Brian Wilson And Sly Stone!

The deaths of Sly Stone and Brian Wilson remind us boomers of our own mortality. Chrissakes, if the legends die that means we all are gonna die too. It's a fact that we cannot get away from. Time kills us all. But we still have Sly and Brian's music and it will always make that inevitable demise much less painful.

The Beach Boys. As a literal child of the 60's, how can one not be familiar with the sounds of California. I came of musical awareness not because of the Beach Boys but because of the Beatles and the Monkees and the Doors. The Doors were California to me. The Beach Boys were too slick. Too appealing to girls for me. A Beach Boys concert in the mid 70's at the old Civic Auditorium in Omaha, minus Brian Wilson, made me really a non-fan. The screeching girls, the adoration of friends of mine, I didn't get it. We ended up sitting down on the floor and wished it was over. I secretly had taped the concert for another person who couldnt attend, and when I gave them the cassette they acted like they had obtained the Holy Grail. I'm sure the quality was awful but whatever floats your surfboard I guess. Years and years later, I saw a sort of version of the Beach Boys with Mike Love and Bruce Johnston and it wasnt that bad. I even kind of liked it. My older age had caught up with me. Now I understand the genius of Brian Wilson. Listening to the albums I had previously rejected as tripe, I got a whole new perspective, one of a middle-aged man, not of a rebellious teen into the anti-establishment rock of the Doors and the Airplane. Brian had his problems. But don't we all? We aren't in the public limelight, thus we don't get lied about or ridiculed for our weirdo behavior. In fact, a sandbox in my house sounds kind of intriguing now. RIP Brian Wilson.

Sly Stone. Sly and The Family Stone. Never heard of them. And then I bought the Woodstock album. I bought it for Hendrix, for the Who, for CSNY and for the Airplane. What I got was not only them, but an introduction to the band that blew the place up at 3:30 AM. Sly and the Family Stone did Dance to the Music, I want to Take You Higher and Music Lover. Good lord. Who the hell are these guys? And then I heard "All the Squares go home" and fell in love with Cynthia Robinson (RIP Cynthia). What the hell? It was band of blacks and whites and was pure joy. Much like Santana, the diversity appealed to me. But Sly Stone. With his huge afro and wide smile, who could not love this guy? I wore that Woodstock album out listening to those Sly and the Family Stone songs. Wow, the hits after were so come together y'all who couldn't love it? Everyday People, Thank You, Family Affair, Hot Fun in the Summertime. This was the black Beach Boys. Live life, hate nobody, have fun. Then came the drugs, the crazy wedding at Madison Square Garden, the mohawk, the disappearance. Sly Stone and Brian Wilson were kindred spirits. Both did their own thing, were self-destructive and had trouble living among us peasants.

And now they are both gone. I hope they find happiness wherever they are. Genius is a bitch.