When I heard Brian Wilson and friends 9 years ago, he was somewhat frail but the music he wrote and played, including the Beach Boys hits, never sounded better.
He was a senior maestro, sitting behind the piano and conducting a stage of talented players and singers, who made his music, even live, sound perfect. It was scary brilliant, and so was he.Paul McCartney calls God Only Knows the best song ever written.
Without the legendary Pet Sounds album, there would have been no Sgt. Pepper. That musical brilliance was the Beatles answer to Wilson's innovation.
Nobel Laureate and Bard of the 20th Century, Bob Dylan said he "admired his genius."
Listen to the hits, or to his avant-garde' creations and the sound infects you, with happiness and the never ending summer of youth, and it is marvelous.
It was bitter sweet hearing the tunes again, when the genius was being mourned. And when the idiot king sends the marines to Wilson's home area, and illegally federalizes the national guard. It doesn't matter anymore that no one in LA wanted them there, not the Governor, Mayor, Police Chief or the citizens.
The idiot king is mad and vengeful and a nation destroyer. Standing in front of uniformed troops and talking his insane trash politics demeaning not those he savaged only, but taking the US to new lows, dangerous and deranged lows.
Yea, hearing Brian Wilson, his brothers and cousin Mike and buddy Al was a dose of sunshine, but poignant to the point of tears. It seemed only a temporary railing against this nose dive. Oh those happier, innocent times when we wanted to salute our land of liberty. As grade school kids, even in an imperfect and not yet fair US, we had a nation we were proud of.
Just a fews hence from when that Cub Scout in uniform stood on the back row under the watchful eye of an untrusting teacher and next to his buddy John Smith, we Boomers would be under the thrall of a political system that seemed bounding with hope as a young President invited us to ask what we could do for our country and when even those of us in the great mid west wanted to go surfing...surfing USA.A sweet time, rich with what will be, shinning with dreams.
We grew up tough though, doing duck and cover drills. Remember those? We'd have to duck under our desks and cover our heads to protect us from the Atomic bomb. I had nightmares about the bomb. I read a lot about the bomb and why we had to worry about it. I decided then the "duck and cover" was not going to stop any of us from being incinerated or vaporized, so I stopped ducking and covering. When my mates were being compliant, and Mrs. Rogers would be scorning me to obey I tried to explain how it was all useless.
But there was hope too. Our government had developed a vaccine against dreaded polio that was killing and crippling our generation. We lined up to be Polio Pioneers, testing the Salk Vaccine.
Health Secretary RFK jr would just boil himself wouldn't he? It was a time of honor, a time when science and medicine was making for a better future. It was a time to be smart, to reach for the stars. We believed that our leaders also believed in the words of the Pledge of Allegiance "...under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all."
I listened to a lot of Brian Wilson's work over the years and like that pledge I believed what I heard, especially California Saga
Have you ever been south of Monterey?
Barrancas carve the coastline
and the chaparral flows to the sea
'Neath waves of golden sunshine
Have you been north of Morro Bay?
the south coast plows the sea
and the people there are of the breed
they don't need electricity.
That's precisely where I sit, remembering Brian Wilson and that era. My electricity comes from the panels on my roof.
Have you ever been down Salinas way
Where Steinbeck found the valley?
There the monarch's autumn journey ends
on a windswept cypress tree.
Again this Father's day weekend, my daughters and grands will join Lana and me on our annual trip to the Live Oak Music Festival. It's a tradition out here.
Have you ever been to a festival
The Big Sur congregation?
Where Country Joe will do his show
and he' ll sing about liberty.
And the people there in the open air
are one big family
Yea, the people there love to sing and share
their newfound liberty.
I expect California music veterans and longtime emcee Joe Craven will have a few things to say this year. There will be mention of Sly Stone, and Brian Wilson. There will likely be more. Live Oak is a fundraiser for our public radio station. Yea, that kind of targeted, enemies list, media. So, maybe we'll get put on the idiot king's list. A badge of honor.
As we take this nostalgic pause, we rightfully should recall those men called POTUS who actually quoted song writers and poets. And they all visited the Kennedy center to enjoy the arts. Not one of them showed up only to fire the staff!
Take us back to the trail, Brian.
"I may not always love you
but as long as there are stars above you
you never need to doubt it
I'll make you so sure about it.
God only knows, what I'd be without you..."
To my kindred of age and temperament, keep on rockin' in the free world.
See you down the trail.
