Brian Wilson Among Recipients of Kennedy Center Honors 2007!

If you don’t know or haven’t read, I’m a Beach Boys junkie. So I couldn’t let this tidbit of news go untouched.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced the selection of the individuals who will receive the Kennedy Center Honors of 2007 – one of which is Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys. Said Kennedy Center Chairman Stephen A. Schwarzman, “Brian Wilson led not only a spectacularly popular rock group but also an era-defining transformation of the sound of music.”

On Sunday, December 2, in a star-studded celebration on the Kennedy Center Opera House stage, produced by George Stevens Jr., the 2007 Honorees will be saluted by great performers from Hollywood and the arts capitals of the world. Seated with the President of the United States and Mrs. Bush, the Honorees will accept the thanks of their peers and fans through performances and heartfelt tributes.

The Honors Gala will be recorded for broadcast on the CBS Network on Wednesday, December 26 at 9pm (EST) for the 30th consecutive year as a two-hour prime time special.

Now wait - I'm not done. Along with that news Brian also premiered in September a new piece called, “That Lucky Old Sun (a Narrative)”, will consist of five ‘rounds’ with interspersed spoken word. Brian teamed with Van Dyke Parks, his old ‘sidekick’ and lyricist behind “Smile”, over the past year on the narratives for a new album. The piece features ten songs and five narratives which will be interrupted by That Lucky Old Sun, the narrator telling the story. The five narratives are cameos on life and the heartbeat of Los Angeles, including the song, “Forever She’ll Be My Surfer Girl”...which I heard and it's wonderful.

I've blogged several times on The Beach Boys - you'll just have to hunt and peck to find them (use the category list on the right panel near the bottom). Here's my one of my first posts: http://jeffircink.blogspot.com/2007/03/namedropping.html. In anticipation of the Kennedy Center Honor for Brian – who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and it was a great thrill – here’s what a few artists you may recognize have said about him:

It was Pet Sounds that blew me out of the water. I've just bought my kids each a copy of it for their education in life...I figure no one is educated musically 'til they've heard that album...I've often played Pet Sounds and cried. I played it to John so much that it would be difficult for him to escape the influence...That I think was probably the big influence that set me thinking when we recorded 'Pepper', it set me off on a period I had then for a couple of years of nearly always writing quite melodic bass lines. 'God Only Knows' is a big favorite of mine...very emotional, always a bit of a choker for me, that one.

Bob Dylan
...Jesus, that ear. He should donate it to The Smithsonian. The records I used to listen to and still love, you can't make a record that sounds that way. Brian Wilson, he made all his records with four tracks, but you couldn't make his records if you had a hundred tracks today.

Neil Young
His music definitely affected mine - the harmonies. I love you, Brian. I'm there for you.

Pete Townsend/The Who
I love Brian. There's not many people I would say that about. I think he's a truly, truly, truly great genius. I love him so much it's just terrible - I find it hard to live with. 'God Only Knows' is simple and elegant and was stunning when it first appeared; it still sounds perfect.

Eric Clapton
All of us, Ginger (Baker), Jack (Bruce), and I consider Pet Sounds to be one of the greatest pop LPs to ever be released. It encompasses everthing that's ever knocked me out and rolled it all into one. Brian Wilson is, without a doubt, a pop genius.

Elton John
Pet Sounds is a landmark album. For me to say that I was enthralled would be an understatement. I had never heard such magical sounds, so amazingly recorded. It undoubtedly changed the way that I, and countless others, approached recording. It is a timeless and amazing recording of incredible genius and beauty.

David Crosby/Crosby, Stills & Nash
He was the most highly regarded pop musician in America, hands down. Everybody by that time had figured out who was writing and arranging it all. 'In My Room' was the defining point for me. When I heard it, I thought "I give up - I can't do that - I'll never be able to do that."

Graham Nash/Crosby, Stills & Nash
He was way advanced of what anybody was doing at that point. And I think the Beatles recognized that and I think every harmony group in the world recognized that there was some different thing going on - something very sophisticated.

Phillip Glass
Pet Sounds became an instant classic when it first appeared…its willingness to abandon formula in favor of structural innovation, the introduction of classical elements in the arrangements, production concepts in terms of overall 'sound' which were novel at the time, all these elements give Pet Sounds a freshness that, thirty years later, is immediately there for the listener.

Leonard Bernstein
There is a new song, too complex to get all of first time around. It could come only out of the ferment that characterizes today's pop music scene. Brian Wilson, leader of the famous Beach Boys, and one of today's most important musicians, sings his own 'Surf's Up'. Poetic, beautiful even in its obscurity, 'Surf's Up' is one aspect of new things happening in pop music today. As such, it is a symbol of the change many of these young musicians see in ourfuture.

Burt Bacharach
Pet Sounds is brilliant. Brian Wilson is one of the greatest innovators of my decade or any decade.

Jimmy Webb
I don't think that the California Myth, the dream that a few of us touched, would have happened without Brian, and I don't think Brian would have happened without the dream. They're inseparable.

Tom Petty
I think I would put him up there with any composer - especially Pet Sounds. I don't think there is anything better that that, necessarily. I don't think you'd be out of line comparing him to Beethovan - to any composer. The word genius is used a lot with Brian. I don't know if he's a genius or not, but I know that music is probably as good as any music you can make.

Lindsey Buckingham/Fleetwood Mac
I'm not sure I fully appreciated (Pet Sounds) that until years later (when) I started making records myself.

George Martin/Beatles' Music Producer
If there is one person that I have to select as a living genius of pop music, I would choose Brian Wilson. Without Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper wouldn't have happened...Pepper was an attempt to equal Pet Sounds.

John Cale/The Velvet Underground
What Brian came to mean was an ideal of innocence and naivety that went beyond teenage life and sprang fully developed songs. Adult and childlike at the same time. I thought how it was difficult for me not to believe everything he said. There was something genuine in every lyric. That can be a very heavy burden for a songwriter.

Elvis Costello
Last summer, I heard 'Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)' played on the cello. It sounded beautiful and sad, just as it does on Pet Sounds. So now you know, if all the record players in the world get broken tomorrow, these songs could be heard a hundred years from now.