Mike and Bruce 2009 photo

[the captain]

I can't make the same claim. In 1995-98 I wasn't even a Beach Boys fan yet, just aged 19-22 and still mostly thinking of the Beach Boys as the oldies group represented on my parents' Endless Summer LP. I got Pet Sounds around then, and by '98 maybe began digging further into the Smile stuff, but not much. The stereo was pretty much devoted to Frank Zappa, Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis.

As for being online about it back then, heck no. If the stereo was for Zappa, Monk and Miles, the internet was for sports and porn.  

btw, cool to see John Cowsill posting here.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

A certain Sexy Moderator was another Mike Wheeler regular.

Susan Lang was a regular before she became the mod.

Damn right I'm sexy.

[Wilsonista]

A certain Sexy Moderator was another Mike Wheeler regular.

Susan Lang was a regular before she became the mod.

Damn right I'm sexy.

Yeah, I'm not a good judge on  male "sexy".

[Lisa Bonahue]

Count me in as another Wheeler board guy -- I think I was calling myself Clay back then, too. Rob and I bonded back in the Imagination days.

I was on the wheeler board too way back when

[Dancing Bear]

Those were the days and I had good chats with Rob, Lisa, John Barone, Wendy (?) and others.

Probably this isn't the place to whine about the Mike Love bashing that ran rampant then. Ok, I won't. Just a little tale. 

In a TV show, the host called every Beach Boy by name. When he said Mike, the Lovester answered 'aqui', which means 'here' in Spanish. Well well well, the next day there were several pages of complaining in PSML or Cabinessence that Mike considered himself the 'KEY' in the Beach Boys. Several. Total rage. RI-DI-CU-LOUS. 

[doc smiley]

another Wheeler board survivor... mind you, didn't say much then... and err, don't say much now...


but I listen good   

[Eric Aniversario]

Eric praised Summer In Paradise.

And yes, I was probably one of the ones giving him a hard time about it.

Ahh...someone remembers!!!

I still love that album to this day, but probably not as much as I used to.  It was in my top 10 BB albums back then, even after having heard all the BB albums by that point.

I still enjoy it.  I love this board because it's so much more civil, and a lot more fun!

[Eric Aniversario]

Count me in as another Wheeler board guy -- I think I was calling myself Clay back then, too. Rob and I bonded back in the Imagination days.

I was on the wheeler board too way back when

Lisa, I still remember you as a pen pal that I met from the BBFC newsletter! You and another Lisa (Brandt) from Orange County I think.

[Eric Aniversario]

Those truly were the days. and I mean that in all seriousness. It was the newness of having all of this access that made it seem glorious.  Andrew Gladwin and Susan have done a wonderful job keeping the flame alive, but the innocence of that website was gone when Mike vanished.

What ever happened to him?

[Eric Aniversario]

I can't make the same claim. In 1995-98 I wasn't even a Beach Boys fan yet, just aged 19-22 and still mostly thinking of the Beach Boys as the oldies group represented on my parents' Endless Summer LP.

Wow, we're the same age.  You, me and at least a couple of other people on this board....

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I remember that, Eric! I was one of the few who AGREED with you !

[Eric Aniversario]

I remember that, Eric! I was one of the few who AGREED with you !

One of my arguments was that "Island Fever" should have been a single (instead of Hot Fun, Under The Boardwalk, and Summer Of Love).  I remember feeling really frustrated with the band's selections for singles.  As a young person back then, I really felt like "Island Fever" would have had a chance in 1992 or 1993 or even 1995, if it was marketed to radio stations as the new "Kokomo". 

Not sure if I still agree with that assessment, but I do think it definitely would have done better than Summer Of Love, which, unlike the other two singles, didn't chart ANYWHERE despite being featured on what was supposedly the top-rated show in the WORLD back then (Baywatch).

[smile-holland]

Those truly were the days. and I mean that in all seriousness. It was the newness of having all of this access that made it seem glorious.  Andrew Gladwin and Susan have done a wonderful job keeping the flame alive, but the innocence of that website was gone when Mike vanished.

What ever happened to him?

My question exactly. I vivdly remember posting a lot of reviews for several b**tlegs to Mike W. at around 1993-95. Didn't have the courage yet to post on the board though (being a fan for only 4 years). After that I didn't visit Mike Wheeler's board (or any other) for a while... and when I started looking at Cabinessence-site (and many others for that matter) and started posting on SmileySmile and ShutDown a lot had changed. (except for that b**tleg-section which still reminds me of my -ehm- typical "Dutch" English... which means "not so good"...    )

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I still think "Strange Things Happen" was the best track on the album, and "Forever" would've gotten the Full House viewers interest.

[The infamous Baldwin Organ]

I like both "Island Fever" and "Strange Things Happen", but the best one for me is "Lahaina Aloha". It would be nice to see some of the better ones features on the inevitable next summer compilation.

BTW, I haven't been on any BB-related message boards all that long, but even on this board when I posted that Summer in Paradise wasn't as bad as it's reputation is, I got some pretty harsh reactions for an opinion. I can only imagine what the old message boards were like! 

[Dancing Bear]

Those truly were the days. and I mean that in all seriousness. It was the newness of having all of this access that made it seem glorious.  Andrew Gladwin and Susan have done a wonderful job keeping the flame alive, but the innocence of that website was gone when Mike vanished.

What ever happened to him?

I think it went like this... He was having stress situations at work, and the website activity raised even more of that for him, with the debating about the future of Brian's career etc. He took that stuff somewhat too seriously. So he stepped off. After that Susan took care of the Cabinessence message board for a while, but it didn't work out with the bugs and other stuff, then she created the Shut Down vol. 2 message board and that was that.

[Wirestone]

For what it's worth, I was the same age as Eric and Luther then too -- roughly. I was 19 in '97.

I remember the aqui fights! I do!

It was so different then -- Brian was much more of a cult figure then -- he was slowly becoming the reference du jour for the Pitchfork set, but it was slow. People saw Mike and the touring BBs as much more of a threat to his legacy. Of course, Carl was still alive, so people were still holding out hope for new group material --

Whew. I mean, the only reference point people had for current BW in those years was "This Song Wants to Sleep With You." It was his only new song, practically, from 1988 to 1997. And the original BW solo album was out of print and hard to find. Paley songs hadn't been booted.

For better or worse, that all changed with Carl's death, Imagination's release, and Brian's tour beginning.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I kinda miss those days,Brian being a cult artist.

These days it is actually more "hip" to slam Pet Sounds (and indeed, Brian himself)as being "overrated".

But yeah... I know what you mean. Remember how starved we were for new BW music that there actually a serious discussion on the Wilsons album?