The Smiley Smile Message Board

 :bw

Is there supposed to be a link here?

I think this is it:
https://giving.ucla.edu/Standard/NetDonate.aspx?SiteNum=3144

UCLA, next Sunday.

Might go...

Thanks for info update... and ..effort.. to research the latest news

Isn't this a rather grand way of saying "we're putting a DVD on the telly"?

The Smile DVD concert was recorded in Burbank in the later part of 2004. If I understand correctly, the concert that will be shown is the first ever Smile performance from February 2004 at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

Apologies - I'm with you now. Do any videos exist online?

I'm not sure. But there's footage in "Beautiful dreamer", and "Mrs. o'Leary's cow" from one of the first two shows is on the DVD as a bonus iirc.
This was posted by Brian's facebook account:

If you're in the L.A. area, don't miss your chance to see the never-before-seen film, Smile, followed by a discussion with Brian and David Leaf, Sunday October 20 at UCLA. Make a donation of any amount to the Brian Wilson Scholarship Fund at UCLA to attend. More info & RSVP today: https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/event/a-conversation-with-beach-boy-brian-wilson/?fbclid=IwAR36SNkEF1bZjHJuPd4_kK3K6MabBO7ttuYbiTgQnXkgurYXMfcCK704dUY

So glad to see the interest in this event, and in the scholarship fund. I don't know what footage will be shown from David's work in 2004 on "Beautiful Dreamer". What I do know is that there is plenty of compelling, unreleased material to work with, having been lucky enough to see some of it at the time. Beyond all that, it's just a great cause.

But will they splice McCartney in again?

Crazy that they never released this performance

Well, I haven't seen that performance obviously but I guess since it was the very first, it may be a little shaky at some points. When the DVD shows were filmed, Brian and the band had played the album for months and were tight. And at that point Brian also had some work done on his teeth so he looked much better for the cameras. In fact, the whole setup was very colorful and fit the Smile vibe wonderfully imo. So it makes much more sense that they released the later show for a DVD release while keeping the first show(s) for historical reasons, maybe using parts of it in the "Long promised road"-documentary.

It's amazing looking back at how happy and animated he was for that recording and his voice was in top shape.  Almost a completely different person than you would see on stage today and that just makes me so sad.

Ravages of time.  For most folks, there's a big difference between being 62 and being 77.   Who amongst us hasn't witnessed that in our own families? Yes, there are guys like Al Jardine (who is a very sprightly 77), but they're the exception.  Time catches up to everyone eventually.

I'm pretty certain that David filmed all of the RFH shows - not just the first night. He definitely had footage from several.

I'm pretty certain you're right -- it would certainly explain how in the DVD that had footage of the "first" performance at RFH how 1) Nick's shirt changed mid-song, 2) Van Dyke was wearing a white knit shirt in the audience at the end of the concert but was magically wearing a blue button-down shirt and a vest when Brian called him up to the stage, and 3) George Martin and Paul McCartney were in the audience (they were at the *fourth* show, if I know my history correctly; not the first)...

You have an eye for detail! It seems certain that the people who can attend on Sunday get to see something previously unreleased. I was lucky enough to see various parts of the unreleased footage, but that didn't include the concert recordings. Wish I could make it.

Ok, so I went to this today...
It was held in Schoenberg Hall in the UCLA music school building.  There was a pretty good crowd, but it wasn't full.   I'd say perhaps 350 of 500 seats were occupied.  
Beach Boys / Brian Wilson luminaries in attendance in addition to David and Brian: Darian, Probyn, Domenic Priore, Mark Linett & Alan Boyd.   There were several other folks I thought I recognized but am not 100% sure so will refrain from mentioning.
Before the program began, a 1964 photo of the Beach Boys on the UCLA campus (from the Don't Worry Baby/ I Get Around 45 sleeve) was displayed on the theater screen.  A nice touch.
David Leaf began the proceedings promptly at 2pm.   He made a pitch for the scholarship as well as explained a bit about Smile and his own history as a fan.  He then introduced an extended excerpt from the Beautiful Dreamer documentary. The segment covered Brian's stress during the rehearsals in the weeks immediately preceding Smile's 2004 debut in London.  This set the stage for the main part of the program... the concert film. What can I say?  It was a great 50 minute concert.  I only saw the Burbank live DVD once, shortly after its release, so I can't really comment or even guess why that was deemed more releasable than the London debut.  Brian's vocals were fine.  The band was awesome.  The audience was ecstatic.  It was supposedly the very first show, but it may have included some footage from subsequent nights.  I'm not as good at the Hocus-Focus as some of y'all, so I didn't notice any changed shirts/shoes/whatever. But I did notice George Martin in the some of the audience clips, so make of that what you will.


Following a brief intermission, the curtain was drawn. Brian was seated at a grand piano.  Joining him around the piano were David and Probyn.  Brian was dressed casually in an untuckedl long-sleeve Polo shirt and white tennis shoes.  David had questions for both Brian and Probyn.  If you've seen or read a Brian Wilson interview over the past 30 years, you're familiar with what might be called his minimalist style of answering questions ("yes," "right," etc) and there was a lot of that. He was certainly cogent and answered appropriately. I'm not going to go into huge detail on this, as I imagine a video will surface sooner or later on YouTube, Instagram, etc.   Brian cracked the audience up a couple times.  David Leaf was talking about how Herb Alpert and Mo Ostin were great benefactors of UCLA's music school and mentioned that Brian was long acquainted with both men.  (David didn't mention Alpert's ownership of Sea of Tunes, a not insignificant source of his wealth BTW). When David was talking about Mo Ostin, Brian said, "Is Mo Ostin still alive?"  This apparently struck many as funny and perhaps it was Brian's delivery that was humorous, but I think the source of the laughter was likely the audience's unawareness that Ostin is a very old man (92).  The other standout exchange was when Probyn was talking about how working with Brian has allowed him to meet many famous musicians who are fans of Brian.  Probyn described Pete Townsend bowing down and profusely telling Brian what big fan he is.  Brian interrupts, "Who is Pete Townsend?"  Probyn, "Pete Tonwsend from the Who."  Brian: "Who?"  The audience erupted.  Was this Brian doing shtick?  Probably.  Maybe. Or maybe not. I honestly am not sure.  At the end, David invited Brian to play some Smile music on the piano.  Brian declined, saying something along the lines that he couldn't remember how to the play the songs.  David said something like, "Heroes and Villains or Surf's Up?"  Brian banged out about 3 seconds of H&V and sang, "I been in this town.." and quit.   For those 3 seconds it was great-- the Humble Harv demo 2019.  It would have been freakin' awesome if he'd played a few verses, but alas it was not to be. He's Brian Freakin' Wilson and if he doesn't want to play, he doesn't have to play.

All in all, definitely an interesting way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Glad I went.    The crowd was a mix, guessing a lot of David's friends and colleagues, along with a sprinkling of UCLA students, a large cohort of well-dressed, entertainment-industry type folks.  

The afternoon could have been titled "A slightly belated 15th Anniversary party for Smile's London debut," as there was a lot of reminiscing by David and Probyn.  Probyn had many touching comments, including discussion of how he personally felt connected to Pet Sounds and his own history as a Smile fan.  Smile is part of Brian's story, of course, but this event reinforced to me how much it's also David's story and Probyn's and Darian's and Domenic's... and really all the fans who wished back to life a collection of music that died in 1967 but wouldn't stay dead.

Thanks so much for sharing this. A friend called last evening and I was so happy to hear from both of you that it went well. Brian was having a good day. Brian apparently said first that Herb Alpert was "a great singer," and then interjected later that he was "good at playing the trumpet," as I understand. It made me laugh until my friend reminded me about "This Guy's in Love with You." Then I thought, "hell, yeah! I LOVED that vocal." It didn't have the Dionne Warwick perfect delivery, but the vocal sounded so sincere that I think it made lots of young women (like me) melt. Apparently, there were older vocals by him under another name. Brian knew it all, as he does when he's being straight with you.

I also understand that Nicky's wife was there and that the film had so many touching reminders of him. Let's not forget his GoFundMe - https://www.gofundme.com/f/aqwfm-nicky-wonder-nick-walusko-memorial-fund, in addition to this great UCLA scholarship fund in Brian's name. I'm pretty positive that they're still taking donations: https://spark.ucla.edu/project/16496. You can contact them if this link doesn't work and they'll take care of it.

I loved the final paragraph of what you said, since it was perfect - it was Brian's baby and burden and it took the love of so many to happen.

It was funny, before the first "Smile" show at RFH when everyone was terrified that it would be too much for Brian, yet it was something that he and everyone needed, I was the smug one who said, "He's a pro. In spite of everything, he'll do it." Then I was the one who was holding my breath for longer than I thought anyone could and burst into tears when it ended. Of course.

When my friend and I went back to the Marriott County Hall and sat in the lobby (yes, with a bottle of champagne) she said, "You see Debbie, you CAN love someone enough." It was perfect and she had everything to do with this fund so many years later.

One of my favorite lines from another friend about Brian that suits your comments - after I'd told a story about Brian from the past that I found hilarious - was, "He has no idea how funny he is." Perfectly stated...

Thank you both for sharing that!

:)

Was a DVD/download etc of the film mentioned at all?

There's an interesting side-thread there - which songs does Brian actually play piano on? The answer, live, so far as I can tell is none - I think he's on the same fader as Bruce Johnston's keyboard.

Even going back to the 80s, if you watch him playing live the hand movements aren't in keeping with the chords at all. Just in time with the music.

I've seen him play bits of Heroes and Villains, California Girls and maybe a couple others in interviews but I don't think he plays a lot live.

No, there was no talk of a release.  David described it as a rough cut with audio mix by Mark Linett.  He said something to the effect that the rough cut had been assembled years ago and Sunday was the first time that he himself had seen it on a big screen.

With that said, is it of sufficient quality in terms of performance and production to be released?  I would say yes.  

Wonder if David and Brian would consider releasing it as a fundraiser for the BW Scholarship, like PBS does for fundraising.

I attended the UCLA screening. What was on the screen, in terms of visuals and sound seemed fine to me; very good and very enjoyable performance.  I don't see why David Leaf or whoever else wouldn't want to put this out at some point.  Brian is seen playing keyboard at various spots in the performance, including, notably, a part on Wind Chimes, where he is closing his eyes, which is kind of interesting, since closing your eyes is what's going on in that song.

Also: (1) there's a part in the finished "Beautiful Dreamer" documentary where there's a cut to Van Dyke Parks, getting a little emotional at the end of the full performance of Smile. Unless I'm not getting something or blinked wrong, in this version, that moment actually occurs at the end of the second movement, when "Surf's Up" finishes. I can see why Leaf would re-cut it for the original documentary - it's good footage, but it would confuse the casual viewer of the documentary to be shown that in the middle of the performance. But seeing it as it happened actually makes more sense.  (2) Smile, Ive gradually come to realize over the years, is indeed very religious music, as Brian originally intended. Seeing this video reinforced that, for various reasons. This leads to any number of further questions, but of course, as the subsequent Q&A illustrated, Brian ain't talking. I get the feeling he's done talking, done trying to explain himself.  The Q&A was sort of absurd, given what we had just seen.  I felt that we, in the audience, were the absurd ones, not Brian Wilson.