In Conversation: DARIAN SAHANAJA + JIM LASPESA

Summary

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Jokermen Podcast — In Conversation: DARIAN SAHANAJA + JIM LASPISA (October 13, 2025)

Episode Overview

This special episode of Jokermen features an in-depth and heartfelt conversation with Darian Sahanaja and Jim Laspisa, two key members of Al Jardine’s touring Pet Sounds Band and long-standing participants in the world of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. The hosts, Ian and Evan, guide a discussion centered on the current tour's focus—bringing deep-cut Beach Boys music (especially "The Beach Boys Love You" era) to new audiences—alongside stories from decades working with Brian Wilson, thoughts on the band’s evolving legacy, and the excitement around forthcoming archival releases.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Al Jardine Pet Sounds Band Tour & Its Unique Angle

• Tour Purpose: With Brian Wilson no longer touring, Al Jardine and the band aim to celebrate Brian’s music—especially the more personal and overlooked songs.
  • “We just wanted to get out there and celebrate the legacy of Brian's music. And what better way than to do this music that's just so personal to him…” — Jim Laspisa [03:53]
• Song Selection: Focus on material from “Beach Boys Love You”, “M.I.U. Album”, “15 Big Ones” and select deep cuts. Many of these songs had rarely or never been performed live.
• Al’s Reconnection: Jardine is rediscovering and growing to appreciate this material, some of which he barely remembered or participated in originally.
  • “It was almost like he was being reacquainted with the music... introduced to music that he'd nearly forgotten for five decades.” — Jim Laspisa [06:07]
• Performance Approach: Unlike Pet Sounds, which is often played note-for-note, Love You material is reinterpreted live to add energy and nuance.
  • “When we perform it, it breathes... Now that we've done it a bunch of times, we can really dig in and just rock.” — Evan [10:47]

2. The Enduring Appeal and Reevaluation of ‘Love You’

• Critical Shift: Recent years have birthed a groundswell of appreciation for “Love You” as core Brian Wilson, particularly among younger and online fans.
  • “We are...a small part of the like, growing chorus of people...saying, with full self assurance, that this is as important, as good as any of the other stuff.” — Darian Sahanaja [06:48]
• Song Specifics: The band discusses the powerful response to songs like "Ding Dang," "I Wanna Pick You Up," and others that display Brian's quirky, sincere style.
  • “There's something about Ding Dang...like a totem, like a mantra.” — Darian Sahanaja [11:56]
• Intergenerational Audience: The tour is attracting not just old-school fans but a surprising number of passionate young listeners, thanks to meme culture and a search for authenticity.
  • “…How many young people have come out, and they're like freaking out over… We would never—I expected, you know, maybe people our age.” — Jim Laspisa [19:52]

3. The Joy, Sincerity, and Childlike Magic of the Music

• Brian's Unfiltered Soul: Panelists contend that the straightforward, childlike essence of these songs is uniquely Brian Wilson—less about his struggles, more about his playful soul.
  • “In so many ways…the closest to getting that feeling because it's so sincere...sometimes, you know, obviously the music on Love You...feels childlike. And that's—that is Brian.” — Jim Laspisa [15:47]
• Al Jardine’s Emotional Journey: Jardine has been visibly moved by the love and enthusiasm the band brings to these songs, making the connection even more special.

4. Setlists, Arrangements, and Live Experience

• Show Structure: Sets are split, with familiar hits up front (“I Get Around,” “Surfer Girl,” etc.) and deep cuts forming the heart of the later show.
  • “We tend to break it into two halves, you know—first half…the opening set…we give them, you know, the I Get Arounds…then it goes in a very different direction.” — Jim Laspisa [28:20]
• Obscure Gems: Band enjoys giving rarities like “She’s Got Rhythm,” “Sweet Sunday Kind of Love,” and “I Wanna Pick You Up” space to shine.
• Inside Jokes & Band Chemistry: Stories emerge about band members greeting each other with references to favorite obscure tracks (e.g., "She's Got Rhythm") and anecdotes about rehearsals and song selection.

5. The Revival of Brian Wilson's 'Lost' Eras

• Archival Releases: Hopes and speculation about an upcoming box set—with the first official release of “Adult Child” and rare Brian Wilson solo material.
  • “I think a lot of it is that they're probably wanting to keep it on the low until they get clearance...to get things just sort of signed off by all the parties involved…” — Jim Laspisa [70:37]
• Bootleg Lore: Conversation touches on early fandom—hunting down warped bootlegs, and lore around misattributed tracks (“Honeydew Man”).

6. Community, Generational Transmission & Fan Culture

• Younger Bands & Connections: The Lemon Twigs are highlighted as modern artists who genuinely “get” the Beach Boys spirit and connect through authenticity, not just pastiche.
• Levels of Fan Engagement: The panel relishes in the obsessive, detail-loving new generation—fans requesting deep cuts, wanting signatures in the oddest places (“sign my Norbit DVD”).
• Jokermen Podcast's Role: The hosts reflect on their own mission—serving fellow fanatics and spotlighting nuanced or overlooked dimensions of the Beach Boys story.

7. Anecdotes & Brian Wilson Stories

• Touring & Brian’s Banter: Many tales from years on the road with Brian—his unique stage banter, anxiety with setlists, spontaneous and often hilarious song intros.
  • “He'd just have a teleprompter and the title of the song would come up...Depending on how he felt, in the moment he would have to just kind of work through it… Just this, again, unfiltered stuff would come out.” — Jim Laspisa [57:21]
• "Turning Point" Joke: Andy Paley’s recurring bit about the “turning point” in Beach Boys history becomes a backstage shorthand among band members.
• Music as a Living Joy: The music is not just performed as museum pieces but as a living, breathing entity that generates communal happiness.

8. The Universal Magic of Brian’s Melody

• Songwriting Truths: Regardless of strangeness or simplicity, these songs pass the “good song” test—if it’s good, any arrangement works, and the melody will stick.
  • “The test of good music is if the song is good, you can just play it on anything and sing it. Well, these pass the test in my book…” — Jim Laspisa [85:36]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Brian’s Authenticity:
  “That music is basically him personified…so Al wanted to…do stuff. Also, he's, you know, he's concerned that he doesn't…he wants to do it while he still can.” — Jim Laspisa [03:53]
• The Love for ‘Ding Dang’:
  “It seems like Ding Dang was like some kind of, like a totem. Like some kind of, like mantra.” — Darian Sahanaja [11:56] “How did the Ding Dang thing happen? People go crazy when we do that song.” — Evan [11:43]
• On Younger Fans:
  “How many young people have come out and they're like freaking out over...We would never...I expected, you know, maybe people our age...” — Jim Laspisa [19:52]
• Al Jardine’s Emotional Journey:
  “The last show he got really emotional…he lost a dear old friend…maybe I think that he's kind of reconnecting with him, hearing this music.” — Jim Laspisa [17:32]
• Reinterpreting “Love You” Live:
  “When we perform it, it breathes and...now that we've done it a bunch of times, we can really dig in and just rock.” — Evan [10:44]
• On ‘I Wanna Pick You Up’:
  “I don't know how many years ago, 30 something years ago, I did a cover of I want to pick you up because…the chords and the melody...are just right up there with anything on Pet Sounds.” — Jim Laspisa [29:50]
• On Bootlegging and Discovery:
  “Like, what, 83. 83, yeah. My dear departed musical soulmate...drove all the way down there because he'd heard that there was a Smile bootleg...when he got home, it was warped.” — Jim Laspisa [74:41]
• On the Role of the Band:
  “All I'd ever want is that we would…capture the essence and the feel of it. That's way more important to me than even nailing the right chords and the harmonies...” — Darian Sahanaja [23:49]
• Testimony from a Fan:
  “One of my best friends…was never a Beach Boys fan...what changed your mind? She says, then I heard the Beach Boys Love You. That is the album that changed her mind.” — Jim Laspisa [86:37]
• Perspective on Brian’s Later Work:
  “I think the early Brian stuff like…Cuckoo Clock and Kelly's…that's very similar to Love You.” — Jim Laspisa [80:41]
• On the Magic of Simple Songs:
  “A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Isn't that a phrase?” — Darian Sahanaja [86:50]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment Description | Timestamp | |--------------------------------------------------------------|---------------| | Introductions and overview of guests/background | 00:00–03:09 | | Discussing the tour’s purpose & Al Jardine’s role | 03:09–07:48 | | “Love You” album’s renewed critical standing | 06:48–08:09 | | Rearranging songs for live performance | 10:37–13:05 | | Why “Ding Dang” resonates | 11:40–13:05 | | On the joy and innocence of Brian’s late 70s music | 14:00–17:26 | | Surprising reactions from young audiences | 19:52–22:28 | | Setlist choices: balancing hits and deep cuts | 28:08–31:46 | | The Lemon Twigs, influence & fandom across generations | 43:59–49:02 | | Signing a Norbit DVD and meme culture | 49:02–50:44 | | Brian Wilson’s unique banter & stories from the road | 57:14–61:33 | | Upcoming and archival Beach Boys releases | 69:53–73:34 | | Bootleg collecting, “Honeydew Man” story | 74:23–76:56 | | Early Beach Boys-era appreciation and generational change | 78:14–79:41 | | Moments with Dennis, rare early tracks, and the roots of Brian| | Wilson’s style | 81:01–83:29 | | Closing reflections: gratitude, legacy, and timelessness | 83:36–87:00 |

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Final Thoughts — The Spirit of the Episode

Darian, Jim, Ian, and Evan collectively illuminate how much Brian Wilson’s songbook—especially the “weird” and “absurd” corners—continues to inspire profound emotional and communal joy across ages and backgrounds. Their blend of reverence and humor, musical insight, and personal recollection creates a living link between Brian’s legacy and a hungry new audience. The resounding message: these songs, with their combination of innocence, craft, and heart, remain utterly vital, and “Love You” has finally found the loving context and appreciation it always deserved.

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Isn't that a phrase?” — Darian Sahanaja [86:50]

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Transcript

[Ian]

Welcome back to a very special episode of Jokerman. In conversation. I'm Ian. Today Evan and I are lucky enough to be joined by not one, but two members of Al Jardine's Pet Sounds Band and formerly members of Brian Wilson's band, percussionist Jim Laspisa, and the great Darian San Naja. Jim came into the Brian Wilson band in the 2000 and tens, I believe, and acted as one of the great percussion players on all those tours. And Darian is a man that, you know, for many Brian Wilson fanatics out there needs no introduction. But for those who could use one, of course, a member of the Wonderments, great Los Angeles power pop band from the 1990s and more significantly for our context at least, you know, one of the major driving forces and partners of Brian in a creative aspect over the last, you know, two plus decades of his career. Band leader, major smile fanatic. One of the key component parts of the entire Brian Wilson presents Smile project. Right up there with, you know, Brian and Van Dyke themselves. Just a brilliant musician, major Beach Boys head and as you'll hear today, fantastic interview subject. We wanted to make sure to grab some time with Darian and Jim in the midst of this frankly extraordinary run of the Al Jardine touring act as they barnstorm all across this country and all across the world. Actually, I think they've got Australia dates coming up soon playing material from the beach boys. Love you Miu. 15 big ones, some real deep cut major head type material. The shows look and sound fantastic. I'm hoping to catch one here in the near future when they head back out and do some California dates. So we've got all sorts of things to talk about there and then of course, just the love for the Beach Boys. Love you and all of these wacky deep cut Jokerman favorites. Darian and Jim go just as deep, frankly, you know, much deeper presumably even than Evan and I. This is a real great hang chat interview for the heads out there. Here are Jim and Darian.

[Jim Laspisa]

Ain't gonna let you slip through my finger.

[Ian]

Lot to talk about here. Long time coming. Thank you guys again so much for agreeing to hop on with us. But I mean, I think the first point of conversation here we gotta hit is the just frankly unbelievable tour and shows that you guys have been playing with Mr. Al Jardine recently as part of the Pet Sounds Band, right? Isn't that the current name?

[Jim Laspisa]

It is, yes it is.

[Ian]

Can you just kind of tell us? I mean, I know Evan and I have both been following along online and seeing some videos. Certainly Paying attention to some of the set list picks, which certain songs from a couple albums that are a couple of our favorites, and I think a couple of your favorites as well. But can you just kind of, for the listeners out there, give us sort of an overview of what. What exactly these shows are these days?

[Jim Laspisa]

Ah, well, I mean, the way I see it is, you know, especially in the wake of Brian's passing, it's. You know, we just wanted to get out there and celebrate the legacy of. Of Brian's music. And what better way than to do this music that's just so personal to him and. And, you know, the music. The album is one of my favorite albums. I think Jim loves it too, because. Because of its sincerity and. And I mean, if you just know. If I know. Not many people really know. Knew or know Brian Wilson as a person, but having been around him as long as I have, and Jim to a certain degree, it's just that that music is basically him personified, you know, and so Al wanted to. Al was. Al was actually thinking about doing something like this before Brian passed. He wanted. Since Brian retired, he wanted to get the band out and just do stuff. I mean, also, he's, you know, he's concerned that he doesn't. He wants to do it while he still can.

[Evan]

Sure.

[Jim Laspisa]

But, yeah, it was just at first it was sort of like, well, what do we do? And then there was this archival set that's about to be released and it was in the. Well, it was in the works and about to be released. And we just thought, wow, this is. That'll be a really neat thing to tie in. And of course, I mean, the loving material, I.

[Ian]

As far as I can tell, like, Al was not really even very familiar with a lot of these songs going into this stuff that. Do I have that correct?

[Evan]

I think that's true. And he was a little reluctant at first. Like, what. People know this album. People want to hear it.

[Jim Laspisa]

I.

[Ian]

Solar System and Johnny Carson.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah, yeah.

[Evan]

But I think once he sort of got the gist and feedback from other interviewers and fans and actually sat down and listened to these beautiful songs.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah, that's just about it. I think in the end, he. He wasn't. It was almost like he was being. Being reacquainted with the music. Sure. As you know, you guys know, he. He and Mike didn't have a lot to do with the original recording. Recording of it. Yeah, they didn't. They didn't. They weren't as. As involved. And so in a lot of ways, this was this was Al sort of reconnecting or just actually even being reintroduced, introduced to music that he'd nearly forgotten for what, five, five, five decades now.

[Evan]

Right.

[Jim Laspisa]

And so he, he really loved it. You know, it was like, wow, these are really, really beautiful songs.

[Darian San Naja]

It's fascinating to see that. I mean, it feels like we are, you know, I think we've made ourselves a small part of the like, growing chorus of people who are now saying with full, you know, like full self assurance that this is as important, as good as any of the other stuff. I think at this point it's been in the, maybe the last five, 10 years that, that has sort of like bled through like the Internet hive mind and blogosphere, such as it is, into kind of the, the received wisdom. So it's, it's just really fascinating to then hear that getting back to Al Jardine and there being something to back it up, like a popular consensus that that is like, no, yeah, these people do want to hear this. And then just amazing and so beautiful that you guys get to be right there and, and make it happen. Like everybody's like in the right place, it seems.

[Evan]

Getting to pick apart these vocal parts and you know, I've loved this record forever. But you're right, more and more people are, are becoming aware of it and just, you know, I've loved it, but to, to hear these specific vocal breakdowns and get to sing these parts and it's just beautiful.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah. I mean, I've, I've loved the album and I think I've even mentioned it in the few, very rare interviews I've done over the 25 years that was working with Brian. In fact, my only regret is that we didn't get to do this with Brian. I'd been pushing and lobbying for it for many, many years, but for one reason or another, it just never happened. Because I know how much Brian loved this stuff. I remember, know various times walking in the dressing room and he's there and I, he'd just be sitting there and I'll just, he'll look up to me and I'll just go. He sits behind and he just, he'd light up, you know, he's like. And you just get so excited. I mean, he really loved this music. Really something that really, really. I don't know, it just tickled him. I. Anyway, I, I. Any opportunity I had over the years to, you know, I'd say, well, how about the Love U Music? It just, it just never happened.

[Ian]

Sure. Well, I mean, Lord knows it's happening now. Exactly And Lord knows you, you know, played a large role in getting many other Brian Wilson compositions out there into the world they're in. So I think in terms of your service to Brian and to the Beach Boys community at large, you are. You can rest easy on that.

[Evan]

Absolutely.

[Ian]

What is the. I guess so neither Evan nor I have seen these shows because they have been frankly taken place in sort of some off the beaten path type venues and locations. I think you got a couple California dates coming up before too long. So I'm really hoping that we'll be able to come out and catch you guys. But like, you know, this record Love you which composes a lot of these shows that you guys have been playing, you know, obviously effectively a solo record that Brian put together. And obviously, you know, Carl and Dennis kind of came in and filled out a couple of the tracks and did some vocal arrangements and stuff. But Brian was kind of a one man band in large part putting this album together. And as far as I can tell, the shows you got like, it's the whole. You got a big unit up there, maybe eight, ten people or something. What has it been like? Kind of taking these very like, you know, charming but sort of lo fi homespun recordings from Love U and turning them into this giant, you know, professional on stage presentation.

[Evan]

A lot of fun. And actually, you know, it's one thing to copy the parts directly as on.

[Jim Laspisa]

The record, but as we might do with Pet Sounds or.

[Evan]

Right, that would work with Pet Sounds, but love you like not what, 11 out of the 12 songs have never been performed. And you know, sometimes you have to adjust for stage to, you know, give something a little more oomph or add a cool ending. And it's been really interesting to. To know the album so well and yet when we perform it, it breathes and you know, there's little intro sections and it's so fun. It's like now that we've done it a bunch of times, we can really dig in and just rock, you know, some of the songs are really, you know, I mean, rock.

[Ian]

Absolutely.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Ian]

You know, honking down the gosh darn highway. I can only imagine how hard that goes live. Ding dang.

[Darian San Naja]

Ding dang. Yeah.

[Evan]

How did the ding dang thing happen? People go crazy when we do that song.

[Ian]

It's like, you know, I mean, it is frankly one of Brian's just all time great compositions. And he knew it himself, you know.

[Darian San Naja]

Because it's more than that. It's like, it seems like Ding Dang was like some kind of Like a totem. Like some kind of, like, mantra.

[Evan]

Like, please explain it to us.

[Darian San Naja]

Well, it's got this. I mean, to. To hear the story as we understand it. I think it. It has its roots, of course, in Shortening Bread, which itself was just this kind of, like, recurring.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Darian San Naja]

This kind of mantra, like. What's the word?

[Ian]

Mnem.

[Darian San Naja]

Thing that he could kind of just like, riff and jam on forever. So then to have that be distilled within Ding Dang as this, like, very short, energetic piece of music that contains, like, all of that. It's like you. You made Brian into, like, one little microchip that, like, contains all his information. Is in.

[Evan]

Thank you.

[Darian San Naja]

Is in. Ding Ding.

[Jim Laspisa]

That's an awesome.

[Evan]

We're gonna quote you directly on stage.

[Darian San Naja]

That's just, you know, my armchair version of it. But everybody's got their own, I think, feeling about, like there's something to that.

[Ian]

I mean, I think it does honestly have a. You know, I've almost come to think of it as like a. Like a theme song for Brian in some ways, you know, at least a certain version of Brian. And you see this all the way back to, like, the Be My Baby stuff where he's like, you know, this is my favorite record of all time. I just play it endlessly, like, over and over. Yeah, yeah. When he just locks in on a particular kind of perfect melodic arrangement, whether that's a Be My Baby record or Ding Dang or whatever. Many of his own records obviously fall into this category as well. That's. We've kind of come back to this concept a couple times. But the line music is in my soul. You really can't put it any better than that. And it almost kind of feels trite to, you know, rely on a line like that. But for Brian Wilson in particular, I think that, like, music has not been in anyone's soul as much as it is and always will have been in Brian's soul.

[Darian San Naja]

Well, there's something about it that I feel your contribution, both of you, represents something that maybe this angle doesn't get discussed enough. That there is this popular image that is, like, obviously well explored. And there's a lot to think about in terms of Brian being tortured and having his struggle. That kind of is the central drama for him. But Ding Dang and like and love you and this other side represents what I think everybody knows was also. There was the stuff that wasn't a struggle. Like, the stuff that was just un burdened and very plain. It was just couldn't help this very generative not obstructed side of him that I think is. It's. It's time to have more attention be put on that. Because the whole story of love you and especially of adult child and like these. These opportunities that were thwarted, these. The things he was excited about, getting stymied to. To be able to, even if he's not there, perform that material and put attention on that side of things is, I think, a very great way to honor him.

[Evan]

Maybe that's a really wonderful byproduct of playing these songs is. I mean, we perform them and I'll look up at a light in the rig and just think of Brian. And it's just, well, we're doing this now and you wanted us to. And we talked about it and, you.

[Jim Laspisa]

Know, that was very nicely put, Evan. I liked that. But I think another thing is that, I mean, over the years, you know, one of our favorite things, just as. As a band, is to, you know, is to tell Brian stories because. Or an anecdote. It's just something he did or said that's super entertaining or just. Just unintentionally funny. And in so many ways, it's that feeling. This, Me playing this music is the closest to getting that feeling because it's so, as I said earlier, sincere and. And sometimes, you know, obviously the music on love you, a lot of it feels childlike. Right. Or very, very pure. And. And that's. That is Brian. And that's why I think we feel that joy when we're playing this music. At least I feel like, wow, we're really celebrating the man when we play this, you know.

[Evan]

Yes, this. And also, you know, as Al plays these songs more, he really, like, dials in on some of the lyrics and he will make a comment like, that is so Brian, you know, so he. These little, you know, gems in the lyrics and things are so simple and childlike. I think he's more aware of that now and he really appreciates what was behind all of these songs.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah. And probably.

[Evan]

And that's really fun for us to watch him become more appreciative of this album and that material.

[Ian]

Sure.

[Jim Laspisa]

And I think he. I dare say that he appreciates our love for this.

[Evan]

Oh, my God. Yeah. Yeah.

[Jim Laspisa]

You know, I think. I think it. It's like. It's like. What's the word? Contagious for him. I mean, he's. The last show he got really emotional. He was.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Jim Laspisa]

You know, we do our little circle up, you know, before the. Before each show, we'll just kind of Do a little pep. Pep talk, you know, get ourselves motivated. And. And he. He was really.

[Evan]

It is. It must be so much fun for him.

[Jim Laspisa]

But also, you know, again, I mean, he lost a dear old friend.

[Evan]

That's true.

[Jim Laspisa]

Just a few months ago, you know, and so maybe I think that he's kind of reconnecting with him, hearing this music passages.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Jim Laspisa]

Certain lyrics that only he could come up with that. That is a huge difference too, like between this playing this music and say, Pet Sounds or Smile is that. I mean, as you guys know, those songs were co. Written and most of the lyrics were written by other people. Whereas this stuff lyrically is so. Brian.

[Ian]

Pure uncut Brian.

[Evan]

Yeah, exactly.

[Darian San Naja]

Yeah. But the world has caught up to that. I mean, there is like. I don't know if it's. It seems obvious to say, but there's a sort of absurdity in culture today that in. In ways that are, you know, general. I wouldn't even say it's all. It's. It's obviously as good and bad, but there's also just an. Maybe an appetite or like a willing more an openness to some things that are just kind of like have a peculiar character.

[Ian]

Yeah. Idiosyncrasies, you know, taking an artist for who they are instead of, you know, forcing the artists to sort of fit themselves into a predefined box. And especially now that we're, you know, so far removed from, you know, this, you know, Brian obviously felt very pressured both by himself and the Beach Boys apparatus to like, churn out hits, you know, number one records, big sellers. And now that we're, you know, we're divorced from all of that, you know, you know, kind of commercial, you know, the. Just the beauty of the music that has always been there, that's. That's the only thing that is left to focus on. And you know, thank God. Thank God that it is. Yeah.

[Jim Laspisa]

I wonder what you had said, what you just said, Evan, about the sort of like the state of things today with the absurdities we've noticed in these shows. How many young people have come out and they're like freaking out over. Yeah, I mean, we would never. I mean, I expected, you know, maybe people our age, you know, like. Yeah, it's.

[Darian San Naja]

It's surprising though. I mean, there. Because I guess there was. Now there is like meme culture. I mean, for, like to put it broadly there. There's this, you know, the. The phenomenon that these strange little humorous or absurd or just like very singular moments get honed in on. And if anybody who Knows Brian Wills's music, already loves him for the stuff that everyone knows. And then if you dig a little deeper, like kids on the Internet want to do, you'll discover that he's like, there's just this never ending treasure trove of strange little moments that are like, become little. I think. I think younger people latch on to those and find value in them where they might have been seen as a liability to certain people in music industry positions anyway.

[Evan]

Yeah. What is this? What is this weird?

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Darian San Naja]

They're like fighting tooth and nail against those things instead of just being like, all right, let's roll with it.

[Evan]

Yeah. It's really so much fun to look out in the crowd playing these songs. And like Darian said, there's so many young kids out that, you know, they made sure they got first or second row. They know every word to every song. And it's just. I see myself. I look out there and, well, it's like playing any Beach Boys music. I see myself watching the reactions, and it can be very emotional. But this specifically is just. A lot of young kids are really dialed into that album and people were like, I'll look out and I'll see someone in the back row jumping up and down like.

[Jim Laspisa]

Like, pogo, pogo.

[Evan]

God, they're doing. I'll bet he's nice. And just, you know, it's just. It's really wonderful to witness and to be a part of this. Just playing these songs and watching the reaction. A Betty's nice.

[Jim Laspisa]

It is twice. It's nice to feel it makes me cry. Cause I remember you and I. Please don't tell me if it's true Because I'm still in love with you.

[Ian]

We.

[Jim Laspisa]

Darling you. My pretty Darby you, you. Because I imagine if we went out and did you know any other adored Beach Boys album start to finish, say we did. Well, we kind of did a little bit of. Back in 2019. We did friends. Yeah. Right. But let's. Let's say we did a whole bunch of. Did that album complete. I mean, you'd get people out there fanatics and. But you wouldn't get this kind of reaction. You know, it'd be a completely different kind of thing. And that's what we're just really. It's great because it's. I. I feel. I keep thinking about, you know, before we even started any of this, I could get together with Jim and we. We're just hanging out and I'll sing a line from one of the songs and.

[Evan]

Right.

[Jim Laspisa]

You know, and we'll Just be, like, loving it, but also laughing because it's just so amazing that he would go that far. And that's what I feel is happening, you know, like, people are actually. I feel that from people in the audience, and that's wonderful. That's a. That's great. That. I mean, as a. As a band or as for myself, the. The person overseeing this. This band, performing this music, all I'd ever want is that we would at least not so much, you know, paint by numbers, you know, note for note, but just if we can capture the essence and the feel of it. That's way more important to me than even nailing the right chords and the harmonies and all that. Of course, that's all. Look, that's all integrated. But to me, when I. When I see that kind of reaction that I. I know that we're doing something. Must be doing something right.

[Evan]

Yeah. Also, it's just the love we have for these songs, these strange little songs, you know?

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah.

[Evan]

And it's just like, when this. It first came up that this could happen and that Al was open to it. I'm the first one that Darian called and we talked about it. Guess what? We're finally. We might actually do this, you know, like. So it starts with the excitement on our level. It's just fans, really. Fans of that album in that era. And to see it, like, come alive and I'm being redundant, but to watch the reaction is just specifically for this album is beautiful.

[Darian San Naja]

I would point out that there's a huge piece of ground of the foundation for. I think what we're talking about right now is also Smile, of course, of Brian Wilson's Smile. That phenomena and that triumph was. I know that both Ian and I growing up, we were young when it happened in 2004, 2003, but it was part of our. Like, it was in the atmosphere of. If we were interested in Brian Wilson, that was pretty early on we were introduced to that. So I think that a lot of other younger people had a similar experience where it's like. It's not like we grew up with I Get around and then Pet Sounds came out. It was like we got all that plus smile at a relatively early age.

[Ian]

Yeah, I think it's just a different generation of Beach Boys fans at this point, and Brian Wilson fans, you know, is that for so long, you know, Brian and the Beach Boys both had been like, you know, trying to meet the expectations of the people that, like, you know, kind of came up with them in the 1960s or, like, that Kind of first wave of fans that came aboard, you know, around, like, Endless Summer era or whatever.

[Jim Laspisa]

That would be us. Or that would be me.

[Ian]

Well, but you guys, like, you know, took. Even if you came on earlier, like, you are real, you know, Brian Wilson, you know, aficionados versus, like, the people that are coming out to, you know, the people that are going out to a Beach boys show in 2025, frankly, you know, whatever you consider that band that goes by the name the Beach Boys today, which Evan and I have both seen.

[Darian San Naja]

We've seen it. We've seen it.

[Ian]

You know, it's fun. It's fun to see, you know, Beach Boys songs performed live by an original Beach Boy and one mostly original Beach Boy and then a bunch of other people. But, I mean, it just. It's qualitatively different. It seems, you know, qualitatively different from this sort of joyous celebration that you guys have been pursuing with Al here. I'm so glad to hear that the audience is just, like, into this kind of stuff because, like, knowing what the crowd looks like at those other shows, like, I cannot imagine the kind of looks on the faces that would come over many of the people's seats.

[Evan]

Solid Gold Sleeping or Every Emotion. Well, we didn't know what to expect really. You know, we knew some people would absolutely love it, but there's always that thing. What is the balance? Are we really going to do 10 songs in a row that a lot of people don't know at a fair?

[Ian]

Yeah, exactly. Fair.

[Darian San Naja]

What's a typical set list in terms of, like, do you throw them a bone? And which bone do you throw them? And the people who just came because they heard about It's a Beach Boys show.

[Jim Laspisa]

Well, we tend to. Just the same as we did with Pet Sounds and even Smile, we. We tend to break it into two halves, you know, so, like, the. The first half of the show, especially if the show requires, like, some venues prefer to have an intermission. And actually, Al at. At his age, sure will sometimes appreciate an intermission and sometimes not. Sometimes he's like, let's play straight through. Yeah, but. But it's usually the opening set that we give them, you know, the I Get Arounds and the Surfer girls and the California girls. I mean, it. It. We. We open a show very much in the same way that most Beach Boys shows are, you know.

[Ian]

And then it goes in a very different direction.

[Jim Laspisa]

It goes in a different direction after a break.

[Evan]

Yeah. But then the reaction is just. It's amazingly. We play all these songs in A row from the album. And you can see like maybe people are a little skeptical at first, but they, they get caught up on it in the maybe just how good the songs are.

[Ian]

Sure.

[Jim Laspisa]

That's what, that's what my hope is.

[Evan]

That's what's so great about it is despite the reputation of the album, they're just great songs that anyone can appreciate, you know.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah. They're fun and they're catchy as hell.

[Darian San Naja]

Yeah.

[Jim Laspisa]

And they're pure, Brian. You know, I mean, I. I don't know how many years ago, 30 something years ago, I. I did a cover of I want to pick you up because I just thought that, that the chords and the melody of that are just right up there with anything on Pet Sounds, you know.

[Ian]

So you have Al up there singing Pat, Pat, Pat. Oh yeah, yeah.

[Evan]

We do it in unison at the end.

[Ian]

Oh man, I gotta get to one of these shows. It's unbelievable.

[Darian San Naja]

I've had head just completely randomly for the last about two and a half days especially. Yeah. Cuz you're just a baby.

[Jim Laspisa]

Well, and that. But you know. Well, to address that point, I mean, I think some of it also is that I think some of the aversion that people had to have and still, maybe still have to the album is maybe some of the execution of it. You know, maybe, maybe the. Maybe a song is really beautiful, but Dennis's gravelly voice at that age, singing about, you know, picking up a baby, it's not, it's not.

[Darian San Naja]

That.

[Jim Laspisa]

Is not the most pleasant thing. It's not the way to win people over. That's why I. I mean, and I'm. I guess I'm hoping that in this presentation with somebody else singing it, you know, and, and myself or Jim or, or Matt or Al singing a song, they might hear it in a different way or appreciate the song structure or melody more because.

[Evan]

Absolutely. You know, and also specific to that song, Darien sets it up, explaining, this is a song about Carney.

[Ian]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Evan]

And Brian wrote it for his daughter when she was a baby. And by the way, Carney's husband's right across on the other end of the stage, Rob Bonfilio. So there's a fun setup to it and people are, you know, they go into it understanding the real intent of the lyric.

[Ian]

Yeah, I've never understood the, you know, people who sort of read weird stuff into that song, you know, hey, little tomboy, you know, that. That's another matter. But you know, I want to pick you up. I think that's such a pure clearly just like, you know, fatherly love type of song.

[Jim Laspisa]

Again, it's Dennis's voice that doesn't help the cause. And so hear it, you know, as a. Just, just hearing the melody over those chords. It's such, such a beautiful piece.

[Evan]

And also Brian's, you know, like, wanted Dennis to sing that.

[Jim Laspisa]

Sure.

[Evan]

He would go, okay, this is a good one for him. So, you know, that was his choice.

[Ian]

Absolutely. Speaking of songs that Dennis sings on the record, have you guys been doing Mona? Because that's like, I wish.

[Jim Laspisa]

That's one of three we haven't been.

[Ian]

Oh my God. That's like one of my like maybe top 10 all time beach Boy songs.

[Jim Laspisa]

Just unbelievable.

[Evan]

What's funny is we maybe like in the last couple years when Brian, after he retired, we would get together with him at his house on Tuesday afternoons often. And that's early on. That was one of the songs that we. I just started like Darian mentioned it or I started singing it and then it ends up being like, I'm singing this entire song to Brian Wilson like a foot away from his face. And he was. Would just look at us like, what is this? I've never even heard this song sung by anyone after I recorded it.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah.

[Evan]

And also like, how do you know all these words? You know, and I'm just trying to contain myself because I'm singing to. To the guy.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah.

[Evan]

But that was just so much fun to like revisit those songs in that context with Brian.

[Ian]

I can only imagine.

[Evan]

Just beautiful.

[Jim Laspisa]

No, I, I mean, Mona, you have to kind of understand how this sort of start. It rolled out. I mean, in the beginning it was even trying to convince Al that this was even a cool thing to do. He agreed mainly because it's. It would be a tie in with. With this archival set that's coming out. And so we were going to probably do some songs off of that and maybe some songs off of 15 big ones and MIU. And so that's how it all kind of started. And so I, I mean I. And I remember it was in March or April. Al. Al was invited down to do this sort of fundraiser for the fires that were here in la. And it was at that time I just, I remember standing in the hallway going, al, I think we should just do the whole album. He's like, he's like, why? You know, nobody's gonna know that. You know. And I said, because you either do. Anyway, we were going back and forth, actually. I remember even like Weird Al played that show as well. And I just, I Remember, he was within earshot. And I just turned to Weird Al, said, what do you think? If. Would you be into having an entire. Like a show of where we play the entire album if it's promoted as playing the entire Love U album, start to finish versus just a few? And he was torn. He understood the value. He says, says, wow, well, that's a real, you know, to say that you're playing the entire album. That. That's. But. But I then. But he was playing it safe because Al. Al Jardine was standing right there.

[Ian]

But.

[Jim Laspisa]

But yeah, it could be interesting to do a dabble of, you know, of songs to dabble in the songs. But the. What I was going to say was, so it started off with, okay, what four or five are we going to do? Right? You know, And I remember going back forth with Al over the phone and I'd give five. And he would say, no, I don't like that song. And this song's better. Okay. And. And then before you know it, we had six, then we had seven, and then. And then we had eight, and we had nine. And then it was. It was, okay, we're only gonna do these 10 songs. Right? And then he says. And then, you know, he was. One day, he was. I guess he was really, really just sort of sad about Brian's passing. And he just called me up and he said, I really want to do Good Time. Because Good Time was not. Was not one of the original selected ones. But he wanted to do it because it just. He says, I just want. I want. I want it to be uplifting. He just was in this mood where he needed some uplifting. Says, I want to do Good Time. And of course, that was, I think, the only song on the album that he co wrote with Brian. So that made sense. So we added that. So it was just this sort of incremental thing. There was no design to, you know, which songs to, you know. But Mona, maybe because it was so repetitive, we thought, oh, that if we have to add that one, we'll add that one later as a, you know, as a band for rehearsing. It would be one of the easier things to work up.

[Ian]

Sure.

[Jim Laspisa]

So, yeah, I mean, if. If this continues. Yeah, we will definitely look into. Into doing that one.

[Ian]

It's a tough one to do. You know, when you don't. The Dennis vocal on that really, that's a. That's a big part of that song. So if you don't have someone with just the, you know, the most torched.

[Darian San Naja]

Yeah. You gotta hire somebody who's just like preparing backstage. Just like going through car of cigarettes unfiltered. Yeah, yeah, exactly like you practicing, like.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah, no, and that is a tough thing. You know, it's.

[Evan]

It's.

[Jim Laspisa]

And that's also one that's so, as Al would say, personality driven. You know, he was. He was. He was not into singing certain leads because he just thought they were too. Personality. They were too. Oh, that's. That's. I can't do the Mike love things. That's just. That's so Mike. So he'd hand that off to. Yeah, like somebody else else.

[Evan]

And it's interesting, you know, when these things come out and we get his perspective on it because it can be personal for him and maybe he has certain memories and. Yeah. I'm always taken, just as a fan, little like taken aback. Like, oh, yeah, this is his perspective and he has to go out there in front it and get behind a lyric. And so I understand when these things come up. It's interesting.

[Ian]

Absolutely. Do you guys have favorite, like, favorite songs? You know, just in terms of like what. What it's like to perform and kind of how the arrangement has come together.

[Jim Laspisa]

Of this material or. Yeah, well, you know, it's interesting because we had mentioned earlier how we. The first set is pretty much like, you know, Beach Boys, meat potatoes. But in actuality, for this particular show, we start to dabble. There's that word again. Into it, into that material before the intermission, before we get to love you. And that was a big decision too, whether to do it chronologically or what. But if we have a break, it was just decided that if there's going to be a break in the show, we'd want to break and then come out and hit the love you stuff just hard. So that being said, we start to dive into some of the. The more obscure stuff before the break and that. What I mean by that is we get into some MIU stuff. So we'll do She's Got Rhythm.

[Ian]

Oh.

[Jim Laspisa]

And Sweet Sunday Kind of Love, which is one of my favorites.

[Ian]

Wow. Yeah, yeah, those are great. I mean, the Brian Falsetto one, She's got Rhythm is. That's like. That's classic, you know, 1965 type Brian.

[Evan]

So great. It's amazing that he could muster that so late in the 70s.

[Ian]

Yeah.

[Evan]

You hear that. Oh, my. That's like 1978, Brian.

[Ian]

Yeah, it's like someone turned the clock back. Exactly.

[Evan]

Yeah. Yeah. Like they put away the cigarettes for three weeks. You're right, though. It's amazing that he had that later than maybe you would think.

[Jim Laspisa]

And that song in particular became kind of a. I wouldn't say an inside joke, but it did. Yeah, it did become an inside joke. Because a few of us really, really just again, we really loved that song. Including a dear old friend of Brian's who would come out and maybe, you know, sometimes would be Brian's handler on the road. He's an old friend, a guy named Jerry. But Jerry. Jerry and I in particular had this little back and forth thing where, I mean, he loved that song so much that we would just greet each other by just going, you know, like. And it got to the point where he would leave messages on my. You know, just kind of thing and then hang up. Right. Or text, like, you know.

[Darian San Naja]

Yeah.

[Jim Laspisa]

And it got so absurd. That got so absurd. We'd start leaving little sound bites. I'd message him with just. Yeah, with like the first L sound of like, like. So his message would just be like. Yeah. And. And then he'd send me something. Just. He said. He'd said just the scratch. Yeah, the scratch. Just the final scratches. Just.

[Evan]

What's the thing with the eye?

[Jim Laspisa]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It just. It. Now we're getting too deep. This is too ridiculous.

[Evan]

We already had our inside jokes to do with that song long before it came up.

[Jim Laspisa]

The point is, we loved that song.

[Ian]

It's a great song.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Ian]

Maybe not the strongest record, but one of the high points on it. No question.

[Jim Laspisa]

Jesus.

[Darian San Naja]

She came to my table.

[Evan]

I have never heard Sweet Sunday Kind of Love. Or maybe I, like, heard it once. But what a beautiful song.

[Ian]

That's a great one.

[Evan]

So there's like. Like that level of obscurity in the first set towards the end. Nothing to do with Love you. But, you know, we're pulling out a couple unusual songs, getting the audience sort of. And then that's like another, maybe another contingent of the audience. They brought their MIU album and they're holding it up.

[Ian]

Those are the real freaks. Those are the real sickos.

[Evan]

Oh, yeah. Love you is okay, but I love miu. I bought my ticket. I'm holding it up. I love this. This is the greatest moment of my life. Because you're doing song that's on side two. All these moments are beautiful.

[Darian San Naja]

I know you. You've met the Lemon Twigs. Is that right, that you've spent some time with Michael and Brian?

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah, they're really good.

[Darian San Naja]

They're good friends of ours. They're old friends of ours as well.

[Evan]

Cool.

[Darian San Naja]

Yeah. I've known Michael and Brian for 10 years or something.

[Ian]

But Evan did the COVID art for Go to School.

[Darian San Naja]

I did draw the art for that.

[Jim Laspisa]

The monkey. Yeah.

[Darian San Naja]

Again, like, that. They're the type who are like. That was their second album. And I was kind of just like, so this is. So you want it to be like, it's. This is your second album is the musical about the monkey who goes to school. And they're like.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah.

[Darian San Naja]

I don't know if they maybe have feelings about maybe that would like, like not doing that, you know, now. But that. That is the kind of, you know, spirit that I think also brings them. You know, that's why they're the type who can connect to Brian and his music so authentically.

[Jim Laspisa]

Oh, and that makes total sense because I'm always trying to explain why they. I connect with them so well, you know, in their music. Because I. I heard it like, from the get go. This is not. These guys are not advised, you know, these guys. These guys. Because, you know, you always hear about these, like, young, young bands and they're trying to do some really cool thing. And it always seems a little groomed or something to me. Whereas when I first heard those guys, I said, no, this comes from a real deep, organic place. It's. It's completely intuitive. And. And. And of course I. I end up meeting them and lo and behold, they are exactly what I would expect. People who. It makes sense that these. That that music was made from these types of people.

[Ian]

These guys. Yeah. Music is in their soul.

[Darian San Naja]

It is. I mean, they're the. They're not the guys who are like, consulted on how to do. They could consult other bands.

[Jim Laspisa]

Absolutely.

[Darian San Naja]

Like, as often they could be hired for film and television for this, like, authenticity of, like, gear per. Per period. It's accuracy, like. But they are. They come to mind just because thinking about, you know, younger people who do understand not just like this music, not just love it, but actually understand very, very granular stuff about it. There is more and more of a. An actual comprehensive. Like a desire to understand the detailed stuff. And I think our show Jokerman, with our season on the Beach Boys, has. And we've benefited from that. From there being a lot of people who are interested in the minutiae of this story because frankly, you're not gonna get it from many official, quote, sources like, I mean, that frankly. Pardon me, the very bad documentary by the Disney Corporation.

[Ian]

You guys don't need to say anything about that. I'm sure you are. Semi. I know Al was in it, but left some things to be des from.

[Darian San Naja]

From Both of us bad just inter. Objectively in terms of giving a real. Those kind of details, holistic picture. The stuff that I'm. You know, many people who are interested are glad that you're bringing, you know, in a very vis. A very physical way into the world right now. But yeah, every aspect of this, like there's nothing too. Too inside, too deep for the people who really care. Because it feels like there's years of Brian's life that were kind of buried or like robbed from people. Robbed from him even. And I think that there's a feeling of like, we must reclaim this and like getting close as we can in any way we can.

[Jim Laspisa]

That is so cool. But yeah, I mean, the. Yeah, it makes sense of those guys. Michael and Brian and their friend Ryan. Do you know Ryan?

[Darian San Naja]

Does he play with them?

[Jim Laspisa]

No, I think he plays in a different band. I think he's. Because all of their girlfriends are in that band.

[Darian San Naja]

Yeah.

[Jim Laspisa]

And another great group. I adore Chachki. But the third gal is Ryan's.

[Darian San Naja]

Oh, yes. Yeah, No, I know them. I've met them both. I know them both.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah, right. But the three guys, the girls couldn't make it because they were rehearsing for something. But the three guys drove, whatever, three hours to Atlantic City to see the show that we just did. So it may. You are absolutely right. And how much, how much they appreciate the. The. I don't know what.

[Evan]

The execution of it or just the.

[Jim Laspisa]

Idea of it at all.

[Evan]

The idea alone. Yeah.

[Jim Laspisa]

And it totally made sense because I, you know, one of the things I love about hanging out with those guys is they're super funny and, you know, we can just. And talk about absurd stuff. But one of the things that had just happened, I think the. Either the show before or previous show before is, you know, whenever we leave a venue, there's going to be fans who, you know, want say hello. But just before I. I was signing something and just before I got into the van. Oh, yeah, the guy, the guy says, okay, I'm gonna ask you to sign something. And I said, yes. And he says, can you sign my Norbit dvd?

[Darian San Naja]

No.

[Ian]

Oh my God.

[Jim Laspisa]

And I was like, wow.

[Evan]

I didn't even get the connection. It had to be explained to me.

[Jim Laspisa]

But, but, but. So that blew my mind, right? That it's gotten to that level of minutia. And then when I mentioned this to the Lemon Twigs and their friend Ryan, they were totally like, yeah, of course. You know, especially Ryan. He's like, oh, yeah, check it out. And he takes out his phone. And he starts showing me like. Like there are hats that are available with Brian's interview answer where he mentions Norbit being.

[Evan]

It's all because of some question in one interview.

[Jim Laspisa]

But that's how you know it's at that level, which is what we're talking about here.

[Ian]

That guy was probably one of our listeners.

[Darian San Naja]

Yeah, probably.

[Evan]

No, it is. It's one little thing that Brian said offhand in one interview, and it.

[Darian San Naja]

We have so many of those just from going through the stories on. On our show in the past year and a half, like the one that keeps coming up for me lately. My favorite is that the time that Brian met Bob Dylan and then later was talking with his producer at the time about having met him, and he said, you'll never guess who is here. Folk music's Bob Dylan. This is in 1988.

[Evan]

Isn't.

[Jim Laspisa]

That's an Andy Paley story.

[Ian]

That's Andy Paley. Exactly.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah. Oh, Andy was one of my favorite people of all time. He is, bar none, the funniest person I've ever met. And I so miss him. We quote him, and I quote him every tour he comes up because, well, I imagine the main. The main thing, and you guys will appreciate this, is that Jim's laughing.

[Evan]

I know what it is.

[Jim Laspisa]

It's just the funny. It's this bit where, you know, you'd be talking. Let's say we're talking to the lemon twigs backstage. And I'll say something like, yeah, well, you know, when, when Paul McCartney came into the. And you slap the table, right? And they're like, what? What? And that's. That's something that Andy would do. Like anytime he name dropped, he would call attention to the fact that he name dropped by slapping his hand on the table, lap the table. And it just become this whole thing.

[Evan]

That'S, you know, it's this thing now where we go out to dinner and whenever anybody's like, oh, was. Was there.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah. Or if it's some. Some lesser, you know, level person, third tier, you just kind of do it small.

[Evan]

I don't know about that level. There's. There's lighter taps for lesser salon or.

[Jim Laspisa]

People that don't really.

[Darian San Naja]

Well, we're. We're going to be doing this about you guys coming up. You know, you'll never believe who came on Jokerman podcast.

[Ian]

Yeah. Oh, my God. Go ahead, Darian and Jim, please.

[Evan]

You get the blank stare.

[Jim Laspisa]

Give us, Give us the tiny slaps.

[Darian San Naja]

It's daring in Jim.

[Evan]

I'm worthy of one finger.

[Jim Laspisa]

No, Andy was one of my favorite people. And he. That, yeah, he used to. He used to say the folk. Folk music.

[Ian]

Folk music's Bob Dylan or There's the.

[Evan]

Thing about Bonnie or.

[Jim Laspisa]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Evan]

Hatchet.

[Jim Laspisa]

That was another favorite. I mean, Andy and I, okay, we're musicians, but we, like, rarely talked about music. It was just a bunch of funny. That's all we ever did. Again, he just called and, you know, leave, like, one of his favorite things. And, you know, this ties into what we're talking about because one thing about Love you is that it sort of is the cont. It's almost like a. I don't want to say if. If Pet Sounds and Smile are. Tend to be, you know, revered and. And almost put on a pedestal. Like, it's almost like people get really precious about that music. Right? Well, you can't. You can't really get precious about the stuff. Maybe a few songs. But overall. And Andy loved that side of Brian, as do we. It's just this raw. Just funny. He's just, you know, he will. He will absolutely destroy any. Anything that. That seems maybe a little too reverent, you know, in a moment. And I love that about Brian. I guess I can tell one. Really funny. I have so many of them.

[Ian]

Any. Listen, if we can get some Brian Wilson stories on the pot, like, that is exactly what we'd like to be.

[Jim Laspisa]

Oh, man. Jeez. There's so many.

[Evan]

But were you pivoting off the Carl? Away from the Carl?

[Jim Laspisa]

Oh, the Carl, yeah. Well, that sounds. Getting back to that. Well, maybe I could say that first. So one of the things that Andy would love to do is, I guess it's the. The 1984 documentary. Is it an American Band?

[Ian]

American band, yeah.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah, I think it's in that one. You guys would know better. But it's either Carl or Bruce when, you know, it's being told in whatever chronological order and they get to Pet Sounds. And in the film, I guess the cut. It's a. It cuts to either Carl or Bruce and one of them says Pet Sounds. It was a turning point. We were supposed to headline the Monterey Pop Festival, but the last minute Brian backed out. Monterey was a turning point in rock and roll. Overnight, the whole scene changed and we felt as if we'd been passed by, you know, and it was. It's so precious that Andy used to just. He used. He would just. Anytime things got too precious, you say, oh, it's a turning point. That's a turning point.

[Evan]

And he would apply that generally to any situation to the point where he.

[Jim Laspisa]

He would start calling me Turn. Just calling me Turning Point. He would address me as Turning Point.

[Evan]

Hello, Turning Point.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah, hey, Turning Point.

[Darian San Naja]

Call me back.

[Jim Laspisa]

He. I remember actually during the smile shows, or not the smile shows. It was maybe it was after the smile shows. Yeah, it was our. Our final smile shows in London. And I just remember there was talk. Brian started talking about the next project, which was going to be based on that lucky old son, you know, and of course, the journalists were jumping all over it, and they. They wanted to hear more from Brian. And I remember sitting at a table backstage and these two journalists that are really, really, you know, serious, and. And they're like, so, Brian, what is this? What is this? We're here. Your next project is that Lucky Old Son.

[Ian]

What.

[Jim Laspisa]

Tell us about that. And Brian goes, that Lucky Old Son. It's about this slave sweating his ass off out in the hot sun. But that is so Brian. You know, he just.

[Darian San Naja]

It's true. It is true.

[Jim Laspisa]

It's so true. But just the look on the journalist's face.

[Evan]

There's so many stories like this.

[Darian San Naja]

The, The.

[Evan]

The Chinese.

[Jim Laspisa]

Oh, which one?

[Evan]

The, the intro to.

[Jim Laspisa]

Oh, yeah, we used to do Little Girl I Once Knew in the early days. And, you know, I mean, I, I think it's. I think I've said this in many, many times over, that my favorite moments of, Of. Of playing with Brian over the years was. Was the, the stage banter, you know, just him. Because he couldn't be given a set list. He was too. He had too much anxiety. If he saw a list of the songs we were to perform at a show, he would just be constantly staring at it and going, oh, my God, there's 38 more songs. Or there's, you know, there's 25 more songs. You know, it'd just be so anxious. So what we would do is we wouldn't give him a set list. He'd just have a teleprompter and the title of the song would come up and that would be the moment he would know what song we were going to do. And so I lived for those moments because depending Up. Yeah. Depending on how he felt that in the moment he would have to just kind of work through it or like you could tell he starts to fidget in his chair and what am I going to say about this song or whatever, or, or if he says anything at all, it's just, Just this again, this unfiltered stuff would come out. And so we. In the early days, we did the Little girl I once knew. And I'm sure you guys are familiar with the, the intro of the song. You know, it starts with a. Yeah, these fourths, you know, these on the bells, you know. And so, so one of the shows it comes up and he says this next song, there's a little Chinese going on in the intro. But after that it's all American stuff like that. And then the, like the next he get on a trip like that too. Like all of a sudden that become obsessed with that. With, with that would be the introduction of how he's going to introduce the song anytime it would come up. So I would come up to the next show and it'd be like this next song, I'd like to dedicate the first four notes to China, right?

[Evan]

And then you think like, oh wow, maybe that is where that intro came from, these intervals. And probably, yeah, he's saying it off hand because he's nervous. But it's also like, it's interesting. It's the truth, the truth behind maybe the inspiration for that intro. Oh my God, you get gold, like directly and indirectly.

[Darian San Naja]

Yeah, well.

[Ian]

And you hear this also. I've been, I've been listening compulsively recently over the last couple months to the Live at the Roxy set, which I know, I think is getting re released this fall also. And just, I mean the music in, in that set is just unbelievable. It starts of course with the little girl I once knew. But honestly, like some of my favorite parts are just like Brian, just like you can hear how excited and just emotional and ecstatic he is in his in between song banter and stuff. He's just, he's up there having the time of his life, clearly with just a room full of everyone there to support him and love him. Both the people on stage behind him, the people in the audience in front of him. It's like, it's some of the most joyous music that I've literally ever heard.

[Jim Laspisa]

Thank you.

[Darian San Naja]

Aren't they great?

[Jim Laspisa]

Aren't they great?

[Darian San Naja]

They're great now.

[Jim Laspisa]

Oh man, I've completely forgotten. I, I, I have to revisit that because I don't remember a lot of that banter in between.

[Evan]

You're right though, because at that point it was like amazing that he was performing at all live, you know, like, I never thought that would even happen. And you know, I was the guy in the audience, he had this all of a sudden, this incredible man behind him and you know. Yeah, I agree.

[Darian San Naja]

One of my favorite, I've said this before on the Show. But when I saw Brian, I think Ian, we were both at the show at the Hollywood Bowl. It was one of the. I don't know what year that was.

[Ian]

Like 2015, I want to say there was a Pet Sounds run. I think Blondie was on some of those dates.

[Darian San Naja]

And one of the songs, I forget which, Brian introduced it by saying, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Here's another song by the Beach Boys.

[Evan]

You were at the Hollywood Bowl?

[Darian San Naja]

Yeah, both of us were. It was a great show.

[Evan]

Where do you guys live? I don't know.

[Darian San Naja]

I live in Silver Lake.

[Ian]

He's in Los Angeles.

[Darian San Naja]

But we're both from here. We're both from the suburbs of near, you know, Thousand Oaks and Agora Hills and Westlake Village. And over there I live in Woodland Hills. Oh, okay.

[Jim Laspisa]

Small world Hills. And I've been in. Well, in your neck of the woods since I was. Since my family moved here in the 60s, which is silver Lake, was the first house that we lived in. And then I moved and then we moved to Mount Washington and then Eagle Rock, where I live now.

[Darian San Naja]

Great places in Los Angeles. All three.

[Ian]

Absolutely.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yes, yes.

[Darian San Naja]

And all four, including Woodland Hills, which is where I met the Lemon Twigs and.

[Evan]

Oh, yeah, because they recorded there.

[Darian San Naja]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Evan]

They were telling me that, yeah, there's a burger place that they talk about all the time. The Habit or something like Habit.

[Ian]

They talk about the Habit.

[Evan]

Yeah. That happened to be like, you know, maybe Woodland Hills to them was more like classic California.

[Darian San Naja]

Because it is. It's where the. The Wilbury's recorded. Apparent there was a. When. When Rado lived over there. At the time I met the Twigs, they. It was really close to this Indian restaurant, which apparently the Wilburys, like Bob and. And George and Jeff Lynn and everyone would just. Would go there and wow. Like, random Indian restaurant by the bowling alley in Woodland Hills.

[Evan]

Oh, wow. Yeah. All meet up there.

[Darian San Naja]

Yeah, we should.

[Evan]

Now I want to go.

[Jim Laspisa]

Except, Ian, you're up north now.

[Ian]

I'm in San Francisco. Yeah, that's right. I'm here in the North Bay. I get down to Los Angeles relatively frequently. And I'm also in the Carmel area. So one of these days, I swear to God, I'm going to find Al Jardine and I'm going to shake his hand down there.

[Darian San Naja]

We're going to make sure it happens.

[Jim Laspisa]

Well, we're actually. Well, I don't know if I'm involved, but my gal Debbie is. Al's gonna do a show in Carmel in December.

[Ian]

Yeah, they're Benefit shows. But they're the two. I've been checking the. The webpage compulsively. But those are the two shows that aren't with you guys, I think. Right.

[Jim Laspisa]

I don't know. But I'll probably be going up there just because Debbie will no doubtly be playing. Debbie's my girlfriend and she's also in the. In the Pet Sounds Band at this point. She's. It's. It's. It's interesting because she was playing with Al regularly in his. In his band. And then when Al wanted to expand and do this. This enterprise of bigger and getting the Brian Wilson Band back together, we thought, well, Debbie's out of a gig because we've got. Got two keyboards already. But he said, no, I want to be. So we've got three keyboardists in the group, which is room for another. This particular music? Well, yeah, I mean, it's perfect for this music because there's. There's keyboards, synths all over this.

[Ian]

Lord knows there's quite a few and stuff.

[Jim Laspisa]

Exactly, exactly. So she's. That's the moog. Is. That's her main instrument for this. For this stuff. She's mad. Manning. I say manning, but womaning the.

[Evan]

Womaning the. The mo.

[Ian]

Well, I know I'm pretty sure you guys, I think, are playing a date in Southern California right around Thanksgiving, and I'm coming down for. For, you know, my family's still down there. I'm coming down for Thanksgiving, so I think I might need to come down. Evan, it's the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I might need to come down and we'll go out to see you guys in. I think Cerritos is where. Is where the show is place.

[Evan]

It's a beautiful place.

[Ian]

I've never. I. I'm sure it is. I just, you know, it. It's. It's for the entire Southern California area. Cerritos, of all places, is sort of an interesting place for alt to have booked the show.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah, I mean, that might be the last.

[Ian]

We.

[Jim Laspisa]

We played the Christmas show with Brian there.

[Evan]

We did, yeah, we did the Christmas show.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah.

[Evan]

Maybe five years ago.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah, something like that.

[Evan]

Five, six years ago.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah, it's a nice. It's a nice venue. I mean, to address what you're talking about with the. With the cities and towns we're playing, obviously it's a result of this being kind of thrown together rather quickly and late in the game, especially when you're, you know, when you're a promoter or trying to book shows. It's this. All this started happening in the summer. You know, I remember thinking we were just all kind of asked if we would do it. You know, everybody in the Brian Wilson band, and everybody's like, yeah, sure, if the conditions are cool and, you know, this and that. And, but we, we thought, well, is he ever going to get a show booked that, that'll, you know, with it with a guarantee high enough to, to afford all of us?

[Ian]

Right.

[Jim Laspisa]

You know, and then when that first one got booked, we were like, wow. And then once that one got booked, then another one got booked. So, you know, we're just, we were just kind of grabbing whatever would come up. But they're getting better and better. And I, I, I personally told Al, this is how it had, this is how it works. You know, you do, you do shows and if, if they're, if they're really good and, and, and people are digging him and, and, you know, they get good reviews and, you know, word of mouth spreads and, you know, it's like, hey, we got to go see that show. And that's how you get better guarantees. And not that Al Jardine needs to know this stuff, but sometimes somebody like him does, you know, because he, he's not used to, you know, he was always, always, it's from a different, different worlds, right? And, and he wasn't maybe the one really having to deal with any of that, but now he wants, he wanted to up the game here, and I.

[Evan]

Think he really did.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah.

[Evan]

Yeah. And he's doing so well.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah.

[Evan]

Just the stories between the songs and it's really beautiful. And to watch Al's reaction to all this and to be the guy in front, you know, and just that he sings so beautifully and, and he's having a great time.

[Ian]

Absolutely.

[Jim Laspisa]

And I think he's, you know, genuinely surprised, but also pleased that us doing this music and celebrating this sort of era of Brian's music, musical career, Beach Boys and, and Brian's career is that it's getting so much attention, you know, from journalists, you know, Rolling Stones coming out. You know, all these people are coming out. He didn't have that before we did this. You know, he was just playing his shows and, you know, it's, it's nice. I think, I think he's, he's happy and he wants it. Well, he wants to do it as long as he could, so.

[Ian]

Well, you know, you talk about attention and, you know, reverence and honor kind of being paid towards these things, rightfully so. Obviously, I think this is also going to go hand in hand with the, with the Set. You know, the box set that I think is coming out. I haven't seen any actual official information about that. Do you guys know. Just selfishly, I'm kind of interested. Do you have any idea what's going on with that?

[Jim Laspisa]

I have none. I mean, I spoke to Howie, who's. Do you know Howie Edelson? Edelson. Edelson, Yeah.

[Ian]

I don't think so.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah, he's. He's the one sort of putting it together.

[Ian]

I know it's supposed to have like an official. Like an official release of adult child, which like that is, you know, Holy Grail type material.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah. I think a lot of it is that they're probably wanting to keep it on the low until they get clearance. Sure. And that's always the big hurdle with any of these things. To get things just sort of signed off by all the, you know, all.

[Ian]

The parties involved in the Beach Boys Corporation.

[Evan]

Sure.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yes.

[Ian]

More familiar with that whole thing.

[Darian San Naja]

Dancing around.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I mean, Al seems to be. I mean, maybe. I think. I think with pre. With prior releases again. I remember I used to. I used to be on the tour bus with him and his wife and I'd always hear about like, why. Why do they want to release Seasons in the Sun? You know, I. I get that. And I could tell just from not even talking, you know, getting into it that he's maybe the one holding things up, you know. Interesting, because, you know, he just. Personal opinion, you know. But with this. I haven't really heard anything like that. I think he. If anything, he's saying things like, gosh, I'm really enjoying this sort of.

[Darian San Naja]

Show.

[Jim Laspisa]

Busy kind of, you know, the, the Sinatra esque stuff that. Brian's right.

[Ian]

Life Is for the Living. That's one of the great Brian Wilson songs.

[Darian San Naja]

Honestly, my favorite song right now by Brian Wilson.

[Evan]

Oh, wow.

[Darian San Naja]

Life Is for the Living is just great.

[Ian]

I mean that record starting with Life Is for the Living and ending with Still I Dream of it like that. Those are two all time like Pantheon Tier Brian compositions.

[Darian San Naja]

You can't go wrong. You put anything in between. There could just be like sound effects and have first and last.

[Evan]

Mona Part 3.

[Ian]

Yeah, exactly.

[Evan]

Mona Revisited Remix 7.

[Ian]

Don't threaten me with a Good Time.

[Jim Laspisa]

There's what Else is. What Else is on there? Is it like Lazy Lizzy and things like that? Stevie.

[Ian]

It's no, Stevie's not on there. It's, it's. I mean, it's the original. Hey, little tomboy.

[Darian San Naja]

What'S the other one?

[Ian]

That's like there's Help is on the way. Help is on the way.

[Jim Laspisa]

But that's an earlier recording, isn't that. Is that from the early 70s?

[Ian]

I think so, but it shows up on the adult child these days. The original Shortening Bread is on there. The On Broadway cover is on there. That's Fantastic. Fantastic. Games 2 can play and I love that song.

[Jim Laspisa]

That's another earlier one. Games 2 can play, I think as well.

[Ian]

Deep Purple. That's.

[Darian San Naja]

Yeah, Deep Purple is great, man.

[Jim Laspisa]

Wow.

[Darian San Naja]

Wow.

[Ian]

I can't wait. I just. I can't wait for this. It's gonna be amazing.

[Jim Laspisa]

And smoking grass patched up, went out a long time ago. Life is for the living.

[Evan]

I thought you wanted to see how.

[Jim Laspisa]

It could be when you're in shape and your head plugs into life. Sit up, send push ups a do take energy. And so you run, you swim.

[Evan]

It's funny is I had that bootleg in the early 80s, like the vinyl thing. And now I'm really excited to hear it, you know, like maybe in slightly better quality, cleaned up. Presumably more context of like what I might expect now as opposed to 30 years ago.

[Ian]

Sure.

[Evan]

When it was exciting just to find it. It, of course, you know.

[Jim Laspisa]

So you mean on a. On a Honeydew man level. Yeah. You guys know what we're talking.

[Ian]

I don't. Honeydew Man, I don't think so.

[Jim Laspisa]

Is that what it's called? Wait, I don't even know, like the early, early Smile bootlegs that came out.

[Darian San Naja]

Sure.

[Ian]

Like, like years and like decades ago.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah. Like what, 83. 83, yeah. My. My dear departed musical soulmate Nick Wallusco, when I met him, is one of the first things when we bonded on Brian's music. Right. And one of the first things he told me was that he just driven down to San Diego to. They had a. They had a great record store down there called Blue Meanie that used to sell bootlegs. So he drove all the way down there because he'd heard that there was a Smile bootleg. So he went, he drove whatever the hundred miles down and it was a hot day. So when he got home, it was warped. Oh, man, I know. And then like.

[Evan]

And he drove back, right?

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah. Well, he drove back because he thought. He made the silly mistake of thinking, oh man, it's warped. I think I'll iron it anyway.

[Darian San Naja]

It sounds like a great shop that. I've never heard of a shop offering that service before. Right.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah. He drove back and got another copy. But I. I want to say that that version. One of the earliest vinyl bootlegs of the Smile material head. Yeah, I had this track on it. I think it was a Mile. I don't know if it was a Miles Davis thing, but it was a Honey. Yeah, but it was like, oh, it.

[Evan]

Was called Honeydew man.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah, something like that.

[Ian]

Oh, I'm looking at this. I'm googling this right now. On which so misattributed 1959 Miles Davis recording. Here comes da honey man.

[Jim Laspisa]

Oh, the honey man.

[Evan]

And it was mistakenly thought to be a Smile.

[Jim Laspisa]

Well, you know. Yeah, somebody threw it on there and that's.

[Darian San Naja]

It was just.

[Ian]

There was just a Miles Davis song on a Smile bootleg.

[Jim Laspisa]

Exactly.

[Darian San Naja]

But at that point, that says a lot about Miles Davis, that he would go on to make things that people might think could have been on Smart. Like.

[Evan]

Well, I was gonna say, like, at that point, I thought, okay, yeah, this sounds about right. Yeah. Like, it's weird enough to be, oh, this could have been a smile. And, wow, this is great.

[Jim Laspisa]

Where in actuality, it was probably somebody idea. Like, man, this should have been on Smile, right? Yeah.

[Evan]

Figure it out for like, six months.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. But, yeah.

[Evan]

Oh, man, I remember finding that. Oh, my God. You know, after reading about it and.

[Darian San Naja]

Yeah, well, that's gonna be a lot of people just like, who maybe are just gonna. Maybe they'll just have the experience of just being like, I. I want to get into Brian Wilson, somebody who's like 16, and then the first thing they hear might be, life is for the.

[Evan]

Living life.

[Darian San Naja]

Soon enough.

[Jim Laspisa]

Why don't you get off your ass smoking grass.

[Darian San Naja]

Yeah, stop smoking grass.

[Evan]

So great.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah, so good.

[Evan]

That's a.

[Jim Laspisa]

That's a great Carl lead on that.

[Ian]

I think it's. It's. It's. It's amazing that that's the reality that we're living in here. You know, Evan and I, I think, have been lucky enough to grow up in a world where, you know, Smile has mostly always been within arm's reach, at least a version of Smile, instead of having to drive down to San Diego to buy a warped record with a Miles Davis song on it. And so now I think we're getting to that point with other records that don't have quite the same cultural legacy, but are, in their own way, I think, just as great and certainly just as Brian Wilson, if not more so.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah, well, I lived through a time where I remember being out to dinner with my co workers, and one of them brought their sister or his sister, and my co worker said, you know, Darian's favorite band is the Beach Boys. And his. And his favorite album is Pet Sounds. And his sister crumpled up whatever was on the table and she threw it at me because she thought. She thought, like, why do you. Why is Pet Sounds your favorite album?

[Ian]

I mean.

[Jim Laspisa]

I mean, in the early 80s, it was just. Just not. It Just not very many people, you know, and then it was only because people like, you know, McCartney and Elvis Costello and people started going on the record is like, that's when it. But, yeah, there was a time, believe it or not.

[Darian San Naja]

Wow. So that she's now front row of At Mike Love Speech Boys.

[Ian]

I guess maybe.

[Darian San Naja]

Everybody wins.

[Ian]

Everyone goes home happy.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah.

[Evan]

Well, and also, you know, all eras of the Beach Boys, you know, have value. And the early stuff, in its own way, I love just as much. Oh, man.

[Darian San Naja]

Yeah. I mean, don't get us wrong.

[Evan]

Well, we talk about, like. Okay, let's do a tour of just, like, early album tracks. Yeah. County Fair.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah, County Fair.

[Ian]

Absolutely. Chug a Lug. That's become, like, a legendary song.

[Evan]

And our Cherry, Cherry Coupe, first encore. You know, Denny.

[Ian]

How about Denny's drums? Can you guys bust that one out?

[Darian San Naja]

Of course. It's a perfect segue.

[Jim Laspisa]

But even.

[Darian San Naja]

Even might want to cut Ten Little Indians.

[Evan]

No, even Al's like, oh, not that one. But we mentioned these things to Al, and he's like, yeah, I want to do Cherry, Cherry Coup. He's not just stuck on, you know, the cold, like, he. He's just as open, perhaps Pom Pom Playgirl or, you know, any number of great early.

[Jim Laspisa]

I remember. I remember it being quite a triumph when I. When I somehow got. I don't know, got the band. This is back in the Brian days, early Brian days. We. We ended up doing Custom Machine, which was one of my favorite.

[Evan]

Oh, that Custom Machine.

[Jim Laspisa]

Machine, yeah. Such a great song.

[Ian]

Oh, man.

[Jim Laspisa]

But, yeah, again, yeah, getting into, like, just the minute, like, you were talking about this. People appreciating certain aspects of Brian. I think the early. Early Brian stuff like. Like Cuckoo Clock and Kelly's. That's very similar to. To love you.

[Ian]

To love you. Absolutely.

[Evan]

It is. There's a certain, like. Like he's going for something here early on. It's kind of offbeat. And there's a little window of his writing that is really, like, in. In retrospect, really interesting.

[Jim Laspisa]

Very interesting.

[Evan]

Before he got to even, like, surf, you know, whatever. Surfing safari or.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah.

[Evan]

Things a little later.

[Jim Laspisa]

Well, that were maybe like, more accessible to the.

[Darian San Naja]

The.

[Jim Laspisa]

To the masses. I don't. Yeah.

[Ian]

More. Yeah.

[Darian San Naja]

Was a shame that he wasn't born, you know, a few, I don't know, a hundred years earlier when the cuckoo clock first came out and everybody was like, there's some music about cuckoo clocks now.

[Evan]

Francis Scott Keys.

[Ian]

Well, I can't wait for the 2026, you know, Al Jardine and the Pet Sounds Band tour, when everyone's going out there and doing, you know, county fair and chuggalug and stone.

[Jim Laspisa]

And you might.

[Evan]

You might see that we'll be there.

[Darian San Naja]

We'll be there with our frosty mugs.

[Ian]

Noble Surfer, right?

[Evan]

He. Like, three rows of folding chairs.

[Jim Laspisa]

Did you hear. You just mentioned, like, noble server.

[Evan]

BFW Hall. What?

[Jim Laspisa]

He just mentioned Noble Surfer. That's like.

[Evan]

That's the one we.

[Ian]

It's a great song.

[Evan]

No, like. And then he pointed out. What.

[Jim Laspisa]

Well, you guys know it. It's clearly. They're saying, no bull. Like, no. No bull.

[Evan]

No bull Surfer.

[Ian]

Oh, like B, U, L, L. Yeah.

[Evan]

I never caught on to that.

[Jim Laspisa]

And that's.

[Ian]

I have also not caught on to that.

[Evan]

It's.

[Jim Laspisa]

So.

[Darian San Naja]

No, we met. We talked on this.

[Evan]

Very.

[Ian]

All right.

[Darian San Naja]

We talked about it.

[Ian]

Listen, there are a lot of Beach Boy songs that we've talked about at this point.

[Darian San Naja]

Farmer's Daughter.

[Ian]

Well, of course. Farmer's Daughter. I mean, that's legendary.

[Darian San Naja]

So good.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Darian San Naja]

Finders keepers.

[Evan]

Lana.

[Jim Laspisa]

Farmer's Daughter is legendary.

[Evan]

I mean, to us, it is.

[Ian]

I mean, you guys have heard, like, the Fleetwood Mac farmers.

[Evan]

Yeah. They were cool enough to cover. Yeah.

[Ian]

We did a whole long episode about Dennis recently and kind of his ultimate demise. And there was a story in one of the Dennis biographies or something about how he showed up to the studio around this time where Christine was recording with Lindsey and Stevie and stuff, and they did Farmer's Daughter for him for the first time. And he broke out in tears because he remembered this was when he was kind of kicked out of the Beach Boys and stuff. And it was, you know, very emotionally meaningful moment for him.

[Jim Laspisa]

Wow. Wow, wow, wow.

[Ian]

Anyways, we could. We could keep you guys here all night. I think we could probably call it at this point. Thank you both so much.

[Darian San Naja]

Yeah. Thank you. Sure.

[Ian]

Thank you. Talking. Thank you for doing all this with Al. Just thank you for always having been, you know, part of this, you know, incredible support system that Brian had for the vast, you know, 20, 30 years of his life to really kind of get him to where he. He needed to be and always should have been, you know, throughout his life.

[Darian San Naja]

Yeah. As lucky as he was to have you. I think the public, the listening public at large is even lucky, Even luckier.

[Evan]

Oh.

[Jim Laspisa]

Oh, that's. Oh, that really means a lot. Thank you. And that's, that's why, you know, that's why I do this. And I know that's what they all. Yeah. Is I would always want. I was always. I would always imagine, like, if I went to a show, what would, what would make me happy. That would be. That's sort of like the, you know, the mark for me. And I, I'm. If people like yourselves are, Are happy about it, that makes me happy.

[Evan]

Yeah, I get emotional just thinking about it because it means so much to us, you know?

[Ian]

Absolutely. You know, if, if you would have told me, I don't know, even when we started this series a year and a half ago, that, you know, in fall 2025, Al Jardine was going to be getting up on stage every. And honking down the gosh darn highway. I would have flipped my wig. And, you know, that's the reality. The world's pretty, pretty bad in many ways today, but this is one of the few ways that this is the.

[Darian San Naja]

Good kind of absurd that I was talking about. This is what, this is what there is left to live for.

[Ian]

Exactly.

[Evan]

Wow. Yeah.

[Jim Laspisa]

And, you know, I don't want to. To push this even longer, but I. It's one thing to get into sort of obscurity and absurdness. Like, I don't know, what's the group, my mind.

[Evan]

The Shags.

[Jim Laspisa]

Yeah, like the Shags or something like that, you know, where the music is really, really acquired. It's a, It's a very acquired taste. But it's a whole other thing to have these songs. They're just, they're beautiful songs. I mean, you know, they always say, like, okay, the test of good music is if the song is good. You can just play it on anything and sing it. Well, these pass the test in my book, you know, I mean, you can play these, sing and play these melodies to people and they're really, really catchy and they're. And they'll. They stick, you know. One of my best friends, she was never a Beach Boys fan. She's same age as us, but she was never a Beach Boys fan. But by the time I met her, she did love the Beach Boys. And I said, well, so you were never a Beach Boys fan when you were a kid? She was. No, no, I never really liked them. I said, what changed your mind? She says, then I heard the Beach Boys love you.

[Evan]

Wow.

[Jim Laspisa]

That is the album that changed her mind. I mean, wow, when you think about it. I mean, and she was like in her 20s and this is back in the 90s maybe, you know, a thing.

[Darian San Naja]

Of beauty is a joy forever. Isn't that a phrase?

[Jim Laspisa]

Yes.

[Evan]

Really true.

[Jim Laspisa]

It's so true. But yeah.

[Ian]

All right, I think we can call it there. Darian, Jim, thank you guys so much for joining us.

[Evan]

Thank you.

[Jim Laspisa]

Thank you for having us.

[Darian San Naja]

Your way.

[Jim Laspisa]

To see a little movie tonight.

[Ian]

Major namaste and thanks to Jim Laspiza, Daring San Naja, Brian Wilson, Al Jardine, the whole crew. Truly an unbelievable thing to be able to say that there's. There's a band headed by a real live, genuine beach boy out on the road here in the year 2025 playing Solar System and Johnny Carson and Honkin down the highway. We've got Brian Wilson to thank for all that brilliant music and we've got Darian and Jim to thank for bringing it to all the Brian Wilson fans out there. You don't need me to tell you, but I will anyways. If any of these Al Jardine shows are coming anywhere near your neck of the woods. Run, do not walk. Promises to be a once in a lifetime experience. Until next time. Ding, ding.

[Jim Laspisa]

I treat her so fine but she treats me so bad. Okay, we're gonna do it. Gonna do it differently. We're gonna try a different style. We're gonna add a verse. Can we add a verse? And of course, gotta keep up with this. Okay, so. Okay, let's go this right. You be mine someday Yes, I do yes, I hope you be my.