Can the lightup box be bought anywhere in 2020?

I don’t believe so – if memory serves, thebeachboys.com's store finally removed their listing for the Light Up sets sometime in very late 2018.

I saw one for sale on Discogs earlier this year, but that particular listing seems to have been removed (it couldn't have sold because it would be listed within the “last sold” category on the Light Up Edition’s Discogs page if it did). That was the only one I’ve seen come up for sale in the past few years. They haven’t popped up on eBay either. I’m curious how much one might sell for now that they’re not readily available for purchase anymore.

Best news I've heard in months. Thank you Howie and everyone involved in making this happen!

Just want to mention that I have a friend who hosts a radio program in Connecticut who I’ve been talking with regarding what has been going on with the Feel Flows box set. His show airs biweekly on Fridays and he plays lots of 60s and 70s music, including The Beach Boys, along with new music. On Friday, September 4th, he made mention of the box set on-air. He spoke briefly about what it is, that it is being held up for unknown reasons, and that he believes that is important for the decision makers in charge to find a way to release it. While he didn’t mention the Change.org petition, the fact that he mentioned that the set exists to all his listeners I think is noteworthy, since it is yet another way to help spread the word that the set exists and is currently being held up. I’m sure regional radio show mentions such as this one, combined with all the social media posts are helping spread awareness about what is going on.

For anyone interested, the show is “Connections on WPKN”, which airs on WPKN in Connecticut. You can listen to the show online via the WPKN website. The September 4th episode can be listened to here: http://archives.wpkn.org/bookmarks/listen/301545/spontaneous-connections-new-and-vintage-music- and the mention occurs right around the 2 hour and 15 minute mark.

Then I'll come out of lurking to say that I signed the petition and that I'll buy it. It would be some good news in a year of much bad.

^Ditto this. I shared the petition to my social media pages and also got several other Beach Boys fans I know to sign it. This box set needs to be released.

Most of the time it's Surf's Up, but I'll also often get Long Promised Road, All I Wanna Do, Mona, Cabin Essence, Do You Like Worms/Roll Plymouth Rock, and the backing vocals to the chorus of Heroes and Villains stuck in my head.

Hello, has anyone done the meet and greet experience with Mike and Bruce lately? Will they sign things if you bring them?

I did a meet and greet in August of last year and was allowed to bring one item for them to sign, which they graciously did. But they were very strict about enforcing the one item limit.

Very good show tonight at the Beacon. Brian was in much better voice compared to when I saw him during the Christmas tour. Tonight he seemed to struggle with breath support, hit some bum notes here and there, and missed certain cues, but his voice was generally strong and he was putting effort into his vocals. The crowd definitely noticed and appreciated this. The cues he missed tonight seem to be the same cues I've heard or read about him missing on other nights during this tour, which indicates that these aren't just random miscues; there's a clear pattern as to which portions of songs he misses his cue or just chooses to not sing at all. Al, Blondie, and the rest of the band were spectacular as usual.

The setlist was either very similar or identical to other recent shows. I managed to capture most of the Friends and Surf's Up material that was played:

Meant for You / Friends:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2ePWrn1RFk

Wake the World:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWNfVsI4Fg4

Busy Doin' Nothin':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKyDr4BCWEs

Feel Flows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQJEK8jQjjw

Long Promised Road:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnTAlqdbXLg

Little Bird:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlxFZVP5-lo

Diamond Head:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt5x9R8LnkE

Passing By:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbJOHBHA7XU

'Til I Die / Surf's Up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83PljGCuCKY

Lookin' At Tomorrow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNwc9NV4EQk

I'm not convinced many people in the audience know who Carl Wilson was, either. The Beach Boys is a band to them rather than a group of individuals

And you would be correct. This is one of the biggest oddities that struck me at the concert last week. While I was waiting for the VIP experience to start I overheard so many people in the audience basically admit in one form or another that they had very little idea who the original Beach Boys were (one couple said they thought only 3 people founded the band, and no, they weren't referring to how many founding members are still alive or how many of them are in the current band either). And during intermission, a very nice elderly gentleman who was sitting next to me admitted that he had no idea which of the band members who were performing on stage were the "originals", which was the most surprising thing I heard all night (he claimed to be a longtime fan, and based on other things he said to me I believe him).

Well, you can be a fan of the music and listen to it for years without knowing anything about the members names or whatever.. Not everybody cares about that stuff

True, but to go decades without acquiring even a little bit of knowledge about the band's lineup is still surprising to me. One would think somewhere along the way of one's longtime fandom that a person might inadvertently find out who Mike Love is, but I guess that's not always the case.

I'm not convinced many people in the audience know who Carl Wilson was, either. The Beach Boys is a band to them rather than a group of individuals

And you would be correct. This is one of the biggest oddities that struck me at the concert last week. While I was waiting for the VIP experience to start I overheard so many people in the audience basically admit in one form or another that they had very little idea who the original Beach Boys were (one couple said they thought only 3 people founded the band, and no, they weren't referring to how many founding members are still alive or how many of them are in the current band either). And during intermission, a very nice elderly gentleman who was sitting next to me admitted that he had no idea which of the band members who were performing on stage were the "originals", which was the most surprising thing I heard all night (he claimed to be a longtime fan, and based on other things he said to me I believe him).

Mike made a comment when introducing Rob to the audience about how it’s good to “keep things in the family.” Which made me chuckle because that’s a very Murry Wilson thing to say, and I know from reading his autobiography that if there is one person who Mike despises above all others, it’s Murry — and rightfully so I might add.

Quick question, what time did the meet and greet start before the show? I'm supposed to have one this weekend but i'm not sure when I need to leave as i'm driving 2 hours or so?

It was advertised as starting 1 hour before showtime. For the Ridgefield Playhouse Theater this meant 6 PM (the show started at 7 PM), which was also the time that the doors to the venue were opened. According to the ushers/staff there though, the actual meet and greet was supposed to start at 6:15 PM, although it ultimately got delayed even further in my case.

Myonlysunshine -- where DID you get that awesome Wild Honey hoodie?

A company called “3D royal tees” made and sold them for a limited time last year. Unfortunately they are not available anymore, but I’ve seen some of these hoodies pop up for sale on eBay since then. Along with Wild Honey they made hoodies in this same style using the Friends, Surf’s Up, Smiley Smile, Endless Summer, Love You, and Keepin’ the Summer Alive album artwork.

Maybe Mike Was wondering if the license fee was being paid

Probably. I always assumed that was the reason they weren’t available for very long.

Myonlysunshine -- where DID you get that awesome Wild Honey hoodie?

A company called “3D royal tees” made and sold them for a limited time last year. Unfortunately they are not available anymore, but I’ve seen some of these hoodies pop up for sale on eBay since then. Along with Wild Honey they made hoodies in this same style using the Friends, Surf’s Up, Smiley Smile, Endless Summer, Love You, and Keepin’ the Summer Alive album artwork.

[the]

I saw the Mike and Bruce Beach Boys last night at the Ridgefield Playhouse Theater. This was the first time I've seen them since 2010, not counting the two C50 Mohegan Sun shows where I saw them with the reunited band. Growing up in the late 90s and early 2000s my parents took me to go see the Mike and Bruce Beach Boys a ton, but as I got older I gravitated more towards seeing Brian’s band and have pretty much stayed that way into adulthood. In a personal first for any concert experience, I decided to sign up for the VIP experience/package via Mike’s website. My main goal for the VIP experience was to have Mike and Bruce sign my Light-Up SMiLE Sessions box set since their autographs were the only ones I needed to complete it.

The VIP experience was good, but kind of odd due to the fact that the Ridgefield Playhouse Theater is a non-profit venue that mainly operates off of corporate sponsorships. I knew going in that the sponsors might alter the experience in some way. What I didn’t know was that the sponsors would be given their own private VIP experience during the ‘normal’/‘usual’ VIP time. The VIP experience was and is advertised on Mike’s website as lasting roughly an hour. Realistically this should actually manifest into something closer to a half hour of VIP time due to needing to receive VIP passes at the box office counter, Mike and Bruce needing to leave a little early in order to get ready for the show, etc. But last night the entire experience basically lasted about 10 minutes in total – the sponsors were let in to the VIP area separately from the ‘regular’ VIP group, and were then given a photo op with Mike and Bruce. For some reason, this photo op lasted about 25 minutes. I have no idea if each of the sponsors were given the chance to take separate/individual photos with Mike and Bruce, or if there was some other reason it took so long, but during that 25 minutes I and the four other people who had VIP passes had to wait outside in the concert hall until it was over.

I am not complaining – like I said, I knew going in that the sponsors would likely alter the experience in some way, shape, or form. And in some ways having a shorter meet and greet session is advantageous – it takes some of the social pressure away from the experience, which is nice. I am just pointing this out in case anyone is thinking about buying a VIP package for a venue like this, and who may be primarily interested in it for the social experience.

But the actual experience of meeting Mike and Bruce was great. Bruce signed the box set first. He asked me where I wanted him to sign it, and when I told him to sign underneath Brian’s signature, he called Brian his idol, to which I replied “mine too”. He then asked me if I own the Good Vibrations box set, and when I told him I did, he said to listen to disc 2 of that box set to hear where Brian was aiming to go with the SMiLE music. Mike then came over and added his autograph to it. He didn’t say much to me directly, but he was kind enough to also autograph my VIP Laminate, which was a nice gesture since the staff there were very explicit that Mike and Bruce would only sign one item as part of the VIP meet and greet session. So he didn’t have to do that, but he did so anyway. I really appreciated that.

After they finished autographing everyone’s items, Mike and Bruce then took photos with the VIPers. There was a young couple who got their photograph first, and then when my turn came Bruce noticed my sweatshirt and complimented me on it. He said “Where on earth did you get that? That’s fantastic!” Mike took notice of it and seemed to like it too. On the way out of the VIP meet and greet area as I was walking back to the theater, I ran into Scott Totten who also noticed the hoodie and complimented me on it, saying “now that’s dedication!”.

The show itself was great. Based this on some recent things I’ve read and on some of my previous experiences seeing Mike and Bruce back in the day, I was kind of skeptical that the show would be great, but I came away extremely impressed, so much so that I wouldn’t hesitate to see them again the next time they’re playing close by. Everyone was in good voice, but the person who impressed me the most was Bruce. His vocals were pretty weak when I last heard him sing live in 2012 and 2010, but last night his vocals were actually a highlight, maybe even the highlight of the night.

Rob was still filling in for Brian Eichenberger (who Mike mentioned is currently on paternity leave) and his vocals were much stronger this time around than when I saw him on Brian’s Christmas tour. In one of my posts in Brian’s 2018 tour thread, I complimented the sound of Rob’s voice, which to me sounds more like a young Brian Wilson than Matt Jardine’s voice does, but I criticized Rob’s falsetto for lacking power. Last night there was a lot more power behind his voice, and I thought he was fantastic. The setlist was good; they performed California Dreamin’, Good to My Baby, and You’re So Good To Me, which are three songs I wasn’t expecting them to do. On the other hand, they didn’t perform Darlin’ or Heroes and Villains. I know they don’t consistently perform Heroes and Villains in concert, but the lack of Darlin’ in the setlist was surprising. And they did perform some songs off of 12 Sides of Summer of course. The only song I thought sounded very out of place was Pisces Brothers – I know this has been discussed here before, but it really halted the momentum of the concert when it was performed. I can tell it is a very personal song for Mike, but that is the only song performed last night that I would argue should be left out of the setlist moving forward.

Here are some pictures from the concert, the VIP meet and greet, and my now fully completed/autographed Light-Up SMiLE Sessions box set:

I am so sorry to hear this. While I never met Nicky, he seemed like such a great guy. Rest in Peace, thoughts and prayers to his family, friends, and bandmates.

Happy birthday Brian! You are such a strong and amazing human being whose music has empowered and healed so many of us. Thank you so much for all you have given to the world! Enjoy today!

A recent episode of the TV show Impractical Jokers featured a guy wearing a Uniqlo SMiLE t-shirt. A lot of people that appear on the show, including the Jokers themselves, wear clothing featuring albums covers and whatnot, but this is the first time I've seen something Beach Boys related on the show.

[huge]

I am sure everyone here is well aware that Brian has cited Disney movie music as being an influence on his own music. The most famously cited example is Brian partially basing the melody of Surfer Girl on When You Wish Upon a Star from Pinocchio. And of course Brian released his In The Key of Disney album in 2011, which was an album of Disney covers.

My father happens to be good friends with Alan Menken, the composer of the songs and soundtracks of many of the most well-known Disney renaissance films: Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and The Beast, Pocahontas, and others. Alan is a huge Brian Wilson/Beach Boys fan, and cites Brian as one of his greatest musical influences. For example, you can definitely hear the influence in songs like Under The Sea (which Alan won an Oscar for). In fact, Alan says that Brian covering two of his songs on his In The Key of Disney album (Kiss the Girl and Colors of the Wind) is one of the two proudest and most thrilling moments of his career (the other moment being when Paul McCartney performed several of Alan’s and other Disney songs at a random nightclub appearance a few years back). Keep in mind this is a guy who has won eight Oscar awards for his music and has worked with numerous celebrities and musicians over the course of his career. So that is quite a compliment.

Alan worked closely with Will Smith and the other actors and actresses in the new live action Aladdin to assist them with their performances of his songs. So for anyone planning on watching the new Aladdin film in theaters or watching the original 1992 cartoon version, this is a cool Brian Wilson/Beach Boys connection to think about when listening to the music.

Just wanted to share this because I don’t believe Brian and Alan Menken have ever met each other and I think this is an awesome instance of musical influence coming full circle. Also, I am not sure if Brian himself realizes that his music has had such an important and direct influence on modern day Disney music, but if not, I hope word of this reaches him somehow.

I was the one who posted about Al's hints at a possible reunion (http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,25616.msg646799.html#msg646799). I do want to note that while Al was extremely vague with his hint (undoubtedly on-purpose), he specifically mentioned working with Brian's daughters this year separately from what he was hinting at. I interpreted Al's hints as alluding to a Beach Boys reunion, and I wasn't the only one in the audience who thought that this specifically was what he was alluding to: https://facethemusicjr.wixsite.com/facethemusic/single-post/2019/02/20/Al-Jardine-E280A2-Original-Founding-Member-of-The-Beach-Boys.

I should also note that despite hearing Al's hints firsthand, I am skeptical myself of a reunion occurring. It sounded like there wasn't much of a commitment from the parties at this point for such a thing, whatever that thing actually is, and whoever the parties in question are, which is probably why he was so vague about it. It was also my impression that this thing/event/reunion or whatever is at least a year or two down the line from now. A lot can happen between now and then, and knowing the history of this band I am not exactly keeping my hopes up. But we shall see — I would love to be wrong in this case.

I also want to clarify how Al presented his hints at the concert:

He sequentially listed the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson activities coming up in the future. He started by noting that the Brian Wilson documentary will be coming out sometime this year (which we now know is titled Long Promised Road, although its title hadn't been revealed at that point in February). He then noted that his touring with Brian and his solo storytelling shows would continue later this year. He noted that he would be working with Brian's daughters, Carnie and Wendy, this year on a project (he didn't specify what this project was at the time, so I didn't include this information in my initial review of the concert, since working together on something could mean a lot of things). We now know this is probably the Family and Friends Reunion that was announced (and unfortunately postponed) somewhat recently. He then mentioned that a new Beach Boys documentary would be coming out in 2020. And then he began hinting at something involving him and the other Beach Boys being potentially in the works after that. When the audience began getting excited, Al blurted out the word "tour". And that was it.

Now is it possible Al could have been referring to reuniting with Carnie and Wendy for a Beach Boys Family and Friends reunion tour? Sure. But the fact that Al listed all of the upcoming events in chronological order, the fact that he specifically mentioned working with Carnie and Wendy this year as its own event, and from the way Al was acting and the terminology he used, I don't think a Family and Friends reunion was what he was alluding to.

That said, I agree with Pretty Funky's above post regarding "what about the future questions" and how Al, Mike, and Brian tend to handle them. I think Al, above all, would love for another reunion to happen, and so I think assuming that the above hint was anything other than wishful thinking on his part is a mistake, at least at this point. It is too far off and there have been no other mentions of it thus far. As I mentioned in my previous post, knowing the history of this band, I am not holding my breath.

I was the one who posted about Al's hints at a possible reunion (http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,25616.msg646799.html#msg646799). I do want to note that while Al was extremely vague with his hint (undoubtedly on-purpose), he specifically mentioned working with Brian's daughters this year separately from what he was hinting at. I interpreted Al's hints as alluding to a Beach Boys reunion, and I wasn't the only one in the audience who thought that this specifically was what he was alluding to: https://facethemusicjr.wixsite.com/facethemusic/single-post/2019/02/20/Al-Jardine-E280A2-Original-Founding-Member-of-The-Beach-Boys.

I should also note that despite hearing Al's hints firsthand, I am skeptical myself of a reunion occurring. It sounded like there wasn't much of a commitment from the parties at this point for such a thing, whatever that thing actually is, and whoever the parties in question are, which is probably why he was so vague about it. It was also my impression that this thing/event/reunion or whatever is at least a year or two down the line from now. A lot can happen between now and then, and knowing the history of this band I am not exactly keeping my hopes up. But we shall see — I would love to be wrong in this case.

[Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson]

I posted my thoughts about what I consider to be the best books about the band in a thread from a few years ago:

As noted by others above, Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson by Peter Ames Carlin is fantastic. To me it's the best starting point for anyone who is interested in reading a chronological overview of Brian's life.

Becoming The Beach Boys 1961-1963 by James B. Murphy is one of the most incredible books on the band I have ever had the pleasure of reading. The amount of details crammed into it, especially given its relatively limited temporal focus, is absolutely insane.

Speaking of incredible books, The Beach Boys In Concert: The Ultimate History Of America's Band On Tour And Onstage, by Ian Rusten and Jon Stebbins is another amazing resource for anyone interested in the touring history of the band. It's more of a reference book/textbook than a book book, but it's really something else.

Look! Listen! Vibrate! Smile! is another amazing work. Similar to the In Concert book, it's more of a scrapbook than a book book, but it's extremely enlightening if you're interested in learning more about how the band was viewed/what was being written about the band in the press leading up to, during, and after The Smile Sessions.

The Lost Beach Boy: The True Story of David Marks by Jon Stebbins is another one worth reading. It contains a lot of stories you won't find anywhere else, and the amount of details David provides about the period of time that he was in the band, and what he was up to before the band was formed and after he left it, makes it an extremely worthy entry into the Beach Boys literary canon.

Wouldn't It Be Nice: Brian Wilson and the Making of Pet Sounds by Charles Granta is a solid book/resource. My only issue with it is that I never felt like the book really explored what Brian was aiming to accomplish by making Pet Sounds, (aside from what is already well known) nor did it add to my appreciation of the album itself, but it does have a lot of really good insider information about how the album was composed and produced. Tony Asher provided his own recollections of what the composing process with Brian was like.

I haven't yet had the pleasure of reading Philip Lambert's Inside the Music of Brian Wilson, but I own the book and actually plan to start reading the book later tonight. From everything I've ever heard about it though, it's highly recommended.

I own The Beach Boys and the California Myth, but never got around to reading it beyond the first couple of chapters. One of these days I will finish it.

There are plenty of other great books worth reading too – The Beach Boys FAQ: All That's Left To Know About America's Band by Jon Stebbins, Brian's recent autobiography/memoir, and from what I hear, The Real Beach Boy: Dennis Wilson by Jon Stebbins is great as well, although I haven't yet had the pleasure of reading it. But I feel like the books above are the cream of the crop when it comes to books written about the band.

Man... first post on this board in years, but I guess I'm back. I blame Sunshine Tomorrow.

I would say my only update to this is that I have now read “Inside The Music of Brian Wilson”. It’s good, but dry. A lot of reviews point this out, and while reviews can sometimes be off-base with their critiques, it is an accurate criticism in this case.

For my money, the best book on the band is Jim Murphy’s “Becoming The Beach Boys”.

Some updates to my digital collection. Many new additions were acquired thanks to two friends of mine who I know in real life. Plus, several new book, fanzine, and article additions courtesy of ivrimark:

Just got my ticket to the Beacon Theatre show! I’m really excited! Friends and Surf’s Up are my two favorite non-Pet Sounds/SMiLE Beach Boys albums. A tour/show like this was something I always hoped would happen, but that I never thought would actually happen.

How did you get your ticket already?

Some pre-sales for certain dates began today at 1 PM EST US. Non-presale tickets go on sale Friday I believe.

Did you need a pre-sale password?  The site for the venue in Milwaukee has an artist's presale at 10 a.m. tomorrow, but there's no such info on bw.com other than just the tour dates.

In this case I did not, although in the past I have had to use codes for these kinds of presales, yes.  The presale for the Beacon Theatre yesterday was for Chase Preferred cardmembers. There was also one for Citi cardmembers. But simply paying for the tickets with my Case Preferred card was all that was needed this time. Ticketmaster should have more information regarding presale requirements.

For those of you on social media, the Facebook event pages for the concert dates (which can be found on Brian and Al’s Facebook fan pages in their events tabs) should contain direct links to the Ticketmaster pages for said dates.

Just got my ticket to the Beacon Theatre show! I’m really excited! Friends and Surf’s Up are my two favorite non-Pet Sounds/SMiLE Beach Boys albums. A tour/show like this was something I always hoped would happen, but that I never thought would actually happen.

How did you get your ticket already?

Some pre-sales for certain dates began today at 1 PM EST US. Non-presale tickets go on sale Friday I believe.

Just got my ticket to the Beacon Theatre show! I’m really excited! Friends and Surf’s Up are my two favorite non-Pet Sounds/SMiLE Beach Boys albums. A tour/show like this was something I always hoped would happen, but that I never thought would actually happen.