LIMA, OH (WLIO) – It was a homecoming for a Grammy Award-winning Beach Boy.
Al Jardine, a founding member of the Beach Boys, signed autographs for fans at ArtSpace/Lima Saturday afternoon.
Jardine lived in Lima as a young child because his father worked as a photographer for the Lima Locomotive Works, documenting the historic steam engines built in the city.
Before meeting fans, Jardine stopped by Kewpee and visited several locations around Lima that he remembers from his childhood.
“I’ve been back several times since I lived here. But I remember the wonderful changes of the seasons here. That’s the thing I miss in California and the smell of the smoke in the air when they were burning the leaves in the front yard or on the curb actually and those kind of memories are stick are very indelible,” says Al Jardine, founding member of the Beach Boys.
“The nice thing is it’s a welcoming, it’s a homecoming and he was born here and only lived here for a short while, but the fact that he took what he got here and that in that midwestern sensibility or that Lima kindness and carried it throughout all of his music and then he’s able to return,” says Sally Windle, Executive Director, ArtSpace/Lima.
Jardine also signed copies of his children’s book, “Sloop John B a Pirates Tail,” which is named after a famous Beach Boys song.
“It’s just a charming little folk song that I learned from the Kingston Trio and then I translated into Beach Boy music. And it’s about going back home. It’s about going home, kind of like we’re what I’m doing now. Everyone wants to go back home at some point in their lives and I did,” adds Jardine.
Jardine will wrap up his Lima visit with a concert with his band, the Pet Sounds Band, at the Pangle Pavilion. The concert is a fundraiser for ArtSpace/Lima ’s expansion project.
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