Brian Wilson's Handwriting

[The Heartical Don]

Does anyone know how Bri's handwriting looks nowadays? From what I know, he used to have a rather flowing, stylish form of writing in the mid-'60s, well legible. So, when I won the Rhino edition of the '88 CD at Luxuria Radio (with an autograph), I was surprised that it had become a very simple sort of sign. The same sign I got when I met him at a M&G in Amsterdam, after the SMiLE live concert.

So: has someone here seen a recent and more lengthy sample of his writing skills?

I am interested for a couple of good reasons. I myself suffer from focal dystonia, a neurological condition in which my natural hand for writing, the left, doesn't function properly with a pen in it. Oddly enough, all other complex motor skills are still there (holding a fork, even forming complex guitar chords). So: my natural autograph can't be said to exist anymore, it's a mere shadow of its former self.

Also, I do studies in brain disorders, more precisely those that are accompanied by such secondary muscle co-ordination phenomena.

Tks in advance, THD.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Brian's cursive was never what you'd call classic, but it was readable (check the note to David in the box set booklet) up to the late 70s. However, the 'medications' Landy pumped him full of 1982-91 didn't do his writing any more favors than they did the rest of his body. Brian's script these days isn't good (mostly, he prints), and when he's tired, it's barely readable.

[GoogaMooga]

He had a really neat autograph as seen in the liner notes of the first batch of Capitol remasters.

[Wirestone]

Brian signs in at least two ways. If he's just doing a signature or two, he'll give you an older, wavery version of the twofer autograph (he has some hand tremors). If he's signing things en masse, though, he has a version that's just a B and a W with a line after each.

Examples:

[OneEar/OneEye]

I got a vinyl copy of BWRG which is signed, though I have wondered if he was the one to actually sign it.  

[hypehat]

Jesus Christ, Wirestone. I thought I was curious about Brian, but that last picture of yours proves my interest in the big BW remains on a strictly musical level 

[bgas]

Jesus Christ, Wirestone. I thought I was curious about Brian, but that last picture of yours proves my interest in the big BW remains on a strictly musical level 

That had to be a Landy setup; from Tower Records mag, wasn't it?

[Mike's Beard]

Jeez!! That's supposed to help you sell records? Gross.

[jeffcdo]

This whole thread is a bit creepy.

[Don_Zabu]

This whole thread is a bit creepy.

Just a bit?

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Ja, that was NOT the best Brian photo out there...made him look like a bad Photoshopped mashup of Ronald Reagan and Bob Backlund.

[smile-holland]

Jesus Christ, Wirestone. I thought I was curious about Brian, but that last picture of yours proves my interest in the big BW remains on a strictly musical level 

... and the scary part is that Wirestone actually has this pic framed and hanging above his bed... 

[The Heartical Don]

Brian's cursive was never what you'd call classic, but it was readable (check the note to David in the box set booklet) up to the late 70s. However, the 'medications' Landy pumped him full of 1982-91 didn't do his writing any more favors than they did the rest of his body. Brian's script these days isn't good (mostly, he prints), and when he's tired, it's barely readable.

Thank you AGD, and all others. I vaguely suspected that Landy's medication might play a role in the deterioration. BTW I was pleasantly surprised about Wirestone's first piccie: it looks much better than anything that I saw in recent years.

[The Heartical Don]

This whole website is very creepy.

Wot he said.

[Mike's Beard]

That photo was to be the first in a series of near naked Beach Boy publicity shots. The project had to be abandoned however when the Mike Love posing provocatively in a leopard skin thong shoot ran afoul, due to the constant shattering of camera lenses and photographers falling into catatonic states.

[The Heartical Don]

That photo was to be the first in a series of near naked Beach Boy publicity shots. The project had to be abandoned however when the Mike Love posing provocatively in a leopard skin thong shoot ran afoul, due to the constant shattering of camera lenses and photographers falling into catatonic states.

 

BTW: the photo was one in a series for Rolling Stone, IIRC. To accompany a Michael Goldberg article. There were other pic, more serious - Bri in nice blue jeans and a yellow shirt. handsomely portrayed.

[Mike's Beard]

Brian's thighs in that photo look like a couple of giant peanuts shells.

[The Heartical Don]

Brian's thighs in that photo look like a couple of giant peanuts shells.

I begin to doubt now that it really is Brian in there. What did Rocky Pamplin do on the day of the shoot?

[Mike's Beard]

Brian's ex wife. 

[The Heartical Don]

Brian's ex wife. 

Wicked!

[bgas]

Brian's ex wife. 

Wicked!

But unfortunately...

[smile-holland]

That photo was to be the first in a series of near naked Beach Boy publicity shots. The project had to be abandoned however when the Mike Love posing provocatively in a leopard skin thong shoot ran afoul, due to the constant shattering of camera lenses and photographers falling into catatonic states.

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but in this case dr. Love really was first ...

(and - no - I don't have these framed above my bed)


for those weak of heart... be warned...




















and - even scarier - I've seen ML-autographed versions of these pictures on Ebay in the past...

[Mike's Beard]

Oh my God I'd rather gouge my own fuckin' eyeballs out before I'd look at that again!!!!!!!!!

[jeffcdo]

Hey, I'm misquoted above...I said this thread is creepy, not the entire website.

[Bud Shaver]

I received this autographed publicity photo in 1991 (postage due) after writing a fan letter to Brian in early 1990.  I always believed it was the real deal but never sought to verify its legitimacy.  The photo has begun to deteriorate due to uv exposure but it's still one of my life's treasures.