19 Apr 2002
From Charles Apple
The Beach Boys in Des Moines

I took the girls to a Beach Boys concert Wednesday here in Des Moines.
It's the first time I've seen the Mike 'n Bruce show since... well,
since they became the Mike 'n Bruce show.

And much to my surprise, I enjoyed the hell out of the show!

I was undecided as to whether to go, quite frankly. I hated to drag
Elizabeth to a concert on a school night. But then the features
department of my newspaper asked me to review the concert for them.
Although the show was on Wednesday, we didn't run the review until today
(Friday), because of the deadline structure of our Features section.

Here's the review:
http://DesMoinesRegister.com/news/stories/c4788998/17949036.html

For those of you who don't know me, I'll point out briefly that I'm the
graphics editor of the Des Moines Register. I turn 40 next week. I've
been a fan of the Beach Boys since the days of the ENDLESS SUMMER and IN
CONCERT albums, in the mid-70s. My Beach Boys web page--which badly
needs updating--is here:
http://capple.mybravenet.com/

I attended nine Beach Boys concerts between June 1981 and July 1991, but
I've not seen them since. I took my wife and daughter to a performance
by Al Jardine's Family and Friends in 1999, which I wrote about
extensively here:
http://members.tripod.com/~fun_fun_fun/7-31-99c.html

My wife enjoys the Beach Boys but she's not nearly as big a fans as am
I. Before Wednesday, she had seen four Beach Boys shows. And Elizabeth,
our nine-year-old, saw the Jardine show but has never seen the Beach
Boys. She's a big fan, though.

And here's my more detailed account of Wednesday's show. Warning, it's
quite lengthy:

There were eight musicians on stage. Mike Love and Bruce Johnston,
naturally, were front-and-center. On the far left was the long-haired
John Cowsill, who was a drummer with the Cowsills back in the 60s but
played rhythm guitar and percussion Wednesday. Left front was Chris
Farmer, on bass and excellent vocals. And right front was Scott Totten,
who played truly excellent lead guitar and, as I said in my review,
really ought to be used as a lead singer more often. His falsetto rocked.

In back were two keyboardists-Tim Bonhomme, who seemed to have technical
problems much of the evening, and Gary Griffin, the newcomer who has
also played in Jan & Dean's band-and Mike Kowalski, the drummer. During
his band introductions, Mike made some comment about how Kowalski had
been with "this fine organization" for something like 30 years. Quite
frankly, Kowalski's drumming only stood out a time or two during the
show. The one time I was totally blown away by the drums was when
Kowalski stepped away from the kit. But more about that later...

Oh, and Adrian Baker was not present. I sort of wondered where he was,
but quite frankly, it didn't appear the band missed him very much Wednesday.

The show started darn near on time--only three minutes after the
scheduled 7:30 start. They opened with the standard "California Girls"
and then went directly into "Do It Again." The band looked tired and
sluggish and they didn't sound all that great. I leaned over to Sharon
and said, "These guys look tired."

She replied, "I don't think they really want to be here." And she was
right; they looked almost bored. It was only the sixth stop on the Beach
Boys new tour, so I was surprised they looked so bad.

The only energy seemed to come from Cowsill. John was hopping around and
jerking his head around, which made his hair fly in all directions.
Since my favorite Cowsills song is "Hair," this made me smirk. But his
antics stood out so much from the group, I wrote into my notes, "Cowsill overacts."

During "Do It Again," Bonhomme asked a roadie for help with his
keyboard. Also, Totten's guitar solo was so poorly mixed that I could
barely hear it. I made careful notes of this, but actually, this is the
sort of crap I've come to expect from Beach Boys concerts going back to
my first shows in the early '80s. Unlike some of those shows, however,
it eventually got better Wednesday.

Next, they went into "Catch A Wave," which surprised me. I've only heard
that song live twice: In Atlanta in 1981, and when Al Jardine's group
performed it in 1999. So already, I was delighted with the set list.
Kowalski's drum playing was pretty good on that song and Farmer nailed
Brian's falsetto parts quite well. They went from there into "Dance,
Dance, Dance." Mike sang the lead while Bruce did the high bits with his
thinning voice. He didn't sound all that great, but I noticed that the
sound guys finally got Totten's lead guitar mixed properly. That was
when I first started taking note of Totten's playing. He's quite good.

Then, Bruce sang lead on "Do You Wanna Dance." Again, he didn't sound so
hot but I enjoyed the twinkling keyboard effect that Bonhomme added. It
was a nice song. They should perhaps get someone else to sing lead on it.

>From there, they did "Little Honda," which again delighted me. I have
NEVER heard them sing that one live. They screwed around with the
backing on that song: they've basically converted it from a
guitar-driven song to a piano-driven song. For the life of me, I
couldn't tell which of the keyboardists were playing "lead piano." But
the track sounded good, despite the rough edge to the vocals.

Sharon and I were still muttering to each other about how bad they
sounded. Mike was mostly on-key and was much less nasal than usual, but
he sounded tired and lacked energy. As I have found to be customary at
most Beach Boys shows, I thought the vocals were pushed too far back in
the mix. And minor technical glitches were playing havoc with some of
the musicians.

Adding to my disappointment was my daughter Elizabeth. It was during
"Little Honda"--normally, one of her favorite tracks--that she put her
head on Sharon's shoulder and looked tired herself. I thought to myself
that this was going to be a LOOOOONG evening.

But I'll give Mike a lot of credit; he acknowledged this very problem
right after "Honda." The group had played six stright fast songs and
stopped for a breather while Mike went into one of his patented
monologues. "If you ever start up a rock group, just remember: Forty
years later, you'll still be singing in the same tempos,"Mike said. "If
we had only known, we would have done all ballads."

Mike went on to marvel at the Des Moines Civic Center, which is normally
a venue for things like opera and stage musicals. He said he felt a
little like Tony Bennett on stage. He said that he can actually hear
himself sing in the Civic Center, so he doesn't have to rely on his
monitor speakers. "That's what these black boxes are up here on
stage--monitor speakers," Mike said. "They're not airport security devices."

Right then, some lady way up in the cheap seats screamed loudly, "WE
LOVE YOUUUU!" Bruce brought down the house by pointing at the lady and
saying, "Ah, the check must have cleared."

Mike said that the band would LIKE to have a short intermission followed
by a nap and then, "we could all meet back here and finish the concert
at a reasonable hour tomorrow afternoon." But, he said, they'd press on
instead.

This whole bit struck me as slightly funnier than Mike's usual schtick.
So again, I was encouraged.

They picked up with a nice version of "Surfer Girl." Bruce sang the
middle section and pretty much butchered it, but I noticed that finally,
the sound guys had pushed the vocals up in the mix. And, for the first
time, I could tell that, hey, those group vocals don't sound bad at all.
I was surprised at how good the harmony was. And Mike's bass fit right
into the other voices; it wasn't boosted unnaturally or anything.

"Tonight, we're going to do a couple of songs we don't normally do at
outdoor venues, Mike said next. "Places like"--and his voice dripped
with sarcasm--"Sec Taylor Stadium!"

The crowd roared its approval. Sec Taylor is the Iowa Cubs' baseball
stadium and is where the Beach Boys normally play when they come to Des
Moines. Their last visit coincided with a huge rainstorm that washed out
the game and dropped attendance pretty badly.

"Or the State Fairgrounds!" Mike continued, which brought another roar.
The Beach Boys played the enormous State Fair several years ago.

Then, Mike went into his standard 'Make Fun Of Bruce 'Cause He Gave Away
His Grammy Winning Song To Barry Manilow' routine. Bruce replied that he
was merely a graduate of what he called "The Mike Love School of
Songwriting..." For a moment, Mike seemed almost speechless. Then, Bruce
finished the sentence: "...and Farming!"

Mike broke into a guffaw. I had to assume this wasn't a rehearsed
routine. And whatever they were doing up on stage, it must have been a
good thing, because I noticed that the band's energy level was rising somewhat.

Bruce carried the lead on the next song, "Please Let Me Wonder," and I
noticed that he didn't sound quite as bad as he had on the earlier
songs. Kowalski laid down a nice, oddly-phrased drum beat. I've heard
the Beach Boys sing this one before, but not very often. It's a great
song and I loved hearing it.

The band segued quickly into "Don't Worry, Baby," which turned out to be
a very nice surprise. Scott Totten carried the lead on that song and
man, did he sound great. At that point, I had no idea of who he was, so
my notes say "Lede= Kid on right - brunette, skinny kid, straight hair."

I leaned over to Sharon and told her that this song sounded pretty
decent. She replied, "They'd sound GREAT... if they'd kick the two
geezers off the stage!"

I decided not to speak to Sharon for the rest of the show.

Next, they surprised me again by singing "Kiss Me, Baby." At this point,
I began to wonder if Brian's solo tour--or at least Brian's LIVE AT THE
ROXY album and perhaps Al's concert album was affecting Mike's choice of
songs.

Mike and Chris Farmer shared the lead vocals. I noticed that Cowsill was
having some difficulty playing both his rhythm guitar and a tamborine at
the same time. At one point, he appeared to screw up and he threw the
tamborine to the floor, where it bounced and rolled oddly. He was still
the most energetic person on stage, although the rest of the band was
finally waking up. I wrote in my notes that they "sound pretty good."

Chris Farmer took the lead on the next song, which again was a surprise
"Then I Kissed Her." They played that one at a show I attended in
Charlotte eleven years ago, but that's the only time I've heard it live.
By this time, I was feeling pretty satisfied--at least as far as song
selection was concerned. I actually thought what a wonderful addition to
Eric's set list this is going to make.

The 12th song of the evening was "Darlin'," and John Cowsill finally got
a chance for a lead vocal. He did a GREAT job. Sharon leaned over to me
and asked "Who the hell is THAT guy?" I told her he was John Cowsill.
She replied, "He's good."

The band took another breather while Mike set up the band's '50s covers.
That's something I really like about their shows these days: They appear
to have grouped songs into themes and they present them as little arcs.
I mean, they've always done this with the "Automotive Classics" and the
surfin' songs, but right here, in the middle of the set, they did "Why
Do Fools Fall In Love" (No. 6 hit in Feb. 1956 by Frankie Lymon & The
Teenagers), "Come Go With Me" (No. 18 hit in March 1957 by the
Dell-Vikings) and "Rock and Roll Music" (No. 8 hit in Nov. 1957 by Chuck
Berry). Of course, the Boys covered all three songs with their own
recordings, Bruce even telling us that the first one was the B-side to
"Fun, Fun, Fun."

"I'm too young to remember these songs," Mike confided to the crowd.
"But Bruce told me all about it."

Mike's probably told this one before, but he went into this drawn-out
bit about what a "45" was. "Long before Napster... there was a method of
delivering music to the consumer... who actually PAID for music," Mike
said. He also said that a "45" was not a firearm, which I believe is a
joke I've heard him tell before.

Mike mentioned that the next song starts with a five-part harmony a
cappella bit. Bruce told us that a cappella actually means "nude." Since
that joke appears on their 1969 live album, I'm surprised they still
tell it--but then Mike shook his head and complained about how difficult
it is to sing the intro to "Fools."

"I don't know what cousin Brian was smokin' when he came up with that
one," Mike said.

I sat there for a moment, wondering how offended I should be by that
statement.

But right then, the entire show turned by what happened next.

The band sang the a cappella intro in five-part harmony. And it sounded
good. Damn good.

The crowd come to life. Everyone went nuts.

But Mike stopped the song. He cocked his head in that funny Mike
Love-ish way of his and he said, "Not bad. But I think we can do better.
Let's try it again."

And so they sang it again, dragging out the last note even longer, which
suggested to me that this "false start" was perhaps a scripted bit.

But danged if they didn't do better.

And they kicked into the rest of the song, which as you know, has
several a cappella breaks. The whole song sounded fantastic. Totten sang
lead, and sang it very nicely. The crowd was finally into the show,
clapping along appreciatively. I glanced at my notes and discovered we
were on song No. 13. The show was almost half-over, but they band had
finally come to life and had engaged their audience. Finally.

The band went directly into "Come Go With Me," which broght the crowd to
its feet. Everyone clapped along, swayed and, in some cases, sang along
with the Chris Farmer's lead vocal and the choruses. During the first
chorus, Mike attempted to hit the low note on "You never give me a
chance," and missed badly. He looked at Farmer, who shot him a sad look
and shook his head. During the second chorus, I watched closely as Mike
nailed the bit. This time, he looked to Farmer, as if for approval.
Chris smiled and nodded and Mike seemed to light up. In retrospect, I
suspect this is a scripted routine, but it sort of delighted me at the time.

As soon as the last note was hit, the band launched head-first into
"Rock And Roll Music." The crowd, still on its feet, started dancing,
but dancing is difficult in the ampitheater-type seats at the Des Moines
Civic Center. And there are no real aisles to speak of, or else the
crowd would be dancing in them.

It was a shame when "Rock And Roll Music" ended, because the crowd sat
back down. At least the energy level in the room had risen
significantly. And at this point, I was very much aware I was probably
seeing one of the best Beach Boys concerts I had ever seen. Even my
daughter Elizabeth was totally into the show now, clapping along and
dancing in front of her seat.

Mike went into his old bit about telling us we were too old to hear the
"Automotive Classics." He thanked the young people in the audience--"All
six of you"--for bringing their grandparents to the show. He said "409"
referred to the year the song came out and that "I Get Around" has been
retitled "I Got Around."

And so the band played the medley, which included "Little Deuce Coupe,"
"409," "Shut Down" and "I Get Around." Mike sang lead on all four. I
noticed that there was not sax solo on "Shut Down," and I wondered how
long ago Mike gave up his sax playing. The bit was played via
synthesizer. And again, Totten impressed the heck out of me with a
sparkling guitar solo on "I Get Around." The audience danced throughout
the medley, which in fact, is no longer a medley at all: The band played
all four songs in their entirety.

Next, Mike introduced the band. I had done some homework by printing out
the home page of BeachBoysBand.net which contains mug shots and names of
the backing band. I pulled out my page and read along as Mike made the
intros. Obviously, Adrian Baker was not at the show. Cowsill was on
guitar. And the big question I had--Who was the keyboardist on the
right?--Mike answered by introducing Gary Griffin.

Then Bruce told the audience to not forget the man who "wrote just about
all the words we sing, Mister Mike Love!"

I found that somewhat offensive. I mean, of the four songs the boys had
just sung, Mike had written lyrics to only two: "409" and "I Get
Around." And despite what a judge ruled a few years ago, I'm under the
impression that Gary Usher wrote most of the lyrics to "409." And of the
six songs that followed, Mike is credited with writing lyrics on only
two--and his authorship of one of those, "Wouldn't It Be Nice," is
disputed by many folks, including Tony Asher, who really DID write the
lyrics to that song.

Therefore, of the ten songs surrounding Bruce's comment, Mike claims to
have written lyrics for four. And two of those are questionable.

"Wrote just about all the words we sing," my ass. THAT'S why many folks
don't like this guy. *Sigh* And the show was going so well, too.

Although I stewed about this for a few minutes, I enjoyed the next few
songs. Bruce sang lead on "In My Room," doing a somewhat better job than
he had done with his earlier lead vocals.

Next, the band played a stunning version of "Hushabye," yet another song
I've never heard live. Totten kicked major ass with his lead vocal while
Mike blended in well with his bits. I wrote in my notes, "Damn fine
harmony!" They followed that with yet another song I've never heard
live: "Wendy," with Bruce singing lead. And again, I was thrilled by the
choice of songs.

Mike introduced the next arc as "three songs from an album called PET
SOUNDS." He went on at length about the awards and critical raves the
album as received over the years. But, Mike said, "The album came out
in1966. It went platinum the year before last. Some of our TEETH went
gold before that album."

Coming on the heels of Bruce's lyrics comment, I was rubbed the wrong
way by this bit. And by now, I was thinking that it would be nice for
Mike to graciously acknowledge Brian Wilson during this spiel. But he
didn't. The only mention Mike made of Brian all night was the bit about
"smokin'" to come up with five-part harmony.

As usual, however, they dedicated "God Only Knows" to Carl. Bruce sang
yet another lead. While he did a decent job, he wasn't great. I'm
surprised they don't give this lead to another singer. Mike stepped
offstage for a break during the song. but returned for the next, "Sloop
John B." The audience came to its feet for "Sloop," which sounded great.
Bruce sang the first verse and Mike sang the second.

They wrapped up their PET SOUNDS bit with a great job on "Wouldn't It Be
Nice." The harmonies were very well-done, especially the slow part at
the end. The audience had sat down after "Sloop," but then stood up
again for "Nice."

"Stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down... it's like the Catholic Church
around here tonight," Mike said. I was grateful he didn't make a joke
about clergy and young boys.

Next came the comedy bid/monologue I've read so much about but I've
never seen in person--at least I'd never seen the long version of it.
For perhaps five full minutes, Mike attempted to "set the mood" by
taking us back in time to the 1960s. There were some cool percussive
effects, but mostly, the skit seemed like an excuse for the band to take
a short break. I could tell when Mike was about done because the
guitarists returned and picked up their instruments and Kowalski
remounted his kit.

Sharon and I both felt this bit went on waaaay too long. When he
mentioned a VW microbus filled with suspicious smoke and suggested that
it would have Arkansas tags, Sharon leaned over to me and said "Should
somebody tell him the election is over?"

And they worked in the bit about turning on the radio to hear Bruce sing
"I Write The Songs." Funny thing, though: "I Write The Songs" was a hit
for Barry Manilow in 1975. "Good Vibrations" came out in October 1966,
nine years before. So the logic of this whole comedy routine doesn't
work for me. But it seemed to work well for the rest of the audience.
They seemed quite entertained for the entire bit. I've got to hand it to
Mike, he kept the crowd in the palm of his hand the whole time.

And, as I said, it was all a lead-in for "Good Vibrations." Chris Famer
sang lead. The version was okay, but not as good as I would have
expected, given the performance of some of the other songs earlier. And
I was surprised that Mike no longer drags out the end to make it into an
audience sing-along. I wondered how long ago they made that change.

>From "Vibrations," they went directly into "Kokomo," which made an
interesting contrast. Mike sang lead, naturally, while John Cowsill sang
Carl's high parts. I thought that Cowsill was a bit too loud in the mix
but that he sounded pretty good. He's not Carl, obviously--no one could
be--but he added some real emotion to his part. They ought to make
better use of this guy, I thought. Tha audience danced to the song and
sang along in the choruses. There is a new a cappella bit in the song,
which sounded quite nice.

As if they were reading my mind, they tossed the next lead vocal to
Cowsill: "Help Me, Rhonda." Cowsill nailed the sucker, and he looked
like he was having a lot of fun doing it. While I miss Al Jardine quite
a bit--and I loved seeing his band perform three years ago up in
Dubuque--Cowsill did a great job on Rhonda. By now, the crowd was on its
feet more than in its seats.

Next, Chris Farmer led the band in "Barbara-Ann." This is my daughter
Elizabeth's favorite song--for a long time, she called the Beach Boys
"The Barbara-Anns"--so she slipped past Sharon to dance with me in the
small space in front of my seat. Farmer did a great job with the vocal
and Totten supplied yet another sizzling guitar solo.

And Totten did it yet again with the next song, "Surfin' Safari." I
hadn't expected to hear "Safari," so it was a bit of a surprise.

I recognized the show was coming to a close when Totten fired off the
intro to "Surfin' USA." The crowd was really getting into it when an
enormous U.S. flag dropped from the ceiling behind the band. They
finished on a very big roll and exited the stage.

I expected only one song for the encore--I knew we hadn't heard "Fun,
Fun, Fun"--so I was delighted when Mike comes back out and tells about
the time he spent in India with the Maharishi and Paul McCartney. That
could only mean he's setting us up for "Back in the U.S.S.R.," which
I've heard them play a number of times. During his routine, however,
Mike cracked me up when he told the crowd that they would now play the
song the way it's SUPPOSED to be played. The crowd tittered. "What can I
say?" Mike admitted. "I'm just a smart ass. I was raised that way."

During Mike's monologue, the other musicians returned to the stage, but
I noticed they had switched instruments. Kowalski had climbed behind
Griffin's keyboard and had picked up a tambourine. Griffin picked up a
guitar and went to Cowsill's spot. And John Cowsill climbed onto
Kowalski's drum kit. I was aware that Cowsill had played drums with the
Cowsills, so I wondered what they were up to.

When they went into "U.S..SR.," man, Cowsill damn near destroyed that
drum kit! Sharon leaned over and yelled in my ear,"Why doesn't he play
drums all the time?" He was THAT good. The band really kicked major ass,
and the audience responded in a big way.

After "U.S.S.R.," the musicians scrambled back to their regular
spots--except for the keyboardists, who had swapped places--in time for
Totten to supply yet another blazing guitar into into "Fun, Fun, Fun."
Mike sang lead, naturally. They sounded great, they sounded loud and--as
usual--the song was the perfect end to a great night of music.

We came home and I wrote my review for The Register. We planned to run
the review in Friday's paper, so my deadline wasn't until 11 a.m.
Thursday. I was pretty happy with the way it came out. I shifted into
graphics fifteen years ago so I don't write that often professionally
any more, and when I do write, it's usually only a sentence or two.

Since I'm a fan, I was able to work in bits of background material. I
mentioned that "Come Go With Me" was from the MIU ALBUM which was
recorded here in Iowa, for example. And I suspect most of the audience
Wednesday night wondered who the hell John Cowsill was. I was eager to
work that in. I probably spent a good hour composing two short
paragraphs at the end that explained why there were only two "original"
members present Wednesday. One could easily write a book on that subject.

However, I was quite proud of how it came out. I decided the arc
featuring the '50s songs was the turning point of the show, so I wrote
it like that. After that bit, the concert was quite good, I thought.
Sharon says my review was mostly accurate but she says I was too
generous. She says that the band was great but that Mike and Bruce
sucked.

On the way out the door that night, I polled a few random audience
members who told they loved the show. Smiles were on nearly every face
in the lobby. I suspect Sharon's being too hard on Mike. I thought he
was in very good voice throughout the evening. I have to agree, though,
that Bruce was pretty rough. Which is NOT good for a band whose main
feature is their vocals.

Again, check out my published review online:
http://DesMoinesRegister.com/news/stories/c4788998/17949036.html

And that's my story. Hope you found it interesting.

Oddly enough, the Beach Boys seem to be playing much smaller venues this
time around. They were in Omaha Tuesday before coming here Wednesday.
Thursday they played Sioux City, Iowa, and tonight they're in Clear
Lake, Iowa, which is where Buddy Holly's plane crashed. After that,
they're off to do two shows Saturday at Wisconsin Dells and then a pair
of shows Sunday in Minnesota. They take a week off before picking back
up in Reno.

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