My Personal Celebration of 60 Years with The Beach Boys

My Personal Celebration of 60 Years with The Beach Boys

People & Places & Podcasts

that gave me a Beach Boys connection... 

added to my Beach Boys collection 

{This is a post in process.}

1. Carol Clark - my girlfriend, who became my wife, for being my surfer girl at Beach Boys concerts since 1966, She knows me so well...
2. Dave Holmbo - best friends  during high school when we discovered the Beach Boys on radio and record; rehearsing Beach Boys songs in our church sanctuary (much to the chagrin of some but with quiet permission from our Pastor); early 60's concerts in Chicago (several sightings and actual conversations with band members), writing Beach Boys inspired songs between college classes, recording an album in an empty high school room on Spring Break then cutting a single in downtown Chicago (had to break into a studio across the hall to "borrow" their piano). When we were both on staff at The Woodfield Church, we used "You Still Believe in Me" as a focus-song for a Sunday service.
3. Bruce Johnston - the first Beach Boy I spoke to backstage. Summer of '65 when he had just begun playing with the band as an official member. Dave and I had backstage passes and got to speak with him for 5? 10? 15? minutes (time stood still) We officially welcomed him to his hometown (as if we represented the Beach boys fan club in Chicago) with a banner (which was actually a bed sheet with "Welcome" written in magic marker. I did not see it displayed on my visit to the Rock and Roll hall of Fame (:>)
4. Joel Sebastain - WCFL DJ who answered the contest phone when I called in as the winner of the newly released "Best of The Beach Boys" and backstage access. Thinking I had a huge fan club, he announced I was the winner and our fan club would be at the concert. Privately, while still on the phone (probably with a California Girls in the background), he told me he was emceeing the show and would have us all stand before he introduced the band...Yikes! Dave and I had called the station so many times  requesting Beach Boys songs, he thought we had a huge following. My problem was that we were the only two members; I had to talk him out of that idea! 
5. Brian Wilson - several backstage greetings (one I had him alone for 5 minutes while he was waiting for the Meet & Greet crowd; I snuck in before the queue was set; we talked about his brothers) - I was in southern California in 1968, walked into the Beach Boys offices and suddenly found myself playing him the tape of a song our fledgling band had recorded! - Heroes and Villains book signing (where I met Chicago journalist Pat Kampert
6. Carl Wilson - Bumped into Carl after the Beach Boys concert at the Auditorium Theatre in the underground parking garage. Stopped him long enough to say how much I enjoyed his production of "I Can Hear Music" after their first time playing it in Chicago, in a parking garage (he was also in the office when I played our song for Brian; he was signing contracts and begged Brian to get rid of me (:>)
   
7. Alan Jardine - we had breakfast together once (I can't remember how I made contact) and then met at their Uptown Theater rehearsal in Chicago; 50 years later I get a call from him about his concert shirt, responding to a letter I sent him  
   
8. Mike Love - took a photo when he stepped out in the alley next to the Auditorium Theater Chicago - a couple years later walked in The Beach Boys office (another trip to southern California).
9. Dennis Wilson - met outside his hotel the afternoon of a Chicago concert; we gave him a ride to Old Town (looking for girls) but only after he slipped a $20 bill to the parking lot manager (my Beach Boy fan cohort lost he ticket and they were refusing to give us the car; Chicago, remember?).
10. Steve Korthof - cousin and road manager, gave us a set of concert shirts and comp'd seats to the concert, twice, because we came for the evening performance but he comp'd for the afternoon show!
    
11. Chuck Girard - lead singer for Little Honda; booked hm for several concerts for the church I pastored (from Gary Usher's team to Love Song to a solo career as "Rock and Roll Preacher)
12. Pat Kampert - journalist for the Chicago Tribune; we met at the book signing for Wouldn't It Be Nice; he wrote me into an article
13. Jeffrey Foskett - got me into places I shouldn't/couldn't have been ...I consider him the Bruce Johnston of the 1980's (asked to sub; became, IMHO, a true Breach Boy)...  at Brian's 1st Chicago concert, backstage, I came close to meeting ...
14. David Leaf - it was like discovering an oasis in the desert when I subscribed to his "Pet Sounds" fanzine; a serious (as opposed to gossip) analysis of the Beach Boys music and the issues surrounding the band; a precursor to Endless Summer Quarterly
15. Mark Dillon - after I interviewed him for a Pray For Surf podcast when his book, ("Fifty Sides of The Beach Boys" was published, I then invited him to co-host a few podcasts with me, which led to our "Surf's Up: A Beach Boys Podcast Safari partnership - I am always impressed with Mark's deep-and-wide knowledge of the Beach Boys catalog and chronology.
16. David Beard - thanks for playing "Don't Fight the Sea" when we drove around Charlotte (before it was released), for the interview and for including a few of my articles in Endless Summer Quarterly 
17. Dan Addington - a big fan of Dennis' music, his research led to one of the first Dennis-dedicated websites. When I called to talk with him about being Interim Pastor at his church and discovered his love for TBBs, we talked Beach Boys for an hour (and I got the job!).
18. Brian Anderson - gave my "10 Commandments Inspired by The Beach Boys" a good look and he was my source for "Little Girl I Once Knew" studio sessions (love that song!). I was his Youth Pastor in the 70's; we enjoy finding God vibrations in TBBs songs.  
19. Dean Torrence - what a ride to be in the room (backstage) with Dean before a Chicago-suburb concert (thank you, Philip Bardowell) and sometime later one-on-one for a Pray For Surf podcast conversation.
20. Philip Bardowell - Beach Boys Band; we connected when he played with Dean for a Jan and Dean concert in Chicago; took me backstage where I was a fly on the wall listening to the band trade stories.
21. Steve Kalinich - poet, artist; graciously gave me a print interview with backstories on "Little Bird" and "Be Still."
22. Fred Vail - has told me some grand stories over the year, none better than when he and Brian sat in a dark room listening to the just mixed Pet Sounds
23. Domenic Prioire - my unnamed source of my first SMiLE bootleg (late70's?); like finding buried treasure; each song was a myth turned into sonic reality
    
24. Leonard Bernstein - I think I had to miss a youth group meeting at church to catch the much awaited April, 1967 CBS presentation of "Inside Pop" and hear Briian perform "Surf's Up" on television; a recognition of the  quality and substance of the new Beach Boys' music
25. Paul Williams - articles in Crawdaddy in 1968 gave me hope that while the Beach Boys were being ignored, even ridiculed, what I believed about their music was worth a lifetime devotion 
26. Ron Britain - Chicago DJ was playing the just released "Little Girl I Once Knew" when I walked into the WCFL radio office suite; he tried to get me and my BB buddy Dave Holmbo to in a "Chickenman" episode (how fun that would have been to be part of that infamous, nationally syndicated series that eventually went around the world) 
27. Art Roberts - Chicago WLS DJ replied to my suggestion of a Beach Boys segment on his show around the time of "California Girls;" but "Surf & Sand'" never got off the ground
28. Record Store - on Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago; handed-off to me their promotional ad for the "soon" SMiLE album  (cardboard; front cover only)
29. Sound Board - thanks for the set-lists to The Beach Boys in Chicago and Wisconsin and Brian Wilson in Chicago
30. Paul Johnson - early 60's group Bel-Airs gave me an hour+ of never-heard Beach Boys stories that somehow never got recorded; my Podcast Lost... 
31. Podcast Conversations with ...Bobby Figueroa (Beach Boys' concert drummer)
32. ...Brent Wilson & Jason Fine - Brian's Long Promised Road
33. ...Howie Edelson - Feel Flows, Sounds of Summer
34. ...David Marks & Rob Bonfiglio & David Beard - Add Some (California Music) to Your Day
35. ...Carli Munoz (quite the story teller!)
36. ...Geoffrey Cushing-Murray - songwriting partner to Carl Wilson
37. ...Barry McGuire - the Eve of Destruction guy
38. ...Philip Lambert - who helped us compile the prequel to Pet Sounds
39. ...Tom Smucker - who knew why The Beach Boys mattered 50 years ago
40. ...Jim Murphy - who knows more about Beach Boys early history than any one band member
41. ...James S. Hirsch - coauthor with Mike Love
42. ...Perry Cox - who did an amazing job of compiling The Price and Reference Guide for the Beach Boys American Records
43. Jim Shea - Beach Boys related interview with a Chicago DJ...so many gave me Beach Boys happiness by "spinning" their latest single, people like...
44. Covers - that kept the Beach Boys sound alive: Johnny Rivers (Help Me Rhonda), B J Thomas ("Don't Worry Baby"), She & Him, Todd Rundgren, Neil Diamond, David Bowie, Carpenters, David Lee Roth, Sonic Youth, Jan & Dean, Wilson Phillips, and of course, Laughing Gravy!
    
45. Collaborations - it was like cool, cool water on a hot sticky day when I first heard the Beach Boys' voices on songs by Elton John ("Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me"), Chicago ("Wishin You Were Here"), Jackie DeShannon ("Boat to Sail") - very little radio play in the mid-70's 
46. Copyists - some of the many musicians who faithfully and creatively recorded original Beach Boys Inspired music: Gary Usher, Matt Tyson (The Malibus) - 
47. Making God Smile: An Artists' Tribute to the Songs of Beach Boy Brian Wilson is a tribute album featuring cover versions of songs by Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys performed by Contemporary Christian musicians. According to Silent Planet Records' website, this double album quickly sold out.​
48. Surfonic Water Revival  - finally a serious set of surf songs devoted to those who really do pray for surf.
49. God Made Convertibles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFgxRK3c_Lc
50. "This Whole World: The Complete Beach Boys Single And EP Cover Collection" - 300 pages of picture sleeves in full color, most of which I had never laid my eyes on...every time I open and leaf through the book I feel like I am in an art  museum. 
51. "Surf's Up: The Beach Boys on Record 1961-1981" by Brad Elliott - was a precursor to the internet, an exhaustive 500 pages of access to an the Beach Boys' discography and recordings (.eg., "Boogie Woogie" tape owned by Rich Sloan; earliest known Brian recording) 
52. "The Beach Boys American Records" - this hardbound, high gloss, heavier-than-the-coffee-table-book is a price and reference guide for thousands of items, full-color photos of all (including rare) 45s, picture sleeves, CDs, collectibles; a visual history of 56 years of Beach Boys products. Can't find a copy of the 7 inch EP of Sunflower Radio Spots? You've got it here! This outstanding work of research became a good fill-in for my spotty (and compared to this tome), puny overall collection.
53. "Walking Down The Path Of Life"- by Brian Wilson in 2005 made a spiritual connection for me. If I was still pastoring at the time, it would have been sung in a Sunday worship setting, like we did years before with "You Still Believe in Me."
54. "California Music" - Click then scroll for a picture of an early find in my hunt for obscure Beach Boys related 45s - "It was a B-side of a record that no one bought or heard of..." (Bruce, quoted in Endless Summer Quarterly)
55. Heroes who were also Villains ["famous or well known, typically for some bad quality or deed."] - Persons who added sad notes to the Beach Boys story: Murry Wilson (Help  Me Rhonda session; $ea of Tunes), Phil Spector (male ego), Charles Manson (evil), Engene Landy (unhealthy "Dr."of mental health), James Watt (banned the band from DC concert)
56. Summer In Paradise - the summer of 1992 was not a summer in paradise for Beach Boys fans looking for this release; grateful to find a castaway cassette in a record store bin after a long search
57. I Write the Songs - one-one-one backstage with Bruce, discussing "I Write The Songs"
58. Stack-o-Tracks - I purchased this album because it was the latest Beach Boys release. My initial disappointment of learning it contained no new music was blown to smithereens (no, not The Smithereens) when the third track, Sloop John B, came roaring out of my stereo set. In pre-bootleg 
59. Stealthed my way into the VIP pre-show for The Beach Boys 50th Reunion Tour  and had an interesting conversation with Alan...that led to a phone call several years later
60. In My Room upstairs, where I would go with the latest Beach Boys single or album, placing it on my portable turntable, to be transported to southern California and beyond. Dreaming and scheming. But I would also lie awake and pray. I made life-shaping decisions then that continue to guide me almost 60 years later. And over the decades, that faith was often inspired by Beach Boys songs, like In My Room, Our Prayer, Walking Down The Path of Life, Wake The World. (see my playlist). And, inspired me to have spiritual talks with several friends connected to The Beach Boys, start a Facebook page (Our Prayers For The Beach Boys), and compose 10 Commandments as Inspired by The Beach Boys). Live concerts, as I was singing as loud as I could, often became a time and place of prayer; a joyful noise (my singing, not the band) became a joyful prayer to God. for the love and mercy I've found in the Gospel of Jesus. 
61. ... and counting; counting on future release surprises.

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