There were signs posted at the Ryman Theater in Nashville that the show was being filmed. Darian came back for that performance. I went to 4 concerts in September and it was the best.  Who wouldn't be up for a show at that iconic venue?  I hope it shows up on DVD.

Hi Stephen, Will and welcome Mike!

The Vega-tables study video! FANTASTIC! and ticks all the boxes.

Great exploration of a very simple but highly effective recording replete with historical context in relation to the original recording - as per the usual standard of study videos to date.

But now enhanced with a better visual approach - I think you've made a great decision to present a "canvas" that has active and static elements on display - looking quite stylish too with the spiffy graphics; loved the spinning 45 graphic and the retro style coloured vertical bars the 45 hovers over.

Also nice of you to now cater for the headphone set - I gave it a try out of curiousity and quite enjoyed the knocks coming from outside of my head.  Overall though, the enhancements work best through stereo speakers (imo) for that room filling experience (and with eyes closed on 2nd or 3rd playing, once you've read through the guide detail).

I wait in patient anticipation for the ongoing work you have planned - it's wonderful stuff; thanks for persevering through the set-backs and more important concerns you've had in the past year in order to give us these fantastic insights - cheers - A

Alan,

Thank you so much for your positive feedback.  It is a true honor to work with Mr. Desper and I am incredibly excited about this opportunity. We are beginning the next video and I look forward to the discussion that will follow.  Steve's book is truly amazing. His recollections stand as an invaluable first-hand source for Beach Boys fans.

"Prius Party!!"

 

This has got to be the funniest thing I've heard all week.  The 2011 version of "PT Cruiser".... 

How about-
"Good Vi-ragra"
"401k"
"I Hoveround"
"Surf n' Turfer Girl"
"Convalescence (incorporating "Rest Home on the Range")"
"Add Some Muslix to Your Day"
"Catheter Crazy Cutie"
"Crotchety Love vs. Sedated Wilson"
"Custom Oxygen Machine"
"Endless Agony"
"H.O.S.P.I.C.E is on its Way"
"Help Me I've Fallen (and I Can Get Up)"
"I Went to Sleep/Forever" medley
"I've Become My Ol' Man"
"Hot Flashes in the Summertime"
"Livin' with a Heart Monitor"
"Passing On"


I need a hobby..... 

There are enough threads out there on the Internet discussing the supposedly correct aspect ratio for TOUCH OF EVIL; lord knows we don't need another one on a Beach Boys site!

Well.

I have a suggestion...if you feel the subject is not best served on this particular forum, perhaps you may consider resisting your urges to respond in such complex and patronizing conviction especially toward a new member.

Regardless of your exposure and expertise into the work of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys or Orson Welles, to post so definitively is naive to the experiences and research others may possibly bring to this or any online forum.  Let us not discourage new members by suggesting that any contribution is less valid.

To quote you, "bringing this back to the Beach Boys"-- How many times have the contributions of new visitors to this and the SMiLE Shop added to the general knowledge of the work of the Beach Boys and helped to restructure the paradigm of what was previously believed.

Before you offer any crass comment, I've posted this this forum on seven occasions. I'd invite you to click my membership link. I have been a member since February of 2006. (one month after yourself, for I continued to linger at John Lane and John Hunt's SMiLE Shop an extra month)  I visit several times a week and enjoy reading the information contained everyone's posts so much more than reading what little tidbits I may be able to offer.  I believe that everyone who takes the time to contribute offers something to my appreciation and long passion of the work of Brian Douglas Wilson and the Beach Boys. 

Perhaps this thread may invite others to explore, research and discuss the life and work of Orson Welles.  Timothy White, Domenic Priore and David Leaf published beautiful books offering metaphors between the work of the Beach Boys and a multitude art forms. To that end, any contribution to this or any discussion inspired by the works of art is worthy.

 Also, I got kind of close with Bruce Greenwood during the shooting of it, (much as Jon & I did with Nick Stabile, the kid who played him in A.A.F.), and think for the most part he did a fantastic job of capturing him.  (The last time I spoke with Bruce, he told me that he still plays the drums once in awhile, and often still feels Dennis' presence - join the club!)  So I guess I'm kind of prejudiced to liking this one; even think I'm portrayed in it once or twice, as different characters & in a negative way, (thankfully not by name), much as in Gaines book.  I'm sure it's an amalgam of us, especially because it's unflattering![/b]

Back in 1990 (when I first & last saw this movie!) I really thought Mr. Greenwood did a admirable job of portraying the tenderness of Dennis.  There was a beautiful scene where Dennis visits Karen and plays a song on the piano for her.  I remember the song and always wondered if it were written for the film, since I've never heard it again. Maybe Mr. Roach can answer that one.  My friend and I laughed for years about the poundcake-eating Brian.

Have "Confidential Report/Mr. Arkadin" ready to roll. Can't wait.

Fortunately for ARKADIN and EVIL, we now have reconstructed versions that are much closer to what Welles wanted to achieve.

Closer perhaps but, let's not forget that the 1998 "reconstruction" of Touch of Evil under the direction of filmmaker Rick Schmidlin, was based on Orson Welles' 58 pages of suggestions to Universal after they reshot scenes with Leigh & Heston and cut them into their own edit.  The removed footage and 'extra' outtakes sadly no longer exist.

This 58 page note is not Welles' original intention for the film.  It was Orson's way to incorporate the newly shot elements and save the story continuity.  Schmidlin and Oscar-winning editor Walter Murch did a yeoman's job of re-cutting the film based on what was surviving, but this 1998 version is FAR FROM Welles' original vision for what his original final cut would have looked like.

Interesting Footnotes- The use of a handheld 35mm film camera was introduced to Hollywood by Orson in this film.  Welles purchased the camera to use in his European works. The scene of 'Uncle' Joe Grandi' being strangled by Welles' Police Captain Hank Quinlan was shot with this camera mounted with 17mm 'fisheye' lens, creating the warped look around the edges of the image.  TOE is also the first time a camera (most likely Wells' light rig) was mounted to a moving vehicle to shoot footage.  Check out the scene of Heston and the DA driving through the streets of Venice Beach, CA.  Some of the deleted scenes from Orson's version were of Janet Leigh and Charlton Heston driving shot with this rig.

Your comparison to Orson Welles has been noted in the past.  Occasionally in the pre-BWPS days, Brian had been called the "Orson Welles of Rock".  This was referenced by Chazz Palminteri at the 2001 Radio City event.

I did want to point out that David Thomson's book had been slammed repeatedly over the years by fans of Welles.  The work has been attacked by Welles scholars for painting Orson as a 'tortured genius', which is not the case.  Welles created many of the stresses he had to deal with over the course of his career.  He didn't dwell on his past, Hollywood did. He had a reputation of being bad with money (like the Beach Boys).  His career is marked by his lack of negotiation skills, inability to pitch his ideas with finesse or ease the concerns of investors. 

If you are seeking better biographically sources read Frank Brady, Peter Bogdanovich or Clinton Heylin's "Despite the System".

Citizen Kane was realized because Welles had strong support from the president of RKO, a dedicated team in the Mercury especially the gifted theater producer John Houseman, who had five years experience being the buffer between Welles' 'genius' and financiers. He was able to smooth relationships and translate Orson's visions verbally.  Orson had a brilliant radio career after Kane, married the most desired actress in Hollywood (Rita Hayworth) and traveled the world as a icon being 'wined and dined' and elbowing with royalty throughout the world for the remained of his life.  His first released film has inspired every successive generation of filmmaker, but there is so much more to his creative output that has yet to be discovered and explored.  None of it centers on his failures.

I am more inclined to equate Citizen Kane with Pet Sounds.  Both were released to the public with artistic vision intact.
The Magnificent Ambersons, the film that Welles couldn't watch in his old age without a tear, is his SMiLE.

An interesting footnote-- in the early 1970s Welles briefly entertained the idea of gathering Joe Cotton, Tim Holt, and Agnes Moorehead to reshoot the ending to Ambersons, reconstructing his original intent.  He was not able to secure the rights to the RKO film.  Sadly, Holt passed in '73 and Moorehead in '74.  If he would have accomplished it, it might have been his BWPS!

Interesting, coincidental comment by the Don on the Brian's dress styles of late thread,
referencing Orson Welles.

I have been devouring an excellent bio of this towering, troubled figure (by film critic David Thomson) and have been contemplating some interesting similarities between Welles, (Brian Wilson), his magnificent (artistic if not financial, don't f*ck with the you-know-what) success and relatively independently conceived and executed achievement, Citizen Kane (what Smile COULD have been if completed and released at the time, although Smile would have undoubtedly been somewhat more commercially successful), and The Magnificent Ambersons (his thwarted ((partly by his own self-destructive negligence in the final stages)) second masterpiece), which Smile wound up BEING in its real-world incarnation before (or even after, depending on your POV, BWPS).

Welles said later in life that "Ambersons" in its original, director-approved, 132-minute
cut, was, in his opinion, "better than Kane" a view more or less echoed by intelligent,
discerning contemporaries who saw it in its pre-mutilated form. One of them said:"It was a picture done like music, so smooth, the choreography of camera and actors so beautiful.
It was the best I'd ever seen". A preview audience member said: "The picture is magnificent. The direction, acting, photography and special effects are the best cinema
has yet offered. It is unfortunate that the American public, as represented at this theatre,
are unable to appreciate fine art", and: "The picture was a masterpiece with perfect photography, settings and acting. It seemed too deep for the average stupid person. I was disgusted with the way some people (in the theater) received this picture".

As a result of this last sentiment being observed at subsequent previews, the film was
gradually edited to disastrous effect before release, against the wishes of Welles, who had been forced to relinquish his unprecendented right to final cut, which had been awarded him in his original contract with RKO, after "Kane" was a financial failure. The circumstances are different, but the similarities between the two "lost masterpieces" are
interesting. Thomson writes "Ambersons is known and treasured now as a lost thing; that
is its special resonance, its character. Suppose it had been finished--at two hours and twelve minutes--lovely, sad, perfect--would we think of it so much? Or do we especially treasure the things lost?" Food for thought.

"Citizen Kane", on the other hand, is a surrogate or metaphor for the pioneering, transcendent work (Smile) brought triumphantly to fruition by the strength and uncompromising vision of its creator(s), undeterred by opposition, doubt or adversity.
It was even more defiantly uncommercial than Smile, and Smile would have almost surely
achieved greater mass acceptance upon release than "Kane" did, and similar critical praise. It stands, in all its trailblazing, unique glory, undiluted and undiminishable. Hallelujah! We (I) can vicariously relish it and visualize the 1966-67 released Smile, with
sections either destroyed, known but left off BWPS, or otherwise yet unheard but probably still in existence somewhere, through "Kane's" triumphant lens, and thus somewhat diminish the longing left by its absence.

None of this is meant to diminish the achievement, musically and spiritually, of BWPS. There are varying opinions about whether it represents true closure for the Smile saga,
its atmospheric and purely musical merits, etc., but it does represent, at the very least,
a celebration of Brian Wilson, his determination and survival, his dedication and that of his
collaborators.

Thank you all for your indulgence. Live long and prosper.

Thanks for the recommendation mypetsounds.  He had some releases over at CD BABY but they are gone.  Looks like his catalog is OOP.

I am researching this wonderful collaboration and need a little push on the swing.  The credits on the Target CD is Burt Bacharach, Brian Wilson, Steve Krikorkian (Tonio K.)

Has anyone heard Tonio K's solo work?  Can anyone recommend anything as a starting point?


Also, has anyone heard the demo version of this song?  There was a verse from it on a BBC radio special on Bacharach back in 2006.  Does anyone know if the complete version is available.

*de-lurk*

Steeler 1.0, were you up 'in the gods' high up at the back of the hall on the left as the audience faces the stage? And was the guy with the mic on his lapel also scribbling furiously throughout the concert? 'Cause if so, that was me, and the notes I was writing not only became the bulk of what appeared on the Smile Shoppe board late in the middle of that night, but were invaluable when I came to write the article on recording SMiLE for Sound On Sound a few months later. And as for the lapel mic - it was the best I could do. It was a stereo mic and every time I moved too much, I worried that I would cause a huge rustling sound on the recording. So I tried not to move very much - which was hard, given that I was trying to write notes, worry about the mic - oh, and of course, I was having my mind absolutely BLOWN by the incredible music and how well everything worked together.

Heady times indeed. That was quite a night!

Having said that, the next night, when I went back as a press guest and got a seat in the first few rows - that was in some ways even more amazing. I didn't write anything that night, I was just able to enjoy the music (and WHAT music!), and of course, the second night was an absolutely stunning performance, too - the one that collared Brian the 10-minute ovation at the end. I count myself really lucky to have been at that one.

MattB

*re-lurk*

Matt, that was me!  I was going to talk to you during the night but I didn't want to talk on your recording!   Since your POV was the same as mine that night, I would love to work out a trade for your version---jacket ruffling and all.

I bought tickets the first day they were offered on the web, not knowing how I was going to get to London from Florida.  I had never left the US before, but if BW had the courage to finish SMiLE I was going to be there.

Eventually, me and my 5-month Pregnant wife (she's a trooper!) made it to the first show. 

One of the biggest thrills was seeing Van Dyke Parks take his seat in the hall.  The whole hall responded with thunderous applause.  He turned and waved, clearly very moved.

I was dumbstruck on how well the parts of the puzzle fit together.  I still am. 
One memory I have is the guy next to my sitting like a statue allnight with a mic clipped to his label.  I wonder how many copys of that show were made?