Thank You, Brian Wilson

For the music. All of it. And for the opening G power chord to “I Get Around,” that blasts out of my speakers, and still, since the first time I heard it, blows my mind.

The day my brother and I brought the “I Get Around” single home, we lifted the lid of my parents’ walnut stereo/drinks/record storage cabinet, centered the .45 on the turntable, raised the tone arm and dropped the needle in a groove. And wow. That first chord and then the acapella vocals. Wow. We picked up the tone arm and placed the needle cartridge back at the beginning of the spinning vinyl. And we did that over and over and over again. And wow, after wow after wow…