The corrected proofs and Index for
Becoming the Beach Boys, 1961-1963, will be returned to the publisher (McFarland) today and I should soon have a firm publication date. The book looks fantastic and I am extremely pleased with it.
It will be 404 pages, 80 photographs (out of 205 submitted), twelve appendices, 1,200 End Notes, an extensive bibliography, and index.
Some of the cool(er) photographs include Hite Morgan, Dorinda Morgan, Frank Hogan (Hogan's House of Music), the Dix brothers (there were five -- Theodore, twins Richard and Robert, Alan, and Sherman; only three were active in the record company -- Richard, Robert, and Alan), Joe Saraceno, Bill Angel (record librarian at KFWB, real name Angelo Fiorvanti), the inside of World Pacific Studio, Herb Newman, Nick Venet, Gary Usher, the band's first royalty check and the letter to Murry conveying the check, Bob Dix's telegram authorizing the X Records 301 release, Judy Bowles, Jodi Gable (their friend and first president of their fan club), David McClellan (their friend and first director of publicity who, miraculously and thankfully, saved everything), Vickie Kocher, the original work order for the "Surfin' Safari" b/w "409" single, "Surfin' Safari" b/w "409" proof labels with the music publishing for "409" listed as Murray (
sic) Wilson Music not Sea of Tunes, Murry's telegram to Soupy Sales thanking him for playing "Surfin'" on his television show, Nick Venet's telegram to Murry advising him "Surfin' Safari"will enter the
Cash Box chart at #91 (it entered at #92), Murry's telegram to KRLA disc jockey Jimmy O'Neill thanking him for supporting "Surfin' Safari," autographed photographs, business cards, rare records, sheet music, the odd "Ten Little Indians" picture sleeve released in Denmark, newspaper ads, tickets, handbills, posters, their first Capitol biography, cool articles from the
Cougar, Hawthorne High's weekly newspaper, about the band playing in the school's boys' gymnasium (how does one find complete collections of the
Cougar from 1956 through 1963? Not easily. Part of the reason the research took nine years!), one of the five photographs taken at Dykstra Hall at UCLA, three of the nine (I think there are nine, I'd have to check) stunning photographs from the rehearsals for
One Man's Challenge at the Azusa Teen Club (actually, the Azusa Recreation Center), a super cool newspaper ad for a previously undocumented show in early 1963 (one of my favorite photos in the book, partially because I am reminded of the slog it took to find it, and the small fortune it cost to obtain an original and have it electronically enhanced. Looks beautiful in the book), an autographed poster from their August 8, 1963, appearance at Club Ponytail in Harbor Springs, Michigan, and great anecdotes from: Jodi Gable, David McClellan, Judy Bowles; the late Jimmy O'Neill, who booked the guys at Pandora's Box for five consecutive nights in August 1962, one of two really cool photographs of Dennis signing an autograph after the Y-Day show October 27, 1962.
The Appendices include Personal Appearances, 1961-1963; the chart history for "Surfin'" in
Billboard,
Cash Box, and on KFWB and KRLA; professional architectural drawings of the floor plans of Hite and Dorinda Morgan's home, 2511 Mayberry Street; Stereo Masters, 5534-5538 Melrose Avenue; and the offices of Candix Enterprises, Inc, 6425 Hollywood Boulevard [the architectural drawings were done for me by Al Dix, one of the five Dix brothers, with input from Bruce Morgan, who graciously agreed to more than 20 hours of interviews with me]; a Surfin' Revenue and Expense Stream, and Production Flow chart; the September 15, 1961, Standard Songwriter's Contract for "Surfin';" the March 29, 1962, Letter of Intent and Agreement between Murry Wilson and Hite Morgan; a cool map of the April 24-May 5, 1963, tour illustrating how they zigzagged across the Midwest in a fashion similar to the ill-fated 1959 Winter Dance Party tour; and "Dennis" an unrecorded song Dorinda Morgan wrote in February 1984 as a tribute to her favorite Beach Boy. I wanted to include the legends from the tape boxes of the Hite Morgan recordings, but they, along with many other images that didn't make the cut, will have to wait until later in the year when they are posted on the companion website.
The final chapter of the book is called Coda: The Hite Morgan Tapes--Discovery, Illumination and Litigation and will answer many of the lingering questions about the original nine Morgan recordings. The Coda was drawn from extensive interviews with Paul Urbahns, Steve Hoffman, Bruce Morgan, and a tower of legal documents collected from every lawsuit concerning the tapes going back to 1964. I spent months trying to make sense of that Maze. It's a tad dense read, but written for us non-legal types so that it will make sense.
If you like the band's early history, you are going to love this book.
I have enjoyed the band since October 1966 (yeah, that song) and am especially interested in the early days. So, in April 2006 I set about writing a book about the band's origin story that I would want to read myself. A book that would answer--or attempt to answer--all of the questions about their early history. Of course, with the Beach Boys early history, you have to know what the questions are in the first place before you can even
attempt to answer them. Now, in that special place called Beach Boys' World, one learns it's best to circumvent the word "definitive." So, I stop short of calling the book definitive. An early working sub-title was
Setting the Record Straight, which I liked, but wisely later scrapped. But, I believe,
Becoming the Beach Boys, 1961-1963, will come as close to the true story as we know . . . so far. And that's the key --
so far. It builds upon some of the the great pioneering work done on the band by other writers and historians, several of whom post here. Folks like Andrew G. Doe, Ian Rusten, Jon Stebbins, Peter Reum, and Brad Elliott. Brad's seminal
Surf's Up! The Beach Boys On Record, 1961-1981, was a masterful work back in the day when research was
really hard. He has been an invaluable help with my book. Other key works include those by Peter Ames Carlin, Doe and Tobler, David Leaf, Byron Preiss, Rusten & Stebbins, and Timothy White. Folks who
should have written books include Bob Hanes, Derek Bill, and Les Chan, who left us far too soon. And super knowledgeable fellow collectors like Chris Woods. I am especially proud the book is fully footnoted, so credit goes where credit is due. You never write a book alone.
I truly expect, and genuinely hope, that additional information about the band's early history will come to light -- perhaps through Brian's and Mike's forthcoming books, and if Alan pens his memoirs. Al, if you're listening, I'm available June 1. I hear Monterey is beautiful this time of year.
The book is available for pre-order at McFarland's website and Amazon. It will also be available as an e book. I'll share more information on that as it becomes available.
http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-7365-6http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Beach-1961-1963-James-Murphy/dp/0786473657/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428332719&sr=8-1&keywords=becoming+the+beach+boys