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http://www.amazon.com/Long-Promised-Road-Wilson-Biography/dp/1908279842/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423419587&sr=8-1&keywords=long+promised+road
 (http://www.amazon.com/Long-Promised-Road-Wilson-Biography/dp/1908279842/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423419587&sr=8-1&keywords=long+promised+road)

Wow! That was unexpected!


(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51gDq4BBnBL.jpg)


"No life in popular music touched on as many major musical milestones as that of The Beach Boys' Carl Wilson. While he is often unjustly overlooked as a mere adjunct to his more famous brothers Brian and Dennis, Carl was a major international rock star from his early teens.

The proud owner of one of the greatest voices in popular music--one that graced some of the most important records of the pop era, including 'God Only Knows' and 'Good Vibrations'--Wilson was also one of the first musicians to bring the electric guitar to the forefront of rock'n'roll. His musical skills provided The Beach Boys' entree into the music business, from which he then stewarded their onstage journey through the ups and downs of the 60s to their comeback in the 70s and into the role of 'America's band' in the 80s. Along the way, Carl quietly endured his own battles with obesity, divorce, substance abuse, and ultimately terminal cancer, all the while working to protect his family's business and legacy. This major new biography reveals the true story of modern rock'n'roll, lived from the center of the most important decades of popular music."

Now if Bruce would publish one too, the cycle would be complete.

Has Carl been given the biography treatment before? If not, it's nice hes finally been given the honor along with his brothers.

OK, picking jaw up off the floor. I hope Crowley treats Carl fairly.

Awesome! I have been waiting for something like this! I loved the dvd that Bill Hinche did as well. There just isn't enough info on Carl! We even got a book about David Marks before him for crying out loud! Which is awesome, don't get me wrong. But the two stories I can't wait for are Carl's and Mike's!

this will be interesting......I wonder what sources are used.....interviews? family?

or just a rehash of info that most BB fans already know.....  interesting indeed.

RickB

Is there going to be much new for Mike to cover in the battle of the bio's?

Fantastic!! I'm more excited about this than Brian's and Mike's (although I'm excited about those too).

:lol

Me too! Let's hope the sources of info are those who knew him best.

Yes, Billy Hinsche's dvd is won-won-wonderful, really warm, personal insights into the man. If this book has similar effort put into it, it will be a must read.

Honestly, his is the one I'm most looking forward to. Just because he's always seen as the bad guy, which is justified in some situations but not others. I want to see his contrarian view of the band's story. I want to see if he'll redeem himself in the 11th hour or release the same tired old self-congratulations and talking points and waste this final opportunity.

Ironically, the one I'm least interested in is Brian's.

I am so happy to see this coming out. It's about time and way over due. I am impressed that it is 288 pages. So, hopefully not all fluff. Great over pic, as well.

The cover is really nice. I might get it.

Crowley's previous book seems to have good reviews. Looking forward to this one.

Still no "I am Brian Wilson" in the U.S. Amazon store but it did turn up a unauthorized Justin Beiber bio!  :lol

Agree on the Brian bio. Rightly or wrongly we were stiffed with 'WIBN My Story' so to have another 'authorized' book seems double dipping to me. Carl's, as has been said, will depend on the sources. Will Brian and Mike offer anything with their own books coming out? I kind of doubt it.
Mike's will be kind of be the last stop and potentially under the radar by 2016. Who knows, if they survive Brians book and movie this year a PS/GV 50 reunion of some kind may cause some interest, but unfortunately I fear Mikes 'Good Vibrations' book will show 50 years of anything but.

For me I still like the Dave Marks bio mainly because his story was less known.

WIBN really doesnt count.

I just think Brian is mostly unwilling or unable to discuss anything from the past in any substantial way. Also, the things that are the most interesting and least talked about are the ones he seems least willing to acknowledge in any way. If things like SMiLE, Smiley, Adult/Child are even mentioned in his book, I think it'll only be in vague terms that offers no insight that we fans dont already no. I'll purchase it and give it a chance, but I'm really not expecting much. Something similar to Grace Slick's bio is what I'm expecting. She completely skips over her first marriage and first band, while only devoting one page each to Monterey/Woodstock/Altamont. All the things I was most interested in hearing about. I expect something similar with Brian's book, but I really hope I'm wrong.

It's got good Dennis stories, that's for sure. Green c*ck, The bunsen burner fire of 196? , etc .


Edit: and good David- gumming his entire stash of acid when the cops bust him trying to visit the beatles - stories.

Kent Crowley. Any relation to James Crowley in the U.K.?

Really looking forward to this one! Carl needs to be represented! Hope the author is talking at length with Billy Hinsche and the wives and sons for accuracy!

WOW!!!  Coulda knocked me over with a feather when saw this thread.  Finally, a bio of the great Carl Wilson – the man I've idolized my entire life (and I'm just four years younger than Carl).

I, like several other posters, can only hope this is a "real" biography, one that's been carefully researched, and is accurate, insightful and fluff free.  I'm ready to pre-order my copy today, and I'll hope for the best.

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to this as well.  

Don't know about any relation of James Crowley, but Kent Crowley's previous book was "Surf Beat: Rock 'n' Roll's Forgotten Revolution".

Very interesting! Will definately pick this up.

Don't know that earlier book either (Surf Beat) - anyone here who has read that one or other books by Crowley? If so, what is your impression of him as a writer?

It's a shame it has taken this long to get a CW bio but I'm glad we're finally getting one.

Hope it'll be as good as the Carlin bio or the Harry Nilsson one.

wow..what a great birthday present for me this will be  :)

Whoa.  If this is a good bio, this will be one fascinating read.  By all accounts, a complex man that few people outside the family really knew intimately (but who was universally loved).

Maybe this is some of the "big news coming " that Brian referred to a few weeks ago.

Me too!

you born 9/29 mikie? 9/29/53 for me.

Classy cover, nice design, just what Carl deserves.

Can't wait to get a copy

Could be. Since he posted that, we've gotten the official information about the release, formats, and tracklist of the new album most fans have been waiting to hear, we had Brian do a live event on this board and BW.com, and with reports coming in of the film being screened at various festivals in the next few months I'm guessing an official date for a general release will happen as well. And there is also the book for which we're waiting to hear an official release date. And perhaps some tour info as well, I'm hoping for an East Coast jaunt if and when it all comes out.

Album, book, movie - all in the works, one of them confirmed and detailed already. Possibly additional live shows. A bio of Carl is another event coming in 2015 which fans can look forward to, for sure! Definitely big news all around. Good news for fans.  :)

9/25/55, Steve.  Close enough to the book release.  Unfortunate that Carl can't contribute to or proofread this book, but I have a feeling it'll be screened pretty good by others before it comes out.

There's another surprise book coming probably this year or next, but I'm under oath not to say anything!

ooh....  I bet at least 66% of BBs collectors already know about that one, Mikie!  Did you have to sign in blood?

What a nice surprise.  I needed one today.  Ordered it and picked up the complete 4 Seasons AND Byrds albums boxes plus some other odds and ends...Gathering of Flowers-Mamas and Papas, Mark Ronson and a a couple of other cds.  Can't wait to read Carl's biography.  Sure took it's sweet time floating to the surface.  What a day!!!  :o

Carl wasn't a really outspoken guy, I doubt there would have been one earlier if he had lived longer.



How about Bruce Johnston: Life is shorts ? (Of all people me saying that... :-D)

Close enough for me, as well. My birthday is 9/21. I am really looking forward to reading this book.

I hear Jardine's pushed it back to 2021 to coincide with the 60th anniversary.

DAMN it.  The last Beach Boy we need a book about and he delays it. I might be dead by then!

And speaking of birthdays and Carl's book release, AGD's birthday is in the same month as some of us too.

Haven't read him but found this:

"Kent Crowley writes about music for numerous publications such as Vintage Guitar and Shakin' Fever. He researched Bob Keane's The Oracle of Del-Fi and edited Hollywood's Gold Star Studio founders Stan Ross and Dave Gold's upcoming Gold Star Album. He has consulted on Freak Out in Cucamonga, an upcoming documentary on Frank Zappa's Pal Studios/Studio Z."

9/6/55

Carl was so private that this is kind of a Catch-22 situation... if anyone close to Carl spoke to the biographer, they probably wouldn't have given much away. And if no one spoke to the biographer, what's he really gonna tell us that we can't find from using the search function on this board?

Does anyone really think this is going to be a great biography?

Having said that, i don't know much about Carl's life so it'd be interesting to find out even a little more.

damn,  i'm really an old fart around here!     ;D

Really looking forward to this one. Nearly as much as the Mike one and much more then the Brian one.

You are. But I think "Oldsurferdude" might be King of Oldfartdom on this board. Or maybe "Add Some". Or maybe "Fillthepage". Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. "Custom Machine" has been around the block a few times. So has "Rn57".

 :lol And later...we'll be back to list all of the 'wieners' who post here...not mentioning....OR QUOTING....anyone in particular....well NOT Steve anyway. ;)

10/12/47, Evanston, Ill. :wave

GOOD GOD, THAT"S OLD!!!!

Ill. :wave
[/quote]

At that age...I'm guessing   :quote"Ill" :quote is really just putting it mildly.  :king

sh*t! OSD wins the grand prize! Two keys of Lebanese Blonde Hash, a trip to Disneyland, and a grand tour of Beverly Hills including lunch with Brian Wilson at his favorite deli, and a walk around the park afterward with Brian and his 11 dogs!  OSD is officially the King of Oldfartdom unless someone else steps forward and fesses up!

OSD!!! 8)

:happydance

No Mikie...  It ain't me.  OSD has me by just a hair over 4 years.  I'm still a relative 'pup'.  And that's cool.   With my lungs on the fritz...the HASH is but a distant memory of  time well wasted.  And the walk?  With how many dogs?  Have fun.

I'm good. :hat

To OSD...OLD F A R T Extraordinaire> :woot :woot :woot :woot :old   :woot :woot :woot :woot :drunks

Is there any chance that Carl may have started the process or took notes for a future Auto Biography that his wife or Jerry Schilling found or had ect

I'm looking forward to Chapter 17: Two Mai Tais and a Valium

Yeah, a low point in Carl's career. Perth Entertainment Center, Perth, Australia. March 14, 1978. Carl slurred through God Only Knows and Good Vibrations, then fall down go boom!

I'd be more than honored to wear that crown and take possession of the throne (not that one)! Whilst I reside over Oldfartdom let no man cast a shadow of doubt upon who is indeed the oldest poster on this thy board. OOPS-completely forgot about BDW. Nevermind.  :old

It was probably more than one valium.

He was going through some personal difficulties at the time and he made a mistake. Luckily, he bounced back and kicked it. If it was indeed heroin, he got the monkey off his back quickly and lived another 20 years to entertain us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsGXmt4TLdM

Lady: "do you ever take anything stronger than beer?"
 Carl:"sometimes I take a drink"
Carl was smooth with the interviewers.

It's unfortunate that some people make a big deal out of one bad show, or one bad tour in Carl's long career. Maybe because it was so out of character for him? I hope that's all it is, not a thing of "loving to see the good guy fall down".

It was very out of character for him. I may be mistaken, but I don't think there were any other incidents that were ever documented about Carl being inebriated while on stage. While listening to him on stage that day it sounded funny, but I don't think anybody was laughing when he fell down. I think the band understood what happened and forgave him right away. But the Australian press obviously made a big deal about it, and he was still a little high the next day, as can be seen during the press interview. If he'd done it in America, it probably wouldn't have been acknowledged by the press - they were use to seeing singers stoned or drunk on stage all the time. Carl continued having his drinks before/after concerts right up until his last concert. Mike Love was very surprised and thought he should have quit as soon as he found out he had cancer.

It reads like you're saying Mike was very surprised he was having drinks.

It WAS a big deal, and the respectable part about Carl in that story is that he took the hint and got his stuff together again after that. Most respectable, I think. Never again did he sound as bad as he did on the three albums recorded just before that incident.

I could be all wrong, but I think that the termination of his own incarnation of the Beach Boys - with Ricky and Blondie - and the return of a not well Brian to the helm shattered Carl somewhat. On 15BO, Love You and MIU his vocals sound dazed, or drunk, or stoned to me. No new Carl compositions either. Then the Perth incident, and then on LA he sounds sober and gives great performances again. That's my take on it anyway, I hope I got the timeline right at least.

You're right about the Australian press Mikie,  They made a huge deal out of it, like they do with everything.  Carl may have embarrassed himself a little on stage but it was truly the Aussie press that came out looking unprofessional, nasty and truly embarrassing.  Pack of rabid dogs.

Were you aware of it at the time it happened? You were very little at the time. I don't think in 1978 I was aware of the Beach Boys other than that the oldies radio show my father listened to on Saturdays used Barbara Ann as a jingle. - I'm not arguing, just asking. :angel:

Of course not,  I've seen clips of the so called "interview" with Carl by the Aussie media.

It'll be interesting to see if the book addresses this tour, and the background as to why Carl was, frankly, off his face.

Buck-and-a-half hookers

These are good and important questions. I’m hopeful this will have some insight and tell us things we don’t already know. As I mentioned in another thread, I would hope the author had access to some friends and family so that we get some degree of new info. If we just get a reiteration of past biographies with a more narrow focus towards Carl-related events, then it indeed could just end up being like Carlin’s book without as much solo Brian information. I would hope the author was able to get some real, firm, new information and insights. And/or that the author is just *really* good at sleuthing extant sources for info we didn’t already know about Carl.

I would hope but would not expect that any associates that talked to the author would be willing to be frank (but respectful) and get into things like the Australia 1978 debacle, the mid-late 90’s inter-band politics (Mike/Al, Carl’s attitude towards the Paley material, etc.), and so on. 

From what I heard from a reliable (and, sadly, departed) source...it was more like two Mai Tais, a valium....and a few shots of H.

I admire the guy for going through all he had to go through and not come out in worse shape than he did...on the other hand, I'm sure his early death may have been brought on by all the crap he had to deal with. Yeah, he was a heavy smoker for a long time, and yeah, I'm sure that was undoubtedly a primary cause, but being essentially the adult of the group (even at age 18 he was running the rehearsals, even with Brian present!...and Audree said he was "born 40"), watching both of his brothers destroy themselves (I'm sure there were years in which his phone would ring and he would wonder if it were *that* call), lawsuits, dealing with Landy, dealing with Murry, dealing with a lot of dry years, having his own personal issues (draft-to-CO, divorce, addictions, whatever else have you), it couldn't have been good for his health.

According to his entry on Wikipedia, he was an ordained minister. Now, THAT I want to know more about.

I think he was. That was my take after reading the interview with Mike not long after Carl's death.

Love the Sinatra reference! "The Night We Called It A Day" aka "All The Way" with Dennis Hopper as Frank was just shown on TV last night.  ;)  

If I'm recalling correctly, the extant video of the Largo, MD 1977 show, which I believe is from 1/21/77 or so (a full year before Australia) shows Carl looking pretty toasted or whatever one wants to call it. Not nearly as intense as the Australia '78 shows, but it looks and sounds like Carl had had some drinks that night too. His demeanor at Largo is way different from anything from 1979 and on.

As for Carl drinking right up until his last concert, and I'm not shooting the messenger here, just throwing ideas out, that would be an issue he would take up with his doctor, not Mike Love. When you are terminally ill, there are many degrees of "do's" and "don'ts." For instance, a doctor will tell you in most cases to continue leading a healthy lifestyle. But will having some drinks actually worsen the cancer or hinder treatment? A doctor may say no, statistically not. Just like they may tell you not to eat rare meat or something while doing chemo, because your immune system is weakened. Same with drinking. Some doctors will say if someone is terminally ill and has a few months left from lung cancer, even *smoking* at that stage won't make it any worse than it already is. This is all theoretical, but there are many life decisions one makes in those situations, including how happy or miserable they want to be, and what one's prognosis is as far as treatment. I believe there might be cases where drinking a moderate amount of alcohol would not in any way worsen cancer or hinder treatment.

I've seen some other blurbs where Mike commented that his wife was a registered nurse, "especially pulmonary" (Mike's words from a 1999 interview, where he weirdly points out that his wife correctly guessed that Carl had two months left to live in December 1997), but Carl surely had an oncologist who would have been the person to discuss all of those issues with.

Doesn’t alcohol break down your resistance and immune system? Wouldn’t it conflict with prescription medications he was taking at that point? To me, that would be the obvious reason Mike made that comment after Carl’s death. Not sure Carl was even smoking medical Marijuana at that time.

But like you allude to, Jude, maybe Carl was already in the advance stages of Cancer and it didn't make any difference anyway.....

Meanwhile...back at the 'book'...IS it true that Carl's family know nothing about this book and are reserving judgement until they've actually had a chance to read it?  It would also seem that NONE of the 'insiders' here knew anything about this book coming.  That true too?

So how does one write an accurate biography without talking to family or questioning/researching any inside info?  I'm just asking.  I'll wait til I read it to form an opinion...as I will with the Brian book and the Mike book.

Jon?  You talk to anybody before you wrote about Denny and David?  Ot did you just make it all up?   You know...kinda hopin' for the best?   I'm not sayin'...I'm just sayin'. :hat

  IF the family  didn't help with a Carl book, then there's no reason to buy/read it, plain and simple. Without family/close friend input, this book won't be anything more than recycled twaddle. 

Questioning Jon/ making idle accusations, on the other hand, lacks all respect. Maybe you should be outright banned.... 

Gawd NO...I wasn't questioning Jon or accusing him of 'it'.  I was hoping for a comment from him on the possibility of anyone pulling off a book of this nature WITHOUT going the exact route you addressed.  It was a redundant question I asked of Mr. Stebbins.  I have NOTHING but respect for Jon.  We all know he put his various books together the RIGHT way.  If it wasn't for HIM I wouldn't be here for goodness sake.  bgas...sorry I didn't make myself understood more clearly man.  Really!!!

Jon is A+++ in my books.  Clear?
-----------------------------------------

I'm not sayin' the new book was written this way...I'm just sayin'...OK?

Add Some I don't think you need to worry. I didn't take your post as a criticism of Jon and I'm sure he won't. Bgas just misunderstood. 

Bgas didn't misunderstand at all. He's just bored and wants to start some sh*t.

Do you think the Gaines book was screened by family and close friends and things edited out at their request prior to release? Doubt it. That's how I want this new Carl book to be. In that regard, it might be a good thing they don't read it and make comments afterward. AUTHENTICITY by and author who did his homework thoroughly is what I'm looking for here, not another Badman book.

I think you could be right Mikie!

This is John-Roger Hinkins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John-Roger_Hinkins) of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness awarding Carl an Integrity Award.
Seems this gent was not exactly the epitome of integrity himself...   

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bc/John-Roger_and_Carl_Wilson%2C_Integrity_Awards.jpg)

Really? ???  I got 'punked'? :o  Jon warned me there'd be days like that here. ::)

f***!!! >:D

That this book has literally appeared from nowhere would indicate to me that no-one especially close to Carl's family has had anything to do with it. I'm thinking possible cut'n'paste job/

And so far, the family has been mighty quiet on the topic... I'm leaning towards unauthorized bio.

So Emdeeh wasn't approached for pictures of Carl for the book?  Oh, we're not off to a good start here.....

Been asking around, and a few folk I really would have thought would have been approached... haven't. So, my expectations are sinking, and they were pretty low to begin with.

And on cue not missing a beat, if this were a TV sitcom, we'd see and hear at least one pairing of board members chime in after this, in tandem, saying "but not as low as our expectations for the Brian book!", cue raucous laugh track, cue background music, slow fade and dissolve to fast food commercial.  ;D

I am hoping this book will at least be better than Adam Webb's Dennis Wilson book.

You rang, sir? :afro

But in all seriousness, after hearing that no one worthwhile has been approached for this, I'm starting to rank it as a non-entity. Of course, we'll have to wait and see. What's worse? A white-washed authorized bio of a man traditionally unwilling to discuss many aspects of his life...or a cut and paste bio with no new information or insight? Who's to say?

Should I know/know of this person ? 'Cause I'm coming up short.  :)

Looking forward to this.

My thoughts too, but he seems an odd choice for a cut and paste job.

Not so much when it's by an author who's previous book was titled 'Surf Beat' and with a Brian movie, book and album on the way and Mike's book next year, surely? If anyone was going to do a cut and paste job on Carl, I would think that they'd imagine now to be about the perfect time. Having said that I would also hope that anyone familiar with Carl's legacy would also feel that he deserves a better effort than that.

Isn't/wasn't there a Crowley that use to frequent the BBB board and attended a convention or two over there? Maybe I got the name wrong and it just sounds like Crowley. I'm probably way off (which has been known to happen).

Ok...let's not fit Mr. Crowley for a noose before he's been given a fair hearing. I was approached as a contributor, many months ago, and Kent seems like a good guy. His passion is for surf music, and surf guitar, and his motivation for writing the book was to credit Carl for being an underrated and often uncredited innovator and influence on generations of guitarists which I think is pretty cool. I can't vouch for post '60's content because I have not read the book, but Kent will do a great job on the early days no doubt. FYI I tried to steer him away from the myths and toward what is true, acknowledging that Carl is the guitarist on so many Beach Boys classics that he sometimes gets no credit for due to misinformation and myth. Hopefully that helped. But it should be said that Kent's an energetic guy who knows his sh*t about '60's music and i really liked his positive vibe. I wish him the best, and look forward to checking the final product out. Oh, and I know he interviewed some great people who were as close to Carl as you can get, so let's hope for the best.

Damn, Jon, don't you realize you're screwing with the narrative of the board elite?  The board cynics won't take kindly to such news.

By the way: The announced date of the book's release date is my birthday as well – 9/29/50.

Jon, thanks for the input. I hope Jerry Schilling was one of the people interviewed.

Hope the author talks to these guys at length: David Marks and Billy Hinsche. And Al Jardine. Pretty good guitar players and vocalists in their own right.


Wow! The second oldest poster documented on the board! Congratulations!


Not me. I'm a Positive, Hopeful, Trusting, Optimistic, Cheerful, Pollyanna-type guy.  :)

It's being released on my birthday as well - 9/29/95.   :lol   ;)

Thanks for the info Jon.  Your input gives me hope that the book will be worth the time it takes to read it.  Glad, then, that I ordered it.  I KNEW you would give us something worthwhile, one way or the other, on 'this'. :hat

Can't be true. I remember meeting The Cincinnati Kid in Cleveland in 1968. ;D

Ooooohhhh, you mean Crowther - don't get me started on him. I'd be permanently banned inside fifteen seconds.

You could never be permanently banned, you're too important to this board!

Yeah, that's who I was thinking of!  Got him confused with Crowley for some reason.  Geez!  ::)

Looking to this books release as well. The cover looks like Early 80's Carl to me similar to the album cover on his first Solo album. Hopefully that album gets a remastering and re-release some day too.

Jet without wings

  I had heard a year or so ago that Billy Hinsche was working on getting that album a cd release, but have heard nothing since.

didn't see it mentioned here but I just watched an interview with the author on YouTube on the release of his surf music book.  13 minute interview.   He seem s to be genuinely interested and excited about the subject matter.  grew up in Newport Beach.    I think we can expect to hear some good stuff about Carls musical evolution and guitar style and equipment.  that alone would be worth a read.    I didn't provide a link here but just look up the Crowley interview on YouTube.

[Wow! The second oldest poster documented on the board! Congratulations!]


6/22/50. Wife 9/11/53. She's been a fan since we met in high school.  Comes with the territory.

To slightly revise my previous comment, I've been made aware that the author has spoken to people close to Carl, so maybe my misgivings are somewhat misplaced. We'll see.

Kent Crowley's Surf Beat, Rock 'n' Roll's Forgotten Revolution (Backbeat Books, 2011) should be essential reading for anyone interested in Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, and the music that emerged from Southern California in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Crowley is a formidable researcher and writer. He fills each sentence with a remarkable amount of information recounted in colorful and engaging prose. Surf Beat is a great, informative read. It also includes end notes, sources, acknowledgments, bibliography, and an extensive index -- all hallmarks of a well-constructed book. I have no doubt Crowley will bring the same ambitious, enthusiastic approach to Carl Wilson's story. I look forward to reading Long Promised Road and Crowley's insightful take on Carl's life and his seminal role in American popular music.  Crowley should be applauded for tackling the story of the youngest Wilson brother.

Cooperation with family and friends can be a double-edged sword. While it enhances a story with personal anecdotes, perspective, and images, it can also be an impediment to a truer understanding.   
 
Keep in mind, for his masterful John Adams, I am fairly certain David McCullough did not interview John Quincy Adams.

Are misplaced misgivings the same as placed givings?  :lol

Most odd. Just had a notification from Amazon UK, telling me that the book has been put back... roughly 24 hours. Most odd.

In my experience with Amazon (both US and UK), they are notoriously sketchy about release dates for books. While not always ironclad, their listings and release dates for CDs or DVDs/Blu-rays tend to be pretty spot on once the item has been “officially announced” and then they go up on the site. But books are all over the place. Dates get pushed back, pushed forward (though seemingly much more rarely than getting pushed back), and sometimes stuff just keeps its release date, and once the date passes and it’s clear the thing isn’t out yet, Amazon just shows it as out of stock or backordered rather than pushing the release date back.

It appears some of this has to do with the publishing industry in general, which for whatever reason doesn’t stick to firm release dates the way music and movies do (though I would imagine HUGE high-profile books stick to release dates more firmly). Having tracked other types of items on Amazon, collectibles and whatnot, it seems most everything on their website has really hit-and-miss availability as far as release date, with the exception of music and movies (and perhaps some other stuff with firm release dates like, I would assume, video games, some electronics, etc.)

Which is exactly why I don't preorder books.

I managed to get a glimpse of portions of it and it is well written.  He interviewed a number of musicians that played with Carl and some insiders as well.  The problem for a biographer of Carl is that no one who knew him is going to really tell the whole truth about him. Meaning-they are not interested in sharing the dirty laundry.  That is admirable, but it makes it difficult to write a really in depth biography.  So for example-while the author has to mention Carl's late 70s descent intro drug problems-he merely repeats what is known-no one went on the record to tell him anything more.  Also Carl was such a private person and didn't talk about himself.  If he had a diary or shared many secrets with wife and family-they aren't sharing or talking. So the first half of the book is basically just a Beach Boys biography-because how can you write in depth about Carl's 1946-1970 experiences when he hardly talked about them and no one else wants to betray his confidence.  So Carl's POV is mostly absent.  But it is a good read and has interviews with people that interacted with him in his professional life.

Is it more of a cut-and-paste type of book to tell some of the history from quoting previously published sources, then?

I really enjoyed Crowley's Surf Beat, Rock 'N' Roll's Forgotten Revolution (Backbeat, 2011) and will read Long Promised Road. But, for the reasons Ian mentions above, I sympathize with any Carl biographer because one can only get just so close to creating an honest and truthful depiction of a person without the unvarnished input of family, friends, colleagues, and associates.  But that reticence is a very understandable human quality.  I suspect we all have events in our lives and aspects to our personalities we would rather not see chronicled in print.  So, when an individual consents to a biography, they must be ready to discuss their strengths and weaknesses, no matter how distasteful.

On a related subject . . . I would love to see a definitive account of the Beach Boys musical journey a la The Beatles Anthology with companion audio and video releases.  In the meantime, I look forward to Mike's and Brian's books, and hope they further document the history of the greatest band America has ever produced.  

I think in this case, those who were closest to Carl are respecting Carl's own distaste for tell-all journalism, which from what I've heard (and witnessed) was strong.

So what sources are being used to fill in the story and history? Is it going to rely on things previously published to fill those in?

It looks like he interviewed (among others) Desper, Dave Beard, Dave Marks, Jon Stebbins, Chip Rachlin, Chris Farmer, Marilyn Wilson, Justyn Wilson (though his voice is hardly evident in the book-so he probably did not reveal much), Alan Boyd, John Daly.  So he talked to some good folks-but they did not reveal much to him that isn't already out there-he was a nice guy and a good dad and a great guitarist/singer.  Like I said it is good and I haven't read the full thing. But I noticed that the story basically ends in the 80s-with only a few pages covering 1990-1998.  Carl's ex-wife and widow aren't interviewed and neither are any fellow Beach Boys. 

I should note-that when Jon and I wrote our book we intended to cover the 90s in a lot more detail but the publisher didn't want the book to exceed a certain number of words, so 1986-2012 basically became a list with occasional comments.  Maybe the same thing befell this book.  Publishers often force authors to cut a lot.

05/19/1948.....do I win a new car or something ?

A Model T

Sorry for my ignorance. I seem to recall seeing a video clip on YouTube a few years ago about a forthcoming documentary about Carl. Did that ever materialize?

Did you mean this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWwhrVXXcZU

Sweet, thanks!

Here's the link for more info on the CW video:
http://www.billyhinsche.com/CW-HandN.html

That was my only complaint about your wonderful book, so it's nice to hear from you that it was not necessarily your own choice.

I don't care to ever read another tell-all tome about my favorite musicians. You could fill several shelves with the crap written about Elvis Presley.

It's a little disappointing to hear this book won't go into further depth than what is already out there or known. Telling the whole story, warts and all, would honor such an integral part of this historic band. The struggles and hard times are all part of his story. One of the best autobiographies I've ever read is Open by Andre Agassi. He revealed a lot of personal and tragic things from his life, but ultimately it helped his fans and historians understand what he dealt with being a world-famous celebrity. I'm certain there would be quite a bit of redemption to be highlighted after some of the more difficult years. I also understand that family/friends would rather not dwell on the hard parts...

I am not in favor of a tell all but to tell the story of Carl you need the Wilson family, surviving bandmates and friends to be willing to open up

I think there are plenty of areas one could get into concerning Carl, if someone were able and willing to comment on those areas, without going “tabloid.” For instance, some insight from family or associates concerning Carl’s attitude towards the touring band and the BB brand in general would be interesting, and I don’t think that sort of stuff is trashy or tell-all. It’s the sort of thing Carl might have commented on had he given (or been asked for?) more interviews. I would imagine this will be touched on in the book, but if it does breeze through the 80s and 90s, it probably doesn’t get into that stuff in much detail. A breakdown of what happened to the band in the late 90s would also be interesting, especially in relation to Carl and his attitude towards all of that, but again we probably won’t get that.

Does anyone know if the paucity of Carl interviews (comparatively speaking of course), especially in the 80s and 90s, is more to do with Carl turning down interviews or just flying under the radar, or did people just not seek him out for interviews? The obvious answer would be that it was a bit of both. When Carl did interviews, they were always interesting. He obviously would make thoughtful comments, although there was often still some level of a guard up.

Ian has done a good job both of giving us some insight into the book and explaining why the author had some built-in limitations, both in terms of sources and perhaps publisher limitations. But I have to say, breezing through the 80s and 90s is not something I’m particularly happy about. That era, just like in McCartney bios (and other solo Beatles bios), is often glossed over in favor of going through early eras in more detail. I do understand, publishers know that insights into “Smile” and the band’s formation and all of that are more enticing to the average consumer than details about the 1982 tour.

I don’t know if this Carl bio will be a “Day One” purchase for me, but I’m curious to hear more about it.

Ian, is there any chance of publishing more detailed entries for 1986-2012 from the “In Concert” book, perhaps online?

Yes I am considering starting a blog if I can get it together

I was hoping that the upcoming book would at least shed some light on exactly when Carl became seriously ill. I'm pretty sure that it's an "open secret" that Carl was ill quite some time before the "official" cancer diagnosis in April of 1997. A fairly detailed account of the years 1995 to 1997 would be interesting to read.

Yeah, let's have a full blown documentary on Carl's lung and brain cancer episodes complete with a  step by step breakdown of how he rapidly declined during his last days on earth. Inquiring minds want to know for sure. ::) How about doctor visits and MRI's? How about his bouts with chemo therapy-we need to know all about that and his increasing need for oxygen. And why not a section on how his family dealt with the crisis-maybe some interviews and some good old pictures. My God, do we need to go there? Really?  ??? ??? ??? ??? ???

Perhaps it's the (amateur) guitarist in me, but I hope the book contains some detail about Carl's guitar collection. I know that Justyn has said that there isn't a tonne of them, but I'd still be interested nonetheless.

It would have been nice, no, expected, for the author to mention the last time he saw his brother, or how he began to look noticeably ill some two years before the "official" announcement, but a source I trust implicitly tells me it doesn't. Said source agrees with Ian that the first half of the book is mostly a BB biography and adds that there are some unforgivable errors which indicate either poor research, poor proofing or both. Jon handled Dennis' decline and death with great sensitivity and insight. This book seems to offer little more than "he was diagnosed, toured a bit then died". I'll be interested to see the whole thing, but my hopes aren't high.

Sorry to hear, ADG, that there's apparently little written about Carl's last years (Of course, I'm not referring to the ignorant drivel that was OSD's post).

I understand that if sources won’t talk, there are going to be huge limitations. But I would hope the story could be fleshed out by a myriad of BB scholars and fans and insiders. For instance, it wouldn’t take talking to Carl’s family to find posts on this board such as Ray Lawlor’s post describing the letter Mike wrote and sent to BRI in 1997 demanding Carl step down due to his health issues, otherwise he (Mike) was going to quit. I’m not picking on Mike here or even trying to dredge that discussion up again, but all that stuff is pertinent to admittedly sketchy period in 1997/98, so I’m just trying to cite an example of something that isn’t in a bunch of other biographies on the band, but can be found online and/or via talks with fans and scholars. Obviously, I don’t know if the book goes into that stuff; maybe it does. But it’s sounding like it’s already light on the last couple of decades. For both fans of the group and Carl, some clarity or at least additional information about that late era would be indispensable. Right now, our best source for that time period is probably, ironically, a David Marks biography, where Dave was able to add some insights since he was dragged into that situation in late 1997.

Hey Jude - I'm on the same page as dear OSD. (We don't have to go there.) It is difficult to imagine what could be gained by prying into a very difficult era, which was one heroic last farewell to Carl's fans, and consider myself blessed having seen him that one last time.

If Carl's family wishes discretion and privacy, why does that need to be violated?

It's sounding like this book may be a bit bland, maybe I should cancel my pre order and get it from the library. It's one thing to respect a family's privacy, another thing to present the facts in a professional, heartfelt manner. He was after all a public figure and reporting events in a proper manner is not an unreasonable thing to expect.

This is the same straw man nonsense that you went around and around about when some of these issues were brought up months ago. Nobody is suggesting anything to the degree you seem to be implying.

To simply know what occurred with the band itself is not off limits; and why should it be? Nobody is trying to violate HIPAA guidelines or even get into Carl's illness itself beyond mention that he was ill and then passed away. Mike Love himself has discussed Carl's health issues in more specific and graphic terms than *anything* I'm talking about here (there's an interview where Mike gets into specifics about his wife's armchair diagnosis of how much time Carl had left based on specific secondary health ailments he was having). I'm talking less about anything to do with Carl and more about how his situation impacted the band. This should be on record for historians and scholars of the band.

Nobody is "violating" anything. Are you suggesting that Ray Lawlor mentioning a few details about a letter Mike sent to BRI asking Carl to step down in 1997, a letter also mentioned and referenced by BRI's Elliott Lott, is "violating" the wishes of Carl's family?

This stuff is already public record. Nobody is suggesting we dwell on it. But to create some straw man argument about "not going there" (wherever "there" is) is silly, regardless of the reasoning, which I sense in this case happens to be related to the fact that the little factoid I cited happens to not make Mike Love look particularly great.

If even a cursory discussion of the band's internal issues in 1997 and 1998, both relating to Carl and other issues, is "off limits" because of Carl's death, then I would imagine you also feel that *huge* chunks of, say, Jon Stebbins' book about Dennis Wilson is also out of line?

My concern on any of these projects is getting the facts right. With sourced material, previously published works, all of that, you run the risk of republishing things that aren't quite the facts. Look, we've recently had a case where someone posted a link to this board of what purported to be a clinical psychoanalysis of Brian Wilson, but done by someone who apparently had not even been in the same room with let alone spoken with or interviewed the subject of that analysis. It's one thing to do this as an academic exercise or something for a hypothetical classroom type of experience, but it's beyond irresponsible when things like that start being posted online then taken as fact, or even given attention as truth or even learned opinion. At some point the line of common sense has to be drawn, and certain things dismissed and ignored appropriately.

If - as seems to have been the case - Carl's immediate family declined to participate, then fine, that's the end of that. However, there's a fair amount of info about Carl's last years that is public record, and my understanding is that pretty much all of it has been passed over. Example: Brian & Melinda went to watch the 1998 Super Bowl with Carl at Jerry Schilling's house. Having seen his brother looking (relatively) good at Audree's funeral roughly two months earlier, Brian was shocked at his appearance and in the car on the way back told Melinda "I don't think we're going to see him again". And they didn't. Last meeting between the two remaining Wilson brothers deserves at least a mention.

Here's an odd thing: I've been told I get a thanks in the credits. The author never contacted me in any way, and, if the errors I've been told of are accurate (you know what I mean...) it's clear that he never so much as looked at 10452 or the ComGuide. Or the Billboard chart archives.

Oh, it's drivel alright, BUT YOU READ IT, DIDN"T YOU????????? :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

All in all, it sounds as if the definitive Carl Wilson bio is yet to be written.  But it also seems that much of the history is "out there " but has not been compiled, sequenced, and fleshed out through follow up research and interviews with family, friends, and those in or close to the band.     

I really would have loved to hear about what the relationship between Carl and Dean Martin was like. Two of the most beautiful voices of the 20th century.... Man, if there only was a recording with the two of them....


Apart from the biographical stuff, I really would like to read about Carl's work in the recording business (not just Beach Boys), his skills as a guitar player and producer even more.

It would be nice to have something marketed purely as "musical biography" so the buyer knows they are not getting a warts and all personal bio. However, a book that's factually wrong or woefully incomplete about both the man and the music is worse than worthless, as it does a disservice to the artist.

Hi, All -- new to this board, so hope I get it right.   Just finished the Carl Wilson Biography (kindle edition) and to say I was disappointed is putting it mildly.  The author basically just took information from all the other books written about the beach boys, as well as the "Here and Now" video, done by Billy Hinsche.  I did not learn one new thing about Carl.  The book went into great depth about his guitar playing skills, with a lot of history about different albums.  Brian's name was mentioned as much as Carl's. 
 
I really wish someone would write a book about Carl, the man.....not Carl and his guitar playing skills.  I am by no means taking his skills lightly, just not what I was hoping for in a 'biography'.

Interesting that the Kindle version has been out for a bit, but no physical copies available yet apparently.

I would agree that it's disappointing, even within the confines of a book where few friends and family are willing to offer anything new.

The book is 260 pages not including the index, etc. The 1980s and 90s are covered in the last 11-12 pages, and the 1990s are covered literally on pages 259 and 260. I don't think I've ever seen a BB-related book that rushes through the end like this. The last eight years of the life of the subject of the book, a tragically short life, are covered in two pages.

Kudos for the idea to do a book on Carl. Sounds like the author is a nice guy too. But bummer that the book turned out like this.

Received my physical copy yesterday. Really nice print job -  high quality paperback sleeve with "gatefold" style flaps; nice paper stock; good photo repro.

Thumbed through it briefly; the little I scanned seemed to confirm what bb4ever and HeyJude are saying.

The author's notes imply a good number of interviews were conducted for the book though, with Marilyn and Billy H among others – when I get into the text I'm hoping those bits might shed more light but I'm not too optimistic.

I just put a cancel on my pre-order.  I will wait until a lot more is known.  I was a bit concerned when the writer didn't show up here to promote the book, like Jim did.  I'm very disappointed that the 80's and 90's are breezed over.  How could he not cover Carl's solo period?  Amazon America bumped it to mid-October yesterday anyway.

John, is this a British book?  It sure didn't come out here, or they would have shipped it...mine had been on pre-order for months.  $15 isn't a lot to ask, but I do expect to learn something new.

Glad am I for not ordering this book;  really, my not giving a crap has been validated..
Seems to me it doesn't matter HOW many interviews the author claims to have done if the book just regurgitates information already available.
Does anyone really care whether it's a nice looking printing job or the "author" is a nice guy?

Carl's solo period is covered, it isn't literally ignored. The book opens with an anecdote centered around his Roxy gig in 1981.

When the book hits 1980/81, it goes into Carl's solo band/album. But it breezes through it. I gather the author is probably a guitar/gear aficionado, as he describes the make and model of John Daly's guitar gear, which Carl paid to have reconditioned for the recordings. So he obviously got an interview with Daly, and that does offer a bit of interesting detail.

But yeah, it's odd. You learn from this book that John Daly used a Fender Vibrolux amp, but the last years of Carl's touring are basically edited down to "Carl got sick, did one more tour, and then passed away." It doesn't get to Carl's diagnosis until half-way down page 259 of 260, and announces his death at the top of page 260. It barely stretches one full page worth. Let me be clear, I'm not looking for intriciate details of his actual illness or medical condition. But the book literally doesn’t mention things like David Marks rejoining, Al exiting, the internal band politics of the mid-late 90s, etc.

Hi all,

Will Carl's biography be at Barnes & Noble?

You can check for in-store stock status for books on Barnes & Nobles's website. The listing for the book shows a release date of October 7, so you can check probably on or after that date.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/long-promised-road-kent-crowley/1121141310

Based on the descriptions so far, why would anyone else want to bother? 
They don't trust you and just HAVE to check it their self? 
That's nutty. but I guess if you have $$ to burn...

Have read the whole thing. Amazon order cancelled. Deeply, deeply disappointing. Mind you, I did learn something new, that Carl produced the disco remake of "HCTN" with his good friend Curt Becher. And there I was thinking all along it was Bruce & Curt.

"Published in the UK and the USA by Jawbone Press … London…" according to my edition; there might be a separate USA edition though, who knows?!

The interviews:

Justyn Wilson   05/2015   
Steven Desper   05/2015   
David Beard   04/2015   
John Blair           04/2015   
Alan Boyd     04/2015   
Mark Linett   04/2015   
John Daly    03/2015   
Marilyn Wilson   01/2015   
Rick Henn    01/2015   
Daryl Hooper   01/2015   
      
Bill Halvorsen    12/2014   
Gary Griffin   12/2014   
Mark Gureeo   11/2014   
Dr Leroy Soto   11/2014   
David S. Gold   10/2014   
Jon Stebbins   09/2014 & 09/2013
Billy Hinsche   09/2014   
Chip Rachlin   08/2014   
      
Chris Fleming   05/2010   
Nick O'Malley   05/2010   
Chris Montez   04/2010   
Hal Blaine    04/2010   
      
Bill Medley   10/2008   
Henry Diltz   05/2008   
      
Chris Farmer   12/2004   
Stan Ross/David Gold   01/2000   
      
Larry Levine   03/1998   
Jim Frias           02/1998   
Bob Keane   11/1997   
David Marks   10/1997   
Carol Kaye   10/1997   
Richard Delvy   09/1997   
Bob Berryhill   09/1997   
Jim Pash           10/1991   
      
Dick Dale           06/1989   

Each interview was structured as follows:

1) What did Carl usually have for breakfast?

2) Did he prefer cats or dogs?

3) What was his favorite color?

4) What's your name again?

Hello everybody. My name is Kent Crowley and I would have stopped by earlier to introduce myself except even I'm not sure of all of the official release dates. As this site is well known for hosting the most knowledgeable Beach Boys enthusiasts on the planet and some of you have expressed concerns about my upcoming Long Promised Road bio of Carl, I just wanted to let you all know that I am here to address them for you. Thank you.

Thank you for joining our group Kent

Thank you for having me.

I for one greatly appreciate and respect coming on board here and being willing to converse with fans about your book.

I suppose one question I have is obvious, based on some of my previous comments: What was your thinking/reasoning behind not going into the 1990s period in Carl’s and the group’s career? As you probably know, based on what we know from books like the Jon Stebbins/David Marks book, the mid-late 90s was a rather tumultuous yet intensely interesting period in the band’s and Carl’s career. Carl, both directly and indirectly, played a huge role in how all of the band politics shook out as the 90s ended. It’s also a less-documented area, with relatively little written about such topics as Mike Love’s reportedly refusing to appear on stage with Carl in 1997, and so on.

Hello HeyJude,

First of all, thank you. Second of all - you are absolutely right. I really wish I'd had more time to lavish on that point of Carl's career. However, whenever I started an interview, the first question I asked was "what does the world need to know about Carl Wilson?" and the answers that always came back were: a) people need to know what an important part he played in The Beach Boys' records (especially as a guitarist), and b) his importance as a producer. Given the very tight time frame I had (ten months), I chose to focus on those two aspects of Carl's legacy as those are the parts that are most often overlooked in conventional Beach Boys' histories. Think of this as Introduction to Carl and one day abler biographers than I will be able to delve into these issues.

Kent, did you attempt to interview the Wilson family ?

Seems like with so private a person you'd need more like 20 or 30 months to pull off a decent biography.

THANK YOU!!!! Absolutely!! A full scale biography of Carl would need at least two years and if I'd had two years to do it, I woulda done it! However, one of the big obstacles I encountered was that a lot of people who knew Carl are writing their own books and didn't want to give anything away...I know because I actually showed a couple of them how to submit a nonfiction proposal to a literary agent. Right now, I can tell you that Brian, Mike, Marilyn and Bruce are all involved in writing their own books - and that's why a lot of people wouldn't be interviewed (although, strangely enough, they were all VERY nice about it - especially Bruce and Marilyn, who did give a few very important quotes).

...by the bye, I want to thank Andrew G. Doe for listing the interviews that I did, but I realize that when the first interview took place in 1989, it sounds like my remark about a ten month deadline might sound a little questionable. Here is a little background on the book: my wonderful publisher (Jawbone) actually came up with the idea of doing a biography of Carl and I was originally going to handle the research end (because I'm down here in Southern California) and another writer was going to handle the writing (I really wish it had worked out that way, too...) However, part of asking me to contribute was that I had been doing research on L.A. music since the early 90s and had compiled a great deal of information on the BBs and Carl for three books: Surf Beat, the first draft of Bob Keane's The Oracle of Del Fi and The Gold Star Album. This worked out as it did save me bucketloads of time because a lot of the people whom I interviewed over the years are now, sadly, no longer with us. But Backbeat approached me last summer and asked if I wanted to go ahead with it and I did.

....okay, one more - my reply to Jeffh is still floating around in the ether - in answer to your question, yes - my first interview was with Billy Hinsche, Marilyn did part with a few quotes even though she is writing her own book, Mike Love is also writing his own book but was very nice about turning me down. I did take Justyn and Jonah out to dinner and walk them through the book, but didn't conduct a formal interview other than Justyn telling me his dad was a southpaw - I just wanted them to know what to expect. As I mentioned earlier, my goal was to focus on Carl as a guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and producer; so I focus more on musicians and engineers.

Kent...Congrats on seeing your book get published by a real publisher, and going through all the difficulties and challenges there are on the way to getting it in print. i know first hand it's by no means an easy thing, and just the fact that you pulled off getting a Carl book published is admirable. I've had so many people tell me they were going to write, or were "thinking" about writing a Carl book for the last 15 years, but none of them did what you did, and that's land a publisher, and get it done. That said, i don't have the book yet, and have not read any portion of it so i can't review the result. But you were obviously coming at this from the perspective of a guitarist who wanted to emphasize that Carl was an influential and underrated one. I could feel that when you interviewed me. So it's no surprise to me if the 90's were not a priority in YOUR book. I can understand that for sure. Anyway, just wanted to say congrats on doing something that you set out to do. I hope the criticism that comes along with authoring a Beach Boys related book isn't too much of a downer for you, as I know your heart was in the right place. Looking forward to adding the book to my library of rock books.

Hello Jon, Thank you so much and I couldn't have done it without - you are a GOD!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for all of your support and great work. When it comes to The Beach Boys, you are the MAN and the rest of us only serve!

By the way, I have one funny Beach Boys story that only the hardest of hardcore buffs will get, so I will sign off with it. Back in the late 60s and early 70s, when I was growing up in Orange County, The Beach Boys were considered the exact opposite of cool. In fact, when my old songwriting partner and I went to see the November 1970 show at the Whiskey, we didn't even consider trying to get dates - we didn't want to get laughed at while we were getting turned down. Well, we caught the second night just before Brian went home and we were DAZZLED!!! When The Beach Boys came back to Santa Monica a few months later, we knew we had to get dates because in those days, their shows were AMAZING. So we got two cute girls to go with us, but didn't tell them where we were taking them. As we turned the corner into the Santa Monica Civic parking lot, the girls saw 'The Beach Boys' on the marquee (I am NOT making this up) and GASPED!!!  So my buddy Jeff just looked at them and said "a), its a great show and b) if you don't want to go, its a LONG WALK back to Newport..."

Thanks John.  Guess I did learn something new today.

I hope that one day someone will write a book about Carl's life.

Kent, respect for coming into the lion's den and facing up to your critics. Takes balls.

That said, given the views expressed here concerning the finished article, what would you have done differently given the chance ? Ignoring my nitpicking the factual errors, the basic problem most folk appear to have is that, for a biography of Carl Wilson, it's pretty light on info on the man himself. Props for stating that he had a drug and alcohol problem in the late 70s - there's still a significant number of fans who deny that.

And a purely personal question: I'm thanked in the credits, but my website, Bellagio 10452, isn't listed as a source, nor do l recall any contact with you. Confused, Farnham.

Thanks Kent!

That was priceless!

The "hardcores" surely get this!  :lol

Here's to you!  :beer

Hello Andrew G. Doe.

Thank you for responding and I will apologize until the day I die for not putting your website in the sources - that was a huge error and I am sorry. As for listing you, if you weren't Andrew G. Doe, you would know that seeing 'Andrew G. Doe' on any information means you can take it to the bank. Thank you for all of the stellar work you've done over the years.  I owe ya! The funny thing is: back in the autumn of '70, my old songwriter and I used to drive up to LA and cruise up and down Bellagio with a copy of Sunflower hoping we might find a house that looks like the one in the gatefold and I got to relive that memory every time I went on your site.

What would I have done differently? I would have asked for more time - much more time. There were a LOT of folks who wouldn't be interviewed (mostly because they're writing their own books or didn't want to commit their opinions to a public place). I think with a little more time, I could have worn them down. If I had listed all of the people who turned me down, it would have taken up another page. I have to admit that as honored as I am to be able to make Carl's story public, I still wonder if I've made the right decision.  However, in terms of what I set out to do - which was to reexamine Carl's vital role as a musician in making some of the most important music in history, I think I got that part right and I hope it justifies the whole effort.

By the way, forgetting to list your website wasn't the only STUPID mistake I made: I misspelled Sharon Sheely's name....she went to my high school.

Thanks again - for everything!!!!

Hello filledeplage,

Thank you - It's so nice to have somebody get that story. Here is another one: in autumn of 1970, I showed up at a housewarming party for some friends of mine who went to UCI. My housewarming gift was a copy of Sunlower. When I handed it to the girl who lived their, she held it up to the crowd and made a bad joke and all of the achingly hip hippies just laughed up their sleeves - it wasn't a comfortable moment but I let it slide.  For the next six months (this was the big party house in the neighborhood) I always checked and they never even took the plastic off the sleeve.

Fast forward 30 years later she tracked me down online and asked where she could find a song called 'Forever' - it was going to be her daughter's wedding song!

By the bye, while I'm here I have to say By the way, while I am here, I want to remind you younger Beach Boys enthusiasts of how fortunate you are to have a website like SmileySmile.net that puts you in contact with people like Jon Stebbins, Andrew G. Doe and all of these other very knowledgeable and important people. I’m not joking – back before The Beach Boys got ‘hip’ again, the attitude among my musician buddies was sort of “when you take The Beach Boys seriously, you don’t just embarrass yourself, you embarrass your friends”. Even as late as ’72, I knew so few people who liked The Beach Boys that when we talked about them, we used ‘turkey talk’ – which is dropping an ‘ob’ in front of every vowel of a word. Lobike thobis. We did it so often that I actually got good at it. The only reason I don’t spend more time here is because on this site, I’m like that fat kid on South Park playing ‘World of Warcraft’, except my family refuses to clean up the mess.

Thank Smileysmile.net and thank you all.

Kent, thank you for doing what no one else has done yet. I plan to get the book very soon and will review it.

Am currently in the process of reading it, and still a way to go so I won't pass judgement until the final word has been read but I will say, as a published author myself (the biography of David Gates, Jimmy Griffin and Bread), that given the time span you were given you've done a significantly impressive job to pull it together. I stuck at mine, from the first day of research to the day I unpacked the parcel from the publishers, for five years !! And even now I could still add further detail. Well done I say...

It's a bummer if people are really holding back from any interviews whatsoever specifically because they're doing their own book. Seriously, who is going to pick up a Marilyn autobiography and say, "Nah. I was going to buy it, but I just remembered she gave those five interview quotes to that Carl biography."

Has Kent given us a scoop here? He casually mentioned that Bruce "I'll never write a book" Johnston is actually working on one, if I read it right.

But of course that's the way most people, of the interviewees, will think about it.  Save the really good stuff for their own tomes.  
Tho, I wouldn't have thought Brian or Mike would divulge much in any case.
Seems odd to say Bruce is writing , when he so loudly proclaims he never will.  
I suppose one by Marilyn could be fairly good, depending of course, how much is really based on her own memories and not glommed from other sources.

 In any case, the info that's been presented seems to try to make a better case for the Carl book, but based on the previous reviews it still seems one to wait to hit the bargain section

Chances are hat Bruce isn't writing a full autobiography, just a collection of brief memories, called "Bruce's Shorts". It'll never be published cos he'll spend the rest of eternity re-adjusting it.

....and he does have that "sore hand" issue that would make writing difficult.

I would think the "Sorry...I'm writing my own book" line is a polite way of saying No.

Great story. That's how you tell 'em!

Hello Kent – I have not read your new book on Carl, but I have read another title of yours: Surf Beat: Rock 'n' Roll's Forgotten Revolution. What an excellent read that was, very informative and very technical, especially when it came to guitars and guitar techniques.

By the way, Kent, I would have appreciated being credited for my black & white shot of Carl in the 70's...  Don't know where you got that copy with the Reprise credit; haven't ever seen that before, and they never had the rights to use it!
Sure wish you had contacted me; couldn't given you some great shots to use from Carl's show at The Roxy

Hey Ed, I really feel we all need to see them ( like now ) please  ;)

And then we'll have world peace!

If you haven't been, come by my tribute to Dennis facebook page @ https://www.facebook.com/roachclips68  It gives a good starter course in my stuff with Dennis and The Boys.
 
I've also only recently started digging back through the archives, and to be honest, I'm astounded by what I'm coming across.  There are probably thousands of slides still to peruse, a lot of which have more recent significance.  And that's to say nothing of the film and video, (a small sample seen in the BBC4 "Dennis Wilson - The Real Beach Boy")  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPvUDXZW448  Patience, in the world of The Beach Boys, is definitely a virtue...

Ed:  Thanks for being so generous with all that you have in your archives.  You're a guy who could write a valuable book as you're not into promoting "your role" in it all and you have no ax to grind.  You loved the guys but don't mind the warts.  I believe that's REALLY loving a friend.

Ed- be an author

Concur!!

Thanks to all, (especially you, Debbie!), and I'll try to fulfill everyone's wishes before too long

Hi Ed,

An all-photos book (perhaps with some running commentary along the way) would be great (I know, I'm sure a million folks have already suggested it).

I'm finding more and more as I see your pictures on Facebook and the website that the photos truly cover so many different areas. Some stunningly poignant pics, and also some straight-up simple awesome (and sometimes hilarious) concert shots of the guys.

I'm reminded of Al appearing on KTVU (I think you and Jon Stebbins also appeared around the same time?) back around 2000 and they were running some old 1976 "An American Band" footage under Al's interview, and Al seemed to laugh and comment that there was "a lot more hair" back then when it cut to circa 1976 Al footage.

I'd pay for a running audio commentary from Al and/or the other guys just looking at slideshows of your photos....

I'd buy THAT book!

Someone way back on this topic asked about Carl's 1st album re-release.
FYI, It was re-released on 9/29/15.

Mine came on Saturday and looks really nice.

I got mine today.

Your book arrived?

I got the Carl Wilson book today from Amazon. I could swear that I canceled it. I also picked up the new John Fogerty autobiography at Barnes & Noble today.

I got a notice from Amazon today that my book order is being prepped for shipping.

I got the same shipping notification of the bio, with a Monday arrival date.

Really nice looking book but slightly disappointed.

Over 250 pages and the last 10 years of Carl's life are crammed into 2 pages! No content from immediate family members, so I suppose it's what you'd expect.

Note to Kent: Just got the book in the mail today and am looking forward to reading it. I was flipping through the book, as I often do with a new tome, and happened to noticed a factual error on page 256. It says:

"...Carl tied the knot with Gina Martin, another dark-eyed beauty..."

Gina has light blue eyes, almost exactly the same color as Carl's. I suggest changing the wording to "a blue-eyed beauty..."

Can't wait to read.

jeffh, the same thing happened to me.  I canceled it because of the poor reviews on it, amazon sent me a confirmation of the cancelation and then they sent it anyway.  They apologized, told me that they credited my account and to not send the book back.  Then, I had one on pre-order that didn't show up on my account or I'd have canceled that one, too.  They sent that one also.  Same result when I went on chat with them.  Keep the book.  Sell it, donate it or give it as a gift.  We don't want it back. 

Could that response from amazon be because of so many people canceling their orders you think?

I haven't read it yet, but someone who had said that Mr. Crowley listed Carl's year of death as 1996.  I've heard of several typos and factual errors in it. 
I've barely scanned the book. 

I've seen from way back on this thread that Justyn Wilson was interviewed for the book.  It seems that Gina has moved on since Carl passed and the word is that she's remarried twice since then.  Otherwise, she's practically dropped off the planet.  Nobody ever speaks of her in Beach Boys fandom.

If anybody has any info on her, please feel free to share it!

I won't buy the book unless I can look at it in a store and review it for myself. Too many negative reviews. This was really a missed opportunity.

I'm not loving it. Sloppy writing and editing so far for me. About halfway through, and my biggest complaint is that information gets repeated constantly. Good advice in this thread. Skip it.

I thumbed through it at Barnes and Noble yesterday. I took a pass. All the information can be (and has been) found elsewhere.

About halfway thru.......though not reading it as much as I'm skimming it. In general, disappointing....I was hoping for much more about the man. I 'm fighting not just moving to the later years, though there isn't really much there about those years.

The first half is mostly Beach Boys. That said, the more Carl-oriented part isn't notably much better.

Agree with you Andrew. So far it feels very much like a somewhat fragmented Beach Boys bio, with little new content from other bios.

I downloaded it off of Apple. I've read about a third of it. I will give it a full read before commenting fully however, I tend to agree with many of the comments so far.

FWIW, my podcast with Kent Crowely: http://prayforsurfblog.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-other-brilliant-beach-boys-story-of.html ... and my Amazon review:     The publisher/editor made a mistake ... technically, this is NOT a biography. It is an analysis. An analysis of the unheralded and mostly unrecognized critical role Carl Wilson played (pun partially intended) on every album and in every chapter of the Beach Boys career. For example, the author uncovers Carl's brilliance in simply his choice of (and when he changed) guitars and the way he attacked them (or did not attack them) as he played. Simply suggesting his neighborhood friend join the band when Alan originally left after their first single did more than add another body; it helped complete their early sound. Carl was a non-card carrying but active "member" of the Wrecking Crew on the albums that propelled the Beach Boys "bom bom dip di dit" to those gorgeous pet sounds.

Crowley is chronicling Carl's ascendancy, which has been overshadowed by his elder brother's genius. Great musician. Singer. Producer. Songwriter. Arranger. Studio/Stage manager. Brian? Of course, everyone knows that. But Carl? Yeah, him too. Now everybody knows that.

I did listen to the podcast, and enjoyed it, but still not convinced I need to buy the book.  I saw  it @ Barnes and Noble today, I  took a good long  look at it,  but wasn't impressed. Should have been a lot more info on the 80s/90s. It reads like a basic Beach Boys bio with no particular emphasis on Carl.  I hope someday we will get a thorough biography of Carl, and by thorough I don't mean a tabloid style "dig up all the trash" book - there's been enough of that already.

Says "biography" on the cover, and again on the title page. Has always been touted as a biography. Looks like a biography, walks like a biography, quacks like a biography - it's a biography.

Reply of the year! lmao.

Yes it does. What it left out was 'poorly put together' biography. Carl is my favorite Beach Boy, and I had hoped someone would finally write a book about the man, the musician, but this one offered nothing new.

I would respectfully submit that if the aim was to write an "analysis" of a few specific facets of Carl's music ability/career rather than a biography, it actually undercuts the book by then including brief biographical bits that serve no other purpose than offering biographical details. For instance, the severely rushed ending could have or should have just been chopped off if this thing wasn't intended as a biography.

Which, as AGD mentioned, leads me to the conclusion that this most certainly was intended as a biography. To his credit, I haven't seen Mr. Crowley contend he wasn't trying to do a biography. I appreciated his posts earlier in the thread, where his comments did make sense. It sounds like he would have liked more time to work on the book, and would have liked more interview subjects to be more forthcoming about Carl, and/or more forthcoming in general.

I am beginning to think the only person who could write an actual biography about Carl Wilson is someone in his inner circle of friends like Billy Hinsche, Jerry Schilling, or Gerry Beckley.  Otherwise it would be left to someone who is trying to ask questions of friends and family, who don't seem to be very forthcoming in divulging private details of his life.  Mr. Crowley's book was more a biography of his musicianship.  And while it did give me a newfound appreciation for his skills as a musician, I really, really want info on him as a person.  How were his relationships with his brothers and bandmates through the years?  Why did he and Annie divorce and did they remain friends?  Who helped him get past his dalliance with drugs?  Did he and Brian mend fences after the book Brian wrote?  Was he cognizant of just how majestic his voice was? Did he ever feel resentful that his brothers seemed to garner the bulk of the attention? etc., etc.

I'm still hoping.....

Im buying carls BIO for sure! Did you see ESQ is having a BIG giveaway, Carl is one of the half dozen giveaways, they are having a Carl, Brian, Dennis,Al and wrecking crew prize packages. No entry needed, all those with paid subscriptions are entered, here is the Carl one: https://www.facebook.com/ESQ.Editor/photos/pcb.10153629932757487/10153629930047487/?type=3&theater

I've got the book on hold through my library.

I got the book today. Don't know when I will have time to read it , though. I just took a look at the first pages and one thing caught my eye. Sorry if it was already mentioned.

It says Jerry Schilling was the only guy of Elvis' Memphis Mafia that the Colonel couldn't fire. Well, fact is that the Colonel couldn't fire any of the members even if he'd wanted to. The guys were Elvis' friends, bodyguards and personal assistants. The only one who could fire or hire was Elvis (or by proxy as it happened Elvis' father). Parker didn't have anything to do with Elvis' private life but was only there for doing the business side. And also in business decisions he couldn't do anything without Elvis' approve.

I know it's not a big thing for the book because that is about Carl and the Beach Boys. Just wanted to add in case someone might be interested.

So what exactly is the story on Shilling ? Most of the rest of the Memphis Mafia were ,in my opinion, enabling bloodsuckers. Was he different? Was he good for the Boys and as Carl's manager ?

I've read his book 'Me and a Guy Named Elvis", and he seems like a decent guy - probably the only guy in the MM to have an ounce of integrity. He says Elvis was the best friend he ever had; I think, after Elvis died, Carl became his best friend. He said Carl helped him through the grieving process.

He met Elvis in the 1950s and went to work for him in 1964.  Started working with the bbs shortly before Elvis' death

Schilling did the right thing, which means he made sure that he got work on his own strength and not as a protege of Elvis Presley. He only started working for Elvis very late (in comparison, and remembering that he knew Elvis from right when he made his first record).
I think the only other mafioso who really got quite successful was Red West who became an actor. Schilling was not only managing Carl and then the Beach Boys but also Jerry Lee Lewis. And he seems to be a very nice guy although he tends (probably understandably) imo to promote the sterile superheroe-like, whitewashed picture of Elvis that EPE likes to see.
BTW I don't think the other mafiosi were bloodsuckers. Elvis wanted them around him, he liked them, they were his friends. Not that I would like them or want them around me. But everyone can choose his friends. And I'm pretty sure that Elvis was smart enough to realize if someone was just there for the party.











BTW thanks to Ed Roach, this picture was taken in Elvis' plane:

(https://scontent-fra3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash2/v/t1.0-9/1977348_206671649544180_1939484875_n.jpg?oh=1a63d68b6b64e67da1113d7753dc2989&oe=56F38396)

As I noted above, I have read Schilling's book, and I disagree that it was a white-washed portrait of Elvis. Jerry is quite open about his own struggles, as well as Elvis', without damming the man. Like any human being, Elvis Presley had his good and bad side. I think, in Elvis' case, the good outweighs the bad - but not everyone will agree with me.

Yeah, I wasn't talking about his book but about the PR-stuff and interviews. And maybe "white-washed" wasn't the right term. I meant the way how every dump Elvis took is getting hailed as the greatest thing a man has ever made. It's not that heavy with Schilling but all that Graceland/EPE business goes into that direction and sometimes, just sometimes he's letting himself carry away with that a little too much imo.
But that's stuff for a Elvis discussion and this thread of course is about Kent Crowley's book on Carl.

My experience was that Jerry Schilling was a genuinely nice human being.  Given that, he probably wasn't inclined to trash the people whom he loved.  Telling the truth about someone -  in context - can work if it's done with care.  It's just hard to get across to people in a world that is just waiting to jump on any public figure's seeming failings.  So the context and the care are hard to convey.  At worst, I suspect he was just careful about what he said, given that reality. 

I only had one brief conversation with him about Elvis and he was quite forthright and said it in a loving context.  How to get that across in writing is a real bi*ch.