This Week in BB History January 16 to 26

Jan 25 1962-The BBs played one of their earliest shows at the Presbyterian Church in Hawthorne. The next day they performed at Hawthorne High’s Senior Breakfast-with Chris Montez and the Mellow Teens. Jan 16 1963-The BBs worked on “Lana,” “Farmers Daughter,” “Runaround Lover,” “Surfer’s Rule,” “South Bay Surfer” and “Boogie Woodie.” Two days later, Brian produced “Ride Away” for Bob & Sheri.

Jan 17 and 18 1964-The BBs played at Sydney Stadium in Australia, while on their first overseas tour with Roy Orbison. They then played at Centennial Hall in Adelaide on January 20. On January 21 and 22 they performed at the Festival Hall in Melbourne and then were in Hobart, Tasmania on January 23.The next day they appeared on the Surf Sound TV Show in Sydney-miming to Surfer Girl and Little Deuce Coupe, which aired on separate days. Would love to see this if it still exists. The BBs then flew to Wellington, NZ-where they had a meet and greet at the airport on Jan 25. That night they played 3 shows at the Civic Theatre in Invercargill, NZ. The Daily News reported: “The Beach Boys were quite an entertaining group and their surfin’ numbers went across well… The group’s saxophonist was humorous and during his version of ‘Monster Mash’ he had the audience rollicking.”

Jan 18 1965-The BBs worked on the track of “I’m So Young”. The next day they recorded vocals for “Good To My Baby,” “Help Me Rhonda (LP Version)”, “In The Back Of My Mind” and “I’m So Young.” Jan 1966-The BBs were on their first Japanese tour. Dennis wasn’t impressed by Tokyo and told Hit Parader: “Tokyo is like Las Vegas. Expensive and cold.” The tour ended on January 23 and then the group split up. Mike, Bruce and their new manager Dick Duryea decided to visit Hong Kong and were obliged to hold a press conference for the press to explain to fans why they weren’t performing there. They explained that they couldn’t find a hall big enough but then were told that previous pop groups that played there had simply played more shows to make up for the small halls.

Jan 20 1967-Brian worked on “Heroes and Villains” at Columbia Studios but the tape of this session is apparently lost. On Jan 23 more work was done on the “Surf’s Up” track (String and Horn Overdubbing)-apparently this tape is missing too. On Jan 25 1967-Brian produced a session for photographer Jasper Daily singing “Teeter Totter Love.” Jan 1968- The Beach Boys convinced Brian to come with them to New York to meet Maharishi-who they first met in Paris the previous December. He was in the states from Jan 19 till Jan 23 and visited the UN on Jan 20 and gave a TM lecture in Madison Square Garden on Jan 21. So the visit was probably on January 20. I am sure at least Mike went to the Garden lecture. Maharishis visited Boston on January 22 and Mike and possibly other BBs attended his lecture there as well.

Jan 16 1969 the BBs played in Victoria, BC, Canada-with Joe Hicks, Tommy James and the Shondells and a local band called the Tunnel. The reviewer praised Steve Desper and his sound system and the orchestra led by John D’andrea that backed the BBs. The same bill (minus the Tunnel) appeared in Seattle on Jan 17 and the reviewer commented, “The Beach Boys really sing-they don’t shout or scream.” However she wasn’t a Mike Love fan and commented that his “patter was patronizing and not very funny.” The same bill played Vancouver on Jan 18, with a local band called the Winter Green. The tour ended at Eastern Montana College in Billings on Jan 19. The reviewer commented, “Every song exhibited excellence in vocal harmony and blend, an excellence well worth the study of any vocal major. Only in one song did they blow it, and that was in the acapella number (Their Hearts Were Full) when they cracked up due to the drummer’s running on and off the stage.” The BBs returned home and worked on the unreleased “San Miguel” on January 22, 24 and 27.

Jan 17 1970-The BBs were working on what became Sunflower and recorded Take A Load Off your Feet Pete. The next two days were spent on the second unreleased version of Back Home (the first was in 1963). On Jan 26 1970-they worked on string overdubs for “Tears In the Morning,” “Our Sweet Love,” Dennis’s “Lady” and overdubs for “Take a load off Your Feet.” Jan 1972-Al and Mike were in Majorca, Spain studying TM. On Jan 21 Brian worked on the still unreleased “Spark In the Dark.” Jan 1973-Brian went to Iowa with David Sandler to work on tracks with American Spring, including “Shying Away.” Brian was certainly a fan of this track. He told Pete Fornatelle in June that he’d eat his hat, if he had one, if it wasn’t a hit. However in the same interview he expressed a lot of pessimism- complaining that DJ’s wouldn’t give airplay to new artists.

Jan 16 1977: The BBs played at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. All eyes were on Brian and the reviewer noted, “Wilson appeared to be trying desperately to seem offhanded and casual as the rest and the others on stage seemed over-eager to make him feel at home. But it was very strange-Wilson would suddenly smile or wave his arms and then just as suddenly stop, as if going through motions he barely remembered once doing.” The BBs played the Forum in Montreal on Jan 17 and the show had a halftime. When it was time to take the stage again, Brian accidently walked out the exit into the lobby to the amazement of startled fans grabbing beers and in a Spinal Tap moment asked “Which way is the stage?”

The BBs played the Philadelphia Spectrum on January 18 1977 followed by shows in Pittsburgh on the 19 and the Capitol Center in Largo, MD on January 20, 21. At least one of the shows-filmed for the Jumbotron feed-makes the rounds. The BBs were scheduled to appear at NBC Arena in Hawaii on January 24 and 25 but canceled- allegedly due to Mike having a hepatitis outbreak (which had felled him in the fall of 1976) but considering that he’d announced from the stage in Maryland that he was departing after the shows for a six month TM course in Switzerland-I’d take that excuse with a grain of salt.

January 18 1978-Dennis held a session for Bambu and worked on the two songs that ended up on BB albums: Love Surrounds Me and Baby Blue. Jan 20, 21, 23 and 24 1979-the BBs were finishing LA Light and had decided to add Love Surrounds Me, so overdubs were done to finish it. January 15-20 1980 the BBs played at the Sahara in Tahoe. Dennis was out of the band at the time but reportedly played part of the Jan 16 show. The BBs were trying to finish up Keeping the Summer Alive and on Jan 22 1980 they worked on overdubs for Goin On, Sunshine and Oh Darlin. Sessions also took place on January 25 and 26.

Jan 16, 1981-The BBs played the Sports Arena in San Diego with guest stars American Spring and Dean Torrence. Should have been a fun show but the reviewer commented that Dennis was “quite disoriented, carrying on with inappropriate clowning, and in 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' bashing the drums with considerably more abandon then the song called for” and was replaced midway through the show by Bobby Figueroa. He also commented that “Too often the harmonies that once flowed through their throats so effortlessly were ragged and strained, particularly and disastrously in a few songs where vocal smoothness was most needed: Good Vibrations,' 'Little Surfer Girl' and 'Sloop John B.'”

The BBs played at UC Davis on January 17, 1981-again with American Spring. The reviewer noted, “the large number of people onstage contributing vocals-helped to obscure the fact that many voices in the band, most noticeably Love's and Brian Wilson's, have seriously deteriorated.” The BBs played the Selland Arena, in Fresno on January 18 and then headed to Constitution Hall in Washington to take part in the Ronald Reagan Inaugural Youth Concert on January 19. The band and their relatives still had a lot of issues and on Jan 25 1981-Dennis received a serious beating on Superbowl Sunday from Mike’s brother and Brian’s bodyguard Rocky. His voice, already wrecked from alcohol and drugs, now became a rasp.

Jan 15-18 1982-the BBs, minus Carl, were back at Harrah’s at Lake Tahoe, NV-with Jeff Foskett, who was asked to join the band permanently after playing South Africa with them. Carl was working on his second album and held sessions in January at Cherokee Studios to work on “Time,” “What More Can I Say,” “Givin’ You Up,” “Opus II,” and “Part of the Times.” Jan 19 1985-The BBs (With Brian) played at the Reagan Inauguration in DC-this is the one that was partially filmed-with a good performance of Their Heart Was Full of Spring. They also played other songs.

Jan 22 1987-Brian helped honor the Drifters at the second annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame dinner in NYC and performed “On Broadway.” He can be seen in footage of the all-star jam singing along on “Pretty Woman” with Roy Orbison. He was offered a contract by Sire Records honcho Seymour Stein that night. While Brian was there-the BBs practiced for the Pre Game Show at Orange Coast College. The next night they played the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix, AZ and then on Jan 24 1987 appeared on the TV show “Super Night at the Super Bowl” on CBS TV-hosted by Patrick Duffy. They performed a mimed “The Little Old Lady From Pasadena” with Brian. On Jan 25 1987-the BBs played live at the super Bowl pre-game show in Pasadena. Brian also joined them on Jan 26 1987 for a private show for the Ford Motor Company at the Universal-Sheraton.
THINK I’LL STOP THERE

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