Bfth Sounds: Love & Mercy

 


The world has lost a musical genius.  I don't say that flippantly.  Brian Wilson was truly a musical genius. (And if by some chance you don't know what I'm talking about immediately find a copy of Pet Sounds and listen to it.  NOW!)  He struggled with mental health issues (brought about by nature, nurture or both...I can't say), drug misuse, and mistreatment (his father was abusive and he received questionable medical care under a psychologist).  He outlived his younger brothers (Dennis and Carl) and his 2nd wife Melinda.  He had been diagnosed with dementia last year.  His passing is no surprise, but it is painful.

I was not a Beach Boys fan for much of my life.  My husband worked on a fan project in our early marriage and hearing "columnated ruins domino" played over and over again didn't do much to move me into fandom.  But somewhere along the line, that changed.  I "found" Pet Sounds and I was hooked. Really and truly hooked. Yes, the earlier music was "fun," but this was something more.  I immersed myself in the music, not just of the Beach Boys, but of each of the individual Wilson brothers.  (Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue and Carl Wilson's two albums, Carl Wilson, Youngblood as well as his album with Gerry Beckley [from America] and Robert Lam [from Chicago] which was released after his death are all treasures in my book.) When it came to the music of the Wilson brothers I was all in.  

So it should come as no surprise that when Brian Wilson started touring again with his own amazing group of musical artists backing him that I would want to go see him.  (I had missed my chance to see Dennis and Carl perform live, something I deeply regret.)  I just so happened that Brian (along with Paul Simon) would be performing at the PNC Art Center right around the time of my husband's birthday.  What a great birthday gift, right?  To top it off there was an opportunity to "meet and greet" Brian and his band.  We couldn't pass that up.  I knew it would be a special night and managed to "obtain" a poster for the event.  (I can go into no more detail other than to say it wasn't easy for me to "obtain," as it required me getting in and out of the car quickly,)  I had made friends with quite a few fellow fans on line. (These were still the "early" years of the net and communities were popping up all over the place.) We sat together and in between sets we did the very quick meet and greet with Brian.  (In the above picture, there is a photo of Brian singing the poster with his wife Melinda by his side.) Members of his touring band (mostly comprised of The Wondermints), were impressed with the poster (and how it had been "obtained").  Somehow, we managed to get backstage with them, and as my husband recalls, we pissed off Paul Simon because we were too loud.  (Brian played the first set; Paul went later.)  Sorry Paul! (?)  I don't think we even saw Paul's set as we hung out for a while and then went for a late dinner.  It was a long time ago and my memory is a little hazy.

We saw Brian perform again in the late fall a year or so later at B.B. King's in NYC.  We were there very early so that I could talk to back up singer Taylor Mills, who I had become somewhat friendly with.  (Sadly we've lost touch)  As a result, we got a table very close to the stage.  While I was not impressed with the service or treatment at the venue (I don't recall why, but I do recall being annoyed.)  We were so close that I thought Jeff Foskett (another musician who died way too soon) might reach out and take a bit out of the burger on my husband's plate.  (You can tell how close we were by the middle photo.  I didn't use a zoom.  We were that close.)

Brian did several more concerts over the years.  We never had an opportunity to see him again, as much as I would have liked to have seen the long awaited Smile performed live  (or as it is officially known,  Brian Wilson Presents Smile), but the timing for me personally wasn't right.  (Ok, don't shoot me, but I still think Pet Sounds is superior.)

The Beach Boys may still be on tour, but...It's not THE Beach Boys.  (At least not in my book.)

Thank you Brian Wilson for all of the incredible music.  God Only Knows what we'd have been without you.


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