Surf music, sunshine, and optimism keep photographer Jeff McEvoy moving forward
- Jeff Schober
- 5 hours ago
- 13 min read
‘Good Vibrations’ abound for Lewiston native
When he retired as a branch manager for the U.S. Senate Photo Services in December 2020, Jeff McEvoy sought a simpler life, away from the bustle of Washington, D.C., where he had lived since the 1980s. With his wife, Trecia, he moved to Sandwich, N.H., a rural town not far from where the classic movie On Golden Pond was filmed.
Most of McEvoy’s retirement is fairly ordinary. It’s not unusual for him to jump in his car early on a weekday morning and drive 90 minutes through the White Mountains to play ice hockey with a 9 a.m. faceoff. In warmer months, you can find him riding atop a zero-turn lawnmower, trimming grass on six acres of cleared land that has been in his wife’s family for five generations.
But McEvoy’s side gig is anything but ordinary. Since 1999, the Lewiston native has been the official photographer for Brian Wilson, co-founder of the Beach Boys. Before and since Wilson’s passing last summer, McEvoy regularly travels the country to photograph concerts and rub shoulders with icons of rock and roll.
Wilson, one of the most successful American composers of the 20th Century, died on June 11, 2025, nine days before turning 83. Music fans around the world mourned, playing classic anthems like “God Only Knows,” “In My Room,” and “Good Vibrations” in memoriam.
If you are a longtime reader of Buffalo Tales, you may recognize McEvoy’s name. We profiled him and his connection to surf music shortly after our website launched in 2018, and that story went viral. It remains one of our most widely read pieces, affirming that a market exists for long-form feature stories.
Much has changed for McEvoy in the ensuing seven-plus years. A follow-up seemed appropriate, especially since Wilson’s death marked the end of a musical era that may never be equaled.
“There was a sense of calm when Brian passed,” McEvoy reflected. “Obviously, it was a sad event, but there was relief knowing that Brian is finally at peace, no longer fighting whatever it was that he fought.”
Despite a string of personal losses, at 62, McEvoy remains an optimist, eager to maximize the joy in every day. After years of listening to California sounds, peace, harmony, and sunshine have seeped into his persona. Whenever the world feels heavy, music irons away the stress.
One love
Years ago, while preparing to photograph a concert, McEvoy walked past Brian Wilson in his dressing room.
“Hey Biggie, can you rub my shoulders?” Wilson asked, calling McEvoy by his nickname, “Biggie Mac.”
McEvoy found himself kneading the composer’s tight trapezius. A tour manager thanked McEvoy. Loosening Wilson’s muscles before a show was normally his role, and his hands were perpetually sore from the task.
“I was rubbing the shoulders of the man who personified American youth and the California sound,” McEvoy recalled with awe. “I would have done just about anything for that guy. That’s how much of a factor he played in my life.”
In the past three decades, McEvoy accumulated a lifetime of memories with Wilson — traveling the country with him, and staying up late in hotel rooms to eat, swap stories, or sing songs. For nearly 30 years, McEvoy has circled inside the orbit of Beach Boys music, embraced by band members and managers alike.
There have long been two official camps that perform Beach Boys music. For years, Wilson traveled as a solo artist with his Pet Sounds Band, accompanied by former Beach Boys Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin. The other band, using the Beach Boys’ name, actively tour with co-founder Mike Love, Wilson’s cousin. Actor and musician John Stamos frequently performs with this group.
Over the years, Wilson and Love have performed together. The surviving members of the Beach Boys reunited briefly in 2012, but disbanded at the end of that summer tour. They have also been locked in legal battles. Upon Wilson’s passing, Love used social media to post a heartfelt tribute to his cousin:
“He allowed us to show the world what vulnerability and brilliance sound like in harmony. He was fragile, he was intense, he was funny — and he was one of a kind… Brian, you once asked ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older?’ Now you are timeless.”
McEvoy, who has navigated between both bands, does not make a distinction. He loves them both, and has had a bird’s-eye view of the caring that Wilson and Love shared — despite their public fractures.
“Every time I’d go to a Brian Wilson concert, he’d say, ‘Have you seen Mike? How do the boys sound?’” McEvoy said. “And then I’d see Mike, who’s always walking around with a pad and paper, writing down poems and little things. He’d say, ‘How’s Brian’s health? I’m worried about him.’ They had a mutual respect over the years.”
Love and his wife, Jackie, acknowledged McEvoy’s contributions to the Beach Boys.
“We love having Jeff on the road as part of our team,” the Loves wrote in an email. “We treasure his friendship, and thank him for sharing his gifts of art and vision through a camera lens.”
Rediscovering music
Last fall, McEvoy attended a listening party at a friend’s house in Pennsylvania, and encountered a song performed by Jardine. Despite his deep knowledge of the Beach Boys catalog, McEvoy had never heard this track before.
“My friend was playing all these obscure bootleg Beach Boys songs,” McEvoy said. “One was called ‘Dr. Tom.’ I thought it was pretty cool. I recorded a snippet on my phone and a week later went to Al’s concert in Massachusetts. I told him I had heard a song he recorded during the Vietnam era.”
McEvoy used his phone to play the cut. Jardine was stunned.
“I haven’t heard that in years,” he said. “Do you have the full song?”
McEvoy did not, but asked his friend to pass along the entire version, which was shared with Jardine.
“Al was blown away by it,” McEvoy said. “He started to recall laying down certain tracks. If the Beach Boys went into a studio early or stayed late, they might play around with ideas. Sometimes, engineers would just roll tape.”
Responding to a request for this story, Jardine was happy to praise McEvoy’s talents.
“The quality of Jeff’s photography is amazing,” he said via email. “He really captures the spirit of our music and has a great eye for framing the right moments of us on stage. It’s always a pleasure having Jeff at our shows and backstage too. We’ve enjoyed his company for many years.”
Jardine added a request for help.
“Jeff brought to my attention that I had recorded a song many years ago called ‘Dr. Tom,’ which I had long forgotten about. It made me really happy to hear it again. I still can’t believe that he found this rarity. We’re looking for the master tapes, if anyone happens to know where they are.”
The long-lost song was recently posted to YouTube, and can be found here.
Podcast connections
Eighteen years ago, Dave Gebroe attended a Brian Wilson concert at the Hollywood Bowl in California. He encountered McEvoy roaming the amphitheater with his camera, and they began talking. Following the performance, McEvoy took his new friend backstage to introduce him to Wilson.
“I was looking around and there was Glen Campbell and Harry Shearer,” Gebroe recalled, awed and starstruck to be surrounded by celebrities. “Jeff ushered me through a line and I met Brian Wilson. I’m fortunate that I didn’t have time to ruminate about it, because I would have tripped over myself if I had known that was going to happen. I’ve spent countless hours listening to Brian’s music, and I have a Smile tattoo over my heart. That day, I managed to show it to Brian without freaking him out.”
Wilson’s Smile album took on mythical status. Composed in the 1960s, it remained unreleased until 2004. Many music lovers consider it to be his masterpiece.
Based in New Jersey, Gebroe co-hosts a music podcast, Discograffiti, that takes a deep dive into artists and bands. While the podcast features a variety of musicians, it often focuses on the Beach Boys because Gebroe loves the band.
“Jeff hooked me up with Mike Love, who agreed to be interviewed on our show,” Gebroe said. “On the back of Mike saying yes, I literally got another 50 people to say yes, and then went back to Mike, and he changed his mind.”
While disappointed to lose an interview with a founding band member, the podcast thrived anyway. McEvoy is listed as a co-producer for his role in helping to secure interviews.
“Jeff is such an unassuming person,” Gebroe said. “That quality has inured him to the Beach Boys’ world because he’s so authentic. He’s an ordinary, nice guy who loves playing hockey. The only down side for me is that whenever I see him at a concert, he’s in the zone and working. We don’t really get to hang out.”
Funeral
As last summer began, McEvoy was invited to Wilson’s funeral in Los Angeles.
Current and former Beach Boys attended the church service, including Jardine, Love, Chaplin and Bruce Johnston. Other congregants read like a who’s who of respected musicians: Robert Lamm of Chicago; Gerry Beckley of America; Timothy B. Schmit of the Eagles; Nancy Sinatra; Michelle Phillips, of The Mamas & the Papas, accompanied by her daughter, Chynna, and son-in-law Billy Baldwin; Jerry Schilling, Elvis Presley’s manager, who also managed the Beach Boys for a time; and esteemed music photographer Henry Diltz.
“There were a lot of people,” McEvoy said. “I was sitting with Brett Simons, who was Brian’s bassist in the early 2000s, and Mike Peters, who was the guitars tech. Our heads were spinning the whole time. A lot of people are older, so they’re not instantly recognizable any more. It was a beautiful service.”
Afterward, McEvoy was offered an exclusive pass to attend a luncheon at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
“This was a little more intimate,” McEvoy said. “The crowd was smaller and we were given lunch. The whole thing was surreal. Since I started with Brian in 1999, there were a few changes in band members, and tour management changes. To see those guys again and swap stories was nice.”
Wilson’s Pet Sounds Band provided entertainment. Christopher Cross sang with them, as did Carnie Wilson, Brian’s daughter, who performed “Be My Baby.”
After years of traveling the country to photograph concerts, McEvoy intentionally left his camera behind that day. He wanted to participate in the services rather than document them, content to live in the moment. He did, however, post a few videos to Instagram that demonstrated how a solemn event could be made joyful through music.
Losses
The past several years haven’t always been joyful for McEvoy.
After spending a career working as a photographer for the U.S. Senate, he remains angry about events from January 6, 2021. He had retired and moved to New Hampshire a month before.
“I was out hiking in the woods that day,” he said. “I received a call from my scheduler telling me that the Capitol was being attacked, how they were in lockdown. I’d worked there for 32 years, and couldn’t believe that I wasn’t there to document this.”
When he returned home, Trecia was crying in front of the TV. She had worked in the Capitol Building as well, most recently as a scheduler for Senator Jon Tester of Montana. Both McEvoys retired on the same day, and experienced a sense of “survivor’s guilt.”
“We couldn’t believe that this was happening to a place we loved,” McEvoy said. “It felt like everything we valued was being mocked. I loved walking those halls where Abraham Lincoln had walked. John Adams, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon. Go through the list. What happened that day still irritates me.”
Now, five years removed from Washington, there are things he misses about living in Washington, D.C.: friends from work, sports buddies, good food. He does not miss the traffic, or the tension.
“I lived eight miles from the Capitol. It could take me 15 minutes to get to work, or an hour and a half, depending on the day. Now people tell me I look younger. Maybe that’s because we’re living on ten acres of land far removed from anybody. If we look through a clearing of trees in our yard, we can see the house where Trecia’s grandmother was born in 1910. I don’t have much stress on my shoulders anymore.”
But the losses piled up. Blair McEvoy, Jeff’s father, was a longtime Niagara Falls firefighter who died in 2022, at age 78.
McEvoy’s parents divorced when he was only 10, and he lived with his father for the rest of his childhood. It was Blair who introduced his son to surf music, having been a singer during his military service.
A year later, Jeffrey Foskett, a longtime guitarist for Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, passed away. He had initially invited McEvoy along to photograph Wilson on tour back in the 1990s.
“I’m the oldest son in my family, and Jeffrey was like the big brother I never had,” McEvoy reflected. “He knew everyone and was a popular guy. He included me in everything. He’d always say, ‘I’m bringing Biggie,’ or ‘Biggie is coming along.’ His personality just made everyone feel like they were his best friend.”
Foskett had battled health issues. An operation to his vocal chords had turned his once-smooth voice to a rasp.
“The last time we spoke on the phone, I couldn’t believe how normal he sounded. He sounded like the old Jeffrey. At a concert in Houston, he came out and sang a few lines from ‘The Warmth of the Sun.’ For somebody that was never supposed to sing again, it was wonderful.”
The death of three lions in his life has forced McEvoy to take stock. It’s one reason that he’s always on the go, committed to playing hockey and rugby, regularly working out in a gym, and staying connected to the world around him. He appreciates each day for the opportunities offered.
“I’m 62 now, and sometimes I’ll hear my kids say, ‘Let’s do that another day,’” he said. “I tell them there might not be another time. Go live your life. Today could be my last, so you have to enjoy every moment.”
Ding Dang
Music continues to make McEvoy happy. He posts his photos on Facebook to help others connect to that happiness too.
At a show last summer, after Wilson’s passing, the Pet Sounds Band performed songs from late 1970s Beach Boys albums — 15 Big Ones, The Beach Boys Love You, and M.I.U. — in anticipation of a box set to be released soon. These songs are beloved to die-hard Beach Boys fans, but the casual listener may be unfamiliar with this era.
“You have to figure that for guys my age, 55 to 65, this was their generation of Beach Boys music,” McEvoy said. “I grew up knowing all those songs.”
When McEvoy played these albums as a kid, his father asked what he was listening to, then turned skeptical when his son said it was the Beach Boys. The music didn’t resemble “Surfin’ USA” or “California Girls.” According to McEvoy, some current band members needed to learn the songs especially for these shows.
“People were going nuts,” McEvoy said. “One of the biggest crowd pleasers was ‘Ding Dang.’ They had the tone right, and some of these songs had never been played live before. There was such joy. It was like an elderly mosh pit up front.”
In addition to music, part of the joy of traveling to concerts is reconnecting with friends across the country.
In Los Angeles last summer, McEvoy met up with Michael McKeon, a friend from high school that he hadn’t seen for 15 years. He ate lunch with Justin Mein, a protégée from the Senate who moved to the West Coast and opened his own photo business. He also met up with Brian Fishbach, a writer who had worked in Senator Tester’s office, alongside Trecia.
“I figured, I’m going to be there,” McEvoy said. “I love these people, so let’s make the most of it. Music is first and foremost, but the chance to reconnect with family and friends is icing on the cake.”
One of McEvoy’s high school friends, Jeff Robbins, was mentioned in our initial Buffalo Tales story. Robbins and McEvoy were teenagers in the late 1970s when they traveled to Record Theatre on Main Street in Buffalo, for a meet-and-greet when the Beach Boys came to town. Robbins had a visor signed by the late drummer Dennis Wilson, and McEvoy remembers the thrill of shaking hands with Jardine and the late Carl Wilson.
Recently, McEvoy contacted Robbins, who lives in Georgia. The pair rendezvoused in St. Augustine, Florida, for a Beach Boys concert. Last year, McEvoy had dinner with Shelly Dunagen, a fellow graduate of Lewiston-Porter High School, Class of 1981. They began discussing former classmates, and mentioned Bob “the Brain” Nortz, who had become a priest and lived in Massachusetts. The conversation triggered McEvoy’s memory. He was planning to visit Springfield to photograph Jardine in concert, so decided to leave early to track down Nortz. After driving over unpaved roads and winding through woods, McEvoy eventually found the monastery that housed his old friend.
Nortz did not recognize his former classmate, but McEvoy's Buffalo Bills t-shirt suggested they were from the same area.
“Lew-Port High School wasn’t very big,” McEvoy said. “We all had the same friends, and Bob was a very smart guy, top three in our class. Once I introduced myself, we had a nice chat. He told me his life story, how he realized that he had a calling to the Lord. I told him that I admired his dedication and commitment and was proud of what he’d accomplished. We hugged and took a photo. It’s a heartwarming story. Now we email every few weeks, and I appreciate his prayers.”
As this story is being published, Jardine and the Pet Sounds Band are launching a tour that will visit select cities in the United States, before a block of dates in Australia. McEvoy is ready for spring and summer, for more concerts, and a chance to reconnect with the people he loves.
Despite Wilson’s passing, the music goes on.
“The music of Brian Wilson will live forever,” McEvoy predicted. “It’s been more than 60 years now, and when you go to concerts, you see little kids 5 years old, up to people 85, enjoying the music. I don’t care who’s onstage. As long as you can close your eyes and remember where you were, what you were doing, or have a certain memory to a song, that’s what it’s all about.”
text © 2026 by Jeff Schober
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Jeff Schober has a journalism degree from Bowling Green State University and a master’s degree in English and History from the University at Buffalo. He retired from teaching English and Journalism at Frontier High School and is the best-selling author of ten books, including the true crime book Bike Path Rapist with Det. Dennis Delano, and the Buffalo Crime Fiction Quartet. Visit his website at www.jeffschober.com.
Steve Desmond is an award-winning photographer. With his son, Francis, he is the author of A Life With A Purpose which raises money for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy research. To view more of Steve's work, search Facebook under "Steve Desmond" and "Desmond's PrimeFocus Photography," or on Instagram at "Stevedesmond9."
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