New interview with Carnie about the Beach Boys

[Amy B.]

Carnie is the guest on the Discograffiti podcast.

Here's the description:
"Carnie assured me she’s never done an interview like this in her life, so it’s an honor for Discograffiti’s “Beach Boys: And Your Dreams Come True” Series to have had this opportunity. Here, then, is Part 1 of the longest interview Carnie’s ever given, and on a subject she rarely talks about…her father’s band, and what it means to her. She picked 7 of the most important Beach Boys albums of her life (plus a solo LP), which, if taken together, form a patchwork quilt that defines the essence of Dad as she knows him. We, of course, know him as Brian Wilson, and so rarely do we get to have such an intimate glimpse of him.

Here’s just a few of the many things Carnie discusses with Discograffiti in this podcast:

Her father’s typical breakfast in the 1970s;
Carnie’s memories of Grandpa Murry;
How her parents felt about her Playboy appearance;
What music’s been playing uninterrupted on a loop for the last 19 years in Carnie’s home;
Carnie’s fraught experiences while being looked after by Dr. Eugene Landy;
And her feelings on Pet Sounds and Friends!
Listen: linktr.ee/discograffiti"

[Rebel]

Really can't stand the host after the David Mark's "interview". Seems highly exploitative and unprofessional.

Enjoy it. I'll read the comments. Don't wish to support this guy.

[Shane]

I listened to all of part 1 last night and really enjoyed it.  You have to skip past the guy's long introduction and several "commercials" where he asks at length for support of his channel. 

Carnie is a sweetheart, down to earth, cusses like a sailor, and understands Beach Boys music at a level none of us will ever reach.  Her insight is wonderful.

[CAFeelin89]

Carnie has always seemed like an all-around amazing woman to me.

[Lonely Summer]

Really can't stand the host after the David Mark's "interview". Seems highly exploitative and unprofessional.

Enjoy it. I'll read the comments. Don't wish to support this guy.

Me, neither. I listed to both interviews with Marks, and that was too much.
Both the exploitive nature of the interview, and the host constantly begging for money.

[bonnevillemariner]

I need to stop listening to this guy's interviews. I suppose on one end, you see who these people really are. Truth is always best, of course, but she's just grating here, and I've never heard so much unartful and unnecessary cursing. The host seemed to know more about the band and the music than she did. No offense to those of you who have known, loved, respected Carnie forever. I liked Wilson Phillips. I call them as I see them.

[GoodVibrations33]

I think the Carnie Wilson interview is great, thought out, and a great peek into Brian’s life and the scene in the era’s that were touched on. I think these interviews are just what Beach Boys have waited for all these years. The Jim Murphy interviews are great too.

[Robbie Mac]

I need to stop listening to this guy's interviews. I suppose on one end, you see who these people really are. Truth is always best, of course, but she's just grating here, and I've never heard so much unartful and unnecessary cursing. The host seemed to know more about the band and the music than she did. No offense to those of you who have known, loved, respected Carnie forever. I liked Wilson Phillips. I call them as I see them.

She readily admits she doesn’t have the encyclopedic knowledge of their history and discography. The Michelle Phillips episodes (covering the Mamas & Papas) worked so well because it was Michelle and that group’s major historian/expert jogging her memory.

[bonnevillemariner]

She readily admits she doesn’t have the encyclopedic knowledge of their history and discography. The Michelle Phillips episodes (covering the Mamas & Papas) worked so well because it was Michelle and that group’s major historian/expert jogging her memory.

Her lack of knowledge about the band was the least of my complaints about that interview.

[HeyJude]

These offspring, even the ones that have sang and even toured with various Beach Boys, are usually not like uber-hardcore fans. They obviously know lots of backroom/family stuff, and I’m sure that includes internal band politics stuff. But it’s not like Wendy Wilson is listening to “MIU Album” all the time.

They know about some of the deep cut stuff; I’m sure it’s kind of random what they know. I’m sure Al turned Carnie and Wendy on to some deep cuts when he did “Family & Friends” with them.

Listen to that Christian Love interview from a couple years ago. This guy has literally played probably close to if not more than a thousand gigs with the touring “Beach Boys”, and even he, when prompted to talk about deep cuts he likes, seemed kind of “whatever” about the whole thing. Which, I know, is kind of just his personality in general. He knows the stuff that he’s been given to sing, so he knows like “Feel Flows” and “It’s About Time”, etc. But clearly Beach Boys music is not like his personal passion. He seemed to be happy to admit that doing the tours is kind of just an easy, lucrative gig. 

Howie Edelson years back described a really interesting time he interviewed Carnie when she was promoting her “lullabies” album, where she had covered “You Are So Beautiful”, and when told that Dennis had co-written the song, she had had no idea. She was very emotional when learning Dennis had co-written it.

I’m not criticizing them for not knowing all the deep dive stuff; it’s just a consequence of them living their lives and, even when intermittently doing BB-themed projects, not being *that* immersed in it.

[Don Malcolm]

The hucksterism of Dave Gebroe is more than a bit off-putting, and detracts from the flow of what would otherwise be a very good interview. It seems that extra content is behind a Patreon paywall, so you have to decide if you want to give him $$ when you can spend it more usefully elsewhere (Adam Marsland).

But he's very knowledgeable, and he seems to develop an consistently good rapport with his interview subjects--and Carnie really is such a salt-of-the-earth type that you can't help liking her a lot. She is very heartfelt, kind of a highly extroverted variant of Brian, and amusingly she has the brash (swear-word) side that was so present in Dennis & Murry.

She expands on some of her commonly-told stories here, and gives us a better glimpse into the strange atmosphere that existed in the band's "democracy" period, when Brian was becoming more and more disengaged; I'm thinking that the timing of those stories she tells about him wandering around the house must stem from the period after the studio was removed from Bellagio, a situation that curtailed his ability to do a complete production at home and probably exacerbated his eccentricities. (That, and Endless Summer, which I'm sure he saw as a curse inside a financial windfall.)

I think Dave could have done a better job of getting her to talk about specific songs if he'd looked at what Al's band has been doing whenver Carnie & Wendy join forces. That playlist would be a way into such a discussion that has a chance of being more focus. The "LP approach" he chose proved to be too nebulous and meandering.

Many enjoyable and interesting moments, though, along the way, lifted up by some good rapport between the participants.

[Amy B.]

Listening to part 2 now, and really enjoying it. I don't know anything about this host and probably won't listen to much more of his podcast, but it's interesting to hear about Brian and the Beach Boys from Carnie's perspective. She knows she's not an expert. There are enough experts out there, and she has something else to offer. She clearly loves her dad, even though he wasn't always a great parent.

I also like Carnie a lot. She may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I think she's similar to Brian in many ways. She's herself, says what she wants, and doesn't care what anyone else thinks. She seems like a kind, loving person. I don't care about her salty language. She's not hurting anyone--just cursing a bit!

[juggler]

I also like Carnie a lot. She may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I think she's similar to Brian in many ways. She's herself, says what she wants, and doesn't care what anyone else thinks. She seems like a kind, loving person. I don't care about her salty language. She's not hurting anyone--just cursing a bit!

I agree.  It's a minor miracle that Carnie is so normal and down-to-earth.  Her salty vocabulary may not be everyone's cup of tea, but she's pretty obviously a good person.  She kicked her own substance abuse demons a quarter century ago. She's a family person with really normal husband and daughters.   Despite all the turmoil of her youth, she clearly adores her dad, and has a great love for her uncles, Grandma Audree etc.  She's not a person of anger or grudges. God bless her.

[juggler]

Toward the end of the 3rd segment, Carnie makes some comments along the lines of having been kept away from Brian over the last 20 years... and now finally being able to spend a lot of time with him.

The obvious implication is that Melinda wasn't welcoming toward her. And that's very sad.  No one owes us as fans any sort of explanation as to what was going on and why, but it's very strange. Clearly there were many periods over the past two decades when Brian and Carnie were in fairly regular contact and other periods when contact was strained. There often two sides to every story. Was Melinda just being a brat? Or if she was squeezing out Carnie and Wendy, did she have legit reason for doing so?

[Amy B.]

The obvious implication is that Melinda wasn't welcoming toward her. And that's very sad.  No one owes us as fans any sort of explanation as to what was going on and why, but it's very strange. Clearly there were many periods over the past two decades when Brian and Carnie were in fairly regular contact and other periods when contact was strained. There often two sides to every story. Was Melinda just being a brat? Or if she was squeezing out Carnie and Wendy, did she have legit reason for doing so?

That's interesting. My father is in his 80s and I have a stepmother. They've been together for about 20 years. My father is not as mentally sharp as he used to be...memory problems, etc. And as time goes on, he's more and more dependent on my stepmother because I think he gets lonely and has fewer outlets. And he doesn't really call me. I call him, but he doesn't call me. And he isn't really into talking on the phone for very long. But when she goes out of town, he's very dependent on me and my sister. So it's, "What are we doing for lunch? What are we doing for dinner? What are you up to today?" My stepmother does not try to keep us apart. Quite the contrary, because his dependence on her is draining at times. So I wonder if it's something like that. Now, with Melinda gone, he reaches out to Carnie more or wants to talk to her more, but it's more him than Melinda.

Or not. Every situation is different.

[Don Malcolm]

I thought the third segment was the high point of the series, and Dave Gebroe's own sensitivity and humanity spilled over into the interaction in a much more pronounced (and touching) way. (He toned down the promo spiel, too...)

And that growing rapport that Carnie had with him yielded a series of candid takes that ran the gamut of personal memories, ranging from incredibly tender (tales of her first reunion with her dad) to her unfortunate but understandable hostility toward Debbie Keil (how could she not be begrudging to the woman seen as the instigator of the final breakup between her beloved parents?). I hope at some point Carnie can come to see just how much Debbie cared for her dad, and come to see what an impossible position everyone was in that time frame.

Also delightful were Carnie's imitations of her parents' singing voices on "Let's Put Our Hearts Together," and her hearty appreciation of Brian's mischievous underside that surfaces so often on her favorite Beach Boys record. I think Dave Gebroe is largely in the right when he notes that after LOVE YOU there is a loss of that certain crazy creative spark, at least in the band's official releases; we know the band missed an opportunity to rally around the Wilson-Paley songwriting team in the 90s, which could have been a rekindling of that spark. So many complicated moments criss-crossing the band's labyrinth of a career...

One thing I wish Dave had touched upon was Carnie's familiarity with/reaction to TWGMTR, which I think does go a long way toward redeeming Brian's ongoing association with Joe Thomas. I don't get the impression that she had a lot of access to him in that time frame, which might stem from the sparse (but negative) references to Melinda. (Carnie goes out of her way to salute Gloria Ramos as her dad's "true savior.")

Dave Gebroe seems intent on interviewing as many people in and around the BW/BBs orbit as he can--so there very well could be some other intriguing revelations and further "inside glimpses" to come. I think it's something to keep an eye out for...