You Couldn't Make This Up

[The Heartical Don]

OK, I hesitated before posting, because it requires suspension of disbelief.

A week ago, I came home, and found a plastic shopping bag hanging from my front door knob. Not really odd, since a friendly neighbour sometimes gives me something that's become redundant for her, or something she bought and which proved unnecessary for her (e.g. an inexpensive piece of clothing that her husband didn't like). In return, I give her a bunch of flowers every now and then. This time, a quick glance told me that there was a nice blue fleece sweater in there (I was in great haste). I put it in my bedroom and didn't give it much thought for some days.

Yesterday, I came home from an exhaustive day at the Uni library, where I'm a volunteer. I decided that I wanted a listen to the SMiLE sequence as present on disk 1 of the box. Put everything at the ready, phones connected, and so on. Then, for some reason or another, I had to go to my bedroom again. I saw that bag there, in the corner, and wanted to know how said sweater looked. Took the bag, and pulled out that, um, sweater.

To my total amazement, it was much larger than I expected. And it wasn't a sweater either. It turned out to be:

A nice, long blue bathrobe.

Few are the times that I laughed out loud whilst being totaly on my own. This was one of them.

[Micha]

I totally believe you.

When I went off the plane in London on Feb 20th 2004, there stood a guy holding up a sign that said "Margarita" - obviously she was on my plane in person, and this guy was expecting her.

I often light up candles because I like that light a lot. Yesterday, two of my five candles went out when Mrs. O'Leary's Cow was on.

[The Heartical Don]

I totally believe you.

When I went off the plane in London on Feb 20th 2004, there stood a guy holding up a sign that said "Margarita" - obviously she was on my plane in person, and this guy was expecting her.

I often light up candles because I like that light a lot. Yesterday, two of my five candles went out when Mrs. O'Leary's Cow was on.

Great stuff, Mychael! Sometimes, in the everyday chaos where 10,000 things must be happening simultaneously but mostly go unnoticed because we can't assign any meaning to them, something can stand out really conspicuously, e.g. a coincidence that is so striking to us because it is related to our immediately personal world. Your Margarita one is a lovely example...

[MarcellaHasDirtyFeet]

Due to an increasingly worrisome obsession that may, in fact, lead to a premature end to my otherwise new and lovely marriage, I now see the Beach Boys everywhere. Just the number of times I ran into the word "smile" in the weeks before Nov. 1 (and the fact that I would giggle like a madman when I saw it) had my wife worried about my mental health.

It's getting worse. I can make connections to the BBs with almost everything, thanks to the depth, eccentricity and randomness of their catalogue. The wife doesn't even care for the Boys, she doesn't get the in-joke, and I think her patience has worn thin.

I hope the next one likes the BBs.

[The Heartical Don]

Due to an increasingly worrisome obsession that may, in fact, lead to a premature end to my otherwise new and lovely marriage, I now see the Beach Boys everywhere. Just the number of times I ran into the word "smile" in the weeks before Nov. 1 (and the fact that I would giggle like a madman when I saw it) had my wife worried about my mental health.

It's getting worse. I can make connections to the BBs with almost everything, thanks to the depth, eccentricity and randomness of their catalogue. The wife doesn't even care for the Boys, she doesn't get the in-joke, and I think her patience has worn thin.

I hope the next one likes the BBs.

Do you realize that, in your never-ending search for a suitable wife, you might end up being a sort of Mike Love?

[hypehat]

F*cking hell, Don. That's beyond the pale, isn't it? I mean, I'm all for friendly banter, but you've crossed a line.

[The Heartical Don]

F*cking hell, Don. That's beyond the pale, isn't it? I mean, I'm all for friendly banter, but you've crossed a line.

 

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

The day I first heard BWPS, my parents (unknowingly) brought me to a restaurant called the "Cantina", my mom ordered a margarita

[egon spengler]

Last year my wife and I went on a vacation the week before Christmas, and brought Peter's bio of Brian to read while on the plane/beach.  I got to the part about Brian's December 23 nervous breakdown while on a flight to Houston.. on December 23 while on a flight to Houston. 

[The Shift]

When I was in CA a few years ago I made a point of necking as much margarita as possible. My shortest daily mileage on the PCT came after two friends and I downed a pitcher of margarita. Well, two of actually as one was driving. I covered about four miles before falling asleep under a tree.  Average daily distance covered was 20 miles, so that went down as "under-achiever day"

I've also been known to eat vegetables.

[acedecade75]

 Here is a true story that kind of freaked me out.  In 2004, after Brian performed SMILE live for the first time, somebody was kind enough to share a recording of it with me.  It arrived in the mail right as I was about to leave to go out of town.  I brought the CD along to listen to on the way.  And I swear to God, during "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow", I  passed a house that was burning down.  It was kind of a strange coinsidence.

[doinnothin]

Here is a true story that kind of freaked me out.  In 2004, after Brian performed SMILE live for the first time, somebody was kind enough to share a recording of it with me.  It arrived in the mail right as I was about to leave to go out of town.  I brought the CD along to listen to on the way.  And I swear to God, during "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow", I  passed a house that was burning down.  It was kind of a strange coinsidence.

Don't tell Brian ... ever.

[The Demon]

I totally believe you.

When I went off the plane in London on Feb 20th 2004, there stood a guy holding up a sign that said "Margarita" - obviously she was on my plane in person, and this guy was expecting her.

I often light up candles because I like that light a lot. Yesterday, two of my five candles went out when Mrs. O'Leary's Cow was on.

Great stuff, Mychael! Sometimes, in the everyday chaos where 10,000 things must be happening simultaneously but mostly go unnoticed because we can't assign any meaning to them, something can stand out really conspicuously, e.g. a coincidence that is so striking to us because it is related to our immediately personal world. Your Margarita one is a lovely example...

The term for it is "synchronicity."

[Margarita]

It's like this...

I always loved the song "When You Wish Upon a Star"...then I found out that "Surfer Girl" was based on it.

I also always loved "Rhapsody in Blue"...then I found out how inspired Brian was by that piece of music.

For my entire life, the beagle has been my favorite dog breed.  We had a beagle when I was little, and I've had two since I've been an adult.  And I found out that a beagle is one of the dogs barking at the end of Pet Sounds. 

It all makes sense...I've been a Beach Boys fan my entire life, and things like this confirm that I'm doing something right.

Oh, and I also found out that I was born on Carl's 25th birthday...

[WaxOn]

I have those weird things happen on an all too frequent basis (not always BB's) but this one is pretty good. This happened a couple of months ago while it was still nice and warm. I was playing Today! in the car, and jumped out to run into the market for some stuff. Stopped in the middle of "she knows me too well". Go inside and I'm poking around in the produce section (I do eat my vegetables) and I'm humming along to the music when I suddenly had an attack.

Agh!

It was "she knows me too well" playin in the market, almost exactly where I left it off in the car! What are the chances of that?

Ok, my market has excellent taste in music, don't be surprised to hear XTC or Bird and Bee or David Bowie in there. But in the big music wheel of life... That one definitely had alternate reality Dr. Who type stuff conjured up in my brain for a couple of minutes. Getting back in the car just verified how weird that was.

[SMiLE Brian]

Was playing good vibrations in my room and a 5.8 earthquake hit my house.

[hypehat]

I beg to differ - those are some BAD vibrations.



I do wish I had something to contribute to this thread, though

[JohnMill]

Someone top this (although it has nothing to do with Beach Boys/Brian):

My mother first introduced me to The Beatles when I was fairly young and her favorite Beatles song happened to be "Hey Jude".  Fast forward twenty-three years later my mother passes away from cancer and during her funeral "Hey Jude" was played as a sort of tribute.  Also on that same day (a cold January afternoon) the most gentle misty snow I have ever encountered in my life began to fall from the sky as we laid her to rest. 

Fast forward to six years ago.  I was in my car driving home from work and was turning the dial on the radio trying to find something to listen to and "Hey Jude" comes on.  At virtually the same moment the sky opens up and it once again begins to snow.  Now here's the kicker at this point I'm stopped at a traffic light and I look up at a building and painted on the side of the building are the letters "JPL" - Both my mother's and my initials are "JPL".

So yeah you can't make this stuff up if you tried.

[The Heartical Don]

Someone top this (although it has nothing to do with Beach Boys/Brian):

My mother first introduced me to The Beatles when I was fairly young and her favorite Beatles song happened to be "Hey Jude".  Fast forward twenty-three years later my mother passes away from cancer and during her funeral "Hey Jude" was played as a sort of tribute.  Also on that same day (a cold January afternoon) the most gentle misty snow I have ever encountered in my life began to fall from the sky as we laid her to rest. 

Fast forward to six years ago.  I was in my car driving home from work and was turning the dial on the radio trying to find something to listen to and "Hey Jude" comes on.  At virtually the same moment the sky opens up and it once again begins to snow.  Now here's the kicker at this point I'm stopped at a traffic light and I look up at a building and painted on the side of the building are the letters "JPL" - Both my mother's and my initials are "JPL".

So yeah you can't make this stuff up if you tried.

Brilliant!

[Eric Aniversario]

I have those weird things happen on an all too frequent basis (not always BB's) but this one is pretty good. This happened a couple of months ago while it was still nice and warm. I was playing Today! in the car, and jumped out to run into the market for some stuff. Stopped in the middle of "she knows me too well". Go inside and I'm poking around in the produce section (I do eat my vegetables) and I'm humming along to the music when I suddenly had an attack.

Agh!

It was "she knows me too well" playin in the market, almost exactly where I left it off in the car! What are the chances of that?

Ok, my market has excellent taste in music, don't be surprised to hear XTC or Bird and Bee or David Bowie in there. But in the big music wheel of life... That one definitely had alternate reality Dr. Who type stuff conjured up in my brain for a couple of minutes. Getting back in the car just verified how weird that was.

That happened to me at a rite-aid...I think it was a Doobie Brothers song...but a well-known one (I think it was Long Train Runnin).  For that to happen with She Knows Me Too Well...wow that's CRAZY!  I have never heard that played anywhere!

[Micha]

Great stories! Sometimes you must think that life is putting you on. Of course all of this is coincidence, but with 7 000 000 000 people on this planet, that's things that happen.

Two more London 2004 stories.

At the time London was plastered with ads for the film "Mona Lisa Smile" at the time, so when Toby and I wandered through town, all the time we went: "Look! Smile!!!"

I had brought a city guide from our public library. There was a picture in it of one of these red London busses which had a Wilson Philips ad on it.