New article on Dennis

[Jon Stebbins]

I've spoken at length with Jim Guercio about this situation, and to me he might have the most balanced perspective because he was straddling all sides of the drama, the creative, the business, the political etc... In his opinion Dennis was over-reaching in his request for strings and a huge backing band for the tour, and he also was aware of Dennis' fear of success issues, that he tended to instinctively detonate anything and everything good in his life. It was a shock and a surprise to him that POB was delivered on time and within budget. But Guercio also acknowledges the resentment from certain elements of the BB's infrastructure who were undoubtedly an inhibiting factor to DW's solo endeavor. When i quoted those who have said Dennis was given an ultimatum by certain bandmates and/or their management relatives Guercio's reaction was basically..yeah...that kind of thing was everywhere at the time. I guess the quote from Al during the Airplane Tarmac altercation in Sept. '77 is reflective of this attitude when Al (quoted by the Rolling Stone writer who witnessed the incident) said Dennis has been "riding Brian's coat-tails" since day one...well yeah...which Beach Boy hadn't? To Al's credit he looks back now and freely admits Dennis should have been given more support from the group, not because that was an automatically expected position, but because what Dennis was doing was artistically better than what the BB's were doing. Al says, "we didn't really recognize Dennis' talent, we just thought he was a pain in the ass."

[c-man]

I've spoken at length with Jim Guercio about this situation, and to me he might have the most balanced perspective because he was straddling all sides of the drama, the creative, the business, the political etc... In his opinion Dennis was over-reaching in his request for strings and a huge backing band for the tour, and he also was aware of Dennis' fear of success issues, that he tended to instinctively detonate anything and everything good in his life. It was a shock and a surprise to him that POB was delivered on time and within budget. But Guercio also acknowledges the resentment from certain elements of the BB's infrastructure who were undoubtedly an inhibiting factor to DW's solo endeavor. When i quoted those who have said Dennis was given an ultimatum by certain bandmates and/or their management relatives Guercio's reaction was basically..yeah...that kind of thing was everywhere at the time. I guess the quote from Al during the Airplane Tarmac altercation in Sept. '77 is reflective of this attitude when Al (quoted by the Rolling Stone writer who witnessed the incident) said Dennis has been "riding Brian's coat-tails" since day one...well yeah...which Beach Boy hadn't? To Al's credit he looks back now and freely admits Dennis should have been given more support from the group, not because that was an automatically expected position, but because what Dennis was doing was artistically better than what the BB's were doing. Al says, "we didn't really recognize Dennis' talent, we just thought he was a pain in the ass."

Jon, wasn't it actually Steve or Stan Love who was quoted as making the "Brian's coatails" remark? It would take me a million years to dig out my old photocopy of the Rolling Stone article, but I think the Al quote you may be referring to was actually something along the lines of "Y'know, we don't need you (Dennis). We can do this without you". Dennis later said that it was Al who really "knifed" him in the heart with that remark.

Regarding the speculation of the Dennis/Carl tour potentially outshining the Beach Boys in late '77/early '78, I think that woiuld definitely be true musically, but remember Dennis and Carl were both dealing with heroin addictions in early '78, and that probably would've negatively impacted the POB tour had it contintued into the new year. Mike and Al performed pretty solidly on that Australia/NZ tour, while the Wilson bros. were in varying stages of near-incapacitation. There's no reason to think that would not also been true had they toured POB at that time instead of playing with the BBs. Food for thought. But I agree with everyone here...the POB Tour tapes NEED to be released, so lets hope that now "The Drummer" movie is kaput, Mr. Guercio can take his plans for a "Tornado" release off the shelf and hire Mr. Hanlon to once again work his post-production magic on the tapes...and include the "POB" outtake "Taking Off", and any other sundry studio outtakes that DW had in the can.

[Mikie]

Isn't there some other Dennis stuff that hasn't seen the light of day yet that should be released? Or even some alternates on released stuff. Seems to me there's still some Wilson/Dragon stuff that hasn't been released yet. Maybe this could be the impetus to release these '77 "Tornado" Sessions. Or are we at the "scraping the barrel" stage and there's only a handful of Dennis things that haven't been released yet on various comps?

[CenturyDeprived]

From reading all the knowledgeable replies, it really comes to light just what a truly tragic misstep it was for the POB tour to be nixed, since it seems that the nixing of the tour helped lead Dennis way further into a depression.

Obviously Dennis had some serious, serious self-worth issues thanks to Murry, and with all the uncompromising hard work he did for recording POB, he really was seeking to make a deep statement about who he was as a person, and to also say to the world (and seemingly especially his family) that he had artistic merit and was capable of producing something really special, like his brother did years earlier. I have to assume that the way in which the record was thought of by his bandmates (and the ways in which they said/didn't say things about POB to him) was of extraordinary importance to Dennis finally getting a semblance of self-worth, and whatever level of praise and deep/true understanding that Dennis was looking for seemed to not have been expressed (to Dennis' satisfaction) by his brothers about the album at the time.  Of course, his brothers were in very rough shape themselves at this time period themselves.

I have to assume that Dennis, feeling that his artistic "statement" was lost (to some degree) by the people he wanted to really, really "get" his statement, seemed to be the tipping point for what sent him over the edge to really have the demons take over. I'm sure that his bandmates have thought about this in the years after his passing, and wished they'd given him more support at the time.  One of course cannot assign "blame" in all of this, because these are emotionally messed-up/irrational, and in some cases drug-addicted people (for many, many reasons) that we are talking about here. But I have often been curious as to what the lynchpin was in the late 70s/early 80s that caused Denny's depression/substance abuse to increase to epic proportions, and Dennis' statement about "not even my brothers" just cut so deep when I read it, that it seemed to have been a major catalyst for Dennis jump starting his true downward spiral.

[Jon Stebbins]

I've spoken at length with Jim Guercio about this situation, and to me he might have the most balanced perspective because he was straddling all sides of the drama, the creative, the business, the political etc... In his opinion Dennis was over-reaching in his request for strings and a huge backing band for the tour, and he also was aware of Dennis' fear of success issues, that he tended to instinctively detonate anything and everything good in his life. It was a shock and a surprise to him that POB was delivered on time and within budget. But Guercio also acknowledges the resentment from certain elements of the BB's infrastructure who were undoubtedly an inhibiting factor to DW's solo endeavor. When i quoted those who have said Dennis was given an ultimatum by certain bandmates and/or their management relatives Guercio's reaction was basically..yeah...that kind of thing was everywhere at the time. I guess the quote from Al during the Airplane Tarmac altercation in Sept. '77 is reflective of this attitude when Al (quoted by the Rolling Stone writer who witnessed the incident) said Dennis has been "riding Brian's coat-tails" since day one...well yeah...which Beach Boy hadn't? To Al's credit he looks back now and freely admits Dennis should have been given more support from the group, not because that was an automatically expected position, but because what Dennis was doing was artistically better than what the BB's were doing. Al says, "we didn't really recognize Dennis' talent, we just thought he was a pain in the ass."

Jon, wasn't it actually Steve or Stan Love who was quoted as making the "Brian's coatails" remark? It would take me a million years to dig out my old photocopy of the Rolling Stone article, but I think the Al quote you may be referring to was actually something along the lines of "Y'know, we don't need you (Dennis). We can do this without you". Dennis later said that it was Al who really "knifed" him in the heart with that remark.

Craig I think you're right...I recalled there was a mean quote from Al in that article, but I seemed to have wrongly attributed the even meaner Love brother quote to him. The quote in my post's final sentence is correct, as that one comes from an interview I did with Al myself.

[Don Malcolm]

Jon and Craig--really appreciate you guys supplying all of this fascinating info to us here...helps us further understand the maelstrom that was the BBs' world in that frenetic post-"Brian's Back" time frame. Certainly hope that those rehearsals will make it to the listening audience some day, as so many of us remain fascinated by Dennis, his music, and the still less-than-well-known elements of his creative process.

[KittyKat]

Isn't there such a thing as dues-paying in the music world? I'm not sure exactly how Dennis would rate a huge backing band with a string section and dates booked at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion when he was still an unknown commodity, as a solo act, in the music world (one middle-selling solo album is not dues-paying). I have a feeling those ten dates would not have sold out most of those particular venues. as he had not yet built his own audience through the usual way of getting a hit record(s) on the radio and starting out with a smaller outfit and smaller dates.  He's lucky that his record label and the Beach Boys gave him as much support as they did in that very ambitious endeavor, and it never would have gotten as far as rehearsals if they had not been giving him some support.

[Pretty Funky]

Coattails quote is page 304 of the Gaines H&V book. Guilty party?....Stan.

[Lonely Summer]

Isn't there such a thing as dues-paying in the music world? I'm not sure exactly how Dennis would rate a huge backing band with a string section and dates booked at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion when he was still an unknown commodity, as a solo act, in the music world (one middle-selling solo album is not dues-paying). I have a feeling those ten dates would not have sold out most of those particular venues. as he had not yet built his own audience through the usual way of getting a hit record(s) on the radio and starting out with a smaller outfit and smaller dates.  He's lucky that his record label and the Beach Boys gave him as much support as they did in that very ambitious endeavor, and it never would have gotten as far as rehearsals if they had not been giving him some support.

I'm not sure, either, had the POB tour happened, that it would have been perceived among BB's fans as blowing the old group's then-current shows out of the water. Remember, this is a fan base than preferred the greatest hits show to the more creative shows the band was doing in the early 70's. Sure, us die hards love the music the group was doing in concert circa 71-73, but the average BB's fan just wanted Little Deuce Coupe, Surfer Girl  and I Get Around endlessly. They probably would have looked at Dennis' solo excursion with moderate interest, but still have preferred the arena/stadium shows of singalong oldies. It's not that the band didn't fight the slide into oldiesdom, but as Carl said after the success of "Endless Summer", "it became obvious what the fans wanted....REALLY obvious".

[Don Malcolm]

Isn't there such a thing as dues-paying in the music world? I'm not sure exactly how Dennis would rate a huge backing band with a string section and dates booked at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion when he was still an unknown commodity, as a solo act, in the music world (one middle-selling solo album is not dues-paying). I have a feeling those ten dates would not have sold out most of those particular venues. as he had not yet built his own audience through the usual way of getting a hit record(s) on the radio and starting out with a smaller outfit and smaller dates.  He's lucky that his record label and the Beach Boys gave him as much support as they did in that very ambitious endeavor, and it never would have gotten as far as rehearsals if they had not been giving him some support.

I'm not sure, either, had the POB tour happened, that it would have been perceived among BB's fans as blowing the old group's then-current shows out of the water. Remember, this is a fan base than preferred the greatest hits show to the more creative shows the band was doing in the early 70's. Sure, us die hards love the music the group was doing in concert circa 71-73, but the average BB's fan just wanted Little Deuce Coupe, Surfer Girl  and I Get Around endlessly. They probably would have looked at Dennis' solo excursion with moderate interest, but still have preferred the arena/stadium shows of singalong oldies. It's not that the band didn't fight the slide into oldiesdom, but as Carl said after the success of "Endless Summer", "it became obvious what the fans wanted....REALLY obvious".

A little too moralistic with that "dues" thing, KK, IMHO. Fifteen years as the BBs drummer ought to count for something.

But what Jon and Craig bring out in their posts is the intensity of the feelings that were swirling about in the agonizing period where the BBs' attempt to reinvent their sound was foundering in the wake of their ENDLESS SUMMER revival. One can understand how Dennis (and to a lesser extent, Carl) were feeling slighted by the headlong rush from the Love contingent to push Brian back in the spotlight and cement the return to prominence that had happened in '74-'75 without any new product  whatsoever (OK, save "Child of Winter").

Dennis really went back and forth between trying to present his work in the context of the band and going out on his own. We all have had agonizing decisions to make in our lives; this was Dennis's. Already the black sheep of the family, but not wanting to be permanently ostracized, he sat on a very pointed fence for years untll it drew blood. It takes a great deal of courage to walk away from something as big as the BBs, even in the inchaote state of their fortunes. Once he'd committed to making a solo LP, it's only natural that he'd want to give a live show the best possible set of musical values, knowing that he was probably only get one shot to put it over. Unfortunately, he also had the problem of a deteriorating voice, which would have created some eyebrow-raising in the catty "rock critical community" of that time (it's not quite that bad today thanks to the dispersive effect of the Interent).

And LS is right in noting that by 1977, there would be some amount of backlash from reonstituted BB fans to POB. The trap door in the BBs career had opened in the late 60s, they wnadered about for awhile and regained critical respect if not mega-LP sales, but fate brought them onto a highway where a large bus called ENDLESS SUMMER mowed them down, then patched them up and tossed them onboard. The repercussions just reverberated from there.

No need to rewrite what CenturyDeprived posted, as it covers Dennis's perspective extremely well. It's seriously sad that Dennis couldn't have been supported in having a side career as a solo artist and still stay in the band. It echoes what many people wanted to be the case for Brian a decade earlier.

[Mr. Wilson]

And Brian wasn't aloud to do that either.. Solo career + stay in the band.. Interestingly  that did happen for Carl + Mike in 80's.. I suspect without any knowledge of the situation Carl REALLY left the band.. Which would mean he got no road royalties .. Only record  money.. That's what happens in most bands.. Not on the road no road money..  If so Carl took a huge chance for a couple of years that Dennis wasn't willing to do.. I suspect Carl's finances were in better shape than Dennis's also.. And I am aware of the BRI corporation..   Now Mike solo career back then didn't involve BB money ..He was on other labels.. And showed up for BB gigs.. Except that tour of Japan  .. Was that 1990 or so..??  So each situation was different.. And wasn't BW publishing royalties keeping BB afloat early 70's.. I read that somewhere a long time ago..  So Dennis was in a situation that was dicey and did what he had to do to protect himself and his lifestyle.. In his shoes I would have done the same thing + I don't fault Dennis at all.. If anything BB should have let him do both.. Dennis wasn't near as out of control then as he was in 81-82 -83.. It looks to me as BRI being vindictive and shortsighted at the very least.. IMHO

[KittyKat]

And Brian wasn't aloud to do that either.. Solo career + stay in the band.. Interestingly  that did happen for Carl + Mike in 80's.. I suspect without any knowledge of the situation Carl REALLY left the band.. Which would mean he got no road royalties .. Only record  money.. That's what happens in most bands.. Not on the road no road money..  If so Carl took a huge chance for a couple of years that Dennis wasn't willing to do.. I suspect Carl's finances were in better shape than Dennis's also.. And I am aware of the BRI corporation..   Now Mike solo career back then didn't involve BB money ..He was on other labels.. And showed up for BB gigs.. Except that tour of Japan  .. Was that 1990 or so..??  So each situation was different.. And wasn't BW publishing royalties keeping BB afloat early 70's.. I read that somewhere a long time ago..  So Dennis was in a situation that was dicey and did what he had to do to protect himself and his lifestyle.. In his shoes I would have done the same thing + I don't fault Dennis at all.. If anything BB should have let him do both.. Dennis wasn't near as out of control then as he was in 81-82 -83.. It looks to me as BRI being vindictive and shortsighted at the very least.. IMHO

Doesn't some of the research show that Dennis is the one who pulled the plug on the tour?  It's almost like people want to go out of their way to blame the Beach Boys for the stopping of the tour, even though it appears they were doing nothing to stop it and the dates didn't conflict with the Beach Boys touring schedule. Unconfirmed reports of people grousing are not the same as people going out of their way to formally stop it, which was never proved to have happened.

It does sound like Dennis was using his own money and got cold feet. The fact that he owed the band members money and took a long time to pay them back shows that he was mostly using his own cash, and was trying to fill the gap with whatever the record company was willing to offer. It wasn't the Beach Boys' place to pay for Dennis's musicians or his string section, and Dennis's record company was willing to pay for part of the tour, but not the string section. My question about dues paying had as much to do with Dennis building an audience for himself, who were willing to buy tickets for his concerts, as to whether he had played enough years as a drummer (which does not apply to paying dues as a singer-songwriter). What if Dennis had gone on that tour and lost a lot of money. Or perhaps worst of all for his confidence and emotional well-being, he played in halls that were half or two-thirds full, with lots of open seats for him to look at? Or sold so poorly that the tour had to be cancelled or the venues changed to small clubs? With a guy of his sensitivity, perhaps he was not willing to risk that sense of rejection.

[Lonely Summer]

And Brian wasn't aloud to do that either.. Solo career + stay in the band.. Interestingly  that did happen for Carl + Mike in 80's.. I suspect without any knowledge of the situation Carl REALLY left the band.. Which would mean he got no road royalties .. Only record  money.. That's what happens in most bands.. Not on the road no road money..  If so Carl took a huge chance for a couple of years that Dennis wasn't willing to do.. I suspect Carl's finances were in better shape than Dennis's also.. And I am aware of the BRI corporation..   Now Mike solo career back then didn't involve BB money ..He was on other labels.. And showed up for BB gigs.. Except that tour of Japan  .. Was that 1990 or so..??  So each situation was different.. And wasn't BW publishing royalties keeping BB afloat early 70's.. I read that somewhere a long time ago..  So Dennis was in a situation that was dicey and did what he had to do to protect himself and his lifestyle.. In his shoes I would have done the same thing + I don't fault Dennis at all.. If anything BB should have let him do both.. Dennis wasn't near as out of control then as he was in 81-82 -83.. It looks to me as BRI being vindictive and shortsighted at the very least.. IMHO

Doesn't some of the research show that Dennis is the one who pulled the plug on the tour?  It's almost like people want to go out of their way to blame the Beach Boys for the stopping of the tour, even though it appears they were doing nothing to stop it and the dates didn't conflict with the Beach Boys touring schedule. Unconfirmed reports of people grousing are not the same as people going out of their way to formally stop it, which was never proved to have happened.

But we know all too well the tendancy to blame the Beach Boys  (meaning - usually - Mike, and to a lesser extent, Al, and Carl - for everything that went wrong in the career of the band and the individuals in it. In hindsight, I'd say Carl had the right approach to his solo excursions - a style of music that was relatively simple, and thus, could be reproduced on stage with a small band.

[Mr. Wilson]

Excuse me re read what I said and this whole thread and rolling stone article 1977.. I ONLY blame the BRI corporation for being narrow minded and NOT letting Brian + Dennis have dual careers.... Dennis pulled the plug on his solo tour I didn't blame BRI..  For many reasons including financial.. If he LEFT the band no tour revenue.. 3-5 million dollars a year  ..  He was between a rock + a hard place.. He could have done road gigs AROUND BB gigs.. And still done BB road gigs and done BOTH.. BRI didn't present that to him.. Read the articles + Quotes..  WE don't need you so go ahead and go solo..!!  DONT put words in my mouth here.. And I didn't blame Dennis I would have done the same thing..  Mike did solo records + solo tours AROUND BB gigs  and still got his road BB money.. It doesn't appear Dennis was offered that.. None of US knows the whole truth so we speculate.. That's what goes on around here..

[KittyKat]

The thing about the string section makes me think of Amanda Palmer, who advertised for string players to play in her live band for free in each city she arrived in, in spite of having raised over a million dollars in a Kickstarter campaign. If only Dennis had been around in the Internet age, he could have had his tour and his string section.

[Lonely Summer]

Excuse me re read what I said and this whole thread and rolling stone article 1977.. I ONLY blame the BRI corporation for being narrow minded and NOT letting Brian + Dennis have dual careers.... Dennis pulled the plug on his solo tour I didn't blame BRI..  For many reasons including financial.. If he LEFT the band no tour revenue.. 3-5 million dollars a year  ..  He was between a rock + a hard place.. He could have done road gigs AROUND BB gigs.. And still done BB road gigs and done BOTH.. BRI didn't present that to him.. Read the articles + Quotes..  WE don't need you so go ahead and go solo..!!  DONT put words in my mouth here.. And I didn't blame Dennis I would have done the same thing..  Mike did solo records + solo tours AROUND BB gigs  and still got his road BB money.. It doesn't appear Dennis was offered that.. None of US knows the whole truth so we speculate.. That's what goes on around here..

Sorry you thought I was directing my comments at you, Mr. Wilson. It was just more of a general comment on Beach Boys fans over the years.

[Mr. Wilson]

No offense takin by either of you..   Maybe im not making my self clear or just a grumpy old man today.. Im sorry also..  ..   Its probably the later..   

[Micha]

From reading all the knowledgeable replies, it really comes to light just what a truly tragic misstep it was for the POB tour to be nixed, since it seems that the nixing of the tour helped lead Dennis way further into a depression.

Obviously Dennis had some serious, serious self-worth issues thanks to Murry, and with all the uncompromising hard work he did for recording POB, he really was seeking to make a deep statement about who he was as a person, and to also say to the world (and seemingly especially his family) that he had artistic merit and was capable of producing something really special, like his brother did years earlier. I have to assume that the way in which the record was thought of by his bandmates (and the ways in which they said/didn't say things about POB to him) was of extraordinary importance to Dennis finally getting a semblance of self-worth, and whatever level of praise and deep/true understanding that Dennis was looking for seemed to not have been expressed (to Dennis' satisfaction) by his brothers about the album at the time.  Of course, his brothers were in very rough shape themselves at this time period themselves.

I have to assume that Dennis, feeling that his artistic "statement" was lost (to some degree) by the people he wanted to really, really "get" his statement, seemed to be the tipping point for what sent him over the edge to really have the demons take over. I'm sure that his bandmates have thought about this in the years after his passing, and wished they'd given him more support at the time.  One of course cannot assign "blame" in all of this, because these are emotionally messed-up/irrational, and in some cases drug-addicted people (for many, many reasons) that we are talking about here. But I have often been curious as to what the lynchpin was in the late 70s/early 80s that caused Denny's depression/substance abuse to increase to epic proportions, and Dennis' statement about "not even my brothers" just cut so deep when I read it, that it seemed to have been a major catalyst for Dennis jump starting his true downward spiral.

Mike and Al killed Bambu!

[Cam Mott]

The record buying public didn't want Dennis' product, couldn't that be the reason for a lot of things not happening? We kind of get the cart before the horse sometimes I think.

[Sound of Free]

To echo what others have said, the "No one listened, not even my brothers" line is kind of unfair to Brian, given his own issues at the time, and VERY unfair to Carl.

I'm sure we've all seen the clip from Australia of a wasted Carl touting Pacific Ocean Blue, and I would have to think he probably talked it up at other shows from the time. Plus there are pictures of him sporting a Dennis POB T-shirt, not to mention the obvious fact that he appears on several tracks, even though contractually he wasn't supposed to and therefore couldn't be credited.

It seems like Carl was very supportive of solo Dennis, but Dennis was in such a sad state by 1983 that he remembered it differently.

[Mike's Beard]

The record buying public didn't want Dennis' product, couldn't that be the reason for a lot of things not happening? We kind of get the cart before the horse sometimes I think.

I think it was a catch-22 situation, Dennis would have never been in the position to make a solo record if he wasn't in The Beach Boys but after the credibility killing 15 Big Ones and the wacky commercial disaster of Love You few were going to take a BB solo record all that seriously. Imagine if Dennis had got an earlier edition of POB out in 1975 - he could have really grabbed that Beach Boys starved Holland era crowd.

[Magic Transistor Radio]

I feel the Beach Boys missed out on an opportunity here. Why not have Dennis as the opening act on a Beach Boys tour? Then later do that for Celebration and Carl Wilson. Perhaps Lady Lynda or Santa Anna Winds as singles for Al, etc. I think they could have used the Beach Boys popularity to push all of their solo careers. Brian as well. Then maybe a reunion from time to time. Mid to late 70s would have been a good time to do this to get their solo careers off the ground into the 80s.

Though, I know it's not as simple as that with drugs and the safe (financial) haven of the Beach Boys as a group, etc. But it was a time when the group was braking apart in terms of band direction. 77-78, might have been the best time to use the Beach Boys name to push Brothers rec and their separate projects. Spending a year touring with a few songs by each, followed by a BB set. Setting the stage to the audience for a brake up of the Beach Boys and forth coming solo efforts. Then, down the line, perhaps a reunion or two.

[Lonely Summer]

I feel the Beach Boys missed out on an opportunity here. Why not have Dennis as the opening act on a Beach Boys tour? Then later do that for Celebration and Carl Wilson. Perhaps Lady Lynda or Santa Anna Winds as singles for Al, etc. I think they could have used the Beach Boys popularity to push all of their solo careers. Brian as well. Then maybe a reunion from time to time. Mid to late 70s would have been a good time to do this to get their solo careers off the ground into the 80s.

Though, I know it's not as simple as that with drugs and the safe (financial) haven of the Beach Boys as a group, etc. But it was a time when the group was braking apart in terms of band direction. 77-78, might have been the best time to use the Beach Boys name to push Brothers rec and their separate projects. Spending a year touring with a few songs by each, followed by a BB set. Setting the stage to the audience for a brake up of the Beach Boys and forth coming solo efforts. Then, down the line, perhaps a reunion or two.

Carl actually talked to Musician magazine about opening for the BB's in 1983, but sadly, it never happened. Wait...I detect a pattern here...alright, which of the BB's pissed all over Carl's solo career?

[Mr. Wilson]

Well it wasn't Brian or Carl that's for sure.. And there was a official  press release that stated he had left the group. And it was mentioned that Carl wanted more rehersals and new songs played and a new lp recorded.. And when he went on tour he opened for The Doobie Bros + America and played clubs as a headliner.. As it should be.. And when he came back to BB he got all that done.. Whats interesting is in 1983 in between BB gigs carl played at Irvine Meadows in orange county Ca.. He opened for America.. Played a bunch of stuff of off Youngblood..  His new solo lp at the time.. Im not aware of Carl touring solo in 83 except for this gig.. But then again I could be wrong.. Carl was very good that nite..!

[Cam Mott]

So who killed Mike's solo career if it is always somebody/something else's fault?