Your Personal Beach Boys Story

[Niko]

I still can't quite believe that of all the 315 million people I could meet in public on my first ever trip to the United States of America, I ran right into Brian Wilson, who by then was a musical hero of mine and one of the country's most favoured, yet reclusive sons — and I shook his hand. The odds against it were and are staggering — but it happened. I swear I am not making this up!

I continued going to the NAMM show for the next decade, but it was all downhill from that moment. I mean, where do you go from there...?

I can't even imagine...I'd be starstruck beyond being capable of verbal communication.
Fantastic!

[bgas]

I still can't quite believe that of all the 315 million people I could meet in public on my first ever trip to the United States of America, I ran right into Brian Wilson, who by then was a musical hero of mine and one of the country's most favoured, yet reclusive sons — and I shook his hand. The odds against it were and are staggering — but it happened. I swear I am not making this up!

I continued going to the NAMM show for the next decade, but it was all downhill from that moment. I mean, where do you go from there...?

I can't even imagine...I'd be starstruck beyond being capable of verbal communication.
Fantastic!

Yeah, the  time I tracked Brian to his hotel after a concert here, I'm not certain who was more tongue tied, him or me. Asked him to sign my Child Of Winter 45 on the label. best I got was on the generic sleeve. His keeper rushed him away immediately after. Thinking this was 75/76. 

[Jon Stebbins]

I'm liking Matt's story, that's how it happens (happened) in L.A. When you try it never happens, but when you least expect it it, you find yourself crossing paths with a Wilson. I literally ran into Mike in Century City one day in the early '80's, both of us trying to occupy the same piece of sidewalk, oh..excuse...whoa! He gave me that look, like, yeah...you know who I am. I did.

One more little one...this one has taken on a bigger meaning due to what has since transpired. I was at Alan Boyd's house in about 2009-ish, we were sitting on Alan's patio outside, probably having a beer, Nelson Bragg was there, as were Steve Kalinich and Dave Marks. Stevie's cell phone rings...he answers, "Oh hi Brian, ...I'm sitting here with Dave Marks and some other friends." Stevie says to Dave, "It's Brian, he wants to say hi." Dave takes the phone..."Hi Brian...uh huh...uh huh...ok...yeah...I love you too." He hangs up. So I'm sitting there with my eyes bugging out of my head. "What'd he say?" Dave answers..."He said we're all going to be together someday." We all just smiled and thought that was really sweet. But now, looking back, it seems like Brian knew what was coming.

[PS]

Because today is the 47th Anniversary of this Brian and Marilyn signatures on the cement slab in my avatar photo, and because I just went through the glorious MIC box into the night last night, I'll re-post my backstory and close encounters at the risk of boring some of the older members. Coincidentally, Darian recently wrote to me about wanting to see my BW/MW cement slab if I was in L.A. THAT would have made my day, hanging out with that wonderful man again (I spent a little time with him in Burbank during the week I was there shooting the SMILE LIVE gig for the DVD). So even a man who has spent a great deal of his adult life with Brian is still able to hold something of the mythic wonder of it all at the same time. That's why he, of all people, was the right man in the place at the right time, I give him a great deal of the credit for the Resurrection of Brian Wilson...

So forgive the real estate grab, but I hope you find some of my story interesting. I tend not to post much banter, so I figured I'm entitled to re-print these every once in awhile.

Part 1 - THE BACK STORY

The Beach Boys existed for me initially as the purveyors, as Leaf says, of “the California Myth”. Growing up in the suburbs of NYC, the mythical vision of the eternal sunshine of the SoCal mind worked its way from the TV set, record player, and movies into my noreaster bones. I grew up loving the AIP Beach films (the first 45 that I bought was DAWN by the 4 Seasons, but it was the flip side, NO SURFIN TODAY, that really haunted me –  kind of a flip at the Boys, but a weird, ghostly song), Sandra Dee as GIDGET (but especially in the wonderfully icky TAMMY AND THE DOCTOR, w/ future hipster Peter Fonda), All American Carol Lynley in UNDER THE YUM YUM TREE…the California girl golden blonde hair/blue eyed shiksa goddess etched itself onto my young brain as the vision of the Surfer Girl that I have probably been daydreaming about most of my life since (and have occasionally fallen in love with). RIDE THE WILD SURF was also a primal scene for my city boy liquid dreams - still a great surf buddy film fantasy, along with its darker mirror, BIG WEDNESDAY, for this skinny surfless jewish kid from Queens. Big Sur was beckoning me...

My formative years of pop music were shaped primarily by my big sister’s record collection in her 45 case – we’re talking about that bland “pop idol” period between Elvis’ Army and February 9/64 that every critic hates, but I happen to LOVE  mostly from early imprinting – Bobby Vee, James Darren, Bobby Rydell, the Girl Group sound, Paul Peterson and Shelly Fabares – viz., the sound of the production of JOHNNY ANGEL, to be precise, that ultra-white, fetishized Spectorized, reverbed, petticoated, high heeled and stockinged sound – David Lynch knows it well, evident from his smart use of Connie Stevens’ 16 REASONS in MULHOLLAND DRIVE. The sound of the studio-made star doing essentially what were essentially publicity singles from COLPIX records and the Philly Idol driven CAMEO/PARKWAY record company. Unlike Brian, I never cared much for Annette, however…(but do love Spring).

So I was well aware of the Beach Boys in the early sixties, of course, but mostly through all of their cultural influence. Starting in 1966, however, I was really taken by the Wouldn’t It be Nice/God Only Knows single (I distinctly remember hearing it on a hayride with a lovely girl at a dude ranch, back when ‘dude’ had a different meaning), but I only had a vague notion of PET SOUNDS and certainly had no idea what it was. GOOD VIBRATIONS, of course, was everywhere that year, but I don’t think I even had the single at the time. The Four Seasons, those Jersey boys were IT for me in those early days. Loved Frankie’s falsetto then even more than Brian’s at that time, and the studio drumming and tom-tom fills of the great studio drummer Buddy Saltzman. Still love those records (and Jersey Boys was a terrific approximation). OPUS 17 (DON’T YOU WORRY ‘BOUT ME) and their version of SILENCE IS GOLDEN still rock my world.

Pete Fornatele and Jonathan Schwartz on the great FM station from NYC, WNEW-FM, both loved the Beach Boys and gave them hip cred on the burgeoning cool FM airwaves (you cannot believe how creative and relaxed those stations were – such an education and so hip in their choices and they had great leisure and silence around them), and I remember hearing SMILEY SMILE being played without interruption one afternoon and thinking how very strange this was – and then the DJ named Roscoe played Wind Chimes and I taped it on my SONY reel to reel deck and kept listening back to the exquisite deep-welled chorale at the tail. Again and again, like Brian with BE MY BABY. I was a pretty straight kid (viz. drugs) in high school (graduated in ‘71) but I knew something was going on here, Mr. Jones…I had a great job in the record department of a huge department store during 1968-69, when it all broke open – and that’s when my Beach Boys and Brian Wilson awareness really took off. My primal scene was, oddly enough, the (stereo) single of BREAKAWAY (with CELEBRATE THE NEWS on the flip side) on the new, ugly, orange, non-Beatled Capitol logo. Couldn’t play it enough (“found out it was in my head”) – especially the sheer SOUND of it (and wasn’t it great to hear BW cover it on the last tours?). Who was this Reggie Dunbar, I wondered?? From there, I went backwards in my Beach Boys education. 20/20, Friends, Wild Honey, etc. I started reading wherever I could about Brian Wilson (you have to remember that any serious rock press was still in its infancy) and became somewhat aware of the myth (though SMiLE didn’t really enter my consciousness until I later found the infamous Siegel article reprinted in a pretty far out book I found re-printed in my college bookstore in the 70's (can't recall the name, thought it was an R. Meltzer book).


Part 2 - Pet Sounds and Carnegie Hall

So, now I was caught up and waiting for news of any new release (there was only Rolling Stone and Creem in the States, really). I distinctly remember going to the EJ Korvette’s department store (they always had the best prices on lps) and suddenly seeing the beautiful cover for SUNFLOWER in the stacks (someone else posted on the nature of the surprise when you went record shopping back then). I held it in my hands for what seemed like hours, staring at the photos, reading Mr. Desper’s highly technical and entrancing liner notes. Back then, buying a new album was a highly sensual experience – smelling the inks, opening the gatefolds, looking for clues, etc. I took the album home, got high (yes, it was my big sister once again who turned me on to weed), put on the headphones (stereo was still a relatively high tech and wondrous technology for me) and then went to a place of undying infatuation for this group and those voices, a place from which I’ve never returned. There was simply nothing else like it. Out of the body voices. Still the best sounding pop album ever made, in my view. I remember reading Jim Miller’s short, loving rave review for Rolling Stone where he referred to the Beach Boys as “pop geniuses, plastic madmen”.

Summer, 1971 – drove across the country in a new GTO with my best friend (his car) with an 8-track cartridge player in the car. We had a lot of singer-songwriter tapes with us on the way (Taylor’s first two, King’s Tapestry, Nash’s Song for Beginners) as I recall. Finally made it to the magnificent Big Sur and camped on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Went to LA and we bought PET SOUNDS (at the famous TOWER on the Strip) on 8-track and it was the first time I really got into it. At first I thought the songs seemed awkward and unwieldy- -couldn’t find the hooks -  but by the time we hit the Penn turnpike (which is endless), I was knee deep into SOUNDS.

It all came to a head when I returned home from my first week at college (Harpur College, Binghamton, NY, for film school) and my Surfer Girl (Rosie) and I went to 7:30 pm show at Carnegie Hall on September 24, 1971 (Thanks Jon and Ian for verification!). I still have that Carnegie program somewhere (too late for the book!). I will never forget the incredible excitement – and the love and energy coming from and returning back to the stage. This was really a new start for them, and they seemed to be aware of the class and importance of both the venue and what was at stake in terms of becoming culturally relevant again (the program really played up SURF’S UP). They played with what seemed to be a HUGE ensemble and the sound and the performance were simply stunning. SURF’s UP was just out the week before, so there was a tremendous buzz in the air, and when Carl came up to the front extension of the stage and played the song on a keyboard (electric piano probably), I just about died and went to heaven, as they say…I was a goner, a lifer, this show was my church and gospel. The other stand out in my dusty memory was Bruce’s DISNEY GIRLS (hit my fetish and nostalgia buttons for a TV childhood just before my time…) and a scorching bongo/conga version of ITS ABOUT TIME. My first (and still the best) experience of the Beach Boys. Seeing all of these faces that I’ve read about and heard about was such a gas, like Cool Water…

72 – I spotted a shiny new album cover called Carl and the Passions on display in Korvettes – what’s this? (again, I had little access to any advance press, unlike today where people have downloaded the thing 4 months in advance…). What? A new Beach Boys album? With PET SOUNDS attached? Took it home, put on the headphones again, lit up, and I distinctly remember hearing YOU NEED A MESS OF HELP TO STAND ALONE and thinking who the hell is this? (I also remember the separation of the stereo voices in the phones, of all things, but couldn’t tell which Beach Boy was which). I thought something has gone terribly wrong here. It wasn’t until I heard ALL THIS IS THAT that I could recognize the Beach Boys that I knew. It was a troubling experience, not having any background advance on the album and the changes that were going down. Again, without the pipelines we have now, these changes that groups went through were full of genuine leaps and surprises (I remember when I first saw the 45 cover of Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields and thought the moustaches were a disguise…)

May 12, 1973 (Thank you, Ian - I knew they did that gig at Binghamton and your book confirmed - I just had the wrong year - it was 73, not 72!) The Boys were coming to my school in Binghamton for two outdoor shows. I was hitchhiking to school (back when everyone did that) and a huge RV pulled up to pick me up. Who else but Dennis Wilson at the wheel… He asked me for directions and then I got in – and there were several cute women around, some students, a piano….he was great. I was in a dream – no one was going to believe this…That night, a storm came in and they had to move the shows indoors. I had to convince all of my dorm-mates to go to the show (most were Deadheads and the Beach Boys were still having trouble in hipsterville). My dear friend Sharon fell in love with Blondie. They played in the gym, and they were great shows (went to both). But one moment stays in my mind above all was when Carl was singing Surf’s Up, and drunken boys, as usual in the USA, were yelling out for the hits – and right in the middle of the song, Dennis leaned into a mic and screamed, at the top of his lungs, “SSSSHHHHHUUUUTTTT UPPPPP!!!” Well, it freaked everyone out, including Carl. But he continued, and the weird vibe was overcome by show’s end.

Part 3 - Holland, So Tough and the College Years

Saw them many more times during college in upstate NY college tours during the Jack Reilly era – Cortland (where I had a nice chat with Bruce about Brian during intermission when he wandered around the audience and sat down with me), Cornell, Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo, Roosevelt Stadium (with the Kinks – great, great show), Central Park (am I remembering that correctly?) About 15 shows or so across the 70s, and maybe one or two in the 80s. I continued to search for anything with Brian’s name on it, and found in the record store one day, to my great surprise, Charles Lloyd’s WAVES, with Brian and Carl and maybe Al and Mike (?) doing gorgeous backgrounds. Still love that record. Payback for his SURF’S UP stint.

1973 – Went to Vestal Records, the college oriented record store, and picked up HOLLAND. So excited by the advance buzz I was hearing (times had changed). Looked on the back cover and saw that scary picture of Brian – his long unkempt hair and that unforgettable, paranoid scowl – and was very, very worried. One of my classmates in a Shakespeare class had visited what must have been Bellagio and told me about seeing Tandyn Almer there, and what a wild and chaotic (and very disheveled) scene it was. Took home the record and was immediately hit first by CALIFORNIA, which sounded like the loping bass, fulsome voiced Beach Boys that I knew. My friend Sharon adored Blondie’s LEAVING THIS TOWN and would listen to it non-stop. Even my deadhead roomie got into the album eventually. It definitely had a hip aura about it, especially with the beards and Blondie and Ricky…I loved STEAMBOAT, TRADER and ONLY WITH YOU (and the Jardine dual harmonies on the part of the Saga, IN DAWN’S NEW LIGHT, etc.). Now I love the backing tracks to Mount Vernon and Fairway from the Box.

Sometime in the 70s, my friend saw that the Holmes SMiLE booklet was for sale somewhere – probably advertised in the back of Rolling Stone, I can’t remember. He ordered one, but it never came. He was going to surprise me.

Sometime in the 70s, my friend and I called The Radiant Radish, but I think it was already closed – no one answered, but the phone number was listed. We did call Van Dyke Parks, whose number was also listed, and spoke to him quite awhile – VDP was polite and forthcoming, as always. He and I share the same birthday (January 3), along with George Martin and Victor Borge.

1975 – Brian was back, but my Surfer Girl had to leave to find another life. I was getting too far out, too far gone – becoming an artist, as it were…(and still am) - and she wanted to lead the straighter life.  This was my definitely my road not taken moment. Suddenly, what I thought was my private world, my personal obsession about Brian Wilson, seemed to have exploded into public view. He was everywhere. But it was shocking to see Brian in those windbreakers and under that mountain of skin and unkempt beard. 15 Big Ones finally seemed so …forced, lumbered. That golden voice that seeped its way into my soul was unrecognizable.

1976- I was utterly saddened by Brian’s appearance on SNL. Jodi Foster hosted. They made Brian wear a police uniform in a sketch. He looked like a bear caught in the headlights. They made him play GV in a sandbox, and his voice sounded as if it was put through a shredder. I was so embarrased for him - it was excruciating. There was the TV special. More humiliation. I remember Lester Bangs’ great review of LOVE YOU in CREEM, where he talked about it as truly child-like music. But, in truth, I didn’t quite get it at the time (except for the middle part of THE NIGHT WAS SO YOUNG). I have since come to hold a lot of affection for it, like most of you, but back then it seemed like just one more sad story. Where was that soaring above the clouds falsetto that I longed for, that whine, as Marilyn once called it, now replaced by this chain smoked ravaged bark…I remember seeing that someone had a sticker on his car bumper: WARNING. I BRAKE FOR BRIAN WILSON…I remember all the interviews where Brian would inevitably ask the interviewer if they had any drugs and Marilyn talking about him withholding ejaculation during sex - more than we needed to know. The beginnings of our current obsessions with rehab, etc. The Healing of Brother Brian, The STOMP magazine article, on and on.

It was around this time that I ran into an article by Jules Siegel in Playboy about his friend, the writer Thomas Pynchon (I was completely smitten with GRAVITYs RAINBOW in college). He talked about his now famous Saturday Evening Post article and researching the Beach Boys, and turning Mr. Pynchon on, and then turning him on to PET SOUNDS. Mr. Pynchon, who was skeptical about his friend’s interest in the Beach Boys, then said, “Ohhhhh….I see.” He then accompanied Siegel to Brian’s house with a girlfriend. They did the the tent thing, etc. Brian later asked him to leave, according to Siegel, because he thought Pynchon’s girlfriend was - a witch. The coincidence of my two artistic heroes in the same time and place was one of those stoned, cosmic moments where the stars align...

Part 4

The 80’s - The first SMiLE bootlegs started to appear on vinyl. When my best friend surprised me and brought it over, I stared at the cover for a long time – we had finally found the Grail. Many thing were revelatory and exciting, other parts simply strange (and wrong, as it turned out), but here was the can of worms that was to continually open up for the next 25 years (if memory serves, the double came first, then the triple – multi-colored vinyl? -- then the single? Still have all of them, but don’t remember the release order, quite.

80s - Seeing Carl play his solo gig at a small intimate venue called The Paradise in Boston, and being amazed at the incredible funk coming out of his bass player, but disappointed with the MOR qualities and rather uninspiring “White Soul” that he was taken by at that time – was moved by Heaven and Seemed So Long ago and Carl was in great spirits and great form. Hung out a little after the show to say hello – he was very available.

Sometime in the 80s, the Beach Boys and Brian Journal boots appeared. Then the SOT’s appeared in the Village booty stores in NYC – I bought all the originals, as they came out. What a thrill. Still the greatest encyclopedia of the recording process ever devoted to a band – and surely one of the only bands worth listening to this way. A fascinating gateway into Brian’s work process. Those boxes are beautiful. I am very, very grateful for them.

Fast forward to 2000 – on my honeymoon, my wife and I drove from Colorado to SF and LA (and Big Sur and the Big Sur Inn, my favorite). On a whim, we go up Laurel Way and arrive at the House (Thanks to AGD, who honored my request for the number from the old list). I get out and start videotaping the outside of the place, when the current owner comes out and starts to write down my license plate number. I tell her about my honeymoon, my lifelong love for Brian Wilson (an Iranian women who bought the house from lawyers, but was well aware of the legacy from the occasional streams of visitors). We had a lovely talk, and then she said that she had something that I might be interested in. She was re-modeling the house and the pool in the back, and brought me out to the side of the house. On the ground lay this Grauman Chinese Theatre size slab of cement that she had removed from the poolside, with the inscription “Brian and Marilyn 8-27-66”, carved within a heart and written with two different handwritings. I ended up buying this from her after deliberating for a day. But in my excitement to get it into the trunk of my car with her construction worker, I lifted the damn thing up with him, and I felt something rip…my back went out – for about two years. We schlepped the “slab”, as we came to call it, back halfway across the country, with me in a back brace and utter agony (ruining my honeymoon, and eventually my marriage, in this last crazy moment of my prolonged adolescence). But here it sits in my house, a rarity among rarities, with a little piano on top of it. Was signed by Brian and Marilyn exactly 47 years ago today...





Late summer, 2004 - I get an email from a friend whom I had not heard from in years, though I was aware that she was producing most of Brian’s DVDs since his move to Chicago. She wrote to me (knowing full well my extensive collection, knowledge and love of the music) saying that they were going to re-film the SMiLE concert in LA (David Leaf did record the full London premieres, but for many reasons, BRI-MEL – especially MEL – were not happy with it. They wanted a happier, more upbeat and polished SMiLE, a smiley-er SMiLE, if you will). Maggie and I (and the director, John Anderson) exchanged lengthy emails (I sent a note by note dream shot list, based on the kind of instrumental coloring and emphasis that classical music DVDs use in their very useful and tasteful direction). I was listening to the Albert Hall concerts for my reference. Turned out that the director already had a 40-page shooting script, with every instrumental and vocal detail accounted for. They invited me to spend a week in LA to attend the rehearsals, to watch the taping of inserts, shoot some hand-held behind the scenes footage, and attend both shows. It was one of the greatest weeks of my life. Stayed at a hotel with the Chicago contingent (Paul, Jim, and Bob) and got to talk to them quite a bit. I was introduced to Brian within five minutes of arriving on the lot, and, as I was ready to tell him just how much his music has touched my soul or "was the soundtrack of my life" (like virtually everyone else who meets him), he quickly shook my hand and said “Thank you” and then walked away for lunch. I had lunch that first day with Darian and Probyn and they were just great, answering every question I had for them. Later in afternoon I walked into a rehearsal room and had a virtual “private screening” of the entirety of PET SOUNDS and some of GIOMH, as they were rehearsing all of it for Nelson, who was a newcomer and still learning his bits. That was incredible, glorious - standing up against the wall and hearing them so close, without any distractions. I kept thinking that someone was going to throw me out, but the atmosphere was so loose and fun and Brian was in great spirits and incredibly patient all week long. Met and talked with all most the people I had read about all those years, including David Anderle (who indeed remembered Brian’s inscription surrounding the Laurel Way pool – you can clearly see these cement squares in the Sloop John B "jumping in the pool" promo), Steve Kalinich (who was overcome with joyful tears after the show), Van Dyke (who, to our great consternation, told my friend that Song Cycle was “a waste of time…a waste of time.”), Tony Asher, and Melinda (who, I must say, seemed to be a remarkably benevolent presence for the crew and the band – and her husband). Left work one day and Brian was walking out by himself at the same time – again, I stumbled something out about how great the rehearsals were going, he said thanks, and then I watched him – rather shockingly – get into his Mercedes sports car and drive himself home on the freeway. So much for "braking for Brian Wilson…"

Well, Brian simply hit it out of the park for the first show, and it was unforgettable – a roomful of 250 of his friends, family, and these people who were all so deeply invested in this music. The whole thing, all of the above, came full circle for me when I turned around to the row behind me and saw Van Dyke Parks, with his head down, cupped in his hands, weeping during Surf’s Up…It truly was a dream come true, that whole experience, and offered me a great deal of closure to the part of my life that began by spinning BREAKAWAY some 35 years earlier. After the first show, I filmed Brian’s exuberance as he came backstage and proclaimed to John, Maggie, Alan (Boyd), and Stephen (Kalinich) that this was the very best performance of SMiLE they’ve ever done. I walked out in the hallway with my head spinning, and saw Van Dyke chatting it up with David Anderle and Jeff. it all seemed so dreamlike and yet so natural and right. The live DVD of SMiLE is it for me, much more alive and dynamic than the CD release. (BTW, I think its one of the best rock DVDs ever done, in terms of John’s detailed and knowing direction, Maggie’s prodding of Brian to be at his best and to stop constantly reading the video prompters, and Mark’s superb surround mix). I spotted myself in the audience in 16 different shots, so its become a great personal keepsake for me. These videos of my shooting of the SMILE DVD can be found on my Vimeo pages: https://vimeo.com/24394172

So there you have it.  We are all so lucky to be living during his time. I remain terribly grateful for having lived through the age of rock and roll - I do very much miss that more innocent time, when everything seemed possible. It seemed well...like the sun was out, 1960-1967. It began to get very cloudy in 1968, and now oft seems like it's pouring the world over...

I LISTENED TO MIC LAST NIGHT THROUGH ITS ENTIRETY AND RE-LIVED MY LIFE WITH THIS WONDERFUL BAND, MY BAND, OUR BAND. AND FELT GRATEFUL TO BE ALIVE TO HEAR IT ALL. A MAGNIFICENT ACHIEVEMENT.

[PS]

That's me, before the incredible RED ROCKS show, leaning in between Brian and Mike, seeing, as Lennon once said about the Maharishi, "if he would slip me the answer..."

[JK]

where's Penny's Place?

This is probably old news, but "Penny" is long-time Big Sur resident Penny Vieregge, now in her mid eighties (at least).

Couple of links here: In the first one she's in a photo on page 9 (http://www.bigsurgazette.com/issues/007_February_1979.pdf);
no idea where she is in the second one, lol (http://www.bigsurgazette.com/issues/009_April_16-May_14_1979.pdf)...




As to where her "place" is----well, I suppose a lady is entitled to her secrets...

With thanks to a good friend for this information.

[Mike's Beard]

I'm waiting to hear of the time OSD met Mike Love.

[Mikie]

where's Penny's Place?

This is probably old news, but "Penny" is long-time Big Sur resident Penny Vieregge, now in her mid eighties (at least).

Couple of links here: In the first one she's in a photo on page 9 (http://www.bigsurgazette.com/issues/007_February_1979.pdf);
no idea where she is in the second one, lol (http://www.bigsurgazette.com/issues/009_April_16-May_14_1979.pdf)...




As to where her "place" is----well, I suppose a lady is entitled to her secrets...

With thanks to a good friend for this information.

Thank you, John!  Was going to ask Al in person a couple of years ago who she is, but forgot!  I've searched the internet high and low and all around for information on her and came up empty. Thanks for this!!

[leggo of my ego]

And PS "slab" is exactly 47 years old today!  

it bore repeating. 

[DonnyL]

A friend of mine sent me an email with a cool BW story from when he lived in LA (maybe 10 years ago?) ... he's not a die-hard Beach Boys fan, but appreciates their stuff casually:

"Brian Wilson -- I was sitting on a bench in a park in beverly hills writing in my journal and he was sitting on a bench adjacent to me watching birds.  I thought about saying something for twenty minutes then he muttered something about the birds.  Smile and nod was the best I could do."

[J.G. Dev]

A friend of mine sent me an email with a cool BW story from when he lived in LA (maybe 10 years ago?) ... he's not a die-hard Beach Boys fan, but appreciates their stuff casually:

"Brian Wilson -- I was sitting on a bench in a park in beverly hills writing in my journal and he was sitting on a bench adjacent to me watching birds.  I thought about saying something for twenty minutes then he muttered something about the birds.  Smile and nod was the best I could do."

Would have been really cool if the bird flew away and Brian dozed off.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Interesting... someone I expected to be all over my last post hasn't said word one.

Also, in response to the off-board questions, I though I'd done the "Brian-played-"Rhapsody In Blue"-for-me-in-1985" story to death. 

No, you haven't! Do tell again, haven't heard this one...

OK, the Readers Digest version: pitched up in LA March 1985 for about a week armed with a shitload of phone numbers and endless optimism. Got to meet VDP at his then house, Jasper Dailey, Steve Desper, Stevie Kalinich and thanks entirely to Bruce I spent a whole day in the studio with the band (less Mike - it took me until 2011 to meet him) while they did the final mix of their 1985 album. During a break in proceedings Brian headed to the studio floor and not being a complete mentally handicapped person I was half a step behind him. He sat at the piano, me in a corner and after he'd given me a thorough up and down state, commenced on some standard boogie, for maybe five minutes, before stopping then embarking on a beautiful melody. Took me maybe 30 seconds to realise it was "RiB". He played the entire piece, flawlessly yet with a distinct BW slant before segueing so sweetly into "Cast Your Fate To The Winds" that I didn't notice for about a minute. By nowq my eyes were on stalks and my lower jaw in my lap. Eventually he stopped, informed me "I love those songs" and we had a short chat abotu who i was, why I was there and so on. the change this music wrought in him was astonishing. He was relaxed, focussed, attentive, a regular Joe, but as we walked back to the control room you could actually see him tense back up.

That was the first meeting with Brian, and one of the best. Over the years I realised he's best one-on-one or in a non-social setting.

[MBE]

Great story AGD! You suggested the name for the LP to Bruce too didn't you? Brian is pretty normal when a crowd isn't present.

[Dunderhead]

Years later after some of my books had come out, my friend and collaborator Dave Marks and his wife Carrie are visiting my home. It just happens to be the weekend that I'm moving my family to another (better) house across town. So here's Beach Boy David Lee Marks schlepping my moving boxes from my garage to my van. That's right, David Marks is helping me move. As we're loading the van for another trip across town my phone rings. I run into the house and grab the phone, the caller ID says "Al Jardine"...i say hello, the voice (obviously Al) says, "Hi..is Dave there?" Ummm...yeah...hang on a sec, he's carrying boxes of my sh*t to my van..as I'm tracking down Dave, the phone beeps, its another call, I have call waiting...with Al on the line, the caller ID says the call coming in is from "Neil Young"...I say to Al, "can you hang on a minute...Neil Young is on the other line"...Well, it wasn't actually Neil himself, it was John Hanlon Neil's recording engineer who was at Neil's house mixing that day. "Sorry John i can't chat right now I have Al Jardine on the phone, and Dave Marks moving my furniture." This was one of those head shaking moments. BTW Al was confirming with Dave that he was driving up to see him, which he did the next day, my house is near Morro Bay, just an hour drive or so to Big Sur.

This is probably the most amusing post I've ever had the pleasure of reading on this board.

[ivrimark]

Great thread!  Here’s my small contribution:

In 1988 my wife and I were stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army.  Cheapskate that I am, I always tried to finagle a free concert ticket over the years, and had another chance in ’88 when the band toured Europe.  I free-lanced an article about them for the local paper in Berlin (each major Army post had a community newspaper as well as the Stars and Stripes), which was basically just stuff off the top of my head and didn’t include any interviews with them.  But it got me a couple backstage passes.

At that time, I also had contacts with their road manager because I was trying to write a book on the band – namely, a complete compilation of their lyrics (copyright wrangles and the Internet eventually doomed that project).  He suggested I meet with him when they were in Berlin for the show.

Now, the Berlin Wall was still up at that time, and there was one little catch -- the Beach Boys were playing in WEST Berlin but were, for some reason, staying in EAST Berlin.  So I had to go through Checkpoint Charlie and obviously wasn’t allowed to take a tape recorder or notebooks with me, so after I got through there, I found their hotel and met briefly – maybe for a half an hour – with their manager in the lobby.  I remember Bruce Johnston coming down for a moment and the three of us briefly discussed the coming show – I fairly nonchalantly wished him luck, I think, but didn’t get all fan-boy with him.

The concert that night sounded good even from backstage, but I didn’t get any personal contact at that time.  It was nice to see it from behind the scenes, though.  The audience was about half American and half German but they ALL were singing along.

Been to a lot of Beach Boys concerts over the years (some I did pay for!) and met Al, Mike and Bruce along the way, but the most memorable was going behind the Iron Curtain to see America’s Band.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Great story AGD? You suggested the name for the LP to Bruce too didn't you? Brian is pretty normal when a crowd isn't present.

Well... I could claim that, I guess. I asked Bruce what it was called and his response was that they didn't have a title yet, which was a problem as it was being mastered the next day, so I flippantly said "You'll probably end up just calling it The Beach Boys"...

[Niko]

The C50 show was a religious experience for me. I wasn't aware that the Beach Boys music was so powerful. I broke down crying at one point in the show, I just couldn't believe what I was witnessing.
Thinking back on that show now, that was honestly one of the highlights of my life. It was so profound, I still tear up sometimes just thinking back to what I felt.
I'm sure as superfans seeing the show, it must have been even more intense. I really wish they would do another tour, so I could see the show again knowing every song.

...anyone else feel something similar?

I just...I dunno...what other band can match this kind of thing? I've seen a number of the legends perform their music over the past few years, and the only ones who came close to replicating the magic were Paul McCartney and The Grandmothers Of Invention. And while they were great shows, they just didn't have that same authenticity the C50 show had.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I had much the same experience, with the added frisson of it being the very last show of all. It was easily the most amazing BB show I've ever seen, and possibly the best single gig I've ever seen. Almost perfect. Definitely transcendent.

[Gertie J.]

almost? 

[Andrew G. Doe]

They played a song I really, really, really detest. 

[D409]

The C50 show was a religious experience for me. I wasn't aware that the Beach Boys music was so powerful. I broke down crying at one point in the show, I just couldn't believe what I was witnessing.
Thinking back on that show now, that was honestly one of the highlights of my life. It was so profound, I still tear up sometimes just thinking back to what I felt.
I'm sure as superfans seeing the show, it must have been even more intense. I really wish they would do another tour, so I could see the show again knowing every song.

...anyone else feel something similar?

I just...I dunno...what other band can match this kind of thing? I've seen a number of the legends perform their music over the past few years, and the only ones who came close to replicating the magic were Paul McCartney and The Grandmothers Of Invention. And while they were great shows, they just didn't have that same authenticity the C50 show had.

Paul McCartney and The Grandmothers Of Invention ? Now that would be a combination I'd like to see, what did they play ?  

[Niko]

The C50 show was a religious experience for me. I wasn't aware that the Beach Boys music was so powerful. I broke down crying at one point in the show, I just couldn't believe what I was witnessing.
Thinking back on that show now, that was honestly one of the highlights of my life. It was so profound, I still tear up sometimes just thinking back to what I felt.
I'm sure as superfans seeing the show, it must have been even more intense. I really wish they would do another tour, so I could see the show again knowing every song.

...anyone else feel something similar?

I just...I dunno...what other band can match this kind of thing? I've seen a number of the legends perform their music over the past few years, and the only ones who came close to replicating the magic were Paul McCartney and The Grandmothers Of Invention. And while they were great shows, they just didn't have that same authenticity the C50 show had.

Paul McCartney and The Grandmothers Of Invention ? Now that would be a combination I'd like to see, what did they play ?  

My bad, those were two separate shows 
A joint show would be beautiful though

[Pretty Funky]

They played a song I really, really, really detest. 

Yeah. They played 'Barbara Ann' at my gig too dam it!

[Andrew G. Doe]

That's not the worst of it...

I danced and sang along.

[bgas]

That's not the worst of it...

I danced and sang along.

That is a scary image