clipped from www.guardian.co.uk

The Black Cab Sessions have earned themselves a reputation for persuading musicians to sing their hits from the back of a moving taxi. They've given us an exclusive sneak preview of their biggest coup yet: Beach Boys genius Brian Wilson performing That Lucky Old Sun and California Girls as he leaves Abbey Road studios in - what else - a black cab

clipped from www.pitchforkmedia.com

Pitchfork: I was also curious, did you follow along this year with the reissue of Dennis Wilson's album--

BW: No, I haven't heard it yet.

Pitchfork: Yeah, Pacific Ocean Blue was reissued this year to critical acclaim. A lot of people were going back to it after a long time. I didn't know if you had been following...

BW: Yeah. That was the early-- I never heard that album, you know?

Pitchfork: That wasn't something that, back then, you would have--

BW: No. I didn't even know he made an album.

clipped from www.usatoday.com

He also wrote the bulk of the lyrics. Wilson didn't alter a syllable. "Brian told me, 'It's like you're in my brain.' Writing as if I'm Brian was tricky. It has to be interesting but not so clever that a 66-year-old guy goes, 'What's this?'

"We kept a lot of Brian's lyrics. He wrote the lion's share of the vibe of Oxygen," he adds. "It was invaluable to have him address his lost chapters."

Bennett quickly learned that Wilson functioned best as the alpha male and that his composing and arranging gifts haven't faded. When Bennett was at an impasse, Wilson's change of key "was like driving into a vat of butter," he says. "That's the money chord. He's still got it."

clipped from www.pitchforkmedia.com

The opening minute or so of our exchange didn't record properly, but during this time he explained to me that he didn't have much at all to do with the themes or concept of the record, that his role was primarily the composition of the music. At this point, given his long history and struggles, perhaps writing and performing music is what Brian Wilson wishes to be the extent of his involvement in the industry. Just a guess. But if so, he's certainly earned that right.

Pitchfork: Were you involved much in the discussion of how the words would flow and the themes and so on? Was that something you had talked about with Van Dyke Parks?

BW: Not really, no. He just rattled off five sets of 35-second narrations. I didn't tell him what to write about. I just said, "Call it the 'Heartbeat of L.A.'".

clipped from news.harmony-central.com

Brian Wilson has partnered with eBay Giving Works for a charitable auction benefiting The Surfrider Foundation, launching Tuesday, September 2 and running through September 12. The auction lot includes a custom, one-of-a-kind "That Lucky Old Sun" surfboard, designed under Wilson's creative direction and shaped by legendary surfboard shaper Robert August, and Brian Wilson's handwritten lyrics to "Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl" from his new album, That Lucky Old Sun. The auction will be active until 8pm ET/ 5pm PT on Friday, September 12, when the listing ends. All bidders will be pre-qualified through Kompolt Online Auction Agency (www.kompolt.com). Visit www.ebay.com/brianwilson for more information or to place a bid. For more information about the Surfrider Foundation, visit www.surfrider.org.

clipped from www.contactmusic.com

BEACH BOYS legend BRIAN WILSON is to be honoured in Los Angeles - for "defining" the city's sunny image.
The singer, who pioneered the 'California sound' with classic songs including Surfin' USA and California Girls, is due to perform three concerts at the Hollywood Bowl this weekend (13-14Sep08).
And he will be presented with an award for his contribution to the world of music at a special ceremony at Los Angeles City Hall on Friday (12Sep08).
In a statement L.A. City Council, which has granted Wilson the honour, said: "In the 46 years since Brian Wilson wrote the lyric 'If everybody had an ocean', nobody has done more to define the Southern California experience than The Beach Boys."
The prize will be presented by council members Jack Weiss and Tom LaBonge.

clipped from www.uncut.co.uk

Wilson told Uncut: "Yes, I think so. If you experiment, eventually something good can come out. But I’m not sure that drugs were good for me.

"Marijuana made me very paranoid about living up to my reputation. But it also helped me concentrate on my music. It gave me insight into writing songs that I didn’t have before. So it wasn’t all bad."

The singer and songwriter doesn’t believe that LSD is as creatively beneficial, though, explaining: "[LSD] gave me a case of the scareds. I mostly got over it. But when you take a drug like LSD, you’re never going to be the same again."

clipped from canadianpress.google.com

After "That Lucky Old Sun," Wilson says the unreleased songs he recorded, including a slow, smooth version of "Proud Mary," will form another album. He gushes that "the only person I really want to work with is Paul McCartney." He would also like to record "a rock 'n' roll album inspired by Phil Spector's type records, a really hard rock album that really rocks, with big orchestration, the whole bit."

"I look forward to today," he said. "I never look forward to the future because I think to myself, 'What if there's an earthquake, what if I die or someone I love dies?' I get those kind of thoughts all the time. It's 'oof' to my head."

clipped from www.gactv.com

Aug. 25, 2008 — When Kenny Chesney’s Lucky Old Sun album appears on the horizon on Oct. 14, it will have some rather familiar elements. For starters, during the first week of release, the only version available will be a Deluxe Fan Edition with four extra live tracks — quite similar in concept to the deluxe version of the Sugarland album that arrived last month. In addition, the title track will already have hit the market Sept. 2 as the centerpiece of a new album by Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson, who’s titling his project That Lucky Old Sun.

Meanwhile, the title track was a turning point for Kenny, who enlisted Willie Nelson to join him in the recording, ultimately leading to Willie employing Kenny as the producer for his album Moment Of Forever. Willie was quite familiar with the song: He’d already recorded it for two of his own albums: the 1976 release The Sound In Your Mind and his 1979 duet project with Leon Russell, One For The Road.