The professor's end of the year notes and queries

[the professor]

Many of you (well, none, actually) have been exhorting me to compose a short summary of "where we are at" for the end of the year.
Notes:
1. We had a "new BB album," which we all cherish.
2. We have a series of web videos, short vignettes of the BB playing, talking and cutting up, while also making an occasionally bracing philosophical observation about art, life, and the human soul.
3.  We had a vital thread on the MIC boxed set: we await news of this, and we may have something to look forward to if it comes to light.
4. We had a Zine-pack with the new version of Do it Again with all our loving BB playing this great song and Dave playing a rich rhythm and rockin' solo.
5. We Got a second single, IIT and a few live tracks in, essentially, an EP.
6. We got two videos: "Doin' it again" and "50th anniversary tour" of 21 songs.
7. We got 67 (?) live shows, spawning endless youtube videos, a great Japanese TV audio, etc., plus the hope of more, comprehensive and full-show videos to be released.
8. We got many TV and related media appearances: Fallon, RS, etc.
9. We got remasters of many classic BB albums.

Queries:
1. Capital was supposed to come out with a "live album."  Have we ever heard any confirmation of this?
2. Will there be any news of a return to the studio and an new BB album in the new year? (I know no one knows.)
3. What is the current emotional and personal status of the 5 surviving BB in relation to one another?
4. Will the new year bring any new shows; the Sandy venue now ranks as a massive missed opportunity.
5. Finally, though I stopped in front of Pizza Show on Hawthorne BLVD. the other day, why did  I not go in?

I think I can answer this one: because I feared I would not find the young BB inside, having fun and cutting up after a local gig.

I needed a bit of "perspective" on where we are at. I will continue to listen all day and night, as you all do, and to hope for more meaningful, spiritual art from our BB as the "inaudible and noiseless foot of Time" marches on to 2013.

[The Shift]

Points 1-9 make me realise what a surreal year it's been. Phenomenal.

Positive answers to queries 1, 2 and 4 would be more than icing on one hell of a wonderful cake.

We can't ask for more than 2011/12 have brought but it looks like we'll get more, even if limited to a box set. Oh, and maybe the Carnegie show. Oh, and maybe another album. Not asking for  more, note, just speculationing…

[Wah Wah Wah Ooooo]

Wow...what a great year to be a Beach Boys fan.

For me, I will cherish all the things you mentioned, professor, but the one thing that stands above all others is that in 2012 I saw the Beach Boys in concert for the first time and it featured Brian, Mike, Al, David and Bruce....I honestly never thought that would happen and I had made peace with it.  Hell of a year.

[BB Universe]

Thank you, professor, for the concise and accurate summary of 2012 for Beach Boys fans. It indeed was quite a year, more than anyone could have ever expected just a short time ago.
Happy holidays to everyone too!

[Andrew G. Doe]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

(Sorry Charlie)

[hypehat]

Haha, exactly.


It was a wonderful year, but the events of September left it on a curiously unresolved note. M&B announcing they were shying away from, arguably, the greatest Beach Boys tour of the past 30 years just showed us that nothing really changed - what I had hoped the tour would achieve is that they would have been awed by what that reunion line-up could achieve, both artistically and commercially, and that The Beach Boys could finally be what they had the potential to be. That is, the greatest pop band in American history. Instead, well, we're back to where we started, with an uneven album and some lasting memories to show for it.

[guitarfool2002]

The Professor made some excellent points - the highlights of the year were abundant. It was exciting.

Might I add the total surprise of my own insomniac channel-surfing one night landing on - totally by chance and for whatever reasons an appearance not promoted by *any* official BB's or BW/ML social media outlets - the reunited Beach Boys sitting around the table with Charlie Rose on PBS. It was a terrific interview, because such a full group interview had not been possible in years before. The scope of the event itself would outshine whatever they said anyway, but some of the answers were actually in-depth and "new".

I do feel somewhat let down here in mid December. That's a fan's arrogance and perhaps selfishness, but the Sandy benefit show would seem to have been a tailor-made gig for The Beach Boys. I have personal reasons for saying that, with a connection to the band's music and going to Wildwood Crest multiple summers as a kid and hearing the songs as part of the experience, along with the current top-40 of course.

But no one can convince me that the reunited band would not have kicked ass by doing Good Vibrations, Help Me Rhonda, The Warmth Of The Sun, whatever...And for what we can only assume are some of the same issues which have dogged this band for decades, they were noticeably absent. It was a bit of a dark cloud over a very sunny year.

[the professor]

I should have added, however much it may seem "small beer," in the queries section, that we need fuller and thus more correct liner notes for TWGMTR, specifying who is playing and singing what.

Have any of you (some of you are direct associates of the BB, of course, and the answer must be yes) been in Pizza Show? Is there a signed photo of the group or any such marker?  I know it from the "let's go to Hawthorne with David marks" video.

I think it's in that Charlie Rose interview where Brian says, when asked about the difference between exuberance and melancholy, that "there is none." (Perhaps I'm paraphrasing).

I am off to post-Sandy Jersey today, with 15 BB albums on the sandisk for the plane. Will check in over the weekend.


Let's hope for good news soon about all our hopes; the music is there; they are not tapped out, I'm sure, and I still predict another album.

[BB Universe]

I don't know about predicting anything (especially in Beach Boy land) but I recall over the years that my friends and I would speculate and wonder (and hope):

 - In the late 70's when and if the group would put out any new albums and along the way we got KTSA and BB'85;
 - In the mid "80's whether Brian would ever compose again (let alone be alive!), and BW '88 came along;
 - In the 90's if Brian was done and along came Orange Crate Art and Roxy;
 - In the late 90's and early 2000's with the earlier passing of Carl, Brian's reluctance to tour and the "other things" whether we'd ever again see any of the guys perform live and there came the Pet Sounds tour, Mike and Bruce carrying on, Brian adding some Smile songs to his performance, BWPS;
 - With 50 years approaching whether the guys would do something to recognize the milestone and all the events of 2012 happened.

Perhaps we shouldn't bet against a new album, more releases of unreleased materials, or who knows what (even perhaps Beach Boy Central  ...

[blank]

9. We got remasters of many classic BB albums.

Besides the remastering, I think it's worth cheering about that we got official mono and stereo mixes of some albums on CD for the first time!

[Andrew G. Doe]

I do feel somewhat let down here in mid December. That's a fan's arrogance and perhaps selfishness, but the Sandy benefit show would seem to have been a tailor-made gig for The Beach Boys. I have personal reasons for saying that, with a connection to the band's music and going to Wildwood Crest multiple summers as a kid and hearing the songs as part of the experience, along with the current top-40 of course.

But no one can convince me that the reunited band would not have kicked ass by doing Good Vibrations, Help Me Rhonda, The Warmth Of The Sun, whatever...And for what we can only assume are some of the same issues which have dogged this band for decades, they were noticeably absent. It was a bit of a dark cloud over a very sunny year.

... or maybe they just weren't asked ?  Did that ever occur to you ?

[guitarfool2002]

I do feel somewhat let down here in mid December. That's a fan's arrogance and perhaps selfishness, but the Sandy benefit show would seem to have been a tailor-made gig for The Beach Boys. I have personal reasons for saying that, with a connection to the band's music and going to Wildwood Crest multiple summers as a kid and hearing the songs as part of the experience, along with the current top-40 of course.

But no one can convince me that the reunited band would not have kicked ass by doing Good Vibrations, Help Me Rhonda, The Warmth Of The Sun, whatever...And for what we can only assume are some of the same issues which have dogged this band for decades, they were noticeably absent. It was a bit of a dark cloud over a very sunny year.

... or maybe they just weren't asked ?  Did that ever occur to you ?

Your point would be more valid if the act of *volunteering* one's services to a charity was not an option. Plenty of people other than rock stars and comedians offered up what they could offer for those affected residents without being asked.

Would you assume then that if the band had offered to play Wednesday night, the charity and the concert organizers would have turned them down? Or is the assumption instead that each act that appeared was asked to do the show instead of asking the organizers to do the show? Bands pay managers to look into this kind of thing, it's usually a win-win situation for the band and the charity. 

[Andrew G. Doe]

All I'm doing is pointing out that there's at least one alternative to your assumption - on behalf of us all - that some form of internal dissension was the cause of their not playing.

[guitarfool2002]

All I'm doing is pointing out that there's at least one alternative to your assumption - on behalf of us all - that some form of internal dissension was the cause of their not playing.

Understood, and I know there's some cross-posting with the other thread going on but on that one I tried to clarify why I'm questioning all of this as I have been. And others have expressed the same thought, regular people - not even hard core fans - have said to me "Where were The Beach Boys?" The opportunity to have all these legendary (not using that term lightly) acts on the same bill is one which unfortunately I don't see happening in the future, although who can say that with any certainty.