Pocket Symphony: A Beach Boys Podcast
by Rosie Alejandrino & Krista Kurisaki
A narrative podcast exploring the life and cultural legacy of the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson. Using the 2015 biopic "Love & Mercy," Rosie Alejandrino and Krista Kurisaki break down each scene and uncover the real-life events that inspired the movie."Part movie watch-along and part pop culture deep dive, but mostly an exploration of why we, two Asian-American millennial women, keep talking about a white boy band whose best hits lived and died before we were even born."
Episodes
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12. WOULDN'T IT BE NICE: Why Did We Make a Podcast About the Beach Boys?
Dedicated to Melinda Ledbetter Wilson (1946 - 2024) "In a perfect world, things would end when every piece lines up perfectly, making us feel okay enough to let go. But in reality —as is the case with The Beach Boys— things go on for too long. We overstay our welcomes. And we learn to look back…
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11. SAIL ON SAILOR: The Lost Years
"Of course there's the surf rock years and Pet Sounds and their resurgence in the '80s, but contrary to popular belief, the Beach Boys did not just disappear when Brian retreated into his bedroom after the failure of SMiLE. In fact, some of the most provocative work that the band has ever done…
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10. SURF'S UP: The Legend of Brian Wilson's SMiLE
"For all of its legendary reputation, the one thing that's always bothered me about the SMiLE story was the image that it left behind: Brian, the sole genius, left tortured by his gifts and completely alone, his tribute to America left unfinished. But he was never really alone, was he?" Goodbye...
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9. GOOD VIBRATIONS: Mike Love Not War
"Mike sees the Beach Boys' ability to play for Republican and Democratic presidents as key to their longevity, but as the country becomes more divided, it's their biggest weakness. It's the reason why the Mike and Brian wars were always bigger than each of them. They're just Hawaiian-shirt clad...
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8. DISNEY GIRLS: Making a Nostalgia Band
"While Disney's California Adventure abandoned the Golden State, Mike Love is reconstructing California in his mind." Fasten your seatbelts and hold on tight, because this slow-moving dark ride through the history of California has sudden stops, drops, facts, a looooot of fiction, and a…
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The Beach Gals are BACK!!!
"Much like Brian, we've been through a tumultuous time period that challenged us emotionally, mentally, and creatively. Our unexpected hiatus was much needed, though — partially to get our ducks back in a row, and partially to create an air of mystery around our disappearance. Where did they go?...
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7. LOVE AND MERCY: Brian & Britney
"Kind of wild that every major public update on Brian's well-being occurs on the Beach Boys' album cycle, almost like the capitalist desire to keep him working overrides the desire to keep him healthy. Makes you think, huh?" CW: This episode deals with the subject of physical and mental abuse.…
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6. I JUST WASN'T MADE FOR THESE TIMES: Pet Sounds & the Cult of the Uncool
"Rolling Stone is no longer like 50 Cameron Crowes, extolling the 'never to be experienced again' majesty of the 70s rock age to anyone curious about music history." Today, Pet Sounds is widely considered to be one of the greatest albums of all time, but it was met with a lukewarm response from...
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5. GOD ONLY KNOWS: Who Owns the Beach Boys' Legacy?
"We've come a long way from Hawthorne, California, and now the Boys are handing over their literal likenesses to a company that's willing to give them the Tupac treatment so that Mike Love can finally put the band to rest." Oh no! The podcast has gone on so long that we're now in the later, more...
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4. (OH!) DARLIN': The Beach Boys vs. The Beatles
"Resurrected like some Hawaiian shirt-clad phoenix every ten years or so, the Beach Boys became the act as synonymous to boomer nostalgia as the Beatles are to youth counterculture." As soon as Beatlemania hit US airwaves, the Beach Boys were pitted against the mop-topped Fab Four… even though…
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3. I GET AROUND: How the Boys Sold the Beach
"They take up the mantle of being 'America's band' while writing albums overseas, and secure that reputation by becoming peak boomer nostalgia music for an era where gas was cheap, roads were wide open, and the ocean was a playground if you had the privilege of rebellion." Don't touch that dial!...
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2. Meet The Beach Boys
"There's drugs, there's sex, there's girls! There's an evil psychiatrist who tries to take over his life! There's marriage and divorce and family drama and cousins trying to sue each other. There's intergenerational trauma, fast cars, there's John Stamos, and very questionable haircuts! What more...
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1. Who are the California Girls?
"Discovering the Beach Boys' music has only made my love for other things stronger. I've learned to love so many other types of art, music, movies because of discovering this band." Even if you don't know the Beach Boys, you probably know their signature tune "California Girls." But, who exactly...
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Introducing Pocket Symphony: A Beach Boys Podcast
"Part movie watch-along and part pop culture deep dive, but mostly an exploration of why we, two Asian-American millennial women, keep talking about a white boy band whose best hits lived and died before we were even born." Best friends Rosie Alejandrino and Krista Kurisaki are experts at falling...
About this show
A narrative podcast exploring the life and cultural legacy of the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson. Using the 2015 biopic "Love & Mercy," Rosie Alejandrino and Krista Kurisaki break down each scene and uncover the real-life events that inspired the movie."Part movie watch-along and part pop culture deep dive, but mostly an exploration of why we, two Asian-American millennial women, keep talking about a white boy band whose best hits lived and died before we were even born."
Hosted by
Rosie Alejandrino & Krista Kurisaki
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