arts & entertainment Fun, Fun, Fun David Marks rejoins the Beach Boys for 50th-anniversary reunion tour. Bill Carroll Contributing Writer D avid Marks' parents picked the right neighbors when they moved from Erie, Pa., to Los Angeles in the late 1950s to escape the cold weather. They lived right across the street from the Wilson family — the home of Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, founding mem- bers of the Beach Boys, who took Marks right along with them on their ascent to the top of the pop music world. Guitarist and singer Marks, 63, has been in and out of the band, but he's definitely "in" for the Beach Boys' 50th-anniversary global reunion tour, which comes to the DTE Energy Music Theatre on Saturday, June 30. In addition to Marks, the lineup includes surviving Wilson brother Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine (like Marks, all original members) and Bruce Johnston, who joined the band in 1965. "This is more like a family reunion than anything else. When we're together (for the first time in two decades), we get along great. The chemistry always seems to work the same as the last time, and the five of us become a single element," Marks said during a phone interview while waiting to appear on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Marks traces his Jewish heritage back to his father's father, a German Jewish immigrant. His mother is Italian Catholic, although Marks says he practices no reli- gion now. The Wilson brothers' mother taught young David how to play the piano. Then he and Carl Wilson tinkered with the gui- tar together as Marks played in the Wilson family Sunday-night sing-alongs. Marks and Carl Wilson took lessons and devel- oped a special electric-rock guitar sound to go along with their vocal harmonies. Marks was a member of the Beach Boys from February 1962-October 1963 and then on occasion during later versions of the band. The group signed with Capitol Records on July 16, 1962, and Marks per- formed on the band's first four albums, playing rhythm guitar and singing har- mony. "I really was first part of the Beach Boys lineup at age 13 and toured with them for a year and a half;" said Marks. "We signed with Capitol Records in 1962 and recorded Surfin' Safari." Marks also recorded on Surfin' USA (1963), Surfer Girl (1963) and Little Douce Coupe (1963). Being eager and successful at an early age led Marks to leave the Beach Boys at the height of their popularity in the early 1960s to launch his own career. His sojourn in and out of the group was punctuated by management and financial differences, the illnesses of two of the Beach Boys and other The Beach Boys 50th-anniversary reunion tour is the first in 20 years to include, left to right, Bruce Johnston, Al Jardine, Brian issues. Wilson, Mike Love and David Marks, who joined the group at age 13 Marks and performed on the band's first four albums. formed his own groups for a while — David and the Marksmen Marks praised today's new music (he and the Moon — and played as a session loves all genres) and said the tour crowds guitarist with many musical acts. He also are the best ever: "They're polite, fun-filled fought a bout with hepatitis and some and multigenerational; they dance in the other ailments. "But I never felt I disas- aisles!' sociated myself entirely from the Beach What began as a 50-city tour has grown Boys," he said. to 70, including concerts in Europe and in Marks shrugs off the rigors of touring Asia. at an older age. "Concerts are the keys to "Fifty years ago, we started something our success:' he pointed out. "They keep big so now we're celebrating in a big way:' us in shape. You can't just lie around and said Brian Wilson, whose first wife, nee be dormant. You just have to get out there Marilyn Rovell, from whom he is divorced, and do it." is Jewish and the mother of Carnie and Marks also participated in the recording Wendy Wilson of the music group Wilson of the group's critically well-reviewed new Phillips. Brian Wilson's brother Dennis album, That's Why God Made the Radio, drowned at 39 in 1983, and brother Carl released earlier this year and the first to fea- died of cancer at 52 in 1998. E ture Marks since the release of Little Deuce Coupe. It is the group's 30th studio album. The Beach Boys will perform at 7:30 It contains a song called "Pacific Coast p.m. Saturday, June 30, at the DTE Highway:' a ballad about entering one's Energy Music Theatre in Clarkston. twilight years, "proving that the Beach Tickets: $69.50 and $35 pavilion; Boys aren't a nostalgia act, but that they $25 lawn (four lawn tickets for $60). also have more to sing about than sun, 800-745-3000; www.palacenet.com . sand and summer:' said People magazine. ews 'I Nate Bloom Special to the Jewish News :64 New Flicks Opening Friday, June 29, is Ted, the big screen debut of Seth MacFarlane, the creator of the hit animated FOX series Family Guy. MacFarlane wrote and directed Ted, which is mostly live action with some animation. The plot of Ted is certainly uncon- ventional. The main character is John Bennett (played as an adult by Mark Wahlberg). John is a normal kid except for one thing: When John was 8 years old, his wish that his teddy bear come to life came true. The bear, Ted (voiced by MacFarlane), remains John's best friend into his adulthood. Things turn sour when Ted's vulgar, slacker lifestyle ham- pers John's attempt to become a mature adult and pursue a romance with Lori (Mila Kunis, 28). Alex Borstein, 39, Borstein 48 has a supporting role June 28 2012 as John's mother. Borstein has been a main voice actor as "Lois Griffin" on Family Guy since 1999. Kunis began doing the voice of "Meg Griffin" on Family Guy back in 2000 when she was only 15 and continues to voice Meg to this day. Alex Kurtzman's People Like Us (see story on page 50) stars Chris Pine (the young James T. Kirk in the 2009 Star Trek film), 31; his maternal grandfather, Max Gilford (ne Goldfarb), a big-time Hollywood lawyer, was Jewish. Playing his sister in the film is Elizabeth Banks, 38, who converted to Judaism when she married her college sweetheart, Max Handelman. They had their first child, a son named Felix, via sur- Banks rogate, last year. Man Of Steel The press description for the new book Superman: The High-Flying History of America's Most Enduring Hero (Random House) succinctly summarizes it: "Seventy-five years after he came to life, Superman remains one of America's most adored and endur- ing heroes. Now, Larry Tye, the prize- winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author of Satchel, has written the first full-fledged Tye history not just of the Man of Steel but of the creators, designers, owners and performers who made him the icon he is today." Tye, 41, is especially well qualified to write about the "Jewish roots" of Superman; his other works include a book of essays about Jews in the Diaspora (Homeland) and a biogra- phy of Edward Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud who was the founder of the field of modern public rela- tions. On June 18, Tye appeared on Fresh Air, the NPR radio show hosted by Terry Gross, 61. Gross asked Tye about Superman's "Jewish roots," noting that Jerry Siegel, the creator/ original writer of the character, was Jewish as was Joseph Schuster, the original illustrator. Tye replied: "Jerry called his char- acter, as he came down from Krypton, 'Kal-El' which [means], 'a vessel of God' in Hebrew. So we have this char- acter coming down, being put down in space by his parents to try and save him, and being rescued by two gentiles in the middle of the Midwest somewhere in America. "If that's not the story of the Exodus and Moses! This was a time when we were on the eve of World War II, and the Nazis were on the brink of coming to power in Germany. I think this idea of this baby being rescued was a sense of what was going on in Europe, where Jerry's ancestors had come from. And it's a rule of thumb that when a name ends in m-a-n, the person whose name that is, they're either a superhero or Jewish or both." E