Proposed 2016 UK Tour

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Oh yeah, most definitely.  Even odder,  when I saw what (then) current Brian looked like, I was all like 'hey its Mr Hawthorne from the New Leave it to Beaver!'

[SMiLE Brian]

You need a movie made about your life!

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Well, if this album sells well, it could one day happen. Lol

[HeyJude]

I was introduced to the Beach Boys via a slew of all sorts of compilations (remember the one titled "Golden Harmonies" that had the instrumental "Pet Sounds" on it?). One of my favorites was "Sunshine Dream", which I remember seeming just as good if not better than "Endless Summer" or "Spirit of America."

But mixed into all of that I also got the "Pet Sounds" album.  Because it was just "another" album of theirs (don't remember whether I even stopped to think about whether it was an "original" album or just a compilation in my earliest pre-nerd days), it's probably why to this day I maintain "Pet Sounds" is amazing more than anything else simply because they're all GOOD songs. All of that "concept album", "one complete thought" of an album, blah blah blah. Yeah, all of that is accurate too. But it's also just *all good songs*!

I eventually snagged some albums in the vinyl days, but not all of them. It wasn't until the CD age that I really, as Michael Bolton said in "Office Space" came to "celebrate their entire catalog."

[Wirestone]

Nice story Billy!

Time for a new song: "the ballad of Billy Castillo"

Agreed, truly incredible story. Brian Wilson before later-Beach Boys must be even rarer. Again, my initial post was entirely tongue-in-cheek, but you must realize you have to be in a very small minority. What an amazing personal connection to the music.

I also became a fan because of Brian Wilson, not the band. I knew the hits, but they never particularly resonated with me. But then in 1995, I heard about the IJWMFTT doc, along with Orange Crate Art.

Pretty sure the first BW/BB related disc I bought was the IJWMFTT soundtrack. I followed that up with Orange Crate Art, Pet Sounds, and then the 20 Good Vibrations disc that was the standard hits release at the time. The boxed set was next, followed by BW88, Love You and 15 Big Ones.

[cant wait]

hey Billy, great story !  i just can't quite remember, but did you regale us with your version of
"In My Room" on the original Cabinessence board ?  or am i hallucinating ?

[LostArt]

I was 9 years old in 1965, when I received the Barbara Ann 45 for Christmas.  I don't know why I was given this particular record, because I wasn't really a Beach Boys fan.  I fell in love with The Beatles the first time I heard them on the radio in '64, and they became my favorite group, but I heard all of the popular stuff on the radio, including Beach Boys songs.  I also remember a friend of mine owning the Help Me, Rhonda single, with the band wearing terrible preppy sweaters on the sleeve.  I just didn't dig it at the time.  So, when I got that Barbara Ann single, I played it a few times, but I liked the flip side, Girl Don't Tell Me much better (because it sounded like the Beatles).  Soon the Monkees Marketing Machine hit me, and all other 10 year olds, and the Beach Boys were all but forgotten (except for Good Vibrations, which made me take notice for about 15 minutes).  1967 was all about The Monkees and The Beatles for me.  Soon after came The Who and Jimi and the San Francisco bands, and Woodstock, and suddenly everything had changed.  I was probably like a lot of the people around my age that at some point dismissed The Beach Boys as 'not cool, man".

Fast forward to 1988.  I was working with a younger guy who was into all sorts of music, and he started talking about this new album from Brian Wilson, and how great it was.  He told me about Pet Sounds, and the story about the Smile album, and what a great album Smiley Smile was.  Well, the next day he brought me a cassette tape with Brian Wilson on one side, and Smiley Smile on the other.  I could not believe what I was hearing.  This is the guy and band that did Barbara Ann?  No way.  Man, I played that tape to death.  I played it for anyone who would listen.  I would often get funny looks from people, but I didn't care.  This stuff was hitting me like no music had hit me in a very long time.  Needless to say, I was hooked. 

To this day Brian's (and The Beach Boys') music just makes me feel good.  It is, as Carl and others have said, very spiritual.  I'm not sure why or how it works, but it does, and I feel really lucky to have met that guy at work 27 years ago. 

[harrisonjon]

Are there any restriction on Al's and Blondie's availability for such a tour - family commitments and the like?

Do their wages/expenses add heavily to tour costs, in a way that might persuade Brian's management not to take them?