"California Dreaming"? Really? Maybe he meant "Dreaming Of Some California Girls"?

Candlestick Park, San Francisco 1983 (last time I saw all three Wilsons on stage); SMILE in Houston AND Grand Prairie November 2004 (as my newly-minted Brian Wilson fan friend asked in Grand Prairie, as we sat in a venue that was sitting on a property his daddy used to ranch and he rode horses on as a kid, "how DO they DO that?"); best of all, even without Carl and Dennis: C50 at the Red Rock Amphitheater in Las Vegas May 2012 for my 62nd birthday and my own 50 years "with" the Beach Boys. THAT was a show to end all shows. (Seeing Carl Wilson at the Old Waldorf in SF in 1981 was a real treat, as well.)

I am looking forward to the book, but I doubt there's much that is not already known.  I hope Mike Love has the good sense not to go into all the gory details of bad behavior fueled by alcohol and drug abuse.

If he just wrote something like: "everybody knows about the personal problems we all had over the years and all the negative stuff and infighting, it's all been written before, and there's no need to re-hash it here", that might work for everybody. I mean, it can't be totally ignored since it did have a damaging effect on the band, but it's known and accepted at this point. Maybe I'm expecting too much. Hope lingers.

A friend of mine who actually took lessons from Carol Kaye told me she produced union contracts for "Surfin' USA" and showed them to him. However, one thing he could NOT confirm: that it was actually a Beach Boys session.

the way is clear: All of us should join together to sponsor AGD for lessons from Carol; he can then view the contracts personally and clear this up once and for all

Assuming the lessons are on guitar or bass, not how to fool the public for 50 years, then, yes, by all means.

Well, I'd only been a fan for 25 years at the time, and after the last album was not paying that much attention - since I didn't (and don't)  listen to the radio music stations - and so my wife told me she thought she'd heard a new Beach Boys song, my ears perked up, oh, terrific, hope it's something good, I heard it a couple of days later, and loved it. Still do. Never did understand all the commotion about it. Enjoyed hearing it live in the C50 show. That's all.

I've always thought it sounds as if they're singing 'God's a lie'. They're not of course, which is a shame as it's true.

Not what I heard in church this morning.

I wish Brian would get his ass into gear and release the gosh-darned album... this is getting old fast.

Wait.  Brian has an album coming out?

Took a little over 14 minutes but Bruce finally adjusted his microphone.

Who's winning?

The Giants, San Francisco baseball version.

Mikie's not telling anybody what or what not to do or y or talk about.  He's only pointing out how some of this gets grandly tiresome after a year or two.  Or three.  Or four. But then again I've been fielding that complaint about me at home for decades, so we learn to live with it, I guess.

Exactly.  Go Giants!

To Kansas City, as it turns out.  I was just looking yesterday at some BB concert photos I took at Candlestick in 1983, and the team the Giants beat that day was: The Cardinals. Giants baseball, Beach Boys, all good.

Mikie's not telling anybody what or what not to do or y or talk about.  He's only pointing out how some of this gets grandly tiresome after a year or two.  Or three.  Or four. But then again I've been fielding that complaint about me at home for decades, so we learn to live with it, I guess.

I wonder what Brian usually orders at that deli. There's this deli in Houston called Kenny & Ziggy's I've been wanting to try, and the Reubens they serve there look delish.

Billy, where is Kenny & Ziggy's?  Might check out next time we head south from The Woodlands area.

off of post oak, near the galleria

Perfect.  My wife needs to run down to the Galleria one day soon.  Let's do lunch (as they say). Or some other time.

I wonder what Brian usually orders at that deli. There's this deli in Houston called Kenny & Ziggy's I've been wanting to try, and the Reubens they serve there look delish.

Billy, where is Kenny & Ziggy's?  Might check out next time we head south from The Woodlands area.

I think the Smiley Smile moderators are doing a lousy job and that they should resign so that sensible moderators can take over.

This thread is not about Brian anymore. It stopped being about Brian a long time ago, because the moderators don’t care if someone’s off topic or not. Other forums' moderators delete off topic posts for the simple reason that they are not a part of the topic that is being discussed. In this case the OP wanted to discuss Brian's rising stock (great choice). Now we are not able to do that since a whole bunch of people including moderators who should know better are derailing the discussion by posting posts about:

• other members
  
• how Smiley Smilers should or should not interact

Just like 98 % percent of threads here. Moderators please step up. Make it possible to keep discussions on topic. Delete off topic posts. From now and on.

Or resign.

I've had a death in the family and was at a wake yesterday.  I was considering resigning, as quite frankly the negativity is driving me nuts, and i feel like I'm not appreciated around here.

I start my new job in a couple of weeks. ...im going to be more active until then, and I'll reevaluate my status then.

Sorry to hear that, Billy.  Hang in there on all fronts, OK?

Hey, How about them Cardinals?

Hey, how about them Giants?

That's more like it.

Seems like David lived in a different school district (even though he lived across the street from the Wilsons), but that may have been for elementary or junior high or whatever, not high school. He and Carl, who started at Hawthorne, attended the Hollywood Professional school for kids in show biz or from show biz families, which Marilyn and Diane Rovell also attended for a while.

The high school has an alumni-type page of sorts that has a few comments from former classmates about the Wilsons.

Interesting the photographer managed to catch Bruce when he wasn't adjusting his microphone.  Or maybe that hadn't manifest itself yet, since he was actually busy playing the keyboard in those years. I guess., anyway.

Technically speaking...

Now that's a good one. 

I'm curious..... has anyone ever reconstructed the track list for "Smile" in the Domenic Priore book? 

Many, many times. Ever since he first sprang his cassette tape of "Cantina" on us at the Beach Boys convention in Oakland in the 80's and held it tightly in his wormy hand over our heads as we begged him for copies of it like a bunch of homeless people who hadn't eaten in three weeks.

Mikie, which year? I made 82 & 83 but missed 84 (Les sent me a T-shirt since I'd already paid).

Norm, I believe it was 1984. It could have been '83 but I think '84. I remember Chris Duffy from the Dennis Wilson Fan Club got up and gave a sad 'memories of Dennis' talk, so maybe it was that day. I'm sure you remember the years Steve Desper and Hal Blaine showed up - think it was either in Oakland or Emeryville. Good times. Les could really organize a convention, and he was also instrumental in making the San Diego conventions in '90 and '92 both a success.

Anyway, it was a six years after Priore played us that version of Heroes & Villains with the Cantina section that it was formally released (on the Smiley Smile CD). Pretty sure it was already circulating amongst collectors on cassettes before that - can't remember if any vinyl boots had it, but I remember the cleanest version up to that point was released on CD in 1990.

Yes, sounds like 1984, Mikie. 1983 was at Jack London Square, with Stephen Douglas and Scott Matthews (sometime replacement drummer, from the Durocs).  Seems like that was Desper's year as well?  I remember Stephen Douglas going through a record bin next to the one I was looking into, when one of the speakers (a fan attendee) raised the question why the Beach Boys' records haven't sold well for the past several years, and Douglas said, barely audibly, and without even looking up, "because they haven't recorded anything worth buying".  I said nothing. How could I? 1982 was at the Oakland School of Arts and Crafts. I spent the afternoon running back out to my car to listen to the Cal-Stanford football game, which my California Golden Bears won on the infamous  5-lateral "The Play", with Kevin Moen running the kickoff through the Stanford band as time expired. And I missed it, too busy back inside picking up a 45 of Lady Lynda I won in some contest. Good times, good folk, probably saw you at one of them, sure miss Les. He sent me a SMILE tape along with Landlocked; it also had a live version of "Just A Matter Of Time" (which Brian introduced as "I'm Lost Without You") at Lake Tahoe from 1983.  Much, much better arrangement and performance than the album cut.

I'm curious..... has anyone ever reconstructed the track list for "Smile" in the Domenic Priore book? 

Many, many times. Ever since he first sprang his cassette tape of "Cantina" on us at the Beach Boys convention in Oakland in the 80's and held it tightly in his wormy hand over our heads as we begged him for copies of it like a bunch of homeless people who hadn't eaten in three weeks.

Mikie, which year? I made 82 & 83 but missed 84 (Les sent me a T-shirt since I'd already paid).

Two things.  One, we lived in Las Vegas 2006-2012 before coming back to Texas. The M & B Beach Boys played there several times, Al played there at least twice, but the only concert I saw was the C50 at the Red Rock.  Not because I was avoiding the others, but I just didn't go (although I was thinking about one of Al's shows). The C50 was an absolute must for all the obvious reasons.  50-year fan, 50 year reunion, etc. Would a Vegas-based "residency" for the "original band with surviving members" work for them and us?  Don't know. Santana has had one, and that would have seemed kind of unlikely. In the right venue, a good set-list with some variation, and a reliable cast of characters, it just might.

Two, a couple of other bands I became a fan of in the 70's were the Marshall Tucker Band and Asleep At The Wheel. I would not walk across the street to see the current MTB, much like I wouldn't to see the Stones or Springsteen, for the simple fact that the only original member is the singer Doug Gray. Three are deceased, thee others left in the 1980's after Tommy Caldwell died, one stuck it out with Doug Gray for a few years and then left. It ain't the same band, revolving door of players, and Gray has completely lost his voice. I personally think he has wrecked their legacy to  degree. Now, with Asleep At The Wheel, the only original member is Ray Benson.  But that's the way it has been virtually since their inception in the 70's. There have been over a hundred members - fiddlers, piano players, bass players, drummers, steel guitars, fiddles, horns, all of them.  I think the longest tenured player other than Ray is the drummer, David Sanger, who has been there since the mid-80's. However, the band is always great, and nobody is disappointed because Lucky Oceans or Chris O'Connell or Tim Alexander or whoever aren't there. It's just the way it is. Individual members never seemed that big a deal, even when we did have our favorites. I still love that band, but while I  still listen to the old songs regularly, I pay no attention to Doug Gray's MTB, and wish he would just retire the name. Two bands, one similarity, two opinions. What can I say? Every case is different.

That has obviously not been the case with a lot of longtime Beach Boys fans, and will likely stay that way. I'm not that interested in seeing the M & B show but a lot of fans are. That's fine. They're keeping the music and the name alive. I've seen Brian's band twice, both SMILE shows, and I'm satisfied. I'd like to see Al, but probably won't have that chance.  Seeing them all together, now that's what I'd pay to see again.

Lots of words, not sure I said anything useful.

Mike sounds like quite the mercenary when it comes to touring.

I like to get paid for the work I do, too. Never thought that was a problem for anybody.

When I met my future and present wife of 42 years, 3 months and 23 days in high school in 1967 in CA, she figured out I was a BB fan very quickly, might have had something to do with the haircut and the guitar, I don't know, and has been along for the ride ever since.  Now I must say I suspect she probably would not have me start every other conversation with something about the band or one of the members, but she does like the music from all eras and did buy me a ticket for the C50 tour stop in Las Vegas for my 62nd Birthday (after which it was safe to move back to our house in Texas, where she gave me free rein to re-install and expand my "BB corner" on the walls in the front room around the piano). She became a serious San Francisco Giants fan early on as well (saw the writing on the wall for that one, too). So I'm happy for all kinds of reasons.

The interviewer says that Jeff's entree to the band was via Mike Love who heard Jeff's own band play in 1979.  Seems to me I read somewhere Jeff - or an interviewer - talking about his knocking on Wilson's door on Bellagio in the 1970's and introducing himself when Brian himself answered the door? In any event, I can see how the grind of this particular "job" would wear a person out eventually, probably in a lot fewer years for most people than Jeff put in.