Catch a Wave : The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

I can't wait for Peter's book to drop. Having hepled out some behind the scenes (Peter would sometimes ask Bob Hanes a question which in turn would come to me cuz Hanes knows how anal I am about information) I have been looking forward to this addition to our BB/BW knowledge base.

Peter has been nice enough to exchange e-mails with me towards the end of last year and I'd like to thank hime for putting up with my questions which he answered gracefully.

Thinking about the SMILE period, I have been discussing with Mr. Hanes my thoughts about the people surrounding Brian during this process. It seems to me that those around Brian at the time (Parks, Anderle, Vosse, etc) were embarrased about the "Little Deuce Coupe - Fun Fun Fun - All Summer Long" Brian Wilson. They were helping Brian expand his horizions but, it also seems that there was alot of "Hey Brian, you don't want to be THAT guy! Do other things, but not that "internal combustion sound (as Van called it)." You could tell that really didn't care for BW previous output before PS.

And Andrew Doe's comment about 6 blind men is never better illustrated than a scene from Beatiful Dreamer. Brian describes his utter terror during his first LSD trip and his freaking out. Yet Lauren Daro laughs about the story with a sly "This is wonderful." He tells how Brian freaked and HE WAS LAUGHING about it. Some freakin' friend. I think that  counter to what Mike Vosse said, there does seem to be alot of "FUN" at Brian's expense. I alsothink that BW was getting farther out in order to gain exceptance from this group. Being cool was and still is and objective that people want to obtain. Too bad it's a pathetic pursuit.

Anyway, can't wait for the book Peter. If it's as good as the spread in AH magazine, it's gonna be killer!

Bob Flory

You're right on the money, there. Stoners always think that what's good for them is good for everybody and they are too "out there" to take into account the seriousness of playing with the mind, or, as Murray said, "playing with God".

None of those guys in the doc seemed to understand the danger of what Brian was doing to himself. Brian didn't either.

As someone who experimented in High School and who has suffered immensely from it in years since, I will exclaim, quite sincerely...

JUST SAY NO!

[Smilin Ed H]

Agreed - and a lot of them left him when the going got rough (though you wouldn't think that to see them in the documentary).

[JimC1702]

Amazon.com is now showing September 19, 2006 as the release date for this book.  What's up with that?  I was expecting it next week.

[Peter Ames Carlin]

Regarding the pub date: I'm only just hearing about that this morning (Apr 27) via unofficial channels (e.g. this bulletin board) so I'm trying to check. More on this when I know more.

Regarding the drug issue: I think you guys are oversimplifying things a bit. And maybe being a lot harder on Brian's mid-60s pals than I would be. For one thing, the Brian of '64/'65/'66 was a master of the universe: a powerful, highly successful young guy whose occasional breakdowns weren't all that different from the ones displayed by other creative/temperamental types in Hollywood. Lots of guys were experimenting with drugs in the mid-60s, for good or ill, and the vast majority of them emerged unscathed. And Brian's drug use in that era wasn't all that extreme, anyway. A lot of pot smoking, perhaps, but not  nearly as much acid as people seem to think. Probably the most damaging thing he did was take fistfuls of speed. . .which were and remain legal, although not in the way he was doing them. Later he snorted up mountains of coke and did heroin here and there, but that was more an attempt to self-medicate for his untreated psychiatric problems.

Ultimately I think you guys, like most everyone in the BB family, want to blame drugs for the organic psychiatric problems he already had. Brian's drug habits were symptomatic of his problems, not the cause of them.

[Peter Ames Carlin]

Word from Rodale as of today is that Amazon's September pub date isn't correct...we're still shooting for late spring. Still a couple of hurdles to clear between here and there, but that's still the plan.

[JimC1702]

Thanks Peter!

[I. Spaceman]

Ultimately I think you guys, like most everyone in the BB family, want to blame drugs for the organic psychiatric problems he already had. Brian's drug habits were symptomatic of his problems, not the cause of them. 
 

Exactly.

[Mooger Fooger]

Stephen McParland, IIRC, has taken somewhat of a backseat to the whole BB domain. It is highly unlikely that he will make any appearance here, or anywhere. I can always ask him, but I'd say don't hold your breath. Similarly, I have been a hard core fan since 1981, and I am struggling to get motivated or to get enthused about the band. Possibly because another literary project I am in the middle of is taking up nearly all of my free time. Additionally, the people to whom I am speaking are very approachable and forthcoming about _any_ question I ask them, and that juxtaposed to the usual BB "I cant say X, Y or Z because of reason A, B, or C" response has seen my interest in the BB world take a sharp dive.  Sorry to ramble, but I had to let that out.

Mind you, the vocals by the BBs get me everytime, no matter how disillusioned I may be with my fandom. And BWPS is still my favourite CD of all time.

[Peter Ames Carlin]

Hey, I'm listening to "Wonderful/Don't Worry Bill" as I write this. It's been hard for me to get back into the BB's, after spending so much of the last couple of years listening to them non-stop, with serious analysis in mind. But "Heroes and Villains" came up on the cd changer the other day and my 4-year-old's eyes lit up, and then so did mine. So I cycled through "Smiley Smile"/"Wild Honey" this morning, then through the second disc of "Hawthorne," and now some choice selections from "Endless Harmony," and all that matters is how great it sounds.  Again.

"Catch A Wave" should ship from Amazon, and be available in US stores, starting on or about June 16. I'm less sure of European/Australian dates, but stay tuned.

You can also go to livewireradio.org, and its podcast page, in order to check out a cool radio show that features me reading a Brian piece and then being interviewed. Some cool musical snippets too, thanks to Ralph Huntley and band. And fans of Pavement and the Jicks take note: Stephen Malkmus is also on the show, and performs a couple great tunes. That's the show broadcast at 8 pm on May 27.

More soon...

And if you're interested, you can learn about all this stuff, and more, on my website: peteramescarlin.com.

[ComicList]

And if you're interested, you can learn about all this stuff, and more, on my website: peteramescarlin.com.

A web site I highly recommend.  It not only is good, it LOOKS good.

[DJ M]

Read "Catch A Wave" along with me:

http://www.smileysmile.net/uncanny/index.php/2006/06/09/wave_catching_with_carlin

[ComicList]

An advance copy?  I'm jealous! 

[Vega-Table Man]

I am jealous too.

I hope the "June 16 or thereabouts" release date is correct. I just placed my order through Amazon yesterday ...

[JimC1702]

I got an email from Amazon this morning.  Expected delivery date is now July 14-17.  That's better than September!

Jim

[Vega-Table Man]

I got an email from Amazon this morning.  Expected delivery date is now July 14-17.  That's better than September!

I got the email too. July will do nicely!

[Peter Ames Carlin]

Hey everyone: A few advance reviews of "Catch A Wave" have started popping up: the usual advance industry pieces in Booklist and Publisher's Weekly, and more recently a much longer piece in the AARP magazine. I'll be noting all this stuff on my website (peteramescarlin.com) as they come up, but if you're interested, here's the link to the AARP piece, plus also some blurbs I boiled down, 'cause I liked them so much. I've also been very gratified to see the very detailed (and still unfolding) reivew on the Uncanny website. Can't wait to see more of that.
 
Anyway, here's the link to the AARP Reivew:

http://www.aarpmagazine.org/books/catch_wave.html


And here are some quotes, only sort of extremely self-serving, and not even all that far out of context:

“This comprehensive and detailed account of the Wilson saga is a step above the standard rock bio. Here is a book that can be read on many levels, including cultural history, psychological study, or even as a crash course in ethnomusicology. As Carlin charts the turbulent story of the band and the intricacies of the Wilson family dynamic, a clear picture of the backdrop of national turmoil and unrest emerges, as the times they were a’- changing…

“Ultimately, the center of this story is Brian Wilson. As his mental health buoyed up and down, so went the fate of the band. Here Carlin hits his stride with an in-depth look, year by year, at Brian, the music, the group, and the times. . . Brian’s redemption, as promised in the title, does not come in the form of friends or family but from the enigmatic Smile, the much-talked-about album that had been languishing for almost 40 years. Finally released to critical acclaim in 2004, Brian was reintroduced to the world as a musical visionary. For Carlin, like Brian Wilson, this is the heart and soul of the book, as it all comes back to the music, and the rest of us are just along for the ride.”

[Rocker]

Peter, I am so excided. I can't wait to read your book. All the reviews make it even harder to wait.

BTW can you say if the pictures in your book will contain some rare or even unreleased ones?

[Peter Ames Carlin]

Hi Rocker: thanks for your note. In re: photos...Yeah, I think there will be some interesting things in there. I didn't expend tons of effort on getting photos, since I'm all about the words and stuff. But Rich Sloan had some cool images to share and I dug up a few others that you might not have seen before. Plus also my pal Ross Hamilton took some beauteous shots of Brian doing 'Smile' onstage in Portland last summer. Those rock extra hard.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Going through it for the second time, and taking notes.

Initial impression - an essential read, infinitely more credible than Brian's pseudobiography, less labyrinthine than Tim White's equally essential tome. New interview material from Mike, Alan and Brian. This is a major, well-crafted addition to the BB Bookshelf. Top 5, no question. Buy this book.

That said... some easily avoidable errors take a touch of the gloss off. Some are truly arcane (the claim by Tony Asher that Brian had never heard "Stella By Starlight" before December 1965 is somewhat invalidated by his recording it on 10/15/65), others unfortunate (despite what the makers of the Beautiful Dreamer DVD would like us to believe, Macca was NOT there for the Smile premier... and the old canard about Capitol forcing the inclusion of "Sloop" on Pet Sounds is repeated despite being discredited some five years ago).

Or... maybe I'm not the best person to review this book: too much knowledge. I think this might tell you what I think about this book more than any ramblings - I cancelled my amazon.co.uk order and travelled 10 miles to another town to lay hands on a copy. Again, buy this book.

edit - make that 'too much trivial knowledge'.

[Sir Rob]

No Macca was not there the first RFH night and the makers of 'Beautiful Dreamer' were wrong to give that impression...but it's just as well to point out that he was there on one of the subsequent nights lest anyone go away with the impression he wasn't there at all.