The Smiley Smile Message Board

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/events?page=1&author=Mike%20Love

Here are the locations and dates for Mike's book readings/signings....starting in LA this Saturday. Austin....Denver....he's definitely venturing into hipster territory where the questions won't be softballs, you gotta hand that to him.

The DC date is definitely the odd one here. A Mano is not a bookstore or record store, but an upscale home furnishings store!
http://amano.bz/

I'd really like to go to the one in DC...that's going to be interesting...but just like Brian's signing for L&M in DC...they pick an odd-ball weeknight and I don't stand a chance of making it down there in time.

If im not working :-[ like when i missed jerry hellers 'Ruthless: a memoir' but ill be at the rock hall on the 28th hopefully

9-17-2016, West Hollywood
Mike Love, co-founder of The Beach Boys, Talks About His New Book: Good Vibrations


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj1wgJaHjuc

(http://66.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5cs2q1gar1rw9fs5o1_1280.jpg)

The professor will be going to the Reagan Library God willing

Isn't" Reagan Library" a contradiction in terms?

Billy!!! :lol

 :woot :woot :woot :woot...it's an improvement over the hats for sure.

 :lol  You guys are too good!

Again, I bow to your humor...

I thought I would bump this.   I was at Mike's book signing yesterday in Seattle.  Horrific weather at the time with traffic backed up everywhere in the city due to accidents and sporting events.  A few thoughts are below....

The event started with a gentleman asking Mike 15 or 20 questions about his time in the BB's up to why he wrote the book.  Then there were probably another 20 questions from the audience.  Probably a total of 30 to 35 people there to get a book signed by Mike.  It was very casual and I thought Mike presented himself well (his wife Jackie was also there). 

Just as in the book, Mike did not pull any punches with regard to Melinda.  However the worst "verbage" was for Joe Thomas...whew....not hard seeing why C50 ended so badly.  From his point of view, a lot of promises were made up front that just weren't kept.  I felt sad hearing this, but also felt somewhat uncomfortable sitting 3 seats away from Jackie hearing Mike say the Melinda stuff.  I know the Melinda stuff is attached to Mike working again with Brian so I get why the two are always brought up in the same sentence.  Just feels weird hearing someone talking so negative about someone else's wife. 

A ton of stupid goofy questions from the audience. Best question I heard was from a guy who asked Mike about his relationship with Al.  Very complicated answer but the guy said he thought Mike and Al were a lot alike going back to their TM days, sitting in the front of the plane together, lack of heavy drug use,  etc etc.  Mike initially seemed very surprised that someone would think that he and Al are alike.  He then corrected himself and said, you know what, we are alike in the ways you described.  Mike then went on to say the whole "your fired" letter did not surprise him with how the relationship between Mike/Brian/wives/Joe Thomas etc had deteriorated but it really hurt him that Al was also a part of the letter.  Lastly in a very comforting way, he said he's not surprised that Al feels tied to Brian as it was Brian who got him in the group initially at the start after their high school days together and I'm all right with that.  No mention of the post 98 lawsuits against Al in any of his answers.  My back was KILLING me, and was having to get up and stand in the back.  I had my hand up to ask a question but never got called on.  Mike's wife is a HUGE Cubs fan and game 5 was starting in 30 minutes so everyone was kinda rushed through book signing.

It was a fun couple of hours

Thanks for the barsone.


Yeah, that would make me feel odd too. Good thing I wasn't there, as I'd have said something...

Thanks for the report. The book store event kinda sounds like Mike's book. By Mike being so blunt and defensive in some cases, it ironically leads to some insights into Mike and the band that one can't deny are interesting. But I think one of the things that has come more and more into focus is that it appears Mike himself in addition to fans, including fans that have nothing bad to say about Melinda or Brian, might sometimes forget that Melinda is Brian’s freaking wife. It’s his family. Does anyone think Mike would be happy if Brian (or Al, or anyone) made even half of the insinuations about Jackie Love that Mike does about Melinda?

It's a bit preposterous when you think about it. Mike several times in the book describes outrage at his family being attacked (the story about Al haranguing Jackie on tour in the 90s about a backup dancer, the Ambha/Sail on Sailor story), yet he makes far more inflammatory (and loaded) comments about Melinda.

Curious if Mike’s comments on Joe Thomas from this event can be expanded upon. I was surprised that, even though the last several years of Mike’s interviews seemed to point to Mike having a beef with Joe Thomas (despite not often naming him), Mike didn’t really go after Thomas much at all in his book. He seemed to mostly complain about Melinda, and the lack of input on the album (which certainly reflected on Thomas, but Mike didn’t often go directly after Thomas).

2barsone: thanks for the info! It's interesting that it differs from city to city. rn57 says Mike was alone & no fan gathering with questions.

 :lol :lol Only 30-35 people at myKe luHv's book signing? That would have to seriously screw with someone who possesses  an ego like his. I'm sure he'll blame it on the weather and not his smarmy personality.

I don't know, seems many to me. Don't forget that the BBs fandom, esp. those who bought the book, isn't too big. Maybe people just catch up getting it from Amazon etc.

Hey Jude...sorry for the delay....severe computer issues for two weeks.

Your question to me about Mike and Joe Thomas.  As I said in my earlier post, Mike was very clear about his feelings on C50 ending.  Complexity issues started immediately trying to coord the tour simultaneously negotiating with Capitol on TWGMTR.  Issues combining the bands, length etc were all hashed out at the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012.  In these meetings, agreements were also made with Capitol on TWGMTR and having Joe Thomas come on board.  Mike was to bring "tracks" to the recording sessions to be included on the album..  Its here where things went south, and he termed Joe Thomas as a  "pathological liar".  When Mike got to the sessions, it was then he realized that Joe had the album mostly complete with Brian's old material.  Obviously reading his book, things were going south fast as he left the tour during a studio session where the auto tune was put on the mics and the blow-up with Melinda ensused. 

Again everyone, Mike was calm and clear talking about this stuff.  Being honest, I wish all of you could have been at this event.

Interesting comments. My first reaction was what original tracks/songs did Mike have to bring to the sessions, and would it have been a song like Pisces Brothers or even dipping back into the Adrian Baker material, or some of the throwback nostalgia types of songs?

That also brings up a point about Mike bringing tracks in general. One of the main points Mike has been mentioning since 2012 has been the notion that he wanted to write songs with Brian, then take that to whatever parameter we read into his various remarks: Start from scratch with Brian, work alone in a room with Brian and a piano, etc. That's different from Mike bringing "tracks" to the project which I'm assuming would be songs or song ideas he had written which would then be worked up in the studio.

Isn't that the same as what he has been saying Brian and Joe did? If Mike agreed to bring in his own tracks, as it sounds from this like he did, isn't that the same working method which he has been criticizing about the project via Brian and Joe's "tracks", versus starting "from scratch" with Brian?

On the last point, the Autotune claims are shaky at best, as discussed elsewhere, unless we are to believe exactly what the book said, that Melinda Wilson herself ordered "live Autotune" devices for each band member and had them attached to the mics. Is that plausible?

What's interesting is that Howie Edelson posted about interviewing Mike in late June of 2012 (I believe), which was two months into the tour. So we're talking well after the album was done and released and nearly half-way through the tour itself, most likely (I'm guessing) at a point at which Mike had already started booking his own non-reunion shows, and Mike still seemed to be praising Joe Thomas:

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,13594.msg294927.html#msg294927

This reads to me more like Mike certainly would have preferred more input on the album, and I can only imagine would have been supremely annoyed by Joe Thomas having more input on and collecting more royalties from the album, but that perhaps Mike's main motivation to disband the reunion was his own, and then he used some other minor or medium-level gripes he had and hung the blame on the reunion dissolving on *those* gripes.

Didn't Mike bring Daybreak Over the Ocean to the album, a previously recorded song?

If Mike had more control over the album, I think it would have been inferior to what ended up being released.  Mike has not produced any great songs in the last decade, although he has put some recordings out in the public domain.  His often repeated comment that he has a better commercial sense than others in the band doesn't hold up if you look back over the last 20-30 years.     

Mike's clear feelings about the album's ending suite as portrayed in the Rolling Stone article certainly indicates that Mike's taste/opinion on the album and the album's tone was much different (either that, or he was just poo-pooing it solely because he didn't co-write it).

I've *always* felt with the BBs group albums that the best material should win out, regardless of who wrote it. If Brian came in with "Little Children" but Carl had "Angel Come Home", then Carl should get the nod. If Joe Thomas and the guy from Survivor and Bon Jovi can write better stuff than "Alone on Christmas Day" or "Santa's Goin' to Kokomo", then they should get the nod.

Ironically, the stuff from Mike's mid-2000s unreleased album that would have perhaps worked best would have been to have Al sing "Too Cruel" (Christian Love sings it on the extant version from that era). "Cool Head" would have been a better choice had it not been released numerous years prior already.

The irony is that Mike is the one that originally brought in Joe Thomas to produce S&S in 1996.  Brian never would have even met Joe otherwise.

I'd just be repeating my earlier comments, but there is more irony in what was said at that event considering what has been said since 2012, and what stands out is the beef Mike seems to have had in the past 4 years - Joe and Brian bringing in "old" material - is the same thing Mike did and agreed to do for the project, at least according to those comments. So it's odd short of a clarification to have Mike criticizing the "old" material working M.O. when he did the same thing for the same project. I do now seriously wonder if Mike brought Pisces Brothers to the reunion album table. His own history of re-recording BB's songs and rehashing old material from between 10 and nearly 40 years ago suggests that's the same kind of material he'd bring into a project in 2012. i may be wrong, of course.

I think Mike has/had a multi-layered (or shifting) argument concerning the album. He seemed to want to "write from scratch" with Brian, and then after that fell through he wanted to get more of *his* stuff on the album one way or another even if it meant flying in old stuff, and then separately was also I'm guessing pissed that some other guy (Joe) was getting more songwriting credits both in terms of "credit" and songwriting royalties.

The fact that Mike was "Executive Producer" but couldn't get more than one of his old songs flown in is odd, and does make one wonder what else, if anything, he brought in as far as old tracks.

This all also probably helps to explain why Al Jardine was comically shut out of the proceedings with his "Waves of Love" song, even though it was certainly a catchy and innocuous-at-absolute-worst track that even had Carl on it. What's interesting is that while the 2012 Rolling Stone article paints a picture of Brian balking at doing the song, Larry Dvoskin later said that it was *Mike Love* who "c**k-blocked" (Dvoskin's words) the song from being added to the album.

Just as an observer, I see a pattern where Mike does some very human things. Things he won't always admit to, but human nonetheless. One of these things is to stew on stuff, and, despite in his book liking to paint himself as something of a "straight shooter", seems to possibly have a pattern of not saying jack while the event in question is happening, and then way later after stewing on it and no longer having to awkwardly confront anyone directly, all of a sudden has a *litany* of complaints.

I wonder, and this is all guessing and speculation, if there was perhaps a big fat cash guarantee to do the album and tour, and *that's* why Mike seemed to mostly keep his mouth shut while the project was going on.

How deep was Capitol's role in making the cuts for the final tracklist? Hypothetically if Mike had managed to get half or more of his songs placed on the record, would Capitol have gone along with that? The involvement of Brian was key to this project (and C50 in general, all aspects), so what about any possible terms coming from Capitol that the album had to feature songs written by Brian?

Or what if Mike did bring songs to the table, and they were deemed not suitable for the album or, perhaps, not up to the standard Capitol was expecting...either from the reunited Beach Boys or the album itself? Consider how Mike has been talking down Brian and Joe's pitching "old" songs, in some ways, yet Capitol released them as the majority of songs on the 2012 album and then released Brian's NPP album three years later. Apart from TWGMTR's contribution, Mike hasn't had an original song released by Capitol since, what...Still Cruisin in 1989 or whatever it was? Capitol is still the band's "label", they release the music - maybe they had more of a say in how many Mike Love songs would go onto the BB's reunion album versus those written by and with Brian.

Lot of questions.

Let's all thank our collective lucky stars that myKe luHv's input was minimal especially in light of the bland quality of DOTO. It's difficult trying to imagine how the album would have been anywhere as successful as it was with his lackluster attempts at songwriting on his own. Brian's not writing with luHv is a gift to everyone involved, especially the fans. If myKe wants to record, let's see how it unfolds without Brian and under his own name.

I don't have it in front of me, but I THINK it was the Jason Fine RS article.  I think Bruce was quoted as saying (could have been one of the other guys) that they submitted a bunch of songs to Capitol and Capitol ultimately made the final choice of what the final track list was. I'll have to go back and read it.

There were a number of songs that were rejected including Al's Waves of Love and Bruce's redo of She Believes In Love Again.

Also worth noting is that someone (perhaps Bruce) posted online suggesting that Capitol Records was ultimately who selected the final tracklisting for the album. I don't know what was submitted versus what was actually put on the album.

But it's at least possible that they worked on more than one Mike song, and Capitol rejected others. The group (or at least Bruce and Foskett) apparently did recording on "She Believes in Love Again." Meanwhile, "Waves of Love" certainly wasn't even on the table for Capitol to reject, as apparently no actual recording took place.

Until you pointed it out, I didn't realize how DOTO may be one of the worst song title acronyms in the BB catalog.

'Due to' the relatively short span where Mike's TRUE, REAL, ACTUAL contributions to the composing of the group's songs meant anything of VALUE whatsoever...DITTO would likely be a better fit.  Of course Brian wanted to MOVE ON...Grow.  Mature.  And, in doing so, accompany the BB's core audience along their various and sundry paths of life.  

And Legendary OLDE Surfer Dude...we've already seen [and heard] how the No Go Show Boat does without Brian on his previous 1/2 baked attempts at being 'all that'.

In  a word?  Pitifully.  

Those releases were Burnt Weenie Sandwiches...personified.  [thanks Frank...rip]

Everyone, this is why I love this board so much.  I go to a book signing, resurrect a thread that hadn't been posted on for over 30  days, and look at the last 20 responses.  A lot of what I would say is damn good thoughtful analysis on the cluster C50 became.  IMO, a lot of what's been said and especially by HJ and GF, hits the nail on the head, from a pure speculation point of view.  Mike spoke of the endless meetings with Capitol while trying to hammer out the actual tour arrangements.  I think GF's last questions about the level of Capitol's involvement ties in hugely with HJ's reasoning/point of view where Mike felt stepped on in the process and stews over lost $$$'s. 

Okay now round two.  I forgot about this when I typed up my response back on 10/31.  Reference the branding license meeting at BRI back in 98-ish.  Mike said he abstained  and the vote was 2-1.  You all are better searching back threads than I am.  I believe I read a thread years ago where people were saying the vote was 3-1 and AGD came in and said don't believe everything you hear or read.....Anyone else recall that thread ?   

I just noticed that in the Acknowledgements section of the book Stephen Love is not mentioned.   I wonder why?

Last I knew they had been estranged for years

Especially if it was said by him!

Maybe Rocky can shed some light on this.  Someone put out the Rocky Bat-Signal for a Rushton Review.

After the book signing in Seattle, Mike said he was off to Portland to visit family.  Aren't both Maureen and Stan in the Portland area ?   No mention was made during the Q&A about Stephen.

 :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup