Sad news to report...it's been discovered that Craig Smith died this past March, at age 66.

So,  just the other day, a message was posted on Craig Smith-related page of a blog I frequently read.   Here's what it says:

I too met him in 1972, I think in Santa Monica. He gave me a ride back to my dorm at UCLA and after that would randomly show up at odd hours. My roommate was not too thrilled by his scary appearance even then. I knew he was the “real thing” as he took me to his record company to pick up something and then we dropped by to visit Brian Wilson at his house. Mrs. Wilson came home with the kids while we were there and I could tell she was not happy to see Matreya in her living room (not to mention me). Brian was friendly enough. Matreya gave me one of his albums which I loved but somehow misplaced. He talked about the Manson crowd too and at some point I had to insist he not show up anymore as he was scaring the lovely co-eds on my floor! I have read about him on-line and have also wondered if he is still out there on the streets somewhere. So sad.

Is Craig Smith still around? This is interesting history.

Craig is still around, but not doing 'well'.  He's homeless, living on the streets of LA, the last I heard...

Just wanted to add...Craig Smith was well-acquainted with both Mike and Brian, so the familiar tone during the 'Salesman' recording makes sense. 

An amendment to my earlier question (see Reply #2224)...

Is this the Beach Boys?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7-6_qESxik

I wonder if Mike Love is even aware that the 'Salesman' recording/demo/conversation was actually released.   I'd love to know what if/what he remembers.   So many questions!

Does there exist a BB-recorded jingle for Wolfman Jack?

I recently heard an old Wolfman Jack show from 1971, and he plays a jingle that sounds a lot like the lads.  Has a real sunny '70s vibe to it, even has the 'walkdown' ending reminiscent of the KWFB spot.   If it's not them, it's a real good sound-alike!

Hi folks,

I know this is an old thread, but hopefully I can fill in some blanks...

Around 1963-64, Craig Smith was part of a folk-music group called The Good Time Singers, which put out some LPs and singles on Capitol and appeared regularly on The Andy Williams Show.   He left that group and in 1965 auditioned for a role as part of a folk-singing trio  on a TV show called 'The Happeners'.  A pilot episode was filmed, but the show didn't get picked up.  However, Craig and one of the other singers, Chris Ducey, hit it off and decided to continue making music.  They cut one single on Capitol in 1966 as Chris & Craig - it was produced by Steve Douglas, backed by the W-Crew (with Glen Campbell on guitar). 

They made the rounds on the LA scene and struck up a friendship with Mike Nesmith while making appearances at the hootenannies at The Troubadour, which, by mid-'67 led to Nesmith's taking Chris & Craig under his wing, renaming them Penny Arkade and recording their songs to shop around for a deal.  By mid-'68, with no record deal in sight, Craig left the band and went on his journey, funded by royalties from recordings of his songs (Heather MacRae, The Robbs, Andy Williams, The Monkees, Glen Campbell).  Penny Arkade continued on without him until mid-'69. 
Craig (now known as Maitreya Kali) self-released the LPs 'Apache' and 'Inca'  in '71-'72, using some of the Penny Arkade recordings, solo  acoustic recordings, and a few recordings with an unknown backing band (he did have a band around this time, but its longevity and recording output is unknown).   Some of the solo numbers are his older compositions, and one is a Penny Arkade tune with rewritten lyrics - as Arkade bass player Don Glut said, "it's like he hadn't gotten too far off the beaten track to realize that some of the old stuff he did was really good".

As far as 'Salesman' in particular, I would venture to say that the version in question was recorded after the Penny Arkade days - all of the PA recordings known to exist were released on the excellent Sundazed release in 2004, and 'Salesman' isn't on there.   The recording on 'Pisces Aquarius' seems to predate the existence of Penny Arkade;  Nesmith said that he liked its similarity to 'She's About A Mover', while on 'Apache' it clearly has a different style. 

As an aside: the Penny Arkade release is really, really good.  And, if you see a double-album version of 'Apache/Inca' at a garage sale, snap it up - an original copy (it's said that Craig pressed 30 copies total) went for over $10k last December.