Beach Boys and Temptations to perform at Show Me Center

Editor's note: This article has been corrected to show the concert begins at 7:30 p.m.

Mike Love remembers hauling surf boards to the beach in a friend's Ford convertible and paddling in the surf as a teenager, soaking up the Southern California lifestyle.

"I sing about it actually a lot better than I actually perform it," Love said about his surfing talent during a phone interview Thursday.

He did manage to "Catch a Wave," and it turned out to be a tsunami, one he's still riding.

The 76-year-old Love is the lone original member still with The Beach Boys, who will be performing Saturday at the Show Me Center.

The swell began in 1961 with the group's first release, "Surfin'," and grew to heights that included four No. 1 hits and 36 top-40 songs in the United States.

The list includes "I Get Around," "Help Me, Rhonda" and the iconic "Good Vibrations," all chart toppers in the 1960s and still audience favorites, ones they will be performing after The Temptations exit the stage.

They've had staying power after a humble start that traces back to a garage band Love formed with cousins Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson and Carl Wilson -- all brothers -- and high-school friend Al Jardine, originally called The Pendletones. It was preceded by humbleness. Love said his mom's family left Hutchinson, Kansas, when she was 5, "dirt poor" and literally lived on the beach for a time before they found a home.

"Coming out of poverty to worldwide celebrity and making a darn good living through the music was an amazing, miraculous thing," Love said. "But it was all because of the love of getting together and harmonizing. That was the essential ingredient of The Beach Boys music."

That upbeat, harmonized sound to carefree lyrics about beaches, cars and girlfriends appealed to teens worldwide, with Love noting they were voted the No. 1 group in Great Britain in 1966, ahead of a group named The Beatles.

It's more than 50 years later, and Cape Girardeau is among the stops before the band heads to Europe in May, part of a heavy touring schedule that runs through September.

"Our music makes people feel good, and we have an emotional attachment to it because it's like our kids," Love said. "We gave birth to these songs. When you're a musician and songwriter and a singer, and you get the opportunity to play your music and people still want to hear it and see it and come to your shows, that's a great thing. That's a blessing, actually."

The Beach Boys and The Temptations will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Show Me Center, 1333 N. Sprigg St. in Cape Girardeau. Tickets for the event range from $39 to $125 depending on seat location and may be purchased at the Show Me Center box office, showmecenter.biz or by calling (573) 651-5000.

jbreer@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3629

Pertinent address:

1333 N. Sprigg St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.