The Smiley Smile Message Board

Was trolling around youtube last night and saw this clip. It says that it has been there for 11 months but I just came across it. It is from Allentown Pa. state fair. I had seen them just a week before here in Houston at the AstroDome and this tape pretty much shows the same Brian I saw them. From Eric's setlist page, a brief description of the scene on the tape:

State Fair, Allentown, PA
September 5, 1982
First Show

Brian Wilson was present at this show and said the following impromptu comment before "Surfin Safari", much to Mike Love's dismay: "Now it's time for the great Rock Out! I want everybody, everybody, to stand up! Now, I want everybody to put their hands in the air and wave, and rock out!"  

I shudder everytime I watch it. Turn the sound down because it is just a  bad dub of Leid In Hawaii. Just watch the clip.

Bob

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKkj-DbB1Kw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKkj-DbB1Kw)

At 3.50 it looks like Brian almost fell over. He looks and acts like a caricature. This really is some equally intriguing and disturbing footage.

One of the saddest footage of the Beach Boys' career.

I was at that concert. The ironic thing was, if you didn't know Brian's history, you thought he was really "into" the show. He was, should I say, very animated. But, if you did know about Brian, you knew he was on something - not good. Needless to say, his physical appearance was very alarming...

He looks totally wired! How could anyone think that he looked like he into the music?

I won't say that Brian was wearing the same thing over and over again, but, here is a photo from the Houston show 2 weeks before:

(http://members.aol.com/rdf1206/bw82.jpg)

It is interesting to see that Carl is back with the group in this footage.  When did he rejoin the group?  I thought it was closer in time to Dennis' death.

Carl rejoined the group in late spring 1982.

Petsite just beat me. I think it was June

I always thought that the picture is from 1979, because Brian looks a lot better then in 1981 and 1982 footage.

Didn't he go to Hawaii with Landy later that month?

Think it was in October - he was hospitalised first then shipped off to Hawaii, the intent being to get him away from Carolyn Williams.

[edit] - I'm wrong, he was hopitalised for two weeks on 1/2/83, then flown to Kona, by Landy.

I'm sure you all remember that Brian was touring off and on with the group that Fall of 82. On Nov 5 1982 the group "fired" him to force him back into Landy's care. By January 1983 he was back with Landy in Hawaii. The group played shows in Hawaii in late Feb 1983 and Brian apparently showed up and played at one of these shows- looking slimmer and, of course, off drugs (or at least non prescription ones). While his "auto biography" is pretty worthless as history, it  does have some incrtedible photos of Brian's recovery in Hawaii that show how bad he was when he got there and how he lost the weight

I agree...its pretty amazing to watch him transform from a 340 pound near-death blob in 1982 to an extremely lean, healthy and fit 45 year old by '87-'88.

Yeah, somebody should've called the "fashion police"....Oh, nevermind. It's Brian. That's OK then....

Whatever.....  ::)

Is it just me, or does he look like Santa in that picture? A Photoshop edit of that pic would've been a great cover for What I really want for Christmas...

Look at the picture of Brian then look at Jim Morrison on the left (I think its him). Talk about clones! :lol

That's actually one of my favorite pictures of Brian.

I don't get it. How is that even bad?

That footage is pretty hard to watch. I wish it had the original audio, if nothing else than to just hear what Brian said when he took center stage. The part where Mike jumps across Brian's piano is interesting too. I just noticed that Jeff Foskett seems to be missing. You can see Ed Carter though. Does anybody know when Brian performed his last show before he was "fired"? I'm curios to know how close to the end this show was.

Probably pretty close.  I believe he missed their Cleveland shows the next day (he definitely missed one of them at least), but DID play with them in Atlantic City Sept. 7-9 (at least one show anyway).  Then they played Hutchison, KS on Sept. 10 (unsure if he was there, but doubt it), and then I saw them at the first of two shows in Lincoln, NE on Sept. 11 (Brian was absent, and the review of the night's second show said he was also absent then).  Next day they played Red Rocks outside of Denver, then returned for a series of west coast shows in late September, which I think he was absent from as well.  Maybe Ian can find out for sure about that. 

BTW, you can see Foskett in this clip...he's to the right of Ed Carter, in the back kind of between Al and Brian.  At one point you can see him banging two tambourines together. 

I saw Brian while Carl was not yet back with the band.  He  was the only Wilson there that night.  I can't remember exactly when it was.   He was wearing some kind of large jogging/stretch pants or pajamas.  He sat behind to white piano and sang 3 or 4 songs ....voice in really bad shape.  Seems it was Surfer Girl, Don't Worry Baby, and maybe Sloop John and another song.  Sat behind the piano and did little much of the time, and sat back stage with his feet dangling from the risers the rest of the time.  I remember being toward the front, to the side, and could have easily walked back and spoken to him.  But somehow, I felt I should leave him to his thoughts.  It was interesting to see him live for SMiLE and Pet Sounds all these years later.  You wouldn't know it was the same guy.

I wish Brian could've cleaned up in 1983 without Landy's intervention; something was lost after that...

I might argue that something was lost before that.   Landy took the spark out of the psychosis, true.   But the psychosis would have killed eventually. 

I forgot to mention in my post last night that this footage seems to be sped up. So Brian might look ever so slightly more "manic" than he actually was at that show. Are there any good examples(audience tapes, ect) of Brian singing during the 1982 shows? I was just wondering how his voice was. I mean, did it get much worse than Long Beach 1981?

Notice the grey in his beard that's how you pick it out. Plus he was never that heavy in 1979.

Carl played a few dates in April to "check it out" as he put it, and saw that "the group really needed a lot of work"...rehearsals were scheduled and almost didn't happen (due to the others' reluctance to work, he said), but it the end it all came together.  They put together a new show, opening with six songs back-to-back (a tactic probably inspired by the Doobie Brothers, who Carl had opened for the previous year).   I think the first show they played after this "rebirth" was May 2nd in San Diego.   

Probably: "Now it's time for the great Rock Out! I want everybody, everybody, to stand up! Now, I want everybody to put their hands in the air and wave, and rock out!"

Yep, audio recordings actually exist of both shows that day (Sept. 5th).  At the first show Brian sings "Sloop John B." and the bridge to "Surfer Girl"; at the second he only sings "Sloop".  He bellows his way through his vocals, singing in a deeply exaggarated baritone, like a caricature.  Irorincally, when he sang "God Only Knows" the previous December at the Circle Star Theatre in San Carlos, CA, it actually sounded rather good...he would hold the last note of each line and "vibrato" it a little:  "I may not always love yo-oo-ou", etc. (I seem to recall he sang "Sloop" like Mickey Mouse at that show, and it wasn't so good...funny, but not so good). 

Al mentioned something kinda funny at the evening performance: the current 'Penthouse Forum' column from the notrious "gentlemen's magazine" featured a tribute to Brian Wilson entitled 'I Crawl Around' (copyright 1943). I guess it was written from the perspective of Brian as a toddler. Al said he would show it to Brian on the plane...

Interesting that Brian is playing the Wurlitzer here (like he used to do on "Help Me, Rhonda" the few years previous).  Petsite, do you recall which song or songs he played it on at the Houston '82 show, and what Bruce was doing while he did?

I saw Brian with the group at the Dome here in Houston a few weeks before this footage was shot. Brian sang two lines of Sloop John B and had to ask Carl to finish as he was short of breath. When the group came out to the stage in the center of the Dome, they had to walk up a flight of stairs that had been swung into place at a cutout in the side of stage right. After they all got up there, the stairs would be pulled back and a metal plate lowered over the cutout. Well, when Brian had to climb the stairs, two BIG security gurad went up infront of him, got on either side of the cutout the stairs were wheeled into, and pich Brian up under his arms and hauled him to the stage. He was too out of shape and too big to walk the 8 to 10 stairs. I remember thinking that this would probably be the last time I saw Brian alive. Thank God it was not and I got this:

(http://members.aol.com/rdf1206/Image2.jpg)

Brian played Help Me Rhonda on the electric piano while Dennis played the grand, just like in the Knebworth video.

Btw, for those who were wondering if I was correct in the year of that pic of Brian at piano, from the Corbis website (and you will know the photographer too):

Image:    © Henry Diltz/CORBIS
 
Photographer:    Henry Diltz 
Date Photographed:    August 24, 1982 
Location Information:    Houston, Texas, USA 

Thanks for the info on when Carl came back.

Who's pinching Brians ass? :o

No one was pinching Brian's ass. Brian was uptight because he thought that someone there at the soundcheck was going to shoot him (it was during that phase). He thought maybe me. So he was nervous.Here was a funny part. Brian stood next to me and then put his arm around me first and said "Come on Bob, let's look like buddies.' He then took my name (Bob) and started singing (you guessed it) "Bob Bob Bob Bob Barbara Ann".

As a side note. When I saw the group in 1982 at the Dome, they started with It's Ok. I really liked that as an opening number. It worked out well.

Bob

Gosh he looked more spacey there then in 1982.  Still very cool you got your picture with him. What year was it?

Wow, boards like this really make me feel good that I'm not famous, and that people don't labor every photograph I've ever been in. "Wow, luther looks terrible there. Is he fatter? Thinner? Looks crazy! He must have been thinking [whatever] or on [whatever else]!"

Based on petsite/Bob's posts, Brian was probably just making a face, being silly. Not out of it, just having fun.

While I think Brian did settle down and have fun, the post made it clear that he was having a bad day and I can see it in the photo. I am not saying that I am judging him for it, simply that it's not most flattering picture.

With Brian the weight problem (like Elvis before him) was part of the story. A reflection on where he was at during certain periods of his life. Plus also like Presley, the changes are rapid and carry with them a morbid fascination. It may not be the PC thing to say but most of us would admit it's true.  I myself like seeing the changes someone goes through in life and appearance is a big part of that.

Petsite- That date is a correct one-but be careful when trusting sites- many of the pictures on Corbis are not dated correctly-check out a few photos of Dennis, Carl, Mike and Al-there dated July 1 1983-when clearly there from about 10 years earlier. Similarly- a photo of Brian, John Philips, Michelle Philips and Roger McGuinn is dated Sept 1976- when it is from the Sept 1986 shoot for California Dreamin. There is also a color portrait of Brian from 1968 that is dated to 1966, etc, etc....

Maybe that's why Brian is dropping weight now...?

I know this is a really old thread, but I just thought I'd bring it back to ask if anybody saved this footage. It's long gone from YouTube now, and I'd like to see it again.

I would also like to see it, along with the pictures.

What's fascinating to me is that not a single photo in this thread is visible.

Before it was uploaded on youtube, was this footage circulating?