"Before I found SMiLE, I thought that U2 was cool and that the world revolved around Bono's brilliance. But, thanks to the Holy Church of SMiLE, I now know where it's at, dig?"

Scott Platt, (e-mail withheld by request)

"We were so impacted by SMiLE that my husband and I gave our kids SMiLE-related names, 'Wonderful Marguaritte Pierpoint' is our daughter and 'Van Domenic Pierpoint' is our son..."

Joanna Pierpoint, (e-mail withheld by request)

" Behold, the truth is near!

As the shepherd of a similar, humble, flock, of worshippers, who treasure the words of Parks, and the vision and sounds of Wilson, my heart is filled with great joy and jubilation! How great it is to find a young church, singing the praises, and expounding the wisdom of the ancient disciples of the sixties! Sometimes, mistakenly called Hippies. These ancient, followers of the true muse, elders if I may say so, rejoice in your worthy work, and wish your mission well. If we, the elder ones, can share with you, in your mission, please feel free to call upon us. Whether, young or old, we are all equal in our wisdom, and our folly, in the search for the genuine, complete and cosmic SMiLE. As it has been said, as it has been written, only the "Big Guy" knows for sure what is, the true sound, of the Dumb Angel, SMiLE!

The Right Reverend Bob, dumb angel chapel, The Church of the Harmonic Overdub "

Bob Hanes, ( [email protected]) Wed, 27 Jun 2001

" Subject: Initial help with benedictions to SMILE

Dear Church of SMILE,

I too, encourage the worship of SMILE. In fact, the first 1,000 copies of Look! Listen! Vibrate! SMILE! that I sent out in the mail included a special form of communion.

First, I went to the local liquor store and bought tiny, see-through plastic zip-lock baggies. These were most often used in my neighborhood by pot dealers, who would put a bud or two of sinsemilla in them, and sell them as "dime baggies."

Instead, I chose to use them as "fantastic baggies." Rather than encourage the use of illegal drugs (and, to save money,) these little zip-locks included two items: a small, light blue-colored cone of incense, complimented by a regular-sized book of Bob's Big Boy matches.

These were sent in the hope that upon recieving the (previously unseen) SMILE book, the reader would then take his/her first leafing through its pages accompanied by the groovy smell of turquoise. Most importantly, the said reader would ultimately be lighting the cone with matches from L.A.'s top cruising hangout, therefore epitomizing both sides of the Beach Boys' '62/'66 naivete...a true "Dumb Angel" experience.

I was very careful to choose the cones based on their "loose" compound, in order for the incense to be pure in its '60s effervescence. And the matchbooks were culled from the true source: the Bob's Big Boy main office in Glendale, which sat right across the street from the very first Bob's. Through my diligent efforts with the representatives from the company, I managed to procure enough boxes of matchbooks (for free) to supply 1,000 readers the opportunity for this benediction.

Domenic Priore '66 "

Domenic Priore, (e-mail withheld) Thu, 28 Jun 2001

" Yea, brother, I have SEEN the light!

Before SMiLE I was in darkness! Yeah, verily, did a cloud of modern rock decend upon me. I was stricken with a plague of locusts, and a plague of frogs, and a plague of Janes Addiction records, and I did see no light. My kith and kin were slew, and yeah, verily, did I not have any idea what "kith" or "kin" were. My firstborn and my cat were forced to listen to INXS. And the land was in darkness.

I did wail and gnash my teeth, and ground my teeth down to fine stumps, and did have to have lots of expensive bridge work done, which caused yet more gnashing.

And I did make for myself vestements of sackcloth and bad polyester, and did outfit myself in black, and did prostrate myself crying out "My god! My god! What's the deal, here?"

And god did appear before me in a vision, and said "Hey, man, I can dig where you're coming from! Wow, that's some heavy stuff, there, that gnashing. Can I get that on tape?" And he did hand me the Holy Sacrament of Reddi-Whip and I did suck down several whippets and did pass out in a fog.

When I regained my wits I did find myself with the Holy Tablets, discs of three, one in each color: red, blue, and green, and clothed in a jacket with the image of a shop upon it. And I did spin these discs, and did find them to be amazing, and groovy.

And a light shone down from heaven, and I did rend my sackcloth and did cast aside my ashes, and did buy new furniture and did begin to say "groovy" an awful lot.

And thus did I begin my ministry, traveling the country and preaching the good works of SMiLE.

Let me quote from the Book of Anderle, chapter 4, verse 5:

Anderle: Brian was totally into that religious trip, the whole thing. Way before Dylan ever was, man, Brian was doing that religious thing. And the group, you know, just thought it was way too heavy, too messianic, they just didn't get it. And, you know, I remember Mike saying to him, "who died and made YOU god?"

Williams: yeah. "

Jon Hunt, (e-mail withheld) Thu, 28 Jun 2001

" Yes, growing up and listening to my father's record collection hearng Yes, King Crimson, ELP and other nuggets, I was directed to go to Sgt. Pepper for "where it all came from". Then the locusts from England directed me in the Sounds Of The Pets. The SMiLE appeared from God only knows where to me. The light is now shown, my brothers and sisters. Say what you will about Jon Anderson of Yes writing great lyrics. We now know that Van Dyke Parks showed us the words while Brian showed us the melodies. Credit is overdue by the mainstream to brothers Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks. And there will be much rejoicing.

j johnson - trying to get into church of SMiLE"

Jarrod Johnson , (e-mail withheld by request) Fri, 29 Jun 2001

" On the sacramental 'elements of SMiLE'

The smileing light, a light so bright, i cannot see, lookout for me!

Yeah brothers & sisters i am here to TESTIFY that SMiLE saved my soul. and brian did so speak: he gives speaches, always reaches, back in bed where he wrote his satire. and i thus worship in bed, listening to SMiLE on my boombox. i partake of the cool cool water. i look. i pray for friday night. i consider myself a Domenican monk. i do have my Prioreties straight. one more thing...

"Well, what if it isn't a coincidence? What if it's real? You know there's mind gangsters these days. There could be mind gangsters, couldn't there? I mean look at Spector, he could be involved in it, couldn't he? He's going into films. How hard would it be for him to set up something like that?"

some food for thought. i will let brian's words stand without comment.

"mario del campo" mosoul_65 (65 being year 1 BS), Sun, 30 Mar 2003

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