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Wow, well I called it. I just knew someone was gonna come out of the woodwork to defend Landy. It is his son, so it's more understandable.

Revisionist history, my ass. He's just pissed off that his dear old dad is getting a well-deserved posthumous sh*t kicking.

:lol at some of those pictures. Landy-spawn looks like should be driving a brown windowless van engaged in highspeed chase with Chris Hansen.

Who cares what he has to say, would you expect him to sh*t on his dad?
But yeah, LOTS of pictures. Worth having the article just for that.

While I can understand (while still disagreeing with most aspects of) Evan's point of view, I'd like to know how he would address the fact (it is a documented fact, right?) that Gene Landy tried to become the chief beneficiary of Brian's will. I'd like to know how Evan would say that the opportunist and scumbag label could NOT be applied to someone who did that.

Maybe his view is that such an action was simply one of Gene's admitted "flaws", but that many other things he did were not ill-intended. But the will topic was perhaps not-so-coincidentally completely overlooked in the article.

Exactly.

The funny part is... notice that current day picture of Evan has him wearing his hair in just about the same manner Brian does, with a very similar pose (and shirt).

He weirdly looks kind of like Brian.  :o

(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/06/03/22/294E28A300000578-0-image-m-71_1433365714817.jpg)

Well, at least we got some new photos for the picture thread!

Aye, some fantastic pictures. This is the most eerily 60s I've ever seen 80s Brian...

(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/06/04/00/29561F8A00000578-0-image-a-87_1433373436370.jpg)

(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/06/03/21/294E29DF00000578-0-image-a-63_1433363400682.jpg)

Ask Gig Young and his wife how helpful Landy was. Or Maureen McCormick.

Does he simply deny it happened? Does he believe whatever horseshit he was fed to explain that away? Imagine growing up Landy's son, this poor guy HAD to have been mindfucked six ways to sunday, what a bizarre man to grow up under the shadow of. He must have a lifetime of issues. But that will thing is epic scumbaggery: If you're reading this, Evan -- what about the will?

Actually, come to think of it: if you're reading this, maybe f*** off for a bit. You're only gonna dig a deeper hole. Lay low. Pretend you're named after Tandy computers.

As I see all these 80's pics of Brian, I am reminded of how wrong Cusack is to play Brian. For one thing, he lacks Brian's great head of hair. I wish I had Brian's hair, but nature has cursed me with Cusack's receding hairline.

Yeah, I thought so too before watching the film: but he does his homework and really delivers acting-wise. After a while you don't notice and certainly don't want a huge wig on him.

sh*t, I got cursed with Mike's hair!

More bullshit timed to distract. Ignore it. Buy a ticket and watch the movie.

Has Evan Landy seen the film, or just the trailers? Whatever, I can fully understand though why a son sold defend his dad and have a different perspective … whether it is skewed of not, we have to consider that he was there throughout this period, and we - most of us at least, I'm assuming? - were not.

It occurs that Landy's own life would make for an amazing biopic.

I think that Evan Landy's voice deserves to be heard, but not through the Daily Mail, which is the sleaziest of British tabloids.

Really ?  I think all of them can go to f...king hell where they belong.  You can quote me on that

In a way, we got part of it with this film.

From *every* account aside from Evan and Alexandra Morgan....this film hits the nail on the head (and some have said the real thing was even worse).

I'm buying 3, but gotta wait til payday next week. I go to the movies maybe once every couple of years (the last three movies I've seen in the theater were the Robocop remake, Despicable Me 2, and Terminator Salvation) but going to make an exception here.

A sentiment held by many Ray.

How many different perspectives could there be worth hearing when an issue here involved writing a patient's family and estate out of that patient's will and trying to replace it with the doctor as beneficiary?

I mean, there reaches a point in basic human interaction where certain misbehavior and negligence stops being worthy of anything except contempt. I thought the Landy issue in general had reached that level universally until this board.

And the timing of this is about as transparent as saran wrap.

Another question I'd love to ask Evan...

what the deuce was up with your dear old dad drugging and then raping at least one of his other patients?

I was " interrogated " three times by that f---ng charlatan. No quarter.

Man, that must've sucked. How you kept from beating the living sh*t out of him, I'll never know.

Hard not to feel sorry for Evan a tad, he wasn't responsible for his dad's awful behaviour. It does seem that Evan considered Brian a good friend despite the weird set up. Evan, if your dad had walked away from Brian once he was back on his feet and healthy again and left him free to live his own life, he would be considered a hero today. But he didn't, he sunk his claws into the guy and tried to bleed him for everything he could.

I dunno...I get a bit creeped out by his seeming attempt at looking & dressing like Brian. I get a 'Single White Female' (the movie, not an actual SWF) vibe from him.

With the possible exception of Gary Usher, I've yet to hear one positive thing about Evan from people who were around back then, either, although in all fairness he was in his 20s at the time and might have grown as a person.

Evan has a right to voice his opinion, and to defend his father. Problem is, said father's actions are almost entirely indefensible. Yes, Landy saved Brian's life in 1982. However doing that does not confer the right to then assume control of that life, to the point of then almost killing Brian with the meds he totally illegally prescribed.

I'm with Ray on this one, as any right-minded human should be.

And yeah, that pose is creepy: no way that's accidental.

You can take everything Evan Landy says here at total face value (and I don't doubt quite a lot of it is true), but it's worth pointing out that, read closely, none of it negates or rebuts the bad allegations concerning his dad.  It's a perspective (and certainly one worth being aired), perhaps if you want to be charitable it's added context, but it is not a defense.

Call it whatever, it's bullshit.

"Evan said: 'I'm sure the movie doesn't tell things like Van Dyke Parks giving him heroin… that's what Brian told me. Or the William Morris agent who gave him acid before he went on stage.""

Anyone else agree that this sounds like a scene from a certain 2000 mini-series ? Maybe I'm naive but I cannot believe VDP ever did that. Speed, pot, acid, yes, that's documented... but smack ? If Brian told him, then sure as hell he told dad, and I cannot imagine EEL keeping quiet about that.

"I think the occasional marijuana usage was kind of prevalent at the time, but I don't remember seeing Brian do anything else."

True, but the context was that, if Brian had been a "good boy" that day, Landy allowed him one joint in the evening.

Is it known if VDP himself ever used heroin, or had reason to be around it?

To my knowledge, no. I'm not the biggest VDP fan by far (putting it mildly...his music ranks around Caitlin Bruce Johnston's for me) , but I can't imagine it ever happening, not even once.

There are at least two interviews I've seen/heard where VDP admits to having a substance addiction during the latter half of the 1970s but I'm not sure if anything specific was named beyond 'prescription drugs'. Heroin? Who knows. None of us were there. It doesn't matter anyway.

Cocaine? I can see.  Can't picture any downers, though.

So... you'd be cool if someone accused you of supplying heroin to a friend on a national newspaper's website ? If that were me, yes, it would matter, and I suspect VDP will have something to say.

I'm pretty sure he meant that it doesn't(or shouldn't) matter to us, the mere fans who weren't there.

That's how I took it too. At the end of the day, it's none of our business.


That said, if Parks reads it (the article), I imagine he'll be hitting the roof, and Evan will be victimized by some buffoonery pretty quickly.


Heh....I just pictured VDP beating the sh*t out of him  while saying his usual, like 'Over and Over the Crow flies while I kicketh thy ass'. :lol Apples would be HIS last name :lol

Something's gotten into you tonight, Billy.  >:D

I'm actually running a fever and generally feel like sh*t so just trying to amuse myself!

Peter Carlin said it best in his book.

Eugene Landy saved Brian Wilson's life. And after having done so, he proceeded to make it a complete mess.

Hi Ray, didn't mean to hit a nerve and bow your experience. As a fan of Brian and the band I'm just always keen to read/learn more.

Andrew, the heroin ref surprised me too; seems highly unlikely and possibly libellous.

This is though the Daily MAil's usual attempt to skewer someone in the limelight, no matter how far they've come from their lowest points. They've done it before with the Beach Boys and I don't dont they'll do it again. I would like to read an interview with Evan that's properly back-researched, that queries any conflicting assertions and is balanced by even one word from any other qualified observer.

Yes, Evan's sudden emergence and the publication of this interview are opportunism but I suspect that's more on the part of the Mail (or its stringer) than on Evan himself. The paper trades in muck.

Right... You don't think Evan was shopping his little stories around to the highest bidder in time for the movie premiere? How naive... they don't just trade in muck, they BUY it from shitheels other newspapers won't go near with a ten foot pole. Good luck with the balance.

The way to handle it would have been to say an emphatic "No." when approached by the publication for an interview if that's the out he's being offered. Instead, it's this crap that got published...perfectly timed, no less. It stinks.

Sorry …

Maybe you can become his special pen pal friend and get all kinds of great stories from him! You can find out why his dad wanted to steal most of Brian Wilson's estate and how it was for good reasons. I betcha $500 will get you in the door. Make no mistake: $$ was involved and the likes of the Daily Mail are the only creeps that would bite. So far.

I've said it before and I'll say it again...Landy did NOT save Brian's life. The people that HIRED Landy to help Brian saved Brian from becoming the next Elvis. Had a LEGITIMATE DOCTOR and his/her staff been hired to help Brian, then maybe Brian would not be suffering a lot of the problems he has today.

Threads that bash people really serve no purpose. I don't even like to get involved in threads that bash Murry... but Landy was a horrid money grubbing egotistical freak that used a "patient" with severe mental and substance abuse problems to make himself rich and famous. It does not get much lower than that. Any long time Beach Boy fan that lived through the Landy years could see exactly what was going by about 1986. It was infuriating to watch.

Dude....having known John here for years,  unless I am completely wrong....I don't think he meant it as a defense of Evan. Relax, ok?

Paul,  I agree

$500 ? Not even necessary, show up with a photog, a digital voice recorder, and a crisp 100 and you'll get all the scoops the readers would want. The results can go next to the "Elvis Found Living In Butte Montana!" tabloid cover and the horoscope mini-books in the checkout line at Piggly Wiggly.

Man, don't be such a prick. Right or wrong when there is more than one person involved, there is always more than one side to a story. You don't have to agree with, but if he wants to give his side then he should be able to. Had this all gone to trial, I'll bet they would have called him to testify.

Who are you, and what is your gripe with me? Real name, mind…

Same difference. Can't speak for anyone else here, but I happen to care about Brian's well-being, past, present & future. Applying this ludicrous ruling rigorously, doesn't matter that Landy damn near killed Brian, because we mere fans weren't there. Anyone else here believe that's OK ?

Thought not. Christ on a tandem, I may be arrogant, dismissive, condescending and have an ego that demands frequent massaging, but I don't spout complete bollocks like that.  :o

How about you tell us who you really are, for a starting point ? Secondly, looks to me like someone's touched a nerve. But real name first, please. Actually, there's a few others here I'd like to pull the mask away from. Some smell rats, I smell moles.

Some stories just don't have much of a reason if any at all to want to hear "the other side" because the facts and truth are so egregious and disturbing. In this case, this doctor's patient could have been half a step away from losing his life on any given day thanks to the doctor's regimen of over-medication and bizarre exercise routines monitored by hired goons, and in this case the doctor's patient could have unwillingly signed away his entire estate through a will that would have been changed to have the doctor and *his* family as the beneficiaries rather than the patient's own family and heirs.


Now can it be understood why a lot of people who care about Brian Wilson if only on the level of a fan who got a lot of joy from his music and is happy to see him still alive and making music after all of this happened might think hearing the doctor's "side" of this story amounts to a total crock of sh*t?

Andrew smells rats and moles! Well, this should be interesting. Almost as interesting as both of you pulling this move simultaneously.

"Weird, wild stuff..."

I'm not disputing that what went on was criminal, appalling and horrific. I've read the Gary Usher tapes transcripts. I've read what Ray has shared here. It all adds up to something unequivocal. I don't see how that should prevent anyone wanting to read more, and wanting to understand more.

Ontor's tone comes across as offensive and I'm not sure why he/she decided he/shehad a beef with me. If he/she is an insider with insight to offer I'd be delighted to learn of his/her credentials, and to learn from what he/she has to offer.

Who has a beef with you? I just think Evan Landy is sleazy and so is the Daily Mail. What his dad did is indefensible. They had plenty of time to get "their side of the story" out. They failed. Repeatedly. The story is one of sadness, greed, and ego. I know fans love getting all the facts, but it's hardly surprising that some Brian Wilson fans don't care much for the Landy family.

I am sorry tho if it seemed personal or I was attacking you. Just your ideas of "balance" or thinking it was more on the Daily Mail than Evan. I doubt it, that's all.

yours truly,
Ratty J. Mole (Mr./Mrs.)

John, he thinks he is morally superior to everyone else in here. Not the first time he's used his sarcasm to make his point. Seriously, I don't think he knows how to communicate without being sarcastic.

Morally superior? C'mon, we're all more than a bit goofy here and I'm a LOT more self-deprecating than most. No need to pile on in defense of... Evan Landy? Really? Way to go, guys. Great flag to rally behind. Nice job trying to bait me tho, fellas.

It may be a croc of sh*t, and personally I do believe it to be so, but if the guy wants to talk and someone is willing to print it, then he should be able to tell his story. And people who believe that way shouldn't be ostracized for it in here. It is generally the way things are done when one wants to get the total story.

I am not defending Evan Landy. You do this sort of thing in every thread that you participate in. Your sarcasm is not always funny. Maybe you should use it a bit more judiciously.

Well said.

No one's defending E. Landy…

I just wanna say this: Landy was a criminal.

That’s a word that never seems to be used when discussing him, there’s “unorthodox,” “star-seeking,” and ”flawed” -- all true, but he was a criminal. And all the people who profited from Brian during that time with the free meals, the SIXTEEN (therapeutic?) trips to Hawaii, the housing, the cars, the tickets, the private planes, the salaries --- which I’m guessing probably included some type of insurance benefits, as well. . . .  are ALL CRIMINALS.

They all should've ended up in prison.

I’m not saying that the Landy folk aren’t as delusional as he was, I’m just saying they’re all criminals like he was. Look at Brian on The Tonight Show in ’84 -- which is when Landy should’ve begun stepping down and compare that to the Diane Sawyer interview. Evan Landy was aware of EVERYTHING. Make no mistake. These people around Landy perpetrated a decade-long crime.

And I'm pretty sure that if this doctor that loved Brian so much (are doctors supposed to "love" their clients?) hadn't made it near impossible to extricate Brian from his "practice," that far more serious charges would've been lobbied at Landy and his co-horts (who got off scot-free). I think freedom was primary motive at the time, but in 2015 the ending of Landy would've only been the beginning of countless fraud and malpractice suits that would've dragged on for a decade.

By the way, to end the ongoing argument about "revisionism," one could also say there are “two sides” to every rape, too.

John, you're certainly defending his talking to the fuckin' DAILY MAIL and want to hear more from this parasite. Howie is right.

You guys can go merrily on attacking me and trying to play moderator or CIA chief, it comes off as faintly ridiculous considering the subject matter... but Landy was scum and his son profited from his crimes... and abetted them. I am sorry if anyone feels ostracized by my saying that.

And he/they waited until the very weekend the film is being released to "set the record straight"? People reading this stuff aren't that naive. It's not about getting the total story in this case. The total absence of anything regarding the Landy team's efforts to change the will in this interview says it all. If getting the total story was the goal, surely that key point would have at least come up...but again, that wasn't the point and usually never is in these kinds of publications. If that fact had been written or asked in that article, anyone reading it would have immediately seen the bullshit apart from the physical health issues which were even more egregious.

In other words, ask the question about the doctor changing the will and every point or attempt to tell another side of the story that would follow would collapse. No matter how much of a positive spin you'd want to put on the story, some points are the nuclear bombs that wipe everything else off the map.

Read my posts again in relation to the Daily Mail.

The Landy family are really bad people from what they did to BW.

Yes, I don't agree with them. I think Evan Landy sold "his side" to the Daily Mail to cash in on the movie. But what do you expect from bottomfeeders? An apology for his dad trying to steal most of BW's estate?

Okay, I'm done.

Thinks he's morally superior... uses sarcasm ? Goddamit, that my job !!

Speaking of your job, what's the deal with both of you guys demanding my name, Andrew? We've PMed. I sign off with my name. Why, the first name is even easy to remember since it's yours without the w!

 It's a click away from this post. It's been used on the forum a few times.  It's on every video I've done.

Moles? Rats? Help me try to understand what you're trying to do here or who you think I secretly am. It's kinda weird.

(Over EVAN LANDY? REALLY?!?!)

Howie; perfectly stated.

I think the BBs money machine as the real criminals in putting BW back with Landy. They had to get BW to make them money at all costs instead of taking him to a real doctor for help.

I am curious to know what lengths that Brian's family did (and didn't) do to get Brian to a real, actual doctor pre-Landy I or pre-Landy II. I know there was the other doctor who died in the rock-climbing accident, but not sure what other means they tried. Melinda mentioned on Larry King years ago how the family should have taken him to UCLA when they were literally only miles away; she's right, and I do wonder why that didn't actually happen. I would absolutely tend to think ignorance or naivete was the cause for that, as opposed to any greedy motives.

Here's a question... has Landy or anyone in the Landy camp ever been asked on record about the attempt to change the will? And that is a matter of public record, right? How and when did that information about the attempted will-changing come to light?

There's that awkwardly excruciating moment on the 20/20 Landy/Brian interview where Landy sorta clams up when he is vaguely accused of inappropriate activity, but I wonder if the will issue was ever specifically asked about. How could someone involved with Landy possibly reply to a query about that action?  

The will-changing really is the smoking gun. Lots of the other things can be explained and defended in some fashion, blamed on others, stated to be a side effect of the time in which the events occurred, etc... but not sure how the will thing could be explained in any way, shape or form.

I agree that there were degrees of both family care and financial motives in that decision. But it was a mistake to give Landy full power over BW's life.

That's just the point, there is no reply and there couldn't be a reply because it's the nuclear bomb point that wipes everything else off the map. All the attempts to tell the other side of the story, "set the record straight", paint a more sympathetic picture of the whole scene and those involved...it all gets wiped out by that one issue. That's why it's not even hinted at in this article, if it were the whole article would be rendered useless and pointless. Or to use another word, it would read like bullshit.

Not one person here believes differently. I could care less if Evan ever spoke to anyone, but he did. Since he is not in jail and no charges were brought against him, he can talk to whomever he wants about it. If you really don't care to know what he has to say, then you don't read it.

As for you personally, I don't like you, plain & simple. You use sarcasm as your only means to communicate. John, nor anyone else should be addressed that way. Whether you agree or disagree with what is written, attacking the person is not not the way to handle it. You say you weren't doing that, but he and I at least saw it differently.

Somebody should screenshot Landy's face when Sawyer asks him the million dollar question. The guy was caught red handed on national TV!

I think it's way too adventurous (and disrespectful) to guess any intention from his family other than Brian's well-being. That it was a mistake, and that Brian remained poorly treated and mis-diagnozed before and after Landy is no secret. It is also likely that if Brian had stayed healthy all his life, he would have been more productive musically. But to guess that his family came up with the easy way out in order to keep the money machine working is too simplistic and unfair.

A fresh pair of eyes can take a different approach.  They look in all directions.  It  is why second opinions are now widely used, and in some cases, even required.  People tended to believe people who called themselves docs, even if not MD's.  

What is clear is that there were huge breaches in ethics on the psychologist's part.  In that era, less was known about treatment and families were desperate for care.  He talked a good game to be hired.  It is unwise to use a lens from 2015 to apply to a 1965 problem. It is like relying on cancer treatment from 1965 instead of 2015.

We go forward, not backwards.  

Enough with the tedious baiting, doc. It doesn't suit you. If you can point out a personal attack I've made you can go right ahead and report it to the mods, otherwise stop pretending you have any sort of authority or standing to lecture me. It just seems like you're just piling on because you "don't like me, plain & simple." Newsflash: literally no one cares. Not even enough to respond similarly. You're not going to succeed in getting me remotely angry or saying anything that will get me banned, you know. Cheers and enjoy the movie this weekend, it's pretty neat.

It's a good time to be a Wilson fan, I dunno what all this wallowing in the muck is in aid of. Scores to settle, by the sound of it. NOW WHO ARE YOU?!!! WHAT'S YOUR REAL NAME! WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR? YOU TOO! AND YOU OVER THERE! TELL ME WHO YOU ARE!

It is such, such an awkward kid-with-hands-in-the-cookie-jar moment for a guy who was pushing 60 at the time. What a yutz!!

Landy was not a ethical doctor by any decade's standards, the BBs were blinded by his "doctor to the stars" promo machine instead of doing real work to find a real doctor to help BW. Landy was just another creep in a long line of them from 1970s LA.

Totally agreed. I would just like someone on Team Landy to be asked about the will in an official capacity, just to see their facial expression or to hear an "explanation", since it will only serve to bury their cause even further. Maybe the explanation would be that he did a very, very shitty thing, but that he still had some good intentions too. That's a tough, if not near-impossible idea to reconcile.

Sorry for repeating myself, but in case anyone knows, I'd be very curious to know when the will-change attempt actually happened on the Brian-Landy timeline, and when this info came to light, both publicly, as well as privately to the family. That incident seems to be specifically what helped get the courts to take action, right? Because it obviously wreaked of indefensible and absolutely illegal scumbaggery, as opposed to other Landy actions which could possibly have been "spun" in a more positive light in a court of law.

It was their unwillingness to face the problem and deal with it. Brian should have been committed in the early 80s by his family. Any number of decent rehab centers or psychiatric units could have dealt with Brian and treated him successfully.
 I always sigh whenever I read a 'only Landy could cure Brian' type comment. WTF? As horrific as Brian's issues were, they were still relatively moderate on the totum pole of mental illness. There are people out there with mental health problems waaaaaaaay beyond the scale of what Brian suffered/suffers.
That even a charlatan such as Landy could get Brian back to a relatively funtioning state in a matter of months just shows how treatable Brian's condition was.
That's the biggest tragedy of all this - how easily it could have been avoided.

I ain't lecturing you, I'm telling you flat out that you are a sarcastic and you hide behind behind it at every opportunity so you can weasel your way out when people call you out. Well, now we know how we feel, eh? No piling on here. Just remember that your sarcasm brought this all on and nothing more. Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Do you think it was just them being in denial that it was on the level of needing that type of full-on committing? It's tough to judge people for stuff like this, and I'm not trying to place blame, only to get a better understanding of the whole situation as best we can using common sense as outsiders, 35+ years on.

I think it's much more likely that the jurnos at the Mail didn't do their research and had no knowledge of the will issue, rather then them trying to deliberately paint a one sided picture. Certainly Evan wasn't going to bring it up unprompted......

Weasels, rats, moles... any other critters you guys need to compare me to for thinking Landy was scum and his son is a douchebag for selling his story to literally THE WORST NEWSPAPER ON THE PLANET?

 Nice try making it about me, tho.

I remember back when Brian & Melinda were on Larry King, I think, and she said something that always stuck with me. She said she never understood why Brian was sent to Landy. That the best help for him was right there in L.A.. That some of the finest Psychiatric doctors and hospitals were right there. There where Brian is treated now. It does make you wonder why they sought out Landy, not once, but twice. In hindsight, it really makes you wonder what the reasoning was in choosing him over real medical doctors.

I think it was awful that someone may have paid him to do that, but they did. Not the point though. Let's say though, that if this movie really takes off and some journalist wants to pursue the story further, they are going to go to him to get that side of the story. I would be interested to see what he had to say. I doubt that I'd a believe a word of it, but I'm interested to see what possible spin he could put on the heinous things that happened.

One good thing that came from this is all the previously-unseen Brian photos.

This makes me wonder... what happened to the copious amounts of videos of Brian from this time? Wasn't everything filmed daily? There must be thousands of hours of footage. Not that this private footage should be seen by the public, but at the same time, from a historical perspective, I hope it wasn't just destroyed.

We'd have to find all the former employees and ask where the cameras were set down.

Smile Brian - At that time, they did the best they could, in their defense. That is pretty blaming and judgmental on your part.  

Marilyn and the family/band did the best they could.  Back-in-the-day, people didn't question doctors, the way they do now. Melinda was in the right place at the right time, with a fresh perspective and great instincts to take-the-bull-by-the-horns, against a bully. I happen to think that God puts people in the exact place they need to be, at exactly the right time.

Those "Evan" photos tell an interesting tale.  One where doc Landy tried to substitute a real "family" with his "surrogates."

And, notwithstanding Brian's body of work, and the music story, a real public service message, to everyone will be, "to trust your instincts" if you think a family member is being exploited by a medical person, scream loudly and get your family member or friend out of a predator's clutches.  

When someone cuts off all family/friend contact; there is a big problem. Melinda trusted her gut.

That would be the power of Melinda Wilson, to extricate a vulnerable loved one from peril.

And the indirect public benefit of this film...Act in the face of a bully.  ;)

Well said, Howie.

VDP responds to the heroin claim: "The Plot Thins. Diluted by delusion."

One thing in the timeline to consider - There were red flags being raised about Landy in 1988, prior to the first BW solo album being released. A state board in California that monitors and oversees medical practices and doctors filed formal charges against Landy stemming from complaints of a female patient who testified she had been drugged (cocaine, not prescription meds) and taken advantage of by Landy. Along with that, the California board who filed the charges alleged other misdeeds by Landy regarding a patient who was a multimillionaire rock star, mentioning also financial misdeeds and psychological control issues. Landy denied it, but in a deposition related to these claims, he did not answer directly and instead repeatedly plead the 5th, which as we all know is to avoid self-incrimination. So consider that a red flag or an outright dodge, either way the warning signs were there in 1988 in the California legal system.

It has been public knowledge about the will being discovered that would have shifted the bulk of Brian's estate to Landy and his interests effectively shutting out Brian's own family and heirs. There are interviews and articles just this week mentioning that. So at some point there seems to have been a lot of red flags being raised on several fronts, not to mention the fees Landy was charging and those little asides like writing himself into Brian's publishing and royalty payments.

So at any point a reporter or journalist taking notes on an interview would have more than enough knowledge to ask some of these questions if an article like the one above were being worked on for publication. And as already mentioned, the issue of the will alone if written in an article like this would render every other point useless because anyone with half an ounce of common sense would see the problems when a doctor starts changing the will of a patient to include that doctor and his family/associates in that estate. That no matter how you spin it is wrong on the most basic levels.

Maybe doctors weren't questioned or challenged as a societal thing but when a California medical oversight board and the courts got involved, that would seem to be a pretty big warning sign that something may need to be looked at a little more closely regarding his actions as a licensed professional being paid a very large fee to treat a patient.

That's exactly the kind of stuff the Daily Mail… well, a newspaper perhaps… should be putting to anyone from the Landy camp and others who were around when Landy was hired.

Great post, very informative. Amazing that Landy went on with Brian as along as he did. Thank you.

I think if Brian was examined by, as you describe, real medical doctors, there is a good chance he would've been admitted to a rehab facility or a psychiatric hospital, or both. I am in no way judging Brian's family because I didn't walk in their shoes, but I think that they just couldn't face Brian being institutionalized (for a lot of reasons), so they brought the hospital TO Brian.

The only thing that throws a monkey wrench into my theory is that Brian WAS institutionalized for brief periods of time (in 1968 and 1978), so why not in 1975 and 1982? Maybe he was much more seriously ill and would've required a much longer, intense stay, and they (his family) couldn't face that. Again, not judging them.

Is that what happened when Melinda took him there? Yes, I am not judging either. It just struck me odd when she said that. It sounded like a very reasonable thing that could have been done. In hindsight, it definitely would have been better for Brian.

Maybe everyone realized that Brian wouldn't stay in a rehab facility. Remember Dennis boltsed from his. I think at the time all involved thought that they were doing the right thing for Brian.

That's a tough one to answer, because I really don't want to go there. If I did, it would appear that I WAS judging Marilyn and Carl and others who were making the decisions, and I won't judge them.

In the case of Melinda, I think - repeat think - that there were two distinct differences. First, she was twenty years removed (mid-1970's to mid-1990's) from the "times" that Marilyn was living in, meaning that we knew more about drug rehab and mental illness. So Melinda had that advantage. But, it also appeared that Melinda was maybe more sophisticated or more "bottom line", and wasn't necessarily concerned about the negative stigma attached to drug rehab/mental illness. And, again, that's not a shot at Brian's 1970's/80's family.

I am sure they were thinking that way. It did kind of work the first time around.

You are right, there was a stigma attached to it back then. Could be too that he wasn't diagnosed with same illness as he was in mid-1990's too.

Agreed.


Both times, he was brought out early because of label commitments. That said, the 1968 stay has always mystified me. Several people said BW came out 'changed', but no idea what happened to actually require him to be institutionalized in the first place, when (like you pointed out) he was worse off later and WASN'T put in hospital. There's obviously a lot that none of us know.

It's easy to assume that he waited until '68 to figure out where the voices in his head were coming from.

The hell?!

If he started to receive auditory hallucinations in mid-'65 and they only occurred once in a while (did he say once every few weeks?) you also have to take in account all the confusion of that era, the obvious stresses he had, and also the stigma of mental illness. So, about three years seems like just enough time to procrastinate.

It may have been more important to BW that he fulfill his obligations to Capitol and not get hung up in psychiatric care. Of the Smiley Smile era, he said that he believed he had no more paranoia feelings left. He may have been proved wrong by the early months of '68.

Ahhh...ok....that makes sense to me now.

Love & Mercy: The Sequel
"Evan Landy mesmerizes as older Brian Wilson"

With that hairstyle, also looks a tad like Kim Jong Un.

:lol

Boy, oh boy. Couple of thoughts on this....

Incredibly sloppy journalism. Nothing new to see here. Just about everything Evan presents as the other side has already been told on multiple occasions. And, most of it is probably true. But, just about all of his examples of rebuttal occurred between 1982 and 1986, it seems.

The point of "Love and Mercy" is not to merely accuse Landy of such acts as throwing water on BW to get him out of bed. Anybody who believes that's the message of this film is very, very ignorant. It's the overall emotional, mental, and fiduciary abuse of someone in a position of authority and bound by ethical standards. We don't need to hear from Evan Landy to defend Landy against padlocking a refrigerator. How stupid. In addition, the photos are kind neat, but they are by no means any kind of smoking gun.

I am wondering about the genesis of this article. Did Evan reach out for some rebuttal publicity, or did the Mail track him down?  If the Mail initiated this, then they should have forked over a few bucks for the Wilson Project for a little primer, or at least found copies of the 1988 sanctions against Landy.....or at the very least, checked out the Diane Sawyer 1991 interviews on You Tube? In that event, maybe little Evan is just trying to remember the good stuff and not trouble himself with the unpleasant details of revising BW's will, among other things.

If Evan initiated this press, then by all means, he should be swiftly attacked and reminded from all quarters how much of a douche bag his dad and Alexandra are. And, from where I sit, VDP should be calling his attorney, because what Evan said is as actionable as it gets.

But overall, I was amazed that any news outlet would consider this a plausible response to the movie.

Well said, John!

Point of perspective: Carl died the member of a cult.

The Wilsons don't have a great track record in terms of recognizing charlatans.

John-Roger was every bit as despicable as Landy.

Dennis' association with Manson comes to mind also, although that got way out of hand early on.

I wonder the effect Roger had on Carl.

Wait....what?

He was a follower of John-Roger, the leader of a group called the Movement of Inner Spiritual Awareness. (Since we're all Daily Mail based in this thread, here's a story from the paper dredging up the worst of it: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2803264/MSIA-founder-Roger-Delano-Hinkins-dies-age-80.html.)

Carl wrote "Where I Belong" about him.

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

Holy sh*t

Pardon the pun

I'm going to pretend "Where I Belong" is about something else.... Maybe one of Al's horses or something.....

Yeah, seriously. I kinda wish I didn't know that. Ignorance is bliss sometimes. That John-Roger seems like a creepazoid to the max.

And I really don't mean to badmouth Carl -- or John-Roger for that matter, who by all accounts was better than, say, L. Ron Hubbard. It's just to point out that this is the level-headed "sane" Wilson brother we're talking about.

I think it's safe to say that there was a tendency for members of the group to look to a strong outside force to solve all their problems. Mike and the maharishi, the Wilsons with Jack Reilly, Landy, etc., etc. That's how they saw their lives and careers. Find a guy who knows what he's doing, and leave it to him. There's an expectation that someone else will know better, that someone else has it all figured out. Given that most of them became famous and wealthy in their teens (or shortly out of them), the BBs have never known a regular adult life, one in which you have to make tough decisions on your own, all the time.

The treatment approach Brian would have arguably benefited the most from -- a team-based approach with minimal medication, centered on Brian's needs and no one else's -- was anathema to them. Heck, it was probably anathema to him.

Truth. That last paragraph really sums it up.

Murry's management of the group and his role as an overbearing father could have been a reason for this as well.

No doubt about it.

Landy's mismanagement of powerful psychotropics nearly killed Brian more than once. He was using them to control Brian...and  they were very toxic when combined with others he was taking. Those are not the actions of an ethical professional.

I second that Peter.
As I have said before, he is still not dead enough for me

Peter and Ray....thank you both for keeping this drumbeat going about EEL. I was just on a Facebook forum setting the record straight for some relatively new fans that still buy the WIBN book version of him.

About John-Roger, I did some research on him a few years ago, and boy...what a nut job he was. The difference, however, between J-R and Landy was that Landy had a diploma and alphabet soup at the end of his name to make it appear he was not a nut job. Too bad that some people are still buying it.

And, I don't want my phone tapped and pets stolen and killed, so I will have no comment about L. Ron Hubbard or Scientology.

http://nypost.com/2015/06/04/how-one-quack-doctor-almost-destroyed-brian-wilsons-career/
Article about Landy, w/ comments from Brian & Melinda.

Melinda mentions that she'd let her mom know when she would go to talk to Landy. I think her mother was supposed to be portrayed in L&M. There's an article from 2013 at Deadline.com saying that Kathy Baker was cast as Rosemary Ledbetter. There's also a credit on IMDb for Dee Wallace in that role. I wonder if anything w/ either actress was filmed.

I'm guessing so, there's an interesting scene with her character in the shooting script.

That would have been a trip if Dee Wallace had been cast, since her late hubby Christopher Stone was at one point Scott Wilson's stepdad.

I think sadly too as lovely a woman as she was, Audree was a rather passive mother and this lead to a weakness in the Wilson boys when it came to women. One of the key people in my opinion that helped Brian to be even functional was Marilyn in the 60's and early 70's

To be honest, I doubt that Marilyn, nor the guys really knew to what extent the problems Brian was dealing with.

"Evan" also makes an "appearance" in Love & Mercy. The brief portrayal of him captures how he seemed to be real buddy-buddy w/ Brian. He has a funny line, saying that his dad's gonna go nuts on him.

Something i found while on twitter: May Pang's public facebook thoughts on L&M: The ‪#‎LoveAndMercy‬ film was moving in so many ways. It dealt with Brian's interaction with Dr. Eugene Landy who was so controversial and the love story of Melinda (the heroine) and Brian. It brought back a weird memory for me as I actually witnessed one of those episodes Brian with Landy.

... and props to Melinda for saying pretty much that in the recent interview.

And of course to Peter for reasons we all know and appreciate here.

Audree had her own problems (aside from Murry being... well, Murry).

In a question of curiosity, what bothered Audree so to speak? Was it the demon drink?

Speaking of Hubbard, is there any evidence that The Movement of Inner Spiritual Awareness required members to pay cash for 'enlightenment'?

The article lists her as Audree Neva...did she remarry after Murry died?

There was the booze. Which could be linked to dealing with how she saw her children being treated by their father. No blame can be put Audree's way, she was simply a product of her time/generation. Back in the 50s, a married woman had to obey her husband no matter what.

That's her middle name: for whatever reason (i.e piss-poor researching) they left off "Wilson".

That... and being the mother of Dennis couldn't have helped any. You never knew when the knock on the door might be a weeping teen girl and papa with a 12-gauge.  ;D

"Known as the 'Mystical Traveler' by his followers, who include Arianna Huffington and Carol Wilson of the Beach Boys before his death, the news of Hinkins' passing was published on his organizations website."

Who's Carol Wilson?   ;D

If Landy got his way and Melinda and others didn't intervene... BW would've been dead by now. Landy would be dead...

..and Evan Landy would've owned exactly how much of BW's estate? No wonder he's pissy about the movie... If things had gone daddy's way, he could've afforded better shirts and wouldn't have to go hocking photos to the worst paper on the planet.

Slightly OT, but in the 70s, wasn't Carl involved with Werner Erhard and EST ?

Ah, just googled and yes, he took EST in 1974... along with Dennis ?  :o

Dennis' first wife.  ;)

IIRC there's footage of Dennis talking to Alan about EST in Billy Hinsche's On Tour documentary film.

That said, at least the group did not advertise EST in public the way John Denver did.

Oh really. if you don't mind, i'd luv to know what that scene was.

Found this photo on the Love & Mercy facebook page. idk if it's from another movie Giamatti was in but it looks like it could be a deleted L&M scene (http://s23.postimg.org/tj85gkmvf/11406791_922804297784136_4255911071704944972_n.png) reminds me of this (http://s24.postimg.org/kugs3rudx/Eugene_Landy_and_Brian_Wilson.jpg)

My post was in reference to VDP and heroin. Of course it's not ok if he did indeed give Brian the drug. My point is, bringing something like that up 40 odd years later is rather trivial. It was a reckless era, and I'm sure VDP and Brian regret much of it. Landy, on the other hand, knowingly and viciously caused long lasting neurological damage that Brian may never recover from. To imply that I think it's "OK" and "doesn't matter" is an insult, and offends me. Landy was a vile, evil creature. As I said to Billy, there is a reason I try not to capitalize landy's name. To capitalize a person's name implies a form of respect. That bastard deserves as much "respect" as John Lennon's murderer.     

My feeling is that VDP might have snorted some coke with Brian in the '70s and Brian might've been so foggy at the time he somehow thought it was heroin or a speedball.  VDP has acknowledged many a time that Bolivian marching power was a feature of his life in the '70s, and might've contributed to many of the missteps he made then (like some of Song Of The Yankee Reaper, and that ensemble he had on when he was filmed in front of Tower Records on the Strip).

One scene in L&M made me realize something about Landy I hadn't thought of much before.  When Melinda comes into the house when Brian and Landy are working on Let's Go To Heaven In My Car and the mad shrink's screaming at him offscreen, that really brought home how bitter and frustrated Landy was that he had no artistic talent himself - and how full of rage he was about it. Quite a superb performance, just vocal, from Paul Giametti.

And, a little uncomfortably for me, the scene was a reminder of something else.  When LGTHIMC appeared on the Police Academy 4 soundtrack, that was just the fifth track credited to Brian as a solo artist that had ever been released, after the Caroline No/Summer Means New Love 45 and the Gettin' Hungry/Devoted To You 45 with the "Brian Wilson Mike Love Beach Boys" credit on the sleeve and BW & ML credit on the label - and the first released track by Brian outside the context of the BBs.

A question that sooner or later has to be asked is: Even given the obviously self-aggrandizing reasons Landy had for pushing Brian into a solo career, could a Brian solo career ever have happened outside that context?

Keep in mind that when Brian had made a tentative effort in '75 to establish a recording identiy of his own outside the band by signing up with Bruce, Terry Melcher and Curt Boettcher's California Music project on RCA, the BBs and their management went ape and yanked Brian out of the deal after he'd done no more than hang out at the control board of a session or two. And Landy was brought in for the first time right after that, in an effort to get Brian in shape to write and record again - as a Beach Boy.

 The conflicts Landy had at that time with the BBs during 15 Big Ones, and later on during BB85, evidently persuaded him that his "brother from another mother"/meal ticket was just not going to be able to work on more than a few stray tracks at a time if it could be done only as a Beach Boy - that in order to get Brian to work (and to "collaborate" with him) there could only be a solo career.

Which line of thinking brought in Gary Usher, and then led to the Sire deal and Andy Paley coming in, and got the solo career going - and enabled Brian to put together an identity as an artist apart from "co-founder of the Beach Boys" as L&M's posters and ads say.  

But had this not happened - had Brian been in the hands of some well-intentioned shrink with no aspirations to be in the entertainment biz, whose thinking might have been "this man is ill and hasn't been able to do his job [ie be a Beach Boy and deliver albums on deadline] but the right medicine and therapy can get him back to it, and satisfy what his management expects from me" - what would have been the result?

Quite possibly a world where BWPS, the Pet Sounds tours, NPP never happened - where Brian kept ping-ponging into sporadic BBs work and back into frustration and isolation, over and over, with no way out that he could see.  Landy did put him into a trap, a prison, but at least a prison that had as one of its components solo recording efforts that, once he got out of the shrink's clutches - and could get away from Landy's motivation for setting up that career - he could use as the foundation to put together a career that was a viable alternative to Mike urging sitting down to write some more hits.

It should be added that Melinda's role in helping Brian build his solo identity can't be understated. L&M emphasizes that she was a career woman when she met Brian. Although she and Marilyn are apparently almost the same age, she seems to have been shaped by second-wave feminism, and to have an assertiveness, that wasn't the case with Marilyn at the time she was married to Brian. (Although after their divorce, Marilyn became a successful realtor and developed that kind of independence.)

 From what I can tell, Marilyn, in the '70s, just wasn't completely up to telling the guys and the BBs management that Brian wasn't required to be a Beach Boy 24/7, and helping him develop that identiy. The most she could do was to have him record with her and Diane - and Brian in those days made it clear that his work with Spring was intended to be separate from anything involving the BBs. But Spring never reached the level of success where Brian could use it as a way to develop his solo work. By contrast, Melinda played an essential role in getting his solo career going in the '90s and making all that happened in the last two decades possible - and that includes the reunion.

By the way, some of the photos in the Evan Landy interview are definitely worth a look and seem previously unpublished - and a few incidental things in it are definite contributions to the historical record.  It'd been known for years that I Sleep Alone was a song written for Sarah Brightman (albeit unused on her 1988 pop album) but Evan's statement that Brian and Landy actually travelled to London to meet her suggests that something more ambitious was involved than that one track.  It would be interesting to know if anything else got written then that was intended for SB.

Hardly a fair, or even reasonable, comparison, given that Marilyn was sixteen when she married Brian.

That is a solid point. Now, Melinda would have been about sixteen at that time too, and had she been Brian's first wife instead in 1964, the situation might not have been much different than with Marilyn. Marilyn spent the '60s first, trying to become an adult and dealing with Brian and the never-ending crises at the same time, then being a mother, trying to raise two children in the context of that sort of Hollywood domesticity we've read about in so many articles and books - a milieu in which the social revolution of the '60s, especially concerning the role of women, took a while to sink in.  As I said it wasn't until she and Brian broke up that she was able to put together an identity that truly was something apart from being the spouse of a "rock star," journalistically speaking.

Melinda grew up outside that world - though she was a model sometime in the '70s, so her career then kind of touched upon it.  But she certainly grasped the lessons of feminism. That helped her stand up to Landy when he'd try to treat her like some kind of airhead as we see in L&M, or to manipulate her.  Her career since '95 has been focused on overseeing her husband's career, and she's done a great job of handling all the demands and pressures that have resulted, plus raising five kids too - she's shown time and again her business sense is very good.  Had Marilyn been able, before 1970 or so, to acquire the business skills she did later, she might have found a way to help Brian get a solo career going in the mid-'70s.  And that could well have resulted in Love You being a real, released-as-such Brian Wilson solo album. Which would have taken his career and life in a much different direction.

The truth is, as far back as '78 when I read the first edition of David Leaf's book and found out there had been a 45 of Caroline No under Brian's name, I started to wonder: What if he had a solo career? That passage made me sort of realize that Mt Vernon should be thought of as a solo EP....and what was written about Love You made me understand that it was effectively a solo album.   But back then, that was kind of an almost forbidden thought....the idea that Brian would be focusing his energies on something other than scoring one more hit with the guys.  (The truth is that Brian's solo work enabled Love You to be seen in context....before around 1990, I sometimes saw it referred to in articles and fanzines as if it were some kind of inexplicable left turn in his career.)

But I can still remember what a relief it was to see in Billboard that he had a solo track and it was in Police Academy 4. I damn near came close to seeing the movie just to listen to it. Picked up the soundtrack instead.  

In those days I thought, well, whatever else is going on with Landy at least he's helped get Brian's solo thing going. And in '87 he was still quite skillful at propagating that goofy-somewhat weird-but-with-Brian's-best-interests-at-heart image in the media, so I didn't really know better than to think that.

like Landy tells Melinda in the movie, there's a reason they all met.

Not that it makes any difference, but she would  have been eighteen.

That song was referenced? I don't remember that.

Melinda comes into Brian's house bringing - well, this is one of the central scenes of the film so if you haven't seen it I won't say what she's got - and she overhears Brian playing piano and Landy yelling about heaven and a car, though what's being played on the piano doesn't sound all that much like LGTHIMC.

And AGD is no doubt right about Melinda's age but probably the gentlemanly thing to say is just that Melinda and Marilyn were both raised in a place and time where, in adolescence, the message they would have gotten from the prevailing social institutions was that a woman's place is in the home....the old fix-dinner-in-high-heels, have-the-slippers-ready-by-the-easy-chair thing seen on sitcoms in the era. 

I can remember that the night after Donna Reed died I was dining with my landlady and a friend of hers.  This was January of '86. During the last few months, on the Nick at Nite cable channel that more or less brought black-and-white TV programming back from extinction, I'd seen The Donna Reed Show every weeknight which depicted a '50s/early '60s America of the kind described above.  My landlady's friend wistfully remarked, "When I was a teenager back then I thought that's what life would be like when I grew up.  My husband would work at home [like Donna's TV husband Carl Betz, a doctor with a home office] and I'd stop in and talk with him every hour and wait for the kids to come home from school."

That could be what Marilyn hoped for when Brian told her he was getting off the road....a husband bringing in the income by writing on the piano at home, occasionally going to the studio, otherwise socializing, helping with the kids, maybe shopping too.  Not that far removed from the Donna Reed world.....and then LSD showed up.

(Which reminds me of the L&M scene which, when Lor[r]ren Daro sees it, will no doubt move him to say, "That guy's not like me, that's not how it happened." But that's another story....)

Mentioning Love You brings to mind Brian's Saturday Night Live appearance at the end of '76 which was done right after the album's demos were recorded and before Landy was fired. As I recall from Carlin's book, SNL producer Lorne Michaels, through Landy, extended an invitation to Brian to be the musical guest. The BBs got word of this, had their people tell Michaels sure, the band would be glad to do it, they were doing some NYC gigs just then anyway, and Michaels replied that the invitation was for Brian alone - so Landy and Brian went to NYC and that three-song appearance ensued.  

Odd and somewhat disappointing though it might have been, it could be said that appearance marks the starting point of Brian's solo career. And though Landy was probably using it as a last-ditch effort to maintain control over Brian and secure the percentage of Brian's earnings that he was reported to be demanding in lieu of a fee, had he not been in the picture, either the appearance wouldn't have happened at all, or the guys would have been with Brian and Mike would be saying, "Hey, I dunno about the new songs, let's do GV and maybe Rock & Roll Music and Barbara Ann."  Which would have made the appearance not much more significant than, say, doing the medley on Bandstand's 30th later on.

I had the pleasure of meeting Gary Usher at his home in January 1987. He told me that he and Brian wrote the track Let's Go to Heaven in My Car, which was a combination of two songs Brian was tinkereing with, and that they had recorded a demo of it the day before in the home studio at Gary's house. Gary Usher Jr. supplied the guitar solo on the track. The version which was later differed minimally to the demo track I heard (along with Spirit of Rock and Roll, Just Say No, and one other track I can't remember the title of).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DSY5R8byfs Leaked footage from the secretyly recorded therapy sessions of emo puppet band Fragile Rock by band therapist Dr. Landy Wilson. Filmed in Austin, Texas.

I haven't had a chance to read through this whole thread. But I believe every side should have the right to be heard. For example, Evan denies that Brian's phone calls were blocked. I don't know the truth, because I wasn't there. Is it possible Brian associated his family with bad memories and didn't wish to talk to them? Yes. Is it possible that Eugene manipulated Brian's phone calls? Yes. One thing Evan said though that is probably true is how Brian has always been dependant on approval. From Murray, Marilyn, Eugene to Melinda. The two women seem to have treated him the best. Murray, who was also abusive, sold the Beach Boys publishing rights. I wonder if he was any better than Eugene. If he were given full control of Brian, would he have taken the same kind of advantage of Brian that Eugene did? Who knows.

 :o :o :o :o :o :o :o

Read Howie's post. The operative word: CRIMINALS. This guy was a part of that operation; he wasn't sitting in the corner watering the plants. Ask yourself the following question : why would anyone change someone else's will , making themselves the major beneficiary , unless you planned on outliving them , and passing on that wealth to your heirs. What other possible reason could you have ?

 As far as Brian's phone calls being blocked , this guy is full of sh it. They were blocked, they were monitored. Here is a bit of intel for you.  Do you know how Melinda got Audree's telephone number ? From her car cell phone bill; the only place Brian could make a phone call without having one of these goons monitoring it.

This guy is lucky he didn't end up in the slammer .

And...perhaps alongside those others, who aided and abetted in this travesty...and who were "unjustly enriched" with the treatment "arrangement."

And substituting Landy's surrogate "family" to "stand in the shoes" of the "natural objects of his bounty" which would be at the time, Brian's children and other beneficiaries.  And the deprivation of the "society and companionship" of his family and associates. 

Landy appears to have taken "poetic license" with whatever legal standing he had been awarded at that time.

Evan may be attempting to "defend the indefensible."

As I've said before, I can understand Murry (frustrated and probably from an abusive family himself) even if I find his actions repugnant. I can sympathize with Mike (records have to sell or the career is over, and his livelihood and that of the other band members depends on record sales) even if I consider him to be something of a bully and a jerk. But, if there is one person in which I cannot find any redeeming quality, it's Eugene Landy, and nothing his family says would ever convince me that his actions were in any way justified. Ethical doctors don't use drugs to control, and ethical doctors don't manipulate their vulnerable subjects for their own gains. Crap, decent human beings don't do that. Landy fails on both counts.

Truth.

Something that struck me both about the movie scenes and the whole Landy deal...it is so 1980s L.A.  I was here for the latter part of it, when this was still going on, and whispers abounded all over town.  The thing is not all of them were bad whispers; the culture of Los Angeles at that time (and it still is, but there was zero overlay of "meta" self awareness then.  None) was all about worshipping power and fame and an unwavering focus on how things looked, rather than how things are, so there was a lot of, well, Landy's Brian's guy, so let's kiss up to Landy going on I think.  It's a lot of what enabled this to happen; Landy certainly exploited it.  It's a lot of the reason too I think that there was such focus by Landy's crew on Brian's public image and getting him to appear as outwardly "normal" and in sync with the prevailing trends as possible to the public.  There's a great interview with the director where he is incredulous that a lot of this went on in plain sight, that in 2015 with the internet and such someone with as little public self-awareness as Landy could get away with what he was doing.  But I would say the culture and environment here at that time had a lot to do with it.  And for a lot of people here, there was genuine confusion, because there were these rumors circulating, but on the other hand, Brian was out and about and doing things again, which he hadn't been before, so nobody really knew what to think.  

I believe I got every so slightly jumped on earlier in the thread for a post that I don't think (read properly) was in any way sympathetic to Landy so I just want to reiterate (since this is a hot button topic) I'm not defending anything.  Just adding some background from having been here at the time.

I’m curious if the director (or writers or the actors) were given the Gary Usher book as reference. That may have the most detailed account of the vibe Landy’s operation gave, at least for that period of time, 1986-87-ish.

The most detailed account would have to be the mysterious videotapes of this era, right? I recall reading that there were dozens and dozens of them, as Brian was filmed daily. I'd tend to think there'd be many, many hours of documented Landy/Brian footage on there, showing just how twisted Landy was in his actions.

Certainly hundreds of hours of footage would be the most direct source, although it would take a lot of time to wade through (and would perhaps have a lot more of Brian than Landy if the idea was for Landy to keep tabs on Brian when Landy wasn’t there).

The Usher book simply might be the most detailed published source.

I’m not sure how much Landy material they actually went through. I’ve seen a number of references to the Primetime Live 1991 interview with Diane Sawyer. Sounds like that was a major source, at least in terms of getting Landy’s persona. I think Giamatti has referenced listening to other “tapes”, though I’m not sure what tapes those are.

I saw the film yesterday.

The Wilson Project was obviously a source...the first date with Melinda comes to mind, even though that story has been recounted in other places by Melinda herself. I saw some stuff that came from the Don Was documentary...Brian describing Murry's spankings, talking about spirits coming out to play, etc.

Where's that creepy video from, the one with Brian sitting right by Landy, with Brian doing some odd twisting motion with his hands (while Landy mentions Elvis)? Does anyone know where that brief video is sourced from? Was that from some longer 1984-ish era interview or something?  

  Did Landy wear a hairpiece?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-K-n5op9nI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-K-n5op9nI)

"Oh, God no"... 

luv the elevator music that plays at the end of the clip. Would luv to see where this clip comes from.

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

Don't forget this one, apparently one of those mysterious camcorder videos. Landy bragging about his new car bought with Brian's money. Is that Alexandra acting jealous?

And, as a bonus, if you listen closely, you can hear Landy approving the dispensing of drugs, probably Xanax or something like it.

http://torieldridge.com/2015/06/07/reflections-from-a-beach-girl/#more-1165 Reflections from a Beach Girl

This lady named Tori Eldridge wrote a blog post about her time as a background singer for some sessions w/ Brian in 1986. She doesn't mention any songs by name but she does recall "shooting a music video at an old-fashioned drive-in burger joint, lip-synching our parts while roller skating".

I left a comment w/ a youtube link to Let's Go To Heaven In My Car, the only song from that time i can think of that has female backing vocals. Maybe she sang on it. Or maybe Too Much Sugar, the b-side to LGTHIMC. Wonder what the music video was for.

Hmmmm...can't say I've ever heard of her.

sh*t sorry, double posted on accident

If you're referring to the post directly above yours then that is the Beach Boys - it's the alternate mix of 'Til I Die done by Steve Desper.

oh man. lol sorry. No offence to Mr. Desper. I honestly thought it sounded like some kind of licensed production music, you know.  :-[

Yup...Brian actually asks for a sack of weed , half a Xanax, and something else I've never been able to make out.

No need to apologise. It's actually a really good version - in some ways I prefer it to the original.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bYufmMkiA4

And a Corvette ZR-1, no less, not exactly the cheapest car at the time.

It would be really fascinating to know what Gene Landy would do/say if he were alive today and L&M were released as is. I wonder if he'd try to defend himself, or just stay in hiding of sorts in Hawaii without saying a peep about it. I don't know how he could defend his own scumbaggery, anymore than I can understand his son's defense angle.

That son of a shitburger.... hope he's roasting in hell.

Does anyone know if there were any legal agreements/settlements (similar to what eventually occurred with removing Landy’s name from songwriting credits) after 1992 which dictated Eugene Landy not give any interviews or discuss Brian? He was alive for 14 years after being removed from Brian, and appears to have never given an interview or otherwise discussed Brian. Given his bravado and willingness to go to farcical lengths to defend himself (e.g. the Primetime Live interview from 1991), I always wondered why he didn’t continue to defend himself in all those later years.

 Did Eugene Landy wear a toupee? Never thought about it before now I'm curious.

I doubt it, doesn't look like a rug to me. Just a hairdo which involved into incredible Landymullet. I wonder if there were some rock stars of the time who inspired his awful mullet creation. At least Brian miraculously made it out of the 1980s and early 90s without any known photographed signs of having had a mullet. Even Carl almost had a quasi one for a while. I wonder if Dennis would have rocked one.

Regarding where this clip came from, I can somewhat answer, because I'm in this segment about a minute earlier than this shot.  (It's the only footage I have of myself with both Brian & Dennis).  I believe the show is called "Two On The Town", and it was hosted by Steve Edwards, who is still on the morning news here in L.A.  The segment was both about Brian's 'revival' under the care of Landy, and about the passing of Dennis.

The clip that I'm in, and the concert footage showing Dennis' decline, was from Jack Murphy Stadium.  I had strolled around, and found a guy that was giving out San Diego Padre hats to us "Beach Boy people".  I went running through a tunnel, & grabbed Dennis & Brian.  You can see them listening in to me, as they start to follow me down this tunnel.  Suddenly Landy comes in to frame, asking Brian where he's going, as the stage is in the other direction!  As they both turn to follow Landy, it fades to this shot of them in the Malibu house.  One of my most priceless memories, & it was caught on channel 2!

The thing is, Landy's whole camp wore mullets, at least as attested in all those Youtube videos of Brian out and about with them.  When Giamatti as Landy did that "unprecedented access" scene in L&M I halfway expected him to say to Elizabeth Banks as Melinda, "Now, how about a compromise? I'll go ahead and let you just report to me after every second date instead of each one...if you get a mullet. Wouldn't you say that's reasonable?"

That is very interesting. I know Steve Edwards' daughter, maybe I can ask her sometime if Steve has any recollections himself about the show.

I've heard very few (if any) other stories regarding the 2nd Landy period overlapping with Dennis' life, since there was just about 1 year of overlap. Did Dennis ever speak of his thoughts about Brian and Landy? And I wonder if Landy had any ideas on how to help Dennis. I guess in 1983, the Brian/Landy relationship hadn't yet gotten to the depraved level yet which it would get to in a few short years...

For that matter, I don't know if I've ever heard any other stories about Brian and Dennis hanging out during the 2nd Landy era. Did Landy try to keep Brian away from Dennis as much as possible in 1983?

Speaking of Landy's Camp, that reminds me of the early 90s animated show, Camp Candy (as in John Candy), which I guess could have had a Landy-ized version as Camp Landy (shudder).

I wonder if '80s Melinda ever rocked a mullet, Markie Post (3rd season Night Court era) style... Mullets were yet to be a source of mockery.

Sounds like business as usual.  The "camcorder doesn't lie."

Would likely have made great evidence had Landy been prosecuted.

I know in the beginning of her book Loving John there's a dedication to Landy, talking about what a wonderful and caring man he is...

BTW, just finished reading this thread...so many people wondering why Brian wasn't sent to more orthodox shrinks, hospitals, etc. Seems to me that he WAS. MANY times. Since at least 1968. (Heck, isn't that how he would have met Jay Silverheels?? I know either Scott Bennett or Probyn once posted on Facebook that right before they took the stage in Toronto, Brian said something like, "Toronto...Toronto...hey, that reminds me, did I ever tell you guys about the time Tonto hit on me?")

And why did they have him go back to Landy? Because he's the only one who actually got results.

*shiver*  Ugh.  I could have happily gone the rest of this decade without a reminder of Camp Candy.  The only good thing about it was it had the fortune to air right before Captain N: The Game Master.   :lol

It's easy to hate Landy now, but the above is true. He did get results. I wish it could have been another way.

:lol

Once upon a time, the Beach Boy world was told that Brian was saved from self destruction by Dr. Eugene Landy. Many years later, a film appears that seems to tell us that Brian was saved by Melinda Ledbetter.

And once upon a time people thought the world was flat.

L&M is Bourne out by 20 plus years of BW being productive again!

The film says this as well.

As far as the "Melinda saving Brian" thing goes, I was *slightly* skeptical some time back about whether that would end up being Hollywood-ized a little bit in the film. That is, until Ray Lawlor posted a detailed explanation of exactly what Melinda did and the role she played.

Frankly, given what Ray posted, the movie arguably *downplays* how much she did simply because it has to compress events and time so much.

It doesn't seem all that long ago, though, that folks on this board were speculating that Brian was just being pushed into these various projects, almost against his will.

Board opinion seems to sway like a wheatfield in a breeze. Direction sometimes depends on who blows hardest. Sometimes the truth blows, other times the truth sucks. As Dylan said, the answer… etc

So i was going thru my copy of The Underground Dictionary, and i saw this: Evan n 1. Someone you love very much; someone whom you wish to spend time with. 2. A very bright, smart, enjoyable young man.

Also, i think this should've been a scene in Love & Mercy. From a 1991 article http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-11-17/entertainment/9104140084_1_eugene-landy-stan-love-separate-ways Although the case is scheduled to go to court Monday, Wilson says it may not get that far, partially because of a recent meeting between Wilson and Carl at a hotel near the Los Angeles airport.

``Just me and Carl . . .`` Wilson says. ``Just two brothers. We were singing. There was a piano there. We were doing our vocals.``

The brothers sang some old Beach Boys classics-including ``Wild Honey``

and ``Aren`t You Glad`` and ``Darlin` ``-that haven`t been heard much in the past 15 years as the group has become chiefly a surf-and-car nostalgia act.

Sometimes I try to see the other side if in fact there is amything. You are absolutely right about Brian's will, though. No excuse for that!