Ad for The Beach Boys’ concert at the Steel Pier, published in the Press of Atlantic City on July 24, 1969.
“Back in those days, when you signed a union contract, the leader would sign it. So [it read], ‘Carl Wilson and four musicians known as the Beach Boys.’ The union would have the leader sign it and the promoter sign it and the agent sign it. So, my guess is that the Steel Pier gave the contract to some secretary who was probably new on the job and told her to order posters like you always do for this act. So, I can just imagine the Beach Boys getting to the Steel Pier for the gig and Michael getting out of the car and just dying when he saw the poster! Because in huge letters it said ‘Carl Wilson’ and in smaller letters ‘and the Beach Boys.’ Love must have been having a hemorrhage when he saw that!” - Fred Vail, Beach Boys Gigs “We were friends for thirty-five years, during which time [Carl] was the most unchanged of ‘the boys,’ the on stage leader, and, perhaps his biggest contribution, the ‘peacekeeper.’” - Fred Vail, Facebook (2026)
