Beach Boys

The Hawthorne address where Beach Boys Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson grew up has won recognition as a state historical landmark and will be honored with a small monument May 20. The Beach Boys were a uniquely Southern California story -- and so is their monument. It will sit in front of a Century Freeway sound wall, which is where their since-demolished home, at 3701 W. 119th St., once stood. The sound wall, of course, is supposed to help prevent residents from feeling bad vibrations. Surfin' U.

Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson, who has battled professional and psychological problems for more than 15 years, provided the emotional high point of the third annual Yamaha Music Excellence Awards when the formerly reclusive singer performed solo before a crowd of nearly 1,000 people. Wilson was one of 15 award recipients, along with Stevie Wonder, John Denver, Chet Atkins and Beatles producer George Martin, several of whom attended Thursday's ceremony at the Anaheim Marriott Hotel.

The shooting star arc of Brian Wilson's unsettled life has made an indelible impact on American music. Before the Beatles, there were the Beach Boys, and the music Wilson created in the '60s for the seminal California band remained a principle defining influence upon rock, despite the power of the decade's invasion of British music. But Wilson was--and is--a complicated figure.

Brian Wilson, the reclusive Beach Boy who has been credited for much of the celebrated rock group's success, made a rare public appearance Saturday afternoon at the Hard Rock Cafe in La Jolla. The occasion was the dedication ceremony of a gold star honoring the group's contributions to pop music. The three-foot-by-three-foot star, set in black terrazzo, will be embedded in the sidewalk outside the cafe's front door on the corner of Fay Avenue and Prospect Street.

Audree Neva Wilson, 80, a pianist and organist who spawned a musical dynasty. A native of Minneapolis, Wilson never performed professionally but instilled her love and talent for music into her offspring. Her sons Dennis, Carl and Brian were founding members of the Beach Boys and leaders of the surf music wave in the 1960s. Her nine grandchildren include pop singers Carnie and Wendy Wilson.

Gary Usher, a music producer who wrote songs with Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, has died of cancer. He was 51. Usher, who died at his Los Angeles home May 25, produced, arranged and wrote for several groups including the Beach Boys, the Surfaris and the Hondells. With Wilson, he co-wrote the Beach Boys hits "409" and "In My Room," and as late at 1988, he worked with Wilson on the comeback solo album "Brian Wilson."

That wasn't the rumble of an 18-wheeler on the freeway shaking the ground in one Hawthorne neighborhood Friday. It was the good vibrations coming from 1,500 rock 'n' roll fans from as far as Great Britain and Australia who spilled into two streets of a working-class community of tract houses to memorialize the birthplace of the Beach Boys' surf music. The childhood home of musicians Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson was bulldozed in the mid-1980s to make way for the Century Freeway.

Nik Venet, credited with discovering the Beach Boys for Capitol Records, has died of complications from treatment for Burkitt's lymphoma. He was 61. Venet died Friday at County-USC Medical Center, said Susan Crawford, his partner in the independent Evening Star Records company. Born Nikolas Kostantinos Venetoulis on Dec. 3, 1936, in Baltimore, Venet began his career at 17 as a writer in New York's famed Brill Building pop song factory, where he rented a small office with Bobby Darin.

A "Hallmark Hall of Fame" special, the private lives of the Beach Boys and the rise and fall of Jim and Tammy Bakker--hallelujah, it must be the first weekend of the May sweeps. The big three networks go head to head in a battle of high-profile TV movies Sunday at 9 p.m. CBS (2)(8) has Stephanie Zimbalist in "Caroline?" ABC (7)(3)(10)(42) counters with "The Story of the Beach Boys: Summer Dreams," a movie based on the backstage gossip concerning the famous California group.

A brother of lead Beach Boys singer Mike Love pleaded innocent Friday to charges that he swindled the rock 'n' roll group out of nearly $900,000 in the sale of a parcel of land. Stephen Love, 40, the former manager of the group who was arrested in Hawaii earlier this month, denied a single felony grand theft charge at his Los Angeles Municipal Court arraignment. He was released without having to post bail and was scheduled to return to court Feb. 24 to set a preliminary hearing.