Surfin’ With The Beach Boys… Not!
The Beach Boys had finished recording some things and taken off. So we packed up the 24 track master tape and it was taken to Stapleton (the Denver airport in those days) to be shipped to California so they could work with it. It was in the middle of the winter and had snowed all night in Denver. The next morning Jimmy came storming into the shop and asked me if I had made a copy. Fortunately I had been taught to always make copies, so I said “yes”. Jimmy sighed and said, “You’re going to Los Angeles.”
Then he explained that for some reason the freight company had left the master tape on a dock all night in the snow, and it was soaked! I was going to hand carry the copy to L.A. and hand it to the Beach Boys personally. We went to the airport and I got on the plane with tape in hand, and flew to L. A. with it in my lap.
When I got there, I had instructions to go to a certain exit and meet someone to give it to. I remThe Beach Boys Love Youember standing there for a while, and then an old beat up pickup drove up ( it had to be their surfin’ truck), and a guy hopped out. He asked me if I was Tom with the tape, and I said “yes”. I didn’t recognize him, but he said he was there to pick it up. After giving it to him, I had to go right back into L.A.X. and get on the next plane back to Denver.
When I returned to the ranch it was late afternoon. I could hardly believe that my day had consisted of a flight to and from Los Angeles. But the craziest part was that I’d gone to meet the Beach Boys and I didn’t even get to go surfing!