![\"Brian](\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Screenshot-2025-06-16-at-10.37.36\u202fAM.png\")
<\/a>Brian Wilson in recent years.<\/p><\/div>\n
Brian Wilson is one of the absolute most important people the music business has ever seen! His classic songs, such as\u00a0Good Vibrations<\/em>, California Girls, Wouldn\u2019t It Be Nice<\/em>, Help Me, Rhonda<\/em>, and God Only Knows<\/em>, are a big part of the soundtrack of many of our lives. Brian Wilson means so much to so many, and it will stay that way in perpetuity.<\/p>\n I recently attended a concert where Dean Torrence, of the popular \u201960s duo, Jan and Dean, and his band performed several songs that were actually Beach Boys hits, rather than his own, most likely because he rightly knew that the crowd would go nuts for them. And way back in the day, at close to the start of all of their music careers, Dean wrote one of his and Jan\u2019s biggest hits, Surf City<\/em>, with none other than Brian Wilson! Brian\u2019s work is much more far-reaching than just his own group\u2019s hits.<\/p>\n He actually began composing in his teens<\/em>! How was such a young guy able to write like that??? It boggles the mind. What a true genius Brian Wilson was.<\/p>\n Brian Wilson leaving one of his local haunts. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n On a personal level, I can tell you that Brian was such a sweet guy. We\u2019ve lived near each other for the past couple of decades, (which I still find pretty strange.) When I used to go on my neighborhood power walks, (prior to the pandemic lockdown,) I\u2019d see Brian from time to time, and we\u2019d always say a quick hello.\u00a0 Believe me, I\u2019ve always been in shock about having THE Brian Wilson say hello to little old me!<\/p>\n Actually, one of my shining moments in life came when Brian and I were both guests at a party that Renee Taylor threw way back in the day, (when I was still doing my little TV show,) and Brian<\/em>\u00a0asked for a picture with me<\/em>! (The photographer was kind enough to make me a copy, as well, but, among all my cluttered career memorabilia, I haven\u2019t been able to find it right now.)<\/p>\n I\u2019d also occasionally see him at a popular local eatery that we all frequented. He\u2019d often get their coffee, and sometimes a bit more. I once saw him savoring a bowl of soup there. And nobody bothered him. (I sometimes wish that I<\/em> had done so a time or two because he might have been happy to see an amiable acquaintance.)<\/p>\n Brian Wilson enjoying a meal at one of our local eateries. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n On top of all my Los Angeles<\/em> sightings of the leader of the Beach Boys, when I was spending the summer of 2008 in Brooklyn with my mother, I had the good fortune to see Brian Wilson perform an outdoor concert in Coney Island. It was a famous series in that part of town, and people came from far and wide to see the shows. But, even though it was just a ten-minute drive away for me, I had never wanted to bother with the beachside crowds in those half dozen summers I had spent at my original home. However, when I learned that Brian<\/em> was doing a concert, I was very happy to meet my friends for my first experience there.<\/p>\n And I got such a kick out of everything about that performance. First of all, I was getting to see and hear the absolute original and most powerful Beach Boy, which was a treat unto itself. But I also had the added fun of seeing my neighbor\u00a0<\/em>perform, which gave it extra importance for me.<\/p>\n I thought of going over to see him afterwards, for myself, of course, but also knowing what he had gone through in life, I thought that perhaps seeing a friendly face from LA would give him a sense of home. But my friends wanted to get going while we were still on the high of the concert, rather than walking sort of far in that sketchy-at-night-area to get to the backstage.\u00a0 And I also worried that seeing someone so out of context might be a tad weird for Brian. So I thought better of it at the time, a decision which I regret now more than ever.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>