The fire hats

[guitarfool2002]

In the course of researching "The SMiLE Sessions" for the big box set sessionography, we discovered that the following lat '66 sessions took place at Western using an 8-track...one of the contemporary articles mentioned it as being Brian's personal 8-track machine...Brian most likely rented it for awhile and kept it at Bellagio, but had it brought into Western for these two sessions:

WIND CHIMES TAG - 10/5/66 (cut on 8-track at Western and, bizarrely, transferred to 4-track for vocal overdubs at Columbia, instead of the other way around!)
I'M IN GREAT SHAPE - 10/27/66 (cut on 8-track at Western)

That Wind Chimes piano tag overdub session is described in Michael Vosse's "Teen Set" article, ending with Brian shooting a fire extinguisher at David Anderle! Funny this came up, I just saw that reference to Brian's tape machine last night looking for something else, and it's described as: "In the booth his personal 8-track tape machine is ready to roll". But Vosse made no mention of the Beach Boys being there as a group for that session, and obviously the group was already in Europe on 10/27.

I'm saying that because Vosse's Teen Set piece combined with the session research definitely proves there was an 8-track at Western on several occasions, more than a lot of us assumed was the case previously, and with one of them captured on film, but doesn't really pin down the date of that film due to the band being there.

In the original threads, it was suggested the session on film could have been purely a mixdown or a playback session, as that is the only action seemingly captured on the film as Brian and Chuck look like they're playing and rewinding the tape, listening and possibly mixing. Were these mixdown sessions logged as well, if that's what it was and if they would even have the full band come in for something like that?

[guitarfool2002]

By the way-just so there is no confusion:  In the November 18 1966 edition of New Musical Express (NME), Mike (interviewed during the UK tour of Nov 6-14) described the recently filmed video for Good Vibrations to writer Keith Altham in detail.  So there is NO DOUBT that the fire engine video was filmed prior to the 66 European tour-hence before October 21, 1966.

In the same issue, 11/18/66, the "Hollywood: Tracy Thomas" column mentions this under the headline "Meanwhile ... what's Brian doing back at base?" :

Before the Boys left, they made their first film for TV that they've had complete control over. (Brian)"We're excited about it because it's a new medium for us"

Not that it needed more confirmation than was already here, but consider this "triple no doubt" as to the date of the GV film! 

[guitarfool2002]

Lou, not Lew.

And we're talking about a man here who, when he couldn't find somewhere open to buy a ping-pong table at 2am, decided to open such an establishment. I'd love to have seen Anderle's face. 

Anderle and Nick Grillo, too! Wasn't there also a story of Brian wanting to buy a scientific-grade telescope to put in his house after he went on an astronomy kick around this same time, or am I confusing that with something else? I'm guessing it was similar to the look they gave Brian when he asked if they'd go to a bar and start a fight, so he could record the sounds of an authentic "barroom brawl" on tape. 

In Grillo's case, as the financial/numbers guy, it may have paled in comparison to his face when he saw the numbers come in from the Maharishi tour.  "You spent WHAT on flowers???" 

[Mikie]

Lou, not Lew.

And we're talking about a man here who, when he couldn't find somewhere open to buy a ping-pong table at 2am, decided to open such an establishment. I'd love to have seen Anderle's face. 

I thought it was a telescope.

[Mikie]

So picture this: There is Brian who had just bought that Rolls from Lew Adler because the Rolls Royces his brothers and Mike had bought while in England would not be arriving in LA for several weeks. He pulls up to the studio eating takeout fried shrimp in a basket, and apparently has what must have been a case of toy fire hats packed in the Rolls, which were fetched and passed out to the musicians.

GF, what does the late delivery of Rolls Royce's from the UK have to do with Brian getting his from Adler? 'Cause he wanted to be the "first on his block" to have one before the other band members got theirs? Or he couldn't wait another few weeks for his to arrive? Or was all this part of the game of delivering a record for debut at a radio station in a timely manner?

And I thought Dennis bought his Rolls from Ringo.

This is according to and paraphrased from the Seigel article, remember this is late October/November 1966: Mike, Carl, and Dennis bought themselves Rolls Royces while on tour in the UK and also put in an order for Brian for one from the same dealership. Seigel says the cost was $32,000 each. But the car Brian ordered would not arrive in the US for three months, so in the meantime Brian bought a Rolls from Lew Adler, a Rolls which had been owned previously by John Lennon, for $20,000. Again going from what Jules wrote, Brian seemed excited to pull up to Capitol for meetings in such a lavish car, describing how it would be an event rather than an everyday thing to drive up in a Rolls, chauffeur driven by Terry Sachen.

Mentioning Lew Adler, it reminds me of something I heard about Adler's group the Mamas And Papas. When the money really started rolling in, the band members would start competing with each other in a way over buying lavish items and spending hordes of money. If John bought, say, an Alfa-Romeo sports car, when Cass found out she would go and buy one too, then go and buy something else lavish, which Denny Doherty would then match, etc...that's just an example but it's describing how they were basically throwing money around like it was nothing back in those days when the big checks started rolling in. This was a band that not too long before the big hits was about to return home basically broke.

As far as Brian's motivation for dropping 32 G on a brand new Rolls direct from the UK then buying one from Adler for 20 in the same week or two? It sounds like maybe he just didn't want to wait three months, and it seemed like he wanted to literally make a grand entrance to where he was coming and going in LA, or as he said create "an event". I'm thinking as important as late 1966 was going to be with the hottest new single, a new album due to come out (sure to sell a million units!), he wanted to have a status car to go along with all of it.

Just assuming that based on Seigel, whose description is probably the best snapshot of that particular time.

So I guess it wasn't too late to cancel his order for the Rolls from the UK, or he bought it anyway and had two (unlikely) or sold the extra one to somebody else.

[guitarfool2002]

The one Brian ordered from England was a custom order, the article mentions him choosing the colors which the car would be painted. If Rolls Royces can be described this way, the one he bought from Adler previously belonging to Lennon could be called a "placeholder" until Brian's custom-order model arrived in the States! 

I guess as much cache as would come with driving around LA in 1966/67 in a Rolls previously owned by John Lennon, having a custom-color model delivered straight from the source would put it into another league of status.

I wondered too, Mikie, what happened to either of these cars if and when the new one arrived from England. We know one of them eventually had a lawn mower kept in the back seat. 

And correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I seem to remember someone like Audree Wilson in Rolling Stone '76, or someone else describing how the Manson clan trashed Dennis' Rolls...anyone remember what that interview/quote could be?

[metal flake paint]

And correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I seem to remember someone like Audree Wilson in Rolling Stone '76, or someone else describing how the Manson clan trashed Dennis' Rolls...anyone remember what that interview/quote could be?

In the November '76 issue of Rolling Stone, Audree said that Manson, or one of his followers, stole Dennis' Ferrari and any other possession of his that could be moved.

[Alan Smith]

Lou, not Lew.

And we're talking about a man here who, when he couldn't find somewhere open to buy a ping-pong table at 2am, decided to open such an establishment. I'd love to have seen Anderle's face. 

I thought it was a telescope.

It's both - the 24/7 idea starts with telescopes then moves onto ping-pong; as per David Anderle's recollections in the Tom Nolan RS article.

[Cam Mott]

Do I remember wrong or is there also an article from the time that says Brian brought his own grand piano to the studio? Or am I getting it mixed up with an 8-track recorder?

[Cam Mott]

This seems to be a version of the fire hats still sold by Sears:

http://www.sears.com/in-fashion-kids-child-fireman-hat-red/p-SPM6281673703?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1

Possibly made by a company called Toysmith. A Toysmith's website says they've only been in business since 1981.

http://www.toysmith.com/story/

Not sure if that is the right Toysmith or not.

Is it me or do the vintage hats have a felt or soft brim?

[Shane]

I'll be there are numerous fans out there who, like me, saw the link to those Toysmith hats and thought, "Do I need to get one of those for my BB collection?"