GOOD Vibrations for your weekend

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🎧 A Beach Boy, a Beatle, and a moment that changed music

McCartney once played a new Beatles song in Brian Wilson’s living room, changing how he felt about his own talent forever.

When I was a kid, my dad’s towering stereo speakers filled our house with the sounds of The Beach Boys and the Beatles. (And yes, the cats did claw the mesh screens.) So this week, with Father’s Day on the horizon and Brian Wilson’s loss still fresh, we’re remembering a quiet, powerful moment between two musical giants.

In the '60s, Paul McCartney dropped by Brian Wilson’s house and played him a brand-new Beatles song, “She’s Leaving Home.” Wilson’s wife cried. Wilson was floored. It cracked open how he thought about his own music.

The two composers pushed each other creatively for years. Rubber Soul inspired Pet Sounds, which lit the fuse for Sgt. Pepper’s. But beyond the legend-building, they shared something rarer: a reverence for each other’s gifts.

McCartney’s tribute this week? “I loved him... How we will continue without Brian Wilson, ‘God Only Knows.’”

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👶 20 kids. No adults. Total chaos.

Before you toast Dad, meet the BBC producer who said: What if we didn’t?

As you get ready to celebrate the fathers in your life, or maybe prepare to be celebrated (I peeked in the fridge, I’m getting bacon!), let’s turn to the wild idea of a BBC producer who imagined a world where kids were left to their own devices. No adults. No guidance. Just snacks, cameras, and vibes.

Between 2002 and 2009, a UK reality show tested the boundaries of parenting by removing it altogether. Boys and Girls Alone dropped twenty 11- and 12-year-olds into two fully stocked houses. Ten boys. Ten girls. Five days. No grown-ups. The results were a masterclass in both chaos and competence.

The boys’ house spiraled fast. There were paint fights, cereal-for-dinner diets, and a deep disregard for cleanliness. One kid tried to mop with his foot. Another vacuumed a window. By midweek, it looked like a glitter bomb had exploded in a snack aisle.

The girls, meanwhile, ran a tight ship. They cooked actual meals, made chore charts, hosted a fashion show, and baked cakes. If the boys were starring in a live-action cartoon, the girls were running a lifestyle startup. For the record, though, the girls’ windows remained unvacuumed.

So this weekend, when you raise a glass to Dad, thank him for the love, the guidance, and for never letting your childhood devolve into a cereal-fueled civil war.

📚 Atlanta dads turn storytime into a movement

Storytime isn’t just for kids. It’s where this brotherhood of dads shows up, speaks up, and builds something lasting.

Father's Day is for celebrating all the many amazing things dads do for their kids and for the world their kids will live in. Khari Arnold just wanted to bond with his baby daughter. A few quiet library visits turned into weekly traditions, which turned into Library Dads, a community of Atlanta fathers who meet up twice a month to read with their kids and connect with each other.

They call it a “Library Link-Up,” and it’s as much about brotherhood as it is about books. These meetups give kids a love of reading and give dads a space to show up for one another. As Khari puts it, “It’s one thing to have men in your circle. It’s another to have men in your corner.”

With nearly half of U.S. adults reading below a sixth-grade level, these story sessions are a radical act of presence. For kids, for dads, for the communities they’re shaping, one library card at a time. That’s how you do it, gents!

That’s your Friday GOOD stuff. Until Monday comes racing back around too soon, enjoy a wonderful Father’s Day weekend! I plan to eat my bacon and see my dad, who is, objectively, the best one.