Beach Boys Trade the Surf for Miniature Golf Turf : Ventura: Surprised patrons find themselves in pop heaven as the rockers lip-sync their version of ‘Crocodile Rock’ for a video.
Clad in bad plaid, the aging saints of surf-rock wagged their hips beneath the red-and-silver onion domes of Golf N’ Stuff in Ventura on Friday to shoot their latest video.
The Beach Boys gyrated and lip-synced to a version of “Crocodile Rock” that they had recorded for an album tribute to the music of Elton John.
Surprised golfers found themselves in high camp, pop-rock heaven.
Video director D.J. Webster littered the already goofy golf complex with polka dots, Hula-Hoops, greasy-haired hunks and bikinied blondes.
An avid miniature-golf enthusiast, Webster said he chose the complex by the Ventura Freeway after scouting 20 such courses throughout Southern California.
“This was the best one,” Webster sighed, in between coaching the Beach Boys through “just one more” take and cursing the ever-changing sunlight that kept his lighting crew busy juggling high-intensity flood lamps. “The graphics, it’s just the graphics of it.”
Four giggling schoolgirls cut classes to see the Beach Boys “play” Golf N’ Stuff, but squealed in heightened delight when they learned that sitcom star John Stamos of “Full House” was playing a role in the video.
The four flocked around Beach Boy Al Jardine, who is the lead vocalist on “Crocodile Rock,” and watched in rapt adoration as Stamos tangoed between the palm trees with dancer Isabel Vasquez.
‘This is so rad,” said Heather Faught, 14, of Newbury Park. “I’m glad I’m here. My friends are gonna be jealous.”
“It’s beyond exciting,” said 13-year-old Jennifer Martin, of Newbury Park, whose father arranged to sneak her and three classmates out of Newbury Park High School at lunchtime to see the filming. “I’ve been in love with the Beach Boys since I was 2 years old,” she said.
While the four clustered around Stamos for autographs, Webster’s crew moved gear to the powder-blue fairy-tale castle to film dancer Kerrie Jo Chapman.
Sheathed in pink-belted black capri pants and striped jersey, tottering on spiked pumps and topped by a bouffant wig, Chapman shimmied and frugged expertly, while twirling Hula-Hoops around her arms and hips.
“Cheese, cheese, cheese!” Webster coached with an approving grin. “Vegas act gone wrong!”
During a lunch break, two Londoners who had planned to end their California holiday Friday with miniature golf said they were pleasantly surprised to meet the Beach Boys.
Ian Grenfell said he found the chance meeting especially ironic because he and traveling partner Lee Leschasin both work for Phonogram Limited, the British distributor for the Elton John tribute album, which he said includes covers of John songs by The Who, Sinead O’Connor, Phil Collins, Joe Cocker and Kate Bush.
Leschasin seemed completely enchanted: “I like the old stuff,” she said of the band’s music. “Seeing the Beach Boys here, it’s just so California, isn’t it?”
Golf N’ Stuff Manager Alvin Kelsch said he was only too glad to give one of the two miniature golf courses over to the film crew for the day for $1,000, which director Webster called “very reasonable.”
“You know why they chose it?” Kelsch said proudly. “It’s the best there is.”
Scott Keller, 21, of Simi Valley looked on in drop-jawed admiration as the Beach Boys twisted away and mouthed the lyrics to a mammoth sound system booming “Crocodile Rock.”
Keller’s modeling agency had landed him a role in the ‘50s fantasy video as the young man who laments in the song, “Suzy went and left me for some foreign guy.”
“The first record I ever heard in my life was ‘Surfin,’ which my mother had on the original 45, and ever since then I’ve loved the Beach Boys,” he said, watching his idols dance.
“I’ve come here ever since I was in school, come to Golf N’ Stuff, and now they’re doing a video. It’s really neat.”
As the song faded away, the Beach Boys grinned and the crew applauded. Keller breathed, “Cooool.”