Speaking of Chuck, here he is taking a drag:


Another shot of him at the tape machine:


Can anyone identify this magazine Carl is holding? I don't recognize the cover:



Here's a neat one: Behind a layer of darkness this shot in the film revealed another man sitting in the control room. Does anyone have a guess as to who this guy could be?



Now we have two mystery men from that film: The guy wearing the white shirt and tie (most likely a studio employee), and this guy sitting behind Brian. And note the fire extinguisher hanging on the wall to the right side of the photo.

[Pet Sounds]

Here it is, direct from the piece I wrote in Beach Boys Stomp #52 (12/85) - bear in mind that this was over 25 years ago and I didn't know anything like the detail I do now. I asked him if "Fire" was done here (i.e. in Western):

"Yes, and it was a damned expensive session. Cost us a small fortune in mikes". I pulled a quizzical face. "It was a crazy session. For starters, we had everyone and their dog in here - really. Brian had his dogs, the ones you hear on the Pet Sounds album in with him and they weren't too well trained, ran all over the place. One vanished for about a quarter-hour and just as we were about to send out search parties, back it trots. 'Bout two minutes later someone from upstairs comes bursting through the door, screaming for the dog's hide: turns out this dog had wandered upstairs, into this guy's office and cocked his leg all over him and the desk. Brian nearly bust a gut laughing... anyway, it got worse. I guess you know about the fire in the bucket ?  Well, after a bit it was tricky seeing across the studio, so we doused it, which was a big mistake. The idea took on and about every five minutes or so after that, someone'd let off a fire extinguisher. Like I said, cost us a small fortune in mikes".

Now, isn't there a piece that describes Brian & co having extinguisher fights during the Smile sessions ? I remembered that, oh, maybe 13 seconds ago.

Yes, that fire extinguisher fight is described in one of the Smile articles, Vosse's Teen Set piece. It's an overdub session at Western #3 where Brian was adding multiple pianos to a track featuring a "music box melody". Chuck's name is mentioned.

… it wasn't until I was back at the hotel that it hit me, with almost physical force, that as it was recorded at Gold Star, why was he there, engineering ?  So, unless I totally misunderstood/mistranscribed from the tape what he was saying, maybe there was a further "Fire" session. Go figure.

Could the clip have been from a mixing session, maybe when the crackling sound effects were added? Might explain why everyone's stood around doing nothing, ie, no sign of any instruments actually being played. Presence of Al & Carl etc also… shouldn't they have been touring when Fire was actually recorded?

Other guess would be a session for one of the bells & whistle style variants?

Just shots in the dark…

I'm thinking the same thing. Short of hearing the actual story about Chuck Britz, the first thing I had in mind was asking when did they add those sound effects to Fire, and given that this film was Western I thought perhaps this was that session.

A mix session would be a possibility, but so would a vocal session. Or any number of sessions where Brian wanted the folks around him to don fire hats, and we have no way of knowing exactly how many times he made that request.

I also found it humorous that I wrote above the photos "obviously it's not a film of "Fire" as labeled", only to see the very next response ask about "Fire"... However, in light of this forthcoming information from Chuck Britz, the clip may damned well be "Fire" after all! Ironic.

Bought one locally today for $16.99. Came in a sealed plastic bag, so I guess I'll never actually see the record....

Where's the fun in that? 

Great film archive site, but a few quick points on that firehat clip.

Obviously it's not a film of "Fire" as labeled, because the film was shot by Dennis inside the control room of Western #3. Two very interesting things to look for in that clip:

Van Dyke Parks wearing a firehat:


Brian and a mystery engineer or assistant engineer also wearing the hats. Can anyone identify the engineer with the white shirt, tie, and firehat behind Brian?

When Mike Love is listed on Fun Fun Fun, and Davy Jones on Valleri, they were only singers as far as I know, and neither played an instrument on the songs. Were their names added just so they could get paid a bit extra, or were some sessions including vocalists too? It's not adding up why Mike as the vocalist would appear on that AFM sheet if he didn't play. Chuck and Diane were handling jobs classified by the union, so their names would be expected to appear.

Also, is the singers' union you were thinking of AFTRA? If so, are the various Beach Boys members of AFTRA too, as vocalists? I don't think I've ever seen that addressed in these discussions.

[Musicians]

Two points:

- Add Wally Heider's to the Smiley Smile column for pro studios used by Brian on that album: Not only was the album given a final edit, assembly, and mix at Heider's, but I always got the impression that final touches and overdubs were added at Heider's as well, similar to how the single mix of Help Me Rhonda got its guitar solo at the last possible stage of the mixing process.

- Re: The I Was Made To Love Her AFM contract - I wonder why the instruments played on the session were not listed on that contract? Could this have been just a vocal session, or is this definitely the instrumental backing session? Having not seen the contract I'm just wondering how it was logged.

An AFM contract supplies the relevant info for the American Federation of Musicians to make proper payments to - and pension deductions from - the session musicians. Vocal sessions are the realm of an entirely different organisation (and when I can remember exactly what it is, I'll surely tell you). As for the instruments not being listed, it's not unusual.

I was only considering recording sessions, not editing, assembling and mastering

Do we know if any parts were added - vocal or otherwise - when Jim Lockert talked about the marathon session at Heider's where Smiley Smile was finished up? I thought there was a possibility that some vocals may have been added there too, reading into what he said. Just wondering.

The AFM contracts I have access to are only the ones on Denny Tedesco's website, so I'm going by those. For the handful of Beach Boys AFM sheets reprinted there, Mike Love is listed on the Fun Fun Fun session, and I'm guessing he didn't play anything...yet he's listed there as a member of Local 47, as were the other BB's who turn up on other sessions. And a related session was Valleri by The Monkees where all 4 members are logged on the sheet even though Davy didn't play anything instrumental but sang the lead, and they're members of Local 47 too.

It's confusing to see the vocalists and the instrumentalists listed there and trying to make sense of who-did-what on those tunes. That was my confusion with I Was Made To Love Her as well.

Two points:

- Add Wally Heider's to the Smiley Smile column for pro studios used by Brian on that album: Not only was the album given a final edit, assembly, and mix at Heider's, but I always got the impression that final touches and overdubs were added at Heider's as well, similar to how the single mix of Help Me Rhonda got its guitar solo at the last possible stage of the mixing process.

- Re: The I Was Made To Love Her AFM contract - I wonder why the instruments played on the session were not listed on that contract? Could this have been just a vocal session, or is this definitely the instrumental backing session? Having not seen the contract I'm just wondering how it was logged.

Is there an AFM contract for the I Was Made To Love Her BB's session?

Yep...and guess what, no Carol Kaye. 
FYI, it was indeed cut at Wally Heider's (those of you who own the wonderful 1983 Capitol "Rarities" album should already know this!).

No Carol Kaye? I'm surprised at that news, I guess I always assumed it was her or maybe someone said it was her...whatever the case thank you for the info! So if it was not Carol, was it Ron or someone else on bass?

I've also been interested in the fact that given those sessions held at Wally Heider's, which was a professional studio, how did they manage to mix those tracks so they sounded like they all came from Brian's home studio? Going from Gold Star to Western is one thing, but going from a living room to a pro studio and emerging with a cohesive sound and texture is actually quite an accomplishment.

The wild card is this shot of Brian:



He's standing on a car across the street from a Mark C. Bloome tire store. According to Getty's caption, it's October 1966 in Gardena, CA. I don't believe that caption or date is accurate, but who am I except someone making a guess?

Notice he is wearing the exact same maroon shirt and white pants as he's wearing in the piano shot at Columbia.

Given that the tire store was directly across the street from the Columbia lot, I'd bet dollars to donuts that the accurate date for this photo is 12/15/66, taken at about midnight.

It's therefore probably a fair assumption (cf Siegel) that this pic was taken just before or after smoking that joint and getting into something quiet and positive on a nonverbal level.  Could these be Siegel's pics?

In other trivia - that's a celeste (almost certainly a Mustel) to Brian's right in the studio pic.  As used on Wind Chimes, and (perhaps - correct me if I'm bonk) nothing else on SMiLE.

Great, great call on the celeste - I didn't pick up on that until your post! Again if this were 2002-3 I'd be able to recall which tracks featured a celeste, as it stands now though I can't remember and I *hope* someone chimes in with that info. They wouldn't have set it up in the studio like that if Brian were not going to play it at that session. It would be off in a corner next to the tack piano... That's not saying Brian may not have tried the celeste on a track like Surf's Up before scrapping the idea, but knowing which tracks have a celeste could narrow down the dating of these photos even more.

Has anyone seen any other photos which look like they came from the same series as Brian on the car?

It seems odd that there is only one photo like that available. Particularly if it came from Guy Webster, Bob Gordan, or whoever else was photographing during Smile.

Doesn't look pro-shot to me, more like a snap.

I see that too, I'm wondering how such a seemingly random snapshot of Brian ended up with Michael Ochs Archives. Most of the others we see there came from a pro-shot series or assignments. I say "most" cautiously.

I'd love to track down more info on that shot in the hopes of finding more. And I'm also thinking THAT kind of photo is what I expected from MOJO and what I might hope appears in the box set packaging...rather than a photo from Munich or whatever else they threw in the stew for the magazine.

I thought it had been established that Carol Kaye played on Wild Honey's "I Was Made To Love Her", whether she said she didn't do any sessions at the house or not. Remember too that at that time, Smiley Smile into Wild Honey, Brian was cutting random tracks at Wally Heider's studio in LA, so not everything we may think was done at the house was actually done at the house.

Is there an AFM contract for the I Was Made To Love Her BB's session?

I find it amazing how someone posts a photo of Brian at the piano and less than a week later we have a few exact places, dates, and possibly times for when the photo and film were shot!

First, I agree that the silent film from American Band came from Dennis rather than an Inside Pop outtake. It's a judgement call, but as far as I remember hearing, CBS shot Inside Pop with 3 cameras, and the silent footage seen in AB could be shot with one...and not only that, but we have the still shot of Dennis actually filming Brian in the same lighting and at the same angle as we see in the actual footage. I'd say that case is 99% closed short of new information.

Second...is there any way at all to track the background history and provenance of a photo like the one of Brian standing atop the car on Sunset Strip? That came from the Michael Ochs Archives, via Getty Images, but the caption and dating seems to be all f***ed up (as is pretty common at Getty...). So we have a photo of Brian like that where we can assume it's probably the same date as Jules Siegel's account of Brian at Columbia, but can anyone take it further and find out who took that shot, and whether or not there are more in the series?

It seems odd that there is only one photo like that available. Particularly if it came from Guy Webster, Bob Gordan, or whoever else was photographing during Smile.

Thanks "guitarfool2002" for checking the AMERICAN BAND footage. Yes, it was that one strong light to Brian's right that gave me a flashback to that film of Brian at the piano. But do we know that this footage came from INSIDE POP? I know the time period and location strongly suggests it, but I had assumed the AMERICAN BAND footage was something Dennis had shot.

Most of the INSIDE POP footage I've seen was very blandly lit, but in a professional manner (something you'd expect from a television crew doing a documentary). One young woman holding a "sun-gun" and dressed in a skirt doesn't strike me as being a logical "lighting crew" for a CBS team. Remember, this would have been a union job.

On the other hand, do you remember that photo (or photos) that show Dennis holding a 16mm camera in the studio? Wasn't that from this same time period? I seem to recall Brian being in one of those photos as well. Could all of these stills be from the same night when Dennis was filming Brian at the piano with his 16mm camera?

The information about that piece of film comes from Malcolm Leo, through Domenic Priore, through Brian Chidester who posted a reply to a question about that same piece of film: That was all they found of unused Inside Pop film for the AB project, according to Leo. I found that archived info last night after looking through archived posts and comments, after trying to remember what it was myself after connecting the dots! If Malcolm Leo says it's an Inside Pop outtake, he was given open access and resources to compile the video clips for American Band. The fact that Leo found the film without audio (where they had to dub in a piano for effect) backs up something Cam Mott posted about those outtake reels in general, and how the audio track would be separate from the film itself, and that the reels in question would indeed be silent if found.

Having said all that...

Looking at the photo of Dennis filming Brian, I have to say it looks damned close to the final results seen in the AB film, especially with - again - that half shadow effect on Brian's face. I'd bet it's the same film, and now we have Malcolm Leo saying it was Inside Pop, and a photograph of Dennis filming Brian in that same profile, and which one is it?

Judge with your own eyes:

I just watched the American Band film clip of Brian at the piano, enhanced, brightened, and freeze-framed. I'm 99% certain it is the *same* session as the still photo we've been discussing. Whoever made that call on this page wins the prize.

What did it for me even more than the shirt (which looks to be the same in both photo and film...) was the way the lighting was hitting only one side of Brian's face in the film. I never noticed that before - it is the same half-shadow effect as seen in the Dezo Hoffman "With The Beatles" cover photo. I've watched that clip dozens of times and never noticed it was a deliberate effect.

Look at the photo at the top of page 71 here, brightened up. The side of Brian's face being hit by the light in that photo matches exactly the shadowing effect seen in the film, and you can see that girl holding the light on Brian is creating that half-shadow effect on his face.

EDIT: That silent piano clip is apparently the only Inside Pop outtake to see the light of day. And does anyone else think the photo of Brian standing on the car on Sunset Blvd was taken the same day? Curious...

The Mark C. Bloome tire business which I believe is the one Brian is in front of in the photo was located at 6210 Sunset Blvd, near the corner of Sunset and El Centro. United/Western studios was at 6050 Sunset Boulevard.

Getty listed Gardena, but the Sunset Blvd location makes a ton more sense...and if there was a studio or other location around 6200 where Brian would have been likely to be in 1966-67, it was Western and that location would make even more sense.

Where was Columbia's music recording studios located in LA in 1966? Street address?

Very close to Western.


Western - 6000 Sunset Blvd

Columbia - 6121 Sunset Blvd

Wow! Thanks for the info. Would it be safe to assume the Mark Bloome tire photo and the Brian-at-piano photo posted today came from the same photo shoot or the same date? No matter what the date may be (and until further proof), we have Brian wearing the same clothes and haircut in 2 photos, we have one photo ID'ed for now as Columbia due to the backgrounds, and we have the assumed locations within one block of each other, roughly a minute or less to walk between the two.

The Mark C. Bloome tire business which I believe is the one Brian is in front of in the photo was located at 6210 Sunset Blvd, near the corner of Sunset and El Centro. United/Western studios was at 6050 Sunset Boulevard.

Getty listed Gardena, but the Sunset Blvd location makes a ton more sense...and if there was a studio or other location around 6200 where Brian would have been likely to be in 1966-67, it was Western and that location would make even more sense.

Where was Columbia's music recording studios located in LA in 1966? Street address?

Here's a few photos to compare and contrast.

Disclaimer: Do NOT trust dates and captions from Getty Images...vintage 60's photos tend to be captioned and dated incorrectly more than they are accurate.

Here is the shot of Brian at piano, deliberately over-lightened to show the background:


Note the colored sound baffle or gobo in the background as well as the blue carpet and wood floor.

Here is the shot of Mike and Al in front of the same baffles and on the same blue carpet:


And here is Dennis at Columbia, same time:


No doubt it's Columbia, the backgrounds and baffles they used are the same in all the photos.

The wild card is this shot of Brian:



He's standing on a car across the street from a Mark C. Bloome tire store. According to Getty's caption, it's October 1966 in Gardena, CA. I don't believe that caption or date is accurate, but who am I except someone making a guess?

Notice he is wearing the exact same maroon shirt and white pants as he's wearing in the piano shot at Columbia.

Any further info on the origins of the Bloome tire outdoor photo would clear up a lot of questions! For now, I'm staying with the Surf's Up-at-Columbia theory for the piano shot.

The scary part about the Budd Dwyer footage is that it aired, unedited, on Channel 6 (ABC) in Philadelphia during the five and six o'clock news...

I don't think he ever accepted any kind of bribe...the American "justice system" ate him up and spit him out.

Can't believe I missed this reference...I think there is some misinformation about the R. Budd Dwyer clip which I hope my memory allows me to recall!

I lived outside of Philly so WPVI Channel 6 "Action News" was the go-to station for news. If I remember, this press conference happened during the winter, and school had been closed due to weather that day, so we were all home. The TV happened to be on as they showed the press conference, where Dwyer pulled out the envelope and started waving the gun. The first time I recall seeing it broadcast - whether it was live or not, I don't know - they cut to a blank screen immediately after the gun went off, but the shot was shown for that split-second and I saw it once until YouTube picked it up decades later. This was broadcast during the day.

Any airings of the clip later than that on the evening news showed it right up to the point where he raises the gun, and they cut it off before you hear the shot. It was everything we were talking about in school after that, still quite a shock and a sad story obviously. But I think to clarify, if one station had carried it live as the story was developing at Dwyer's press conference, the gunshot itself wasn't shown on the newscasts after that.

At least to my memory, as someone who saw Channel 6's coverage that day we just happened to be home from school, that's how the local broadcasts covered it. I don't know what the Harrisburg area stations did with the story. Corrections welcome of course!

There were multiple cameras shooting the press conference. The footage I saw on the news the day of the event was shot from the front and showed him putting the gun in his mouth, then abruptly cut to the same shot of the podium after he fell. About 14 years ago I saw the unedited footage shot by the cameraman who was to Dwyer's right. After the trigger was pulled, Dwyer's body fell to the right of the podium and was somewhat supported by it. The camerman tilted the camera down and, instinctively, zoomed in to refocus then pulled back to re-frame the shot. By this point, there was a copious amount of blood pouring from Mr. Dwyer's nose and mouth.

I believe this is the footage that the band Filter saw that inspired their song "Hey Man, Nice Shot". The title seems to be a comment on the cameraman's covering the action as professionally as possible in the face of a horrible unexpected tragedy.

The longer unedited footage made the rounds after the incident and took on a life of its own, definitely. I remember seeing it offered for sale and on trading lists (how bizarre) before the internet made it available. It was a press conference so obviously there were at least 3 Harrisburg stations there, at least 3 Philly stations there, and various others. So whichever station had the most loose control over their tape archives might have been how the unedited version leaked.

I know I've heard the claim that Channel 6 showed the shooting on their newscasts before, and it was a bit of an urban legend, but I can vouch for the fact it was only shown once, and for a split-second, and everything after that was edited, and the newscasts also started giving a "graphic content" warning before showing even what little they showed.

I was gonna guess that, given his attire, it might even have been taken during the filming of the Inside Pop performance of Surf's Up but the shirt looks wrong and that don't look like a grand piano in the photo.

Nevertheless Brian looks like he's dressed for a performance.  Hawaii maybe?

Is that image behind him of a woman reflected in a mirror –  and does the flash indicate that she's taking that photo herself? Or is she holding lighting for a TV / movie camera?

I'm convinced that was shot at Columbia: The blue carpet and wood floors shown when the photo is brightened up match exactly a photo of Mike and Al at a microphone wearing lots of headphones which was taken at Columbia.

And as I guessed in my post too, I think this *could* have been for the Inside Pop filming, not the one which was aired, but rather the one described in detail in Jules Siegel's article. The studio matches, the shirt matches, etc. They filmed this one at Columbia before they filmed the one at his house.

Does anyone know when this picture was taken, I'm assuming during the smile sessions

Stunning photo, never saw it before... given Bri's appearance, it could well be the SMiLE period indeed...

Note that there is a woman holding a "sun-gun" or some other high-powered light in the background. I'm thinking this still was taken during the shooting of one of Dennis' home movies from this period (the one with Brian in the studio lit from one side would be logical).

I thought that was a flash bulb from the girl's camera when I first saw that photo.

When brightened up, the background shows a studio room and wood floor that looks like Columbia's studio...combined with Brian's maroon shirt, and how he's sitting at the piano, could this be the Surf's Up performance he filmed with CBS before they filmed at his house? The one described in Jules Siegel's article...

There is a slight stairwell/ramp in the background of that photo which I don't think either Western or Gold Star had, so I'm guessing that was shot at Columbia/CBS.

Pure speculation!

The scary part about the Budd Dwyer footage is that it aired, unedited, on Channel 6 (ABC) in Philadelphia during the five and six o'clock news...

I don't think he ever accepted any kind of bribe...the American "justice system" ate him up and spit him out.

Can't believe I missed this reference...I think there is some misinformation about the R. Budd Dwyer clip which I hope my memory allows me to recall!

I lived outside of Philly so WPVI Channel 6 "Action News" was the go-to station for news. If I remember, this press conference happened during the winter, and school had been closed due to weather that day, so we were all home. The TV happened to be on as they showed the press conference, where Dwyer pulled out the envelope and started waving the gun. The first time I recall seeing it broadcast - whether it was live or not, I don't know - they cut to a blank screen immediately after the gun went off, but the shot was shown for that split-second and I saw it once until YouTube picked it up decades later. This was broadcast during the day.

Any airings of the clip later than that on the evening news showed it right up to the point where he raises the gun, and they cut it off before you hear the shot. It was everything we were talking about in school after that, still quite a shock and a sad story obviously. But I think to clarify, if one station had carried it live as the story was developing at Dwyer's press conference, the gunshot itself wasn't shown on the newscasts after that.

At least to my memory, as someone who saw Channel 6's coverage that day we just happened to be home from school, that's how the local broadcasts covered it. I don't know what the Harrisburg area stations did with the story. Corrections welcome of course!

To me, the best "Carol Kaye" bass playing on a BBs record (tone-wise) is "Sloop John B.".  THAT'S one where the pick-on-strings attack REALLY stands out.

When I transcribed that bassline, I was surprised to find out she was tuned down 1/2 step (or a 'semitone' on the Hoffman board... )  for that session. I just assumed most of those sessions were done in standard tuning for some reason.

There is an audible "punch" on Sloop's bass track that is more pronounced than on similar sessions. I'm wondering if the drop tuning making the strings a little more loose contributed to that sound, and wondering if this was done on other tracks as well.

Don't do drugs, kids. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur3juD8uIbo

I thought that was pretty cool, all things considered.

Check out the complete RVPO interview from 1994, from which that song came from.

Then compare it with this short live clip, after he cleaned up...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtf-HAjdZZg&feature=related

John is one of my favorite musicians.

Wow nobody sees this as something that could more people onto him? 


I didn't the fanworld was so selective.

The problem with Hollywood biographies like this is the way it could turn into a parody of the person or the group rather than a portrayal. Again I'll go back to Oliver Stone and the Doors film. For all the fans who smelled a rat after watching that film, how many viewers saw Val Kilmer as Morrison and assumed that portrayal was accurate? The Doors got a boost in record sales, but did the backlash against that film end up hurting more in the long run than the spike in sales for the month or two that the film was being hyped?

Hollywood is in the business of bullshit, to be quite frank about it. Even after a script is turned in and given the green light, how often is that finished script then handed over to more writers to be enhanced and beefed up to make it more entertaining, more funny, more compelling, etc based on the subject? If a Brian Wilson biopic gets approved and sent through the machine in Hollywood, what parts of the story do you think they will enhance, beef up, or otherwise invent in order to make the story more appealing to certain demographics?

Oliver Stone went as far as to invent historical characters who never existed in real life and events that never happened in real life in order to tell his story in JFK...and we've seen that happen with two Beach Boys films that never went beyond television, thankfully. I think some people just don't want Brian Wilson's story told through Hollywood's machine, no matter who is writing the script.