Did McCartney ever tell Brian to kick Mike Love out of the Beach Boys?

[Smile4ever]

Brian first met paul in the fall of 66

Alright. I only vaguely remember the story of their first meetings.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

[Doo Dah]

Some years back, circa 2003 or so I had the privilege to meet Paul Saltzman - the photographer who chronicled the Beatles visit to India in 1968. This was at Beatlesfest in Cleveland, down by the Cuyahoga flats.

He sat in a little booth with his daughter, displaying his photographs and chatting with fans.

We spoke for awhile, and I asked him - 'say...any memories of meeting Mike Love?'

His daughter burst into laughter, and he said (paraphrasing) - "I was very young, and I had managed to talk my way into the ashram, photographing the famous as they played guitars, hung out, the whole thing. Mike Love came up to me, introduced himself, and assumed that I must have been a famous celebrity (like the rest of the crowd). When I said, 'no - I'm just a photographer taking pictures' he made a face, turned around and walked away. He ignored me the rest of the time we were there. Fortunately, everyone else (including the Beatles) were very warm and forthcoming to me the entire time."


 

You know, you learn A LOT about people by the way they treat the little people. This of course doesn't answer your hypothesis, but it does give an insight into Mike's whole thang. It's a LUUUUV thang...

http://www.thebeatlesinindia.com/book.html

[MBE]

Funny he was nice to me, and this is years before I wrote a word about the group.

[ontor pertawst]

Funny he was nice to me, and this is years before I wrote a word about the group.

It's a pretty compelling case.

[SMiLE Brian]

Great post about ML Doo Dah.

[Smile4ever]

I think we should all admit the Beach Boys are wack (just like most big groups I guess). Mike can sometimes be nice, and often times be a total arrogant jerk. Brian has had well-known issues for decades (no need to go into detail), and Dennis was absolutely out of control alcoholic/drug addict/sociopath.

Of course, Carl also had drug problems, though he seemed to be an all-around nice guy. And Bruce is nice in interviews, though some board members say he's a jerk. Seems like Al Jardine is the only member to basically keep it together over the years.

[ontor pertawst]

...and we can't even agree on that! Some people think Al is the worst of all!

We seem to be approaching Total Beach Boys Equivalency, apparently all of them are equally talented and equally problematic. That goes twice for Al.

Still, much funner to talk about than some bores without all the highs and lows. Give me genius one minute and pathetic asshole the next over mediocrity any day.

[Smile4ever]

...and we can't even agree on that! Some people think Al is the worst of all!

We seem to be approaching Total Beach Boys Equivalency, apparently all of them are equally talented and equally problematic. That goes twice for Al.

Still, much funner to talk about than some bores without all the highs and lows. Give me genius one minute and pathetic asshole the next over mediocrity any day.

Haha. Yeah my post is partly joking. I really would have no clue about Al, Bruce, and even Carl. And the way I'm phrasing some of the stuff is a bit sensational. But that being said, Brian was (is?) kind of nuts, and so was Dennis. We all know the age-old debate about Mike's zaniness (or some would say arrogance) too.

[Doo Dah]

When Paul (the photographer) said that, we had a good laugh. He went on to remark that Mike kind of...let's say, 'wore on' some of the people after awhile. You know, like an over enthusiastic guy at a party - butting into people's conversations, that kind of thing!

Someone needs to ask Sir Paul about the straight poop.

[SMiLE Brian]

Meanwhile, BW and the BBs "held down the fort in LA" making the awesome album known as "Friends"....

[ontor pertawst]

Pretty fair tradeoff from Mike's point of view. Life-altering immersion in TM and a story he will tell everyone OVER AND OVER AGAIN ALL HIS LIFE.

[SMiLE Brian]

Mike Love- Keeping the TM alive since 1968, while the Beatles and the world realized it was a scam around the same time.

[ontor pertawst]

The whole TM thing just makes me wish I could watch Mike and David Lynch interact.

MIKE: "That Blue Velvet sure was something... you sure have some weird ideas."

DAVID: "Ideas come when you let yourself dive deep.... dive REAL deep, Mike."

MIKE: "Oh I know, when I was in India with The Beatles..."

DAVID: "The textures must've been beautiful! Wow!"

MIKE: "Yeah, it was out of sight. Donovan was there, you know."

DAVID: "OH HE'S THE BEST. Mellow Yellow always sounded to me like the smell of burning plastic... a beautiful smell, Mike. A choking smell. A smell you could SEE."

MIKE: "Yeah.... uh..."

On second thought, best imagined then quickly wiped from memory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxMtDv8UZjQ

[SMiLE Brian]

Odd befellows in Tm...

[Doo Dah]

From the Smiley Smile WAY BACK machine:

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php?action=printpage;topic=2652.0

Sgt. Michael BILKO Love

[ontor pertawst]

Ha! Beautiful.

There's an account of the Beatles time in India in "Many Years From Now," the Paul McCartney biography by his pal, Barry Miles.  Paul actually seemed rather amused by Mike, saying he was a Sgt. Bilko at the Maharishi camp, always ready with spare film, batteries, or whatever people needed, as long as they paid him for it.    No mention at all of Mike being a jerk.

That kinda is the mention of him being a jerk.

Bantering With 60s Counterculture Critters About ML Dept: I spent some time with Barry Miles a few years back and amidst a million other stories (mainly about Burroughs) got to chatting about this. He looked down at the recording device and made a series of faces. I don't recall much else other than a paraphrase of the book, I'd have to check... helluva lovely fella and one great anecdote-slinger! He put out a pretty demented little 3CD set of Burroughs recordings from his archives that could peel the paint from walls.

[SMiLE Brian]

That Mike Love sure is crafty...

[Doo Dah]

[ontor pertawst]

He was probably the only one who actually MADE money on that trip other than the Maharishi.



Fig. 5325253. The spoils of selling AAAs.

[Pretty Funky]

Hearing this I don't know how they felt about him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzc1oDFwapU

[Rocky Raccoon]

Mike Love- Keeping the TM alive since 1968, while the Beatles and the world realized it was a scam around the same time.

Paul and Ringo have actually advocated for TM, they headlined David Lynch's charity concert in 2009 (which Mike Love attended) and George Harrison practiced it as well.  Only John Lennon (not surprisingly) said it was bullshit.  I believe that practicing TM has legitimately helped people but I think its major celebrity advocates are a bit hypocritical saying they want to make it mainstream while at the same time, those who offer classes on it charge thousands of dollars.  Now, that right there is definitely bullshit.

[Ian]

They first met in late August 1966 when the Beatles played their last LA concert.  They met at publicist Derek Taylor's house.  Brian, Carl and their wives met Paul, George Harrison and David Crosby at Derek Taylor's house.  Brian played Paul a dub of the yet unreleased Good Vibrations.  Paul liked it a lot and asked for a copy-but Brian demurred as he wasn't yet happy with it. They hung out the rest of the night. 

[Amy B.]

I would think the Beatles and the BBs didn't know each other well enough to have strong opinions of each other, other than musical. My guess (total guess) is that Mike probably sometimes got on the Beatles' nerves in India. I would imagine that even if they all lived in one city, they wouldn't be close because they wee SO different. They had totally different senses of humor (the Beatles being more sophisticated), for instance. Even Brian and Paul seem to have a mutual respect and fondness, but nothing beyond that. It's probably because of geography and a shared tendency toward self-protection (I'd imagine Paul doesn't have a lot of close friends, and Brian is obviously closed off to a lot of people), but also because they just don't have a lot in common beyond music.

[BB Universe]

What I've wondrered about is how did 2 of the biggest rock and roll groups of that time wind up (well, most of the members) at this TM place in India at the same time? Plus, a lot of other well known individuals. I haven't done any background reading as to the allure of the TM movement at that time, but it strikes me as plain interesting. I'd guess, in part, that these were a bunch of younger people who struck it pretty rich and famous all of a sudden and maybe felt "empty" and that there "had to be more to life"; or, was it the hectic pace they lived and this might be a practice to "slow it down"? Whatever, it just is somewhat incedible to me that most of the members of these 2 groups attended this and at the same time.