Beach Boys' MIKE LOVE

  He?s the lead singer of the most famous American band of the rock and roll era. Watching him on stage at the Fox Theater for what was probably his 5,000th show, it?s amazing that Mike Love has been able to keep the Beach Boys legacy alive despite all that this incredible group has endured. Dennis Wilson died in 1983. Carl Wilson died last year. Brian Wilson is just now taking a few small steps back into the public spotlight after decades of psychological problems and drug abuse. Al Jardine has left to form his own Beach Boys spinoff band. Yet the Beach Boys legacy survives because the music is timeless and Mike Love, the consummate showman, remains front and center.

The band that Mike Love brought to Foxwoods for a pair of shows on February 5th and 6th consisted of original Beach Boy David Marks on lead guitar and longtime member Bruce Johnston on keyboards. Included in the band was an Englishman named Adrian Baker who played rhythm guitar and sang in an amazing falsetto voice. He fit in perfectly. A half a dozen other assorted musicians rounded out the band.

I talked to Mike before the show inside the Fox Theater’s spacious dressing room. I had to let him know that the Beach Boys was the first concert I ever saw, way back in 1975 at the Hartford Civic Center. That was the year the "Endless Summer" album was at the top of the charts and Rolling Stone Magazine named them "band of the year." Now, all these years later, here I am taking my two daughters, Meredith and Joy, to their first concert. Normally they wouldn’t know Mike Love from Courtney Love. However, after seeing every episode of Full House at least four times, they had an idea of what to expect. The connection is with the matinee idol John Stamos who starred in the series. The Beach Boys have made several guest appearances.

"Since about 1985 he’s been coming out and performing with us," said Mike when the subject of John Stamos and Full House came up. "He was just off of General Hospital then. We met through some mutual musician friends and he’s been doing stuff with us ever since. As a matter of fact, he’s working on a made for T.V. movie of the Beach Boys, a mini-series that’s going to be filmed this summer and released this fall. John, he wants to play Dennis because he’s a drummer like Dennis was. And so that will be interesting if that happens because that’s the kind of thing where like 40 million people will see it."

Mike was asked who was going to play him. "Brad Pitt would be a good choice," he said with a laugh. "Somebody who is very intelligent, good looking, sexually attractive, of course! But honestly, I really don’t know who’ll be playing me."

One of the more remarkable and unlikely events to happen to the Beach Boys in their recent history was the success of the song "Kokomo." It was a hit song of such giant proportions that it gave the Beach Boys legs for another ten years. Mike was asked how it felt to have a hit single of that magnitude at that point in his career. "It was twenty-two years after our previous number one song which was ‘Good Vibrations’ and hey, it was great, are you kidding?" he said. "What is proved to me is that the music business is great for one reason. You see, if you’re an athlete and your knees go out or your arms aren’t so strong anymore, you just can’t continue. Joe Namouth isn’t going to win another Superbowl. But in the music business, Tony Bennett, for instance, is 71 and he’s in good health and he goes out and he sings well and he makes a lot of money doing what he does and he does it very well. So in the music profession as long as you have your skills and desire and you have a following, you can go out and sing and perform at any age, which is really cool when you think about it. I mean there’s a lot of crappy things about the business, too. People will steal from you and some of the guys in our group got involved too much in drugs. Dennis particularly and Brian, for sure. Those are the negative parts of it."

Sadly, the subject of Carl Wilson’s death came up. It was a sad coincidence indeed that the Beach Boys were at Foxwoods one year to the day after Carl had died of lung cancer. Mike talked at length about Carl. "He died last year on February 6th," he said. "What was scary is my Jackie is a registered surgical nurse especially pulmonary stuff. And I remember on December 7th the year before last that Carl had to go back to the hospital because they couldn’t stop the bleeding down into his lungs and chest from all the radiation. And Jackie told me that that’s not a good sign at all and she gave him two months. That was December 7th, I remember because it was Pearl Harbor Day and on February 6th, two months later almost exactly, he passed away. Carl figured he must have smoked a quarter million cigarettes in his day."

In the early days of the Beach Boys, Carl was the one who was fat and insecure. But as he got older he became the handsome and confident central figure of the group. He looked great on stage. (Think of the "Kokomo" video.) "He worked out. He did the bike," said Mike. "He liked to drink though and that didn’t help him any. He and his wife used to like to go out late and drink most every night and alcohol does suppress your immune system. I mean we’re all subject to anything but hey he fought it as best he could. We were in Atlantic City at the Resorts a year ago last August when he developed a blood clot and had to go. That was his last show. Right up until then he just focused on trying to surmount the problem but it just spread too far and it was a real shock. Believe me, it’s been an adjustment." The emotional highlight of the Friday night show was when Bruce Johnston sang "God Only Knows" and dedicated it to the memory of Carl Wilson.

Perhaps the most interesting adjustment that the Beach Boys have made is bringing David Marks back into the fold. "David Marks was an original member of the band on the first five album covers," said Mike. "I called him up and told him Carl’s not doing well, he’s not able to tour and asked him if he wanted to come in and fill in on lead guitar. He did and he has and he sounds great. And it’s nice to be back with him, too. He was away from the group for thirty-five years is all. A little hiatus. Fortunately, he’s been playing all that time so he’s still a really good guitarist."

And what about any future plans Mike Love may have? "As a matter of fact, my cousin Brian came up to my house for this past Thanksgiving," he said. "Brian says ‘I want to go on tour with you, Mike.’ I said that sounds great Brian, that’ll be fun. Then he says, ‘plus I think we ought to do an album together but I don’t want to be the producer.’ I said fine, we’ll just make it a committee. So, yeah, he wants to do some stuff and I’ve got a whole bunch of songs stockpiled and so we’re talking about it, yeah." Imagine that. Brian Wilson and Mike Love back together again and making music. Hey, as the song says, wouldn’t it be nice!

The show itself that night was an overwhelming success. The proof of this was when my nine-year old daughter, Meredith, admitted to me afterwards that she now thinks the Beach Boys are better than the Spice Girls. I told her I couldn’t agree more.

P.S. The set list for 2/5/99. California Girls-Catch A Wave-Hawaii-Little Honda-Do It Again-Surfer Girl-Don’t Worry Baby-Little Deuce Coupe-409-Little Old Lady From Pasadena-Shutdown-I Get Around-In My Room-California Dreamin’-SloopJohn B-Wouldn’t It Be Nice-God Only Knows-Good Vibrations-Kokomo-Help Me Rhonda-Barbara Ann-Fun Fun Fun. The encore-Surfin’ Safari-Surf City-Surfin’ USA.

By Bill Harriman