I'll never forget the first time Brian Wilson made me see God. It was 1973, and I was sitting in the mostly empty balcony of a second-run movie theater finally watching “American Graffiti,” the movie everyone in my high school was talking about.

the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony, the greatest awards show that most of the world knows nothing about.

Brian Wilson was the transcendent maestro of sonic magic. The title of the Beach Boys’ greatest album is “Pet Sounds,” and pet sounds is what Brian built into just about every song he ever wrote.