Grumpy Cat also no's.

 

I dont know what the prevalence of that diagnosis is in the general population but yes that, on the face of it, does seems very coincidental !

That was such a bad time ....luckily he survived it but yes i agree you can still see and hear the 'scars' !

Here is a beautiful cover of Surfer Girl....Paul Simon. He looks so small on that big stage!
Did you play Surfer Girl that night you were 'Carl' ?

 

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Yeah thats one of 15-6 songs they never deleted from the set list.
Speaking of being Carl for a day. I forget which song it was now, Surfin' USA maybe, but there's a spot of the song where every mobile person on stage gathered around Carl and bowed to him.
I wish I had a picture of all the Beach Boys worshiping my guitar solo on their hands and knees!
edit 1
i forgot to mention the entire show was on the VG8.

 

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Couple things I remembered if anyone is still interested about road tales from two decades ago.
The one show I filled in was performed entirely on the VG8.

The Barbara Ann 24 bar solo was previously played by a guitar tech that quit.
The sax player Richie 'I played on one Billy Joel track' Cannata was so upset I got to shred every night instead of douche bag, who had one note-for-note solo on Kokomo. Unfortunately he played one line on the synth, so he started complaining about how his 'keyboard is never right' and always reminded me 'Carl listens for my keyboard line'.
The sound guys told me dude used to always ask for more monitor so he could try to blast his lame ass solo over mine that's being pumped thru the PA. What an idiot. He used to say 'that's not how a Beach Boys guitar solo should sound'.
If Carl wants shred he gets shred.
Everyone hated this guy. One sound engineer got caught testing how durable the sax flight cases were.......multiple times. No one on the crew even tried to stop him. Luckily he did NOT get fired and what do you know these flight cases do take a beating the saxes were fine. Needless to say the three saxes were not seen in the semis after that.

Christopher Cross was a warmup act for a few months. The Beach boys and the rest of the band would usually arrive from the hotel during their set. Richie would immediately get his horn out and start playing along on the side of the stage very obnoxiously. He did this for a few shows consecutively. One show it was so loud Chrstopher Cross heard it over his in-ears and was wondering where the shitty ass sax was coming from. Unfortunately when Mr. Cross and fucktard made eye contact, Mr. EGO of course assumed it was an invitation to solo. Richie proudly walks over to the LEAD VOCAL mic, pulls it down and proceeds to play some of his usual lame ass shit. Imagine channels set for lead vocal levels at the FOH and monitor consoles suddenly replaced by loud cat squealing.
Christopher, a friend of Carl's complained to management. It did not happen again.

Did I sugar coat this one enough?

I forgot to add. The song was the last climactic song Ride like a Wind with nice harmony vocals where Christopher plays a tasty lead to end his set. Since Michael McDonald had to magically 'appear' they played to a track just for that song. Richie didn't stop playing until he was pushed aside, no big guitar solo. Christopher had to stop playing guitar adjust his mic so he could vocally finish the song.

Oh if I had a cell phone.................

 

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I am absolutely interested. I love listening to inside stories and knowledge like that........i would read your 'book' about your adventures touring with the Beach Boys lol .....you should write it !

 

The lowest paying job on the road is probably the newbie on the lighting crew. About $120 PD a week and $500 a week actual pay. The second lowest is the newbie on the sound crew not much better. Let's call this newbie Abe. Actually his name was Abraxis.

As a Showco (PA company) law, 15 minutes before showtime, every volume knob on every amp had to be full up. Which means taking your finger and physically turning the knob that is probably full up most of the time. As a prank foreign objects were adhered to the knobs in hopes of whatever the substance, it would transfer to the newbies' finger. It can't be anything that doesn't completely transfer to said finger OR it has to fall off OR easily removed later.
I can't confirm this but I heard rumors fresh nose-boogers was the substance of choice.

About six months after Abe started, The Beach Boys wanted to convert to in-ears from wedges. Richie was the lone hold out. Abe's theory, he later told me, was because he didn't want to give up the
blocking-out-someone-elses-solo-with-my-own BS.

Converting to in-ear is a fairly simple process. It takes the performer, getting used to headphones while playing live basically. Making more changes per performer, as a in-ear monitor engineer, is to be expected. Most guys are good at lip reading. In Carl's case though it's 'beard-reading'. They tried a few guys but none of the original members wanted to keep trying a failing in-ear experiment after 40 years of wedges.

After a few week break, I see Abe behind the monitor console, big smiles. Dude nailed it! He was beard reading like crazy, changing settings every 30 seconds for a member the sound guys dubbed 'anti-christ'.

Abe and Carl had their own gesture language too. If Carl wanted more overall high end he would do a gesture like he's rubbing an imaginary halo on the top of his head. Low end was his butt. Kick drum was him kicking his leg backwards. Carl was very intense when it came to making sure the music properly represented the Beach Boys. The musical glue that held that band together. The backup band and the entire crew did not want to be the recipient of Carl's famous 'stink-eye'.
It looked quite comical when Carl needed low end, high end and kick adjustments simultaneously.

So in about a years time, Abe transformed himself from booger-finger to one of the vital cogs of
the crew. After about six months of successful beard-reading and incessant level adjustments, he decided to ask for a raise. A raise high enough that he was sure the organization would reject. Abe was ready for another challenge. He asked for the same amount the veteran FOH guy made.

$900 a show x 100 shows a year plus 6 months of $50 a day PD.

Abe is probably doing pretty well for himself these days.

 

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@dragonhill wonderful story.........i really am enjoying reading the preview chapters of your new book (The Night I Was Carl Wilson And Other Beach Boys Memories" lol.....thank you for sharing your memories and experiences with us!
I love hearing what Carl was like He sounds like i had imagined.
I wonder what stories and tales you could tell about Mike Love lol

 

I usually sat next to Carl's wife Gina who liked a little wine while watching the show. There are some stories I'm not sure if I can maintain protecting the possibly innocent.

Mike Love was so low maintenance I didn't have a lot of interaction. As long as his mic was working he's happy. He did throw a sax to the drum tech about 25 - 30 feet after playing one note. Half the time he wouldn't catch it. It was a big joke between them. Mike didn't even care as long as it made some sort of noise since Richie was playing the actual note.

One time he was behind the drum riser minutes before show he's putting his BLACK BOOK away. He says 'you know you're getting old when most of the women are dead in your black book'.

The regular FOH guy was also a tour, production and stage manager for the Endless Summer Band side gigs that didn't quite meet necessary BB expenses. But because of the regular expenses and multiple divorces, apparently someone overheard, it wasn't worth doing a show for Mike if it wasn't for more than 125k.

 

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This is Yuki no Hana two semi tones down with the same drums as the previous one. Not as squashed.


Since i recently realized minor 7 and major 7 chords are two power chords stacked, this is an experiment on exactly that. The chorus is always two guitars playing two different power chords. I'm sure it's been done before but I kinda like it. The scratch lead is muted on the second chorus.

The beginning of each verse I had piezo guitar. I put the acoustic IRs I recently found to convey the essence of acoustic

 

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Paul is entitled to his opinion. But I grew up listening to tons of soul music and soft classic rock. This wouldn't even fall in my top 25. And it's a pretty cool tune.

 

I'm a black guy and I grew up listening to shyt like this. My pops was a raging drunk but loved jazz, classic rock, and soul music of course. I was the only black guy in grade school who could recite queens now I'm here..lol

 

This probably the best song I've ever heard in my life. Anything from Coltraine or Brubeck was pretty much flawless to the ear.

 

When I mentioned 'vocals in the middle of God Only Knows. I have access to a human Melodyne. I posted this in Collab but I have to show off again....

 

Paul McCartney's opinion VS who are you again?

I appreciate your opinion we all think whatever song is the best.......BUT that statement from Paul F'ing McCartney has a little weight don't it?
Paul, as well as the rest of the world should know: no SGT Peppers's without Pet Sounds.

 

Music is subjective in it's essence. No opinion from anyone on "this is the best song ever" is factually right. It's an impossible concept to the art.

 

of cousrse solo83 no disrespect just a lousy joke. It was qualified as 'best song ever written' from a song writing legend. Of course someone hates a masterpiece we all love, in this art world.

I found this on my phone I forget I made. It's a Karaoke version of Yuki no Hana if any real shredders wanna give it a go. solo83?