Guitarfool, that's really interesting. I have never heard that story about the secret studio. Where did you read that at-I know you said Hal Blaine told it, but is it somewhere on the 'net? And it does open up a lot of questions.

The only place I saw that story was in Hal's book "Hal Blaine And The Wrecking Crew". It's a neat book, with some neat inside information like the Phillips story I've never seen printed elsewhere. But some of the photos we know from Beach Boys circles are labeled with incorrect dates...like so many other books I suppose!

I think it opens up a lot of questions too - one question I have after Hal's story is how was Brian able to operate a home studio in a residential neighborhood when Phillips had to keep it a close secret? And there's also the issue of the AFM in all of that.

I think you have to consider that Brian's reputation was "Clean Cut All American", while John Phillips reputation was somewhat less so; and then the neigh borhoods were different; and what else?

What else? Brian's neighborhood got on his case because he wanted to paint his house a pink color that the neighborhood association or whatever it was had objected to, so painting a house a loud color was a violation yet running a recording studio in the house was just fine, except for Hal Blaine saying it was illegal in Bel Air. And was Brian's image really that clean cut by 1967? If you're judged in part by the company you keep, then perhaps not. Phillips may have been a lot of things in later years but in 1967 he was known around LA for spending extreme amounts of money on luxury cars, clothes, toys, etc...a typical Hollywood superstar who was riding his wave. Then again you'll always get the prosecutors or police investigators looking to bust high-profile celebrities in the 60's, so maybe they were coming around to Papa John's place for reasons other than to bust a home studio.

Here's the thing with Hal's comments: There are no dates. I do know for a fact that Western upgraded their recording equipment in 1967, and sold it off to make room for the new gear. It was through Hal's book that I learned Papa John was the one who bought the gear and used it to build his home studio. But the dates of all this I can only assume were 1967-68, and if Phillips were "hiding" the sessions he was doing at the house, it might be hard to find documents to date anything.

It doesn't jive how Phillips is secretive and hiding everything, yet Brian has a studio in the same general area where not only are they recording but they're also openly smoking hash while doing it. At least for the few weeks Smiley was being cut.

Question: Are there any published interviews or articles from 1967 where Brian mentions recording at his "home studio"?

Guitarfool, that's really interesting. I have never heard that story about the secret studio. Where did you read that at-I know you said Hal Blaine told it, but is it somewhere on the 'net? And it does open up a lot of questions.

The only place I saw that story was in Hal's book "Hal Blaine And The Wrecking Crew". It's a neat book, with some neat inside information like the Phillips story I've never seen printed elsewhere. But some of the photos we know from Beach Boys circles are labeled with incorrect dates...like so many other books I suppose!

I think it opens up a lot of questions too - one question I have after Hal's story is how was Brian able to operate a home studio in a residential neighborhood when Phillips had to keep it a close secret? And there's also the issue of the AFM in all of that.

Another thought about the Wrecking Crew is they were union. What if there was some kind of weird unwritten/unspoken thing that they could not work with Brian because of some pressure within their union. Total speculation on my part, but how frustrating would that be. It seems like he stopped using the whole Crew at the same time.

I hinted at this in an earlier post as well - He stopped using them almost overnight in terms of his recording schedule, and it was not like he would even call 2 of the guys to play on something...it just stopped cold. Capitol would have been paying the union musicians with their overtime and doubles and all of that, and would they have footed those bills in the middle of a lawsuit? That's only one facet of the whole story - was it financial when Brian stopped booking the union players, or something else? Perhaps Capitol tightened their belt and choked off Brian's budget as well.


I have to add another element to this; "home studios" in 1967 terms were against the law in Bel Air at the time. Hal Blaine told the stories of Papa John Phillips' own home studio in Bel Air: Phillips had bought the old gear from Western after they upgraded, and had a secret studio built in his attic, about as close to professional as you could get with professional wiring and power, all the goodies. It was accessed by secret doors and the wiring ran through the walls so it wasn't obvious. The police would stop in to check on calls if they saw more cars than usual gathered around the house, and if Phillips had been recording he'd get everyone down to the living room where they had instruments set up as if they were just jamming or rehearsing.

So it was against the law to operate a home studio in that neighborhood and Phillips took extra precautions to hide the fact he had Western's old control room and gear in his attic for sessions at the house...yet Brian had a studio in his house. Was Phillips paying union scale for his home sessions, or since it wasn't an official studio per se, was he paying the union players like Hal less under the table, which actually might be more if taxes and whatnot were not taken out? I really don't know.

Thanks again for all of the info!

Since getting into the history of KHJ in the 60's, the story of the "Heroes" single became even more fascinating to me, and any new bits of information we can cobble together to better tell the story are very much appreciated!

I'm now thinking there may have been a bit more of Hollywood hype behind the story than previously thought, and I think parts of it were pumped up and blown up bigger than the actual events. I could go through each point but it's all spelled out in various posts and comments in the thread. Just to sum up I think as someone who for years thought Brian received and outright, cold rejection at KHJ that night (an impression I mostly got from the Todd Gold biography, Melcher's memories, and LLVS...), I'm seeing the story on a much smaller scale. After reading what Ron Jacobs said, I'm more convinced Tom Maule was simply doing his job.

Authors, of course, are called on to "juice" a story to make it more interesting. If the story were told that Brian and company showed up that night and the DJ had to call his PD before airing it, and they had to tag it "KHJ exclusive" before airing it as was the standard protocol for an exclusive airing of a new song, the story wouldn't jump off the pages. I'm just sayin'....And as with everything from this era, all of what I said could be wiped out by one person with a clear memory of that night who could confirm the questionable details which were told before.

I always got the impression "Surf's Up" was well-received after it aired on 'Inside Pop' 4/67...and again, comparing it to "Society's Child", which was well-received, created a demand for the record which ten created a hit single which received airplay and made the charts after it was featured on Inside Pop, I've assumed there were fans and new listeners who heard Surf's Up and wanted to buy that as well.

Brian seems to have suggested otherwise in that quote - was this self-doubt when he says "a lot of people just don't like it", or was he basing that on reactions he heard to the Inside Pop performance? Was the tension between Brian who didn't want the song released and other parties (Capitol? Anderle? Beach Boys? Others?) who perhaps sensed a single in the making and wanted the song released after the show was aired?

Listen to "Society's Child"...does it sound like a radio hit, or in any way "commercial" in April 1967's AM radio standards? Yet the demand from that TV program made it a commercial hit which got airplay.

I think the only connection - and it's a very thin one at that - between "Whistle In" and "Heroes" is the "Dumb Whistle" part which I mentioned a few posts ago...and the only connection I hear anyway is that both songs feature whistling on top of a rhythmic "dum dum dum" style backing.

Just for curiosity - this 1/27/67 Heroes vocal session, was it the "Dumb Whistle" fragment?

All I want to add to this most fascinating discussion is this: Of all the hours of session tapes and studio material I've listened to through the years, I cannot really think of a single one where Brian sounds disorganized, unfocused, or in some way disconnected with what is going on. In fact on nearly every session out there from 1966 into 1967, he is in command of what's happening. It seems to be the same on the Smiley Smile sessions as well, although there are not nearly as many pieces of "chat" audible on those tapes which have come out.

A possible piece of evidence for a stalemate in the group over Smile material:

Brian Wilson, 1968:
Early 1967, I had planned to make an album entitled SMILE. I was working with a guy named Van Dyke Parks, who was collaborating with me on some of the tunes, and in the process, we came up with a song called "Surf's Up," and I performed that with just a piano on a documentary show made on rock music. The song "Surf's Up" that I sang on that documentary never came out on an album, and it was supposed to come out on the SMILE album, and that and a couple of other songs were junked... because... I don't know why... for some reason didn't want to put them on the album. And the group nearly broke up, actually broke up for good after that.

That program "Inside Pop" didn't actually air until April 1967 though Brian's segments were filmed in late 1966. I know that quote well, and I've wondered if he meant the public response to that show made releasing that song a band issue as the Smile project itself was somewhat stalled out and the band was in the middle of their lawsuit in April 1967...because the same program featured Janis Ian singing "Society's Child" and after the program aired the song became a hit record for her, and some would say the Inside Pop program made it a hit. If Surf's Up had been available to buy in 1967 it probably would have had a similar fate.

I've also found it interesting to take even a handful of similar quotes from Brian through the years and his "reasons" for why certain things happened at that time can change nearly every time he's been asked over the years.

Taking bets on how long it will take the attorneys to send the Cease and Desist order to the folks printing that stuff...

Whistle In sounds like a throwaway or an unfinished idea to me - it's not much of a song, is it? The only relationship to the Smile sessions proper might be a Heroes fragment session where they're whistling the same melody line that the French Horn player does the "fluttertone" effect on the Cantina version of Heroes.

Have any replies come in from the emails mentioned above?

There are so many facets of this story which are barely if ever added into the debates: The issue of Capitol "tightening the belt" in the midst of a lawsuit from the Beach Boys is one of those.

Underneath everything, it has to be pointed out how much of a risk David Anderle was taking by doing this and going forward with the lawsuit. Those monies Capitol was found to owe Brian and the BB's were the ace in the hole for Anderle in some way, in the same way Allen Klein used royalties owed the Beatles to woo them (at least three of them) into changing management. Anderle and the layers he had on the case knew they had Capitol in a fix, and Capitol knew they were wrong by doing this, yet to go public with this would potentially cost Capitol untold millions because obviously the Beach Boys were not the only artists they were playing games with.

Remember too - it was not only for the money, but as this March 1967 clipping shows the Beach Boys were going to break off their relationship with Capitol entirely:



The point made in a post above is a great one: How are you going to send studio bills to a record company which you're threatening to terminate a lucrative relationship with and sue for a 6-figure back royalty settlement? It was a very bold offensive play in the game between the Beach Boys and Capitol, and it was unfolding in the press as well so it became a PR issue for Capitol to deal with - again, they knew they were in the wrong.

We've heard from Vosse and Anderle that booking studio time during this period was frustrating for Brian because he'd get the itch to record and no rooms would be available for him to book...However, the issue of who was going to pay the bills has to be pointed out because a new product had not been delivered to Capitol since October 1966.

I think the home studio is what it is...the first one was a haphazard affair literally cobbled together in Brian's house until a more permanent setup could be constructed. But it is very interesting to note that in summer and fall 1967, even with the home studio, Brian was cutting records at Wally Heider's new studio in LA. Heider had been an engineer under Bill Putnam at United/Western, before getting a name as a great mobile engineer and breaking off on his own.

The room Brian used at Heider's was apparently a near-exact reproduction of Western Studio 3 built after Heider studied every angle and dimension of Western 3 when he was there.

It makes you wonder whether the home studio was a compromise, a way to get studio time whenever Brian wanted it without the hassles of scheduling and booking, or a financial necessity.

He also stopped using the Wrecking Crew for the most part during and immediately after the lawsuit as well...was *that* decision artistic or financial since Capitol paid the musicians' union wages and fees as well? Damn, this thread is making me think and re-think things a bit.

Just wanted to add a few things that came to mind:

- I've heard Ron Jacobs had his car equipped with one of the precursors of the cel phone, back in the mid 60's when this was a very lavish feature, so he could call KHJ from his "radiotelephone" rig in his car if he saw or heard any breaking news in LA. KHJ was big in going for the "exclusive" and this car phone was probably one way they thought they could get it.

- I think it was Bill Drake who had some kind of a telephone linking system in his office where he could listen to a simulcast of any one of his stations around the country at any time in his office - sort of a precursor to satellite radio or internet radio only using phone lines. If anything was going down on a Drake station, he could hear it immediately. One of the Don Steele recordings is apparently sourced from a recording of that system.

- That information about the Boss Radio top-30 previews happening at 6pm on Wednesdays in 1967...one of my all-time favorite pieces of audio *ever* is an aircheck shared by the Steele family where Don's shift ends at 6 and Humble Harve takes over - previewing the Boss 30. And the song Harve plays...Don't You Care by the Buckinghams. When I first heard that, I nearly cried it sounded so cool and it's a song I loved but rarely heard on the oldies stations. It's nice to hear that confirmation and how it tied into those surveys being printed.

Fantastic, just terrific research on this thread!!! Thank you many times over for this. The real pros around here beat me to it - had it been a slower working night and a less busy day I wanted to email Jacobs on a lark just for the fun of it to see what he thought, but it's already been done and the info is in. Great stuff, and it's very much appreciated!

It gets a few things cleared up - the date of the "Hitbound" survey and how that worked when adding songs, the protocol at KHJ regarding taking calls, playing records which had not been screened, how the front gate worked, etc.

It is actually interesting to see Ron Jacobs almost get Tom Maule "off the hook" for not playing the record that night. I even heard others say Jacobs chewed him out for not playing it. Maule took all kinds of heat from fans for years - his name and picture also appear in LLVS since the first printing in the 80's, and I'm assuming Bill Earl was the source of naming Maule for that book project as his name was mentioned elsewhere, and I think that is one source where fans saw that and formed their impressions of what happened that night (myself included until I got more into researching KHJ). I have re-read Jacobs' comments - again he'd be the guy who got the call from the studio asking if they could put the disc on the air - and he all but absolves Tom Maule of the blame he may have gotten for that. What Brian and the Beach Boys asked him to do that night was not done under the rules at the station...so I may have been mistaken too when I suggested Steele or Morgan would have played the disc immediately. They would have gotten permission first from Jacobs or someone under him after actually hearing the record.

That part about hearing the record before airing it is what I never factored in - and they would need to hear it in order to tape the "KHJ EXCLUSIVE" voiceover which Jacobs would add to the carted version so no other stations could steal it and re-broadcast it. I think I have one KHJ aircheck with a song featuring Jacobs saying "KHJ exclusive" over it, and I believe Good Vibrations was first heard in LA with the Jacobs voiceover until the record broke nationwide.

Again, my deepest thanks and appreciation for the info posted here, and I look forward to hearing more as the emails come in!

For comparison:

The guy at Gold Star:


Jim Gordon:

Can someone read and then give me a brief summary of the above post? Too long for me to read.

Nice post. Much appreciated.

I guess that's what happens when you don't proof read; I forgot the smiley    I actually enjoyed the original post! My bad!

This post made me smile, thank you!

I'm looking forward to seeing what else develops in this thread once the emails come in and more information is gathered.

Bgas: I can't get it out of my mind how a simple phone call could have given the Boys a "Heroes' welcome"   that night at KHJ, and I'd almost guarantee Ron Jacobs would have been there to personally greet them and get the song on the air immediately. Brian played a part in helping Jacobs launch "Boss Radio" from the beginning, and was a friend of the station. Or a phone call could have made sure a friend like Humble Harve was behind the mic when they arrived. All someone had to do was make that call and plan ahead. That's not getting Maule off the hook for an obvious blunder, but it's not all his fault.

  Oh, I see your point. I"M NOT STOOPID. I just don't believe Brian thought of it in that manner. He was all about gifting KHJ with the exclusive; the thought that someone would refuse to play something this special would never enter his mind, no matter what time of day/night it was.
Do you really think Brian really thought about Midnight not being the same as 11oclock in the morning? I don't.
His history of recording is evidence of that. His time, ANY time,  was the right time.

And obviously KHJ dropped the ball because the guy there flubbed his chance for an exclusive - it just wasn't good timing no matter what Brian's astrologist said!

Another interesting point you make about Brian's time...wasn't this idea of Brian's impulsiveness part of what led him to create a studio and record at home? I think Vosse and Anderle among others have said Brian was frustrated during the Smile era that he couldn't book studios on a whim whenever he wanted, and when he got an idea for a recording he wanted that studio time when he wanted it...and that simply wasn't possible. So he made his own studio where he could record anytime he got the impulse to record.

Shameless plug: For vintagemusic and others interested, here's a link you might want to check out if you haven't seen it: http://www.classicstudiosessions.blogspot.com/

I made that Jim Gordon photo from a series of screenshots of Sonny and Cher film shot at Gold Star in '66, it's the only post there on our blog so far!   I would have posted the video itself but in launching the blog, we thought it would be best to avoid copyright issues and use still photography, so I did sceenshots instead. Let me know off the board if you want a link to the original film.

It is amazing how few shots exist of Jim Gordon at this time. There are some of him working with Brian, wearing a firehat, etc. But overall, considering how much work he did in the 60's and how many hits he played on, there is such a lack of photos and info it's unbelievable. I know of unpublished/unseen shots of Jim from this time (66-69), hopefully someday this stuff will come out.

I just wanted to take a moment to say "Thank You!" to Steve Mayo for his work. Scanning, clipping, and uploading these articles takes a lot of time and effort, and I just wanted to say thank you for doing it and it is appreciated. These are very informative and enjoyable!

Watch the dates given under the studio photos in LLVS: Two errors have already been pointed out from photos in this thread.

As far as studios in those photos, if you see wood paneling on the walls and colored tiles, chances are it was Western #3. Robin's egg blue paint and off-white tiles was Gold Star. And the control rooms had a certain look as well: it's easy to pick them out in comparison. I saw that famous shot of Brian and Hal Blaine at the piano, with Brian wearing the same white sweater and hair style as these Gold Star 11/29 photos: I thought to myself "what's Hal doing there?" but the wall behind them was the wood paneling, obviously Western. Answered my own question!

Here are three more from what I would guess was the same 11/29/66 session at Gold Star, judging from Brian's appearance:

Wow - thanks for all of the great info! I had never seen the Disc And Music Echo excerpt until this morning. And I'm VERY curious to hear what Johnny Williams may add to this. Johnny was for those who don't know him the "overnight" DJ at KHJ, working during the week from midnight to morning.

I'm questioning the dates even more after reading this: Obviously Johnny Williams can clear it up, but there *is* still a chance the Beach Boys could have encountered Maule at KHJ after midnight. His shift on Sunday nights was 8pm to 2am. Or even if we confirm Tuesday July 11 as the night it happened, perhaps Maule worked a longer shift? There are KHJ tapes of guys like Steele working shifts they normally wouldn't work to fill in, so who knows.

I know it seems nit-picking in a way but the dates and times are crucial to putting the pieces together with this story.

Bgas: I can't get it out of my mind how a simple phone call could have given the Boys a "Heroes' welcome"   that night at KHJ, and I'd almost guarantee Ron Jacobs would have been there to personally greet them and get the song on the air immediately. Brian played a part in helping Jacobs launch "Boss Radio" from the beginning, and was a friend of the station. Or a phone call could have made sure a friend like Humble Harve was behind the mic when they arrived. All someone had to do was make that call and plan ahead. That's not getting Maule off the hook for an obvious blunder, but it's not all his fault.

Wouldn't that previewed date mean the results were from the week before July 12? Like from July 2 through July 9 or so maybe? It seems like I've seen surveys that stipulate the figures were tabulated a few days before the date shown. Maybe not.

I'm not quite sure how the dates worked: If what you said was the way KHJ did those "Hitbounds" then the date of July 11 for the night it all happened would be off, since they wouldn't be playing a record they hadn't received until the night of July 11.

I was confused by that as well.

It's not as if Maule was a new DJ, tho; He was at KMAK in Fresno in 1962, when the  BBs came to play( in the middle of summer) on the roof above the studio.
 So he knew where they'd been and how important they were.  

Agreed, Tom Maule was a radio professional and knew the Beach Boys for who they were, but I think Maule as the "new guy" was still out of the loop and wanted to play by the rules he was given when he was hired. KHJ from what I've read had a certain chain of command, and some DJ's were given more freedom than others - while guys like Maule probably didn't want to risk breaking those rules since he wanted his job which he just landed weeks before the caravan showed up.

Melcher suggests the caravan even had to sweet talk the front gate or front door to get into the station that night...I'd suggest if plans had been made and Jacobs knew they were coming he'd be there himself to meet Brian and get it on the air along with an interview.

As it turned out, Tom Maule made a mistake by not playing it and Brian and company made a few mistakes in their timing and in not planning out what could have been a really awesome night of radio in LA.

Did I write too much?

Can someone read and then give me a brief summary of the above post? Too long for me to read.

Nice post. Much appreciated.

[Humble Harve]

Thanks for taking the time to post this very cool stuff, GF2002!  It's really interesting to read articles from the actual point in time in which things were happening.

Also, in another thread a couple of weeks ago you mentioned that it was Tom Maule who was on duty at KHJ the fateful night when Brian and company went to KHJ to give the station the opportunity to premiere H & V to the world, only to have the dj initially say he couldn't play it because it wasn't on the playlist.  I'm just curious - do you know for sure that it was Tom Maule who was on the air at this time?  He is the most likely candidate, as he was on the air from 9 to midnight, but Johnny Williams took over at midnight, and I recall reading recently (I think it was Al Jardine) where the time given for their arrival at the studios was "around midnight".

Maule was new to KHJ, and would have first arrived probably anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks before this incident occurred, having been at KGB, San Diego prior to that.  Anyway, I've always wondered who the infamous dj was.  Maule is probably the most likely candidate, but I'm wondering if his name comes from a verifiable source, or is based on the assumption that BW and company must have arrived before midnight.

I really enjoy the time machine aspect of these surveys, articles, clippings, etc. It's just as fans back in the day would have heard or seen the news about Smile or anything else, and it places it into a context especially with the top-30 or top-40 listings for any given week. Very cool!

I'm pretty certain it would been Tom Maule behind the KHJ mic when this happened.

I've been trying to piece together the Tom Maule information since I first heard a tape of him on KHJ, and that pre-dates the Keith Badman book. In LLVS, they printed a copy of an old KHJ promo print ad with Tom Maule and drew cartoon words around it suggesting Maule was somehow at fault for the whole thing, like the playlist was so strict and rigid or even Maule himself was so uptight he (Maule) or they (KHJ) couldn't allow Brian's new record to be played. Ironically some of this information came to LLVS apparently through Bill Earl, the same Bill Earl who was reading those KFXM newsletters posted above!

I thought putting most of the blame on Maule for not playing the disc was in some ways unfair in light of what I've read in the past 5 years or so.

I am actually planning something further and more in-depth on this topic because it is fascinating, but basically Tom Maule was a new hire to KHJ when this happened - he was hired in mid-June 1967. His shift did go 9 to midnight, and remember getting hired to KHJ in 1967 was about as big for a top-40 DJ as you could get. Tapes of KHJ were being circulated among radio stations across the country so they could try to replicate the format that was making KHJ so much money and making them so influential.

If you got a job there, you'd want to keep it. Which meant for Maule being a new hire and fresh to Los Angeles, he wasn't as schooled in the ins and out of how the station ran politically as the established DJ's like Steele and Morgan. If his PD told Tom to "stick to the playlist" Tom being a professional broadcaster would stick to the playlist, especially wanting to keep his job.

I have heard this from others too, but I think Tom Maule honestly did not recognize the significance of the group of Beach Boys and friends crashing his show with a new record to play, unheard, on the air. I honestly don't think he knew the ramifications of the history of musicians like Brian Wilson hand-carrying a disc fresh from mastering to KHJ studios to have it "premiered" on the air. Brian did this several times, delivering his new single in person to KHJ where it was played. "Good Vibrations" was premiered on KHJ television - "Boss City" - and it made the music trade news because singles were meant for the radio - here was KHJ going first to television, shades of MTV to come later. Other stations simply did not do this: KHJ was breaking the mold.

In Maule's defense could he have known all of that background with Brian and KHJ? Brian was missing in action for months as he worked on Smile then scrapped Smile and retreated to his home studio. The last "KHJ exclusive" Beach Boys single he would have delivered was October 1966, well before Maule was a part of the KHJ staff, and here comes a group of musicians and hangers-on carrying a single asking him to break the rules he was given and play it. I can't fault the guy for wanting to keep his job, although it is also hard to argue when a figure like Brian Wilson shows up in 1967 with a brand new world exclusive and you don't play the thing immediately!

HOWEVER...I think Brian and company simply picked the wrong time to show up at KHJ. For all of his Genevolyn-astrology bullshit telling him this was the perfect time for the record to launch, the DJ on duty did not know Brian, and had been on the job a matter of weeks at that point...and had that group showed up at 5 in the afternoon Don Steele would have had them on for hours, or how about showing up for Robert W's morning show? Same deal. Morgan and Steele had a lot of freedom to do what they wanted to do on the air - they could have had Brian on the air for three hours and made some amazing radio, as they were the big guns at KHJ. The other DJ's were more locked into a format and whatever their PD told them to do. A new DJ like Tom Maule had to stick to the rules: An "old pro" like Tom Maule would stick to the format - to a fault.

And even more frustrating...Brian's pal Humble Harve was working the weekday 6 to 9 shift at KHJ!!! If Brian had showed up a few hours earlier, or even more obviously *called* the radio station before showing up to plan it out, he'd have met Humble Harve on the air, the same Humble Harve to whom Brian played a preview of that very same single Heroes as it was in it's early working stages in 1966 when Harve sat next to Brian and listened at the piano.

The date given in Peter Ames Carlin's book for this was Tuesday July 11, 1967. KHJ's lineup would have been Steele 3-6, Humble Harve 6-9, and Tom Maule 9-12. The Carlin book cites Terry Melcher's 1971 telling of the story as well. Coincidentally KHJ's July 12 survey lists Heroes as "hitbound"...would they print the survey overnight or was it a rush to get the premiere on the air? Or is the date a bit off?

And...had Brian taken his new single there on a Saturday night in June-July 1967, he would have again found Humble Harve on air from 7 to midnight!!! Timing was everything - Brian and company got it wrong. He could have delivered it Saturday night July 8, and had a friendly DJ on the air plus the ears of southern California out and about listening to the radio.

I think the bottom line is Brian simply messed up and went there at the wrong time, no matter what his astrologist told him. If he had gone on a Saturday, if the July 11 date is correct and he had gone a few hours earlier on that Tuesday, the reception would have been different. Tom Maule did get chewed out by Jacobs for this, and in some ways rightfully so, but it's not all Maule's fault. Symbolic of many Beach Boys affairs in the summer of 1967, things simply didn't work out because the impulse of doing something was stronger than the notion of planning it out for the best result.