Lisa Bonahue
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New York State Rep BBFC
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« on: February 10, 2008, 11:22:06 AM » |
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Beach Boys In Concert On Fourth Friday, February 8, 2008 The Record Online Edition NorthJersey.com
The Beach Boys, who made history in 1983 when they drew more than 300,000 to a free July 4 concert on the Atlantic City beach, will celebrate the 25th anniversary of that event with another beach show this July 4.
Colony Capital, which owns Resorts Atlantic City and the Atlantic City Hilton, has confirmed an agreement with the legendary band to perform in front of one of the two properties.
The company wouldn't say which casino would host the concert.
"The concert will be part of a large-scale Fourth of July celebration," company spokesman Brian Cahill said. "We look forward to working with the city of Atlantic City to create a truly memorable event."
The concert would likely be free, although some reserved seats near the stage may be sold, Cahill said, adding more details would be released later.
Political overtones
The 1983 show was a hastily arranged booking with political overtones. The Beach Boys had been scheduled to perform a free Fourth of July concert on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where they had performed the three previous years.
But several weeks before the show, then-U.S. Interior Secretary James G. Watt abruptly canceled the gig. He said the band attracted an "undesirable element," referring to some fans who smoked pot during the shows. Entertainer Wayne Newton was booked to perform instead.
Keyboardist and singer Bruce Johnston, who joined the Beach Boys in 1965 as a replacement for guitarist Glen Campbell, said the band's banishment from the nation's capital was a case of "guilt by association."
"[Watt] said rock-and-roll [musicians] were undesirables who attracted the wrong crowd," Johnston, 65, recalled with a laugh during a 2007 interview.
But he said the band wasn't laughing in 1983 when the ax suddenly fell on their Fourth of July gig.
"He fired us from a free show," the musician recalled.
Caesars Atlantic City quickly stepped in and signed the band. "We were surprised when [Caesars] offered to host the show. We thought we were damaged goods," Johnston said.
Within a couple of weeks, the casino arranged to construct a massive stage on the beach on the east side of the former Million Dollar Pier, which was then known as the Ocean One shopping mall and is now The Pier at Caesars.
On July 4, an armada of private and charter boats dropped anchor just beyond the surf line and more than 300,000 people crammed every inch of sand between Arkansas and Tennessee avenues to watch the Beach Boys. The show attracted worldwide media coverage.
'Sea of people'
Johnston remembered looking out from the stage – said to have been constructed with boards used during the 1969 Woodstock music festival – and seeing "just a sea of people" and the running lights from boats anchored offshore.
"I didn't think they could fit that many people on the beach," added Johnston, who's been surfing the beaches of Atlantic City and nearby Brigantine since the band first began performing in Atlantic City in the mid-1960s.
The show was also significant because it marked the last July 4 concert the Beach Boys played with its original lineup (minus Brian Wilson, who hasn't toured with the band since 1965). In December 1983, drummer Dennis Wilson drowned in a California marina.
This summer's concert will feature only one original Beach Boy – lead singer Mike Love. Founding member Al Jardine left the band in the mid-1990s following a dispute with Love, and guitarist Carl Wilson died in 1998.
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