A reality TV star who’s bad at business?

That sounds like a perfect candidate to be mayor of Los Angeles.

Never mind that Los Angeles is essentially an ungovernable city where the mayor has little power, as evidenced in this article by Steve Lopez in the “Los Angeles Times:

“Spencer Pratt, please call me. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into”:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-23/la-mayoral-hopeful-spencer-pratt-is-making-big-splash-but-can-he-swim

Now the truth is if you can find someone who lovingly and full-throatily supports Karen Bass, they must be related to her.

As for the rest of us…

Can I fault her for being overseas when the fires hit? I mean who has that foresight? Then again, Monday morning quarterbacks have all the answers.

As for the empty reservoir… I’ve got to ask you, when are you supposed to fix a reservoir? I’ll tell you, in the rainy season, when fire is least likely to happen, which is what was being done.

And now it turns out that the fire was set and the fire department did a poor job of monitoring the exhaustion of this fire such that it smoldered and reignited and ultimately there was a conflagration. Do we need to re-evaluate and hold responsible those at the fire department? Definitely.

But also note that it took nearly a year to find out the facts, while everybody rushes to judgment.

As for the homeless problem… The unhoused got smart, they went where the weather suited their clothes, where it never goes below freezing, and that is the streets of Los Angeles. The homeless are not migrating to Buffalo nor Sioux Falls.

As for what should be done with the homeless… It’s a thorny problem. We live in the richest country in the world but we’ve devolved into a nation where everybody must pull themselves up by their bootstraps…if you get cancer, if you run out of money, if you’re mentally ill, it’s your fault.

So what are supposed to do about the homeless? That’s a good question. But if you’re faulting the Los Angeles government for having compassion for these people…

I’m not saying I like seeing people tented in Hollywood, it’s creepy. But if there were an instant, easy solution, it would have been found and executed.

So now Spencer Pratt is channeling the anger of the populace. And the populace is angry.

But this is the same situation we had with Trump. Adding in an aged Biden who was too dumb to go and a replacement candidate Harris who was so inauthentic that she basically handed the election to Trump.

And how is that working out?

Trump has abysmal ratings. And seems not to care about the economic problems of the hoi polloi, never mind believing the law doesn’t apply to him.

Of course Trump has supporters.

But who exactly is supporting Spencer Pratt?

Certainly not fans of “The Hills,” where he played a villain. As for his business acumen…this is a guy who made millions and squandered them. This is the guy you want to put in charge of the government?

But Pratt does have name recognition and is employing modern media, i.e. the internet, to gain mindshare. But does he have to be supported by the Grainges?

Of all things to come out for… This doofus?

I mean David Foster has retained his talent but has squandered all credibility with his reality TV appearances and in true Hollywood fashion he’s somewhat connected to Pratt… He was married to Linda Thompson, whose son Brody is close friends with Pratt.

That’s Hollywood. Where nepotism reigns supreme.

But Foster is a lone wolf, whereas the Grainges are responsible for nearly half of all music production in America. They represent more than themselves.

And now you’ve got Trump supporting Pratt and I don’t see the Grainges distancing themselves from Spencer.

Don’t tell me it’s a personal choice, that’s not the world we live in.

Pratt is a Republican… Which means the odds of him winning the mayorship are miniscule in super-blue Los Angeles. You can see the latest odds here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/polls/los-angeles-mayor-election-polls-2026.html

I’m not saying Pratt can’t win, but just imagine if he did…

Not only must we ask what government/leadership skills Pratt possesses, but his monetary skills and people skills…

Is this who we really want for mayor?

Of course not.

I can understand wanting to throw a spanner in the works, there is frustration with L.A.’s governance, but why support a nincompoop? Why not get involved in the process and support a better, experienced Democratic candidate? Or throw your money down for Bass… We all know money gives you access and power.

And we’ve already seen this movie with Rick Caruso… Who spent $104 million trying to become mayor and failed. But at least it was his own money. Donating to Pratt… That’s who I want as mayor, a guy who blew through all his money and is now monetizing his appearances on TikTok.

All you fat cats, you need to distance yourself from Pratt. How can you be so out of touch, you’re akin to the tech bros being vilified by the younger generation for their AI efforts.

And it’s the younger generation who disproportionately support the music industry.

And if Pratt is so appealing to the notoriously left-leaning music business, how come no one else has lined up in support of him?

Rather we’ve got fat cats who are all about using their money and influence to tilt the table in their favor. People like the Winklevoss crypto-bros and the beloved Sean Rad, founder of Tinder.

The Grainges support of Pratt is a bad look.

Probably Elliott is friends with Spencer and they didn’t think twice about supporting him, I don’t know for sure, yet that’s how it works in politics. But now that Pratt is all over the news the Grainges’ support is trumpeted in all the media that thrives on this long shot candidacy to sell advertising.

I didn’t see the Grainges come out against ICE. I didn’t see them taking public positions on the White House ballroom or the slush fund or… Why Pratt?

Once again, L.A. has issues. And Harris has a low profile. But that does not mean you throw the baby out with the bathwater.

But the Democratic party has lost control of the narrative, which today is established online. It’s all about creativity. But the Democratic candidates keep asking us for dollars for television advertising…who exactly watches broadcast TV these days? My phone is burning up with requests for money… Not until they start living in the twenty twenties…I’m not giving them a f*cking dollar.

But that does not mean I support Pratt.

And you shouldn’t either.

As for those who do… They need to be called out. These tax-evaders who just want to make the game work for themselves…

And one more thing, the billionaire tax.

I was actually going to vote against this tax, but after reading the below, I’m not so sure.

You MUST read this story:

“The Case for California’s Billionaire Wealth Tax”: 

Free link: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/05/26/opinion/wealth-tax-california-billionaire.html?unlocked_article_code=1.lVA.6x7K.AyDLG_idtHFw&smid=url-share

Here’s the key point:

“California’s billionaires currently pay such a low tax rate that even if all of them left the state, it would take 25 years for the loss of their tax payments under the current set of rules to surpass the amount the state would raise if the one-time tax succeeds this fall.”

We keep hearing all these protestations about the rich paying a disproportionate share of taxes, but these billionaires borrow against their holdings and the increase in their wealth is not taxed.

Read this:

“From 2019 to 2025, California billionaires’ wealth grew an average of over 15 percent per year, while they paid, on average, just 0.26 percent of their wealth annually in state income taxes. Their income tax payments accounted for only 2.4 percent of California’s income tax revenue.”

So what we’ve got here is oligarchs and idiots struggling for power while the rest of us are powerless and getting more and more pissed.

How did Stealer’s Wheel put it?

I’m stuck in the middle with you. And if you don’t agree with me, you’re on the wrong side.

BLONDIE CHAPLIN

“Lonely Traveler”

I’m still waiting for another solo album from Blondie. He’s sent me new music, but…he’s kind of elliptical when it comes to communication.

Anyway, I read about the Flame and then there he was singing “Sail On Sailor” on “Holland”!

As for this solo album… I bought it from the promo bin, but I would have paid full price if not. It’s good throughout, but this is the best song on the album. I positively love this track. I remember playing it and talking about it the spring of my first year of law school, when the records I bought and the shows I went to were more important than anything I learned in class, never mind enjoying them a lot more (and paying more dividends today!) One record can brighten up your whole day, play this and see if it does yours.

CARL WILSON

“What You Gonna Do About Me”

I fell in love with Carl’s voice on “Girl Don’t Tell Me” from “Summer Days (And Summer Nights!).” And I love, love, LOVE his vocal on “I Was Made to Love Her,” the third cut on the “Wild Honey” album, which actually had a hit, albeit released before the LP, “Darlin’.” And the title track was also exquisite, with Carl’s vocal.

And, of course, you’ve got “Good Vibrations” and “I Can Hear Music” and “This Whole World” and “Feel Flows” and “The Trader” and “Funky Pretty” along with Blondie and “Good Timin'” and “Full Sail”…god, that’s a playlist unto itself.

So, needless to say I had to buy Carl’s initial solo LP, on Columbia and produced by Buckinghams/Chicago legend James William Guercio, and I even went to see Carl at the Roxy when he toured on this album.

But I’d be lying if I told you the material on this LP and the second Columbia one was as great throughout as the songs I mentioned above. And by time the second LP was out there was little hype, but this song on the first…

Just like “Lonely Traveler,” “What You Gonna Do About Me” was not on streaming services for a long time.

But now it is.

ROBERT PLANT

“29 Palms”

I bought all the solo LPs up to “Now and Zen,” which was actually the best of the first four, but I loved “In the Mood” (for a melody!) and “Big Log” from “The Principle of Moments,” both of which got radio airplay, the former especially, and “Little by Little” from “Shaken ‘n’ Stirred.” “Now and Zen” was seen as a comeback, a return to form, you heard “Heaven Knows” and “Tall Cool One” and “Ship of Fools” all the time.

And for some reason I purchased “Manic Nirvana,” whilst skipping “Now and Zen,” but that was not a big success, and then fully fourteen years after “In Through the Out Door,” when little was expected, when grunge had captured the airwaves, Plant came back with a tour-de-force, “Fate of Nations.” I played it ad infinitum, and got hooked on “29 Palms” and told Danny Buch that it was a hit but he told me they’d tried with radio, but radio rejected it, stations said it didn’t react, so…

You may not have heard “29 Palms.”

Now I saw this tour at the Universal Amphitheatre, and this was when Plant was still faithfully rendering Zeppelin tunes to keep the fans coming, and after this Robert reunited with Jimmy and…”29 Palms” doesn’t really sound like Led Zeppelin, but this was when Robert was still rocking, before he jumped the track with Alison Krauss.

CHRISTINE MCVIE

“Ask Anybody”

I was always a Christine fan. Not that I bought any of those Fleetwood Mac albums before the one with Stevie and Lindsey, but you heard her voice on “Station Man” and “Heroes are Hard to Find,” which got some radio airplay. But what people forget in the wake of the gargantuan success that followed was that no one was waiting for the so-called “White Album” that contained the first contributions by Stevie and Lindsey. There were no hosannas. And what made inroads, and what broke the album, was Christine’s “Over My Head.”

Now after that, “Rhiannon” broke big and Christine was overwhelmed by the twirling witch Stevie Nicks who deserved her success…

But so did Christine.

One can argue that Christine was the secret weapon, writing hit after hit, but that’s not the way it was perceived by the public.

Now there was an initial solo album, re-released as “The Legendary Christine Perfect Album” after the Mac’s commercial breakthrough, but…

It was Stevie who branched out to a solo career first, she had two albums, with hits, before Christine even had one. But in 1984, Christine finally released hers, produced by Russ Titelman, a Warner/Reprise staple who was not part of the Fleetwood Mac camp. But Russ had a well-deserved rep, making some of the best records of the seventies with Lenny Waronker and…

Russ was ultimately famous for bringing Eric Clapton back from the dead, or at least limbo, with “Journeyman” in 1989, and in the interim between Christine’s album and Eric’s, he produced Steve Winwood’s legendary “Back in the High Life” and…

Winwood is on this track.

Now the single was “Got a Hold On Me,” which was good, but in an upbeat, jaunty kind of way, like those latter-day Fleetwood Mac singles Christine spearheaded.

Oh, the opening cut, “Love Will Show Us How” was also released as a single, but made little headway.

And neither of these tracks are the best on the album.

The third best is “One in a Million,” which features a duet with the aforementioned “Winwood,” and it’s really very good, but…

“So Excited” is even better, it really sounds like reconnecting with a love, it’s a veritable tear.

But the best song on the whole LP finishes side one, and not only is co-written by Winwood, but he plays on it too and his keyboards help define the mood…

“He’s a devil and an angel

Ooh, the combination’s driving me wild

Drive me wild”

Supposedly that’s about Dennis Wilson, but…

The song changes, amps up with the chorus, and then retreats…despite being released in the eighties “Ask Anybody” is really more of a seventies album track, and that’s a good thing!

DON HENLEY

“The End of the Innocence”

“O’ beautiful for spacious skies

Now those skies are threatening

They’re beating plowshares into swords

For this tired old man that we elected king”

That was about Reagan, even though he had already been succeeded by Bush. But the lyrics fit Trump, yet no song today can have the ubiquity “The End of the Innocence” had in 1989, never mind be as good.

Now the funny thing is despite being a big hit, this track has been nearly completely forgotten, superseded by “The Heart of the Matter.”

But…

This was when Bruce Hornsby was still a chartmaker, it’s his music, his piano, but don’t underestimate Don…in addition to the words and the delivery he adds a gravitas that Bruce has never been able to equal in his versions.

But that’s Henley.

This is one of my go-to songs, one that I play the most.

I remember going to visit my younger sister in Minneapolis and driving around the lakes in her Fiero punching the radio buttons to try and find this song, which I did a couple of times.

Remember that?

Maybe you do.

But that’s how it was. When tracks were giants, known by everybody.

Like “The End of the Innocence.”

MIKE & THE MECHANICS

“Something to Believe In”

You might have never even heard this song. There was a hit on this 1995 album, “Beggar on a Beach of Gold,” “Over My Shoulder,” but that featured the other Paul in the group, Paul Carrack. Yes, there were two Pauls in Mike & the Mechanics, and they were both lead singers. The other one was Paul Young, who is not the Paul Young who had solo hits, and had a great voice and died of a heart attack way before his time, and it’s Young who sang this song.

You’ve got to hear this to get it. There’s the simple descending figure, but even more there’s Young’s vocal and the mood and…

At this point Mike & The Mechanics was a band out of time, and after this Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford reformed Genesis with a new lead singer, Ray Wilson, and that album, “Calling All Stations,” was really pretty good, but sunk like a stone commercially so…

Turn out the lights late at night and listen to this.

GRAHAM NASH

“I Used to Be a King”

He was the last member of the group to release a solo album and for a long time I thought it was the best of the initial LPs.

Now with time I’ve reconsidered, that initial Stephen Stills solo album is a monster, yet I still don’t understand the veneration of Crosby’s “If I Could Only Remember My Name.”

As for that initial Stills album, “Love the One You’re With” was very good, just not as good as “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” and “Carry On,” the previous album openers, and it blows my mind that the man is totally forgotten, but still…

“Songs for Beginners” was great, but unfortunately its heart on the sleeve lyrics makes it a bit dated, but still…

This was the flip side of “Blue.” Songs for the broken up. When you’re young and both hopeful and vulnerable the lyrics of both mean so much to you, you pick them apart, find meaning…

“I Used to Be a King” was the best song on the album.

PHIL COLLINS

“You Know What I Mean”

“Thunder and Lightning”

There was a time when almost no one knew his name, and now everybody seems to have a bad taste in their mouths regarding Phil Collins. And he’s hobbled and there was the story of the ex who wouldn’t leave the house, but once upon a time he was just another rocker home from the road who found his wife had abandoned him.

And with an 8-track recorder he stayed at home and made an album all about his situation, his feelings and…

No one was waiting with bated breath.

I bought it because I was a fan of latter-day Genesis, loving “Squonk,” having seen them at the Forum, but…this is an album that took a while to percolate in the marketplace, before “In the Air Tonight” not only garnered airplay, but whose bass sound was then sampled ad infinitum.

And “I Missed Again” was nearly as big.

But although I liked both those numbers, those were not the ones I cottoned to first, that I played incessantly.

The one that resonated was “You Know What I Mean.”

“Just as I thought I’d made it

You walk back into my life

Just like you never left

Just as I’d learned to be lonely”

It’s SO hard to break up, so hard to recover, and I was going through a breakup myself at this point. And at some point after the back and forth you have to call it quits and stand your ground and…it’s the only way you can get through.

“Oh, leave me alone in my heart

It’s broken in two and I’m not, I’m not thinking too straight

Just leave, oh, leave me alone with my dreams

You’ve taken everything else, you know what I mean”

It’s just Phil and his piano and… It’s haunting and meaningful. And then when it ends…the track segues into “Thunder and Lightning.”

“‘Cause they said thunder and they said lightning

It would never strike twice

But if that’s true then why can’t you tell me

How come this feels so nice

Feels alright, feels alright, alright”

This is self-explanatory, but that feeling of falling back in love…

Ah…

PETE TOWNSHEND

“Pure and Easy”

“Who Came First” was promoted as a Meher Baba-influenced album and by this point at the end of 1972 I’d had about enough with the spiritual seekers finding gurus and…

I guess my natural skepticism… Like anybody is really god. We’re all out here alone and the challenge is to address the world facing forward, believing in yourself.

Anyway, needless to say, I didn’t buy this.

But just after Thanksgiving junior year John Hughes picked me up outside Painter Hall after a wet snowstorm in his ’66 Catalina with a cassette deck and the song playing was this, the opening cut on “Who Came First.”

To say I got it immediately…

Now there’s this other magical number on “Who Came First,” “Nothing Is Easy (Let’s See Action),” and I wanted to write about that one, how Townshend got the groove from a machine outside his window, but…

The truth is “Pure and Easy” is a bit better.

Now both of these numbers were written for the aborted “Lifehouse” project, which was ultimately released by RED about twenty five years ago but is not available on streaming services and…

The Who version of “Pure and Easy” was finally released in 1974 on the “Odds and Sods” collection, and most people who are familiar with this number know the one with the Daltrey vocal, however, this is one instance where the original home demo with Pete on vocals is superior, it’s less bombastic and more meaningful. It’s both in your face and subtle. Is that possible?

I’m not sure, but there is magic in “Pure and Easy.”

“We all know success when we all find our own dream”

Ain’t that the truth.

This is one of the two best-reviewed books of the year.

As for the other, “Transcription”…forget about it.

Now “London Falling” is nonfiction whereas “Transcription” is fiction, and I vastly prefer fiction, but…

There was an interesting article in the “Wall Street Journal”…

“Dad Books Are a Dying Breed – Sales have been sliding for nonfiction titles about politics, biographies and other books often aimed at men”

https://apple.news/AnbzaXId_RZivL_4P9Sp3gg

The writer posits a theory about podcasts and other internet diversions having eviscerated the sale of nonfiction Dad Books, but traditionally these are the ones most males want to read. Actually, women not only dominate fiction, they dominate book-buying entirely. But the kinds of books women purchase run the gamut from romance to literature and…just because it’s on the best-seller list that does not mean I’m recommending males read it. And I am recommending fiction to males, because usually you’ll learn more about life in these made-up stories than real ones, but…

To tell you the state of the business, according to the WSJ article above the number one selling fiction book, the romantasy (how do you like that for a genre) “Rites of the Starling sold 105,396 copies while the number one nonfiction title “London Falling” only sold 13,468.

Then again, “Rites of the Starling” was a sequel.

But “London Falling” was written by Patrick Radden Keefe, who wrote “Say Nothing”…

Now if you haven’t seen “Say Nothing” on FX/Hulu, dial it right up, it’s one of the great series, and therefore when I started to read the book thereafter, I stopped, because although it was detailed and interesting, did I truly want to spend all that time learning about what was delineated so clearly in a series?

And I started to see “London Falling” written about everywhere and when I realized it was written by Patrick Radden Keefe, I immediately reserved it at the library. And I was stunned Libby delivered it so quickly, but I was still hesitant to read a nonfiction tome. Especially after finishing Joanna Stern’s “I Am Not a Robot.” So I dove into Elizabeth Strout’s book, but that cut like butter, and after I finished it in twenty four hours…

I realized it was now or never. I decided to give “London Falling” a shot, not believing I was really going to get through it, but very soon I was hooked.

The book starts by telling the history of London and the Thames. About shipping and redevelopment… The funny thing is everybody expects everything to last forever, for nothing to change. The industries flourishing today, the jobs you have today, should last at least until you’re six feet under. Actually, we have an entire political party based on returning us to a past that was not that good to begin with and really isn’t coming back. As for the facts, wind power is flourishing everywhere but the U.S., as well as electric cars, and despite being allowed to buy Nvidia AI chips China has so far refused to do so and…

If you’ve been to London, this book will make the landscape make sense.

And that’s a feature of this book. Just when the narrative hits an inflection point, when you’re ready for the story to move right along suddenly there are endless pages of history. But after consuming them, you realize they’re integral to the story and informative to boot. This makes “London Falling” different from your average nonfiction book, which tends to be the facts and nothing but the facts. And it’s these historical diversions that set the mood, that take you away. If you want an escape from your everyday life, read “London Falling,” from the first instant you’ll be in another world with another mood and…

The issue is quite clear and put forth right away. A nineteen year old falls from a building to his death. What exactly happened?

But to get into the nitty-gritty, you’ve got to dive into the family. On both sides the parents’ fathers are Holocaust survivors. One a famous rabbi. How did that affect their lives?

And the parents want to keep the story hush-hush, afraid it’s going to negatively impact their image, the tabloids seeing a death like this as raw meat.

But still, they’re looking for answers.

As for Scotland Yard… Is it just ineptitude and certain avenues were not explored or were they protecting the oligarchs?

We don’t have that in the U.S., the Russian oligarchs. And until the law recently changed, they had non-dom status, which ultimately meant they paid no taxes, even the wife of the prime minister had this status, which is one reason the law was finally changed. But the bottom line is even more than Manhattan, many of the multimillion dollar domiciles are uninhabited, not only buildings, but neighborhoods can be a veritable ghost land. As for who actually owns these properties… Good luck trying to find out, because the owner is rarely the person who seems to use the apartment when they actually do, you’ve got corporations and trusts and offshore accounts and…

Now according to Balzac:

“The secret of a great success for which you are at a loss to account is a crime that has never been found out, because it was properly executed.”

This leads to another concept the average person either does not know or cannot wrap their head around…that so many of the rich are essentially judgment-proof. You can get a decision in court, but good luck collecting, like in this book, there are rich people who on paper are destitute.

So what exactly went on here and who is at fault?

I don’t want to reveal anything, I’ll just say after finishing this book I was ultimately satisfied. But that does not mean those responsible may not have skated.

So it’s like “London Falling” exists in an alternative world, it’s not exactly highbrow, but it’s so well done, and not simplified for the reader, such that it puts conventional works to shame. I had a hard time getting into another book after reading “London Falling.” I could read “London Falling” for the rest of my life and be happy. I mean books like this, that are not only about life, but how it works.

We all have families, we all have backgrounds, we have personal narratives and…

Does anybody really know one’s child? The point is made here that when you’re exposed to someone’s search history you’re surprised. But it’s not only nineteen year old boys, but everybody.

I can recommend “London Falling” to everybody. I won’t say it cuts like butter from word one, but it’s not hard to read and just after you get through the history of the Thames and the present day narrative begins, you’re hooked.

1

I live in California because of the Beach Boys.

That may be hard to understand if you’re under the age of 40, as there has been a multi-decade campaign to vilify the state. But if you grew up in the sixties, California was a dream. The bleeding edge was on the west coast of our country. That’s where life was free, trends were started, music and movies were made and there were two girls for every boy.

Growing up in the east it’s hard to understand Los Angeles, even to this day. What you’ve got is a city that’s really comprised of endless suburbs, which extend all the way to San Diego in the south and Santa Barbara in the north. And not only does it hardly ever rain, schools are built so you walk outside to classes. This is unfathomable if you grew up in the east.

In the east you’re destined for the best college you can get into, it’s a given. In the west, you’re going to a state school. Seemingly everybody takes courses at the community college before they retire or fly up to a university. Even Brian Wilson.

So what we’ve got here is a string of Southern California families… Growing up in the fifties and sixties when you played outside instead of inside, when there were no cameras and you could get away with pranks, when safety was not first and society was fluid. You didn’t graduate and chase a career, rather you spent time finding yourself, with a series of low-paying jobs while you pursued your dreams, whether they be in business or at the beach or…

And we thought we knew what was really going on out here, but we didn’t. And at this point, most people still don’t.

However the landscape has changed.

The Wilsons and the Loves got together to sing. I can’t tell you the last time I stood around the piano singing tunes. Hell, in the late sixties and early seventies no party was complete without breaking out guitars and singing Beatles songs and other hits of the days.

The Wilsons and Loves didn’t compose beats, they took lessons, they learned on the fly, they weren’t singing and playing to get rich, but because they loved the music.

Now if you’re not a big fan of the Beach Boys I hesitate to recommend this book, because there are a lot of references to songs that you won’t get.

But if you are…

2

I have an issue with oral histories, and for that reason the person who e-mailed me about this book was reluctant to send it. But it’s the BEACH BOYS! I’m always up for more info on the Beach Boys.

And what stunned me was how much I didn’t know, how much I learned.

We all know the basic story, not only have there been books, but even movies. But these interviews are more ground-level. Not the stories of success, but of everyday life. Sure, they go through the making of the records, but more interesting to me is how people met and connected and hung out… This is what you did back in the day, you went out, it was the only way you could meet people. And there was a community of people you met, all with the same interests. And you made friends and…

Brian Wilson met Marilyn Rovell, his teenage bride, at Pandora’s Box, a club on a plot of land that no longer even exists. It was where the Sunset Strip riots took place, the ones that Buffalo Springfield sang about in “For What It’s Worth.”

Today, everybody wants to be instantly rich and famous. Actually, they believe wealth comes with fame, but the goals were not that lofty back then. A lot of the gigs the Beach Boys played were puny. At high schools. This was not a cash machine, this was people playing music.

Now eventually it all blew up, as a result of the success of the records embodying the California Dream, but before that… They were just living their lives on a minor level. Their first hit, “Surfin’,” was on an indie label and made no impact outside of Southern California. Radio was still regional.

And before the Beach Boys came Jan & Dean, my first love. And what astounded me in this book about the Beach Boys is it gave me more insight into Jan & Dean than I’ve ever had, despite knowing Dean Torrence, despite reading his book and so many more.

I guess this book is more about feel than details. Of course there are plenty of details, but you get a vibe…

Jan & Dean were in college, they made records around their school schedules. Lou Adler was the majordomo and the label was clueless, both acts can’t stop bitching about how clueless their labels were. Not only did they not understand the music, but there was no thought put into photos and artwork and…

3

What I took from this book, other than the lifestyle elements above, was incredible insight into the creative process.

Let’s start with the fact that Brian Wilson produced all kinds of records, and wrote many songs that were never hits too. He’s seen as a savant who got in the studio to produce Beach Boys records, but if you were a friend of his, if you made music, he wanted to work with you.

What I’m saying here is Brian’s success did not come out of thin air, he paid his dues, he learned on the job, and despite all the hits, there was a lot of detritus.

As well as people who fell by the wayside, all of whom come alive in this book.

But despite all the insight into the earlier albums, all the stories about the people, what made this book so important, that resonated with me, is the question of creativity. How do you keep it interesting to yourself?

Now from the start of time, not only the label, but the public has wanted something just like the other thing, the hit. And not only are you competing with yourself, but all your imitators too.

But the funny thing is the public says that’s what they want, but really they do not. They want something new and different, unique. And it’s easy to experiment when you’re nowhere, when no one is paying attention, but success can be crippling.

And on one wants to fall off the pedestal.

But do you have your finger on the pulse, or did you lose this ability or..?

So Brian just could not do it anymore. First, go on the road. Second, make the same old music.

So he has Al Jardine, then Glen Campbell and then Bruce Johnston replace him and ultimately he just spends his days tinkering, creating. And after meeting Tony Asher, a jinglemeister, a healthy period of time afterward he rings him up and tells him he wants to make an album about love.

That’s right, there was a concept for “Pet Sounds.”

Today people start off wanting to make hits. Or, they say they have a concept for an album, but don’t forget Brian did this before “Sgt. Pepper” and “Tommy,” it was just a feeling.

So he and Tony explored, they wanted to get the vibe right and…

“Pet Sounds” was ahead of its audience. Some works resonate thereafter, like Nick Drake’s, but the songs off “Pet Sounds” became ubiquitous. Despite all the hype in the seventies, I think the truly breakthrough moment was the use of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” in “Shampoo,” there was truly synergy with the images, you got that Southern California vibe.

And it’s well-known that Capitol buried that album with a greatest hits LP right thereafter when “Pet Sounds” didn’t burn up the charts, but then…

Brian went even deeper, with “Smile.”

All we hear about “Smile” is Brian abandoning it when he heard fire engines and…

That’s not even discussed here. Although it is said that Brian gave up on the project after realizing it was too advanced for the listener.

But before that…

Van Dyke Parks came up with the concept of a journey from east to west, encompassing the entire breadth of the United States.

You might say they were out there.

I guess that’s the point. The Beach Boys were the biggest act in America, and Brian wasn’t even thinking about hits.

Now you’ve got Mike Love talking about writing relatable lyrics for “Good Vibrations,” but…

This was of no concern to Wilson and Parks. They were pushing the envelope, to make it interesting to themselves.

And after the failure of this project, Brian Wilson could never do it again.

4

So reading this book I realized the early to-mid-sixties in Southern California was a unique time. The vibes, the tentacles extended for decades, right up to this very point. But the truth was the musical movement was very brief, basically from 1962-1966. The blink of an eye today.

But unlike today the Beach Boys would not only put out multiple albums per year, they’d have multiple hits. They’d rise to the top of the chart and then fall off and be replaced, all in a matter of months. Nothing moves that fast anymore, never mind the lack of ubiquity.

But did time move on from Brian Wilson? Did the scene just change?

The scene always changes, and very few can adjust, no matter how big and successful they’ve been in their heyday. And then they either grasp at straws, following trends, or give up making music all together.

Or did something change for Brian, such that he couldn’t do it anymore?

Let’s be clear, unlike most creators, Brian wasn’t repeating himself. But despite having the royalty money to execute his wildest fantasies…(bad word, let’s just say support his vision)…he was out on a limb, nobody was supporting him.

And then there was LSD.

Now if you ever hung with Brian Wilson, you knew something was off, something was wrong. As for it being schizophrenia, that tends to manifest itself in your mid to late twenties, when Wilson fell off the edge. But is that what was truly going on?

Maybe he was just spent.

Or maybe…without the support and success, he lost something.

5

Now I could tell you to support your artists’ vision, but that’s really putting it backward. The truth is, usually only the creator can understand their vision. And there was so much money in music in the sixties and seventies and then eighties that labels stood aside and let the acts follow their paths.

But then it changed. The business was no longer cottage industry, the labels were looking for moonshots, they’re still looking for moonshots, and in that case you’re risk averse.

But the nature of being an artist is to take risks.

Let’s be clear, most major acts today are taking no risks, maybe it’s because they’re performers, not artists.

And then there are people who keep telling us they’re artists who complain no one is paying attention.

But the truth is Brian Wilson was not considered a genius until Derek Taylor started a publicity campaign saying that. The public bought it, but what exactly is a genius? Who exactly was Brian Wilson? How could he create and make this music?

That’s the mystery. It was in his head, and he wanted to get it down on tape. In most cases, there’s nothing in someone’s head other than a business construct. Which might be marketed to success, but…

Of course “Bohemian Rhapsody” was like nothing heard previously, however it built upon a decade of rock innovation.

But the intro to “California Girls”? Where did that come from? In a world where radio chopped off most instrumental intros.

And then there’s the theremin in “Good Vibrations”…

It’s not like everybody was doing this, NO ONE was doing it!

And then commercial success separated from Brian’s efforts and…

6

We are all looking for the new and different, but finding someone who provides it…

Hell, we get cartoon movies because people want to escape from scary reality.

But not in the heyday of the Beach Boys. That’s when you had to turn on the radio to find out what was going on, to be hip. The records informed us.

And everybody knew them.

7

So what is your life about?

I guess if you’re a civilian with a straight job it’s about getting married, buying a house, having children and getting a gig that will pay for all this, that will move you up the lifestyle ladder.

But an artist… It’s a journey into the wilderness. You never know what will resonate, what will work. As for those people e-mailing me complaining that their music can’t pay for their house and family…who told you to have a house and family?

And let’s be clear, it was all much cheaper back then, but…

The art always came first. Which is one of the reasons that relationships didn’t tend to last, the creators were married to their music, their vision, their projects.

All of this is clear in this book in a way that I have not seen previously. Most acts blink, give us more of what we’re looking for, they’re afraid to fall off the pedestal.

But Brian not only did not see himself as being on a pedestal, he actually got freaked out by people, public access. In many ways he was a child who never left the streets of Hawthorne, with its sports and good times and…

He was always trying to get this down on wax when everybody else was busy growing up.

It’s hard to be out of step with society.

Some complained.

Brian just retreated.

And although they trotted him out for decades thereafter, it was different. Because in the sixties, in his heyday, people were waiting with bated breath for Brian’s next work.

But the people were just a couple of years and a couple of changes behind Brian. Everybody told him he was on the wrong path, but he wasn’t.

What path are you on?