The Smiley Smile Message Board

Last year I started posting commentary on Brian Wilson on the Substack platform, under the title "A Book of Brian."

Link: https://bookofbrian.substack.com (https://bookofbrian.substack.com)

(Or, type "bookofbrian [dot] substack [dot] com" into the address bar)

For those who are interested, the best way to get a sense of what it's about is to read the "Introduction" (in a Q & A format) and then basically explore what's there. My original intention was to offer writing/commentary on a variety of Brian Wilson and Beach Boys-related topics, but the nature of the Substack platform and how it operates makes doing that hard. As of late, what I've been focusing on is the basics (which are complicated enough as it is): recounting the story of Brian Wilson, step-by-step, chapter by chapter, with a good amount of care, detail and analysis (The most recent posting is about the car-song era of 1963.) There's currently other material in addition to this: (1) some critical commentary about Brian Wilson generally; (2) a close look at the circumstances of the Beach Boys' founding in 1960-61 that questions the assumption that Murry Wilson willingly helped his sons form the group and kindly introduced them to Hite & Dorinda Morgan; (3) a multi-part essay about the difficult issue of Murry Wilson in general. There's also an extensive list of Beach Boy reference material/information sources.

I've been aiming to post a new chapter at the rate of roughly once per week, and each installment is usually supposed to take about 10 minutes to read.

This is sort of an experiment;  to see if it's possible to publish extended writing on the internet, using a platform which is convenient, but really not designed for what I want to do but more for bite-sized blogging. I hope and expect to keep it going at least through to the end of 2024. Also, a reminder that this material is offered for free. There's an unpaid subscription option (meaning that you get new writings delivered direct to email) but anybody should be able to access it via home computer or phone. I'm grateful for subscribers, but subscription isn't necessary.

I have had to disable comments on the site for the usual reasons. However, if anybody has any comments or criticism (provided it's reasonably civil) they can reach me here on this board. I also maintain an account on the Endless Harmony board. Some readers have chosen to communicate with me though the Substack site itself (email, basically)

In these times, we all have to be self-promoters, so I'll just say that the writing ("content") is well-researched, well-reasoned and pretty good. I'm confident that serious and dedicated Beach Boys and Brian fans will discover plenty with which to engage and think about (even if readers don't agree with my views)

Thanks, and I hope at least a few Smiley board readers find the time to read some of my stuff and enjoy it.

Keep at it, Jake--you've got a distinct perspective from the mainstream, and an approach that so far is doing a fine job of synthesizing other source materials. I'm looking forward to seeing how you handle all the twists and turns that are coming as you move from the "fad hit" phase to Brian's emergence as a peerless producer...and then into the maelstrom, the abyss, the group's regroup, the band hitting the wall of its past, etc., etc.

Definitely will be checking it out!

I think we need a bump in this thread to update folks about Jake's work in A BOOK OF BRIAN, which is proceeding along with a series of impressive entries that add context and psychological depth to the history he is revisiting and refining. I hope folks have been keeping up with it in the six weeks since the last thread entry here; if not, let me encourage you to spend some time at Jake's Substack page:

https://bookofbrian.substack.com

The story will soon move into the second half of 1964, and things will get even more frenetic--I'm expecting some very interesting perspectives to emerge as we get to Brian's marriage to Marilyn and the breakdown on the flight to Houston. Keep it up, Jake: there are definitely folks out there who appreciate your efforts!

Thanks Don, I appreciate the comment and the encouragement