Stream free in the U.S.: https://to.pbs.org/3QrNJTi

He’s completely internalized.

Brian Wilson has been on an endless victory lap since 1976. First with his participation in “15 Big Ones” and its attendant publicity of Brian being back, then in 1988 with his solo debut, then Don Was’s excellent film “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” in 1995 and then with the release of “Smile” in 2004. Every time they say what a genius he is, what his music means to us, how can we forget you if you never go away?

I’ve gone on record many times that I moved to California because of the Beach Boys. There had to be a better life out there, and I must tell you Southern California was and still is, it’s just that fifty-odd years ago the world was not connected the way it is now, California was three hours behind and it might as well have been an island in the Pacific. We knew that all the movies and TV were made there, but media kept telling us thinking people, all the business that counts, was in New York. They’re still saying that. But in the eighties Silicon Valley raised its head and has never ducked since and people read more books per capita in California than they do in New York. But today California is pilloried by outsiders, whereas previously it was a dream.

People weren’t even skateboarding in the rest of the country, that came from Jan & Dean and the rest of the SoCal players. And then in the mid-seventies urethane wheels came along, and skateboarding spread like wildfire from California eastward. But it all started in California, Southern California, where it hardly rains and you live an outdoors lifestyle 

So what we’ve got here is a bunch of talking heads telling us about Brian’s music. Well, first and foremost Mike Love and others wrote most of the lyrics. But truly, I don’t care what these people have to say, never mind Nick Jonas for Generation Z and Jim James for Generation X. It’s like the talking heads were picked based on demographics.

As for Springsteen? Great to know he’s a Brian Wilson fan, and he does talk about the joy in the music, but other than that…you see Bruce can’t do what Brian can, and that’s the most interesting part.

If you live in Southern California, you’ve encountered Brian Wilson. He’s not hiding, he’s around. It’s well-known that he eats regularly at the deli atop Beverly Glen.

But this wasn’t always the case.

The first time I encountered him was in the lobby of a movie theatre in Westwood in 1978. He was wearing a jacket with his name embroidered on the front. And I went up to him and testified, he did not say anything back.

About ten or fifteen years ago I went to this BMI awards dinner and he was seated at my table. He kept his head upon it almost the entire time, even during dinner. He ultimately got up and got his award and went home.

Since then I’ve talked to him on his bus, but I can’t say I connected with him. I don’t think anybody can truly connect with Brian Wilson. But what this movie, “Long Promised Road,” tells us is Brian is still there, he’s just locked up inside.

So they’re driving down to Hawthorne to go see the homestead. Dedicated fans know it’s been torn down. And Brian asks to hear “It’s OK.,” from the aforementioned “15 Big Ones,” which was mostly covers, truly a cash-in, the originals LP didn’t come out until the next year, “Love You,” where Brian had greater participation and the results sounded whacked and unfinished and he was shunted into the background once again. You see Brian Wilson was the band’s meal ticket. He’s still many people’s meal ticket. Not that he seems to be worried about that. He seems oblivious to most of the matters of everyday life.

Now if you go on Wikipedia you’ll learn that “It’s OK” went to #29 on the singles chart, but in ’76 everybody was listening to FM and #29 means the label used pressure to get it played in the hinterlands, because it didn’t penetrate major markets, I’ve never ever heard “It’s OK.” on the radio. But it’s a complete return to form, it’s got the summer sunniness that drew me to SoCal, never mind infected the rest of the world.

Brian knows what to listen to.

But when they pull up in front of his own home, where there is now a monument, Brian doesn’t want to get out of the car, BECAUSE IT HURTS TOO MUCH!

Great artists feel deeply. Much more than the average person. And they channel this in their work and it’s what the hoi polloi can relate to, especially since it’s illegal to talk about these feelings in regular life, the artist does it for them. How many artists are doing this today? I can’t think of one, then again, they’re truly not ARTISTS!

So next they drive by the first house he lived in with Marilyn and Brian says he wrote “California Girls, “Help Me Rhonda” and “She’s Not the Little Girl I Once Knew” there. He knows everything, the year…

And the next house on Laurel Way, that’s where he wrote “Pet Sounds” and “Good Vibrations.”

It’s utterly amazing. It’s like the movie of his life is still in color and accessible to Brian. The years, the studios, the songs, he seems completely checked out and then whoa, he knows every last detail, he blows your mind.

You see Brian can’t tell a story. You know, you ask the average person a few questions and they start to roll, especially when they know you’re interested, they start waxing rhapsodic, telling you details you’re not even interested in. Brian gives one word and one sentence answers. And you realize this must be the best they’ve got, because if they had anything better, they’d have used it.

And Brian resides in his own world. He never heard “Pacific Ocean Blue.” And is shocked to learn Jack Rieley died. Me, just a fan, I own Dennis Wilson’s album, and the fact that Jack died certainly flew on my radar. And ultimately Jack was seen as a charlatan, singing on an album? But Brian can’t say a negative word about almost anybody. Except maybe Eugene Landy. Then again, when peppered, he starts talking about some good stuff that came out of that nine year “relationship.”

Do you know many celebrities? Almost all of them are acutely aware of their environment. Paparazzi. Quotes. Brian Wilson doesn’t live in that world and doesn’t care.

Do you know any genius musicians? Well, I do. And just about all of them are maladjusted. They can do this one thing, but there’s a gulf between them and the rest of the public.

Brian talks about Dennis being so popular with the ladies, but says he’s too shy. Bottom line, Brian was using his music to connect with people, it was the only way he could do it, and once it stopped working…he retreated.

Yes, Brian Wilson is inherently lonely. Even though he says he’s doing well, even, and talks about others being lonely. That’s his default.

And if you’ve seen Brian live… It’s kind of embarrassing. He’s like a deer in the headlights. He sits at a piano he doesn’t play and then the rest of the band covers for his vocals.

But then he’s in the studio in this movie and sits down at the piano and can play no problem. Then he starts arranging the song, telling people how to play, when to play. This all comes naturally to Brian Wilson, but it doesn’t even come naturally to many hit artists!

Don Was says he can’t do what Brian Wilson does, I believe he’s too self-effacing, but when he isolates the track so you can hear a banjo in “God Only Knows”…I never noticed there was a banjo there. What was Brian thinking? A banjo isn’t as bad as an accordion, but most rock musicians don’t want to go anywhere near one.

And in truth the window of success is very brief for most of these legendary musicians. If you live through them, they seem endless. But for Brian and the Beach Boys, in reality it was less than ten years, arguably even less than that. Now in truth, once these damaged people realize that becoming a great success, demonstrating their talent, doesn’t make their life whole, they can’t do it anymore. Also, popular music goes through phases, the music you play is now out of favor. But when Brian works with Joe Thomas he can sometimes get back to where he once belonged.

Brian’s on his own pursuit.

And it’s like he’s locked in the sixties, he uses the word “groovy,” other affectations from his youth that nobody uses today.

So in truth I don’t think this movie will do anything for Brian Wilson’s legacy. We know the Beatles are forever, but we can’t say the same thing about almost any other act from the rock era, not even the Beach Boys. The kids of the boomers know the Beach Boys hits, but the Beatles’ songs were inherently universal, whereas with the Beach Boys music you had to buy into the whole ethos, the Southern California breezy fun. I get around? Kids today turn 16 and don’t even get their driver’s license. Hot rods? Summer? Kids today go back to school in August! Yes, a lot of what the Beach Boys purveyed was of a time lyrically, if not musically.

Of course there are exceptions, like “Good Vibrations.” But where does a song like that even exist today? And “‘Til I Die,” one of the most beautiful records ever made? I didn’t think anybody else was even aware of it when it was featured in the Don Was movie, never mind this production.

And, it’s the music that will determine whether Brian Wilson will remain in the public consciousness. Movies like this really won’t help, like I said, he’s been on an endless victory lap, for the last 45 years!

But the magic is still there, if you know those songs, especially if you grew up with them, when they were de rigueur, just another song on the hit parade, before the formula was lost.

So you want to watch this film to see Brian talk. To watch tears come to his eyes. To see him get excited about his music. That’s where you can see the genius, the talking heads don’t add much.

Brian attributes his emotional downfall to a bad acid trip. Then again, schizophrenia doesn’t usually rear its head until you get older, your twenties, when Brian had success and episodes.

But even if he was totally normal…he wouldn’t be.

Try talking music with some of these geniuses. They can’t do it! They can write it, they can feel it, but they can’t articulate it, and Brian is no different. It’s not that he refrains from sharing secrets, he doesn’t even know they’re secrets, they’re normal for him, but we can only sit outside and marvel.

You can work for 10,000 hours and not be Brian Wilson. Genius is not a skill, not something you can achieve, it’s something you’re born with, that you build upon.

Brian was inherently isolated, anybody who’s been constantly berated by their parent ultimately is. Then again, some get over it, whereas Brian has just gone deeper into himself.

Not that I can truly define genius. All I know is when I hear that intro to “California Girls” my heart melts and everything is all right with the world. No other song had an extended intro like that before, it carried me not only through the summer of ’65, but ever since. You usually burn out on songs, you play them for a week straight and can never listen to them again. I still will push the button on “Whole Lotta Love,” I bought “Led Zeppelin II” the day it came out and played that album incessantly. And soon thereafter, the rest of the public, the average Joes, caught on and that’s all you heard. But “California Girls”? An even bigger hit? That’s never a button-pusher, that’s my life!

Well, not really. But “California Girls” evidences hope. Makes you believe there’s a more beautiful world out there, and if this group can sing about it, maybe you can get there too, bite off a chunk of the good stuff.

And in truth nobody’s life is constantly an upper. But a great track can make your life work. Not any track. Certain tracks are transcendent. Not the ones they make today, that’s commerce by committee. Brian Wilson was a dictator, and when they undercut him, when Capitol put out a greatest hits album mere months after the failure of “Pet Sounds,” he was demoralized. You may be able to pick yourself up by your bootstraps, but someone who feels this much is always on a tightrope, walking a thin line, needing that approval to keep going.

Forget what I say, just watch Brian in the car in this movie. See him be uncomfortable, scared, seem completely out of it but then be able to answer a question directly. You don’t know people like this, they only made one, and by translating his feelings into music he impacted the entire world.

That’s Brian Wilson.

Bryan Adams – Fits Ya Good

Neil Young – I’ve Been Waiting For You

Joni Mitchell – A Case of You (not on Spotify)

The Band – King Harvest (Has Surely Come)

Leonard Cohen – Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye

Guess Who – No Time

Bachman-Turner Overdrive – Takin’ Care of Business

Gordon Lightfoot – The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Rush – Fly By Night

Barenaked Ladies – Baby Seat

Triumph – Magic Power

John Kay-Steppenwolf – Magic Carpet Ride

Bruce Cockburn – Last Night of the World

Paul Anka – Diana

Kate & Anna McGarrigle-Heart Like a Wheel

Rufus Wainwright – Hallelujah

Shania Twain – Man! I Feel Like a Woman!

Barney Bentall & the Legendary Hearts – Something to Live For

Odds – Wendy Under the Stars

The Tragically Hip – New Orleans Is Sinking

Alanis Morissette – Hand in My Pocket

Amanda Marshall – Dark Horse

Diana Krall – The Look of Love

deadmau5 – Hypnocurrency

Lighthouse – One Fine Morning

Michael Bubl̩ РFeeling Good

Justin Bieber – What Do You Mean

Sarah McLachlan – Drawn to the Rhythm

the Weeknd – Wicked Games

Drake – Over

Celine Dion – To Love You More

Broken Social Scene – Sweetest Kill

Feist – How Come You Never Go There

k.d. lang – Constant Craving

Corey Hart – It Ain’t Enough

David Foster – Love Theme From St. Elmo’s Fire

Alannah Myles – Black Velvet

Blue Rodeo – Hard to Remember

Sebastian Bach – Skid Row – I Remember You

Kathleen Edwards – Hockey Skates

Jeff Healey – See the Lights

Tegan and Sara – Closer

Shawn Mendes –  Stitches

Kim Mitchell – Go for Soda

Ron Sexsmith – Gold In Them Hills

Pat Travers – Boom, Boom (Out Go the Lights)

Andy Kim – Rock Me Gently

Loverboy – Turn Me Loose

The Pursuit of Happiness- I’m an Adult Now

Three Days Grace – I Hate Everything About You

Simple Plan – I’m Just a Kid

Ian & Sylvia – You Were On My Mind

Martha and the Muffins – Echo Beach

Tune in today, June 14th, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863

Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive

I paid $7.13 a gallon.

Actually, the sticker price was $7.15, but I got a two cent discount for using my 76 card. I might have gotten a few cents more if I used the app, but every time I’ve tried there’s been a hurdle I couldn’t jump. Like my PIN. I mean really, how many PINs/passwords am I supposed to remember? I contemplated looking up the requirements earlier in the day, but I was so damn busy, wasn’t my time worth something?

I used to go to the Shell on Van Nuys. It’s one block north of Ventura. I was always in that neighborhood now and again pre-Covid. But now I don’t go anywhere, other than at night to hike. So to go to Van Nuys is a time-consuming and now expensive schlepp. Yes, I’m willing to drive there, but with gas so expensive it’s gonna cost me $3.50 or so to do so! And my tank isn’t that big, how much can I save?

I buy my gas in Bel-Air.

I know, you’re chuckling now. But ever since my friend Andy was involved in a holdup at a gas station on La Cienega Boulevard, during broad daylight, I’ve been wary of stopping at gas stations in sketchy neighborhoods. Saving a few cents is not worth my life.

And no, I’m not ignorant, I don’t stop at those insulting stations where gas is a buck or more more, like the 76 in Beverly Hills. I mean I’ll overpay for my safety, but I won’t be ripped-off.

My car uses premium. I know, I know, you say that’s all B.S. But not in my machine, it needs the octane.

So I’m paying a bit more.

Then again, I don’t use that many gallons.

And brand is important too.

So I was driving east on Sunset and I saw the Chevron station at Barrington was charging $6.99. I laughed, I was not going to stop there, it always charged a few cents more. And it’s a weird station, the lights are very low, maybe so the luminaries in the neighborhood don’t have to wear their sunglasses at night.

And I’m off of Chevron.

Back when I owned my 2002… Leaded gas started to disappear. Starting in 1975, cars used unleaded. But mine was a ’74. And ultimately the only company that sold leaded was 76, so that was my preferred brand, ergo the card. Yes, I’ve got gas credit cards, a relic of the eighties, or maybe the influence of my father, this was before the points extravaganza. To tell you the truth, I never use points. I’ve got no idea how many I have. Even with the airlines. I’m my mother’s son, she refused to clip coupons and… Oh, did I tell you about earning a free trip to Paris using Sprint? This was when it was a long distance company, before it even sold cellphones. You had to dial extra digits. And I got a letter and was intrigued…but what would I do once I got there? That wouldn’t be free.

So I’ve got 76, Chevron and Shell credit cards. I used to have Mobil, but the only Mobil I pass by is the one at Olympic and Westwood, and it’s one of those rip-off stations. You can tell them, because they’re always empty. There used to be three gas stations at that intersection, now there’s only one. The strip center with the Poquito Mas used to be the BMW dealership, and before that it was a Chevron station. And across the street, where the Bigg Chill is, the best frozen yogurt on the westside? That used to be a gas station too, but so much time has passed I no longer remember which brand.

So, after my 2002 got totaled, I ultimately favored Shell. My 325e got just a little more oomph. I’d mash the accelerator and the car would jump a bit.

But then I ran out of money and started using ARCO. I could put in three bucks and drive for a week. That was back in the nineties. But Arco dried out the rubber in my fuel pump so I swore off it and went back to the brands that took credit cards, yes, ARCO, Atlantic Richfield, was cheap, because they gave up credit.

So I’m at the exit by Sepulveda, having just been on the 405 for less than a mile. I’m my father’s son here too, he’d go out of his way to get on the freeway, although it was called the “Turnpike” back in Connecticut, and at the time it wasn’t free.

And I’m sitting at the light, which is very long, and I’m looking at the prices, the Chevron and the 76 stations are across the street from each other. And they were both over seven bucks! I couldn’t believe it, six was one thing, SEVEN? What, are we living in Europe? I wish we were, then everybody would think about the size of the automobile they drove, its fuel efficiency. Then again, SUVs have made inroads on the Continent, but electrics are now too.

So I’m sitting there contemplating this. The Chevron is $7.09, but the 76 is $7.15, and usually they’re the same damn price, but every once in a while one is less expensive than the other, but not by much.

Yes, in Bel-Air I feel safe. Especially at eleven o’clock at night, when I was stopping.

And I pulled into the 76 station and it was a ghost town, and it normally isn’t at this time, there are always a few automobiles coming in and out. An Aston Martin SUV was filling up right in front of me a while back, and then this teenager came out of the mini-mart and got behind the wheel. That’s Los Angeles. A giant suburb where as Rod Stewart put it, people have a lot more money than sense.

Oh, I’ve got to back up. I couldn’t go to the Chevron station. Yes, I’ve experimented, multiple times, the gas there just isn’t good enough, there’s a problem with it. Is it at every Chevron station? I’m not sure, but I don’t want to risk it.

Here’s what happens. I’m driving up a hill, and the car starts to buck, like a bronco, like one of those mechanical bulls they have in bars. And it’s frightening, and only one time was it dangerous, but my main concern was…WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY CAR??

At some point you’ve got to call it quits, give up the ghost, crawl from the wreckage into a brand new car. I wasted too much money on my 325e before killing it, I don’t want to do that again. Especially now. You don’t want to be forced to buy a car now, during the chip shortage, you’re gonna pay a fortune.

But it turned out to be the gas!

No problem at 76 or Shell, but terrible problem with Chevron. So I’m not gonna buy Chevron unless my car is on E and there’s no other station for miles.

And as I look at the price on the pump at the 76 I’m wondering whether I should bolt for the Shell on Van Nuys. I mean I’m the only car in the station. But then a twentysomething in a brand new SUV pulls up and I decide to go for it.

So I inserted my card, and I got that two cent savings, WHOOPEE!

Oh, that’s another reason to have a gas credit card. For a while, at that Shell station on Van Nuys, you didn’t have to push any buttons after inserting it, and this was a huge advantage, at least during the early days of Covid-19 when we were all panicking.

And I’m kicking myself for not figuring out how to use the app, but I’m here. Gas… Used to be you didn’t think about it. But now you go somewhere and you realize it’s a four dollar trip. Like I said, driving out of your way to save a few cents is no longer worth it.

So as I’m washing my windows, the pump pops to a stop. And I see that I owe $84 and change. Yes, I have a small tank. And I always remember my father saying there was dirt at the bottom of the tank and not to run it too low and if you haven’t lived in the east you don’t know all these issues…not only dirt, but if you don’t have the tank at least half full you risk the gas freezing during a cold spell. You learn to put anti-freeze into the gas, and to keep the tank topped-off. Which is all to say I used to fill up like my father, when the needle dropped below halfway, but that’s too much of a pain, but when it hits three-quarters, I fill.

$84. That’s essentially a C-note. Does anybody even use that term anymore? I got $600 cash to go out of town fifteen months ago, and then I couldn’t, because the vaccine didn’t work, and that same $600 is still sitting in my wallet. We live in a cashless society. Oh, they’re forcing businesses to keep taking cash because poor people don’t have credit cards. (Can you use the word “poor” anymore, do you have to say “financially-challenged”?) But still, there are so many places that will not accept cash.

I mean a hundred dollars, that still means something to me. But after filling up Friday night I realized my money perception was way off. I know someone who made 90k only a couple of years out of college, and was not a professional or in banking. And a pastrami sandwich is twenty bucks and…I realized I’ve got no idea what a dollar is worth.

But my car is small, I only needed eleven gallons. What if you were one of those people who purchased a big SUV because of social pressure, sat high and had an inherently less safe driving experience just so you could look cool?

Oh, that’s another dirty little secret, the rich don’t care about gas prices. If you’re making five hundred thousand dollars or more, what do you care about the price of gas?

But what if you have to drive to work, like everybody in Southern California, commuting is necessary, no one lives close to their job. Then, through no fault of your own, even if you drove a relatively fuel-efficient car, you were burning bucks.

I mean I don’t have to leave the house. I’m driving less than ever. The price shocked me, but I could cope. But what if you’re driving your kids around or..?

And I’m mad at the oil companies, booking record profits. But those who think it’s all Biden’s fault…

Someone tweeted FDR today. This is what they said:

“‘Democracy has disappeared in several other great nations, not because the people of those nations disliked democracy, but because they had grown tired of unemployment and insecurity, of seeing their children hungry while they sat helpless in the face of government confusion and government weakness through lack of leadership,’ he said in a 1938 radio address. ‘Finally, in desperation, they chose to sacrifice liberty in the hope of getting something to eat'”

The authoritarians make the trains run on time, and then your vaunted freedom is down the tubes.

It’s like the entire world didn’t think beyond tomorrow. Let two plants in Asia make all the chips, after all it’s less expensive than making them here. And the electric car and climate change naysayers say it’s all a hoax, fossil fuels forever!

And having lived through two plus years of Covid-19, it’s been made clear that the government doesn’t have that much power, and even worse you can’t make people do what they don’t want to. We’re on the verge of chaos 24/7. And I always knew you couldn’t live in Northern Idaho, not as a Jew, yesterday confirmed it.

So I’m glad I live in SoCal. And I don’t mind paying gas taxes for clean air. Bad air shortens lives, not only views.

But man, I feel your frustration.