Seeing Al Jardine in Concert

A month ago I decided to travel to Ohio on my own to attend Uncle Sterling Smith's benefit concert. Two years ago Sterling was diagnosed with ALS (one of the top diseases too horrible to wish on your greatest enemy) and needed some help with expenses. Eight days before the concert he passed away, and the benefit concert turned into a memorial celebration.

I had quite a whirlwind of a weekend. It started with my driving solo to Ohio -- marking my longest road trip alone, and one of a handful of times in my life I have pumped my own gas. 

As I was gathering my thoughts the day before leaving. I texted Cousin Laura to see if she was free to join me Friday night in German Village's Schiller Park to see Love's Labour's Lost, a lesser-known Shakespearean play. She replied she was seeing Al Jardine (one of the original Beach Boys) in concert in Lima, OH (BTW, the town is pronounced like the bean, not like the city in Peru). She even sent me the link and said the seat next to her was free. 

Lima is two hours away from Columbus -- in the opposite direction from New Jersey, turning an 8-9 hour drive into a 10-12 hour drive. After much thought, and discussion with Don, we decided I should leave on Thursday night after dinner and spend the night in a motel in Breezewood, PA, and make the rest of the drive in the morning. I could then catch a ride with Laura to the show.

In the category that nothing is ever easy, I planned to take Ashley's car, but it refused to start working (maybe it didn't want to make the long drive?). Turned out when we replaced the car's computer a week ago the second key was not programmed to work. Fortunately, her primary key still worked.

Uncle Tom and his brother, Sterling, have a long history with The Beach Boys. Over the years I have heard bits and pieces of their history. Sterling played keyboard on at least one record, and has toured with them. His discogs.com bio reads:

Sterling Smith is a professional musician.

He majored in harpsichord at Ohio State University, but was equally interested in rock and, in particular, “progressive” rock. He was a partner in Owl Recording Studios Inc. in Columbus Ohio in the early 70s, recording two albums with prog rock band "The Load". Earlier he played and sang in bands: The Lowbrows, J. D. Blackfoot, The Grayps and Osiris. The Studio moved to California in 1977.

After The Load disbanded in 1979 Sterling remained in L.A. to work as a session musician.

Smith’s has recorded with some of the biggest names in music including The Beach Boys, Randy Meisner (from The Eagles), The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Bob Dylan and Barry Manilow to name, but a few.He also had time to tour and was musical director and onstage pianist for Twyla Tharp and Mikhail Baryhsnikov’s 1993-94 “Cutting Up” tour.

MOVIE & TV Soundtrack credits include:
“Wild at Heart,” “Footloose” (original version), “Old School,” “Smart House,” “Powwow Highway,” “Flashback,” “Silver Spoons,” “Buck James” and numerous TV shows and movies that few saw.

(The last line makes me smile.)

In a weird sense of "you just can't make this up," Sterling and Randy Meisner died on the same day. We picture a jam session taking place in heaven that day.

I digress.

Tom found out Al Jardine was playing in the inaugural concert in the amphitheater in Lima, Ohio. What started as him and Cousin David going to the show morphed into Aunt Debra, Cousin Laura, Aunt Joanie (Sterling and Tom's sister), and me going to the concert. After Sterling passed away on July 29th, Joanie decided to fly in from California for Sterling's benefit concert on August 5th. The Al Jardine concert was a bonus.

Al Jardine (for some reason, I think of him with both names, same way I always thought of a co-worker as Mary Hill and never just Mary) grew up in Lima, Ohio. Had Sterling not been so ill, he likely would have been invited to play in this concert, too.

Before the show, we "stage doored" it -- a practice I am used to doing with Ashley at Broadway shows before the performance when the area is less crowded. David collected autographs. We all made small talk. Later I learned my parents did something similar about 30 years ago when the Beach Boys were playing a larger venue. I don't know why I did not go on that trip to Ohio with them, likely I was either in college or newly married. They went. They met the Beach Boys. This was my turn.

Ed Clark with Tom and Davo

Ed Clark autographing an album for David

Brian Figueroa

We moved to the other side to take our seats for the show. There were two levels of seats: folding chairs in lines for $55, or further back you could bring your own chair or blanket for $25. Technically, the third option was to stand on the other side of the fence for free and still hear and see most everything. Wanting to be with family, I paid for the folding chair.

One of the band members mentioned Sterling's passing early on, but the highlight was Bobby dedicated "Sail on Sailor" to Sterling. HERE is a clip of the song from 1981. Though there is no way Bobby would have known this, Sail on Sailor was the first song Uncle Tom played for Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys back in 1977 when he met him at Brother Studio. The concert was the kickoff to celebrating Sterling's life. More on that in another post. As Cousin Laura shared on Facebook, all of these band members played this same music with Uncle Sterling, including "Fun Fun Fun," "God Only Knows," "California Girls," and "I Get Around." 

Though we had thunderstorms in Columbus as we were leaving, the weather in Lima could not have been more ideal. Look at that blue sky! It felt like a Southern California evening.

The band is joined these days by a Al Jardine's son, Matt, a guy about my age. His genes come through as he sings lead on many of the classic Beach Boy songs.

Here are some photos from the show.

Joanie and Laura

Uncle Tom and Aunt Debra

We were on our feet for the last two songs

Mark standing in for David ;)

After the show we drove back to Bexley, OH, keeping Laura awake for the long drive back. We admired the pinkish moon, a few days past the Sturgeon Moon, as it seemed to jump from side to side of Laura's car (more a result of the turns we made, and not because we were so tired we thought the moon was moving). Seeing The Beach Boys in concert with Uncle Tom was an experience of a lifetime, but for me the highlight was spending quality time with Cousin Laura and Aunt Joanie -- a rare experience as we live in three different states.