Carl's struggles with the draft, of course, were widely reported.  And Bruce alleges that he was declared 4-F.  W
hat about the other guys?  I can't recall, has this been covered in the various biographies? Brian's partial deafness would likely have been a legit "out."   But what about Mike, Dennis and Al?  How'd they manage to avoid Uncle Sam?

As you suspected, Brian was ineligible due to his partial deafness. Dennis, like Bruce, told his draft board he was gay. Around 1965 they started the policy of not drafting men who had children, so that exempted Mike. Al apparently just wasn't called, and in 1967 he became exempt with the birth of Matt.

I'm glad Billy's YouTube channel is still there and all of the Live From Billy's Place videos are still available.

Thanks so much for calling our attention to this great review! It's so nice to read about a time when Brian and band were firing on all eight cylinders.

I had no idea that Denis (sic) Wilson was "the guiding genius behind the Beach Boys." I love Dennis, but I think the reporter has him confused with Brian here. Also, while this is neither here nor there, I noted that they mention the attendance of Congressman Leo Ryan. Two years later Congressman Ryan was among five people murdered in Guyana by member of Rev. Jim Jones' temple when he tried to investigate the Jonestown cult.

Whenever I would voice my disagreement at the Beach Boys performing at the gig sponsored by the organization that promoted trophy hunting, or at the Trump rally, or Mike Love and Dean Torrence performing at Mar a Lago on New Years' Eve of 2020 without a mask in sight, I would get dismissed as simply a Mike Love hater who will never like anything Mike does because of the supposed nasty things he's done to the band. I will admit that I am not a Mike Love fan. I will never defend his politics, though, and I will never like him personally. Believe it or not, there are some issues in this world that are more important than the Beach Boys, and in my opinion, Mike is on the wrong side of them 99.9999% of the time.

I don’t want to restart this debate, but I didn’t know Dean was with Mike at Mar a Lego on NYE 2020.

Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRwtDKguyso&t=31s. And this http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,27487.0.html. It says "Beach Boys" but it's really just Mike, Dean and a house band.

I thought Heroes and Villains was, all in all, a great read. I know many fans enjoy getting lost in the minutae of who played what on what song where. And I'm very grateful to those who have documented those details as well as they can be to this point. But my favorite books contain a story, not just hard, cold facts and figures. The Beach Boys have an interesting and compelling story, and Gaines tells it well. Yes, he cites some unnamed sources, which is bothersome, and I wish he had interviewed Carl. One thing that really stands out, however, is that it contains by far the most harrowing and detailed account of Dennis's final days that I've seen in the several Beach Boys books I have read. That alone makes Heroes and Villains worth reading.

This is an excellent thread. And I'd just like to add my two cents. On various Beach Boys social media pages discussing politics is verboten, yet it often becomes the elephant in the room while Mike keeps injecting it into Beach Boys branded shows and into the choice of venues at which the Beach Boys perform. Whenever I would voice my disagreement at the Beach Boys performing at the gig sponsored by the organization that promoted trophy hunting, or at the Trump rally, or Mike Love and Dean Torrence performing at Mar a Lago on New Years' Eve of 2020 without a mask in sight, I would get dismissed as simply a Mike Love hater who will never like anything Mike does because of the supposed nasty things he's done to the band. I will admit that I am not a Mike Love fan. I do, however, see that he has made some great contributions to the band and I even find myself sticking up for him in some instances. I will never defend his politics, though, and I will never like him personally. Believe it or not, there are some issues in this world that are more important than the Beach Boys, and in my opinion, Mike is on the wrong side of them 99.9999% of the time.

I sure hope that John gets back with The Cowsills. They just put out a new CD and are still sounding good. The touring bboys band has become a joke.

I'm sure Mike's beach boys will be playing Trump rallies next year.

Better be careful! The other board is threatening to delete comments and shut down threads at the slightest mention of politics being involved in the firings.

"Firings?" Plural?

Totten and Cowsill were both replaced at the same time.

John has apparently said he was fired, but I don't recall that Scott has indicated that he (Scott) was fired.

I sure hope that John gets back with The Cowsills. They just put out a new CD and are still sounding good. The touring bboys band has become a joke.

I'm sure Mike's beach boys will be playing Trump rallies next year.

Better be careful! The other board is threatening to delete comments and shut down threads at the slightest mention of politics being involved in the firings.

"Firings?" Plural?

No sympathy from me, given what he did to Dennis Wilson with Stan Love

Or what he did to Carl in Australia, knocking him out with one punch.

. Al's always been a sensible guy, and I doubt he is throwing wild parties every night after the show.

 Really going out on a limb with that hypothesis.   

😅🤣😂

Not plastic!

I've always read plastic. What were they made of?

Rest in peace, Jim Gordon...drummer and plastic orange juice cup player extraordinaire.

The official announcement from the Beach Boys website today. Tune in on Sunday, April 9 at 8 PM ET/PT on CBS.

https://us.umusic-online.com/4YWS-6KME-9E79D5B66C46A0D21RTOSZFB048C0ABCCFABB8/cr.aspx

Dang! I just freeze-framed it and now it looks like Sarah Huckabee Sanders.  Sarah's pretty busy nowadays, though, so I doubt she'd have time to attend a Beach Boys tribute. Also, Carnie doesn't have any posts about it on her Instagram feed, which is very unusual for her. Either she was there and was told not to post about it, or she wasn't there.

By the way, it appears that Carnie has gotten her wish to see her dad. She was sitting behind him in the box at the Grammy salute. Just before I Get Around the camera panned over to the box and you could see Carnie lean forward and tap Brian on the shoulder.

I so much appreciate those in the audience taking these videos for us to see, especially since we don't know when the TV special will air. I do look forward to seeing it when it does air, though, as I'd like to hear improved sound and see different camera angles, including shots of the backup band and singers. Lest we forget, they too were singing and/or playing the Beach Boys' parts. Just shows how talented our Boys and their side musicians were and are, that they were/are able to sing those difficult parts and play their instruments at the same time, and put on a great live show with significantly less people onstage than were there at the Dolby Theatre.

I find this all very weird and morbid.  The Echovita site does list the obituary. I can’t imagine that this could be fake.

No, it doesn't show an obituary. That is not an obituary. Other than the name, the location of his residence and the supposed date of death, the listing shows boiler plate language that is used for many people on the site. It contains no information as to survivors, funeral home or crematory or funeral arrangements. Even if the funeral arrangements are private, an obituary will say that they are private. And a Google search mentions no newspaper obituary and no other articles mentioning Rocky's death.  There is a Reddit thread, but it lists the Echovita site as its only source. Rocky had a Facebook page. If there is any information as to his death there, it is not public. Same for his high school alumni Facebook page.

I always check items posted on the internet, whatever the subject, for specific information, and reliable and varied sources. This one doesn't pass those tests.

I can't believe it's been 25 years since we heard the awful news.

I did a search as well, before the Wikipedia page had been changed, and came up with nothing other than the Echovita site shown at the top of this thread. I think the Wikipedia page should be changed back to the way it was until his death can be confirmed by a more reliable source. I would edit it myself, but I don't have a Wikipedia account.

I will always wonder if the beating Rocky and SL inflicted on Dennis caused him so much pain that he self medicated himself in excess which contributed to his early demise. Obviously he was already in bad shape from years of substance abuse.

I have wondered if the balance issue Carl was having in Perth in 1978 could have been from Rocky knocking him out in Melbourne a few days earlier. Granted, there is no doubt Carl was doing a lot of stuff that could potentially have caused that. Also, there were a few concerts between Melbourne and Perth, and I am curious as to how they went. In any case, I've read that Carl spent the rest of that tour avoiding Rocky.

This is PURE SPECULATION on my part. I wonder if in 2022 Brian experienced some of the same medication-type issues as those which caused him to cancel his 2019 June and July tours. Many people wondered why he continued to tour in 2022 when he was obviously incapacitated much more than he normally is. The difference was that in 2022 many tour dates involved Chicago as well as the Brian Wilson Band, and were perhaps much more difficult for Brian to cancel his band's participation without breaching some contracts. In any case, I hope he is happy, healthy and enjoying life at home.

Something in me wishes that there was some independent confirmation of his death, other than from Echovita. It uses boiler plate language and does not list survivors, funeral services or a funeral home or crematory. Even if the famiily wanted to keep it private, there is usually some statement to that effect in the obituary. I did a search and found no newspaper obit, no articles in newspapers, magazine or online sources, nothing on his personal Facebook page. There was apparently a post on an alumni Facebook page for his high school, but I suspect it may have used the Echovita posting as a source. I don't know that for a fact, however, as it is a private page.

Anyone out there have independent, reliable confirmation of Rocky's passing?

Dennis Wholey is still an active television host, producer and author at the age of 83. It's interesting that Dennis Wholey himself battled alcohol and valium addictions, which may be the reason he felt comfortable addressing the addiction issue with Carl, although he was under the impression that Carl was "always very anti-drug." Perhaps that's also the reason why Carl felt comfortable being honest with him about his own drug problems, although they didn't delve into it too deeply.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Wholey

This just appeared on YouTube. It's just 15 minutes long, but fascinating, at least to me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L1Eyy6NHGA