The Smiley Smile Message Board

A couple of fans are currently busy trying to organize a Beach Boys meeting to celebrate 50 years of Holland. We'd like to hold this meeting in Café De Punt in Baambrugge, just accross the street where the Beach Boys largely recorded their Holland album. Not a big event, mind you, but an opportunity to meet and speak with fans. And if possible (with permission of the current owner of course) possibly a short visit to the former location of the studio.

But we'd like to get an idea of how many fans we can expect (in case we have to reserve part of the cafe).
Big chance of course that it's mostly Dutch fans... but we all speak English and/or German (or something that sounds like it), and we happily invite anyone that has the opportunity and would like to be here to come over and join this happy occasion.

Current possible dates are:
- Saturday August 6th or 13th
- Sunday August 7th of 14th

If you're interested please let me know.

What a nice idea, I'm interested, though I can't promise if I'll be able to make it.

UPDATE: the date is set on Sunday August 14th. More details will follow.

Put me down tentatively.

A last update and reminder !

As announced before, there's a informal Beach Boys fan meeting in Baambrugge on August 14th (Sunday).

Location: Café De Punt, Rijksstraatweg 12 Baambrugge,
Time: 14:00 - 17:00PM

We don't have an official program, just a few hours of chatting with fans and sharing memories. There's room inside for the group to do so, and in that case we might be able to play some appropriate (and rare) music). But when weather permits, we're sitting outside of course.

No official program...but... we are allowed to visit the former site of the BBC2 studio, just across the street. For those who want to take the opportunity to be there: the gate will be opened for us at 15PM. I'll take some documentation with me, so we can locate and visualize the studio. And perhaps the current owner of the site can tell us a bit more (not on the recordings though).

Any questions? Reply or send me a PM.

Did it happen? Please give us an update when you can. And pictures, if you've got 'em.

It sure did happen!

It was a hot day (especially walking on the concrete underground during our tour on the site of the former studio), but we had a blast! I’ll tell more about it soon. Pictures of the event will follow the next couple of days.

It only just occurred to me that you were the Aussie from Germany who arrived a little later than the rest. Very cool!

Here’s a look back on the Dutch Beach Boys meeting of August 14th 2022. My partner-in-crime for this day, Willem, made a reservation at Café De Punt in Baambrugge. That’s the café right across the street where the studio used to be. And where the boys would often go to for drink and a toast in between sessions. Yes, the café’s still there, and honestly, the interior hasn’t changed that much in 50 years… and they still have toasts on the menu. I arrived a bit early, and appropriately ordered a few toasts for lunch. The meeting was officially planned between 2-5PM, but the first fans started pouring in before that. We quickly figured out that the terrace that was reserved for us – although equipped with large parasols – was steaming hot (surrounded with fences and glass windows). So we soon moved to another terrace on the back, along the river, where the temperature was much more bearable.

The first was mostly used for handshakes and reminiscing. And lots of drinks! Many familiar faces, but also a few new ones. Really nice to finally shake hands with jk (active Endless Harmony board). But we even had a guest that came over from Germany (albeit a genuine Australian guy – mooger frooger, well known on the SmileySmile board) who arrived just in time to join during our visit at the ‘barn’.

At around 3PM we went for a short walk to the other side of the street where the current owner of the little business park (that is situated on the site where the studio used to be) was waiting for us. And to our happy surprise he didn’t just open the gate for us, but gave us a grand tour on the premises, and gave us an extensive explanation on the history of the barn, its functions prior to and during the making of Holland, and a more details on the exact location of the former BBC2 studio and a more accurate date on when the building was torn down. Regarding the book on Holland we’re working on, we still have some questions left, but thanks to the owner we now also know where to find the local historian of Baambrugge, so he might be able to tell us even more.

Half an hour later we happily returned to the café’s terrace (did I mention already it was HOT – especially standing and walking on a large piece of concrete!) for more drinks and conversation., and bragging on our individual extraordinary experiences with the Beach Boys (all true stories though). We also took the time to memorate our good friend Maarten, who was supposed to be here as well, but passed away suddenly shotly after he announced he would come over as well (his wife joined us for this occasion). As a former member of the Dutch vocal group Holland Smiles, and a great guys in general, we will surely miss him.

For those interested I even had a few copies of the new Drifting Sand CD-single with Al Jardine guesting on bv’s on ‘Best Summer Ever’, that some of the fans happily bought a copy off. Some of us brought memorabilia, and I was lucky enough to get hold on some older fan magazines (thanks Willem!!). Later on, I opened up the trunk of my car loaded with boxes filled with spare BB vinyl, cd’s and books/magazines, and a few fans happily took advantage of the occasion. And thanks to another fan a few of us were even able to listen to a live stream of the single In Concert album – even Bluetooth-ed through the stereo of my car it sounded great! Many thanks to him for giving us the chance to listen to it!

Afterwards we became aware that we actually hadn’t done trouble enough to spread the word on this meeting, as we heard from several German fans they would have loved to have been there. And tbh, I would have loved to have seen and meet them here (The California Saga fanclub has done some very cool meetings in the past as well. We’ll definitely do our best to promote our next meeting even better. I half expect that there will be another meeting in the near future, if only for the fact that the Holland album’s anniversary is next year and there’s a book to be presented. We’ll have to think of a good location to do this. There’s several possibilities, but if I may believe the owner of the business park, we might as well do it there. But that’s something to figure out later on.

Café De Punt
(https://i.ibb.co/tX4Cypn/2022-08-14-Baambrugge-1h-Cafe-De-Punt.jpg) (https://ibb.co/SrPvqwH)
We were sitting on the terrace at the back along the river de Angstel. The site of the former studio is across the street just behind us.
(https://i.ibb.co/XS3P2r5/2022-08-14-Baambrugge-1i-Cafe-De-Punt.jpg) (https://ibb.co/KFLg0ps)
Obligatory toast
(https://i.ibb.co/997Y3rc/2022-08-14-Baambrugge-1g-obligatory-toast.jpg) (https://ibb.co/GvqP35n)
Fans arriving
(https://i.ibb.co/W5XZzcn/2022-08-14-Baambrugge-2a-fans-arriving.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Khgds96)
(https://i.ibb.co/N6wV4CH/2022-08-14-Baambrugge-2b-fans-arriving.jpg) (https://ibb.co/6R6ndwf)
(https://i.ibb.co/dpvYLxv/2022-08-14-Baambrugge-2c-fans-arriving.jpg) (https://ibb.co/SmgCdGg)
At the entrance of the former site of the studio; hasn’t changed since 1972
(https://i.ibb.co/gR754ph/2022-08-14-Baambrugge-3a-entrance-from-the-main-road.jpg) (https://ibb.co/z45y6YD)
The owner gave us a tour on the site; here we are standing in front of the current building listening to his explanation on the companies that were here 50 years ago and where several buildings/barns were situated.
(https://i.ibb.co/mvfpQdt/2022-08-14-Baambrugge-3d-mr-Andriessen-explains.jpg) (https://ibb.co/CJRLx4v)
(https://i.ibb.co/hDBGsNP/2022-08-14-Baambrugge-3f-mr-Andriessen-explains.jpg) (https://ibb.co/18rCZND)
(https://i.ibb.co/hy9q1Mk/2022-08-14-Baambrugge-3i-mr-Andriessen-explains.jpg) (https://ibb.co/NsC4n3X)
The current business units. The former studio was actually on the back side of these buildings
(https://i.ibb.co/rmmbb7m/2022-08-14-Baambrugge-3h-current-halls.jpg) (https://ibb.co/HVVNNFV)
At the back of the building, standing on where the studio used to be
(https://i.ibb.co/FDNcsyX/2022-08-14-Baambrugge-3m-at-the-back.jpg) (https://ibb.co/87TGzfb)
(https://i.ibb.co/sq3NrCW/2022-08-14-Baambrugge-3n-at-the-back.jpg) (https://ibb.co/njkYSBP)
Remembering Maarten
(https://i.ibb.co/qskJcmf/2022-08-14-Baambrugge-4-Maarten.jpg) (https://ibb.co/KqFKfVk)
After talk on the terrace
(https://i.ibb.co/j3Q4dv6/2022-08-14-Baambrugge-5c-aftertalk.jpg) (https://ibb.co/fry0bY1)
(https://i.ibb.co/bBf4Kkk/2022-08-14-Baambrugge-5e-aftertalk.jpg) (https://ibb.co/1qSCmkk)
Got me some goodies…
(https://i.ibb.co/nk5MyCm/2022-08-14-Baambrugge-6-goodies.jpg) (https://ibb.co/mzM5K8T)

Looks awesome! Thanks!

Sorry that I couldn't join !
Just a couple of questions:  The "Studio"s nabours; will they still open a Beach Boys-themed Bed & Breakfast.
And the " Holland"book: When is its release scheduled. And will it be in dutch, only?

Ah, the neighbours with ideas on starting a BBBBB&B (Beach Boys BaamBrugge Bed & Breakfast)… no clue. We didn’t speak with them.

The scheduled release is March 2023. The publisher only made a deal for a Dutch publication. But the authors are allowed to find another publisher to publish this book in another language. I personally would welcome it, as I expect that an English release would interestva larger sales market. And the authors agree with that. There’s few vague ideas, but no concrete plans yet. Although a few fans already gave some suggestions.

Must say that I laughed out loud when I saw your photo with my old “Friends of The Beach Boys” issues!  Someone must have paid you to take them off their hands! Lol!

One of the attendees made a cool little movie of the visit. Practice your Dutch if you want to understand any of it !  ;D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC0GinhCRA4

There’s nothing wrong with ‘old’ fanzines like yours. I love ‘em. They were part of a trade I did. And I actually already have nr 6 and 7, so if anyone’s interested… I’m still looking for #1&2 myself btw.

Did you know there was another fanzine called ‘Friends’?  Issued by the Dutch fanclub between 1971-74.

(https://i.ibb.co/P5GWZGZ/ACB7-B76-A-15-F1-4-A8-C-90-B5-22-AD6308-B756.jpg) (https://ibb.co/p3jKvjv)

 Here's hoping that next year's "HOLLAND"b¤¤k will also dig deep into the WILSONs' ancestral "DUTCHiness" coming to the fore in 1972 - or lack thereof?