Larry Battson's Wild World Welcomes Steve Kalinich!!

Join Larry, Dr. Henry Day and Amy Swihart as they welcome Poet Steve Kalinich!!

Stephen John Kalinich worked with and wrote lyrics for a variety of '60s and '70s acts from the rock and soul world, including, most prominently, the Beach Boys. Kalinich, a native of New York, journeyed to California and was part of Zarathurstra and Thelibus, an act that became the first to be signed to the Beach Boys' Brother Records label. They recorded only a version of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" in 1968 with Carl Wilson in the production booth, but Kalinich contributed lyrics to several songs heard on that year's Beach Boys LP, Friends. Also, after bringing some of his poetry and songs to Brian Wilson, the two recorded a full LP during late summer 1969.

That record didn't earn a release, although Kalinich's name again popped up on a few scattered Beach Boys-related songs (including Brian Wilson recordings) into the 2000s, as well as Dennis Wilson's 1977 solo album, Pacific Ocean Blue. He also worked with P.F. Sloan, and both Mary Wilson and Diana Ross of the Supremes. The unreleased LP A World of Peace Must Come was finally issued almost 30 years later, in 2008, by the reissue label Light in the Attic. - JohnBush