FRIDAY MOVIE SUGGESTION NIGHT PRESENTS: "BRIAN WILSON LIVE AT THE ROXY THEATRE!"

We continue the high energy Summer theme of "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" with an incredible Rock & Roll concert film (and a sneak preview above via You Tube) about the man who is the genius behind "America's Band", the legendary Beach Boys' Brian Wilson! In 1961, Brian with brothers Carl, and Dennis teamed up with cousin Mike Love and Al Jardine in their suburban Hawthorne, California to create, ultimately 36 Number 1 Top 40 hits (the most of any U.S. rock band), 56 Billboard "Hot 100" hits including 4 Number 1 singles and the honor of being listed by Rolling Stone magazine as among the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". Driven mercilessly by an emotionally and physically abusive father in Murry Wilson, a violent confrontation inside a recording studio in 1964 led to his ouster from the band. Later that year, the pressure of relentless touring and torturous emotional scarring within the Wilson family left a tremendous toll. By the start of 1965, Brian Wilson left the road as the group's leader, bassist and keyboardist. He was replaced by Bruce Johnson.

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Throughout the early 1960's The Beach Boys fashioned hits about bikini-clad girls, surfing and the hot rod car cruising culture of California's "Endless Summer" with extremely tight harmonies that were later redeployed on more mature themes culminating in the band's 1967 seminal answer to The Beatles "Sergeant Pepper" album with their own "Pet Sounds". Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney stated that Wilson's "God Only Knows" was the most incredible song he had ever heard. In the studio, the band gradually brought in accomplished session musicians such as drummer Hal Blaine and bassist Karol Kayne. A sampling of hits include: "Surfer Girl", "Do It Again", "Barbara Ann", "409", "California Girls", Surfin' USA", "Help Me Rhonda", "I Get Around", and "The Little Girl I Once Knew". The band toured worldwide while Brian Wilson stayed back home in California writing and becoming one of the most highly regarded recording engineers in the world. In fact, "Good Vibrations" (featured in this concert) required no less than six miles of recording tape and endless takes before Wilson was satisfied. Mental and physical health issues witnessed decades of self-imposed exile and deterioration that nearly cost Brian his life on several occasions. Still, the band replete with its own internal conflicts soldiered on through the 1970's bigger than ever in the United Kingdom, while their popularity waned in the United States. Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar had joined the band's tour in 1972.

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By 1974, the band enjoyed a comeback with double albums "Endless Summer" and "Spirit of America". They joined the band Chicago singing background vocals on "Wishing You Were Here" and on Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me". In 1983, Dennis Wilson tragically drowned after a history of heavy alcohol and drug abuse. Still, the band continued on. David Lee Roth had his own hit with the release of Brian's "California Girls" in 1987. In 1988, The Beach Boys were inducted into The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and that same year, Tom Cruise's film "Cocktail" featured an unexpected Beach Boys hit "Kokomo". Then Brian himself surprised everyone by recovering from drug dependency sufficiently enough to record a self-titled CD that met with critical acclaim (a suggested cut is "Let It Shine" removed from Brian's life after he had become overly possessive. ). But the remaining band members fought to have Brian's controversial therapist Dr. Eugene LandyLandy was successfully removed from Brian's affairs. Tragedy struck again in 1998 when Carl Wilson, a heavy cigarette smoker died of lung cancer.

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In recent years, the first of many sad legal battles over rights to the bands extensive catalogue of hits was filed by singer Mike Love who stated in a second legal suit filed in 2005: “Once again the people around Brian, my cousin and collaborator on many hits, who I love and care about, have used him for their own financial gain without regard to his rights, or my rights, or even the rights of the estates of his deceased brothers, Carl and Dennis, and their children... Unfortunately, history repeats itself. Because of Brian’s mental issues he has always been vulnerable to manipulation. I simply want to stop the infringers and stop the deception". However, in 2006 the surviving band members reunited for a 40th Anniversary celebration of the release of the album "Pet Sounds". Brian Wilson today is happily married with two children. He has rebuilt his relationship with daughters Carnie and Wendy Wilson (of the band Wilson-Phillips) and this film is itself a celebration that Brian is a survivor.

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Recorded at the famous Roxy Theater in Hollywood, California this concert drew virtually every major rock artist out to see Brian performing his hits "live" for the first time in many years. It's part of my focus on Summer, and I hope you enjoy this film! Here's the DVD set List:

1	Little Girl (Intro) - 0:59
2	The Little Girl I Once Knew - 3:24
3	This Whole World - 1:51
4	Don't Worry Baby - 3:27
5	Kiss Me Baby - 3:12
6	Do It Again - 3:25
7	California Girls - 4:06
8	I Get Around - 2:35
9	Back Home - 4:33
10	In My Room - 2:48
11	Surfer Girl - 3:02
12	The First Time - 3:55
13	This Isn't Love - 3:55
14	Add Some Music to Your Day - 4:10
15	Please Let Me Wonder - 3:29

Disc 2

1	Band Intro - 1:29
2	Brian Wilson - 0:55
3	'Til I Die - 3:57
4	Darlin' - 2:50
5	Let's Go Away for Awhile - 2:54
6	Pet Sounds - 4:27
7	God Only Knows - 3:25
8	Lay Down Burden - 3:28
9	Be My Baby - 4:11
10	Good Vibrations - 6:01
11	Caroline No - 5:00
12	All Summer Long - 3:11
13	Love and Mercy - 3:52
14	Sloop John B. - 3:34
15	Barbara Ann - 2:35
16	Wouldn't It Be Nice - 2:45
17	Help Me, Rhonda - 3:45
18	Fun Fun Fun - 3:54
19	Interview - 4:22

My Complete Website is: www.michaelmanning.tv