Smile News

Brian Wilson, songwriter and producer for many classic Beach Boys songs, has been on a creative roll for this past decade.

A way to repeat the excitement of playing with an orchestra while offering fans a reason to come again... the Whitlams are playing three sold-out concerts this week.

If I had a faster car, a richer girlfriend or even one with a job, here's where I'd be lurking in the back this week: Rooney at El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles .

While it's not quite up to the hallowed status of Brian Wilson's 'Smile,'' Dennis Diken's first solo release, 'Late Music,'' like 'Smile,'' did incubate for a long time.

Ita s fitting that Brian Wilson is playing the upbeat, sunny surf music of The Beach Boys again.

No matter the weather Tuesday night -- chill, rain, snow or otherwise -- the California sun will be shining on The Egg.

This Swedish duo have covered Brian Wilson's magnum opus SMiLE with just voice and guitar a ' and it's breathtaking Polly Tones ... their SMiLE would blow Brian Wilson's giant mind.

Songwriting has never gotten any easier for 1960s music legend Brian Wilson. If anything, the former Beach Boy and author of hits like "California Girls," "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Good Vibrations" thinks it's gotten a lot more difficult.

With a falsetto voice, layer after layer of instruments and countless hours of painstaking work, Brian Wilson helped redefine the sound of popular music with 1966's Beach Boys hit "Good Vibrations." It's the sixth greatest rock 'n' roll song of all time, according to Rolling Stone magazine, and may well be the pinnacle of Wilson's career.

Former Beach Boy Brian Wilson sings Sept. 30, 2004, in Minneapolis in support of Smile.

Opelousas and St. Landry Parish are the home of three Grammy winners and dozens of artists who have played their hometown music all over the world.

'Surfs Up' is the emotional centerpiece of SMiLE. A song written with 3 movements, Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks wrote this on the night of November 4th, 1966.

After putting out his first three albums in a span of just four years -- all of which steadily declined in quality -- Mount Clemens-bred turntable savant and roots rap-rocker Uncle Kracker spent five years working on his latest release, "Happy Hour." In stores today, it's definitely worth that wait.

Reportedly Brian Wilson's attempt at replicating The Ronette's "Be My Baby," The Beach Boys ' "Don't Worry Baby" was indicative not only of the greater emotional depths Wilson would mine with Pet Sounds and Smile , but also early evidence of his deteriorating mental state.

UNTIL now, a Brian Wilson show has always felt like an event. A few years back, his return to the stage after years of illness was a cause for celebration in itself.

How do you interview god-like but 'difficult' genius Brian Wilson? John Walsh learns on the fly Brian Wilson couldn't surf.

How do you interview god-like but 'difficult' genius Brian Wilson? John Walsh learns on the fly Brian Wilson couldn't surf.

"I'm terrible about keeping up with music," Stuart McLamb confesses while reclining in his computer chair, listening to a string of tracks he's heard about but never heard himself.

A couple more concerts to add to your social calendar, and a few rumors worth sharing: ROCK: 94.1 The Zone's Bonzai! w/Sevendust, Street Sweeper Social , Tantric, Sick Puppies, Framing Hanley, Smile Empty Soul, The Gay Blades Sunday, August 9. Riverside Festival Site, Court and Exchange streets.

There has been a minor vogue over the last few years for musicians reassessing the recordings of their youth.