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Post by beachboystalkmatt on Sept 22, 2021 2:53:56 GMT
Al Jardine sent Greg and I a post card saying “Thanks for the birthday segment!” We honored him on our show. What a thrill! It was a personal message acknowledging our work and that means a lot. We showed it on the show tonight. Simple question tonight is, what’s your favorite Beach Boys personal encounter? I would love to read about all of them!
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Sept 22, 2021 23:07:45 GMT
This is an encounter I had with Brian. I posted the story in another thread. This is a good time to post it again!
In October 1991, Brian Wilson released his first autobiography and embarked on a book signing tour. I saw that he was coming to a bookstore in Washington D.C. which was close enough for me to make the trek. So, I took a vacation day and at 6:00 AM I headed from eastern/central Pennsylvania to Washington D.C., about a 4-hour drive. Despite hitting some heavy traffic, I made decent time and actually found the bookstore with little difficulty.
I got to the bookstore shortly after 10:00 AM and killed time until 12:00 Noon when Brian was supposed to arrive. Now, this was at a time in Brian's career when, unlike his later solo career, he wasn't exactly known for being dependable, and I have to admit to being apprehensive that he would actually show up. At about 11:30 they started to set up your basic brown folding tables and chairs, and a line started to form in front of the tables. Despite being there for two hours, somehow I ended up third in line.
At precisely 12:00 Noon, Brian and his Dr. Landy assistant, Kevin Leslie, came strolling through the front door. Brian looked tremendous. Like a rock star. Incredible. He had on a white silk shirt, black jeans, and a thin, black leather jacket. His hair was perfectly combed, complete with blond highlights. With Brian Wilson standing about six feet away, it's hard to describe the feeling that came over me without sounding weird. But, looking at Brian, I just got this feeling that he was not like me, nor anybody else for that matter. There was a different vibe in the room, no doubt about that. Brian stood behind the table, looked at the long line which had now formed, and said, smiling, "Gee, there's a lot of people here...", which prompted some laughter from the people in line. He then sat down and was tapping his foot AND STARTED SINGING SOMETHING. He wasn't singing loudly and I couldn't make it out. Kevin Leslie, in jeans and a T-shirt with long blond hair and glasses, remained standing next to Brian.
The bookstore manager called for attention and made a short speech. He thanked Brian for coming and then said, "Mr. Wilson will only sign his book. He will not be signing any memorabilia. However, he will sign a personalized, short greeting in your book if you wish..." Well, that was disappointing to me because I brought along an original Pet Sounds album which I was hoping to get autographed.
The first guy in line handed his book to Brian and started to recite this long, rambling greeting like, "To my big fans from Virginia, John and Mary Smith, who first saw The Beach Boys in..." I'm not kidding; this guy had a whole paragraph written and was reciting it to Brian. It was a very tense and rather sad moment because Brian could not write. First, his hands were noticeably shaking, and second, he could not follow along with what the guy was saying. So, Kevin Leslie leaned in and started to repeat what the guy said, and Kevin had to spell out each word. Kevin would say, "To, T-O, My, M-Y, Big, B-I-G..." and Brian would attempt to write it on the book page. Literally a minute later, the store manager who saw this, intervened and put a halt to this. The store manager then said to the group, "Mr. Wilson will personalize your book by using your name only. Thank you."
I brought along a camera to have my picture taken with Brian. While waiting in line, I asked the guy behind me in line if he wouldn't mind taking the pictures; he agreed. I handed the camera to the guy and said, "Just press this button and keep taking pictures until the whole film is used up." What happened next is absolutely true. Unbelievably, just as I was about to greet Brian, the store manager was called away. Brian autographed my book and handed it back to me. I then pulled my Pet Sounds album out of a brown paper bag, looked over at Kevin Leslie who knew what I had in mind, and Kevin frowned but nodded "yes". So, in a voice about three octaves above my usual tone of voice, I sheepishly said to Brian, "Would you please autograph the greatest album of all-time?" Brian just looked at me with no expression on his face. He didn't say a word, but he took the album. I then said, "Could you please sign on the white goat?" And he did! Brian handed the signed album back to me, I shook his hand (it was a dead fish handshake), and I said something corny like "Thank you, Brian, for all of the music."
I was so excited that I put the Pet Sounds album back in the paper bag and ran out of the bookstore! I was walking back to my car going "Yes, yes, yes!" People on the sidewalk were actually staring at me. When I got to my car, I realized that I forgot to get my camera back from the guy who took the pictures. So, I backtracked to the bookstore and luckily the guy was still there. He was laughing as he handed the camera back to me. And this next part is strange, and for years I could never figure out what I DIDN'T do. After retrieving the camera, I immediately left the bookstore again, even though I could've - and should've - just stood there and gazed at Brian Wilson for several more minutes. Other fans were doing that; they weren't being ushered out. They were just taking in the moment, a moment that you probably would never experience again. You were in the presence of a legend and your musical hero, a once-in-a-lifetime event. I guess I was nervous that somebody was going to apprehend me for smuggling in the Pet Sounds album, I don't know...
So, for the second time I walked back to my car, but this time I drove home. Out of the twelve pictures that were taken, I got one good one out of the roll. I framed it along with the autographed Pet Sounds album. It was a day, a moment, that I will never forget.
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 24, 2021 17:42:00 GMT
I don't mean to ignore this thread, but my answer would be really dull: I have no Beach Boys encounters, so picking a favorite would be difficult.
While I've been to probably 10-12 BBs-related shows (between Brian and Al), I'm really not one for meet-and-greets, autographs, or hanging out in hopes of shaking a hand. Just not my thing. So I haven't met any of them, and unless somebody turns up at a bar I'm at before or after a show or some similar coincidence, it's pretty safe to say I never will. It's a shame, because I think it would be phenomenally interesting to have real conversations with virtually any of the musicians from that universe. But I don't see a likely pathway to that real conversation.
It is interesting to hear others' encounters, though. So hopefully a few more people will chime in. I know some of you have met various relevant people.
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Post by kds on Sept 24, 2021 17:53:21 GMT
I've met Al after both of the Storytellers shows I've attended. I met Brian at a signing at a Barnes and Noble in VA in 2015. I met Blondie outside of one of Brian's NPP.
But the coolest encounter might've actually been with Probyn Gregory after a BW show in Rockville, MD in 2015. We chit chatted a bit about the show, and I'd mentioned four songs from the setlist (that he handed us) were played at my wife and my recent wedding - WIBN, GOK, Sloop John B, and Sail Away, and he was most taken aback to hear about us using Sail Away.
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Post by jk on Sept 24, 2021 21:12:00 GMT
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