Beach Boys

In the classics "Surfin' Safari" and "Surfin' U.S.A.," the Beach Boys immortalized Southern California's beaches for the pop music world. Among the sites mentioned in the lyrics are Huntington, Laguna, Doheny, La Jolla and Malibu -- almost an inventory of the lower West Coast. America's greatest surf band didn't name Newport Beach in either song, but on Sunday, Mike Love and his cohorts will play a major role in the city's history. The first event in the city's yearlong 100th birthday celebration, Let's Do Launch, to be held at the Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort, will climax with a performance by the Beach Boys on a stage overlooking the sea. For Love, the only remaining member of the original band, it's familiar territory.

Peggy Quinn was watching TV a few months ago when she saw an ad that would change the family's summer plans. The ad was for open auditions for the new local musical "Surf City USA." "My mom was watching Channel 3 and I was in the other room working on a science project," Ashleigh Arnone said. "She told me about it and said, 'Hey let's go.'" Ashleigh, 14, got a part in "Surf City USA," playing Cindy, a surfer girl in love with the beach and the boys. "She is obsessed with the Beach Boys," Ashleigh said.

The Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum is starting off its Surfin' Sundays concert series this Sunday by paying tribute to the band that gave Surf City USA its name. Surf band The Nocturnes will play a tribute to the Beach Boys. Appetizers and beverages will be served and admission is free. The event celebrates the opening of "Surf Sounds, Part 1," an exhibit of Beach Boys memorabilia from throughout the band's career. For kids, the exhibit includes a karaoke machine donated by Singer's Choice Karaoke, which gives them a chance to sing along to a book full of popular songs.

Newport Beach kicked off its year-long centennial celebration as any beach town should -- with an all-day beach party featuring games, food, fun and surf music from the Beach Boys. "They were looking for a band that was almost as old as Newport," joked Beach Boy Mike Love during a press briefing before the show. He added that it didn't take much convincing to get the Beach Boys to headline the concert, which was held at Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort on Sunday.

A few years ago, two of my Canadian cousins were visiting California and stopped back at the house enthused. The cause of their excitement? They had been driving around in their rental car when the Beach Boys' "I Get Around" came on the radio. After years of listening to the band's lush harmonies, they had finally heard them in Southern California itself — an experience probably more authentic than the rides at Disney California Adventure. It says something about the timelessness of the Beach Boys' best music that even after Brian Wilson's decades of psychiatric woes, even after all the lawsuits filed by band members against each other, even after years of bad press and tell-all biographies, songs like "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Surfin' U.S.A.

Beach Boys top bill at Let's Do Launch The Newport Beach Centennial Committee is scheduled to begin selling tickets Monday for the Oct. 2 Let's Do Launch beach party. The Beach Boys have been booked to perform at the event, which is set to open a yearlong celebration of Newport Beach's 100th anniversary. Tickets are $15 per person. Children younger than 3 will be admitted free. Tickets can be purchased at the Newport Beach Recreation Department at City Hall, Oasis Senior Center and on the Internet at www.newportbeach100.

Dane Chavez scored three goals, including an insurance goal with 2:24 to play Monday, as the Predators got past the Beach Boys, 4-2, in Smythe Division play at Coast 2 Coast Inline Hockey Center in Huntington Beach. Kyle Hoglund and Christopher Beatty also scored and Chavez and Caden Thompson each had an assist. Jesse Mellema registered 21 saves. Beach Boys goals were scored by Andrew Armstrong and Robert Wirth and Logan Bechtold had an assist. In other Smythe Division action: Swat 5, Sure Grip 2 Daniel Patzlaff scored twice and Joshua Wagoner had a goal and assist for Swat, which spotted Sure Grip a 1-0 lead before rolling on to the win. Joe Gibb and Casey Taylor also scored and Brandon Wagoner had 17 saves.

The Storm put another notch in the win column Tuesday by defeating the Hawks, 7-4, in Howe Division play at Coast 2 Coast Inline Hockey Center in Huntington Beach. Andrew Leming, Auston Leming and Aaron Dorff each scored twice to lead the Storm on offense. Jeremy Corwin scored once and had an assist and Auston Leming also had an assist. Ricky Zatarain recorded 16 saves. Andrew Schenker and Stuart Urbano each scored twice for the Hawks. Urbano also had an assist and Savannah Patton finished with 21 saves.

One match was all that stood in the way of the Huntington Beach High boys' volleyball team from making a clean sweep through its 2013 Sunset League schedule. The league champion Oilers upped their league record to 9-0 and overall mark to 25-2 by downing host Los Alamitos, 25-14, 25-10 25-20, Friday. The victory was the ninth by sweep in Sunset play and left the Oilers one win shy of completing a 10-0 league run for the second straight year. Sophomore outside hitter TJ DeFalco had 14 kills, junior outside hitter Brenden Sander four kills and three blocks, and senior middle blocker Andrew TenBrink had seven kills.

Huntington Beach High went to 6-0 in Sunset League boys' volleyball action and won for the 22nd time in 24 matches Tuesday by turning back host Fountain Valley, 25-11, 25-22, 27-25. Sophomore outside hitter TJ DeFalco had 14 kills and three aces and junior middle blocker Drake Evans finished with seven kills and three blocks for the Oilers, ranked No. 4 in CIF Southern Section Division 1. "I thought we came out focused," Huntington Beach Coach Craig Pazanti said. "We played very efficient in the first set, but Fountain Valley did a good job of staying in the match, and pushed us to the finish in both the second and third sets.

A trip to Hawaii resulted in another tournament championship for the Huntington Beach High boys' volleyball team. A year ago, the Oilers captured the title of the Kamehameha Cup. During spring break last week, the Oilers returned to the tournament, and again claimed the crown. Huntington went 6-0 at the event and capped its run on Saturday with a 25-19, 25-14, victory over Kamehameha Kapalama. The Oilers, ranked No. 5 in CIF Southern Section Division 1, won by sweep in three of their six matches.

In a tense battle between neighboring rivals Oct. 3, it was Huntington Beach that came away with a 12-6 victory against Edison in a Sunset League boys' water polo match. The teams were deadlocked at 6 less than a minute into the second half, but that's when the game shifted gears before a standing-room-only crowd at the Ocean View High pool. Huntington went into the lead for good on a lob shot into the right corner of the Edison cage by junior attacker Dillon Morely. The goal put the Oilers up, 7-6, and it came nearly three minutes after Edison sophomore defender Dane Estrella netted a goal to tie the score.

Editor's Note: The Independent looks back on the 2011-2012 high school season. Below is the third of three parts, focusing on the spring season. * The softball season saw several local teams turn in successful runs. Edison ran up a program-record 26 victories and reached the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals. The Chargers had their season end with a 6-4 loss to defending-champion Santiago of Corona, which a week later lost to Norco in the title game.

A few years ago, two of my Canadian cousins were visiting California and stopped back at the house enthused. The cause of their excitement? They had been driving around in their rental car when the Beach Boys' "I Get Around" came on the radio. After years of listening to the band's lush harmonies, they had finally heard them in Southern California itself — an experience probably more authentic than the rides at Disney California Adventure. It says something about the timelessness of the Beach Boys' best music that even after Brian Wilson's decades of psychiatric woes, even after all the lawsuits filed by band members against each other, even after years of bad press and tell-all biographies, songs like "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Surfin' U.S.A.

Huntington Beach High boys' volleyball Coach Craig Pazanti knew the laser-sharp focus his team possessed before the 2012 season got underway. So it didn't come as a surprise to him that his Oilers would become champions of the Sunset League. "These guys have been focused on their goals since last fall, last summer, in fact," Pazanti said. "They knew what they wanted to achieve, and they went out and did it. They felt that they had underachieved last year and were hungry this year.

Huntington Beach and Newport Harbor are on a collision course after both recorded victories Tuesday in Sunset League boys' volleyball play. Huntington won its eighth league sweep and improved to 8-0 by winning, 25-15, 25-13, 25-15, at Edison. Edgar Palos had 11 kills, Brendan Sander added seven kills and three aces, Ryan DeSisto and Grant Halsey combined for 14 digs and Matt Butler and Jaxon Graf had 29 assists between them. The Oilers are 18-3 and put their win streak at 13. Edison slipped to 2-6 in league.