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Volume #0376 January 24, 2000
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make-believe stupid stuff of the past
Subject: Brian Wilson
Received: 01/23/00 12:29 pm
From: Carol Kaye
To: Spectropop!
Gary Spector, right on with your good post about your dad,
Phil. Yes, it's a catch 22, and I'd like to think how can
anyone in this business, who has risen to great heights,
be able to trust anyone?
Below is what I just posted on the Brian Wilson Board
about the 20/20 interview w/Brian. It's only with a huge
amount of love from his family, Melinda, his true friends,
his good fans, and knowing his former studio musicians
stand by him too, it's only all this that has seen Brian
through some tough stuff.
And then there's the misconception that "he's still a kid"!
Well, I should HOPE SO!! All geniuses are KIDS! And they
have fun with what they do, what is so wrong with that?!!!!
An aside: It's so easy to poke holes into someone when
they have no idea what the celebrity is like at all, just
for their own "use" purposes....actually I'm pretty sick
of USERS in our business, it's so easy to see them make
money off of their own leaching products and things they
want to say to make themselves sound so "important" (and
most of the leeches are arrogant too! And even slanderous
if they think they're going to get caught with their own
lies).
The very FINE great jazz sax legend I work with, RAY PIZZI,
is also that way - like a very young person in the way
he functions (like Brian) -- he has a very happy center...
he's a genius that's why, like Brian, like others who
have done something different in this music biz.
It's hard for the public to understand this form of a
different kind of communication - no these musical
geniuses are not your computer-literate techies (as a rule),
nor do they write lies, nor do they sell things in
business, and a million other things that "normal" people
do -- they live for their art and what an art it is! But
are usually down if they can't for some reason do their
art. The public ought to know that by now.
And believe me, Brian can be as sophisticated and wisely a
grown man as anybody else (as Ray Pizzi can too), but it's
evident he was having fun on his interview (this is a
CHANGE! He's been so oft-misquoted and played around with
that it's refreshing to see him actually enjoy an
interview for a change!).
Here's quoted what I wrote:
>>>>All genius musicians have that little kid in them,
talk like young men sometimes too. Composer David Rose who
I worked for on TV shows, asked me over to his house,
showed me around, and you should have seen this 70-year
old man's face light up as he showed me his steam room,
and how he and Mr. Lear, his pal, of Lear Jet, would sit
and play with David's big steam train (with its tracks all
around his lovely Sherman Oaks home, he was a trip!)....
yes, just as young as how Brian talks and acts...when he's
happy.
Brian was enjoying the interview, something rare as he
doesn't ordinarily like to do them (wonder why? :-) what
with all the misconceptions and mis-information out there
and the dumb questions he's had to deal with in the
past!).
Here's what I posted on my Message Board and another list,
tho't you'd like to see this:
>>>I too tho't Brian looked fine, but this is Brian today.
About 3 weeks ago, Bassics Magazine (a bass magazine I
write a sightreading-music column for) had an interviewer,
photographer and myself along to kind of help with the
interview at Brian's house in Beverly Hills (how he came
up with those great basslines he wrote etc.).
Bassics (www.bassics.com) is the first bass magazine to be
lucky enough to have a feature on Brian.....who kind of
dismisses his bass-writing talent as just the "easiest"
thing in the world, the rest of us should be so lucky to
have his god-given talents.
What you saw on 20/20 is Brian as he really is. He's doing
fine, thanks to so many good true friends, his fans, his
wife Melinda, his lifestyle which includes his older
daughters, and he knows all of us studio musicians also
support him.
He's also very concerned about other people which is
sometimes a rare thing in a celebrity and especially with
all he's gone through. After his LA concert, we had a
great time kidding about the studio musicians, and a lot
of stuff, talking together for about 2 hours, it was fun.
He had fun.
He's an older and wiser Brian who was getting away from a
bad time in his life, not to look "back" all the time but
enjoying his present life with his family, his wife
(Melinda is a blessing as are their young daughters...she's
just recently lost her sister after a long illness tho',
god bless), his tours with his band and great fans.
It's about time the slander and false make-believe stupid
stuff of the past is laid to rest.
One time I was ready to sock a TV newsman in Denver for
"believing" that dumb 1990 (circa) "biography" on TV -
the totally-false story....he made "tsk-tsk-tsk" comments
after this so-called "biography" film was aired on his
station. I almost nailed him against a wall in a music
store a few days later saying: "Brian is NOT like that,
etc.etc.etc., he's a good guy, great to work for, wrote
all the parts etc."...he'll never say those kinds of
misconceptions again. That stupid lying stuff makes you
angry.
Brian is who you see on 20/20, even better....he doesn't
especially like to do interviews - what I wrote on my
Message Board:
>>>Tho't Brian did a good interview. He doesn't like to do
interviews as a rule, but tho't this one turned out very
well. I worked for his father (as all of us studio
musicians did for the Sunrays) and had I known all that
had happened, I would never have worked for him altho'
like Brian says, he's totally forgiven him, has a "past is
past" attitude now.
Brian has done well because he now has true good friends
around him and Melinda his lovely wife has stood fast for
him, .....she's terrific, in his corner totally, and he's
re-established ties with his older children, and has a
good life now.
He knows also his former studio musicians are always for
him too. And his tour has brought so much love from his
good fans into his life and he's just very happy to have
the experiences of being in front of his fans too. Having
dinner with he and Melinda after his LA concert, he was
tired but very happy, very grateful for his many fine fans
and how well his concerts have been going.<<<<
PS. Kingsley, I love the way you write, such grace in your
writing.
All the best,
Carol Kaye
http://www.carolkaye.com/
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Subject: Re: Darlene Question
Received: 01/23/00 12:29 pm
From: Jimmy Cresitelli
To: Spectropop!
I remember hearing-- possibly through someone in the Phil
Spector Appreciation Society??-- that 'every evenin' when
the sun goes down' was just a quickie little thing they
made up on the spot for the studio "tour." Great closeups
of Darlene, Fanita, and Jean. Always used to wish that was
a real song, though. Great little uptempo gospel beginning,
eh?
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Subject: Darlene song
Received: 01/23/00 12:29 pm
From: Ian Chapman
To: Spectropop!
Marc Miller asked:-
> In the Spector documentary that was shown on PBS, there's
> a clip of Darlene, with Phil, singing:
>"Every evenin'when the sun goes down..
> I lay my head upon the pillow down..."
> What song is this???
Hi Marc,
Mick Patrick, of the old UK Spector Appreciation Society
asked Darlene about this back in the early 80s. She told
us it wasn't a real song, just something they made up and
improvised solely for the cameras. When she later came
over in '87 to do "Carrie" at the Royal Shakespeare
Theatre, a few of us met her, and at one point, whilst
walking through the streets of Stratford-on-Avon, she
actually burst into an impromptu rendition of "Every
Evening When the Sun Goes Down", much to everyone's
delight!!!
Ian
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Subject: Peppermint Rainbow LP
Received: 01/23/00 12:29 pm
From: Ian Chapman
To: Spectropop!
Paul:-
My copy of the Peppermint Rainbow album has the same
sleeve and label listings as yours.
Does anyone know who the lead girl vocalist was in this
group? She has a great voice, somewhere between Ellie
Greenwich and Mama Cass. Presumably it's one of the two
girls pictured on the back of the album (one of whom is a
raven-haired Goldie Hawn lookalike!)
Ian
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Subject: re: Mystery Trends
Received: 01/23/00 12:29 pm
From: delila lacevic
To: Spectropop!
I'm glad you asked about the Mystery Trend, Nat. The
Mystery Trend CD is among the very best reissues I
bought in 1999 - although the term reissue is a bit
off, as only the two of the songs were ever released.
The liner notes would have one think that they were
the Burt Bacharachs of the SF hippie scene, but in
truth their music is much more similar to the more
literate side of the Monkees or Turtles than anything
else I can think of offhand. That said, I think
there's as much personality to the Mystery Trend than
to the Monkees / Turtles and probably a whole lot more
smarts. The one song by them that any casual music
listener might know is "Johnny Was A Good Boy", which
is featured on the Nuggets box set. It isn't
particularly representative - much of their music is
more melodic and wistful - and frankly, I'm a little
surprised that it was chosen as a single, as they
definitely had more commercial songs. Think of the
best songs of the first two Beau Brummels with greater
musical fluency and slightly more orchestration and
that might give you an idea. If the band had a flaw,
it's that they bothered to examine the human condition
a bit more than was appropriate for the time (although
it bears no lyrical or musical similarity, "Carrot On
A String" still reminds me somehow of the vaguely
alienated stance from which later postpunk bands such
as the Subway Sect dealt with issues like frustration)
- even a love song like "Words You Whisper" or a song
of longing like "Ten Empty Cups" rely on abstract
imagery beyond the ken of mid-60s pop.
I can rattle on for ages, but the only really relevant
fact is that it's a CD easily worth your $15. I'm not
nearly as down with other Trident productions
currently being reissued - Blackburn & Snow, Sons Of
Champlin - but the Mystery Trend truly is a Great Lost
Band.
John
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
Subject: Poppin' Fresh Pilsbury Vocals
Received: 01/23/00 11:08 pm
From: Jamie LePage
To: Spectropop!
Nat wrote:
>this Bob Thiele record - with the Sunshine Singers - as
>well as Gabor Szabo's "Earth Sky and Diamonds" with the
>California Dreamers who "became" the Love Generation. It's
>all a matter of how narrowly you describe it. If you want
>to look at it that way, then you could probably include
>some Percy Faith Singers and some Anita Kerr Singers on a
>soft pop tape. But I think it's just different enough to
>not quite make it as true soft pop. Now, what was I
>responding to here?
I think you were responding to the question I was about to
ask.
We seem to have reached a general conclusion that at least
some of the "sunshine pop" artists were really just very
good vocal groups who were riding a wave. I contended that
many simply had the fortune to land a record deal, get
superb vocal arrangements, and record what was at the time
contemporary vocal pop. The result was a psychedelic 60s
tinged take on what groups like Chordettes, Four Freshmen,
Lettermen etc. had been doing for years. Obviously the
arrangments on any of these records didn't happen in a
rehearsal hall full of stoned hippy guitar players, no
matter what the record jacket might lead you to believe.
David Bash's list is great and I concur with just about
everything he listed up, but I wonder about the "link"
between sunshine pop and straight vocal pop of the same
era. For instance, you mention Gabor Szabo's "Earth Sky
and Diamonds" with the California Dreamers who "became"
the Love Generation. My question teeters on the edge of
exotica and might push the limits here, but I wonder if
there aren't examples of jazz vocal harmony pop that would
similarly appeal to fans of sunshine pop. Something like
the Randy van Horne Singers doing Bacharach and Brian
Wilson covers. That is a list I would like to see
alongside David's comprehensive soft pop list. I bet much
would be unknown to me.
Also, while I am on the subject, I would like to see your
list of soft pop which *isn't* on CD, David. I bet that
list includes more Gary Zekely material besides the Yellow
Balloon, and Michael Brown's Montage album too.
All the best,
Jamie LePage
n.p. Introducing the Four King Cousins
--------------------[ archived by Spectropop ]--------------------
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