Mike and Bruce 2009 photo

[Pretty Funky]

This would be the first shot I have seen with a hatless Bruce for what....5 years? Looks like a good crop still.


http://washingtontimes.com/photos/2009/aug/21/54629/

But the white pants and footwear guys?

[Eric Aniversario]

I think that making the promo picture a high-key photo with the white background and the colorful clothing was a good idea, something new for the band.  However, I really think they should have let Bruce keep the hat so that he would stand out like Mike does as one of the official Beach Boys.  Also, last time they did a promo picture, Chris Farmer was in between Mike & Bruce in the back, which was a little distracting.  Now having Randell back there in the middle is even more distracting.  I think that he should have been on the far right perhaps.  Also distracting is how Bruce's hands are just kind of hanging there while everyone else is striking a more natural pose.  It's cool that the band is all wearing contemporary clothes to give the band the younger look that Mike has been wanting. 

Were there other photos released from this shoot?  Both the photographer and the Beach Boys fan in me want to see more...

[phirnis]

People would be able to recognise both of them more easily if Mike was carrying the sax and Bruce was wearing short shorts.

Edit: If Bruce keeps pulling faces, one day the wind will change and his face will stick like that. 

[Smilin Ed H]

Man, he shouldn't wear dark shoes with light pants!

What's with Mike's pinkie? Arthritis?

[DonnaK]

What's with Bruce's smilie??? New teeth? And Mike's shirt......I think I had one like it back in the late 60's. Well fashion is like anything else, you keep it long enough and it will come back.

[The infamous Baldwin Organ]

It's definitely an improvement over the promotional picture! I think this is good.

I would've gone back to matching striped shirts though!

[DSamore]

it annoys me all the time that Mike Love and a bunch of young, no-name, cover dudes go by "The Beach Boys". Brian has way more ownership to that title.

[Smilin Ed H]

Bruce'll like that description of him as young!

[oldsurferdude]

attach a bicycle horn to Mike's belt and you've  got  Happy the Clown- and by the way, Mike, lose the sandals-nobody wants to see your feet.

[donald]

A short article can be found on that page under 'entertainment"

Wolf Trap on Sunday.  Hmmmmmm.....I could make that in 6 hours!

[b00ts]

it annoys me all the time that Mike Love and a bunch of young, no-name, cover dudes go by "The Beach Boys". Brian has way more ownership to that title.

Brian and, by your criterion, a (different) bunch of young, no-name, cover dudes, go by the name "Brian Wilson." I think he has more of a right to that name than the Beach Boys name, which he, as a board member of BRI, licensed to Mike.

[DSamore]

I had some really long winded thing on here making points about Mike that I'm sure people have stated many times over, so I deleted it to say this-

you're right about the legality of the name.

[b00ts]

I had some really long winded thing on here making points about Mike that I'm sure people have stated many times over, so I deleted it to say this-

you're right about the legality of the name.

As Beach Boys fans, the name is sacrosanct to us, but in reality it is the property of a corporation, and for Brian, it seems to represent something that he just does not want to be a part of.

But let me ask you all this... what if the Brian Wilson Band was called the Beach Boys? Would That Lucky Old Sun have sold more?

I wonder if Brian's people ever considered having Brian tour under the Beach Boys' name. Then again, not that I want to jump on the Mike Love Bashing Bandwagon ™, but the brand name has been diluted to the point where music fans tend to view it more as something like Menudo than a real band. If Brian had adopted that moniker in 1999 or so and his band was the "Beach Boys," it also would have possibly constrained him more artistically then he already was.

At the same time, Mike is entitled to the name for a very good reason - for better or for worse, he has kept the machine humming all of these years when it comes to the live show. He may not be a Wilson brother or a drug addict (which automatically makes him a clyde/square)  and he is not an artist like Brian is, but he is a damn good performer.

I met Mike in 1999 and he was kind of a jerk. I'm very, very aware of the man's flaws. I am not here to be his defender (SJS can take care of that for me), but I will say this:* if I were Mike Love, I would be hugely resentful of the way the hardcore Brian-fans perceive me. Mike has paid quite a dear price for being an uptight rube in the 1960s and varying points thereafter. It's a damn good thing that I didn't become publicly successful at the age of 19 or 20. Like most of you, I have the benefit of doing all of the stupid sh*t I constantly do and making myriad mistakes and faux pas in every aspect of every endeavor I undertake, whilst not being observed by a large group of people, besides the NSA.

I've been a hardcore Beach Boys fan for a while now. I have felt disgusted and dismayed by Mr. Love's actions quite a few times... and still, I can't fathom the utter hatred some fans harbor towards him.

I have also felt disgusted by some of Brian's actions; of course, he gets a free pass because he is mentally ill and a recovering addict. Ditto with Dennis. What about Carl queering the pitch and ruining what could have been an excellent last album by the Beach Boys? Oh wait, he was dealing with lung cancer at the time.

Mike Love.... well, he's been reasonably healthy his whole life... no drug addiction... so I guess his behavior is just inexcusable. And therein lies the answer. If Mike Love had, instead of meditating, started doing Heroin - just a tiny little bit of heroin, but enough to call himself an addict - every day for 10 years, from 1965 to 1975, and had become clean for the 15 Big Ones fiasco, had his ups and downs in the 80s with cocaine abuse, and started a relationship with his cousin's daughter... well, he would be a legend!

Instead, he has the temerity and gall to be alive and healthy with a positive outlook. What a loser.

The reality is that Mike Love, like Brian and Dennis and Ray Bulger and b00ts, is a human being... and as much as I want to laugh and point at the pretend Beach Boys, they put on a damn good show, and those sidemen that are derided by some ignorant factions of the Beach Boys community are some of the most skilled and dedicated touring musicians out there today.

Now, let's blast Bruce. What a prick!

[Sheriff John Stone]

it annoys me all the time that Mike Love and a bunch of young, no-name, cover dudes go by "The Beach Boys". Brian has way more ownership to that title.

DSamore, I'll ask you what could be a rhetorical question for some, and I'll even give you a hint that the question could be answered with one word.

Why do you think Brian Wilson voted to give Mike the license to tour as The Beach Boys? Does THAT annoy you? Sorry, that's two questions; lost my head again....

[Rocker]

Nice to see what the current group looks like. Just two things that need to be done imho
a) try to get some tastefully clothing
b) stop with the dancing and the fake rockstar-poses

Everything else seems to be fine

[SurfDude147]

Now, let's blast Bruce. What a prick!

I thought the reason the new band photo took so long was that there was some question about how long Bruce was going to continue touring, as in he was going to be being fired.  I guess he and Mike must have worked out their differences after all.

[Pretty Funky]

Tell us more!!!

...and who's the chick with the drumsticks?

[SurfDude147]

Tell us more!!!

Lets just say that Times are a Changin' and Bruce's job isn't as secure as he would like us to believe it is.

[Wirestone]

Boots -- a nice post. I mostly give Mike a pass these days; he seems to have gotten the band's act together, and "Cool Head, Warm Heart" is a nice tune.

That being said, I find the lawsuits of the 90s and 2000s (the Smile one, in particular) to be, at a certain level, unforgivable. The fact that Mike would sue Brian over his greatest critical and commercial success of the past 30 years -- well, sour grapes don't begin to cover it. I don't care for the man, the voice, the attitude or the persona.

But. If these last few years have brought anything to the BB/BW world, it's a somewhat more nuanced attitude toward Brian, Mike, Dennis, Carl and Al. They are people, and flawed and talented and good and bad all at once. And to deny Mike his humanity -- and his very real contributions to the group -- is to deny reality.

[Wilsonista]

...and who's the chick with the drumsticks?

The first time I heard "The Path Of Love" by the Cowsills, I asssumed the lead vocal was a very young Susan Cowsill. Imagine my shock when I found out it was actually a pre-pubscent John.

[Shady]

Man that picture blasts sunshine. I like it, really do. They all look great 

Mike hasn't changed in ten years.

[mikeyj]

What about Carl queering the pitch and ruining what could have been an excellent last album by the Beach Boys? Oh wait, he was dealing with lung cancer at the time.

I've never heard ANYONE ever defend Carl over that.

[urbanite]

I was wondering why Bruce always wore a hat.  He lost almost all of his hair.  Hung out with Mike Love too much.

[Outie 315]

 
 "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"........ 

   

[The Shift]

Am I the only one who found that photo shocking?  It doesn't seem to represent reality -  skin tone and the way those faces are pulled over their skulls looks really plasticy.

Either there's been plenty of Photoshop work done or Mike's treated the entire band to facelifts with the proceeds of his last court victory.