Brian Wilson: REIMAGINES GERSHWIN with Aaron Olson

Summary

Jokermen Podcast – Episode Summary

Brian Wilson: REIMAGINES GERSHWIN with Aaron Olson
Date: March 9, 2026
Guests: Aaron Olson
Hosts: Evan (B), Ian (A)

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Overview

This episode of Jokermen dives deep into Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin (2010), the iconoclastic Beach Boy’s full-length love letter to the legendary American songwriting duo, George and Ira Gershwin. Special guest Aaron Olson joins hosts Evan and Ian to discuss the album’s place in Brian’s late career, the historical and personal context of both Wilson and Gershwin, the challenges and joys of musical reinterpretation, and the “production problem” of modern nostalgia. The conversation blends musical analysis, personal memories, and laughter, while highlighting what old masters like Brian Wilson bring to music’s ever-spinning cycle.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Background & Album Genesis

• The album’s roots: Sparked by a Disney vanity project that initially sought Brian Wilson for a Disney songs covers album. Brian agreed—if, first, he could tackle a full Gershwin album ([03:00]).
• “The Mouse did us all a favor… ponied up the dough for Brian Wilson to get in the studio and just cut a whole record worth of George Gershwin... And a couple new Brian/Gershwin joints.” – Ian ([03:36])
• Gershwin unfinished works: Features two unfinished Gershwin pieces, completed by Wilson and longtime collaborator Scott Bennett ([03:40]).

2. Personal Connections to the Album

• Aaron recounts being gifted the album after moving to LA, noting its sentimental place in his life despite not listening deeply to the music at the time ([04:32]).
• Evan and Ian reflect on their first awareness of the album, and its outsider role in the Wilson/Beach Boys canon ([05:41]).

3. Gershwin’s Influence in Context

• Biography: Gershwin—son of Jewish immigrants, dead at 38—bridged classical and popular music. Parallel drawn to Wilson’s own genre straddling ([07:40]).
• The defining influence: Rhapsody in Blue formative for Brian Wilson (“...the first piece of music that he ever loved as a toddler” – Evan [09:11]).
• Discussion of Gershwin’s roots in the Yiddish theater and the influence of multicultural, diasporic New York ([12:10]).

4. Track-by-Track Impressions

Rhapsody in Blue (Opener)

• Short a cappella, lush Brian Wilson harmonies. Wished it were longer: “I wish he does a little bit more of it…You get it in the full Brian Four Freshmen, stacked vocals way.” – Aaron ([19:19])

The Like in I Love You

• New, completed from Gershwin fragments.
• “It’s the best example…of what this project…should be, given that it has Brian Wilson’s fingerprints on it.” – Aaron ([20:10])
• Debate over the song’s title implying a lyrical conceit that doesn’t quite work, spawning lighthearted confusion ([22:52]).

Production Talk: 2010s vs. 1990s

• “The production on this album is of a time…in 2026, it’s still kind of a rough palette…sterile.” – Aaron ([26:04])
• Comparison to 1995’s warmer takes; speculation that 2010s production may age into “charming” with time ([29:14]).

Summertime & I Loves You Porgy

• Performed faithfully, but lacking much “reimagining.” Summertime cited as a low point ([43:14]).
• “There’s so many versions of Summertime that I would rather listen to. Sorry.” – Aaron ([45:04])
• “It’s nice to see one of our favorite guys singing some of his favorite songs… not definitive takes.” – Ian ([45:16])

I Got Plenty o’ Nothin’

• “Album highlight…refreshing…Brian ‘barnyard’, the bass harmonica, sounds great. A nice little palette cleanser.” – Aaron ([53:31])

It Ain’t Necessarily So

• “Very Randy Newman-esque feel…great rhymes: ‘Abdomen, Abdomen’…a fun song.” – Evan ([56:17])
• Aaron notes the Jewish liturgical melody, referencing Wikipedia findings ([57:50]).

’S Wonderful

• Bossa nova arrangement; considered a genuine “reimagining” and “delightful” ([60:30], [61:16]).
• “It does sound like Nintendo Wii, which is great.” – Aaron ([61:16])

They Can’t Take That Away From Me

• Noted for charming, quirk-filled lyricism and the backup vocals’ “old-timey” arrangement ([65:14]).

Love Is Here to Stay & Someone to Watch Over Me

• Both seen as more emotionally resonant; “hearing Brian Wilson say ‘I’m a little lamb who’s lost in the wood’...come on.” – Ian ([75:10])

Nothing but Love (Original)

• Another Wilson/Bennett joint; consensus agreeably unimpressed: “Diminishing returns” ([77:18]).

5. What Does Late-Career Brian Wilson Offer?

• Aaron’s wife: “Competent musicians with a weird vocalist… [the project] is not tapping into what Brian has to offer at this point.”
• The hosts agree: there’s an “emotional fulfillment” and “gentle light emitting from this beautiful man” in Wilson’s late work, even if the era of artistic breakthroughs is long over ([48:17]-[52:43]).
• Touring is now his truest gift: “the total reclamation of that aspect of his whole practice… bringing that across the world… that’s magic shit.” – Ian ([53:20])

6. On Nostalgia, Technology, and Musical Time

• Debate over recording aesthetics, shifting reference points as 2010’s studio style ages—will Gen Z chase “that specific compression”? ([31:12])
• Musings on other artists’ responses to changing times: Van Morrison’s late works, Neil Young’s transitory periods, and Bob Dylan’s idiosyncratic “standards” albums ([32:38]-[36:48]).
• “He’s making no attempt whatsoever to try to fit in with the times here…just purely out in deep space, pursuing his own thing. And I dig that.” – Ian ([37:42])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Gershwin’s untimely death:
  “He died young. I know that. 38. Gee, what a tough roll of the dice.” – Aaron ([07:40])

• On Jewish influence in American music:
  “I do think that there is a really notable connection and basis for the multicultural aspect of his music. The modern cosmopolitan sensibility that…is all over modern popular culture. I think the Yiddish theater is like a secret source of so much stuff.” – Evan ([14:29])

• Brian Wilson’s fascination with “Rhapsody in Blue”:
  “He spends the rest of his life…I think he’s obsessed with this song the same way he gets obsessed with Shortenin’ Bread and ‘Ding Dang’ – these songs that he just plays them again and again.” – Ian ([17:18])

• On the album’s sound:
  “It’s a little grating in how not grating it is…how just smooth it goes down all the way through.” – Ian ([27:50])

• On new versus old technology:
  “The thing you hate about a current technology is the thing that will become its trademark.” – Brian Eno, quoted by Evan ([31:00])

• On late style:
  “That’s more my association now that’s positive—when I see Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin…I think, ‘This is grandpa. I love grandpa.’” – Evan ([33:43])

• On the album’s relevancy:
  “No one will listen to this over other versions, but it makes me happy.” – Aaron ([53:23])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:08 – Show begins, guest introductions.
• 03:00 – Album genesis: Disney’s involvement.
• 07:40 – George Gershwin’s life, death, and parallels with Brian Wilson.
• 09:11 – The impact of “Rhapsody in Blue” on Brian Wilson.
• 12:10 – Yiddish theater and multicultural roots.
• 19:19 – Discussion of “Rhapsody in Blue” as an opener.
• 22:52 – Lyrical analysis of “The Like in I Love You”.
• 26:04 – Production aesthetics debate.
• 43:14 – “Summertime” and limitations of reinterpretation.
• 53:23 – “I Got Plenty o’ Nothin’” as an album highlight.
• 56:17 – “It Ain’t Necessarily So” and its Jewish liturgical connections.
• 61:16 – “‘S Wonderful” as a bossa nova success and Wii music reference.
• 75:10 – Emotional depth of “Someone to Watch Over Me”.
• 77:18 – Closing thoughts on “Nothing but Love” and album structure.
• 78:24 – Reflection on series’ depth, listener comments.
• 80:01 – Aaron Olson’s musical projects and ongoing work.

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Ratings & Wrap-Up

• Star rating (out of three):

  • Aaron: 1
  • Evan and Ian: 2 (with debate about whether to compare to Wilson’s canon or on its own merits) ([80:08])

• Final thoughts:

  • It’s not a career-defining Brian Wilson album, nor a must-have Gershwin compendium. But as a gentle, late-period pop artifact, it offers emotional warmth and reminds listeners of what Brian Wilson has always delivered: “a conduit for pure love and light in the world” ([50:40]).

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Aaron Olson’s Projects

• Trio with jazz/MIDI innovator Tommy Peltier (album out March 27)
• “Other Delights”: Bossa nova/exotica band in LA
• Solo album “Songs Album Two” (June)
• Film scores: Nutcrackers, Fuck My Son, Hoagie ([80:56]–[85:47])

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This episode provides a rich, often witty tour through Brian Wilson’s lesser-known homage to his earliest musical inspiration—unpacking what it means for a pop genius to find solace in American songbook tradition while remaining true to his own quietly idiosyncratic late style.

Transcript

[A]

Jokerman podcast is brought to you by Distrokid and their new direct to fan tool. Allowing any artist to sell merch. Distrokid Direct allows artists to create a merch store in minutes without any upfront costs or any technical skills or know how they'll take care of all the logistics and the nitty gritty. And as with distribution through Distrokid, they never take a cut of the proceeds. You, the artist, keep 100% of your earnings. Once again, that's Distrokid Direct. Open a store [e-mail] direct join the human brain.

[B]

Welcome back to Brian Wilson's podcast from Jokerman Podcasts. I'm Evan.

[A]

I'm Ian.

[C]

And I'm Aaron.

[B]

Aaron Olson, everybody.

[A]

Making a long awaited return after the rapturously received John Cale words for the dying episode from maybe three years ago at this point.

[B]

Holy cow, we've been doing the Beach Boys for two years free.

[A]

That's right.

[C]

I have a feeling that the episodes I'm a guest on might be like the least listened to. Well, because of the album content. I mean, maybe it's me.

[B]

I don't.

[C]

I don't actually know.

[B]

There's a specific strain, I think, like you. You are our de facto classical slash chamber adjacent rock music album correspondent.

[C]

Happy to be. We should, yeah, we should go deep on that elsewhere someday, take it into Jack Nietzsche territory.

[A]

Sure. Yeah.

[B]

We have a very good follow up, I think, from the words for the dying episode, which is to say we have Brian Wilson reimagines gershwin.

[A]

That's right. 2010. It's a bunch of Gershwin songs sung by Brian Wilson. What do you want? I don't know.

[B]

The end.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

All right, it's been great, guys. See you in another three years.

[A]

See you next time. No. Yes. This is Brian's 2010 release. We're getting to the good stuff. As I posted on Twitter today. I'm so excited to do the Disney album, which is coming up next.

[B]

In the key of Disney.

[A]

In the key of Disney. Beautiful title, brilliant title, beautiful cover. Anyways, before we get to that, we got this because the Gershwin album came along part and parcel with the Disney songs album. This was released through the Disney vanity imprint label, whatever it was called. Disney gold or something. And then, you know, they. Someone there got the wise idea. Let's get Brian Wilson in. Let's have him sing a bunch of Disney songs. We're printing money. Brian said, yes, let's do it. But before we get there, I want to do a full album of Gershwin music.

[B]

The opposite of printing money.

[A]

That's right. And you know the mouse. We say a lot of negative things about him from time to time. I do, at least. But in this case, he did us all a favor, did us all a great service. Ponied up the dough for Brian Wilson to get in the studio and just cut a whole record worth of George Gershwin. George and Ira Gershwin, I should say, compositions, including a couple songs that weren't even actually finished that Brian himself finished off on his own based on scraps or working demos, sheet music, I guess. They didn't have demos back in the day. I don't know. It's Gershwin classics and a couple new Brian Gershwin joints. So fun stuff to talk about, hopefully. Fun stuff to listen to, at least. Have you guys been enjoying. Aaron, you volunteered yourself for this. To the extent that there is a history with this album for you, what is it?

[C]

I have a very pleasant history with this album, honestly. Or a pleasant memory. I had just moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles when this came out, and my good friend Ari had. We used to burn each other's CDs and stuff and do, you know, recreate the artwork on the cd. And she sent me this when it came out, and she very beautifully, like, redrew the piano key cover.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[C]

On the little, like, you know, thing. And, yeah, I won't say too much about the music, but, like, yeah, it was a very special, like, gift to receive and be like, oh, the new Brian Wilson and Gershwin. I like Gershwin and I like Brian Wilson. So, yeah, there's a pleasant memory around it. Also, having freshly moved to Los Angeles, I was taking in a lot of Beach Boys at the time.

[A]

Sure. As you do.

[C]

As you do.

[A]

Well, that's a perfect, perfect background. Can't imagine anything more appropriate for the subject. Evan, what's your history with Brian Wilson? Reimagined Gershwin. I'm guessing you've really worn out the grooves on this one.

[B]

I. I definitely remember when it came out, like, being aware of it and finding it to be something that I. I thought, that's nice. You know, I don't think I really spent much time listening to it, but I. I would have known about this. Like, it would have been around the time that I was first really getting into the Beach Boys and Pet Sounds. And so I think that I thought, that's nice. Someday I'll listen to that. And that day has come.

[A]

That day has come. That's right. All right. Well, that's. That's great. I don't know that I Even. I mean, I like. I remember this record coming out at some point, I think. Or I remember realizing this record came out at some point. But this was a. Pretty much. This was uncharted territory for me before recently, so it's been interesting to dive into it. One of the few corners of the Brian Wilson output that I'm kind of going into totally blind, or was going into totally blind. Do you either you guys have much history or familiarity with the Gershwin? You know, Gershwin in general?

[B]

I love it. You know, okay, great stuff. It's great songs and music. I don't consider myself a deep Gersh. Gersh head, but there's plenty of songs on here and elsewhere, Just in the World that I adore that happen to be from the Brothers Gershwin.

[A]

Sure. Aaron, you were saying that you might be able to deliver a little information on the Gershwins for us.

[C]

I'm no Schwinn head, but I am a Schwinn fan. And, yeah, I'm not an encyclopedia on the subject, but, yeah, I like George Gershwin a lot. I've, you know, looked at some of the scores and things and appreciated them and played them on piano.

[A]

Boy, he died. I'm just. I'm looking at.

[C]

Died young. I know that.

[A]

38. Gee, what a tough roll of the dice.

[C]

She's pretty impressive how much stuff he put out in that amount of time.

[A]

Truly incredible. You know, he's. He's a legend of Titan. And to only have been on the earth for 38 years, that's insane to me.

[C]

Yeah. What did he die of?

[A]

Brain tumor.

[C]

Brain tumor, yeah.

[A]

Died in 1937.

[C]

Yeah. He was, you know, the son of Jewish immigrants, lived in New York, kind of grew up, I believe, studying music, but I think starting playing piano at a young age. And I think the crux of his story is a little. Which kind of pertains to Brian Wilson or has a parallel to him, is like he was kind of caught between worlds musically, like popular song and classical world, which, as we know, Brian Wilson would kind of at least attempt to, like, put himself in between those two worlds with smile and, you know, his Teenage Symphony to God and all that. I think he spent some time in Europe, in Paris. I think he tried to study with Nadia Boulanger, who was like one of the most famous music teachers, like, period, who is based out in Paris. And I think she rejected him or something. But I think through that trip of his, he wrote An American in Paris, which was a big symphonic piece.

[A]

Sure.

[C]

We've all heard.

[B]

I'm sure Rhapsody in Blue. Of course.

[A]

Yeah. Rhapsody in Blue.

[B]

And Rhapsody in Blue is the song which Brian Wilson credits as being the first piece of music that he ever loved as like a toddler, basically, that he was struck by. And one can't blame him. It is one of those things that you. You kind of can think of the world pre and post its emergence. Like, that piece of music is so modern. It has such a personality and a kind of personality that I don't think existed in anything related to classical music up to that point, really. It seems to be like a major turning point. And this is coming from someone who's not very well versed in classical music history, but he's not quite what you would think of as classical anyway. I mean, it's not just that. It's like a combination of jazz and other forms of popular music and everything else.

[C]

Yeah. I think that honestly, Rhapsody in Blue is like. I mean, there's a lot of pieces of music happening at that period in time that kind of inform the changing of the century. But, like, I think Rhapsody in Blue is at least one of the big markers of a turn towards quote, unquote, popular music away from quote, unquote classical music. Obviously that and like the advent of the tape. Magnetic tape.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

That you could record upon and then, you know, put music out in that way. But yeah, it's like a fully hummable tune. It's completely memorable. It's very. There's a lot of repetition in it of the motifs and like. Yeah, I think it just really points towards that, like music was going to become songs and not so much symphony, concert hall stuff.

[A]

Performances. Yeah.

[B]

He grew up in apparently very close proximity to the Yiddish theater. He grew up in the Yiddish theater district. He and his brother George and Ira frequented apparently the local Yiddish theaters and George occasionally appeared on stage as an extra. A fascinating thing to know, like, to learn about that. The Yiddish world was like, I'll give like a quick rundown. Just because it's relevant, I think, is like that most people who were Yiddish speakers, which is to say most Jews were like, not Zionists. They were opposed to that kind of a thing. They were actively boosting ideas about wherever you are, that's where Jews belong. Like where we want to just be part of culture all over. And that applies to their music and literature and art and everything else.

[C]

The language. The language itself is that every single

[B]

book that you can think of, like every classic of literature was translated into Yiddish. Like, it was an extremely activated and involved culturally driven society that basically got Completely wiped out after World War II, and then was essentially, systematically, forcibly replaced with Zionist nationalism. But within the Diaspora, it really did still exist for quite some time in the form of the Yiddish theater in New York City at the time that George and Ira were growing up. I've actually visited the Yiddish Book center at Amherst College in Western Mass. And there's a quote that I saw on one of the walls in an exhibit there, translated, actually, by my girlfriend's grandfather, Marvin Zuckerman, who's a Yiddish scholar. This is from a Yiddish language conference in 1908. Here, where people of various nationalities speaking many languages live side by side, it is easier for us to do our work in our language. We stroll in the evening, in the streets, and from various windows stream the sounds of different languages, all kinds of folk music. We want our own windows, our own distinct motif in the folk symphony. We are one people, Jews, and our language is Yiddish. And in this language, we want to amass our cultural treasures, create our culture, rouse our spirits and souls, and unite culturally with all countries and all times. I bring this up because while the Yiddish theater in Gershwin's story is kind of only a footnote, I do think that there is a really notable connection and basis for the multicultural aspect of his music. The modern cosmopolitan sensibility that I think we're identifying being inextricable from a Yiddish cultural perspective. And for that matter, I think that same influence is all over modern popular culture. I think the Yiddish theater is like a secret source of so much stuff.

[A]

Sounds like you're saying that Jews maybe kind of control or have outsized influence over popular culture. Is that what I'm picking up there?

[B]

The Jews masterminded catchy music so they could control Ligoyan.

[C]

I'll preempt also that I am Jewish. And so if I say anything that sounds.

[B]

Yes, same.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. It's coming from a Jew.

[A]

They can say it, folks. I can't.

[B]

You can say Free Palace.

[A]

I can say Free Palestine, but, you know, sure can. The bad words. I'll let you guys deliver them.

[C]

Leave the Holocaust jokes to us.

[B]

That's humor.

[C]

But about Back to Raps Blue, even in the first, like, 30 seconds of it, I feel like you can hear klezmer.

[B]

Yeah, sure.

[C]

And I mean, you can hear klezmer, classical and, like, jazz. Yeah. What I would call ragtime, in particular, of jazz, given the. Yeah, and it's awesome. It sounds cool.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Brian Wilson also thinks it sounds cool. Cool enough to start his album with it.

[A]

Yes. Rhapsody in Blue begins this record. And you Know, it's a legendary piece of music in the Brian. To bring this back to Brian. Legendary piece of music in the Brian Wilson lore. The same way that, like, Be My Baby is. I think if you're gonna situate Brian Wilson along any sort of, you know, continuum or think about formative influences on him, it's equal parts Rhapsody and Blue and Be My Baby. That's, you know, that's. That's maybe. Maybe the two biggest. If there's any sort of, you know, recipe for what goes on to be Beach Boys music to come out of him. And he spends, like, the rest of his life. I think he's obsessed with this song the same way that he gets obsessed with Shortening Bread and Ding Dang. These songs that he writes, not Shortening Bread, but Ding Dang is a song that he sort of writes and just plays them again and again, comes back to them again and again. Rhapsody in Blue had actually been recorded by Brian for Orange Crate Art and never actually showed up on that record because I guess it just didn't end up fitting into the finished product there. And so he kind of revisits this concept 15 years later and does. Does it all. Does it big. Does it right here. And I think there's something appropriate about that because he's. I think, this period of time in his career, he's making up for lost time. He's fixing some wrongs, he's righting some wrongs, I should say, in that he's finally allowed to do what he wants to do and pursue his interests. So instead of having to do be chained to the Beach Boys and just eternally going on about sun and surf and girls and root beer or whatever, or instead of being under the cruel tutelage of Dr. Landy, he can just decide, no, I get to do what I want to do at this point. Point. And this is the bride bribe. I'm turning to Steve Brule here.

[B]

The bride product.

[A]

This is the byproduct of that.

[B]

It is the bride product, actually.

[C]

It is the bride product.

[A]

It is the bride product. That's a good point. On that level alone, you got to appreciate it even before we get to the music itself. You got to dig it just on that point to begin.

[C]

I mean, Gershwin also kind of someone who wrote a ton of music and melodies, but not necessarily. I mean, I don't think he wrote any lyrics himself, like our friend Brian Wilson, who wrote some, but not a lyricist.

[A]

More of a music. That's right.

[C]

Wasn't music man.

[A]

Wasn't Aira. Typically His. His lyrical, you know, for the most part.

[C]

Yeah. I think on like, Porgy and Bess, there was a. Another person who wrote the lyrics.

[A]

Sure.

[C]

And maybe some other. I think. Yeah, other people came in and out, but.

[B]

Yeah, but there's plenty of. Yeah. Some of the key songs are like Someone to Watch Over Me is Ira and George. And that's like. Not to jump ahead too far, but that. That's an incredible pairing of music and lyrics. And then it's like one of the great songs of all time.

[A]

Yeah. Music lyrics. You put them together. There you go.

[C]

What do you got?

[B]

Good stuff.

[A]

Well, let's get into it perhaps to the extent that we can. Rhapsody and Blue. I think we have rhapsodized on that as close as we need to. It is a great opener. It's just a little snippet. Honestly. I kind of wish that he does a little bit more of it because it's only. What is it like a minute at the beginning and you get the part that everyone is familiar with. Oh,

[C]

And you get it in the. In the full Brian Four Freshmen, stacked vocals way.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

Brian's voice alone. Yeah.

[C]

Reminiscent of. Is it called Our Prayer? Kind of One for the boys.

[A]

One for the boys.

[C]

Oh, yeah. Our prayer.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. Or One for the boys. Absolutely.

[B]

That's another good pull.

[C]

One for the boys.

[A]

And then we get to first song, first proper song. I suppose the like in I Love youe, which I believe is one of those. One of those songs. There's two of these songs. I think this is the one where this was based on an in progress Gershwin composition and Brian and his buddy Scott Bennett finished it up, which is why maybe sounds a little more contemporary than some of the other songs here. Does that sound accurate to you guys?

[B]

Yeah, definitely.

[C]

It sounds like what this album, I think, is setting out to do. I think it's the best example on the album of what this project maybe could or should be, given that it's like, has Brian Wilson's fingerprints on it way more than a lot of other things on this.

[B]

Yeah. To use the word reimagines like it does. There's not so much that feels like maybe that that word is really the right one. Except this is a moment where I think, like, yeah, for sure. That's literally what it is. And it's pretty uniquely that in that it's an unfinished thing that Brian was just very graciously on the part of the Gershwin estate, given, like, carte blanche to do whatever he wanted with.

[C]

Yeah, exactly.

[A]

Yeah. Which Is cool. And, you know, you would expect. I think that. I mean, I guess you wouldn't expect, but if the Gershwin estate was going to partner with any sort of contemporary songwriter, singer songwriter on finishing or reimagining a Gershwin piece, Brian would be the one. Or Brian would be the one that you want to work with or one of the ones that you want to work with. So I think it's a good. It's a match made in heaven. How about that?

[C]

I would throw Burt Bacharach into the ring for that as well.

[A]

Absolutely. Is.

[C]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say, is this everyone's favorite song on this album or is it just me?

[B]

I like it a lot.

[A]

I like it a lot. It's not my favorite. I've got maybe. I've got one, maybe two that are in competition with it and maybe a little bit higher, but it's definitely, definitely up there.

[B]

It feels classically Brian, like a Brian ballad. Like it could fit on any of his late solo stuff or even really any of his solo records. I think it would be welcome. And that's. That does speak to, like, how deeply ingrained Gershwin's influence is as part of what Brian does. And that is something that only becomes. It becomes much more obvious, like, in this context, of course. But it really is always there in the same way that if you're listening for it, you can hear Be My Baby in, like, half of his songs. Sure. This song just. Yeah, it feels kind of like 50 50. Like, it's hard to tell where Brian ends and Gershwin begins, which is a compliment. You know, Obviously, I do feel like I don't understand the title. Am I slow?

[C]

Like, no, no. Hey, I was hoping we would talk about this.

[A]

It doesn't. It doesn't match the rest of the. The conceit. Right. The pain in painting, the muse in music, the light. There is no like and I in love. Those are just different words.

[B]

Like, and I love you.

[C]

Yeah, I. I don't. I'm still on the fence. If, like, yeah, I. I'm in the same boat. I was like, is this. Does the con. The lack, or does the conceit, I guess, bother me? Or is it smarter than I.

[B]

Or was something lost in translation here, like, cutting out certain lyrics, changing. I'm like, maybe there's a key twist that somehow just got kind of left on the cutting room floor. The. Like, in I love you.

[A]

I mean, like, go ahead.

[C]

I mean, is. Is the cleverness, the. The thwarting of expectations, I guess that

[A]

might Be it right and like.

[C]

Or is. Or is it just annoying?

[A]

The pain in painting, the muse, in music, the great in grateful, the faith in faithful. Like, in all of these words. It's a. Yeah, faith and faithful.

[C]

Lazy.

[B]

Muse. And muse is a little bit lazy too.

[C]

No, but muse and music is a different thing. Like, amuse is. I don't have to explain it, but amuse is not implicit in the word music.

[B]

They just get increasingly less pain. And pain is the strongest one. I think.

[C]

That's a good one. That's good.

[A]

What is the one before faithful, the great in grateful. Yeah, and those are different. They sound the same.

[B]

But it is G R A T

[A]

E, G R E A T and then great.

[C]

G R E A T. So that's still following suit. But yeah, faith and faithful is just extracting the word that exists.

[A]

I mean, maybe the concept is. So, like, all of these words consist, like, these are a constituent part of these larger words. And, like, implicit in the word love, a constituent of the concept of love is like. Like.

[C]

Yes, that's. I mean, the closest I get to. But yeah, but is it clever that it's not part of the word? Maybe. Or is it stupid?

[A]

Yeah, I. I'm. I'm willing to, like, let him skate on it. But it did. Like, after a couple listens, I was like, wait, something. This. Something doesn't add up here.

[B]

Yeah. I'm glad that I'm not alone in this.

[C]

That that will bother me till the day I die. Until I die. There you go. Yeah. And I won't know how I feel about it the whole time.

[B]

There's no, like, I'm not sure I in team. I don't know where.

[C]

It's like, it's something like that.

[A]

All right.

[B]

There isn't. You know. Wait, shouldn't it be the I and

[C]

I love I and I love?

[A]

Well, no, because that's diff. That's a phrase. And the rest of them are all just single words.

[B]

Jesus. I don't know. I mean, I'm dropping it.

[A]

I think Brian got to the same point. He's just like, all right, whatever. Just throw up his hands on to the next one.

[C]

The production on this album is of a time I have faith that someday I will look back on production of the Late Aughts from major studios and listen to it fondly. But it is in 2026. It's still kind of a rough palette, I would say. How sterile.

[A]

I'm totally with you on this. And what's interesting. And I didn't make this Clock this connection until earlier today when I was listening to the original Rhapsody in Blue that Brian did as an outtake for Orange Crate Art. Also recorded during those sessions is another song that appears here, Love is Here to Stay or Our Love Is Here to Stay. And it's, you know, it is the same song, same melody, same everything. But it's recorded in 1995 and here it's recorded in 2010, obviously. And what I realized listening to the Orange Crate Art version of that song is I like that a lot better. And that's because it's got a 1995 kind of flavor to it. And we're further away from that. And that makes it more compelling to me. I have a taste for mid-90s kind of production in a way that 2010 production. At least 2010 production from, like you said, big studio, high profile, fully produced albums. I don't have a taste for this sound at the moment. And so I'm with you. I do imagine that maybe 5, 10, 15 years from now I'm gonna dig the way this record sounds more than I do today. But it definite. It's a little grating in how not grating it is, how just smooth it goes down all the way through.

[B]

I feel that I'm at maybe a more advanced stage, which I'm not saying is a good thing or not, but some of the training that I've been doing with certain late and recent Van Morrison releases I think has sort of been like the gym where I'm like getting kind of into a certain place where I feel I'm cresting the hill maybe a little bit.

[A]

Cresting the Hill sounds like a great title for a Van Morrison song.

[B]

Sure does.

[C]

Oh, wow.

[B]

Yeah, I can see it happening where, like, I'm starting to kind of warm to the anonymous, like, K jazz feel of this kind of music. Like, I think it's partly recognizing that the world is rapidly forgetting how to do it. Even, like, I don't even see this. This kind of like blandly expensive sounding stuff come out. Great way to put it so much anymore. It's like kind of becoming poignant as a reminder of a time when there was such a thing as a kind of like, stuff, status quo culture that produced this kind of music.

[C]

That's great. I'm gonna say that that's a good thing, Evan. I think. I mean, I. I enjoy liking more things personally. So if you have the. The ear for it, then.

[B]

Oh, I thought you were saying it's a good thing that that's coming to like that there's no.

[C]

No, it's a good thing that, that you're in. That you can hear. Hear past it or you can. That you even like.

[B]

Yeah, I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm sweating.

[C]

I just. I think it's a good thing. I think in 2010, I liked. I loved our orange crate art in 2010, in spite of the sound of it.

[A]

Right.

[C]

I wasn't ready, but now I'm like, it's been enough distance. And I like the sound of Orange Crate Art. It was the same with the 80s in general when I was cool, like, I was chorused. Guitar was like the last thing I would want. And then lo and behold. Yeah, I think so. I. I trust that it will turn around.

[A]

Yeah, I think it's. It like honest. I think it really does take about 20 years, you know, for. And. And that's like a generation, basically. Yeah.

[C]

The Gen Z children will be chasing the Brian Wilson reimagines Gershwin sound.

[A]

Exactly, exactly. Because the. The same way that like digital cameras and like Nokia flip phone type things, these are hallmarks of, you know, you want to say 2004, 2006 type culture. The same way that. That is sort of, you know, on the rise as a piece of retromania or whatever. I think, you know, about four or five years from now, this sound will be. This will be the hottest sound. The next Charli xcx record from 202030 is going to sound like this.

[B]

The thing that Eno says. Like, I think Brian Eno is the one who is quoted as saying that like the. The thing you hate about a current technology is the thing that will become its trademark. Like the thing.

[A]

Right. It's the charming.

[B]

Exactly the worst aspect of it. And this is kind of a backwards, like a sort of puzzle. But the thing that is disagreeable about what we're talking about is like the lack of anything. Like it's. It's not something that you can point to ex. Be like, this sucks. It's just like that. There's nothing really. There's no sauce. It's.

[A]

It's the dark matter of the production. It's the that which we cannot perceive exactly.

[C]

But we. It will be perceivable later on.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

I bet you there. There will be an aspect to it there.

[B]

Probably.

[C]

People can probably already point it out, but I think at some point people will be like, I want that specific compression that they used on that or whatever. And it will be pinpointed and the children of Gen Z will be chasing it and finding it. But Then they'll also be doing it through some other new technology that makes it sound like 2035. And so on and so forth and on we go and the glow will

[A]

keep turning until the day it all burns down.

[B]

There's another aspect, though, which I don't think is related to like the actual sound, which is maybe more. Where I'm warming to it is. Is that it's like I'm starting to associate like with Van. You know, we. We talked at length about stuff around this. When we were talking about his new album, what's it called?

[A]

Somebody Tried to Sell Me a Bridge.

[B]

Sell Me a Bridge, yeah.

[A]

How could you forget?

[B]

There's something I'm. I'm starting to like. I don't know. There's. We're still at that point where these people, the originals of rock music are not quite gone. They're still out there making stuff. And I think that until they're all gone, we won't necessarily be able to notice this. But there is a kind of a charm that. That is like the cumulative late style approach of not caring about, like an interesting production style and just really taking joy in the doing of it. Of doing this music and getting in the studio and recording and doing what they do, touring it like that. That's more my association now that's positive is like when I see Brian Wilson reimagines Gershwin and I see Van Morrison singing like making whoopee or whatever he does. I think this is. This is like Grandpa. Like, I. I just find it.

[A]

This is Grandpa I love.

[B]

Like, in a good way.

[A]

I feel that I see. But also I see where you're coming from on that. But at the same time, like that. That throws the Bob shit into such sharp, stark relief.

[B]

Not everybody can be Bob Dylan.

[A]

Well, I know not everyone could be Bob Dylan. But that's the thing is like the atmosphere and the feeling and the sound of the standards records, for instance, or what he achieves on Rough and Rowdy is so. Is just like. Is so far beyond any of this stuff from all of our other favorites. It just, you know, I think it's. It really emphasizes just how far, how high, how, how much further he is operating above, you know, all of his quote unquote competitors.

[B]

Well, he also got it all out of assistant. I mean, not all, like, it's reductive to say, but triplicate and all that. Like, that was. He found a sound and then recorded the hell out of it just for the love of recording songs that he likes. So, like, that was it. Was great. It's my favorite thing ever. But that was Bob's version of. I think, the same kind of phenomenon, obviously, his. It just was. It's the best. But I see this in a similar

[C]

kind of vein, I think, though, also through the ages. All of these aging artists have done this many times over. Not the reimagined Gershwin, but, like, all aging artists with new technology, like, has been happening, I guess, since the 70s, but, like, really since the 80s. And it ends up sounding cool in retrospect, I think.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, imagine how tough it would have been to listen to JOKERMAN in, like, 1997. Or, like, right after OK, computer came out or something. And now, like, Jokerman, like, that's. I wish every Bob Dylan song sounded like Jokerman, but, you know, whatever. 20 years ago, it must have sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

[B]

RIP Sly and Robbie now. But.

[A]

Oh, that's true. Yeah. Yeah, that happened a couple. Was that a couple weeks ago? Right?

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. They're both. They're both gone now.

[A]

They're both holding it down in the great beyond. In the rhythm section.

[C]

I'll just say someone, I think is kind of.

[A]

And this.

[C]

We're just fully tangential here. But I feel like Neil Young has moved through the times pretty smoothly. I know he had. He had a heavy 80s thing with trans and all that, but, like, he. You know, he put out, like, Prairie wind in, like, 2006 or something. And it sounds. I mean, I. It sounds of the time, but there's something. I don't know, there's something in there with him that I think is kind of timeless.

[A]

Have you listened to the latest Neil record from last year?

[C]

I have.

[A]

Not Talking to the Trees.

[C]

Okay, well, maybe I stand corrected.

[A]

But the record where he does not one, but two rewrites of this Land Is yous Land and sequences them back to back on the record.

[C]

Taking kind of a Forever Young move.

[A]

Kind of a forever.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Kind of a Forever Young move.

[B]

Kind of.

[C]

How many albums have done that?

[A]

I mean. But I get what you're saying, you know, in that it's easier for some artists, it's harder for other artists. I think the different periods of time also, like, you know, different scenes, different sounds, cater more or less to another artist. And that's one thing maybe to bring this back to Brian, find our way back into this album, which is that he's making no attempt whatsoever to try to fit in with the times here or, you know, like, just, like, stay up with the culture or catch on to any sort of Scene or wave of, you know, whether other contemporaries or those that followed him. He's just purely, like, out, you know, in. In deep space, pursuing his own thing. And I dig that.

[C]

I think that Brian has always just used what was available to him, even in the 60s. Like, I don't think, like. I mean, obviously he wasn't like, I'm really gonna get a 60s sound here in the 60s, and so on and so forth. Throughout his entire career, it seems like he shows up at a studio, has complete faith in the studio and, like, engineers, and is like, okay, let's do the thing. And I don't think he thinks too much about how the new technology sounds, other than maybe being a little excited about it. Like with some synths and things.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

I don't think he's.

[B]

I don't think it's technology. He's not a gear guy.

[A]

He's not fetishistic about it the way that, like, Lou Reed was with his headless guitar. Right.

[B]

And the dummy head with the mics in it or whatever. The.

[C]

Oh, yeah, the Binaural.

[A]

The Binaural from. What was that? That was Street Hassle, Right. Yeah.

[B]

That's the last album you would ever imagine is the one that has. I think it sounds like some of it.

[C]

I think Blue Mask has that also.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Blue Mask sounds great. So that sounds like he got the Binaural.

[A]

Took him a couple tries to dial the Binaural audio in

[B]

anyway.

[C]

Yeah, we should probably keep it Summertime, but we go.

[B]

Go ahead before.

[C]

Sorry. I do love the bass tone on this album. I think that the electric bass sounds fantastic. And it is totally, like, trying to do the 60s tone. And it does do it. And credit to the. The band, who I assume are the Wonderments or those people. They're definitely playing how people would have played, like, on the Smile Sessions and stuff. But there's nothing that can be done, given the way it's recorded, that will make it sound like the Smile Sessions. And, yeah, the bass tone is kind of an example of that, where it is such a good bass tone, but it's still presented so clear.

[B]

It is interesting just thinking about, like, you know, you said brian doesn't go in there and. And be like, well, let's get that 60s sound. But he's kind of one of the few people on Earth who never had to do that. Because the sound that is the 60s sound is largely just the Brian sound. Like, it's just what he does. Like, it was always just sort of a linear thing for him of that's what I like. And then everyone else now knows that to be kind of hallmark. But for him, he's still living, like, you know, you watch interviews or you hear interviews of him later in his life, and he still says, like, oh, that was a whole new music bag. Like, he still, like, kind of talks like he's in the 60s. He's, you know, he's kind of back there.

[A]

I think part of him probably is, to be honest.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

So that applies to even this. I think, like, the Brian Wilson that is reimagining Gershwin is just the Brian Wilson that, you know, you're new every day, but you. You do have kind of your signature things. Like, he. He's not trying to reinvent his sound. He's just kind of living with the music, working with the music in front of us.

[C]

And. And I think, like, this is, like, if he recorded, if he rewrote or finished the composition of the like and I love you, which was called something else when it was Gershwin's in the late 60s or even early 70s, I think it would have been played pretty much exactly as it is played on this album. But it would sound so much better. Very different.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So much better to our ears.

[A]

Right? Yeah. No, I think that's a great point. And we've run into this same concept or phenomenon in other instances with Brian. You know, remember we talked about, like, the slightly American music bootleg Evan from the 90s, where he does all these brilliant songs with Andy Paley, and they're all kind of like a little bit homespun sounding a little bit scratchy, like warm and kind of, you know, real. And then he digs up a bunch of those songs for that getting In Over My head record in 2004, and they just, like, lose all the kind of magic and warmth that he had in these less technologically advanced and well designed, you know, studio environments on the demos. But the reality of the sound, to me at least, is so. So present on those initial tapes. And it's just been kind of waxed away on the studio presentations in 2004. It's a little bit of the same thing here, where he's got his sound, he knows what he's doing. But this. And I guess this sort of makes sense because, remember, this is like a Disney Records production or, you know, release.

[C]

Sounds like it.

[A]

They want it to be, you know, it sounds like the type of music that is playing in Disneyland speakers or whatever. It's very cle. Very precise, very enunciated, legible to an audience. And so I'm sure, I'm sure that was part of what was going on here.

[B]

Yeah. Although he does have his band who are. You know, they know him. They feel. They have a feel for him and he. For them. Like there is.

[A]

Oh, the band's doing great. Yeah. I'm. Don't. Don't take this as me.

[B]

I know your, your point is Stans for sure. But it's like there is, it's. There's a sight balance out I think of just like.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

You can tell like the feel is there.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

On. On songs like Summertime.

[A]

There we go.

[C]

Well, I would actually say. No, it sounds like Summertime. Okay. We're entering the part of the album I think I like the least.

[B]

You don't like Summertime.

[A]

You're not a Porgy and best. Well, a Brian Wilson porgy and best man. At least.

[C]

It's. This is where it doesn't feel like he's reimagined.

[B]

That's. That's true. Summertime, I think, is that low point of reimagination. I will say. I think I love Zuporgi. I think it's great. I think that, that it's one of those things that is like. You can't really reimagine it. Like, it. It is just such a pure. It's like one of those cosmic melodies. Like it's. It's like Somewhere over the rainbow. Like it. I just feel like I love Z. Porgy is like. He's just singing it because it's like breathing air to him. And I, I feel that on that one. Summertime is a little bit more perfunctory to me.

[C]

I just. I. I'm put off by the like the kind of vava voom, slow sultry

[A]

kind of sound to it.

[C]

Yeah, exactly. So, like, it's not. Which is like a straight ahead way to interpret these songs actually. But the thing that happens is at the end of Summertime, it starts moving into like some interesting territory musically where I'm like, oh, this is cool. Like it's going to some new chords and stuff. And then that just proves to be a segue into I love you Porgy, which then immediately drops back into the same exact feeling as Summertime. And that's where I'm kind of like, here, here we go again. But I agree, I.

[B]

It's a it.

[C]

These songs are timeless. Like, I mean they've been recorded by so many people and there's, you know, they're all good, but I. There's so many versions of Summertime that I Would rather listen to. Sorry.

[A]

Yeah. It's not necessarily the version that you're gonna go to above any. Above most other versions or many other versions. I guess. I think you got to approach this record. I approach this record at least as like, oh, isn't that nice to see one of our favorite guys singing some of his favorite songs. I don't think any of these are definitive takes, despite the title, which does claim that he reimagines this music. I don't think any of these are really the best version of any of these songs. Again, to use Bob as a counterpoint in. Same way that I think, like that lucky old son. I don't think I would rather listen to any incarnation of that lucky old son ever above the version on Shadows in the Night. I don't really have that so much here. And so, you know, he's. That's not to say that there's this music isn't good or it's failing because of that, but it's more like, oh, it's Brian Wilson. Let's see what he's into. As opposed to, oh, I'm interested in Gershwin music. And this is a particularly compelling instance of Gershwin compositions. Right. Does that make sense?

[B]

You know, it's a good reimagining of Summertime, Time of the Season by the Zombies. That's a reimagining of the song.

[C]

They also straight up did Summertime, which. I like their version. It's good.

[A]

What a good band, the Zombies.

[C]

What a good band.

[B]

I saw them.

[C]

Love the Zombies.

[B]

I saw them at the Canyon Club in Agora Hills.

[A]

That's so funny.

[C]

Oh, nice. Hell, yeah. Canyon Club.

[B]

They were good. And. I mean, Odyssey and Oracle. What a. What an amazing record.

[C]

What an album.

[A]

Didn't Brian. Brian did a tour with the Zombie or like, some portion of the Zombies a couple years ago. Right. Didn't he?

[C]

That sounds familiar. Yeah. I think there was a Zombies. I think they were doing the Odyssey and Oracle tour with the Brian Wilson.

[A]

Oh, yeah. This was the. Yeah, that's what this was. It was Oracle and Odyssey and Friends. Brian was doing the Friends album, and it was both 1968 releases.

[B]

Ah, yeah.

[C]

H. Why did I not go to that? Another great version of Summertime, the Residence version. Just throwing that out there.

[B]

I've never heard it.

[A]

I don't think I've heard that.

[B]

It's great.

[C]

Can I tell you guys what my wife said about this album?

[B]

Please, at this.

[C]

At this juncture? First, I'll just say she said, competent musicians with a weird vocalist.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

I See it like, okay, I'm not. But none wrong.

[C]

Not wrong. But then she also. This is where this maybe comes in with, like, quote, unquote, reimagining and like, okay, we're hearing Brian do his take on it. She suggested that this project is not tapping into what it is that Brian has to offer at this point in his career. Which then begs the question, which I am afraid to answer. What is it that Brian Wilson has to offer at this point in his career?

[A]

That's a great question, and it's one I think that we have maybe not tackled head on, but we have reckoned with, you know, whether or not we even realized it. You know, I don't know how much more new ground, you know, extraordinary music there is from Brian at this point in his career. And I don't know how much poorer the culture would be had we not gotten anything after, say, Smile. You know, Orange Kratart is fantastic. Or, excuse me, that Lucky Old Son is a fantastic song cycle. We all dug it on the pod. When we talked about it recently. That's probably the strongest new release from him post smile in 2004, at least if we're talking about just records. To me, I think it's more. And again, this kind of goes back to what I was saying before. Like, there's an emotional fulfillment, I think, to this portion of his story. And it's all kind of like, it's easy does it music, and it's not setting the world on fire. I do think that there are some high points on that's why God Made the Radio, you know, the final Beach Boys record, which we're gonna talk about after this. But in terms of new music, you know, creating new stuff, it's. Yeah, I mean, I don't know that there is. I can't mount really a case against that beyond just saying I'm tapped into this. Not on, like, what kind of art, what kind of insane, extraordinary new experiences am I getting from this artist at this point? Am I getting a tempest? Am I getting a lulu? No, but I am getting a really emotionally resonant and powerful conclusion to a story unlike any other in Brian Wilson's artistic career.

[C]

Beautifully put. Beautifully put.

[A]

Evan, are you with me here?

[B]

Yeah. Well, sort of. I. Sort of.

[A]

Sort of. Okay.

[B]

I love the song, One Kind of Love from. From no Peer Pressure. Well, it's all. It's really the original song for the film Love and Mercy, but I feel like that's genuinely a great Brian Wilson song that happened in, what, 20? 15.

[A]

15. That's right.

[B]

I think that one is really great. And basically on the. The general balance of what I think Brian has to offer post Smile Revisited is like just being a conduit for pure love and light in the world. Just like a gentle light emitting from this beautiful man. It's like, ang, man, like, I. I don't feel like asking so much from him other than just seeing him continue to just practice his craft and do what he naturally does. And so, yeah, I agree that, like, there's maybe a culturally null thing to, like, you know, basically, like, what would we have lost from, like, the. The albums that came out in the 2000 and tens or the music from Brian Wilson. But I think there are certain things that prove the contrary. Like that song One Kind of Love, I just think is like, maybe it's like pure schlock, but I also find it extremely moving and pure and catchy as all hell. Like, he's still got one more at least in him like that, and whatever that is is still present in 2010, obviously somewhere.

[C]

For the record, I'm not saying he has nothing to offer, I'm just asking that.

[A]

No, I think it's a good question

[C]

and I think these are both great answers. And I think that, like, yeah, perhaps his late career kind of came to its natural conclusion with Brian Wilson's Smile. There's still juice, a little bit of juice there and there's still joy, for sure. And like, you know, given all the concerts he gave in those years where he's just sitting at a piano singing, or even not singing, it still is a beam of light to know he's there with this music.

[A]

Absolutely. Yeah. I think the touring, honestly, is a big part of it. And some of those tours were better than others. And as they got a little bit later on, he was maybe a little less dialed in. But remember, I mean, up until 1999, he was not a table. Like, touring was Brian Olsen's greatest fear. And so, like, the total reclamation of that aspect of his whole practice. And yeah, honestly, him, like, everyone was saying, being this, like, avatar of light, of love and mercy, you could even say, and just bringing that across the world, like, that's. I think that's. That's magic shit.

[C]

Absolutely. And, yeah, this album makes me happy.

[A]

There you go.

[C]

The next song, I gotta say, which is, I Got Plenty of Nothing.

[A]

That's great.

[C]

I got Plenty of nothing.

[B]

He doesn't do any lyrics for it. Got Plenty of nothing. Right?

[C]

No, this is an album highlight for me. I really like this.

[A]

I dig the Sound on this with the, with the harmonica. And then is that a bass straight splash Mountain music. Yes, it absolutely is. Yeah.

[C]

He's, it's, it's refreshing, especially coming out of the like, like burlesque, kind of slow burlesque of the previous two songs into the Barnyar. And it's kind of a. The Brian barnyard. It's a familiar sound and it totally has. Everyone's playing like they would have on Smile. It sounds great.

[A]

Brayer Brian.

[B]

Yeah. Brayer Brian.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. No, it sounds fantastic. The harmonica is great. The bass harmonica is great. That is such a signature Brian sound to me. I'm sure other artists have used the bass harmonica, but like I can't like when I hear the bass harmonica, I think, think Brian Wilson. I think Pet sounds. And so like just using that in the same way that just like hearing a regular harmonica solo. I often think of like Bob, I'm just in Brian Wilson mode when I hear that sound.

[B]

Brian Wilson, king of bass harmonica.

[A]

It's true.

[C]

I'm a big harmonica fan in general.

[A]

You play a lot of harp?

[C]

I do.

[A]

Nice.

[C]

A bit. I play chromatic harmonica.

[A]

Chromatic harmonica. How does that differ from every note? Oh, you play. Oh, okay.

[C]

Yeah, it's, it would be like the sound of maybe like the Midnight Cowboy theme.

[A]

Interesting.

[C]

You can summon that in your brain. Or like, oh, the Sesame street theme.

[A]

Oh, okay.

[C]

Or Stevie Wonder. If you think about Stevie Wonder's harmonica, that's chromatic.

[A]

Interesting.

[C]

Yeah, that's a whole other story.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Great. Great song. Love it. It's a nice little palette cleanser. I think after the. Not, not shitting on those other songs. But yeah, they're just not reimagining.

[A]

They don't grasp you. Although I will necessarily, I will just say like, you know, hearing Brian Wilson doing this just like straight ahead, like completely like uninteresting but still somehow tender and sincere take on I loves you Porgy is like. And just hearing 60 something year old Brian Wilson sing that song is like, I, I, I dig the, the just there's something weird. There's something fundamentally kind of weird about that.

[B]

And I dig that transcends the. Yeah, it's one of those moments where you just like. It sounds like his eyes are closed,

[C]

you know, and it's, I think the only shame is that it follows that version of Summertime.

[A]

Sure.

[C]

I think if it was, if we just didn't have the summertime before it, or maybe they were swapped, it would do the, the song a little more service. But yeah, it's Great.

[B]

Then we've got It Ain't Necessarily so, which is a very Randy Newman esque feel like.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

It has one of the great rhymes of all time in the song Abdomen, Abdomen. He made his home in that fish's abdomen, Abdomen. Yeah.

[C]

That's so good.

[A]

Gospel impossible. I'm pretty partial to that one.

[B]

That's a great one. It's a fun song.

[C]

It's a fun song.

[B]

Good one.

[C]

There's a couple things about this song. I tried to karaoke it the other night.

[A]

Wow. Okay.

[C]

Don't do that none.

[A]

I'm not surprised.

[C]

I didn't. There's a lot of versions. I picked the porky and best version and it was like, in

[A]

the like vernacular, deeply.

[B]

That's a good idea.

[C]

And I had. I had to. I had to translate into, for lack of a better term, the King's English on the spot. And it made it very difficult. And I've. I've made that mistake before. I one time karaoke. Jimmy crack corn.

[A]

Oh, no.

[C]

And man, that stepping in it, man, I think that song's just racist. I had to like. I was like, okay, I'm not singing this, but a couple interesting things about the song. One, Evan, a quick. This might appeal to you. A quick Wikipedia search showed me, and I had not put this together myself, but that the main melody bears a striking resemblance to the half Torah portion of the of shul.

[B]

It ain't necessarily so.

[C]

Yeah, it's the baru at Adonai.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

[C]

Yep. It's totally. I mean, it is really similar, but it is also could be a coincidence. It's like a bluesy melody.

[B]

Well, one of the things that's on the old Wikipedia. I thought it was somebody. Rodney Greenberg writes that one of the things that is an influence is the aching cadences of Hebrew chant, which I think is a perfect descriptor. The aching. Because everything. If you're in a synagogue, it's all like. It all sounds like sort of of. Oh, God. Oh, come on.

[C]

It's all very Dance Me to the end of Love.

[B]

Yeah, well, some of that is my favorite stuff. Like, you know, the negoon is called like those. What. What a you know, destroyer. Like half of destroyer of like.

[A]

Oh, that's a Jewish thing.

[C]

It's a Jewish thing.

[B]

It is interesting.

[A]

All right.

[C]

But yeah, I thought that was interesting. And then also there. There are a lot of versions of the song as there are many of these songs, but a couple that are worth pointing out. Bronski Beat. I don't know if you know Bronski beat. But they were 80s dance. The kind of Pet Shop Boys adjacent

[A]

like Sophista pop type thing.

[C]

I wouldn't say they were more club.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

They have a couple incredible songs. Very high pitched vocalist. Jimmy Somerville I think was his name. But they have a version and then a band called the Honeycombs which was a Joe Meek project has I. I like their version a lot. It's like very Joe Meek mid-60s. The Honeycombs was a pretty cool band, like Mersey thing. Like what kind of Mersey beat? Yeah, but yeah, more of that like squashed Joe Meek Tornadoes. Sure sound. And yeah, they were interestingly one of the few bands to have a woman drummer.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Hey, Mo Tucker. Yeah.

[B]

And the Carpenters.

[A]

Primo Tucker. Yeah.

[C]

And the Carpenters and Pre Carpenters. Anyways, that's what I got to say about that song.

[A]

Thank you for bringing some knowledge.

[B]

Yeah, that was great. All I'm gonna say about the next one is it sounds like the Wii music. Sounds like the Nintendo Wii.

[A]

Yeah, this is my. Yeah, this is probably my cause I love wonderful and I love.

[C]

Well, this is.

[A]

It's like. It's a bossa nova take on this song and I'm a huge like Joao Gilberto, you know, Jobim type guy.

[C]

Oh yeah.

[A]

And so like you're that type guy. Listen, bossa nova. Everyone loves bossa nova.

[B]

Yeah, no, it's good.

[A]

It's good music and so I dig this. It's not. We're not, not. We're not doing anything too crazy here. But I think this like. We could call this a reimagining of Swanderful. I think Swindriffle. I think that passes here.

[B]

Smarvelous.

[A]

I love that.

[C]

My only complaint about this song is he kind of says it's sometimes and come on, you gotta lean into one

[A]

thing you can't do.

[C]

But yeah, I too love the bossa nova take on this. I think it's refreshing and a reimagining and it is delightful and it does sound like Nintendo Wii, which is great.

[A]

It's very fun. Yeah. The refreshing little. I don't know what they drink in Brazil. A glass of cool Brazilian water.

[C]

There's a pretty harsh alcohol I've had from Brazil and I can't remember what it's called.

[B]

It's called. What is it called? Kachaka.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah. Nice. Nice little glass of kachaka. How about that?

[C]

There you go.

[A]

Have you guys ever seen Funny Face by the way?

[C]

No.

[B]

No.

[A]

That's a great one. My wife loves that movie, that's Astaire and Audrey Hepburn. And there's like a 40 year age gap between the two of them. But they are falling in love, obviously, and they do a great swenderful there.

[B]

So I could be 150 years old and fall in love with Audrey Hepburn.

[A]

Oh, listen, I don't think that there's any question that Fred Astaire could fall in love with a young Audrey. He, Hepburn.

[C]

It's directional.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. They can't take that away from me.

[B]

Well, that's nice. You know, did you ever have, like, music school, like, or, like, in school, did you have, like a music teacher? I mean, like. Like someone who just came in and had you sing songs in elementary school or whatever?

[A]

Yeah, I think so.

[B]

Because I think this is one that we had in our repertoire.

[A]

Oh, interesting.

[B]

And so it was I've got my friends instead of I've got my girl.

[A]

Well, that's nice.

[B]

And that's a great save. It's just like, how do I teach this to a bunch of kids? You can't have them say, I got my girl.

[A]

I remember, I think we did imagine in fourth grade singing class at Lupin Hill elementary in Old Calabasas, California. That's like the only thing I remember from that.

[C]

I remember having to sing where have all the flowers Gone?

[A]

Oh, okay. That's kind of nice. Yeah, yeah.

[C]

It's kind of hippie.

[A]

I like where have all the flowers gone?

[B]

We had this land is your land.

[C]

Yeah, of course.

[B]

Blue sky like blue skies shining this

[A]

land is your land Boy, I'm glad that this land is your land. That's a nice one to get into the kids. Cause, you know, I sang that too, as a kid. And you don't really understand. I didn't at least understand kind of the political culture.

[B]

You don't get that it's like, I love la.

[A]

Well, no, I mean, I think that it's like a real. I think there's a. There's a, like a real kind of political valence to that song that isn't there in, you know, Star Spangled Banner or God Bless the USA or any of those other, you know, bits of hokum. And then you realize after a point, like, oh, wow, you know, Lloyd Guthrie was. He was onto something with this.

[B]

That song's amazing because it's like. It's calling their bluff. It's like, all right, I love America, too. And, you know, one of my favorite things about it is that everything belongs to everyone, and we. And nobody's gonna say hey, you can't go there because it's all America and we're all Americans, right?

[C]

Yeah, right, exactly. They can't take that away from me.

[A]

It sounds like California Girls a little bit.

[C]

Yeah, it's. It's kind of doing. He'll dip back into this in a bit. But it's also. It's little California. Well, I guess this is kind of all related. It's kind of California Girls, but it's also kind of the like not Cab Calloway but like it's like kind of not big band, but it's. I'm thinking of David Lee Roth doing Just a Gigolo. There you go. Just a Gigolo, which David Lee Roth also covered California Girls, but. But yeah, it's kind of that old timey like thing that California Girls was probably like pointing towards at the time even. But like the way the backup vocals do, the response is very like guys on the bandstand.

[B]

Sure.

[C]

And I could. I don't know that I need that spice in my. In this dish. But you know, whatever.

[A]

It's. It's there too much saffron a little bit.

[B]

I do love this song though. And yeah, there's something touching about. About hearing Brian sing this when he says the way you changed my life.

[C]

Oh yeah. It's really, you know, that's changed my

[A]

life into this one. I dig. I like that.

[C]

I know he didn't do the lyrics on this, but the way you hold a knife isn't that.

[A]

I don't really know what's going on there. The way you hold your knife. The way we dance till three. The way you change my life. No, they can't take that away from me. What is it? I mean, so I guess we haven't really. We haven't talked about this so much. But a lot of these songs are from like shows like stage performance. I'm assuming this has some sort of context in whatever show it's from originally content.

[B]

No, I don't think that. I think it's just about little quirks that you're. Your beloved has.

[C]

Like maybe. Maybe she's holding a knife.

[B]

It's silly how she holds. She holds her knife weird because she's. She's just kind of silly, you know.

[C]

You don't think it's the knife that she's about to like attack with, slash your throat with?

[B]

No, I don't think it's like. I don't think it's a sick and twisted joker's version of this song. No, I think it's. Think it's just like a little. A little private joke between them, you know. It's a sweet song. I love it.

[A]

All right. It's from shall we Dance. Fred Astaire sings to Ginger Rogers in the context of the film. It. Is it a film? Is it a show? Whatever. Whatever it is. Notes some of the things that he will miss about Ginger Rogers. The lyrics include, the way you wear your hat, the way you sip your tea, the way you hold your knife, the way we dance till three. I guess we've already heard about that. That's about it.

[B]

Good stuff. I, I, I don't. I doubt that there's even a moment in that show about her holding her knife a certain way. I think that that's kind of like it's an idea. And one of them ideas broadly about. It's sweet, you know, going from the way you sing off key to the way, you know, and the way you changed my life. Like, that's, that's one of the great. Good job, Ira Gershwin.

[A]

The way you changed my life.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

That's nice.

[B]

I've got a crush on you. Is kind of like, not such a great lyricist.

[C]

Did we skip one?

[A]

No. Love is here to stay.

[B]

Oh, Lou Reed.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

I like this one. I think this is nice. It's definitely doing a little bit of that kind of, like, sultry, loungey type thing from some of the porgy songs earlier.

[C]

It's doing the slow swing, but it's.

[A]

This works for me.

[C]

Yeah, it's much more. It's less minor key and it's less, like, sultry. I'd say it's just more chill.

[A]

Yeah. This is maybe as close to, like, the shadows and the night sound as you get on this record. And so I. I think I just

[B]

have a. Gibraltar may crumble.

[A]

Tastes really good.

[C]

Oh, yeah, That's a nice part. I like that.

[A]

That's a great line.

[B]

They always. Yeah, they do a little, like, syncopated, or is that syncopation? Am I.

[C]

He says the mountains will crumble. The mountains may tumble, the Gibraltar may crumble. Is that a syncopation? I guess.

[A]

Oh, this is nice. I'm looking at, you know, a little. Little more intro information about this. It's from the Goldwyn Follies motion picture. Always love a movie with the word Follies in the title. You know, you're in for a good time with that. And it was sometimes heard an instrumental version of song. Sometimes heard in episodes of the Honeymooners after Ralph Kramden had beat his wife when he apologizes to her and. Yeah.

[C]

Okay. And to your syncopation question, I was just thinking about it. The melody comes in on an upbeat beat on, like, the. And of one. I don't know if this makes sense. Anyway, so that it sets it up as a syncopation.

[B]

I suppose I was right.

[C]

But it's not. Yeah, it's not like. I mean, like, the bossa nova beat is like, a good way to think of syncopation, I guess it's about kind of fitting in between the strong beats. And. Yeah, there. Because it's all like 16th notes or whatever. There it is. Fitting between and on. So I don't know. It's an interesting little moment, though. I do like it.

[B]

Do you like I've got a crush on you, Ian? Because it's like. Because he says, sweetie pie.

[A]

Absolutely, Absolutely. And he. Even some of these other lines, you know, he says, could you coo? Could you care? I like when I. The first couple times I listened to the song, I thought he was just saying, coochie coo, coochie care.

[B]

That's probably something that Ira Gershwin is thinking about. Thinking about.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

It sounds like coochie coo, you know,

[A]

Ooby doobie, coochie coo, Sweetie baby. This is. This is what good music is made of.

[C]

All for the taking.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I love this.

[B]

I think something we all probably really dig is. I don't know, do we all dig that there's a certain kind of cameo on the next track on I Got Rhythm.

[A]

Are we already. Are we already on?

[B]

Yes, you were already on.

[A]

You.

[B]

Yes. Yes, we are.

[A]

I was hoping Aaron would diagram this one for the. You know, we could.

[C]

Oh, okay. It's doing a bit of an oldies swing, but, yeah, we're still swinging. Okay.

[A]

Coochiku.

[C]

I got rhythm. I know what you're talking about. I think it is. It feels weirdly wedged in.

[B]

A little forced.

[C]

Feels forced. The whole feel of this one feels forced to me. And I think it's maybe. And it is a reimagining.

[B]

Technically reimagined.

[C]

Yes. But I think this is the worst way to re. This is the worst reimagining, in my opinion. Or my least favorite reimagining, I should say. But yes. Farmer's daughter.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

For no reason. Well, I don't know. Maybe there's a reason.

[A]

But.

[C]

But the. The. The way. The way he says, I've got, I've got.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

It's not quite makes me question if

[B]

he does gotta say, yeah, that's not very rhythmically satisfying. But I. I Do like just being reminded of Farmer's Daughter because it's so good.

[C]

It is.

[A]

It.

[C]

It did bring a smile to my face, I think, when I first heard that. But then I was like, what's happening here?

[A]

I don't know that I even clocked that. I'm listening.

[B]

How did you not clock that? Listen to the end.

[C]

There's a key change towards the end.

[A]

From miles away. Oh, okay, sure. Yeah. I just wasn't paying that much attention. It's. Yeah, it's pretty clear.

[C]

Yeah. And then they just sing I've got. I've got rhythm instead of all the Farmer's Daughters lyrics.

[A]

But I wonder if there's cutting room floor material from the. From these sessions. Not that I need to hear it, but like, you know, I wonder. I wonder if there were like 30 songs tracked and these are the. These are the best ones.

[C]

Maybe. Yeah. I wonder if some of them.

[A]

Well, yeah, I mean, I would maybe like to hear demos more than some of these. Like, if I could just hear Brian at a piano and that's it. Doing I loves you Porgy like that. That sounds like magic to me.

[C]

That'd be great. And yeah, I mean, I. I don't know what they're gonna do from their, like, archival releases, but I know that the most recent Beach Boys archival release goes up through the 80s, right?

[A]

Goes up to almost to the 80s. It goes through like 78.

[C]

78, okay.

[A]

Well, yeah, we'll be there soon. They are moving on to the 80s. That's what they've told us.

[C]

I hope we get like self titled demos and I hope we get orange crate art demos. And I hope. Yeah, I. Of that period. I think the demos will be very satisfying to someone who's interested.

[A]

I think that's a good point. Yeah.

[C]

And including this and that lucky old son, I think that would be a good one to have demos from.

[A]

Totally.

[B]

Someone to Watch Over Me. I feel like Someone to Watch Over Me is one of the high points for me just because I listened to this few times through the record. And then one of the last times I was just struck by how. How weighted that is for Brian to be singing this particular song with these lyrics. And I was kind of like, wow. Like, because it's not a particularly. It's not a revelatory version of the song and it's kind of like the same stuff as the rest of it.

[A]

But.

[B]

But when hearing Brian say Someone to Watch Over Me is just like kind of profound. Like this. This thing that is the haunting of his life that We've gone through so many times of like somehow ending up in rooms full of people who don't care really if he's happy. And. And only at the point where Smile, Brian Wilson Smile comes does it really feel like that is remedied for good. I think that there is just kind of a specialness to hearing this.

[A]

It's great. I love it.

[C]

Absolutely.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

It's a straight ahead take and it is. I think maybe it is an example of what Brian has to offer in this period of his career. Like it's not reinventing it, it's not even reimagining it, but it is still really delightful and moving.

[A]

Absolutely. Yeah. I gotta admit, hearing Brian Wilson say I'm a little lamb who's lost in a wood. I know. I could always be good. I mean, come on.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Or you Made a stone.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

It's terrific. It's also just one of the best songs ever. I think it's just. It's such a perfect song.

[A]

It's from. Ok, that's O H K A Y. Okay. You get that. And yeah. Seems to have been done by just about anybody. Frank Babs, Willie Sinead.

[C]

Ella Fitzgerald had a big one.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. So all the stars.

[C]

Oh yeah. Beautiful. Maybe could have ended it there.

[A]

Probably could have ended it there. Yeah.

[B]

I think that would have been a perfectly good ending. But we've got nothing but love. Nothing but love.

[A]

So this is the other one. That is a. Whatever, Brian. This is another reimagining, I guess, Brian. Expanding on a Gershwin demo or series of lyrics or music or whatever. This one is maybe not as strong as the. Like in I Love youe. And that is maybe why it's here buried at the end of this 15 song record. 14 song record.

[C]

Yeah. It's not. I do not like it as much, but it's still. It's not bad, but it's not super remarkable.

[B]

Yeah, 14 is a lot of songs.

[A]

Yeah, it is. And it's short. I mean the record is less than 40 minutes, I think 14 songs, but two of them are like one minute long. Snippets of Rhapsody in Blue. So it's not. It's not necessarily wear. Not as welcome. But at the same time it's cool that they did more than just the one song where Brian kind of realizes a Gershwin composition. But maybe they should have just done the one because it works well on the first one and the second one is sort of diminishing returns.

[C]

Yeah. Again, not bad, but it's just. It's kind of. Yeah. It just doesn't have the oomph.

[A]

Yeah. And then a little. Little bit snippet of Rhapsody in Blue to wrap things up again, I will stand by saying I kind of wish there was just more of Brian and the Wonderments playing Rhapsody in the Blue.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Beyond just. I think Collectively there's about 90 seconds.

[B]

I want to hear the whole thing.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Acapella. The entire, like 17 minutes or something. Something. That would be great.

[A]

It would be great there.

[C]

It's cool though, that also I don't remember between which songs, but they throw in Rhapsody and Blue, like segues here and there as well.

[A]

Yeah. I think before Someone Watch Over Me, there's a little Rhapsody in Blue kind of snippet. Yeah. And I got rhythm also. There's a little snatch.

[C]

Those are nice.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Great bookends.

[A]

It's great music. Rhapsody in Blue. Some of the best music you could say.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

All right. Well, we did it. Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin I will take this moment just to point out every now and then I pop in on the old Jokerman discord just to see what they're up to over there. The Jokerman Mujahideen, our loyal listeners and a couple people were just throwing back and forth comments on the Beach Boys Channel saying, oh, it seems like they're really gonna rush through the end of this series and they're just gonna combine everything down into one wrap up episode just so they can get it out of the door and get it over with and get on to the next thing.

[B]

Just because we said that we weren't gonna do the what? Like the Al Jardine solo.

[A]

We're doing the Al Jardine. I've decided we're doing the Al Jardine solo.

[B]

All right. All right. I think we should.

[A]

But I will just point out to them and to anyone else that we just did 90 minutes exclusively on Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin so, you know, there are going to be a couple points along this journey that we scoot along and maybe don't do quite as much

[B]

justice to as that's what they're accusing us of. Like, oh, I bet these guys. Ye have little faith. What do we have to do to show you that?

[A]

That's literally what I said to them. I popped in, I said, ye of little faith. We're seeing this thing through to the bitter end. And this is testament to it. 90 minutes on. On Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin we're even bringing in poor old Aaron here to have to sit here and muddle through this Album with.

[B]

Hey, come on.

[C]

Happy to do it. And we could keep going. I don't even know. I feel like we hardly scratched the surface. But yet I also have nothing else to say.

[B]

Well, you're in luck. There's no more songs.

[A]

Well, this was great. Thank you so much for joining us. Aaron, you got any exciting.

[B]

Any stars out of three to give? Give this.

[C]

Oh, do stars ones? Yeah, One seems fair.

[A]

Good, good, good, good album gets one good star.

[B]

Yeah, sure. I was gonna give it two, but

[A]

I'll give it to.

[B]

Then I'll give it two.

[A]

Sure.

[C]

I'm gonna go with one. Just comparing it to the rest of the catalog.

[A]

It's.

[C]

I can't give it to.

[B]

I'm not comparing it to the rest of the catalog.

[C]

That's. That's an interesting take.

[A]

That's the great thing about. About the three star system is it means whatever you want it to mean to you. That's great.

[B]

Every day. Every day starts over.

[A]

Any interesting, exciting new projects, records, places. People can check you out online. Aaron?

[C]

Yeah, you know, there's a lot. I'm always doing a lot of things.

[B]

You are.

[A]

You're in like every seven bands.

[C]

A lot of bands. Yeah. Let me whittle it down. Let's see. So I. I play with a guy that you guys might be interested in this. I've been playing with this guy for the last handful of years named Tommy Peltier. He just turned 91.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

I went to his birthday last Thursday. It was delightful. He has a very interesting story. He started out as a jazz cornet player and had an album with Roland Kirk later, Rahsaan Roland Kirk. And that was kind of his jazz claim to fame. And then he got a hernia or something, blowing his horn too hard in a big band. And then around that same time, became close with Judy Sill in the late 60s.

[A]

Wow.

[C]

And they. She kind of got him into like, the weirdo folk scene. And he started making folk music. And he's been doing that since in the 80s. He got a MIDI guitar and started doing it on a MIDI guitar. And he sings in this like, kind of like Van Dyke Parksy register. Very unique voice. And he still sings like this. It's pretty incredible. And he still plays a MIDI guitar. And we have a trio together. I play a fretless bass and he plays MIDI guitar.

[B]

Oh, this sounds great.

[C]

He was a cellist. And anyways, Drag City is putting out some of his recordings from the 70s that were kind of just languishing. That's something, I guess. I'm a producer on Echo Park.

[B]

He's a local.

[C]

Yeah, he lives. He lives down the street from me.

[B]

Amazing.

[C]

Yeah. So, yeah, that album's coming out March 27th. It was mixed and mastered by Jim O', Rourke, which was exciting.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[C]

I'm a big fan. And, yeah, we're doing an album Release show on March 27th at 2220 Arts and Archive in LA with Dean Nora.

[B]

Wow, this is going right on the calendar.

[C]

Oh, yeah. And poet Sophia Pell is also.

[B]

Oh, I know Sophie.

[C]

Okay. Yeah, she is doing some poetry and Tommy is live scoring it.

[B]

Well, this is a can't miss.

[C]

That's a can't miss. So that's a project that is on the near horizon. I have a kind of bossa nova ish, exotica ish group that plays often around LA called Other Delights. You can find us at Bub and Grandma's or Justine's or 1642 from time to time. And I have. I have a solo album coming out June 26th of songs. It's called Songs Album Two.

[A]

That's the best type of album, is one with songs.

[C]

Thank you. Yeah, I think so, too. That's why I like music and lyrics together. Indeed. Words and music. So, yeah, that's coming out in June and there will be stuff around that. And then. Yeah, there's some movies I've scored that are out there in the world. Check them out. Or don't. Some of them are lascivious. Or one of them is. And which one?

[B]

Well, what are the movies?

[C]

The first one I did was called Nutcrackers. It was a Christmas comedy with Ben Stiller and was directed by David Gordon Green, who you may know from, like, Observe and Report.

[A]

Love that movie.

[C]

He didn't do that. That was Jody Hill. But that was Jody Hill. Jody Hill and David Gordon Green and Joe. And they're homies. Right. Danny McBride. They have a production company together and the.

[A]

Right.

[C]

They all do all those HBO shows like Bound and Down and Vice Principals and Righteous Gemstones. But he did do Pineapple Express. But yeah, it's a Christmas comedy and that came out a year ago or so. And then I did a movie called Bear With Me. It is called My Son.

[A]

Oh, with Johnny Ryan.

[C]

Yeah, it's based on a Johnny Ryan comic book.

[A]

I love Johnny Ryan.

[C]

So I. I scored that film. It is not going to be streaming anytime that I know of and it's just kind of touring around. So if you see that coming to your city and you're willing to go see a film called Fuck My Son. You will enjoy it.

[A]

Amazing. Okay.

[C]

And then, yeah, I scored a friend's film that is kind of making the rounds, called Hoagie.

[A]

That is the Hoagie Carmichael.

[C]

It's the Hoagie Carmichael story. No, it's like a kind of a Gremlins pastiche, but. But it is much more than that. And I think we're going to put out a record of that album, of the score as well, so. Wow. And then, yeah.

[A]

The hardest working man in music, Catch

[C]

me playing in Papa M. You can catch me playing in Vetiver and Bedouin.

[A]

Richard can't play.

[C]

Richard Pictures has a show at Gold Diggers in the end of April.

[A]

Yeah, Jake just told me about that. We're gonna be down in Texas seeing Dylan for those days, unfortunately. But good for you. We're in there otherwise.

[C]

And, yeah, I mean, the list, it can keep going. Let's leave it there. And. Yeah, sorry. That's a lot of stuff.

[A]

That's great.

[B]

What an amazing world of music we live in. It is.

[C]

I love it. I love music.

[B]

It's pretty good.

[A]

You're in the right place. Yeah.

[C]

Big fan. Big fan. Jokerman.

[A]

Sam

[C]

sat.