THE BEACH GRANDDADS AND BOYS

But first, Odysseus, with difficulty, but safely, landed 186 miles from the South Pole of the Moon.  The first American touchdown in more than 50 years, and by a private company from Houston, Intuitive Machines, with $118 million of NASA money.  While Odie is vertical (14 feet tall), and sent one signal back to Earth, it was weak.  However, the company later did say that data was streaming in.  The intrigue is that this region might well hold frozen water, which can be split into oxygen and hydrogen, serving as a space station for a future Mars project, or mined for Helium-3.

Another U.S. firm, Astrobotic Technology, gave a shot last week, but the lander crashed back to Earth.  NASA is trying to kick-start a lunar economy, this being a $200 million gift to the company.  Well, not quite what was intended, but one spinoff so far is that the gold fabric protecting parts of Odie from extreme cold being marketed as Omni-Heat Infinity by Columbia Sportswear for winter wear.

Previously, only governments have succeeded on Moon landing missions:  Japan last month (but upside down!), the U.S., Russia, European Space Agency, China and India.  How many moon missions thus far?  Around a hundred in the 1900's and approaching 50 since 2000, led by Russia with 58 and the U.S. with 57.  Other countries such South Korea with a lunar orbit and the UAE with launches to Mars and participation in NASA's Artemis (the next Moon exploration program) are expanding operations.  Why so much new interest in the Moon?  Maybe the Helium-3, which theoretically can be used for fusion.  But with abundance at maybe 10 parts per billion, you got to wonder about the economics.  Read this.

Now on to The Beach Boys, founded in 1961 in Hawthorne, California, consisting of Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine.

• First known as the Pendletones, Brian was the songwriter and lead, while dad Murry Wilson served as their manager.

• 
  Their first hit was Surfin' USA in 1963.  
• Brian also co-wrote with Jan Berry Surf City for Jan and Dean.
• Even with the British invasion, the Beach Boys were doing well, for their I Get Around in 1964 was their first to hit #1 on Billboard.  
• In the late 1960s eldest brother Brian Wilson, began suffering from dissociative identity disorder, with various personalities that came and went, for long periods.  While a musical genius--wrote two dozen top 40 hits--he was also nuts.  At 81 now has dementia, but informally remains a member of the Beach Boys. 

• 
  A good part of the problem was Mike Love (here with Brian to the left), a crazy asshole and badger.  Always wore a hat to conceal his baldness.  Love had an illegitimate daughter who in 1983 became Dennis Wilson's fifth wife.  Well, when you come down to it, he would not have gained that reputation if not for Brian, who at one point in his life wore a bath robe for 12 years and weighed 340 pounds in 1982.

• 
  Dennis?  Was the wild child drummer, only surfer in the group and too much into alcohol and heavy drugs.  Can you believe he and Terry Melcher were associated with the Manson Family in those turbulent late '60's? Charles Manson was, before the killings, a singer.  That's Dennis to the left and Charles to the right.  In 1983, while attempting to get clean, drowned at the age of 39.
• 
  Carl Wilson (right), the youngest brother, became the de facto leader from 1970 to the mid-80's.  Died of lung cancer in 1998, granting Love legal rights to the group's name.

• 
  Al Jardine (right) quit the group after the debut single, but returned a couple of years later.  He later teamed with  Brian Wilson and David Marks, as opposed to The Beach Boys, with Mike Love, Bruce Johnson and the band.  Talked about a 60th reunion, but the pandemic came.  Jardine, now 80, does not participate in the current Beach Boys.
• 
  Bruce Johnson (now 81) replaced Glen Campbell, who was filling in for Brian Wilson in 1965, and, save for a period from 1972 to 1978,  has since then been with the group.  Won a Grammy in 1978 for I Write the Songs, which hit #1 for Barry Manilow.

• 
  The song that spurred them to continue touring might well have been Kokomo, written in 1988, 24 years after their first #1.  Who wrote it?  Mike Love, John Phillips from The Mamas and Papas, Scott McKenzie (who wrote San Francisco) and Terry Melcher (Doris Day's son).  Was the feature song in Tom Cruise's Cocktail.   According to DiscoverMusic:

Kokomo is also a real place, but not “off the Florida Keys.” It’s actually six places because there is a Kokomo in Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, and Texas. As well as being a place, it was a popular brand of 1920s coffee. In the 1970s there was a band named Kokomo, containing two of Joe Cocker’s Grease Band in the line-up. 

• The Hawaii Kokomo is a community on Maui, north of Makawao.  There is no Kokomo in Florida.
• In the early 2010s, the remaining original members reunited for their 50th anniversary tour.
• Brian Wilson himself has won two Grammys, but the band has zero.

So with that background, on to my Beach Granddads and Boys concert at the Hawaii Theater.  But first, I had dinner at Lucky Belly.  Instead of my usual Belly Bowl, I had a Beast Bowl for $2 more, plus a Kirin Beer.

Noticed an eclectic array of whiskies.

I saw a huge line around the theater, but an attendant noticed my walking cane, so I saved half an hour by being sent to the front of the line.  My seat was a good part of the enjoyment, for I was in the front row of a raised portion so that when the crowd stood to cheer on a particularly memorable song, I could remain seated.

There were ten Beach People in Hawaii Theater, most qualifying as boys, for in addition to Mike Love and Bruce Johnson, who are of grandaddy age, members who show up include Brian Eichenberger, Christian Love, Tim Bonhomme, John Bolton, Keith Hubacher, Rando Leago, Scott Totten, John Cowsill and John Wedemeyer.  Then there is the peripathetic John Stamos, a youngish-looking 63, first played with them in 1985, and still appears, as he did in Honolulu.  He usually brings family, and his very young daughter played the conga drums with him.  Appropriately enough, He was the lead character in the Fox sitcom Grandfathered.

The concert itself was fabulous.  Hawaii Theater has been refurbished, and the acoustics are great.  You can feel the bass in your chest.  Transported me back to 1967 when I first saw them at what was then called the Honolulu International Center.  Returned in 2014, and the result was another blog posting.  Stamos was again there.

Interestingly enough, 15 Craigside also will have a Beach Boys program tomorrow.

In the meantime, The Legacy performed at 15 Craigside.  The guys are retired music schoolteachers, one a principal, plus an engineer.  A good number of us living here are engineers and teachers, four principals.

A big joke at the beginning was that when they taught, everyone sat in the back, and the further in the rear the more D and F students.  Same here.

They played music popular in Hawaii a half to one century ago.  Just right for  15 Craigside.

To close, Travis Kelce returned the favor, as he is now in Sydney, Australia, where Taylor Swift is performing.

-