Bruce Johnston, a bottle of Fiji water, and a
Beach Boys story I'll never forget. I'm Brian
Colburn and this is your Mixtape Moment. What
is going on friends? My name is Brian Colburn
and this Mixtape Moment is brought to you because
earlier this week, Bruce Johnston announced that
after 61 years, He is retiring as an active member
of the Beach Boys. He did take a break in the
early 70s, but has been with the band consistently
since 1978. So what does a bottle of water have
to do with all of this? Well, earlier last year
in 2025, I took the entire family to see the
Beach Boys at the State Theater in Easton, Pennsylvania.
It was the family's Christmas present. As both
of my girls are big Beach Boys fans. And as I've
said many a times on the show, I like to take
them to as many different styles of concerts
as I possibly can. As far as I'm concerned, when
they go off to college, they're going to at least
have a varied musical education courtesy of their
old man. And then they could decide wherever
they want to take their music fandom for the
rest of their lives. I've taken them to see everything
from Blues Traveler. to Counting Crows, to ZZ
Top and John Fogerty, to Metallica, and Lamb
of God. That last one not going over as well
as I thought it would be, but my heart was in
the right place. Now, setting the stage, this
show was announced prior to Christmas in 2024,
so I was able to log on and get tickets in the
second row. However, the way the State Theater
in Eastern Pennsylvania works, The second row
has a stretch of seats that extend beyond the
front row. So for all intents and purposes, the
seats that I chose on the far left side of the
stage had nobody in front of us. So while they
were row two, as far as I'm and everybody in
the family was concerned, we were sitting front
row. Now, as a child that grew up in the 80s,
the Beach Boys were a huge part of my musical
soundtrack, be it the songs my parents played
from their classic albums to all the stuff the
Beach Boys were doing in the 80s to stay relevant,
including their collaboration with the Fat Boys
on Wipeout, the Cocktail soundtrack and their
massive hit Kokomo. to a song from their earlier
catalog that had staying power in the 80s due
to its use in a very popular 80s movie. Yes,
I am talking about Michael J. Fox in a full wolf
costume, surfing on top of a work van as Stiles
drives down the road. Yes, Surfing USA, as featured
in one of my favorite childhood movies, Teen
Wolf. So here we are about five songs into the
show. The band just did an incredible cover of
the Ramones Rockaway Beach and they break into
Surfing USA. Now I'm just sitting there. I've
got my arm around my oldest and I'm singing along
and we're enjoying every moment of this concert.
And towards the end of the song, Bruce Johnston's
doing his part singing along. He just grabs a
water bottle behind him, walks to the front of
the stage. hands it to me, walks back, and continues
playing the song. I didn't ask for the bottle
of water. I don't think I seemed thirsty. We
purchased waters from the concession stand prior
to sitting down. But here I am, sitting and holding
a bottle of Fiji water that was passed to me
by a member of the Beach Boys. Now, one might
think to just open the bottle of water and have
a drink because water is expensive at concerts.
However, this was a gift handed to me by a member
of the Beach Boys. No, I am not drinking that
water. And I will never drink that water as long
as I'm on this earth. Because a member of the
Beach Boys gave me a present for, pardon the
pun, God only knows what reason. And I am never
going to open this bottle of water. That bottle
of water sits in my studio directly above the
monitors where I record along with the set list
from the show that one of the stage hands handed
us at the end of the performance. Now, mind you,
there's a fairly good chance I'm going to go
the rest of my life and never know the reason
why he was inclined to hand me this bottle of
water. Unless, in fact, he wants to come on the
show. and talk about the Beach Boys legacy, which
is something I would welcome in a heartbeat.
I would love to talk some Beach Boys with Bruce,
as well as his songwriting prowess. Because if
you're familiar with the Beach Boys song, Disney
Girls, that's a Bruce Johnston written and sang
song from their catalog. Barry Manilow, I write
the songs. No, he doesn't. Bruce Johnston writes
the Barry Manilow, I write the songs song. If
Barry Manilow wanted to be honest with all of
us, he would have just called the song Bruce
Johnston wrote this song, but he didn't. So I
don't know if I could trust Barry Manilow moving
forward, but I digress. And this is not just
songs from years ago. Bruce Johnston is still
an accomplished songwriter, as just a few years
ago in 2022, he co -wrote Here We Go Again on
The Weeknd's Dawn FM album. So he's still out
there doing it. After 61 years in the Beach Boys.
And to find out the news this week that he's
stepping down from the band after six decades
of music and touring and albums. It's an end
of an era. The band might as well essentially
at this point be called the Beach Boy. Because
Mike Love is now the sole original member in
the group. And I take nothing away from the band
when I say that. Because when I saw them last
year, it was just Mike and Bruce as the sole
two remaining original members of the band. But
even so, the members of the band that they have
on stage with them are all incredible musicians,
and they carry on the Beach Boys tradition well.
Al Jardine is off with the Pet Sounds Band, which
is actually Brian Wilson's touring band, performing
songs from the Beach Boys catalog. queens reich
la guns scenario there are technically multiple
versions of the beach boys out there depending
on how you want to classify or name it but the
fact that their catalog is still getting celebrated
after all these years and all these incredible
decades of music i think is amazing now while
there's no video proof of him actually walking
over and handing me the bottle I do have a picture
in front of the stage in between sets of me holding
said water bottle, and I'll post that over on
this episode page at myweeklymixtape .com. And
I'll also, while I'm there, embed Disney Girls,
I Write the Songs, and Here We Go Again, as well
as that cover of Rockaway Beach that I was able
to capture from the second, well, front row of
that show that I mentioned earlier. Now, Bruce
is going to go off and focus on some more songwriting,
maybe doing some appearances to talk about the
Beach Boys catalog. And hopefully one day coming
on my weekly mixtape to talk about the Beach
Boys catalog. I kind of want to throw that out
in the universe one more time here because I
would love to see that happen. But he hasn't
ruled out occasional sit -ins with the band,
bigger shows, one -off appearances. So while
his surfboard has been hung up for the time being,
you can't rule out that this was the last time
you'll see Bruce Johnston with the Beach Boys.
However, if it was, I'm grateful to have had
the opportunity to see him perform. And this
Fiji water bottle that I will forever look at
as I'm recording will always serve as a reminder
of one of the greats from one of the most iconic
American rock bands of all time. And that'll
do it for this Mixtape Moment. Stay tuned this
Monday for another brand new full -length episode
of My Weekly Mixtape. Once again, my name is
Brian Colburn, and until next time, enjoy the
tunes.