The Smiley Smile Message Board

Had Brian gone to Rishikesh with Mike in 1968, do you think it would have fuelled his creativity as it did with the Beatles?

I was just watching the Beatles Anthology at weekend in which they said they had time in the two - three months they were there to write lots of songs and have a veggie diet.

Well, I thought it would have been ideal for Brian. Meditation, healthy living, alongside the Beatles, no drugs for thousands of miles, no pressure.....

Ok so we may not have had the Friends album but it may have sparked something in Brian to get him back on track...

Just a thought  :angel:

Brian would have stayed in his room all the time and the song "Dear Prudence" would be about him.

somehow, i bet brian and paul would have collaborated

Brian would've gotten the Maharishi and all of the hippies there to sing 'Shortnen Bread' together.

It didn't really do anything for Mike...

Get Brian on a plane going all the way to India in '68?  I doubt it -- look what it took to get him over to Holland in '72.

Eating Tofu....Naaah! ;D

Brian would've taught the Maharishi how to levitate, and then teach the Maharishi how to brush his teeth by singing..."eat a lot, sleep a lot, BRUSH 'EM LIKE CRAZY...."

I wouldn't count any of the three. Specifically, I don't think anybody ever said there were no drugs there, and considering how resourceful Brian was about getting them over the years (based on the books and documentaries), I'm sure even if nobody else was partaking, if he had wanted to, he would have. I wouldn't be shocked to find out he was eating meat (it isn't like all of India is veggie, after all--just the food at the camp), skipping meditation half the time and smoking a lot of hash.

It wouldn't surprise me if the fact that The Beatles went IS THE REASON Brian didn't.

But why would he even want to collaborate with Brian when he had Mike Love there to write "Back in the U.S.S.R." for him?    ::) :lol

I am surprised that this idea isn't being taken more seriously. Brian flew to New York to see Maharishi in Janurary 1968. He was not in bad mental shape at the time. Even Al Jardine said Brian was doing well during the Friends album. An interview Paul Williams did with David Anderlade said Mike did indeed change for the better for the experience and that Brian knew about TM as early as 66. All the accounts, even those in the tabloidl books, said there were no drugs there. Brian also wasn't an addict like he became later at that point. I don't mean to sound like I'm preaching herem but I think we are confusing the Brian of 1978 with one of 1968. I know he was very spirtually enlightened at the time, Dennis once said Brian was like a guru himself around that time.

But you never opined as to why Brian didn't go...

As someone who didn't like flying to the likes of Houston, I don't think it's too shocking that Brian didn't want to go to India. I don't know that it has to be more complex than that.

I agree Luther...I mean we're talking remote mountains in India..!!no pianos or Baldwin organs...burger joints....

Are you talking about simply the fear of flying? Or unfamiliar surroundings? Or both?

In 1967, didn't Brian fly to Hawaii and the University Of Michigan?

Sure, he did some flying. But in this case, I can relate to Brian pretty directly. I am TERRIFIED of flying. I've done it plenty, including quite a bit for a while for my (former--largely for that reason) job. But it never goes away. And so if Brian hated flying just to tour, yeah, he could get himself to take a trip to this place or that, but a four-hour flight to Michigan or Hawaii is one thing...a 16-hour one to India is quite another. I can easily believe it would have been torture for him to even think about it. Hell, if I were him, I'd have turned up any drug habit I had just to help myself relax on the way...TM, my ass!

Yep. That was probably the main reason.

Just to chime in for the heck of it- I'm not so sure had Brian actually gone to India that it wouldn't have been about the same as the health kick with the tumbling mats and all that stuff with the Smile-era posse. Happy to agree conceptually to healthy living and direct his friends to eat healthy and excercise, all while he's chowin' steak and birthday cake. This is not a dig mind you, because I think it's human nature to a degree to want to have benefits by believing something while not actually practicing it. I think Brian is a pretty good believer, but perhaps not so hot a practicer when it comes to that stuff- that's the impression I got about his spiritual thing in the late 60's as well. Happy to read the books, not really into living the life. I think India would have turned out about the same. Brian talking about how great it is and how it's really blowin' his mind, while he and Ringo are on a quest to have burgers smuggled into the compound and begging off on the hours of meditation and lectures.

Dean

Here's another question. What would happen if Charlie Manson went to visit the Maharishi?

They'd realise that they had quite similar beards...

He would've gotten sick of veggies and proceeded to eat the Maharishi...