Month: April 2022

Schools in Ottawa County and Grand Rapids were named the winners of the 2022 Environmental Service Award competition.

The annual contest is sponsored by the Michigan departments of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), Natural Resources (DNR), and Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) in conjunction with an Earth Day poster contest for middle and high schools.

Schools and teachers nominated students or groups of students, to be recognized for completion of a school sanctioned, environment-based project that had tangible results. The project must benefit plants, wildlife, or ecosystems native to Michigan. Schools confirmed the validity of each project and outcome.

This year, the Careerline Tech Center School, part of the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District, and West Side Christian School in Grand Rapids were named the winners.

Careerline Tech Center School, Ottawa Area Intermediate School District

Juniors and seniors in Careerline Tech Center’s Environmental Field Studies program created a project after doing a study about plastic pollution on Ottawa County beaches. The students went to lakes and collected samples of plastic pollution on six beaches.

After analyzing their data, they concluded that the main contaminants were microplastics and single-use plastics. Members from the Outdoor Discovery Center, the Allegan Conservation District, and Ottawa County Parks and Recreation came together to mentor students in brainstorming solutions to problematic plastic. Inspired by the experience of cleaning up beaches, students designed and installed recycling units, called Beach Buddy stations, for plastics at four different shore locations. Students received grants from the EPA Trash Free Waters program and the Inland Seas Education Association’s Great Lakes Watershed Field Course program. The grants provide funds for students to build and install Beach Buddy Stations.

The project helps to:

• Educate the public about plastic pollution
• Empower citizens to clean up the lakeshore
• Recycle plastic materials
• Prevent plastic from getting into the lakes

The students’ research project was showcased in a local newspaper, the Holland Sentinel.

West Side Christian School, Grand Rapids

West Side Christian Middle School Creation Care (Green Team), grades 6 to 8, is a volunteer student group dedicated to improving sustainable practices through advocacy, awareness, and action. The group started five years ago.

Each year, new students take the lead to set schoolwide goals to improve the school community’s recycling efforts, which features a school-wide uniform recycling sort system, with colored-coded containers in each classroom. Students noticed that organic material (banana peels, apple cores, etc.) from lunches eaten in students’ classrooms ended up in the trash bin. They wanted to put food waste to good use by creating compost to add to the school garden. 

In Spring 2021, students researched and initiated a school-wide composting initiative.  They worked with school administration and the facility manager to research project methods, setup a collection system, and composting area on school grounds.

The project helps to:

• Reduce the amount of food waste sent to landfills.
• Produce compost that is used in school gardens.
• Teach excellent social, life, and work skills.
• Enhance inclusivity, all students work together on the project, including those with special needs

Captions: 

Careerline Tech Center School students collect data on microplastics at an Ottawa County beach.

West Side Christian Middle School Creation Care team students collect food waste for composting. 

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Kai Lenny may be built different than the average human, but like any of us, getting good takes practice. Lots of it. And to push the sport of big-wave tow-surfing to the next level takes even more, whatever that level may be. On big waves, sure, but also on small waves, man-made ones, and the biggest “waves” we have at our disposal – the mountains.

“One of my ultimate goals is to be the best big-wave surfer on the planet,” Kai told me in a recent interview, “But you can’t go out and ride big waves every day. So you gotta find ways to simulate it. Small-wave surfing helps with technique, and training quick reactions. Foiling teaches me control with speed, wind sports help me in the air, it all comes together in the end.”

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We are 100 percent guilty of this. And we are fully aware of what we’re doing when we do it. Well, I’ll speak for myself and admit I do this plenty —  a tale as old as time now. An XXL swell swings through Nazaré and a handful of people tow into some absolutely mind-blowing waves and recency bias screams, “That’s the biggest wave anybody’s ever ridden!” And even though the actual world record for the largest wave ever ridden is nearly 20 feet short of the mark, we still throw that one magic claim out like candy.

“One hundred feet. That was 100 feet…Definitely.”

Forget that maybe three people on the planet actually know how to “properly” measure a wave’s height, let alone the fact that 98 percent of Nazaré footage comes from the deceptive angle of a cliff and we all have no clue where the bottom of a wave begins from that angle…

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Lea Brown, supervisor at Camp Pendleton’s Recycling Center, couldn’t temper her enthusiasm about the importance of recycling as much of the base’s waste as possible.

“I’m looking and researching new ways every day,” she said as she walked across the yard showing off the multiple ways scrap metal, cardboard, even old tracks off of vehicles are collected and kept from landfills.  “We actually take pride in our work.”

The base was the first in the Marine Corps to recycle the brass casings that pile up at its many target ranges. The Department of Defense has made it a requirement across the military branches.

Brown pointed out rows of 6,000-pound bins now filled with .50 caliber brass casings collected by Marines after firing round after round in training.

“We get brass every day,” she said. “I even come in on the weekend if a unit is training so they can drop their brass.”

Since September, the center has collected 5.6 million shells.

All that brass is sold at $3.18 a pound; the proceeds go back into environmental projects. Some goes to funding youth programs, special events and holiday celebrations for the Marines and sailors and the 38,000 families who live on base.

Through all of its efforts combined, the recycling center diverted 6.8 million pounds of potential waste in the first three quarters of 2021. In 2020, Camp Pendleton collected 8.1 million pounds of recyclable material.

Last week it was announced the base received a Recycling Hero Award from Keep California Beautiful, a nonprofit dedicated to alternative waste management, beautification and community outreach. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also recently recognized the base’s air station with an environmental quality award for its partnership with the Carlsbad office of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Office on a runway project.

In 2020, the base’s conservation law enforcement section was named the National Military Fish and Wildlife Association’s Team of the Year and the Secretary of the Navy’s Conservation Team of the Year. The award was given for its innovative deer management program and natural resource enforcement.

The nearly 126,000-acre base is one of the Department of Defense’s busiest installations, but it is still 95% undeveloped wildland and home to more than 1,000 species of plants, fish and animals, including a herd of 85 bison.

The Pacific pocket mouse, the Stephens’s kangaroo rat, fairy shrimp and the arroyo toad are among the 19 endangered and threatened animal and plant species found in its diverse ecosystem, which includes 18 miles of beaches, natural bluffs, mesas, canyons, mountains and Southern California’s only free-flowing river.

The Marines balance protecting those natural resources with training needs that are vital to national defense, focusing on pollution prevention, conservation and environmental restoration, said Maj. Kevin Stephensen, a Marine Corps spokesman.

There are two areas on the base that are completely off-limits to any training.

“We all have an important role to play in sustaining our planet and ensuring the long-term security of our nation,” said Capt. Michael Kenney, director of Marine Corps Installations Command Facilities, talking about some of the innovative energy and other systems the bases use. “The Marine Corps is investing in a multitude of new technologies.”

Recently, on a tour of the base, biologists who work for Camp Pendleton’s Environmental Security Division talked about the endangered and threatened plants and animals they watch over.

The division of 85 scientists, conservation law enforcement officials and game wardens is the largest of its kind on military installations in the nation.

The department’s role is to oversee military training while focusing on the proper management of the base’s cultural and environmental resources, spending $4 million to $7 million a year on its resource management efforts, said Alisa Zych, the department’s branch head.

Jim Asmus, who oversees the base’s more than 100,000-acre upland section, toured through multiple acres near base housing set aside for conservation. Among the grasses were evidence of vernal pools, home to the Lindahl’s fairy shrimp, a roughly inch-long crustacean listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“These are an important protein source for migratory birds,” he said.

Coastal development has wiped out about 90% of the fairy shrimp’s habitat in Southern California, he said, but at Camp Pendleton, restoration efforts are underway.

A few years ago, the base, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and California State Parks system, launched the multimillion-dollar rehabilitation of about 15 acres of fairy shrimp habitat on a bluff overlooking San Onofre.

“Those projects also created new and improved habitat for listed vernal pools plants, including spreading navarretia and a newly introduced population of California Orcutt grass,” Asmus said. “We have moved into the second phase of management that includes more years of weed treatment, supplementing vernal pool adapted plants, and supplementing rare plants in the upland areas vernal pools.”

Just south along the San Onofre Bluffs lie the undisturbed miles of Camp Pendleton’s beaches; it’s the most extensive undeveloped shoreline in Southern California.

Most beaches allow training, but units are required to adjust their schedule based on breeding habits of sea and shore birds, such as the endangered California least tern and the Western snowy plover.

“Right here we have nesting areas,” Katrina Rocheleau-Murbock, the base’s beach biologist, said as she stood near a ramp used by amphibious combat vehicles from the nearby battalion and school. “They are side-by-side with military training and from March 1 to Sept. 15, it’s mostly off-limits for training.”

In 1970, the tern was listed as endangered and military leaders started sitting down with the U.S. Department of Fish & Wildlife on how they could continue to train while protecting birds and marine mammals, developing regulations over the years.

“That’s the main reason we have a healthy population of 100 pairs of plovers and 600 pairs of terns here on base,” Rocheleau-Murbock said, adding that in 1970, there were just 600 terns left in the entire population. “The recovery effort has definitely been working. The biggest threat is habitat loss and there are not a lot of untouched areas where the birds can nest.”

Rocheleau-Murbock pointed to a plover nest of three eggs laid in a rocky area of a cordoned off campground not far from the ramp used by the heavy amphibious vehicles. A female plover ran around nearby, making her wing look broken to draw attention from the nest.

The vehicles may use a small stretch of beach to go to and from the ocean, but they are not to veer from the ramp and enter soft beach sand for about a three miles stretch north along the shoreline. Marines training in small numbers are allowed to walk along the waterline.

At least two conservation law enforcement officers are on the beaches at all times to monitor the movements and there is also plenty of signage to warn away anyone staying at the nearby Del Mar Resort that is open to active duty and retired military. Each violation of the space faces a $250 federal fine, said Gordon Butler, one of the enforcement officers.

“When we see a unit doing something wrong, we approach them and get them to halt what they’re doing,” he said, adding it’s been several years since a bird was harmed – a hovercraft ran over a plover nest.

“Once they find out the area’s off-limits, they’re pretty receptive,” he said.

Capt. Kenneth Kendrick, commanding officer of the Amphibian Assault School, trains troops along the beaches regularly. He said he always makes sure his Marines know the conservation requirements in place across the base.

“Everyone knows the snowy plover — the puffy little white bird — you make sure you give it a wide berth. It’s super restricted,” he said of the briefing the Marines are given. “We have a special shrimp and it’s in the 62 Area and the buffalo, they’re wherever they feel like being. I tell them, ‘If you see them just stop, let them do their thing and then you can resume.’”

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Barcelona is banning smoking on all its beaches following a successful pilot program during the 2021 season.

The ban, which comes into effect on 1 July, aims to protect the environment and ensure the right of citizens to enjoy a clean, unpolluted space, free of smoke and cigarette butts.

For now, municipal employees are asking beach-goers to refrain from smoking. In a few months, the advice will be replaced with a €30 fine.

“I think it’s fair. To keep the beach clean. Also because of the environment. But being able to control every single person will be extremely difficult” said Antonella Bellotti, an Italian tourist.

She recommends keeping a designated smoking area “with trays for ashes and cigarette butts. To keep everything clean.”

The city council says the pilot program last year significantly reduced the number of smokers on the beach and cigarette butts in the sand.

Smokers have left five billion cigarette butts at beaches worldwide every year, which end up in the sea and take decades to decompose.

Evelyn Varkonyi, a tourist from Austria, says the ban is necessary “because most people throw cigarettes in the sand.”

“I don’t do it. But I can understand. And it’s not good for nature.”

Barcelona will become the first major city in Spain to ban smoking on beaches. So far, 115 of Spain’s 3,514 beaches have prohibited smoking, but that may change soon. A countrywide law is currently being debated that will turn all of Spain’s beaches into smoke-free areas.

Watch the video above to see how Barcelona is preparing for the summer smoking ban.

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By Tiffany Merlo Phelps 
[email protected]

Anne Marie Moquin started Beaches Go Green shortly after watching the documentary “A Plastic Ocean” and realizing the devastating impact of plastic pollution. It inspired her to first begin speaking at schools and then ultimately led to the non-profit as a way to provide free environmental education. 

“There is a huge gap in environmental education in our community. We like to break it down into manageable pieces that will reach the everyday person. We look at it as ‘Do this, instead of that,’” said Moquin, Beaches Go Green founder and executive director. “It matters.” 

Moquin said that while the group does beach clean-up projects, Beaches Go Green focuses on education, awareness and making complex environmental issues simple so that every person has the opportunity to protect the planet. 

To that end, Moquin and her all-volunteer staff spread this message by creating Beaches Go Green clubs at local schools through the help of teacher sponsors. So far, eight clubs exist (four in St. Johns County: Ponte Vedra High, Nease High, Tocoi Creek High and Bartram Trail High) with Creekside High School coming online this fall. Moquin is currently looking for a club sponsor if any teacher is interested at Creekside and Landrum Middle School. 

“The student clubs help us to execute our plans and to deliver the message to their peers,” said Moquin, who founded Beaches Go Green in 2018. Beaches Go Green covers from Amelia Island to Flagler Beach. 

For example, the clubs will often present to elementary school children and also make videos that are then shared with younger students. Two main themes are shared: eliminating single-use items and plastic pollution in the oceans. 

“We encourage everyone to choose reusable versus single use, make less waste, and we teach that there is no ‘away,”” said Moquin, explaining that sometimes children grow up thinking that trash is magically sent “away” and just disappears without causing harm. 

Ponte Vedra High’s Beaches Go Green Club recently completed their second presentation to Ocean Palms Elementary School’s fifth graders with more than 130 students and staff members participating in the event. 

“This is the kind of student leadership and collaboration that we need in our community to create true change,” said Moquin. “These ladies rock and knocked it out of the park. They made learning fun and educational too.” 

Ponte Vedra High Beaches Go Green Co-President Taylor Brown, who has been a part of Beaches Go Green since 2019, said she joined because she knew how harmful single-use plastics were to the environment, and she wanted an opportunity to influence others to make a change at the school. 

“I love being co-president because I feel that my position has no limits, and I can challenge myself to be a model for the club,” said Brown, a junior.

Brown said making presentations at Ocean Palms Elementary and creating videos has been fun and incredibly important to enhance environmental education for younger students. 

Ponte Vedra High Co-President Veronica Shoff, also a junior, said one of her club goals is to educate members on how to make simple changes in daily life, seemingly small changes that add up over time. 

“I want our members to grow, be able to go out and take action on their own and want to take part in the care for our environment,” said Shoff, adding that the club has 300 members. “I have learned many valuable assets by being a part of Beaches Go Green. Not only leadership skills but also knowledge.” 

Another initiative that has been a big hit at schools, said Moquin, is the Reusable Bottles for Sports Program. The program connects community sponsors with local sports teams and schools to provide custom (with school logo) reusable brand stainless steel water bottles with the intention that athletes will use them over single-use plastic beverage bottles, said Moquin. 

“We ask that the team/school make the bottles part of the required sports uniform and encourage their use as a team. In addition, we ask that the team/school provide water refilling stations for the bottles at practices and games,” she said. 

The goal is two-fold: save the environment and reduce plastic chemicals or “chemical disruptors” from entering the body. As of October 2021, 10,850 reusable water bottles have been implemented, according to Beaches Go Green. 

“This program has saved a potential 1,168,128 plastic bottles from ending up in landfills. This program has really taken off as everyone sees the value in it,” said Moquin. 

Locally, all sports/athletes at Ponte Vedra High, Nease High and sports teams associated with the Ponte Vedra Athletic Association all participate in this program. 

Lastly, Ponte Vedra High students adopted a one-mile stretch of Mickler’s Landing Road to keep it clean and tidy, with Beaches Go Green providing supervision and supplies. 

Shoff said the next cleanup to end the school year will take place on May 21 at Mickler’s Landing Beach from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. 

“We would love to have everyone come out and join us for hopefully our best turnout yet,” said Shoff.

Email Moquin at [email protected] for more information.

Photo courtesy Anne Marie Moquin 
Beaches Go Green event involving Ponte Vedra High’s club by the same name.

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Upon signing to Capitol Records in 1962 and releasing their first album, Surfin’ Safari, that same year, the three young brothers, cousin, and friend from Hawthorne, Calif., known simply as The Beach Boys, soared to popularity with their ebullient sound that embodied the Southern California beach lifestyle with sunshiny vocal harmonies, twangy guitars, upbeat songs about surf culture, and their youthful exuberance. Propelled by the hits “Surfin’” and “Surfin’ Safari,” the album, which uncommon for its day, featured mostly original songs, spent 37 weeks on the Billboard chart and set the course for one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful bands of all time, who have gone on to sell more than 100 million records worldwide. With each album, The Beach Boys refined their songwriting and production skills, rapidly evolving from their early surf beginnings to create some of the most sonically exquisite and most important and beloved music ever made.

Sixty years after first transmitting their good vibrations around the globe, The Beach Boys, the first American pop band to reach the 60-year milestone, remain one of the most legendary and influential groups to date, with their timeless music reverberating through modern culture today as strong as ever. In celebration of their 60th anniversary, UMe, the global catalog company of UMG, is pleased to be a part of some of the major initiatives planned to celebrate “America’s Band” throughout 2022-23.

The Beach Boys said: “It’s hard to believe it’s been 60 years since we signed to Capitol Records and released our first album, Surfin’ Safari. We were just kids in 1962 and could have never dreamed about where our music would take us, that it would have such a big impact on the world, still be loved, and continue to be discovered by generation after generation. This is a huge milestone that we’re all very honored to have achieved. And to our incredible fans, forever and new, we look forward to sharing even more throughout the year.”

UMe President & CEO, Bruce Resnikoff, said: “The Beach Boys have created some of the most iconic and beloved music of all time. An indelible and important part of America’s cultural fabric, their timeless music has been a ubiquitous soundtrack for generations and continues to influence, inspire, and delight. We at UMe remain honored to further The Beach Boys’ legendary catalog and look forward to celebrating them all year long along with their millions of fans around the world.”

To kick off the yearlong celebration and provide the perfect summer soundtrack, Capitol Records and UMe will release a newly remastered and expanded edition of The Beach Boys career-spanning greatest hits collection, Sounds Of Summer: The Very Best Of The Beach Boys, on June 17. Originally released in 2003, the album soared to no. 16 in the US and stayed on the chart for 104 weeks. Now certified 4x platinum for sales of nearly four and a half million albums, the collection has been updated in both number of songs and audio quality, expanding the original 30-track best of with 50 more of the band’s most beloved songs for a total of 80 tracks that span their earliest hits to deeper fan-favorite cuts and from their 1962 debut album, Surfin’ Safari through to 1989’s Still Cruisin’.

Assembled by Mark Linett and Alan Boyd, the team behind 2013’s GRAMMY® Award-winning SMiLE Sessions and last year’s acclaimed boxed set, Feel Flows – The Sunflower and Surf’s Up Sessions 1969-1971, Sounds Of Summer features nearly every US Top 40 hit of The Beach Boys’ incredible career, including “California Girls,” “I Get Around,” “Surfer Girl,” “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “God Only Knows,” “Good Vibrations,” “Be True To Your School,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Kokomo,” “Barbara Ann,” “Help Me, Rhonda,” “In My Room,” and many others. Fifty additional tracks showcase a broad mix of songs from across their wide-ranging catalog with some of the many highlights including “All Summer Long,” “Disney Girls,” “Forever,” “Feel Flows,” “Friends,” “Roll Plymouth Rock,” “Sail on Sailor,” “Surf’s Up,” and “Wind Chimes.”

The collection boasts 24 new mixes including two first-time stereo mixes, plus 22 new-and-improved stereo mixes, which in some cases feature the latest in digital stereo extraction technology, allowing for the team to separate the original mono backing tracks for the first time.

The expanded edition of Sounds Of Summer will be available in a variety of formats, including digitally, a 3CD softpack, and as a Super Deluxe Edition 6LP vinyl boxed set on 180-gram black vinyl in two options – a standard set or a numbered, limited edition version featuring a rainbow foil slipcase and four collectible lithographs. Both versions will feature color printed sleeves that replicate the original “Capitol Catalog” sleeves that highlight the entire Beach Boys discography, and all formats will include a booklet with new liner notes and updated photos. The original 30-track version will also be available in its newly remastered and upgraded form on single CD or double gatefold LP on standard weight vinyl or as a higher-end limited edition numbered version pressed on 180-gram vinyl with a tip-on jacket and a lithograph.

Pre-order for Sounds Of Summer: The Very Best Of The Beach Boys is available now, and the set is being previewed with the new stereo mix of “Good Vibrations” which is now streaming and available for immediate download. Pre-order and listen now here: https://thebeachboys.lnk.to/SoundsOfSummer

Additionally, all 30 tracks on disc 1 of Sounds Of Summer have been mixed in immersive Dolby Atmos, joining the group’s Christmas Album which was mixed in spatial audio and released this past holiday season, and continuing the initiative to present the group’s catalog in the enveloping and exciting new audio format.

The timeless music of The Beach Boys will also be featured in several innovative official new music videos that are in the works along with a slate of lyric videos and visualizers to present these classic songs in the modern video era.

Following the release of Sounds of Summer, this fall Capitol/UMe will release the next chapter in The Beach Boys’ archival releases, which will explore the bands often overlooked but pivotal albums, 1972’s Carl and the Passions – “So Tough” and 1973’s Holland. The deluxe multi-disc set follows last year’s acclaimed boxed set Feel Flows – The Sunflower and Surf’s Up Sessions 1969-1971 that topped many critic’s year-end lists and chronicled and explored the metamorphic and highly influential 1969-1971 period of the band’s [ career through tons of unreleased tracks, live recordings, radio promos, alternate versions, alternate mixes, isolated backing tracks and a cappella versions, culled from the album sessions. More details will be revealed at a later date.

Besides the new music releases from Capitol/UMe, The Beach Boys are also catching new waves by participating in a feature length documentary currently in the works, a tribute special, prestigious exhibitions and events, unique brand partnerships, and much more to celebrate their 60th anniversary.

ABOUT THE BEACH BOYS
For six decades, The Beach Boys’ music has been an indelible part of American history. Their brilliant harmonies conveyed simple truths through sophisticated, pioneering musical arrangements. The Beach Boys transcended their music and have come to represent California culture. They provided fans around the world with a passport to experience love, youthful exuberance, and surf culture. Founded in Hawthorne, California in 1961, The Beach Boys were originally comprised of the three teenaged Wilson brothers: Brian, Carl, and Dennis, their cousin Mike Love, and school friend Al Jardine. In 1962, neighbor David Marks joined the group for their first wave of hits with Capitol Records, leaving in late 1963, and in 1965, Bruce Johnston joined the band when Brian Wilson retired from touring to focus on writing and producing for the group.

The Beach Boys signed with Capitol Records in July 1962 and released their first album, Surfin’ Safari, that same year. The band’s initial surf rock focus was soon broadened to include other styles and such themes as spirituality, meditation, and environmentalism, making The Beach Boys America’s preeminent band of the 1960s. The Wilson/Love collaboration resulted in many huge international chart hits.

The Beach Boys are one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful bands of all time, with over 100 million records sold worldwide. Between the 1960s and today, the group had over 80 songs chart worldwide, 36 of them in the US Top 40 and four topping the Billboard Hot 100. Their influence on other artists spans musical genres and movements. Countless artists have cited Pet Sounds as their inspiration for creating their own musical masterpieces. Rolling Stone ranked Pet Sounds No. 2 on its list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time,” and the Beach Boys No. 12 on its list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time.”

Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and recipients of The Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement GRAMMY Award®, The Beach Boys are a beloved American institution that remains iconic around the world.

Sounds Of Summer: The Very Best Of The Beach Boys – Expanded Edition
3CD/Digital Track Listing

Disc 1
1. California Girls (1965)
2. I Get Around (1964)
3. Surfin’ Safari (1962)
4. Surfin’ U.S.A. (1963)
5. Fun, Fun, Fun (1964)
6. Surfer Girl (1963)
7. Don’t Worry Baby (1964)
8. Little Deuce Coupe (1963)
9. Shut Down (1963)
10. Help Me, Rhonda (1965)
11. Be True To Your School (Single Version) (1963)
12. When I Grow Up (To Be A Man) (1964)
13. In My Room (1963)
14. God Only Knows (1966)
15. Sloop John B (1966)
16. Wouldn’t It Be Nice (1966)
17. Getcha Back (1985)
18. Come Go With Me (1978)
19. Rock and Roll Music (1976)
20. Dance, Dance, Dance (1964)
21. Barbara Ann (1965)
22. Do You Wanna Dance? (1965)
23. Heroes And Villains (1967)
24. Good Timin’ (1979)
25. Kokomo (1988)
26. Do It Again (1968)
27. Wild Honey (1967)
28. Darlin’ (1967)
29. I Can Hear Music (1969)
30. Good Vibrations (1966)

Disc 2
1. All Summer Long (1964)
2. Good To My Baby (1965)
3. This Whole World (1970)
4. All I Wanna Do (1970)
5. Disney Girls (1971)
6. Kiss Me Baby (1965)
7. Let The Wind Blow (1967)
8. Forever (1970)
9. Sail On Sailor (1973)
10. Long Promised Road (1971)
11. Cotton Fields (1970)
12. Pom Pom Play Girl (1964)
13. Wind Chimes (Smile) (1966/1993)
14. I Went To Sleep (1968)
15. Farmer’s Daughter (1963)
16. Let Us Go On This Way (1977)
17. You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone (1972)
18. The Night Was So Young (1977)
19. Marcella (1972)
20. You’re So Good To Me (1965)
21. Aren’t You Glad (1967)
22. Baby Blue (1979)
23. It’s About Time (1970)
24. Roll Plymouth Rock (1966/1993)
25. Surf’s Up (1971)

Disc 3
1. Add Some Music To Your Day (1970)
2. It’s Ok (1976)
3. Goin’ On (1980)
4. San Miguel (1969)
5. The Warmth Of The Sun (1964)
6. Everyone’s In Love With You (1976)
7. All This Is That (1972)
8. California Saga (1973)
9. Feel Flows (1971)
10. Wendy (1964)
11. Girl Don’t Tell Me (1965)
12. Let Him Run Wild (1965)
13. All I Want To Do (1968)
14. Susie Cincinnati (1970)
15. Vegetables (1967)
16. Time To Get Alone (1969)
17. Where I Belong (1985)
18. I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times (1966)
19. Little Bird (1968)
20. Til I Die (1971)
21. (Wouldn’t It Be Nice To) Live Again (1971)
22. Friends (1968)
23. Devoted To You (1965)
24. Can’t Wait Too Long (1968)
25. California Feelin’ (1978) 

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Rochester fans of the Beach Boys had to get out the galoshes and snow shovels when the legendary band brought its summertime music to town.

The first Beach Boys concert in Rochester, on Nov. 18, 1965, took place during the first snowfall of that season. A slick coating on streets and roads caused traffic to crawl along bumper-to-bumper.

Despite that, 2,500 people found their way to Mayo Civic Auditorium for the concert. And, according to a Post-Bulletin report on the show, those fans brought along their voices, resulting in “one continuous scream.”

The Beach Boys played their big hits, including “Fun, Fun, Fun” and “I Get Around,” as well as their groundbreaking summer 1965 single, “California Girls.” The band, which formed in 1961 in southern California, consisted of the Wilson brothers – Brian, Dennis and Carl – and their cousin, Mike Love, along with high school friend Alan Jardine.

By the time of this concert, though, Brian, the savant-like songwriter, producer and arranger, had stopped performing to concentrate on studio work. “He’s so rich he can stay home,” one of of his bandmates joked in Rochester. For this show, Bruce Johnston took Brian’s place on stage, as he would for the next several decades.

Carl Wilson was interviewed by the Post-Bulletin before the concert, and said that while surf music was slowing down, it was still “really hot” in southern California.

This Rochester concert, though, found the Beach Boys at a time of transition, ready to outgrow their striped shirts and sunny tunes. They performed the Beatles’ delicate “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” as well as an innovative new song, “The Little Girl I Once Knew.”

Meanwhile, back in California, Brian Wilson was writing and crafting what would become the “Pet Sounds” album. The bittersweet new songs explored mature themes of loss and love rather than celebrating hot rods and surfing. That record is now regarded as the Beach Boys’ masterpiece and one of the greatest pop albums of all-time.

In Rochester, though, it was still mostly fun times, aided by the show’s opening acts: The Castaways performing their hit “Liar, Liar,” the Strangeloves singing “I Want Candy” and the Gentrys doing “Keep on Dancing.”

Over the next several years, the Beach Boys would undergo numerous changes. For starters, Brian Wilson would descend into a dark place emotionally and physically. By the time the Beach Boys returned to Rochester for a concert on April 11, 2002, Dennis Wilson (accidental drowning) and Carl Wilson (cancer) were both dead. Jardine had left the band. Love and Johnston carried on, leading a group of musicians and singers in re-creating the classic Beach Boys sound.

The Beach Boys took the stage that day at Mayo Civic Center and ran through a set of greatest hits that had fans singing along and dancing in the aisles: “Surfer Girl,” “Little Honda,” “Help Me Rhonda,” “God Only Knows,” “Wouldn’t it Be Nice,” “Surfin’ USA” and, as an encore, “Fun, Fun, Fun.”

Have we mentioned the weather that April day? Once again, while the music of the Beach Boys promised summer inside the civic center, a snow storm raged outside.

“You people will do anything to keep your beer cold,” Johnston quipped from the stage.

Thomas Weber is a former Post Bulletin reporter who enjoys writing about local history.

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It’s been six years since the last official big wave surfing competition at Mavericks, a reef break that produces giant waves up to 60-feet tall during the winter months off Pillar Point in Half Moon Bay. The event has had a checkered past, partly because it has no firm date. It has only ever been held on a few days’ notice when surf forecasters could predict that the swell would produce the right waves, and some years it wasn’t held at all. The bigger problem, though, has been internal politics among organizers, local constraints, and business problems that plagued the event which began in 1999.

Now, 23-year old Elizabeth Cresson from San Francisco plans to put those problems in the past and offer a fresh start for the competition. Despite not being a surfer and having no experience putting on live events, she plans to hold the competition this coming winter under her new company called Mavericks Ventures, LLC. “We’re full-steam ahead and feeling super optimistic about pulling off an event this coming season,” Cresson, who works as a financial analyst for the communication platform Slack, told the SF Chronicle.

Elizabeth Cresson. Photo Credit: Linkedin

She has been able to obtain the rights to the Mavericks surf contest from the World Surf League, which gave up the rights in 2019. The WSL had problems finding stable sponsors and broadcasting help for the contest because of the instability of the schedule and other issues. Cresson says she is already locking down sponsors for the next event, which normally is held sometime between mid-November and late March. She told the SF Chronicle, “I’m totally intent on having a legit, professional, full-scale contest.”

One change that Cresson says she will add right away is gender equality. She plans on having 12 men and 12 women compete and will pay the winners evenly. Most big waves contests traditionally have many more men than women, and the prizes for men are usually significantly larger. She also plans on investing in better broadcast capabilities that will allow more people to watch higher-quality live streams of the event. She hopes that will lead to fewer spectators on the nearby beaches and cliffs which would lessen the impact on Half Moon Bay locals and the environment. 

Pillar Point, Half Moon Bay. Photo Credit: Canva

Over the last two years, Cresson has been “working through layers of government bureaucracy to obtain the requisite permits needed to host the event. Now she has a five-year lease granted by the California State Lands Commission,” reports the SF Chronicle. “When it’s pulled off, it’s one of the most spectacular events. To see it fail was really disappointing and sad because it’s important to everyone in town,” Cresson tells the paper.

If all goes as planned, we should start seeing new signs of life for the contest, like sponsors and streaming platforms, toward the end of summer.

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