What You'll Find Here: Music, Movies and Me

Since May 1976, I have written in journals. When I have nothing particularly resonant to say about my own inner turmoil, philosophic ramblings, sexual peccadillos or whining on about the state of the world around me...I have always fallen back on reporting the cultural time consumption that takes up in inordinate portion of my daily goings on.

In the 40+ years since my first concerts seeing Children's Symphony presentations on Sundays at the Pasadena Civic or The Hot Jazz Society's monthly Dixieland romps in an old meeting hall on the edge of the L.A. "River" across from Griffith Park, I have been sold heavily on the magic of live music. As Neil Young so aptly put it, "Live music is better bumper stickers should be issued."

Growing up a few orange groves and canyons length away from Hollywood also contributed greatly to my family's addiction to movie going. From the time I was a small there were weekly trips to the drive-in theaters that dotted the landscape, or the local Temple theater for the Saturday matinees. Once in a while we'd drive the 12 miles into Hollywood and see something in one of the magnificent old movie palaces like Grauman's Chinese, the Egyptian, The Pantages or later the Cinerama Dome. My dad loved Westerns and War movies, as if he didn't get enough shoot-'em-up as an L.A. County Sheriff in his day gig, my mom adored musicals and comedies. My brother and I loved them all.

At SDSU, I played in my first gigging band and began booking concerts on campus as part of the well-funded Cultural Arts Board, kindling for my future life in and around music.

So it's not surprising that my first jobs out of college were working in local video rental places (which were all the rage) or managing a couple of Sam Goody record stores in Mall's on the East Coast where we marveled at the new CD format and sold the first home computers and video games (yes Commodore and Pong and Atari).

So these are really just extensions of all of those journal entries talking about the great new movies I was seeing and LPs/CDs I was listening to.

Though iPODS/iPADs, apps, smart phones and downloads now make music and movies accessible in your own pocket, there is still nothing like sitting in front of a stack of speakers with a room full of people swaying to music created before your eyes. Nor is there anything that works quite so well for me to escape the real world and all of it's pressures just outside than two hours in a dark theater, absorbing the stories flickering across that wide screen as they pull you into their world.

But a really good taco runs a close third...

Saturday, June 9, 2012

BEACH BOYS ACOUSTIC CELEBRATE 50 YRS

So I will gladly admit that I'm a huge Beach Boys fan. PET SOUNDS is Top Ten LPS for me. In my hard core Beatlemania years (aged 8-10, '64-66) I used to tear out the pages in the Beatles mags that had the Stones or the Beach Boys or The Dave Clark Five pictured and toss them away. But when I heard Pet Sounds all of those earlier records by the Beach Boys sounded better some how. I understood instantly how advanced that harmony was, how interesting the musical arrangements and choices were.

Even during the years where Carl Wilson was steering things and Al Jardine and Mike Love were finding more room for their artistic choices, albums like Holland and Surf's Up were a wonderful bridge between the early, pop kitsch, the psychedelic leaps and the coming country/rock sound started by the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and the Flying Burrito Brothers which led way to CSNY, The Eagles, Jackson Browne, Poco, and all of the heavily harmony based bands of the early 70s.

Brian's love of the Four Freshman and doowop and Phil Spector's layered production style, Carl's Chuck Berry fixation and rock n roll heart, their friendly competition with the Beatles for cultural and musical significance, Dennis' California lifestyle of surfing and cars and girls, Mike's incredible range and vocal leaps from low to high, and Al's rhythm guitar and warm vocal bed in the middle of the pack all melded in to something bigger than any one point of view. For people in the middle of the country who never got near an ocean the Beach Boys exemplified California. To musicians their earlier roughness gave way to a studio prowess based on Brian's genius for putting sound together and the flawless blend of vocals that only family could blend. And don't forget Mike Love (Wilson family cousin), Al Jardine (childhood friend) and David Marks (who left the band after the first wave of hits on but who grew up living across the street and learning music alongside the Wilson boys and who is back in the fold for this 50th anniversary) are really all family.

Speaking of musician's reaction to the Beach Boys, a handful of years agao, I had picked up the great jazz vocalist Kurt Elling from his hotel in Philly for a trip to a radio interview and en route I had been listening to the Pet Sounds boxed set. I'd turned it down to chat with Kurt and when we came to a stop at an intersection there was a quiet moment and he said, "Could you turn that up...what is that?" It was a stack-o-tracks mix of the vocals only from one of the tunes on the album. I wish I could recall which. "That's the Beach Boys." "Wow. It sounds like the Four Freshman doing Bach," he keenly observed. "Now that's hip!" 

Forget the years of in-fighting, the drugs, the deaths, the illness and the misguided business and musical decisions of the last couple of decades. This is your chance to see what the buzz was truly about. Picture them 50 years ago, fresh faced and taking the music world by storm. Go back and listen to not just the hits packages but the B sides, the forgotten albums, and the classics. Give 'em some props.

By the way, it is fascinating to me to hear Fleet Foxes along with a 21 year old friend of mine and point out the tremendous amount of Beach Boys references from bass lines, vibes, rhythm patterns to vocal layers to multiple instruments playing in unison to specific melodic cues and phrases. I adore the Fleet Foxes and while their vocals generally have a rougher edge and the density of the instrumentation is a bit more rootsy, their use of echo and some of the structure and instrument choices are so instantly recognizable. I can't recommend them highly enough although the videos don't do their records justice either. She said, "I just think of "Surfin USA" and "California Girls" when I think of the Beach Boys." Well, dig deeper girl because your favorite new band sure has.

Here's a treat from ROLLINGSTONE.COM. I wish they would've played some of the more obscure and magnificent tunes but it sounds like the set lists have been remarkable for the shows. I'm sad I missed the California shows. hope I can catch a show somewhere down the line. I'd hate to miss this. The vocals live are always a tad iffy compared to studio but that is par for the course with practically every band who isn't using pitch-shifters and pre-recorded vocals but boy, the vocals on this Rolling Stone link are spot on!

HERE'S A SAMPLE SETLIST FROM THE TOUR:  It's what they played at The Beacon in NYC on 5/9/12. Some are surprised to see John Stamos listed but he has been a member of the band on and off (and/or one of the members' spin-off bands) for years.

setlist:
Do It Again
Catch a Wave
Hawaii
Don't Back Down
Surfin' Safari
Surfer Girl
Please Let Me Wonder
You're So Good to Me
Wendy
Then I Kissed Her
The Little Girl I Once Knew
Why Do Fools Fall in Love (Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers cover)
When I Grow Up (to Be a Man)
Cotton Fields (Lead Belly cover)
Disney Girls
Don't Worry Baby (with John Stamos on drums)
Little Honda (with John Stamos on drums)
Be True to Your School (with John Stamos on drums)
Little Deuce Coupe (with John Stamos on drums)
409  (with John Stamos on drums)
Shut Down (with John Stamos on drums)
I Get Around (with John Stamos on drums)
Second Set
California Dreamin' (The Mamas & the Papas cover)
Sloop John B
Wouldn't It Be Nice
Forever (with John Stamos on vocals)
Sail on, Sailor
Heroes and Villains
In My Room
All This Is That
This Whole World
I Just Wasn't Made for These Times
God Only Knows
That's Why God Made the Radio
California Girls
All Summer Long
Help Me, Rhonda
Rock and Roll Music (Chuck Berry cover) (with John Stamos on drums)
Do You Wanna Dance? (Bobby Freeman cover) (with John Stamos on drums)
Barbara Ann (The Regents cover) (with John Stamos on guitar - Brian plays bass)
Surfin' USA (with John Stamos on guitar - Brian plays bass)
Encore:
Kokomo (with John Stamos on congas)
Good Vibrations
Fun, Fun, Fun (with John Stamos on guitar) 

Click on the link below to hear 3 live acoustic tunes and an interview. The "IN MY ROOM" is just so cool.

BEACH BOYS LIVE ACOUSTIC 2012 at ROLLING STONE.COM

Listen to the entire PET SOUNDS album here

but if you are interested in just a couple of tunes...hard to pick but I will randomly pick a couple beauties...or I could've picked "Caroline No" (what a vocal from Carl), or "Don't Talk"...