A Fool’s Journey: To the Beach Boys and Beyond by Carli Munoz

[harrisonjon]

I met Munoz last November in San Juan, where he has a restaurant where he plays jazz on piano (principally in a Bill Evans style, which he told me was his main influence. I bought the memoir at the restaurant but have only just had time to read it.

Munoz came from a privileged background and his parents supported his musical aspirations and even tolerated his adolescent drug use. He got into the Beach Boys partly through his connections with Jack Rieley, whom he met after Rieley had moved to San Juan in 1966 to work on radio news in the Caribbean, eventually becoming news director of WTSJ-TV in San Juan. Rieley managed Munoz's group The Living End after they moved to New York, as he discusses here:

http://rockinpr.net/carlimunozenglish.html

He had also become friendly with Mike Kowalski and Ed Carter in Los Angeles, and toured with them as an emergency replacement. They eventually brought him to the attention of Carl Wilson. Unfortunately, Munoz is not very precise on timelines, so it's unclear when exactly he first played with the group, but he was photographed with them in 1970.



Munoz comes across as thoughtful, self-aware and willing to admit to his mistakes; he also documents the typical 60s contradiction between social consciousness and hedonism, progressive politics and the sexual pursuit of "girls". He describes how he and Dennis went home with the same woman, and a history of drug indulgence that started when he was a mid-teen in Puerto Rico. His beefs with the Beach Boys are mainly about snubs of his songwriting: he had the expectation that his songs could fill the gap created by Brian's lack of productivity. Bruce Johnston's return to the group in 1978 was a major blow, and his relationship with manager Jim Guercio was obviously far more strained than his bond with Rieley had been. He is harsh on Al Jardine, whom he depicts as Mike Love's lapdog in the 70s. It is clear that a writer of Munoz's sensitivity would not survive in a band dominated by the Love-Jardine-Johnston axis rather than the Wilsons and so it proved.

Munoz is a talented jazz musician and a friendly guy. He also has some bitterness and a memory that is not perfect, understandably from a distance of five decades. His memoir is a valuable record of a musician's life, particularly one who originated in Puerto Rico and embraced so many styles (Cuban, jazz, rock and pop). The book would have benefited from a collaborator who pressed him to nail down the timelines but it is in the top half of Beach Boys memoirs and a sincere attempt to explain his life.

Link to the book: https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781623717513

[jeremylr]

Have been hoping for a thorough review of Carli's memoir for quite awhile, HarrisonJon. Like you, I prefer autobiographies that marry historical timelines with the narrative but will forgive Carli in lieu of his former substance intake and the passage of time. He was a godsend to Dennis especially during the ill-fated "Bambu" sessions. "Constant Companion" and "It's Not Too Late" are sublime. Thank you so much for sharing. PS did Carli share his feelings about his unreleased Beach Boys songs finally seeing the light of day decades later?

[harrisonjon]

No, we didn't discuss the Beach Boys in detail, mainly focusing on jazz.