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Author Topic: This week in BB History  (Read 3688 times)
Ian
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« on: July 01, 2020, 10:19:18 AM »

July 3, 1962-The BBs played a dance at Dykstra Hall on the UCLA campus hosted by Roger Christian, with Chris Montez and Dante and the Evergreens. Brian probably met his roommate Bob Norberg at this appearance.  Early July 1963-the BBs played at the Skate-O-Rama in Downey, CA-with the Blazers and Kathy Marshall.  July 5, 6 1963-The BBs played in Phoenix, AZ. July 11, 1963-The BBs appeared at the Retail Clerks Auditorium, Buena Park, CA-with the Astronauts. July 12 1963-The BBs appeared at the Orange County Fair, Costa Mesa, CA-with Adrian and the Sunsets.

July 3-5 1964-the BBs were in Hawaii and played four shows at the (HIC) International Arena in Honolulu, one show at Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor and one show for soldiers at Schofield Barracks in Honolulu with Bruce and Terry, Jan and Dean, The Kingsmen, Freddy Cannon, Jimmy Griffin, The Rivingtons, Ray Peterson, Jody Miller, Jimmy Clanton and Peter and Gordon.  The group fondly remembered these shows.  Bruce, who performed with friend Terry Melcher, recalled during the campfire sequences of the 1989 Endless Summer TV show that Peter & Gordon were unprepared for the heat of Hawaii and quickly turned as red as lobsters.  Mike noted that Jan and Dean ran onstage during one of these shows with fire extinguishers to get them.  Al then recalled that he walked backstage and found Jan tied up “like a mummy” with surgical gauze.

Following the Hawaii shows, the BBs continued their “Summer Safari tour at the University of Tucson (though it was not for a College audience-just used that venue).  All the shows on this tour included The Kingsmen, Freddie Cannon, Jimmy Griffin (he was replaced for part of the tour by Eddie Hodges).  The Kingsmen, of course, were a Portland band most famous for their hit “Louie, Louie, while Jimmy Griffin was an actor/singer who later formed Bread.  Freddie Cannon must have been a fave of the BBs as they later recorded his Palisades Park and were familiar with his other hit Tallahassee Lassie. This bill then played in Albuquerque, Amarillo, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Omaha and Kansas City between July 7 and 12 1964. Dennis was hit by something thrown by a fan at the KC show and the Kingsmen drummer Dick Peterson had to fill in).
 
July 2 1965-The BBs played the Concourse Arena, San Diego with Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, Sonny & Cher and Ian Whitcomb. The next day they headlined a show at the Hollywood Bowl with The Righteous Brothers, Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs, The Byrds, Donna Loren, The Sir Douglas Quintet, Sonny and Cher, Dino, Desi and Billy, The Kinks, Ian Whitcomb and The Liverpool Five.  Brian must have considered this show an important one, as he chose to appear in place of Bruce.  This was, however, the last full show he’d play till 1967. The LA Times critic Charles Champlin and his teenage daughters agreed, “the Beach Boys seemed by all odds the most polished performers of the evening.”  Their set list included “Wendy,” “Surfin’ Safari,” “Surfer Girl,” “In My Room” and “Papa-Oo-Mow-Mow.” On July 4 the BBs played the Cow Palace, San Francisco with Sonny and Cher, The Ronettes, Donna Loren, The Kinks, Ian Whitcomb, Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, Drusalee and the Dead, the Emeralds with Linda Dawn, the Westwinds, the Decibels and the Coachmen. This show was poorly advertised and had lousy attendance. The “mercurial” Kinks refused to play due to a feud with the promoter-they simply came out and waved to fans then walked off. 

July 6-12 1965 the BBs began an east coast tour that took in Canobie Lake Park, in Salem NH, Hampton Beach Casino, NH, Bangor and Portland, ME, Asbury Park, NJ (was Bruce there?), Reading, PA and Raleigh, NC.  The Asbury Park show was reviewed with disdain by Barry Robinson of the Asbury Park Press.  He commented that “the Beach Boys resemble debris washed ashore during a hurricane. All of them appear to be in dire need of a haircut…their uniform of the day is skintight, white see-through pants topped off by blue and white striped shirts. Casual! Play it cool! Don’t look as though you dressed up for the show-no, indeed, let the people think you just dropped in off the beach with your electric twangies and your hopped-up amplifiers!” However, he admitted reluctantly that “as musicians and singers they aren’t bad.”  Robinson’s review touched off a storm in the city and the paper was so deluged with complaints that devoted a section of the paper to them and Robinson was forced to make something of a rebuttal.  Fans noted, “The Beach Boys hair is certainly not ‘in need of a haircut’.  If Mr. Robinson would care to walk around Asbury Park, he would notice that practically all the boys are letting their hair grow!” Another fan commented, “Their attire, which consisted of white levis and striped shirts are the accepted clothes of this generation!” On July 12 while the BBs were on tour Brian started the track for
Sloop John B

July 1-4 1966 The BBs played in Las Vegas, Santa Barbara, Fresno and San Diego with The Association and Sir Douglas Quintet. As I noted in my book, Steve Vivona of the San Diego Evening Tribune criticized the group for their conservative set list.  Despite the fact that Pet Sounds had been released months earlier, they only played one song (“Sloop John B”).  He noted, “Instead it was a rehash of their ‘golden goodies’-‘Little Deuce Coupe,’ ‘Hawaii,’ ‘Barbara Ann,’ and a half a dozen others, all performed in a listless manner…The main ingredient lacking in the quintet is an attitude of professionalism; no matter how successful, they need to prove themselves again and again to back up the high demands of their salary.” While they were touring, an appearance they’d taped in June aired on the syndicated Lloyd Thaxton TV Show. As far as I know, this footage is not surviving. I assume they played Sloop John B.

July 5-12 1967-The BBs were at Brother Studio working on Smiley Smile Tracks-She’s Going Bald, Wind Chimes and Wonderful.  July 2-12 1968-The BBs were on a Midwest tour with Gary Puckett and Union Gap and the Human Beinz. This was the first tour with Mike Kowalski-2nd percussionist and Ed Carter-bassist: They played Davenport, Sioux Falls, Lake Geneva, WI (where the Playboy Club was), Chicago, Anderson, IN, Duluth, MN, Fargo ND, St Paul, Waterloo, IA, Des Moines and Salina, KS.  Robb Baker of The Tribune reviewed the Chicago gig and criticized the group for sticking to the “oldies” rather than performing songs from post Pet Sounds albums.  “It’s not that their Top 40 songs are really bad: In fact, for what they attempt, they’re rather good. The distinctive beat, the quick tempo changes, the harmonizing in the upper registry are all effective, but they’re a bit like circus dogs who keep wagging their tails (and making their feeble jokes) long after the crowd has tired of their single trick.”

July 1969-The BBs were at Brother Studios working on recordings that would end up on Sunflower including Got to Know the Woman, All I Wanna Do, At My Window and Slip on Through.  July 1970: The BBs added finishing touches to the Sunflower LP-with Bruce adding lead vocal for Tears in the Morning and polishes being done to Cool, Cool Water. On July 8 and 9 1970-the Mixing Sessions for Sunflower took place.

July 1 1971-The BBs played at the Kingsbridge Armory, Bronx, NY-at a week-long festival that also included Alice Cooper, Ike and Tina Turner, Chuck Berry, Wilson Pickett, Kate Taylor, Voices of East Harlem, Hooker N’ Heat, 30 Days Out, Illusion, Powerhouse and J.F. Murphy. July 2 and 3 1971 the BBs were at Wolman Rink, Central Park, NY to film the TV Special Good Vibrations from Central Park with Ike and Tina Turner, Boz Scaggs, Kate Taylor and Carly Simon. The film crew insisted on two concerts to insure they had good footage.  Director John Moffitt had the musicians wear the same outfits both days to create the illusion that they’d only filmed one show. The Beach Boys performances of “Good Vibrations,” “Heroes and Villains,” “Okie from Muskogee,” “Forever,” and “It’s About Time” ended up in the final show.   July 7 and 8 1971-The BBs were at Sunset Sound to work on It’s a New Day and Behold the Night. July 1972-The BBs were in Holland working on the Holland LP. The following July was spent at home, apparently just detoxing following the death of Murry Wilson.

July 9 1974-The BBs opened for CSNY at the Seattle Coliseum along with Jesse Colin Young. July 1-6 1975-The BBs played in Philadelphia with Michael Murphy, the Milwaukee Summer Fest and Colorado State U with Chicago.  37,000 fans attended the closing show of the Beachago tour and, according to the Rocky Mountain Collegian were treated to “almost four hours of familiar hits from the past, some present-day rock professionalism, and a good excuse to sit all day in the very warm sun.”  The biggest surprise of the show was the guest appearance by Elton John, who was recording at Caribou Ranch and was invited to the concert by Jim Guercio.  He joined the Beach Boys for “Barbara Ann” and returned with his band for the big finale.

July 2-3 1976-The BBs played at Oakland Coliseum with Elvin Bishop, America and John Sebastian and at Anaheim Stadium with America, Gerard and Santana. These were the first shows Brian played since his cameo appearance at the Hollywood Palladium in 1973.  According to Oakland Tribune reviewer Peter Cowan, “at first, he seemed almost dazed, barely playing piano and singing in brief segments but as the crowd’s enthusiasm warmed and he found his concert legs, Wilson gradually emerged from his shell.  He even mugged for the people seated behind him, waving and smiling, and he took a lead vocal on a new song from the 15 Big Ones LP, ‘Back Home.’” The Anaheim show was, of course, partially filmed for the It’s OK TV Special that aired in August.  That same month, Carl was producing his future brother-in-law Ricci Martin’s album.  Work was done on
 “Streets of Love”, “Moonbeams”, “Everyone Knows My Name” and “Precious Love” at this time.  Dennis was also finishing Pacific Ocean Blue.  Strings were added to Rainbows, River Song and Thoughts of You on July 7. On July 12 the BBs started a three-day residency at Pine Knob Theater with Billy Joel. Billy Hinsche told me that Joel quit the tour following some shows in Chicago-as he could not stand people yelling for the BBs during his set.  This was right before his career really took off.

July 9-14 1977- Dennis was supposed to do a whole foreign press junket for Pacific Ocean Blue. According to the memorandum I have, he was to fly to Frankfurt and do press/radio and then move on to London, where he’d be interviewed on BBC Radio “Book On” and do interviews for The Sun and Record Mirror and Sounds. Dennis then was to fly to Manchester-and do TV interview for Granada Reports and interview for Manchester Evening News. This was to be followed by visits to Cardiff and Dublin. Clearly this did not occur.  July 4 1978- a proposed concert by the BBs, Joan Baez and Santana in Leningrad that Bill Graham was promoting was to take place on this day. The show was to feature Western and Soviet artists and it was hoped that it would foster greater cultural exchange between the super-powers.  The concert was to be documented by filmmaker Dmitri Gruenwald.  Unfortunately, it never happened.  By late June plans had run aground because officials from the Soviet Film Agency found historical inaccuracies in the script.

July 1-12 1979-The BBs toured without Dennis (he’d been banned after attacking Mike onstage) As noted in my book, Bobby Figueroa took over drums. Bobby told me he wasn’t happy about the change. “We’d sort of broken up the show to the point where neither of us would get tired but when he started playing less and less, I had to do more and more and it hurt me.  I hurt my back at that time and eventually (in 1981) had to leave the band.  I had tangled all the muscle.” Drum technician Tony Leo tried to lessen the load for Figueroa, playing extra percussion, such as tympani on “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” Mike Meros and Carli Munoz were on keyboards and Ed Carter was on bass. They played in St Paul, MN, Omaha, NE, Milwaukee, Pine Knob, St John’s Hollow, Tiffin, OH, Blossom Music Center, OH (Partially filmed for a piece on PM Magazine), Rockland Community College and The Montreal Forum.  At the first Blossom show Mike pleaded with the crowd to be attentive and listen to the new music. But, Anastasia Pantsios of the Cleveland Plains Dealer reported, “It didn’t work, no matter how thick he laid it on. Songs like ‘Sumahama’ weren’t what the people came to hear and they weren’t buying any.  It took tunes like ‘California Girls’ and ‘I Get Around’ to command their attention.” July 3 1980-The BBs played in Hampton, VA with Le Roux. Eric Feber of the Virginian Pilot was unimpressed “If they weren’t so damned legendary they would be playing supper clubs and Holiday inns instead of packing them in at stadiums like they did in Hampton Thursday night…Their new albums don’t sell well and I defy anyone to name a new Beach Boys tune that anyone could recognize or even hum.  The group, with their drained leader helplessly looking on, is now nothing more than a hollow impression.” The next day they played their first big Washington DC free show with Brian and Dennis. The concert was professionally filmed and televised on HBO.  The show was quite popular and was re-aired for the next few years as The Beach Boys in Concert.  Prior to the show, Dennis gave a short interview to a television reporter backstage.  He looked bored and not at his best.  Indeed, film footage of the group in the next three years is increasingly painful to watch, as Dennis’s health rapidly deteriorates. The next day the BBs played at the Nassau Coliseum.  Back in LA, on July 7 1980-Carl played his first solo show at the Sheraton Hotel for the Movement of Inner Spiritual Awareness.

July 1 1981-The BBs played in Huntington, WV. They then returned to Washington DC for the second year in a row for their big free show at the Mall. The difference was that Carl was not touring with them. Geoffrey Himes of the Washington Post noted that they only played two songs recorded after 1968 (“Lady Lynda” and “I Write the Songs”) and that with Carl gone, Dennis mute on drums and Brian banging inaudibly on piano and only occasionally singing an off key vocal, "this left the show in the hands of Al Jardine, Mike Love and Bruce Johnston, who seemed to have little feel for a great musical legacy.  They cloaked around and undermined beautiful songs like 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' with sloppy arrangements.  They also passed over a long list of superlative songs to sing such weak selections as 'Long Tall Texan.'" The BBs shortcomings were quite evident the next night at the infamous televised show on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA with Three Dog Night and Jan and Dean). Carl saw the show on TV after a gig in Michigan opening for the Doobie Brothers and called it “Painful! It made me feel really bad to see the guys, because they looked like they'd been on a plane all night.  But I think it's inexcusable to not communicate the song as best you can.  When you're a professional musician and people have learned to love what you do and have paid money to come see you, I think you're obliged to make a real good delivery.” Indeed, Carl was opening for the Doobies at their six night stand at Pine Knob. He also played with them at Myrtle Beach, Virginia Beach, Philadelphia, Music Mountain, South Fallsburg, NY and Hartford, CT.

July 3-13 1982-The BBs played started a new tour with Carl and Dennis but minus Brian. They played in Philadelphia, spent the 4th of July at the Freedom Festival in St Louis and then swung through Canada to play in Winnipeg, Regina, Edmonton and Lethbridge, Alberta. They also played at Boise State University, the Can Am Jam in Spokane, WA and the Grandview Bowl in Nanaimo, BC, Canada-with Rail, the Roger Fisher Band and Shari Ulrich (this last show was not in my book). The shows were well reviewed. Dave Obee of the Lethbridge Herald declared the show “the best to hit Lethbridge in years… The music of the Beach Boys seems just as fresh as the day it first came over a tinny transistor radio.” July 2-10 1983-The original BBs played their last summer tour together. They appeared in Milwaukee St Louis, Atlantic City, Jones Beach, NY, Pier 84, NY and Mount Cranmore Stadium, North Conway, NH.  The Atlantic City show was, of course, the famous televised concert the band contracted after James Watt banned them from playing at Mall for “attracting the wrong element” with their clearly subversive music! Watt ludicrously referred to the group as "hard rock" and argued many people that attended their shows were drug and alcohol abusers. President Reagan famously disagreed with his Interior Secretary.

July 2 1984-The BBs played in Atlanta, GA. The next night they all (except Carl) attended a party in DC thrown by the corporate sponsors of the next day’s shows. Interviews with Brian, Mike and others were filmed for the American Band movie. Mike, Al and Bruce also appeared on ABC TV-Nightline with Ted Koppel. July 4 1984-the BBs returned to the Washington Memorial with Idle Tears, Hank Williams Jr., Three Dog Night, America, Lynn Anderson, Latoya Jackson and the O’Jays. Ringo Starr was also there. Mike made light of the fact that the Beach Boys had been banned the previous year, by thanking “all of you undesirable elements” for coming.  The concert was filmed and recorded.  An album called Fourth of July: A Rockin’ Celebration of America, which contained live recordings from this show, as well as the band’s 1985 July 4th shows, received limited release.  The film footage was edited into a TV special titled D.C. Beach Party that aired in syndication. The BBs than flew to Miami for a free show at Lummus Park.  July 6-12 1984-The BBs played in Chicago, the All Iowa Fair, Cedar Rapids and Duluth, MN- with Three Dog Night (The BBs remained in Duluth through July 9 and played a charity softball game that night against Three Dog Night), Sioux Falls, Six Flags Over Texas and Oklahoma City. Bob Ashenmacher of the News Tribune commented on the Duluth show, “It’s difficult for some of us to be comfortable with the band presenting itself as merely an oldies act-there’s no emphasis on new material, nor any interpretation put into the old stuff.  Finally, it’s painful to the point of grotesque to hear ‘Good Vibrations’ made into a sing-a-long… All that said, it was a good oldies show.” Meanwhile from July 6-24 1984-Brian was at Red Bus, London to work on the Beach Boys album with Steve Levine.  Brian was filmed and interviewed for a British TV show called Ear Say while there -including Brian singing “I’m So Lonely”. 

July 4, 1985: The BBs played at the Philadelphia Art Museum with Robert Hazard, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, the Oak Ridge Boys, Joe Ely, the Sons of the Beach, the Neville Brothers, Frank Stallone and Katrina and the Waves and Washington Memorial with Radiant, Katrina and the Waves, the Bellamy Brothers, New Edition, Southern Pacific, the Four Tops, the Oak Ridge Boys and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. The shows were filmed for a TV special titled Bring on the Summer With the Beach Boys.  Both shows featured guest stars, running the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous.  Flamboyant A Team actor Mr. T played drums on “Rock and Roll Music.”  Guitar legend Jimmy Page led the band on a fun version of Little Richard’s “Lucille.”  New Edition sang harmonies in Philadelphia on “Help Me Rhonda.” Christopher Cross joined the group on “Good Vibrations.”  The Oak Ridge Boys collaborated with the Beach Boys on “Come Go with Me” and Joan Jett helped sing a sloppy but fun “Barbara Ann.”  Also present was John Stamos, who sat in on drums-beginning his long association with them. Although he didn’t play in Philadelphia, Brian joined the band for the evening performance in Washington.  Geoffrey Himes of the Washington Post declared the highlight of the day “a gorgeous version of ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ by a trim, beardless Brian Wilson, who sounded better than he had on stage in two decades.” Recordings of “Barbara Ann” and “Come Go With Me” were included on Fourth of July: A Rockin’ Celebration of America a limited release LP issued on Mike’s Love Foundation label. July 6-8 1985-The BBs played in Buffalo, NY and at Pine Knob, Clarkston, MI.  Think I’ll stop here.







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Steve Mayo
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« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2020, 11:49:36 AM »

Thanks ian. Also the 1971 good vibrations central park show the group did “i get around” as the encore.
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Ian
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« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2020, 12:05:12 PM »

You are right-forgot that one!
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HeyJude
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« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2020, 02:32:25 PM »

While Carl's comments about the 1981 band are 100% correct and he was being diplomatic by not being more critical, it's funny that he mentioned a paying audience considering the July 4th DC shows were free, and I think the Queen Mary show from 7/5/81 was also free, right?

Also worth noting about the Queen Mary '81 show: While the performance was dreadful, the live mix that went out to radio and TV didn't do it any favors. I say this because in more recent years some sort of European re-airing of the Queen Mary show popped up on YouTube, with a much better mix that actually smooths out some of the rough spots of the concert.
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« Reply #4 on: July 01, 2020, 04:05:36 PM »

Queen Mary 1981 the absolute nadir of their career up to that point. Just a dreadful performance
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Ian
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« Reply #5 on: July 01, 2020, 04:09:22 PM »

Agreed-but you are right it was a free show I think
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« Reply #6 on: July 02, 2020, 01:53:01 AM »

Thanks ian. Also the 1971 good vibrations central park show the group did “i get around” as the encore.


I really dislike their arrangement of "I get around" from that time. The background vocals during the verse sound so out of tune on all performances I've heard and just generally sound out of place.
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To sum it up, they blew it, they blew it consistently, they continue to blow it, it is tragic and this pathological problem caused The Beach Boys' greatest music to be so underrated by the general public.

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« Reply #7 on: July 02, 2020, 08:56:17 AM »

July 2, Murry's birthday.
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Ian
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« Reply #8 on: July 03, 2020, 05:05:13 AM »

Yeah-well personally i think I get around is a song that I don’t think works half as well without Brian doing the falsetto chorus
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« Reply #9 on: July 03, 2020, 09:20:25 AM »

Hey, I have your book, which is a treasure and I always love reading this thread.
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« Reply #10 on: July 04, 2020, 05:11:54 AM »

Thanks!
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