Fun, Fun, Fun

A few weeks later, my parents and I were watching a Disney movie called Flight of the Navigator, which was one of my favorite movies as a kid. My favorite part was when the main character, a boy named David, trying to find some good music to listen to inside the spaceship that abducted him. After finding the opera station and the Latin station, David finally finds an oldies station playing this song called "I Get Around" by The Beach Boys. This was another smooth-sounding song that caught my ear, not just because it sounded good, but because David liked it too and it made him fly the ship better--almost like Popeye's spinach. My parents noticed me really liking this Beach Boys song and told me that these were the guys who did that beach song, "Kokomo", too. This was a very valuable lesson in several ways. One, it taught me the power of using music to enhance images--particularly movies. Also, it taught me how to associate a certain style of art with a certain artist/artists. It's a pattern recognition filter that I hold very dear, whether I use it to discover new music or new movies. This has helped me enrich my life by finding new art to enjoy.

Once I realized The Beach Boys were some guys I could trust my ears to, my parents bought me a couple of Greatest Hits cassettes, so that on those trips to Gatlinburg, I could just pop a tape in My First Sony cassette player, and go to town listening to them. When the Beach Boys phase was in full-swing, I really did find inspiration in the songs. I'd listen to "Surfer Girl" and think about girls I crushed on in my 2^nd grade class. I'd listen to "I Get Around" and think about hanging out with my friends across the street or the friends from t-ball. "In My Room" helped me get through those times when I'd been sent to my room because I was in trouble or I'd bumped my toe on the kitchen table. The Beach Boys were great. So great, in fact, that I thought it'd be awesome if I could go to a concert and see them in person. It seemed impossible since they never came to Lexington, I’d never have the money, and I didn’t have a car. Then one day, I decided I'd start earnestly seeking the help of Almighty God with this. For a couple of days, I prayed that I'd get to see the Beach Boys in concert. Eventually, I just slacked off on the knee-service, and my interest in a concert dwindled, as did my interest in the Beach Boys.

Years after that, when I was 14 (by now, I was in my John Williams phase), it just so happened that The Beach Boys were going to play at the Perfect Attendance celebration my dad's company throws every year for employees and their families. Even though it’d been six years since I’d prayed about it, I was going to see The Beach Boys in concert! Of course, half of the original line-up had died or was not affiliated with the band by that point, but Mike Love, Bruce Johnstone, and Al Jardine’s son were still performing under the name. What was amazing was that they sounded like they hadn't lost a thing in 30 years. Mike Love still sounded like Mike Love, Al Jardine's son sounded like both his dad, Brian Wilson, and the late Carl Wilson. The littler kid inside the little kid’s body came out in me that night and I really rode the waves of my memories, drowning in a sea of nostalgia and happiness.

Afterwards, I went backstage to try and catch some of the guys, so I could maybe snag an autograph or two. Mike Love was my first and only hit, but that was definitely good enough. As he was signing my program, I nervously and excitedly told him that I'd been a fan ever since I was 4, hoping to impress the heck out of him and be commended for my years of loyalty. To my dismay, he sounded like he could care less and just said, "Oh yeah...that's good.." While I'd hoped for so much more of a reaction, something inside my 14 year-old mind wasn't very surprised that this celebrity who had millions of fans worldwide was indifferent to little old me. But…that's show business.

I still like to listen to The Beach Boys occasionally, because I appreciate the role they've had not just in America's music history, but also in my life as well. It's fun music, which is what Mike and the rest of the guys wanted it to be. Had they wanted to impress people with their personalities offstage, I'm sure they would've gone into another profession. Instead, they’ve left us with volumes and volumes of music to get us listening to ourselves and our own personalities and the fantastic, relaxing places we go when we listen to their songs.