The Smiley Smile Message Board

Hey guys, I wanted to do something fun. Let’s say a portal to early (like January) 1966 Los Angeles opens up in your kitchen. This is your chance to “go back” (if you were there, back then) or take the trip of a lifetime to see, hear, and do. You can go and observe, check out the scene, be a fly on the wall… or you can insert yourself into the action and try to alter the course of things. Moral implications abound, of course. But you basically have freedom to do whatever you want. However the portal itself does have some rules, caveats, and things to consider:

1. The portal in your kitchen will stay open until such time as you decide to use it, but it will close permanently upon coming back. So what’s done is done.

2. Once you arrive in 1966 LA, you can move freely around the world. Remember that your debit card and cellular service on your smartphone won’t work though, LOL. But your phone’s other non-cellular apps might, until the battery dies :)

3. The portal takes you to a location near a particular recording studio (Gold Star? Western?) inside a building that just happens to burn down in late 1966 (you guys are great with locations and dates, I am not. Anyone wants to fill those details in to make this a real kind of story, be my guest!). The portal dies in that fire. So, if you’re planning on coming back to your life in 2017, you have to get back through the portal before then.


What do you do? What’s your plan of action?  :3d

You're watching too many of those time machine Tv shows.  But if I did, I'd go to January 1964, go from there, stay, not return through the portal.  So much to re-investigate I missed the first time around.

Interesting, but I'll pass if you don't mind----no sense of adventure whatsoever. ;D

On the other hand, it would be a great way of getting rid of folks you don't like. Tell them it's the door to the wine cellar and would they like to choose a bottle. Bye bye! :lol     

I'd go see the Doors and Love live.  Hang out around Goldstar and Western and Columbia studios. I'd make sure the master vocal multitrack of Good Vibrations was secure for future generations.  See the Beatles live at Dodgers Stadium.  See the Beach Boys summer spectacular at the Hollywood Bowl with Captain Beefheart's Magic Band.

I hereby apologize to L.A. in 1966 for all the crane flies that are inevitably going to wander in there.

I'd step through, buy up some land and sneak into a few recording sessions before coming back.

I'd go to NYC in early December 1980 and kick MDC's ass to the curb.

if such a portal opened up in my kitchen I would grab a "Great Shake" and quaff it down, ala BDW!

Hmm... no one said this was ever going to be easy...

I wouldn't mind going to this press conference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8MgItRRaTo

11.22.63 was awesome :) And yeah, it's partially responsible for this topic. Also having just read LLVS, I've been wishing for some sort of access to the past to witness and participate in that era myself.

I have to admit I'm a little surprised about the responses... Of course there are lots of great concerts etc. that would have been great to see then. One of my things would be just to go out to the Whisky A Go Go on any old night :) I wouldn't go all Marty McFly and try to find my parents or anything, we know the potential perils of such actions :P

But I had visions of people wanting to maybe make a few changes to things, or musicians wanting to maybe go back and catch a bit of that 1966 air and try to record some music then using the technology that was available (and maybe whatever music making apps are on your phone.... shhh, no one has to know!) that might be considered classic now, or even just "bump into" Brian on the street outside the studio during a smoke break and tell him how much you're looking forward to them playing the Monterey Pop Fest and maybe go on a bit about its cultural importance and any band would be foolish to NOT play it, or something :) Maybe someone would intercept Carl on his way to Capitol as he was delivering the tentative track listing for Smile... Maybe find a way to steer Charles Manson off on a different path... Maybe get a job at Capitol and approve the Adult/Child release... so many possibilities!

I know I'd probably go and make the most of it, stay as long as possible, see and do as much as possible, and maybe make just a few tiny changes. I played with the idea of finding Brian and basically saying "I'm from the future and there's some sh*t you need to know" but I decided against that, LOL. I mean, what would happen if he found the portal back to 2017 and used it to try to meet his future self? What a disaster... I'd have to find a way to get him back to 1966. But then adamghost opened up a possibility that I hadn't thought of... that it's not just *you* who gets the portal, but literally every kitchen in the world gets one, so that means there would be infinite portals, and I could chase 1966 Brian and corral him into some other kitchen with an as yet unused portal and get him back to his time safely before potentially unmaking existence as we know it  :lol

Look, I know this is a bit silly, and my little "what if" above is ridiculous. I just thought it would be fun. You guys are great at coming up with all kinds of alternative albums, Smile mixes, and conjecture about what could have been...

What if I brought my phone charger with me? Can I take some food from my kitchen with me? Do food expiration dates factor in? Or will the milk I bring be good for 51 years? What time of year, how should I pack? I just want to make sure Ive got all the details straight just in case a portal really opens in my kitchen.

Hey I don't know ALL the rules, try it and see  :P

Am I allowed to bring this book with me and place a few bets for extra cash?

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-atKFdSmKlBI/ToT9Qui2UMI/AAAAAAAABtk/Hljv_HKaiHA/s1600/20110929_03_grays.jpg)

 :lol :lol :lol

The best suggestion so far!

Since there's no way to undo what I do, I'd be uneasy about doing anything for fear of an unpredictable butterfly effect. But I might hang around for 3 years to see if I could avert some assassinations and an election.

Since this purely an exercise in fantasy, I'd take one of my '60s era SLR film cameras and make a nice portfolio of photos of soon-to-be famous musicians.

 ;D

It might be tempting to try to help 1966 Brian in some way.
"If you ever meet a guy named Landy, run."

But then you'd change history, and possibly, music.

Go back and give Brian Pro Tools and teach him how to use it to help with the Smile recording sessions.  And convince the band to Play the Monterrey Pop festival the following year to showcase the  new material.

I'd round up all the Beach Boys and VDP and stress the importance of finishing Smile. I'm sure they would believe me after I'd show of some of my next millennium gizmos and predict future (and sports results) correctly. Considering the paranoid vibes going around, I'm sure they'd greet me as a new Messiah.

I honestly think that is a great idea. Be sure to stress the importance of keeping the vocal tape of Good Vibrations, too.  ;D

That is really important! ;D

I'd bring some select documents from the "future" and try to have a long, long talk with all three Wilson brothers (preferably together). And yes, I'd be definitely trying to change said future.

I'd bring along the sheet music to all my favorite hit songs from 1970 on, and thus become the most successful songwriter ever.

A few thoughts.....
1. I would figure out the correct medication for Brian and bring it to him, show him a picture of himself from 1976 and tell him," if you don't quit taking street drugs and get on this right medication, you will look like this in 10 years!"
2. Go visit Groucho Marx
3. Take all my money and invest it in a new stock that I know is big now.
4. Visit a Beach Boys vocal session and wrecking crew section
5. Get back to the vault before it burns down.

I would wait until Brian did some acid, pull him aside, and show him an episode of Full House on my magical phone.

Maybe I'd follow that with The New Leave It to Beaver. Or the premiere of SMiLE; I dunno.

Exactly come back and make a retirement off that property.
 woulda definately tried to get in to the studio with brian and the wrecking crew but also i woulda seen '40 acres'