Bruce Johnston Story

[Rocky Raccoon]

Who exactly made up California Music and Papa Doo Run Run?  From what I can tell, Bruce recorded solo under both those names but other people did as well.  I know there was a Beach Boys tribute band called Papa Doo Run Run with Jeff Foskett and Adrian Baker but I'm not sure they're the same thing.

[Mike's Beard]

Pipeline: The Bruce Johnston Tragedy

Pipelines and Pistolwhips - The Bruce Johnston Story. There's your next book right there Mr. Stebbings.

[Scotty]

Was Bruce really involved in some way with La Bamba (#2 on this list)?  He has said many times that he worked for Del-Fi Records, but I had never heard that his involvement went back to late 1958 and Ritchie Valens' La Bamba.

I think he plays drum on La Bamba, by Ritchie Valens, my grandmother's first cousin 

Thought that was Earl Palmer on drums?

Right. It was Earl Palmer on drums.

Here's what Bruce Johnston himself told about:
In the early days of my music path (my age at the time was 16) and in the summer of 1958, I was in a Los Angeles local house band called Kip Tyler & The Flips. Our job was to back up the 'one hit wonders of the day' at dance & shows around LA County and we often backed up Ritchie Valens at the start of his recording & performing career. Ritchie's first released single at the time was "Come On Let's Go" which reached a national USA chart position of #42 in 1958. My role on stage in the band back then was to play keyboards while Ritchie played his guitar and sang. This took place a few short months before the release of Ritchie's "La Bamba" and "Donna" recordings.
Just after Ritchie passed away in 1959, I was asked to sing backing vocals on an 'answer recording' to Ritchie Valens' album track "We Belong Together." The 'artist' was Donna (Donna Ludwig) and she was Ritchie Valens' girlfriend (and friend) starting in the 10th grade. Donna's song was called "Lost Without You." I actually sang in my normal tenor voice instead of my future-higher-Beach Boys-vocal-range voice. The recorded backing vocals for Donna's single release had very little harmony & were mostly sung in unison.
source: http://rockabillynblues.blogspot.de/2013/01/bruce-johnston-ritchie-valens-and-donna.html

[Jukka]

Did someone somewhere claim Bruce played drums on Spector's To Know Her is To Love Her?

[Rocky Raccoon]

Did someone somewhere claim Bruce played drums on Spector's To Know Her is To Love Her?

Carol Kaye claims she played bass on it (she didn't).

EDIT:  My mistake.  Kaye's claim is that she played on "I Was Made to Love Her."  Which she didn't.  I don't know whether or not she played on "To Know Him Is To Love Him" (which is the name of the song, "To Know Her is To Love Her" was the Beatles version from one of their BBC sessions).

[Mike's Beard]

Honestly if we were ever any good, Carol Kaye would be claiming that she played bass on the tapes my old high school band made.

[rn57]

Still amazes me that Carol claims to have played Jerry Scheff's bass part on Along Comes Mary. It has a couple of obvious clams in it, as the big-banders used to say, that Jerry has been apologizing for for years.

[bgas]

Still amazes me that Carol claims to have played Jerry Scheff's bass part on Along Comes Mary. It has a couple of obvious clams in it, as the big-banders used to say, that Jerry has been apologizing for for years.

Carol purposefully played those that way

[RangeRoverA1]

Found a bootleg with the following tracklisting [...]:
                                 
09 The Catalinas - I Get Around ('Fun' LP, 64)                                                     

Glad to know their cover isn't just a casual note-for-note copy - it doesn't feature famous wailing falsetto at the intro & the "folkey" guitar sounds more surfey. Very nice cover, all in all. Never heard of this band before.

As for The Teddy Bears' smash hit, I wouldn't be surprised if Bruce was involved there in one or another way. The song is a mawkish syrup.