Joy!
(I am unable to attend - just wanted to add my two
cents, or three letters (:>)
Phil
Wilson is a musical genius ... a true "living legend" in every sense of the word ... and his band is nothing short of amazing.
There are still a few seats left available for those of you who didn't win a pair through our Forgotten Hits Give-Away ... but you'd better act fast!!!
Complete ordering information can be found on The Genesee Theatre Website Box Office ...
http://www.geneseetheatre.com/events/detail/brian-wilson-with-special-guest-al-jardine
VERY special thanks again to Colleen Rogalski and the folks at The Genesee Theatre for this very generous offer.
We asked "the locals" on our list to write a brief essay (just a few paragraphs) explaining what the music of Brian Wilson has meant to them over the years.
And here is our very first winning entry ... courtesy of Mark Magel of Morton Grove, IL ...
Hi Kent,
My story starts in December of 1962 when my dad moved us to Los Angeles. I had left all my friends back home in Chicago and I was a lost soul. We sold everything and four short months later we came back to Chicago, broke, to start all over again.
What I had while I was in LA was my transistor radio and the sounds of KFWB and KHJ to get me by. I fell in love with the sounds of both the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. The music of the day kept me sane.
My first live concert was at the Auditorium theater in Chicago in 1968 to see The Beach Boys. On the same bill was this new group from LA, Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys and Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. The next day I went over to Rose Records on Wabash and bought every Beach Boys album they had.
Over the years I have seen them eight times in concert but not since Carl passed away. I have had moments when I sit here and listen to God Only Knows and Caroline No over and over and get lost in my memories. Two of the most beautiful recordings ever created. I won't say I am the biggest Brian Wilson fan. I will leave that for others to judge, but I will say that his music has made a big difference in my life and I would love to have a chance to tell him that. And by the way November 11 is my birthday! It would be the best gift ever to get two tickets to see him for my wife and I.
Thanks for your consideration,
Mark Magel
Morton Grove Il. 60053
Congratulations, Birthday Boy, you're going to the show. And if you've never seen Brian's band before, you're in for a REAL treat! We'll see you there! (kk)
My story starts in December of 1962 when my dad moved us to Los Angeles. I had left all my friends back home in Chicago and I was a lost soul. We sold everything and four short months later we came back to Chicago, broke, to start all over again.
What I had while I was in LA was my transistor radio and the sounds of KFWB and KHJ to get me by. I fell in love with the sounds of both the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. The music of the day kept me sane.
My first live concert was at the Auditorium theater in Chicago in 1968 to see The Beach Boys. On the same bill was this new group from LA, Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys and Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. The next day I went over to Rose Records on Wabash and bought every Beach Boys album they had.
Over the years I have seen them eight times in concert but not since Carl passed away. I have had moments when I sit here and listen to God Only Knows and Caroline No over and over and get lost in my memories. Two of the most beautiful recordings ever created. I won't say I am the biggest Brian Wilson fan. I will leave that for others to judge, but I will say that his music has made a big difference in my life and I would love to have a chance to tell him that. And by the way November 11 is my birthday! It would be the best gift ever to get two tickets to see him for my wife and I.
Thanks for your consideration,
Mark Magel
Morton Grove Il. 60053
Congratulations, Birthday Boy, you're going to the show. And if you've never seen Brian's band before, you're in for a REAL treat! We'll see you there! (kk)
Much was made about this year's Brian Wilson biopic "Love And Mercy" (including more than a few comments right here in these pages.)
Did you happen to hear about the DVD / BluRay release party where actor Paul Dano (who played "Young Brian" on screen) actually got to perform with the REAL Brian Wilson on stage at the party?!?!?
Check THIS out (courtesy of Rolling Stone Magazine) ...
Paul Dano performed with Brian Wilson and Al Jardine
at
a release party for the 'Love & Mercy' DVD. Megan Mack
For a nervous moment, actor Paul Dano stood quietly onstage Monday night at a Los Angeles jazz club, gripping a microphone with both hands to sing a 1966 Beach Boys classic, "You Still Believe in Me." At the keyboard beside him was the man who co-authored it, Brian Wilson. On his other side stood Al Jardine, another original Beach Boy, who assured the crowd: "He's got a really good voice ...."
Paul Dano on the Art of Becoming Brian Wilson » By the time Dano began the song's achingly vulnerable vocal melody, he was already being carried away by Wilson's rich layers of sound, both bright and melancholy. It was another glimpse into the life and music of Wilson, who performed a short, vibrant concert for a crowd of about 200 to celebrate the DVD release of this year's acclaimed movie of his life story, Love & Mercy. Also in the crowd were director Bill Pohlad and co-star Elizabeth Banks.
"Brian asked me to sing that song because he knows it's one of my favorites," Dano told Rolling Stone afterwards. He portrays Wilson as a young man at his Sixties peak in the film, as career pressures and mental illness begin to derail his life. "My favorite part was the ending, the communal 'ahhhs' and the feeling of communion up there. It's a really beautiful, intimate song."
With a 10-man band of veteran players crowded onto the small stage beside him, Wilson performed 35 minutes' worth of hits and deeply emotional songs from his Beach Boys and solo catalog. There were gorgeous laid-back falsetto harmonies on "Surfer Girl," dreamy vocals and harmonica on "In My Room," and roaring guitar riffs on "Dance, Dance, Dance."
As usual, Wilson was a man of few words, but clearly pleased and relaxed onstage at the Vibrato Grill, a hilltop jazz club owned by Herb Alpert, the hit-making Tijuana Brass trumpeter and co-founder of A&M Records. "It's good to be in Los Angeles, where we all live!" he declared to laughs, his blue dress-shirt sleeves rolled at the wrists, thick graying hair swept back. The music was performed with precision and warmth, recreating the essence of the original records.
For the opening of "Wouldn't It Be Nice," Matt Jardine (Al's son) sang the forceful vocal melodies until Wilson took the hopeful verse: "Maybe if we think and wish and hope and pray, it might come true / Baby, then there wouldn't be a single thing we couldn't do."
The pop epic "Good Vibrations" began with a false start, and Wilson stopping the band as soon as it began: "Hold it, hold it, hold it! Too fast!"
"A lot of the people who had something to do with the movie are here tonight," Wilson told Rolling Stone minutes before his performance. "I've seen it five times. I love it. I like Paul Dano's portrayal of me as a record producer."
Monday's concert and DVD release party was another chance for the cast, crew and subjects of Love & Mercy to reunite around a special project. Dano and John Cusack, who play Wilson at different stages of his life, developed a personal, protective relationship with the musician. And Banks has spent quality time at the Wilson home.
"I don't want it to end," said Pohlad. "To be able to live with Brian's music in your head for three or four years is not a bad gig. There was something about his spirit, too, that infused the whole thing. It was the nicest, warmest set that I've ever been on. A lot of it has to do with the spirit of the movie and Brian was a big part of it."
At he same time, Wilson has embraced life on the road. He begins an East Coast run with his band on October 20th in Charleston, South Carolina. "He's actually starting to love to tour," says wife Melinda Wilson. "He comes home and he goes, 'OK, book me up for next month!'"
For the night's set-closing "Love and Mercy," Wilson sang to his wife as she swayed up front, arm-in-arm with Banks, who portrays her in the film. He was accompanied on the song by a simple keyboard melody and light vibraphone taps. "He sang it directly to her," Banks said after. "He was eye-to-eye with his beautiful wife. It was awkward, almost. It's amazing how romantic it is. That's what they have."
Set List:
"Surfer Girl"
"In My Room"
"Dance, Dance, Dance"
"Wouldn't It Be Nice"
"God Only Knows"
"You Still Believe in Me"
"One Kind of Love"
"Good Vibrations"
"Surfin' USA"
"Fun, Fun, Fun"
"Love and Mercy"
"In My Room"
"Dance, Dance, Dance"
"Wouldn't It Be Nice"
"God Only Knows"
"You Still Believe in Me"
"One Kind of Love"
"Good Vibrations"
"Surfin' USA"
"Fun, Fun, Fun"
"Love and Mercy"
