruce Johnston make a great moderator.

Depends on the day....he runs hot and cold.



(Another post for me too. 1,000.00 here we come)

I don't think negative is the right word. All criticism has been constructive----there has been no outright dissing. And no one has complained about the mods' handling of it----why on earth would they?!
 
I felt disappointed at the outset because of all the unanswered questions, the two and a half pages of zero replies. I don't feel that way now, certainly after reading the ones that were answered (on both boards). A magic moment----Brian Wilson has taken the time to talk to us. 

Did Murry just sing the last note on "Be Here in the Mornin'" or did he sing in the whole song?

I've seen elsewhere that Mike wasn't there for the session so Murry filled in on bass vocal.

I've seen that Mike was unable to hit a note so Murry sang it.

What's the truth? I hear Mike in the whole song but I want to say the last bass note is Murry.

Yes, Mr. 107. you got it right. It's been discussed lots on the board.

Disappointed about missing out on asking Brian a question for the Q&A. Was going to ask about the 'Sweet Insanity' album and his favorite tracks from the album etc and also if he has heard Darian's cover of 'Do You Have Any Regrets?' (which is one of my favorite Brian solo songs).

I am aware that it has been discussed lots on the board. That's why I introduced my question with having researched it on the board.

I was just trying to get clarification since I had seen people claim that Murry sang on the entire song while others (and Brian) said just that one note.

From what I understand, Brian is not always a definitive source when it comes to many facts ("I never met John Lennon").

Actually, I'd love for AGD to interview Brian, live on the board.   :rock

Sounds good to me.  :thumbsup

The first question AGD could ask Brian is where he gets his cheese pizza from.  :-D

And follow up by asking what he drinks with it. And if he orders sides with it. Is he a chicken wing or breadstick guy? Coke, Pepsi, iced tea or just some good old water? The world needs to know! :lol

IIRC, Brian has talked about cheese pizzas in an article before. He had some in the fridge at home. From Pizza Hut, I think.

Brian should write a song about cheese pizza. :)

AGD: So what inspires you to order cheese pizza?
Brian: Phil Spector. He always orders cheese pizza. Every morning, I put on Be My Baby and order a cheese pizza. Keeps the bad vibrations from coming y'know.

Indeed, why not? Posters could submit questions well beforehand to one of the mods who'd make a selection (assuming there'd be as many as last time) and pass them on to Andrew as a list, leaving out the posters' names. Maybe in an ideal world...     

One thing I learned at the Q&A was that Brian's screen-name is going to be obsolete next year.

Nay, I take it '2015' means the year he became the member. And what, he can't replace the last digit, Brian doggone Wilson? :3d

One thing I have since learned about the Q&A, almost one year on, looking through the list of questions that Brian did get round to answering, is not to expect the earth (as I did at the time, with a misplaced outrage at questions he didn't answer) but to be thankful for what you do get. And boy, it was more than anyone could ever have expected only a short while before. Thank you, Brian, thank you, mods. 

I think we've learned also that he's a fair-weather Smileysmiler… where was he when the balloon went up?



:lol.

Hurry back Brian!