Brian has been placed in a conservatorship (likely suffering from dementia)

[Pretty Funky]

I will always hope Brian enjoyed touring in his later years. This mischievous picture gave me hope. Calgary 2012 I believe.

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

We love you Brian. Regardless of what happens in the future, and this news, you'll always be remembered as a genius who brought immeasurable love and magic into the world. Millions will carry the music you gave us with them for the rest of time.

I can't help but feel dread when I read this. It's such a terrifying experience for someone to deal with, and for those around them.
Prayers for Brian, his family, and everyone who loves him.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I made the mistake of going to The Beach Boys subreddit… some idiot is making jokes about Brian’s condition. Some people in this world are truly sick

[juliansuess]

Hearing that he has dementia made me very sad, too. Really sad news for all Beach Boys fans, to know that he will never make another album, never be able to give concerts again.

[juggler]

Hearing that he has dementia made me very sad, too. Really sad news for all Beach Boys fans, to know that he will never make another album, never be able to give concerts again.

Concerts would indeed seem highly unlikely.  But as someone who was at one of Brian's shows in summer 2022, I'd say it was time to call it a day on those.
Albums?  Don't assume.  Brian managed to do "At My Piano" a couple years ago.  Do you know for sure that his cognitive state was markedly different then than now?  No, we really don't.

 It's been pointed out in other threads to keep in mind that legal pleadings are one-sided documents intended to persuade a judge to adopt the viewpoint of the party making the pleading. They do not necessarily offer a full and complete picture of the reality of a situation.  Melinda's death left a void in Brian's care.  I think everyone should be able to understand that.  Brian needs other people to help him with day-to-day life tasks.  Hence, this conservatorship process is playing out.  Think about it this way... if Melinda hadn't passed when she did, how much of this would be being aired in public?  Likely very little.  Ignorance is bliss, as the saying goes.

In any case, even if the absolute worst scenario were to play out, and there were never again anything new musically from Brian Douglas Wilson, I truly believe that the man has already given us more than enough... in a huge way.

[Amy B.]

After a long absence, I wanted to check in here to see the conversation about this development. It's very sad, but we've heard only good things about the people who will be taking care of Brian's needs moving forward. I suspected something was wrong (or that Brian had gone into some kind of decline, whether mental or physical) when whoever runs his Instagram account stopped posting new photos and posted only throwbacks. That was well before Melinda died.

I do want to say that the reports use the word "dementia," not Alzheimer's. Alzheimers is a type of dementia, but not all dementia involves forgetting who you are, who your loved ones are, etc. The word only refers to cognitive decline. That in itself is difficult to contemplate, but we don't know what Brian's specific condition is. It's possible he can still go into the studio if he wants to. I only say that because, as someone whose own parent is beginning to decline a bit, it's a good idea to keep the person as active and engaged as possible. Even if that just means spending time with his kids. Speaking of whom, I believe some of his and Melinda's kids are still quite young (still need care), and I'm thinking about them as well. I only want the best for Brian and his family. I hope they're all getting some comfort through music and leaning on one another for support.

[Awesoman]

Hearing that he has dementia made me very sad, too. Really sad news for all Beach Boys fans, to know that he will never make another album, never be able to give concerts again.

Yeah it's unlikely we'll get much more from him.  Although he is slated to appear on that forthcoming Glen Campbell duets album as well as Fred Veil's country album.  Not sure when his parts were recorded (the Glen Campbell thing I believe was recorded after his last tour). 

[Shady]

I'm praying for the best

[HeyJude]

I made the mistake of going to The Beach Boys subreddit… some idiot is making jokes about Brian’s condition. Some people in this world are truly sick

Yeah, Reddit is a cesspool. With message boards being so rare these days, unfortunately there are times where Reddit is the only place to look up certain things on certain topics/areas of interest, and on occasion I've found niche subjects covered on Reddit by actual sane, normal people.

But on the whole, any given fandom/fan community/group of people sharing an interest are about a hundred times more annoying on Reddit. So many people who don't seem to actual *get* the thing that they profess to be such a huge fan of.

It's fascinating to see Reddit continue to be so popular while web-based message boards have died out, because Reddit is pretty much formatted the way *very old, ancient* message boards were in the earliest days of the web (see: Beach Boys Britain board up to the very end), with the threading in particular rendering it supremely taxing to even try to read.

[William Bowe]

It seems to me that if Brian had been diagnosed with dementia, the court filing would have said so -- not that he suffers a "major neurocognitive disorder (such as dementia)". Clearly the filing needs to establish a basis for a conservatorship to achieve its purpose, and the legal hurdle to be cleared is that his cognitive challenges be in the ballpark of dementia. Presumably it's for the courts to decide if that's the case, but the filing tells us only that Brian indeed has such challenges, a fact that's been obvious for decades.

[Wirestone]

It seems to me that if Brian had been diagnosed with dementia, the court filing would have said so -- not that he suffers a "major neurocognitive disorder (such as dementia)". Clearly the filing needs to establish a basis for a conservatorship to achieve its purpose, and the legal hurdle to be cleared is that his cognitive challenges be in the ballpark of dementia. Presumably it's for the courts to decide if that's the case, but the filing tells us only that Brian indeed has such challenges, a fact that's been obvious for decades.

William, I was much of your opinion, but it appears we're grasping at straws. Jean Sievers confirmed to the New York Times that Brian is indeed suffering from dementia. He is also taking Aricept, which is a daily treatment to slow the progression of Alzheimer's.

[guitarfool2002]

I made the mistake of going to The Beach Boys subreddit… some idiot is making jokes about Brian’s condition. Some people in this world are truly sick

Yeah, Reddit is a cesspool. With message boards being so rare these days, unfortunately there are times where Reddit is the only place to look up certain things on certain topics/areas of interest, and on occasion I've found niche subjects covered on Reddit by actual sane, normal people.

But on the whole, any given fandom/fan community/group of people sharing an interest are about a hundred times more annoying on Reddit. So many people who don't seem to actual *get* the thing that they profess to be such a huge fan of.

It's fascinating to see Reddit continue to be so popular while web-based message boards have died out, because Reddit is pretty much formatted the way *very old, ancient* message boards were in the earliest days of the web (see: Beach Boys Britain board up to the very end), with the threading in particular rendering it supremely taxing to even try to read.

I just wanted to resurrect this side topic because Reddit is set to go public this week with an initial public offering IPO to potential investors in an attempt to raise almost 800 million on a valuation of close to 6 and a half billion dollars. The killer app of Reddit obviously isn't the format or app itself, but the branding and umbrella-like control of the platform itself. No other online group discussion platforms had a brand identity like Reddit, where people could find any topic they were interested in discussing under the same brand umbrella. If you wanted to discuss the Beach Boys and then crypto currency and then how to fix a leaky faucet, you could search under Reddit and find groups and sub-groups to do just that. I rarely if ever even go on Reddit, I don't read the Beach Boys related Reddit groups at all except in rare cases when something newsworthy shows up, and I also find the platform itself antiquated as mentioned above.

But users don't care that it's closer to a 25 year old text format than other platforms, I think they want the convenience of finding all this discussion under one branded umbrella platform and the standards are also lesser than on smaller individual forum hosts and platforms in many cases which can appeal to a lower common denominator.

I think they basically created a Pet Rock and are running with it, obviously if this IPO is successful later this week, it would show that people out there prefer convenience over quality and content, but what else is new.

[juggler]

You know, I think it goes without saying that most everyone who reads this board has had our concerns and worries about Brian, especially after Melinda's death and the reports of dementia or a dementia-like condition... and I don't want to sugarcoat the seriousness of all that, but seeing Carnie post the following instagram today, I am once again reminded that BW, in addtion to being a musical hero, is the ultimate survivor...

Happy day 💕 Yesterday was my most favorite Easter I've ever had. I got to spend hours singing to my daddy, singing with my daddy, holding his hand, laughing eating...
It was the family together and all of us just cherishing our moments together... my soul is so happy today!!!

[Pretty Funky]

Eating! 
No change there then. He’s doing ok all things considered.

[MyDrKnowsItKeepsMeCalm]

That's great!

Reading between the lines, it sounds to me like she expected a VERY rough encounter with Brian -- likely for good reason, based on their shared past -- and that it went much better than she expected.

[juggler]

And there's Brian taking in a Laker game over the weekend..
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5hJsU9u8sf/?img_index=1

(it appears that David Leaf, Brent Wilson and Darian S were part of his retinue)

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Not gonna lie…it’s incredibly hard for me to see Brian like this. I know it happens to us all but that doesn’t make it any easier .

During my year long hiatus from the board, I experienced a number of personal setbacks , most of which I don’t care to go into publicly. One I will,  however, is the loss of my Aunt Dee, who raised me from childhood.  I barely knew my birth mother but Aunt Dee was my mother in every other way. She passed away just shy of turning 96 last March , and suffered from dementia the last few years of her life. I wouldn’t wish that on *anybody* , and to see one of my heroes in life currently dealing with this is harder on me than I can express.

[Shady]

Brian looks better than expected. I'm so happy to see him surrounded by loved ones and out having fun

[rab2591]

Not gonna lie…it’s incredibly hard for me to see Brian like this. I know it happens to us all but that doesn’t make it any easier .

During my year long hiatus from the board, I experienced a number of personal setbacks , most of which I don’t care to go into publicly. One I will,  however, is the loss of my Aunt Dee, who raised me from childhood.  I barely knew my birth mother but Aunt Dee was my mother in every other way. She passed away just shy of turning 96 last March , and suffered from dementia the last few years of her life. I wouldn’t wish that on *anybody* , and to see one of my heroes in life currently dealing with this is harder on me than I can express.

Hey Billy, very sorry for your loss, and I definitely feel what you're saying. Dementia is terrifyingly cruel, and it is absolutely hard to see loved ones go through that. I also wonder how Brian's other mental issues will affect him during a dementia "decline". But I'm happy knowing that he will be given the best care during these years, and I'm also so happy to see loved ones surrounding him.

Thank you, Juggler, for updating us with the Lakers post and Carnie's post. Really makes me happy that even through the worst hardship, Brian is still singing and enjoying life.

[Rocker]

Carnie Wilson Talks Singing Beach Boys Songs With Dad Brian Wilson After Conservatorship Filing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1abygPaCncw

[GoodVibrations33]

Thanks, Rocker.  Great find!

[Jim V.]

Oh, that was so heartening to read.

[rab2591]

Carnie Wilson Talks Singing Beach Boys Songs With Dad Brian Wilson After Conservatorship Filing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1abygPaCncw

Thanks so much for posting this. Steak, Mac-n-cheese, Dodgers games, and Be My Baby. What an awesome life update. Glad he's doing well!

[juggler]

The big guy is a survivor... and an inspiration.

[Zenobi]

There will never be another Brian Wilson.
And I am so happy for Carnie.