Getting the Beach Boys Right

I tried my darnest to get the Beach Boys right at the end of Day 17.  This was a moment when are conditions were surreal—cold, windy night; standing on sandy ground a few feet away from the Pacific Ocean, being rescued for the night by a group of five surfers standing around a bonfire.  I had to turn them into the Beach Boys. It was already like walking inside of a dream . . . I just kept the dream going. 'Dennis Wilson' was the gregarious one, 'Mike Love' the realist, 'Carl Wilson' the fanciful, 'Alan Jardine' the worker bee, and leader 'Brian Wilson' standing around silently, directing the show, approving the action, but not saying a word. That was the situation as I remember it. They really lent us a pup tent, which was essential on a night like that. An illustrated book I used to own called Rock Dreams by illustrator Giy Peellaert and writer Nik Cohn depicted the Beach Boys in this type of setting: at the beach in the rain, standing around in bare feet, Dennis Wilson pumping up a flat tire, the other guys with a piece of wet cardboard over their heads, with the word ‘GREED’ etched across an old jalopy.  So it also seemed here.