WOW!  Is anyone else as shocked as I am that the DVD of "That Lucky Old Sun" does NOT include a full video performance of the work?!  Seriously, all this time I thought the DVD was going to have a full live performance of "That Lucky Old Sun".  I'm flabbergasted that it only has, what, one (or is it two) songs on video.  I mean, I'm so shocked and disappointed that I really don't want to even listen to it right now.  I don't remember seeing anything that said the DVD was only going to be a documentary and a video clip of one or two songs.  Am I the only one who was this hornswaggled?


             Love and merci (and not so lucky),     Dan Lega

          Hey, a new film about The Wrecking Crew will be playing in New York for one week starting this Friday.  Any New Yorkers interested in seeing it together sometime next week?

     
                Love and merci,   Dan Lega


--------------------------------


Venue:
 IFC Center website
 
Showtimes:
 2:45 and 6:25
 
Dates:
 August 1-7, 2008
 
Location:
 323 Sixth Avenue (at W. 3rd St.)
New York, NY 10014
212.924.7771
Directions
 

 
Media Inquiries:
 dennyted@mac.com or call 818.884.6654
 
Website:
 wreckingcrewfilm.com
 

 
Lunch Box Entertainment cordially invites you to
"The Wrecking Crew"
A film 12 years in the making
Fri-Thu, August 1-7, 2008

THE STORY
Collectively, their roster of hit songs is unmatched in the recording industry, numbering into the hundreds and spanning decades. They've been -- pun fully intended -- significantly instrumental in building the rise to stardom for a varied list of popular artists from The Beach Boys to Frank and Nancy Sinatra; from The 5th Dimension to Sam Cooke; from The Carpenters to Cher. They'd craftedsome of pop music's most timeless and recognizable songs. And yet, outside the industry, few could name a single member.

When a hit record was the desired result, there were no others to consider but, The Wrecking Crew, a group of professional session musicians for hire who, as the film unveils, lent far more to these hit songs than mere instrumentation.

Director/Writer Denny Tedesco's chronicle of pop music's Heyday delves back to the late 50s, the 60s and the 70s, an era of all night recording sessions in cramped, smoke-filled rooms, when real musicianship was not only appreciated, it was demanded. Stocked with rare, historical footage and interviews with the groups members along with testimonials from music giants Nancy Sinatra, Lou Adler, Dick Clark, Herb Alpert, Glen Campbell, Cher, Brian Wilson, Jimmy Webb, Roger McGuinn, Gary Lewis among many,

THE WRECKING CREW is an essential document of contemporary pop history and a must-see for anyone who's ever picked up an instrument, lived-off pop radio and collected music.

The film has played to packed houses and great response at the following film festivals:
 • OFFICIAL SELECTION - SXSW FILM FESTIVAL - PREMIERED
 • OFFICIAL SELECTION - BUFFALO-NIAGARA FILM FESTIVAL - SOLD OUT, WINNER AUDIENCE AWARD
 • OFFICIAL SELECTION - SEATTLE FILM FESTIVAL - AUDIENCE AWARD
 • OFFICIAL CLOSING NIGHT SELECTION - NASHVILLE FILM FESTIVAL - SOLD OUT, HONORABLE MENTION IMPACT OF MUSIC AWARD
 • DON'T KNOCK THE ROCK FILM FESTIVAL - SOLD OUT 2 SHOWS
 • LOS ANGELES GRAND PERFORMANCES "FILMS THAT MATTER" - 1,850 PEOPLE

Thank you for your support!

SOME REVIEWS
"The Wrecking Crew" is a well-nigh irresistible treat for aficionados of music from the era when acts like the Beach Boys, the Association and the Monkees were topping the charts.........'Nostalgia-drenched rockumentary should score impressively as cable fare, homevid product and public - Variety

This is a man's heartfelt tribute to an extraordinary father and his equally extraordinary friends and what they managed to accomplish in the world. If you have ever loved a record any record between 1960 and 1980, you've probably loved their work. And you'll find this movie deeply touching, very funny and a revelation. **** 4 stars out of 4 - Jeff Simon - Buffalo News

The 39th annual Nashville Film Festival ended with a blast Thursday night. Maybe you heard it. It was all to do with "The Wrecking Crew," a fantastic documentary about an unofficial "group" of L.A. session musicians widely regarded as the best in the business who played on anything and everything throughout the 1960s and well into the 1970s........I had a grin on my face the entire length of the movie, except for a couple of spots where the story turned bittersweet. There also were times I couldn't stop crying -- during funny bits as well as the sadder ones. - Knoxnews.com

Director Denny Tedesco, son of the renowned guitarist Tommy, smartly weaves together history and interviews, never overhyping or milking for pathos, and making all his talking heads seem colorful and intelligent..........Part of what's fascinating is that the musicianship is so subtle: Their greatness was in solid, unflappable consistency; they have the pride of craftsmen with lunch pails, not the narcissism of stars. Indeed, Tedesco's portrait of the studio musician's code of honor is so inspiring, and his characters so charming, that it didn't matter that most of this is music I loathe. - Mark Feefer - Seattle Weekly

It was incredible! I felt just like I was sitting there with them at that table. - Peter Frampton
 

 

According to David Leaf...

Truck driving man do what you can
High-tail your load off the road
Out of the night-life -- it's a gas man
I don't believe I gotta grieve
In and out of luck
With a buck and a booth
Catchin' on to the truth
In the vast past, the last gasp
In the land, in the dust, trust that you must
Catch as catch can.


According to Glenn Greenberg...

Truck driving man do what you can
High-tail your load off the road
Out of night-life -- I'm a gas, man
I don't believe I gotta grieve
I'm out of luck
With a buck and a booth
Catchin' on to the truth
In the van, oh it's the last gasp
Land in the dust, prosper too much
Catch as catch can.



Now, according to Dan Lega...

Truck driving man do what you can
High-tail your load off the road
Out of night-life -- I'm a gas, man
I don't believe I gotta grieve
I'm out of luck
With a buck and a booth
Catchin' on to the truth
In the van, past the last gasp
Land in the dust, trust that you must
Catch as catch can.


That's what I hear.  (Though I'm not the greatest at figuring out lyrics.)  Your "prosper too much" sounded correct the first time I listened to it while looking at your lyrics, but "trust that you must" sounds better to me now.  However, I definitely go with your "I'm a gas, man" and "I'm out of luck".  I also hear "In the van", instead of "in the vast" -- but then I hear "past the last gasp" instead of "oh it's".

Love and merci,   Dan Lega

All the answers are in a box under some old clothes in Durrie Park's basement! 

I can't understand why they can't aquire the Durrie Parks acetates. IIRC Alan Boyd has said here that they want to purchase any unheard Smile material. Obviously they know Durrie has the acetates right? Why can't they work something out? Didn't Durrie tell someone on the old Shop she planned on going through that stuff?

I guess the simple reason they haven't got Durrie Park's acetates is because it is going to cost a pretty penny to get them.  And who's going to pay?  Capitol isn't planning a SMiLE box set, so they won't pay because there is no way to get their money back.  Maybe, just maybe now that the lawsuits are mostly over the three of them (plus Carl's heirs) will finally agree to releasing some old tapes?  Maybe Mike and Al and Brian will go into the studio and add vocal tracks to SMiLE instrumentals?  Maybe they'll all tour together?  However, I'm not expecting any of this to happen.  I did expect a SMiLE box set and even a reunion tour with all surviving Beach Boys to tour doing SMiLE within the first year or two after Brian released his new SMiLE.  But since didn't happen, and since the Beach Boys Store never opened I'm not expecting anything anymore really.  News of the Denny double disc really took me by surprise, and is a great development.  But I'm not getting my hopes up for any more stuff like it.

Love and merci,   Dan Lega

I was talking about it as an a capella tag after the song "ends" with a butt edit from the end of the song.  But that's an interesting idea - you're saying it fits (in that fast tempo) as backing vocals over the verse?  I'd like to hear that.

Well, you have to match the tempos.  I didn't try to use the original recordings and place them together, I did an all new recording using different instruments and voices on my synthesizer.  As for the tag concept, I just don't get it, because you've already got the song ending on the "One, one, One, one...", etc.  If you go to the "new tag" at that point you're essentially going back to the verse.  I mean, I guess it could work, but it sounds so much cooler as an alternate background for the verses to me.

Love and merci,    Dan Lega

I've heard some of the backing vocal tracks (from the SOT sessions) and there's a mamamamamamamama (mike) with some additional humming backgrounds (Brian?) chant type of on there. I've never been able to work out where they would have fit on the song? Anyone know?

See if you can find a copy of Net Sounds 3.  I did an version (even though it's an instrumental version) which shows how the all the extra vocals could have worked.  They would not have worked as a tag.  The tag is essentially just one chord, while mamamamama and wee-oops, etc. are for two chords, and therefore fit into the verse and not the tag.

          Love and merci,   Dan Lega

I just wanted to say that I loved your David Marks book, too.  Absolutely great job.  It made me see him in a whole different light.  (And the insight into the early Beach Boys was incredible, too.)

Also, I got to meet and hang out with David Marks at Hobie's recent East Coast Convention and had a hell of a time.  A really nice guy.

I hope the book is successful for you.  Every single Beach Boys fan should read this book.  Congratulations!

        Love and merci,   Dan Lega

Thanks, guys!

       Love and merci,   Dan Lega

Taken from this here site...

    The thing Brian Wilson seemed most excited about...

A children's album?!

VDP writing the lyrics?!

Can you please tell me where this info came from?  Is there supposed to be a link? Or were you talking about "The Smiley Smile Message Board" when you say "Taken from this here site..."? 

            Love and merci,   Dan Lega

       Just to help you out even more, click on "Writings" (on either the right side or in the middle), and then look at the third column, titled "Net Sounds Archives" and your threads are the fourth and fifth ones shown.


               Happy Birthday!!!!             

 
                         Love and merci,   Dan Lega

Someone - think it was Steve Desper - once told me that at this point in his life, he was recording anyone he could find: gardener, maid, friends.

By "he", I assume you mean Brian?


          Love and merci,    Dan Lega

I'd go with "What I Really Want For Christmas", too.

And before that I'd go with "Black Widow" (demo) and "My Diane" (demo only!)

Then there's lots of good stuff on "Love You" and "15 Big Ones".

But my real favorite last stupendously great production is....

        ...the Intro/Theme song (instrumental) of The Fairy Tale! 

With the synth croaking frogs/ducks, missed beats, slowly building/changing textures, et al, I just find that's a tremendously realized piece of music.


                  Love and merci,    Dan Lega

Hey, I was just listening to little surfer girl on the box set and realized (not for the first time) that BW is asking for instruments that aren't on the mix we hear to be turned up in his earphones. So, is there more to this song that a different mix could reveal? Also, do we know who this was intended for (The Honeys,I presume), as the pov seems to be of a girl .Sorry if this has already been covered...

I figured this was another song for "Bob and Bobbie", which is Bob Norberg and his girlfriend.  (Brian calls out to Bob during this take, doesn't he?  And what was the other song that Brian produced for Bob and Bobbie?)  To me, this song, "LIttle Surfer Girl", seems to be a duet for a guy and a girl, not just a song for a girl.  Listen to it again and see if you don't pick up that a guy would sing one line and a girl would sing another.  I'm hoping Bob Norberg, who apparently has some old tapes of he and Brian that have never been heard, has a more complete take of this song.  Of course this is the time to ask Alan Boyd if they've approached Bob Norberg about archiving his tapes!

         Love and merci,    Dan Lega

I saw someone wearing this not too long ago on a subway here in New York.  It was really funny because I couldn't believe what I thought I saw, and the woman who was wearing it promptly put her arms or her bag in front of the shirt as she sat down on the subway seat -- so I had to keep taking peeks at her for many, many stops to see if I could finally get a good look at the shirt!  And finally I did.    The one she was wearing was slightly different than the one in the picture, it had the word "recycle" underneath the "SMiLE", too.  So it's not really a Beach Boys/Brian Wilson SMiLE shirt, it's a shirt with an ecological message. 

Love and merci,  Dan Lega

Thanks for that link!  I'd love to see this whole concert, and others like it from this time.  I'm dying to see Mike Love in his guru outfit singing "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Barbara Ann".  (I wonder if he ever did "Long Tall Texan" in that get-up?!)

Alan, I hope you've got, or are trying to get hold of this video.  It's priceless.

Love and merci,  Dan Lega

     Some of you have mentioned hearing a demo of the Brian Wilson/Burt Bacharach song.  Where did you hear this, if I may ask?


        Love and merci,   Dan Lega

     From what I understand Mike forced his idea of the setlist down the others' throats.  And it hasn't been five years that he's been changing the setlist in a major way, it's only the the past two, hasn't it?


           Love and merci,   Dan Lega

It is so simple and I don't understand why we BB/BW nuts/diehards can't accept it. Mike Love is a proponent of the "give the fans what they want" school of rock and roll performance. Has been and always will be. WE ARE THE MINORITY. We are 1 out of every 100 Beach Boys fans. We are 1% of the people who go to Beach Boys' concerts. Mike plays for the other 99%...

Okay, so maybe the hardcores are only 1% of the audience, I don't think that gives him the right to exclude us from consideration when making the setlist.  Us hardcores are the ones who buy tickets to shows most every year, whereas casual fans come less often.  Also, hardcore fans buy almost every album whereas casual fans only buy a greatest hits CD, if that.  Mike should have been catering to both groups every year.  Besides, you're not going to lose casual fans by playing 5 to 10 album tracks a show, while still playing 20 to 30 hits every show, too.  His setlists were an insult to hardcore fans.  Hardcore fans deserve respect, too.

Me, I don't care that Mike and Bruce go by the name of "The Beach Boys".  Doesn't really bug me.  However, to not cater to the hardcore fan for more than 20 years of touring really stuck in my craw.  And all his bluster over the years that they just "couldn't" play the rarities, because people would walk out of the show or never come back, is now being shown for the lie that it was as we can all see he's doing fine playing the rarities now.

As for Mike and Bruce being more daring with their setlists than Brian is, that is just skewed logic in triplicate!


Love and merci,   Dan Lega

Another two-discer, some of it's a bit lousy songwise, but it'd be nice to have it in good quality:

1:

Back Home [1963] / Side Two / What'd I Say? [live] / Girls on the Beach [session excerpt, Mike's "joke" vocal] into / Girls on the Beach [vocals only] / Honda 55 / Don't Back Down [live] / Karen / She Knows Me Too Well [first version] / Please Let Me Wonder [Mike vocal] / Kiss Me Baby [track only] / Help Me, Rhonda [session excerpt] into / Help Me, Rhonda [live 1966] / Girl Don't Tell Me [alternate version] / Sandy / Papa-oom-mow-mow [live 1965] / Fun, Fun, Fun [live 1965] / Sherry She Needs Me / I Should Have Known Better [slower version] / The Times They Are A-Changin' [no overdubs] / Riot In Cell Block #9 /  California Girls [Party!] / Blowin' In The Wind / Smokey Joe's Cafe / Satisfaction / You're So Good To Me [live 1966] / You've Got To Hide Your Love Away [live 1966] / God Only Knows [live 1966] / Barbara-Ann [live] / Cabinessence [vocals only] / Child Is Father Of The Man

2:

Water chant / Mrs. O'Leary's Cow / Look / Little Red Book / The Letter / Game Of Love / I Was Made To Love Her [with tag] / With A Little Help From My Friends [pitch corrected] / Mona Kanau [sp?] / All I Want To Do [live] / Slip On Through [session excerpt / alternate take] / I'm Going Your Way / Rock And Roll Woman [live] / Over The Waves / Walkin' / Back Home [1970] / Awake [demo] / Your Song [live] / Lady / Sound of Free / Til I Die [demo] / My Solution / Wouldn't It Be Nice? [live 1970] / Seasons In The Sun / Telephone Backgrounds on a Clear Day / Okie From Muskogee [live] / Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again? / I've Got A Friend [live]

That would cover the first decade nicely for me.

    Can you please tell me about "Telephone Backgrounds on a Clear Day"?  I think I've heard everything else on your list, but this title doesn't ring a bell at all.  Thanks.


               Love and merci,    Dan Lega

     Hi, Alan!  It seems like a very long wait for the Beach Boys Central Store to open!  I hope the delay is because you plan on opening up with a bang.  I thinking of something along the lines of instrumental only and vocal only mixes for every album to start the sale?   Am I right?        (Or am I just looking through rose colored glasses?)


      Love and merci,   Dan Lega

     Steve, I also meant to ask you if you had talked to Alan Boyd lately.  You know he's trying to set up a Beach Boys Store where he'll be selling rare recordings both over the internet and by CD, right?  I would imagine he would love to have all the Flames material be a part of the "merchandise" available at the site.   Or has he said that such a release will not be possible on that site, too?


        Love and merci,    Dan Lega

     Stephen, as I said before I think "technically" you are on sound legal ground.  And as I said, that doesn't mean you can't be sued.  But I think the most likely case would be that they give you time to "cease and desist" before they filed a lawsuit against you. 

     I also think your best bet to limit any culpability is to just give out a few copies.  If they do get upset and try to sue, then you'll have less liability because you only made a few copies for academic purposes.  And if you do only give out a few copies I think the online Beach Boy group is pretty friendly and will gladly redistribute the disc to other folk.  If anyone who gets one of the discs promises to make three copies and send it out free to other folk, who then agree to send out three free discs, etc., etc., then the disc will get around very quickly I think. 

     Also, maybe some of us can check Ebay everyday to see if anyone is selling your disc.  If so, then we can easily contact Ebay and tell them that listing is a bootleg and Ebay will take it down.  This will keep you from any liability in that instance.  Take care, Steve!

        Love and merci,   Dan Lega

     Steve, I think you're on legally solid ground with your plan.  However, that doesn't mean you can't be sued.  Whoever sues you might not win -- but you may have to spend an awful lot of money to win.  And that would be akin to losing.

     Here are my suggestions, either...  1)  Call BRI and ask them if they would be averse to your plan to distribute the discs to your small but rabid audience who have already spent hundreds, if not thousands on Beach Boy products,  (which includes paying for concerts, T-shirts, as well as CD's and DVD's.)   2)  Go ahead and just do it, and if someone or BRI asks you to stop or face a lawsuit, then just stop and hopefully no harm done.  3)  To minimize your involvement, say you will only give out a few copies, (10 or 20 or so,) and that's final, and hope that the people you gave copies to will make copies for others who are interested.


         Hope you're feeling better these days!     

                  Love and merci,   Dan Lega

I read your post holeypolecat, and you said...  "Did he (Brian) feel better after he did it?  Not really the point to me."  Not really the point to you?  Why not?  Since when is the end result not part of the equation?  And for MBE, as Amy B. pointed out what I was alluding to was the fact that the folks on your side of the debate keep acting like there is some real underhanded coercion or something nefarious in the way that David Leaf and Melinda have gotten Brian to be productive.  Please let me know what you know.  As far as I know all they did was tell Brian that they thought it would good for him to be productive and ask him if would go along with plans they would like to set up.  Brian said yes -- and, by God, he followed through with it!  Yeah, it was scary and hard work for him, but I don't see him complaining that it was his wife's idea to do "SMiLE".  Sure, we all wish it had been his idea from the start, but seeing as it wasn't doesn't mean it still wasn't a great experience for him!

I went to music school, and the first time I had play piano in front of my classmates I was incredibly nervous.  My hands were literally shaking and I didn't play very well.  However, I lived through it and got more and more comfortable playing in front of people as each year went by.  Finally in my last year when I had to do it again I really fed off the vibe of playing live.  I was totally in the moment and played the piano piece better in front of a live audience than I ever played it in the practice room -- which was a total opposite of how things happened when I first started.  And let me tell you, that was a great, great feeling!  I'll never forget that sense of how into it I was.   So, yes, Brian admitted himself to the hospital during an early "SMiLE" practice session... but checked himself out when his wife showed up and went out to dinner with her.  He then went through all the practices for "SMiLE" and then... performed it in front a huge crowd.  He didn't chicken out, he sang every single note and didn't miss an entrance.  He says he was very scared to do it, but felt better almost as soon as they started, and was really glad to have finished it.  He's seems to be in much better spirits now, so please tell where the harm was -- and how sitting on his ass doing nothing would have been better.  From what I can see Brian felt much better about himself and life after finishing "SMiLE".  That's the evidence I'm seeing.


              Love and merci,   Dan Lega


(Once again, as for my sign-off, I didn't choose that sign-off to try and tell everybody that I was some kind of truly enlightened being.  I'm a human being and I get pissed off sometime and I'm not going to let my signature get in my way.  I chose the signature only because I thought it was a clever twist of "Love And Mercy".  However, if you ever do see me leave the signature off, that's when you'll know I'm truly indignant!)   

Thanks so much for sending me the whole kit and kaboodle.  It gave me a headache reading it, all the legalese, you know, but it's interesting to peruse.  Please keep us updated on further developments!


       Love and merci,   Dan Lega