Mike and Bruce Tour 2014

[drbeachboy]

Geez that term Brianista is so off putting.  Brian hears stuff that most don't, can't, won't, and will never hear.  AND he brings it to life.  His arrangements are different than those of his comtemporaries...doesn't matter the era.  That makes him one of a kind and we have all been lucky enough to be on hand...as it happened...so that we could hear it unfold ourselves.  Of course when it didn't happen...we got pissed off about it.  It's kind of like we were addicted to his SOUNDS and went into withdrawl when we weren't provided with more.  Then we reacted by taking it out on whomever was handy and easy to blame.

Brian lucked out having Carl and Dennis for a brother, having Mike for a cousin and David and Al as a neighbour and a friend.  Carl lucked out having David living right across the street.  They all lucked out that the Wilson and Love households encouraged the concepts of playing instruments, singing together and listening to music.  Brian may not have been able to pull it off without the boys who formed the group.  If he had...it would probably have taken a whole lot longer and much of what we heard would never have been realized.

So?  The Beach Boys would not have been all that significant without the songs and the sound.  Those songs and sound would not have been brought to life without the able-bodied participation of those who DID it.  Brian learned how to bring his thing to life with the specific help of his bandmates.  Now he can do it without them.  But that is kind of not all that ethical if the original guys are willing and able and want to do it.  I just don't think that they're all willing, able and want to all that often.  Maybe it's too much work.  Maybe it isn't the direction eveyone wants to take.  Naybe some are satisfied with the body of work as it stands.  It's pretty darned impressive.

Someone suggested that Brian is about the art side of the music...and Mike is about the fun side.  That seems accurate enough...and it has for  about 50 years now.  The twain then will seldom meet.  

Brianista!!!  Rubbish.

Kokomoast, rubbish!

Yes, Brian can do it on his own, but there is nothing that he has done solo that wouldn't have benefitted from the Beach Boys adding their vocals. All those wall of Brian vocals while nice, are to these ears not nearly what they could have been with the rest of the guys. While I love Brian's music more than any other, I love the performance of that music more. Carl, Mike, Al, Dennis and Bruce brought Brian's music to life. It is their vocals that set Brian's music apart from the rest.

[Lee Marshall]

I think that's pretty much what I said.

[drbeachboy]

I think that's pretty much what I said.

Sorry, I misread part of your post. After re-reading, I concur.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

To inject a little levity....

If Brian die-hards are 'Brianistas', Mike die-hards are 'Kokomao-ists', Jardine supporters are 'Jarheads' and David's fans are 'Marks-ists'....what are Bruce's loyal fanbase called?

[Wirestone]

With all due respect to Billy, this is a band that has made a public spectacle out of its backstage infighting for decades. It's hard to say that kind of stuff is off limits when the band itself has never made any serious attempts at privacy. I mean, heck, Brian wrote and released a song about being in love with his wife's sister!

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

To inject a little levity....

If Brian die-hards are 'Brianistas', Mike die-hards are 'Kokomao-ists', Jardine supporters are 'Jarheads' and David's fans are 'Marks-ists'....what are Bruce's loyal fanbase called?

Don't forget the Carl Marxists?

..... Brucepublicans?

..... Johnsterians?

..... Tight-white-shorts-type-people?

..... Pipeliners?

...... Deirdreans?

...... They-believe-in-love-againers?

...... Disney Girls??

...... Brucifers?

....... Bruce Davidians?

[Cyncie]

To inject a little levity....

If Brian die-hards are 'Brianistas', Mike die-hards are 'Kokomao-ists', Jardine supporters are 'Jarheads' and David's fans are 'Marks-ists'....what are Bruce's loyal fanbase called?

Don't forget the Carl Marxists?

..... Brucepublicans?

..... Johnsterians?

..... Tight-white-shorts-type-people?

..... Pipeliners?

...... Deirdreans?

...... They-believe-in-love-againers?

...... Disney Girls??

...... Brucifers?

....... Bruce Davidians?

Mic lovers

[ontor pertawst]

Beach Boys Britain, I think.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Beach Boys Britain, I think.

The B B B's

[Micha]

But if someone wants to see an anti-Mike posting in that, what can I do? I don't see nothing of that nature in there.

Well, I didn't take it as anti-Mike. I thought it contained an observation/impression of Mike that was critical somehow, but in a thoughtful, reasonable way. There is a difference between criticizing Mike and twisting your perception to fit your belief that Mike is THE villain of it all. You know what I mean?

[halblaineisgood]

"Club Kokomo. It was an All-in-One and One-in-All of limitless being and self - not merely a thing of one space-time continuum, but allied to the ultimate animating essence of existence's whole unbounded sweep - the last, utter sweep which has no confines and which outreaches fancy and mathematics alike. It was perhaps that which certain secret cults of Earth had whispered of as Mike Love, and which has been a deity under other names; that which the crustaceans of Smiley Smile worship as Mr. Positivity, the Beyond-One, The Bringer of Endless Summer and of dark chattering car sounds, and which the vaporous brains of the spiral nebulae know by an untranslatable sign that resembles a hand waving along to the words "Good Vibrations" - yet in a flash the Pinder-facet realized how slight and fractional all these conceptions are.

And now Mike Love was addressing the Pinder-facet in prodigious waves that smote and burned and thundered - a concentration of energy that blasted its recipient with well-nigh unendurable violence, and that paralleled in an unearthly rhythm the curious swaying and mic-adjusting of Bruce Johnston, and the flickering of the monstrous lights, in that baffling region somewhere beyond Jeff Foskett. It was as though suns and worlds and universes had converged upon one point whose very position in space they had conspired to annihilate with an impact of resistless fury. But amidst the greater terror one lesser terror was diminished; for the searing waves appeared somehow to isolate the positivity and Unleash the Love.

The waves surged forth again, and Pinder knew that Mike Love had heard. And now there poured from that limitless Mike a flood of knowledge and explanation which opened new vistas to the seeker, and prepared him for such a grasp of the cosmos and who contributed lyrics to what song as he had never hoped to possess. He was told how childish and limited are the notions of David Leaf and how backwards Dennis Wilson's claim of being messengers truly were, and what an infinity of directions there are besides the known directions of up-down, forward-backward, right-left, talented songwriter possessed of genius and an uncanny gift for harmony-sporadically inspired lyricist and nasal frontman. He was shown the smallness and tinsel emptiness of the little Pet Sounds fans who still nursed grudges over Smile, with their petty, human interests and connections - their hatreds, rages, loves and vanities; their craving for praise and sacrifice, and their demands for faiths contrary to reason and nature. "

- H.P. Lovecraft, 'Through the Gates of Club Kokomo'

This post is the light of my life.

[Micha]

The turn in this thread is only natural since there has been an overall negativity aimed at anything related to Brian since the summertime. It seems to be an agenda when on one thread alone there are 40 some odd pages of posts badmouthing BW in a variety of ways. Let me break them down:

1. The Love and Mercy movie- This project has been trashed from the get go for a variety of reasons, from it being a "BW vanity project" that trashes the other BB’s, to the woodie in a 10 second clip not being accurate enough, to calling the actors in it "has beens" and so on, when in fact this movie opened at the Toronto Film Festival to rave reviews.

2. Brian is controlled by his wife/Joe Thomas- This theme has been repeated ad nauseum by some posters, I would say increasingly since the summertime. Implying BW doesn’t make his own musical decisions is almost a sick fantasy , as some posters want a BW/ML -BB's album more than anything. BW was more than willing to record another BB's album until Mike ended the C50; to say that BW is not in charge of his creative and personal life is irresponsible at best.

3. The Autobio/Jason Fine- The premise by some that this book will be another hack job like the last one, written by Todd Gold without any input by Brian, is like wishful thinking. Jason Fine is probably hard at work with a cooperative Brian, in order to get a good summary of Brian's life. This is important, as the last book was such a Landy fiasco which had very little to do with reality.

4. The various attempts by some posters to rewrite history ; from the end of C50 , to the Wally Heider episode; it appears to be an agenda to change the history from where blame shifts from Mike to Brian on these events in Beach Boys history.

5. The Smiley Smile message board- This place seems to have an odd anti-BW outlook in some circles. This vocal minority was finally pushed back yesterday by annoyed BW fans who had enough. The response was to clog the board with more anti-BW stuff that was not related to the topic at hand. This mucking up of the board was to hide the fact that Mike Love had said some really negative stuff in the Tanglewood interview. His sentiments were oddly the same as the small vocal group that derailed the board yesterday....

Your perception puzzles me. I guess I missed the post that said the movie was a "BW vanity project", which would be nonsensical to believe that before you have seen it. Same goes with trashing the book before having read it. I agree with you absolutely that people who state Brian is just a controlled puppet have usually no insight in Brian's life outside the media, but I perceive them as being a minority on the board. You seem to put too much weight to those posts. You seem to take the slightest criticism of Brian or positive comment about Mike as big blasphemy. I don't perceive Brian critisized on this board as harshly and "onesided" as you do.

And about "shifting the blame from Brian to Mike" - does it seem likely to you that Mike is to blame for ALL bad things about the Beach Boys and Brian for NONE? To me, both of them are to be praised for the good things - and Brian is by far more important than Mike is and deserves more praise - and to be criticised for their failings.

I challenge you: Pinder is the most ardent Mike defender, but show me a post where he directly criticizes Brian!

It's practically cultish.

Interesting, I perceive the unconditional damnation of Mike some of the posters display as cultish.

Strange that no-one of the anti-Mike community ever mentions the truly worst thing Mike has done: He became a religious fanatic over his TM fascination in the early 70s and drove away Steve Desper with that, amongst some other people.

[Dancing Bear]

Stop the fighting, brothers. Very soon Mike will realease his autobiography where all truth about our favourite band is revealed. That will set for once and for all who the real heroes and real villains are in the Beach Boys saga.

Amen. May Mike bless you.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I said it before a while ago. Mike has probably no clue about Brian's decease(s).

I think Mike knows a lot about Brian's condition. I've heard/read him talk about it frequently. However, I think that Mike thinks that Brian can still function at a high level in the studio despite his problems.

I realize that many posters on this board have and will find anything they can think of to criticize Mike Love. I mean, just yesterday we found out that Mike didn't mention Brian's TM certification in 1966 because he (Mike) didn't want to admit that Brian was into TM first! But, I am surprised (well, not really) that you think Mike is naive in thinking that Brian's condition would NOT be a detriment to Mike working with Brian in the studio. On a weekly basis we are told by collaborators, duet partners, and friends how Brian "still has it" and is doing amazing things and blowing minds - just like he used to. But Mike is wrong for thinking the same thing?

No. All I ever said and meant is that Mike imo probably has wrong expectations as to what Brian is able. I only tried to defend him because in his generation those kind of syndroms or whatever Brian has weren't taken as seriously and treated as carefully as they are now. Add to that that more or less every major "therapy" Brian had during the Beach Boys' career was either drugs or being cotrolled via drugs by Landy and that the treatment Brian gets now wasn't started until the mid 90s afaik (so Mike and the other guys couldn't really make arrangements with it) and you see why he probably is quite sensitive when it comes to that point and maybe a little over-the-top. That was all I said. And that Al probably got a look into that while touring with Brian in 2006/07 which explains why he talked about Brian still being cotrolled before their tours but after that never mentioned anything like that again. But if someone wants to see an anti-Mike posting in that, what can I do? I don't see nothing of that nature in there.

Rocker, I didn't really view your entire post as anti-Mike. I did, however, see your line, "Mike has probably no clue about Brian's disease", not only as a shot at Mike (so he has NO CLUE?) but as an opportunity to again point out the hypocrisy that runs rampant on this board.

If somebody who is familiar with Brian Wilson, say somebody like Ray Lawlor, comes on the board and says that he spent time with Brian and Brian seemed fine, funny, sharp, the same old Brian, maybe just a little quirky but that's Brian, kind, thoughtful, relaxed, hard-working, focused, and normal, fans are quick to say "see, we knew that", "you critics are wrong", "see, the people who really know Brian will tell the facts", and "take that Brian haters".

However, if/when Mike says the same thing as Brian's friends/acquaintances are saying, meaning that "he seems like the old Brian we know and love", well, Mike is ignorant, not in touch, or has no clue when it comes to the Brian Wilson of 2014. Instead of viewing Mike's opinion or perspective as positive or refreshing, fans on this board instead blast Mike for not being being realistic. They want it both ways. Again...

[Lee Marshall]

I would GUESS that of MOST people here ...not all...but most... I'm the one who's spent time with Mike most recently.  Sunday November 9...just 3 1/2 weeks ago.  Mike was here in town doing a speaking engagement/fund raiser for the Rotary Club and, subsequently, to announce that the Beach Boys [current touring version] will be coming back with Michael to perform LIVE IN CONCERT next August.  The area is excited by that news.  The [almost] 600 folks at the dinner/speaking engagement went NUTS.

Mike was friendly, sharing, humourous at times and entertaining at times.  He even lead a sing-song after dinner before his presentation.

Now this may well become something he does, going forward, on a regular basis.  Maybe it already is???  I would say that Mike needs a little help in terms of what to talk about, how to present it and also in regards to what he could/should perhaps bring along for the 'silent auction' if there is one.  Even these engagements are show-business.

Now I'm not here to rip Mike a 'new one' because he doesn't have a slick presentation already in the 'can' for these types of events.  At least to a significant degree he's doing something great for charity and it reflected well on him and therefore on the Beach Boys.   I wish I could tell you that I have never said anything/done anything that I regret...that I am as close to perfect as a man can come...but that'd be bull-waste.  Mike has never been my favourite Beach Boy...The Wilsons have always lead that charge...or at least they have since around '66...and Brian since day 1...but Mike sang lead on most ofthe songs that drew me in...Surfin USA [and ShutDown], Little Deuce Coupe [although I also loved Surfer Girl], Be True to Your School and Fun cubed.  Without him...'IT' never would have happened.  Yes I am a Brian fan...but I'm a Beach Boys fan FIRST and FOREMOST.

This never ending bashing is tiresome...especially when so few of us actually know a darned thing about what really goes on and what really went on behind the scenes.  The Beach Boys worst music is, in many ways, better than much of what we've heard...at least since the 2nd album and definitely since the Little Deuce Coupe album...over these past 51 years.  If that weren't true...we wouldn't be here.

[Cam Mott]

Stop the fighting, brothers. Very soon Mike will realease his autobiography where all truth about our favourite band is revealed. That will set for once and for all who the real heroes and real villains are in the Beach Boys saga.

Amen. May Mike bless you.

(giggle)

[Heysaboda]

He buys you the first one (well, the club pays) and then 10 beers down the line you realize you're buying them for yourself AND Bruce

Bruce buys you a beer and then you become hypnotized by staring at his white shorts.  As you come out of the spell, you realize Bruce has stolen your wallet and car keys!!

 

[Rocky Raccoon]

To inject a little levity....

If Brian die-hards are 'Brianistas', Mike die-hards are 'Kokomao-ists', Jardine supporters are 'Jarheads' and David's fans are 'Marks-ists'....what are Bruce's loyal fanbase called?

Don't forget the Carl Marxists?

..... Brucepublicans?

..... Johnsterians?

..... Tight-white-shorts-type-people?

..... Pipeliners?

...... Deirdreans?

...... They-believe-in-love-againers?

...... Disney Girls??

...... Brucifers?

....... Bruce Davidians?

How about Johnstoners? 

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

To inject a little levity....

If Brian die-hards are 'Brianistas', Mike die-hards are 'Kokomao-ists', Jardine supporters are 'Jarheads' and David's fans are 'Marks-ists'....what are Bruce's loyal fanbase called?

Don't forget the Carl Marxists?

..... Brucepublicans?

..... Johnsterians?

..... Tight-white-shorts-type-people?

..... Pipeliners?

...... Deirdreans?

...... They-believe-in-love-againers?

...... Disney Girls??

...... Brucifers?

....... Bruce Davidians?

How about Johnstoners? 

It's good but Bruce is way too square for such connotations.

How about Bruceketeers?

[wantsomecorn]

It's good but Bruce is way too square for such connotations.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

It's good but Bruce is way too square for such connotations.

I wonder what lucky fan got to roll Bruce and smoke him that night!

[The LEGENDARY OSD]

The Bruuster, or the Brewster or for that matter the Br00ster or for that matter the Br00thster.( Notice they all rhyme with rooster?) Any of these selections would go well with The LuHvster.

[Andrew G. Doe]

It's not drivel, it's the truth about a sad and insecure man you carry water for to keep him as a source.

I have no idea how you can listen to Beach Boys songs given how much hatred you have for Mike. Do you cringe every time you hear his voice?

I note that neither the person this post was directed at, nor anyone of like mindset, has responded to this very reasonable question. I happen to think that Morrissey is a hugely overrated, caterwauling, patronising, opinionated twat. The very sound of his voice turns my stomach and accordingly, I don't listen to any Smiths songs, because I hate him. My ambition is to tie him to a chair and force-feed him Big Macs. He's one of the very very few people in this world I wish dead (David Walliams is another - his odious face makes my flesh crawl).

Given that some here patently hold a similar (hopefully less homicidal) opinion of Mike, it's reasonable to assume that they don't listen to any BB song which features him: the alternative is, of course, rank hypocrisy.

[ontor pertawst]

David Walliams is insufferable, no question. Mike Love is a bit of a dick and amusing to poke fun at, but one can enjoy his 60s-70s vocals and contribution to the harmony stack without flying into a homicidal rage. Is it really so black and white for you?

Francis Bacon seemed like a sh*t, lovely painter tho. I'm a huge Burroughs fan, but he did kill his wife and so on. Wagner! Picasso! Spike Milligan! Etc etc. I loved Mr. Show and Arrested Development even if David Cross came off like a drunken jerkoff in person.  It's perfectly possible to dislike someone personally who made or contributed to great artwork without being a hypocrite.

You haven't caught anybody in a devious logic hole and exposed them, it's simply a terrible argument. 

[rab2591]

It's not drivel, it's the truth about a sad and insecure man you carry water for to keep him as a source.

I have no idea how you can listen to Beach Boys songs given how much hatred you have for Mike. Do you cringe every time you hear his voice?

I note that neither the person this post was directed at, nor anyone of like mindset, has responded to this very reasonable question. I happen to think that Morrissey is a hugely overrated, caterwauling, patronising, opinionated twat. The very sound of his voice turns my stomach and accordingly, I don't listen to any Smiths songs, because I hate him. My ambition is to tie him to a chair and force-feed him Big Macs. He's one of the very very few people in this world I wish dead (David Walliams is another - his odious face makes my flesh crawl).

Given that some here patently hold a similar (hopefully less homicidal) opinion of Mike, it's reasonable to assume that they don't listen to any BB song which features him: the alternative is, of course, rank hypocrisy.

I don't particularly care for Charles Manson, yet I listen to his song on 20/20 and enjoy it....is that considered rank hypocrisy?

*No I'm not comparing Mike Love to Charles Manson, just pointing out that you can dislike an artists character but still listen to their work. Also, I know that it isn't totally a Charles Manson song.*