Contrary to your assumption, your domain (beachboysfanclub.com) has NOT been snagged by somebody else. It did indeed expire on May 25, but it can still be renewed.

According to ICANN (which governs such things):

"You should renew your domain name through the registrar (or reseller) that provided your domain name registration services. Once your domain has expired, it will be in Auto-Renew Grace Period (for 0-45 days), followed by a 30-day Redemption Grace Period."

Call your registrar. You may have to pay a redemption fee in addition to the domain name's renewal fee, but you can easily get the domain during the next several weeks.

1971 through 1976 was surely their strongest years on stage.

To such a degree that Rolling Stone named them "Band of the Year" in 1974!

Better try harder, Brad.

Hmmmmm. So we still think it's really him, eh? 

Name's Steve, dude. Mister high-and-mighty Andrew Doe has made that accusation once before. There was no substance to it then, there's still none to it now. The man's got a few delusions he clings to.

Can you prove it?

Whadya want? An address? A phone number? A photo? A birth certificate?

Tell you what. You post something that proves who you are, putting such vital information on the 'net for every two-bit crazy to grab hold of, and I'll do the same, okay?

Better try harder, Brad.

Hmmmmm. So we still think it's really him, eh? 

Name's Steve, dude. Mister high-and-mighty Andrew Doe has made that accusation once before. There was no substance to it then, there's still none to it now. The man's got a few delusions he clings to.

stating as a fact that Hal Blaine, and not Dennis, played in "LDC" ?

Yes, the .01 percent he got wrong. 

last I talked to him, not long ago, he was running this   http://www.lslproductions.com/

I think that's a few years old. Unless I'm badly mistaken, this is more current:

http://www.leafprod.com/

Just exactly what do you think David Leaf was wrong about? There might be some disagreement among fans based on how they interpret and expand on what he wrote, but I think his writings have proven more than 99.99% factually accurate.

It's MFSL (for Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab), not MFLS.

I recommend you read their entry at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Fidelity_Sound_Lab

[For Collectors Only]

what year did the CD you mention come out?  What Label?  Did it have the "Won't You Tell Me" single included?

The CD was a boxed set of 3 discs, titled For Collectors Only, released by Collectables in 1996. The set included the entire catalog of recordings released by The Sunrays during their career, plus an assortment of previously unreleased mixes and songs. Both "Won't You Tell Me" and "Our Leader" were included.

Here's the link to Amazon's listing for the set: http://www.amazon.com/Collectors-Only-Vintage-Rays/dp/B000000970/.

Here's an idea that's occurred to me recently as I've watched all these polls overrun the board:

How about creating a Child Board devoted strictly to polls and moving all of them there? Then, the people who love responding to polls can go there and do what they love without becoming a nuisance to those of us who are looking for the more discussion-oriented threads. What do you say, mods?

don't forget, David is actually younger than Stamos

You're joking, right?

David was born in 1948. Stamos was born in 1963.

They are available at:

Surf Store
Surfin' Store
Surfin' USA Store
Still Surfin' Store
Surfin' Again Store

You forgot:

Still Surfin' Again Store

[A Dictionary for the Modern Trumpet Player]

If you go out to Rowman & Littlefield's home page, you can find a long & extensive list of music books they have coming out. Most of them are educational or technical titles,  like A Dictionary for the Modern Trumpet Player and Looking and Listening: Conversations Between Modern Art and Music. (I know those are titles I'm excited to read!) All of them are due out later this year, with one exception -- Experiencing the Beatles: A Listener's Companion, by Edward Green, listed as being published in September 2015. My bet is the Amazon UK listing is for a Beach Boys volume along those lines.

Just my three bucks worth, but in summer 1962, Wilson & Usher were hardly the go-to writing and producing team. By 8/31/62, they'd released precisely one B side as a writing team (which granted made #76 on Billboard).

At the same time, Betty Everett was no in-demand singer. Outside of Chicago, she was totally unknown. By late summer 1962, she'd released five unsuccessful 45s, all on small Chicago labels (Cobra, C.J. and One-derful). Her only hint of success had been two years before when she sang a guest lead on a minor Chicago-area hit ("Why Did You Have To Go") by an all-male group called the Daylighters, also on the C.J. label. Her first real success with "You're No Good" (#51 in Billboard) was still more than a year away.

With all of her efforts to that point seemingly directed at breaking into the Chicago music scene, there's no reason to think she'd have been moonlighting in L.A.

One last post on this subject ...

The most information I could find online about Betty Willis is here:

http://www.sirshambling.com/artists_2012/W/betty_willis/

And that's where I found this photo:



C-man, is that the photo that was used for the YouTube video you found?

Fyi, I just looked up the three Betty's on Wikipedia to see what information is listed there.

First, it's very doubtful that Rachel is Betty Wright, as she was born in December 1953 and would have been all of 8 years old when "The Revolution" was recorded.

Second, Betty Everett was a Chicago-based singer and by 1963 had "recorded for various small local Chicago soul labels," so it seems unlikely that Brian and Gary would have found her in Watts.

Third, there's no entry at Wikipedia for Betty Willis, but by process of elimination, she's all we're left with ... unless, of course, Rachel was somebody else entirely, perhaps not even named "Betty."   

[Rare Masters 2]

Has anybody compared the vocal on the Rachel & The Revolvers 45 to the two tracks by Betty Willis on the Rare Masters 2 album that was released as part of the Phil Spector Wall Of Sound series back in the mid-Seventies? I've got a Mint copy of the latter, but the only place I have the Rachel & The Revolvers track is on a worn-out cassette tape, which doesn't allow for a good comparison.

OK, who knows a BB studio recording faster than 186 bpm?

How many bpm is the 12-inch disco version of "Here Comes The Night"?

Whoa! ASetola's version of "Wind Chimes" is one everybody should take a listen to! It's not just an instrumental cover of a 3-minute "Wind Chimes." The thing is more than 7 minutes long! It's wild! And the last couple of minutes have all kinds of SMiLE pieces and sounds thrown in ... bits of "Vegetables" and "Heroes & Villains" and "Fire" and ... more than I could easily catalog in one listening! I'm gonna go listen to it a few more times now!

[they did ask me to be an official "Beach Boy."]

Who is the guy sitting in the car?

Daryl Dragon, aka "Captain Keyboards," aka "The Captain" (of "The Captain & Tennille").

Interesting that he'd be featured so prominently on a record sleeve.  I wonder if he was ever asked to be a full-time member of the band.

Google is your friend:

Daryl Dragon, 2001, from an online Q&A:

Re: Beach Boy touring: I started with them in 1968, and "lasted" thru their "struggling years" which was thru '72. Funny thing though: As soon as I left the 'Boyz' for Toni ... where we were making $15.00 per night in local clubs, the 'BOYZ' took off ! (Whoops, Toni says I should spell it "BOYS"). Anyway ... they got along without me, although they did ask me to be an official "Beach Boy." I told them I could make more money with my wife, Toni ... in local clubs. ($) Hah ... just kidding.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/liveonline/01/music/tennille080801.htm

Who is the guy sitting in the car?

Daryl Dragon, aka "Captain Keyboards," aka "The Captain" (of "The Captain & Tennille").

Hmmm... why does it say "Unreleased" on that sheet? If that was used for playing the tape for execs, that would be clear anyway. Makes me think right now that this may be a bootleggers' mockup, because that's an interesting information for the buyers.

Don't know if it was a "bootleg" or not, but I can vouch for the fact that the 15 ips tape to which it was attached did indeed exist. Derek showed it to me probably 15-20 years ago. Also, I've heard from a third party with a bit more information, and it seems Derek actually returned it to Brian Wilson in the late 1990s. I don't know if that solidifies its validity or not. For what it's worth, at the time I saw it, Derek had not played the tape, as he didn't have a 15 ips half-track reel-to-reel machine. So, for all I know, the tape could have been blank. (I never did hear whether he was able to play it and check it out.)

In regard to the photo above ...

That's the track sheet that was included with a 15ips tape that was purchased some years ago by the late Derek Bill. He acquired it from (I think) Rockaway Records out in L.A. I have no idea what happened to the tape or where it is now. (And, no, I was never able to get a dub, so don't bother to PM me about it. )

Interesting that there's no indication of who, if anybody, Brian's working with on the production side of things. Yeah, Don Was is mentioned, but from the reference it seems he's more a guest than a production presence.

So I assume that means no Joe Thomas. What does that say about our chances of seeing the remainder of "Life's Suite" in the near future? Are we going to have wait until the next Beach Boys reunion?