Boys of Summer

  The signs of summer are everywhere: longer days, baseball on the tube, restless teens ready for a break, and the smell of your neighbor’s barbecue blowing (at 70 miles an hour) into your backyard.  Freshly cut grass, water restrictions—you’ve gotta love it. 

  As spring fever gives way to the idle excesses of summer, children and adults alike grow more and more eager for a little fun in the sun.  And nothing—I repeat, nothing—says fun in the sun like The Beach Boys.  

  This weekend, the quintessential boys of summer will be taking the stage at Aggie Memorial Stadium for a Sunday evening show that’s sure to thrill the whole family.  The Beach Boys’ music speaks to the beach bum in all of us.  It transcends generations, and appeals to the teenager in all of us—that inner teen who is perpetually on a grail hunt, our quest for the holy trifecta of teen-hood: the fastest car, the perfect wave, the prettiest girl.  

  Generations of teens who have never even seen the ocean are drawn to The Beach Boys’ unique brand of surf music—and to the dream that lurks within it.  It is that dream with its mass appeal, and the group’s undeniable ability to capture it, that has given them 36 hits on the Top 40 charts during a career that spans more than 25 years.  With the exception, perhaps, of surf-guitar legend Dick Dale, no single act has done more to popularize surf-rock than The Beach Boys.

  In 1962 and 1963, surf-rock became the biggest craze to hit America since “The Twist,” and it would remain so until The Beatles stepped off that plane at JFK in February of 1964, marking the beginning of the British Invasion.  And while it may have been songs like “Surfin’ Safari,” “Surfin’ U.S.A.” and “Surfer Girl” that put The Beach Boys on the map, I think that their strongest music came later in their career with the 1966 album “Pet Sounds.”  That album, masterfully produced and alarmingly introspective, broke away from the pop-surf sound that fans had come to expect from the group.  It is seamlessly arranged so that the album is greater than the sum of its parts, and, in my opinion, is one of the greatest rock albums of all time.   The scene at Sunday’s concert will be a genuine summertime bash, complete with tailgating, barbecues, and cold drinks.  It’s my understanding that Burger Time’s Kevin McGrath with be grilling up free burgers for ticket-holders, and new regulations at the recently renovated stadium allow for beer sales during certain events.  When it comes to welcoming summer, what could be better than a burger from the grill, The Beach Boys and a frosty barley pop?

  Tickets for the concert are still available at the Pan-Am Box Office or online at www.ticketmaster.com.  This Sunday, there is only one way to ring in the sunny season.  After all, this could be your last chance to see one of Rock & Roll’s greatest bands in your own backyard.   

-From Pulse
   May 4, 2006