My Bucket List: The Beach Boys

It's no secret that I love the Beach Boys. My home was filled with their songs that my older brother played on our living room stereo.

Reunited Beach Boys-L to R: Johnston, Marks, Wilson, Love & Jardine

 

My first introduction was the album All Summer Long. When my dad would take us to Carona Del Mar beach on early Saturday mornings during the summer, I would pretend that I was one of the Beach Boys as I ran back and forth, dodging the incoming waves. The All Summer Long album cover had a collage of photos showing the group fooling around on the beach, in what I now see as staged promo poses. It was a wholesome image that I, along with their many fans, hoped would last forever. It was just an illusion, and the innocence would end as Brian's drug use escalated and his mental health quickly failed. 

Back in the mid-sixties, I dreamed of one day singing along-side Brian Wilson--his falsetto ruled in my book! I still purchase Brian's new music when it comes out because I don't want to miss anything. I was so happy to see Brian recover from his dark days of mental illness (he still battles it to a degree, but is active as a writer, recording artist and live performer). When I heard the Beach Boys were reuniting after long legal battles and inter-personal struggles, my dream of seeing them like they were when I was a kid might really come true. It's sad that Wilson brothers Carl and Dennis are no longer alive to join them.

Original members Mike Love, Brian Wilson and Al Jardine, joined with Bruce Johnston and David Marks (the other original guitarist who left before all of the fame), are hitting the road for a limited number of concerts beginning in April and ending in July. They will also release a newly-recorded CD.

My memory of a whacked-out Brian Wilson, surfing in his bath robe on a 1976 episode of Saturday Night Live with Jim Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, wounded the dream of any resurrected innocence from my childhood. Now, with all the lawsuits settled and relationships healed, maybe I'll get a chance to see them before it's too late. I've already checked-off seeing Paul McCartney at Madison Square Garden in NYC from my bucket list.