It's No Wonder The Pacific Ocean Is Blue
The Jokermen on Dennis Wilsons' 1977 Cult Classic
Hello readers, it’s been a very busy stretch for yours truly. Last weekend, WASTOIDS teamed with a wide cast of Phoenix creatives to film six episodes of a show called Permanent Zoo with Andy and Candy in the historic KPHO building where Phoenix’s best known TV export Wallace & Ladmo was shot; then on Thursday I joined an equally diverse roster of folks to stage Always Music in the Air: A Tribute to David Lynch at Crescent Ballroom. Both events were magical and heart-filling, and I’ll share more from both soon, but for now, a quick plug: I appeared on
, one of my absolute favorite podcasts, to discuss Dennis Wilson’s 1977 cult classic Pacific Ocean Blue.I’ve thrilled to Jokermen for years now—loved their Dylan run, and their subsequent takes on The Velvet Underground and the solo work of Lou Reed and John Cale. But it’s been their Beach Boys series that I’ve most connected with. Earlier this year, I joined
and Evan Laffer for a talk about the mouthfully-titled The Beach Boys, Carl and the Passions – "So Tough," and it went well enough that they asked me back for another two-parter. You can listen to part one wherever you get podcasts, but if you want the second half, you’ll want to sign up for the Jokermen Patreon, which is well worth doing. My own personal Brian Wilson saga is included in that second episode, which I hope tempts you.I first got Pacific Ocean Blue a few years before its 2008 re-release, when CD copies were going for hundreds and vinyl copies were equally hard to come by. My first LP edition was beyond beat up, but I bought it anyway, playing through the skips as best I could. It’s not just my favorite solo work by a Beach Boy; it’s one of my favorite albums ever, a doomy, dramatic, funky, and soulful document of hard living, love on the rocks, transcendence, and ecological parables. Come for the bass harmonica, stay for the off kilter odes to Jesus.