The Smiley Smile Message Board

I've seen allusions to this supposedely fateful encounter on this board, but never any details much less any kind of general picture of what went down. From what little I hear, it's an interesting story, but I can't find any descriptions online. Would anyone wiser than me care to explain? Or point me in the right direction? Or send me a PM letting me know I'm an idiot and nothing noteworthy happened and/or they never actually met?

Just a disclaimer, I'm not a Stamps basher, so if the story makes him look bad I'm not trying to hear about it to laugh at his expense or anything of that nature. I'm just genuinely curious.

John was still a regular on "General Hospital" when Dennis died, which was his first big break. I doubt they ever met. But if anyone says otherwise, I'd like to read about it, too.

I seem to recall that John Stamos tells the story himself in the Dennis Wilson: Forever DVD. I can't remember the exact details (I haven't watched it since I first got it) so apologies if it's not 100% accurate (I might have to dig it out and watch it again soon) but I seem to remember Stamos seeing Dennis about to leave at the end of a concert and so he ran over and put his hand on his shoulder and Dennis turned and shouted something at him and drove off.

don't talk (put your hand off my shoulder)

Dennis whispered into his ear:

"If every word I said could make you laugh I'd talk forever."

Then he inherited Dennis's soul.

Priceless!

From Ed Roach:

Back in the early 80's Stamos was on General Hospital.  He had the same pr firm, Rogers & Cowan, that represented The Boys.  There was a girl that worked there that was close with both Dennis & I, (surprise, surprise!), and she said that all Stamos ever talked about was how much he wanted to meet Dennis.  Well, she threw a party one night, and made me promise that I'd get Dennis there.
Unfortunately, it wasn't one of his better nights...  He had been drinking quite a bit, and was also going through a weird period where he was wearing a knife on his side at all times, which he was constantly practicing throwing.  I knew it wasn't a time for him to attend a party, but heck, I promised...  It wasn't just Stamos that he was rude to that night, either; I don't think anyone was too pleased with him by the time we left.  After that, I think John felt it was safer to gravitate over towards Mike Love.


http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,10725.msg199334.html#msg199334

Well...At least no one was stabbed.

Thanks for that info, I had not seen the other thread you referenced.

Sweet Jesus, Ghost of Dennis! Why did you have to be a prick to the young soap star?  Could have saved us a lot of  misery and bandwidth!

Even more creepy when you consider this is what Manson used to do.

Exactly!  It was a very bizarre time he was going through, when I think those days came back to haunt him.  He spent quite a bit of time throwing this buck knife at this wooden packing crate in Christine McVie's garage, only to find out later that he damaged a priceless work of art inside the crate!  It was awfully dangerous to be around, too.  At least half the times he threw it, the damn thing would come flying back, endangering anyone nearby

Things like this is why sometimes it's better to never meet your heroes.

On the other hand when I met Dennis in '78, and I'd certainly count him as a hero to me at that stage in my life, he was very kind, very engaging, even interested. I came away thinking he was truly human and caring, considering i was just some nobody long haired scruff he met out of the blue. But I guess Ed will attest it would totally depend on what day, or hour, you caught him on.

But when you go back and read The Lost Beach Boy, for instance ..... equating the knife tossing Dennis with the reckless, much younger guy in the book isn't such a leap.

Ed, it's always great to hear first hand accounts (and honest ones) from you about Dennis and his antics.  I can imagine if he was still here he'd post on this board and have a chuckle when thinking back to some of the 'crazy' stuff.

Thanks so much.  Think that this was the same party, (definitely the same friend's house), where Peter Yarrow was the first one we encountered, standing by the door drinking a white wine in a plastic cup.  We'd barely entered the room when Dennis asked him, "Wait, which one are you?  Mary???"  I knew right then that we were off to the races that night!

(giggle)

I just got the dvd in the mail today and your memory is correct  :).  Dennis yelled "Get your hand off my shoulder!" ah Dennis  :lol

Ya, I guess "Your results may vary." is the important phrase here.

  ;D

Reading this short thread, I gained much respect for John Stamos. Very nice of him to visit Dennis at the hospital. Thanks for cool stories!

RR, "General Hospital" is the name of the TV soap opera John Stamos was on. He met Dennis at a party. Unless you were being ironic. In which case, LOL!

I think the fact that Dennis turned up at the hospital drunk and with a knife, looking for Stamos, says a lot… am I following this right?

:lol

yea he was on that show before Full House

Stamos got the Beach Boys on his previous sitcom, the short-lived "You Again", circa 1986, and there the group actually had probably a more prominent "acting" part and plot involvement than they did on most of the "Full House" episodes.

Ironically, my recollection of the plot is that Stamos' character gets a chance to do a gig with the BB's, but can't read the sheet music or something.

I believe this pic is from that 1986 sitcom shoot; several years before their "debut" on "Full House."

(http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/9d/02/bc/9d02bca5cd0cf0d88890d57645ed37a9.jpg)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCHPlAwBVZE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY49qsNMlp0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHaU5_RCdbY

here's that episode of "You Again"

Was that the show with Jack Klugman? Where Kowalski broke his arm or something and they needed a replacement?  Whoever it was says "I know every note of every Beach Boys song", and Brian says "well, I don't, can you show me?" Then it turns out he can't read the charts and just starts banging away (which seemed odd, using charts for the drums).

Nothing much has changed then...  :dennis

:lol

The Boys and their so-called legacy were never heard from again after that showing.  ;)

Oh my, I haven't laughed so much in a looong time!  hahahah!   Thank you muchly Range Rover :)

I'm getting a mental image of the scene in Boogie Nights where the young up-and-coming star Johnny Doe eagerly and smilingly meets the busted-out and substance addicted superstar Dirk Diggler, and Dirk coldly gives him the brush-off, perhaps out of a bit of jealousy and just not wanting to be bothered with the young guy. Not that this seems to be how Dennis is typically portrayed, but maybe this was a really bad night for Dennis at a particuarly low ebb for him, and Stamos may have come off as annoying. If only Dennis knew the young, mulleted, soon-to-be superstar he was meeting would be singing Forever on an actual BB album in 10 short years.

None of Stamos' scenes was scripted. This is a firsthand account of his first time playing with the band.

John Stamos gets a bad wrap from a lot of Beach Boys fans. I will be the first to say, he seems to be a poster child of some of the cheesy things the Beach Boys have done since the 80s. He also may have turned a classic song into a cringe worthy one. Having said that, how many of us wouldn't trade places with him? I bet most of us spare fans would love to be in his shoes! He also seems like a good guy. Perhaps he would be a great guy to meet because he's not my hero :)

I do wonder how many people became fans of the Boys because of Stamos. Sure, a lot of us balk at the Full House Beach Boys clips, but many were drawn in by them: I have friends who love Stamos' version of Forever, and I'm sure it has made them appreciate the Beach Boys a bit more. I've complained about the guy in the past, but he's probably made many people fans along the way...and that is nothing but commendable.

See I'm not sure about fans.  Did he make them like that one song, yes? Go to 1 concert, yes? But actual fans I'm not so sure.

I guess it depends on how you define a fan. If they went out and bought a 'Best of' compilation because of what they heard off of 'Full House' or something, it's worth it imo.

And don't get me wrong, I actually like the kid, (although my wife says he is way too old for me to call him that anymore), and you've got to admire the whole new generation that he has helped turn on to The Beach Boys music.  Jon Stebbins and I have had some really fun times together with him.  Actually, I was very saddened by Dennis' treatment of him that night, and tried to convey that to Dennis, although we probably had a hell of a laugh about how absurdly he had behaved, once we hit the streets...

I like in the "You Again" clip how Carl gets annoyed at Stamos' character that he can't read the arrangement. "Hold it, hold it, who wrote THAT? Matt, try it as written."

Carl the perfectionist on stage, even in faction.

If you are not sure if something is distasteful you just have to look at EPE/Graceland. They know how to do that....

Stamos is probably a nice guy. The problem is not him but how everybody else is kissing his a$$. Deservedly or not, he's one of the signboards of the sketchy, meritless parts of showbusiness....and unfortunately so are the Beach Boys since at least after Kokomo. And EPE is doing everything to keep Elvis in that same corner.

.