You’re Grass and I’m a Power Mower is a multifaceted audio-visual project that studies the music of the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson.

Brian Wilson is often lauded as a shining example of genius in pop music. Many of his peers, lots of pundits, and fans alike talk about how Brian was musically innovative and did things nobody else did, but often either fail to actually reveal the substance behind these extraordinary claims. As a fan myself, I strongly agree that Brian Wilson was a musical innovator — a compositional and arranging magician whose almost childlike approach to creation has ended up making him stand out musically, even decades after his most revered work hit the airwaves.

But I am not content to leave it there. When someone speaks of the genius of Bach, it is easy to investigate why somebody might think Bach is a genius; Bach left us his scores, and we can see his genius on the page in his craftsmanship and invention. The great composers in the classical tradition have a paper trail that supports our estimation of them (and allows for their continual reappraisal!) Popular music does not have the same history of direct documentation of a composer’s work; while it is certainly there to listen to as recorded, the compositional and arrangement aspects of the music exist as concepts only. My self-charged task is to take this genius out of the air and document it, both in written form, and in a form of a sort of show-and-tell: audio and video episodes whose mission is to both document the specific innovations and creativities of Brian, the Beach Boys, and the other musicians involved in creating the music, and also to explain in a non-technical way the novel, eccentric, or just plain neat-o aspects of the nuts-and-bolts of the music.

My main task is to create little documentaries about aspects of the Beach Boys music that I think are interesting and worth exploring on a deeper level. These documentaries find their way to the public by way of YouTube. I also plan to do some sort of podcast. And if the stars align, I am interested in publishing a book of Beach Boys musical scores with commentary. Please explore this page, seek out the YouTube channel linked above, and always feel welcome to drop me an email. Thank you for visiting and supporting the Beach Boys’ great music!