Some Thoughts on Al Jardine and The Pet Sounds Band

Live at Maryland Hall, Annapolis, MD September 13, 2025

The older I get, the more I treasure experiences. This is apparently not an uncommon way to age.  I think that Al Jardine must feel the same way. How else to explain someone that would take a ‘new’ band out on the road at age eighty-three, except that he wanted to keep building new performance memories?

I had the joyous experience of watching Al front the core of what had been Brian Wilson’s backing band, with some newer players. Most band members are no stranger to Al, as he toured with Brian as a featured player for the last several years Wilson toured.  I was lucky to get a front row center seat for the concert at a remodeled high school now used for a variety of performing arts performances and education.

In what had been a model used by several of Wilson’s tours, the first set of the performance was an overview of the ‘greatest hits’ of the Beach Boys with some deep cuts thrown in the mix.  I was happy to realize that the band expanded their tour setlist with an energetic “Dance, Dance, Dance” in this set.

I’m the kind of fan that likes to hear the ‘deep cuts’ even more than the hits. This show brought out three songs from the maligned “M.I.U. Album” of 1978. While “Come Go With Me” has been a staple for some time, it was wonderful to hear “Sweet Sunday Kinda Love” and “She’s Got Rhythm” done live after all these years!

After a brief intermission, in the second set the band played about three-quarters of the Beach Boys’ Love You album.  Overlooked in its 1977 release, the album has gained ‘street cred’ as the most heavily-influenced by Brian Wilson in the band’s later years.

Why does a band need three people on keyboards? Well, when you areDarien lead playing the synth-heavy Love You one needs Debbie Shair along to help replicate the sounds, besides all that she did for synth horns etc. on other songs.  Debbie’s energy all night was entertaining to watch, and she’s been playing with Al for several years.

The night ended with a quartet of songs that count among the Beach Boys’ most well-known songs. As popular as it is, though, I really don’t ever have to hear “Barbara Ann” again even as I acknowledge it’s a fun one.

One of the advantages of seeing a band up close is noticing the interactions. Matt Jardine had the sound crew adjusting his monitors throughout the night. Matt is the workhorse of the band, carrying most of the lead parts including the iconic falsetto originated by Brian.  It’s not easy to sing those parts but Matt’s determination rewards the audience with something beautiful to hear.

Darian Sahanaja handled several Carl Wilson leads; the biggest surprise of the night for me was how Gary Griffin sang the “low Brian” leads of Love You with an accuracy coming from a place of love and respect.

Rob kickin'Rob Bonfiglio handled his vocal parts well and shined on the guitar. It looked like he and Al had a good time playing together.  Filling out the band were Bob Lizik on bass, Mike D’Amico on drums, Jim Laspesa on percussion, Emeen Zarookian on guitar, and newcomer Brendan Carniaux on saxophone.

It’s time to talk about Al!  His voice has held up very well. My observation is that older singers fall into a mode of “talk-singing” and while Al did this at times, I saw him singing his parts just like Brian taught him all those years ago as well.  Al has made some concessions to his age and status as front man. He’s consistently using some kind of teleprompter, and even then had a few issues here and there with the rhythm of the vocals. A ‘prompter for vocals is understandable, with most of the Love You material not being performed in decades.  Much as he did for Brian, Matt is by his father’s side and ready to assume a steady lead to keep the show going.

Don’t get the impression that I am down on Al Jardine.  Several times during the night he talked about, and to, Brian.  With these performances he is showing his love and respect for the output of the band he helped found.  I had a blast watching Al perform, and a personal highlight of the night was when he acknowledged my copy of his Sloop John B children’s book that I waved at the end of the song’s performance.  An Al Jardine show is highly recommended!

John created a small playlist with video of songs and snippets shot during the concert on YouTube.

Superman Over the Years

This post covers two items I just got for Christmas.  The first, Superman: Welcome to Metropolis by David Lewman (who doesn’t even get his name on the cover) was released in 2025 as the only tie-in book to the tentpole movie for DC Studios. It’s a “Junior Novel” which the publisher says is for ages 6-9.  As such, only a geek like me would want it to see what it says.  Turns out it’s a fun bit of backstory (not canon to the film universe) about Clark Kent coming to the big city for his reporter job.  It’s absolutely appropriate for your kids or grandkids! The only quibble I had with the book is that, even at this age they are no longer “superheroes” but “metahumans”, even those like Green Lantern who just has a cool ring.

As I lamented when I read & posted about the Wonder Woman ’84 ‘junior novel’ it’s a shame that there is no perceived market for more adult tellings of superhero/metahuman stories.

That brings me to the collection of the Max Fleischer Studio collection of theatrical shorts.  This collection is from 2023 and represents a new remastering of the 17 cartoons.  It is an amazing transfer in both sight and sound.  I owned a previous edition on DVD which is now obsolete, as this gift from my son means this is the go-to edition to watch.

These cartoons are of their time so you get “Japoteurs” produced in the middle of World War II.  This is Superman before all of the elements of his origin story and universe are all there, as it was only four years after his first story in the comics!

I wish they had embedded a “skip” function for the introductions as they are basically all the same–and his theme music is reused a lot.

This cartoons are held up as some of the finest cartoon art ever done.  Even if you’re not a huge Superman fan it’s worth watching a few of them. You can find them on YouTube but they won’t look or sound as good.

 

Starship Troopers 25th Anniversary Edition [4K] (2022)

I’ve owned almost every edition of Starship Troopers that’s been released since 1997.  I just got the 25th Anniversary Steelbook case edition as I only recently bought a 4K television.

Apparently the scan to 4K was done from the original print in 2017 for the 20th Anniversary and this new anniversary edition has a latest kind of Dolby soundtrack.  All I know is: it looks absolutely gorgeous.  The sound was good enough that it unfortunately bothered the dog and I had to keep lowering it.

I admit I have not rewatched this film in many years.  It’s a ‘third-rail’ for fans of Robert A. Heinlein and it deviates from Heinlein’s plot and world-building in several significant ways.  I think that it’s a very good “B-movie” as long as you forget about Heinlein’s source material while watching.  The CGI/special effects are better than I remembered.

There’s always much talk about director Paul Verhoeven’s intent with the film, but there are really two views within the film.  The first is  the close telling of the characters. Watching this is the closest you get to Heinlein’s source, even though there are many deviations.  The second view is the one that I think many people misread.  The FedNet broadcasts/Menu choices are a filtered/propaganda view that reads like a fascist society trying to control its population.  Sadly, by not having the Powered Armor of the MI, Verhoeven doomed the movie to overwhelmingly be about a bunch of amazingly stupid military tactics that don’t make any sense and I think that weights the propaganda side more than it should.

It’s OK to enjoy this amazing-looking edition. Just go and read Heinlein’s book, too.