The Smiley Smile Message Board

Sometimes I wonder -

Dennis' fondness for alcohol is well known. How about the others, though? It is said of Brian that he downed horrific amounts of drink during his bad days too, but there is little photographic or other evidence to account for that. I recall that in his purported autobiography he said that swallowed some 30 cocktails on one evening (in Australia, I think). But on the whole I can't see Brian with a whiskey bottle at his mouth, the way Keith Richards did (does) it. And Carl?

Mike, I wouldn't think so. Al... he kept it clean, yes?

To my knowledge...

Brian - has drunk to considerable excess at points in his life, notably between the two Landy eras.
Carl - hit the bottle (and the smack) big time when his first marriage failed.
Dennis - need I say ?
Mike - I seem to recall that during the first Europe trip in 1964, he was partial to champagne, but never heard of him being anything other than a social drinker.
Alan - again, no more than social.
Bruce - as he admits, very partial to Pacifico. But not to excess. ;D

Well documented in the Dave Marks book...Mike always carried a bottle of hard booze in his sax case on the early tours. Also, during the brief period when Mike and Dennis were roommates in '63, they were notorious for their drinking.

I'll bet that Love quit drinking once he took up TM.

I heard somewhere that Mike was drinking heavily around the time of his infamous HOF speech.  In Brian's "autobiography", it seems to imply that Carl was a pretty heavy boozer, around the late 1980's, and on to the ending of the book(1991).

Carlin says Mike was drinking in the 80s, people would come backstage to get their pictures taken and Mike, who kept up the picture of the clean one, would hide his beer. Apparantley his pre-show ritual was a procession of Heinekens.

"kept up the picture"?

Mike seems fairly hammered on the Australian 1978 recordings I have heard.

Carl was a heavy drinker and smoker during much of his life. It only became a major problem during 1976-79. Michael drank a lot.

Interesting. A couple of posts up, Andrew Doe "never heard of him (Mike) being anything other than a social drinker." Not taking sides, though. :police:

Yeah you know...
(http://i46.tinypic.com/70x5hw.jpg)
Kept up the picture

 ;D

No problems for me - just means I've not been listening (like, I completely forgot about the Carlin Heineken thing).

This thread reminds me of a question I intended to ask, but forgot until now. Is Brian an "alchoholic"? I remember reading about Brian doing 40 shots of something(whiskey?) while the group was in Vegas around 1981. The reason I ask is I clearly remember in Rolling Stone during the BWPS promotion, Brian was interviewed, and the person who interviewed him noted that Brian was eating a big steak, and a glass of beer. I thought that was a little suspicious for somebody with a well known and documented substance abuse problem.

The drunk Brian Barbara Ann from around 1996 is pretty wild.

Reminds me of the Gaines book: in 1976, Landy got furious about John Belushi offering Brian a pizza and a steak during film shots for the Michaels documentary. Could indeed mean that Brian was unable to stop after one can (just assumptions on my part, of course).

I totally forgot about that. It just seems odd to me that a person with his history of abusing substances would drink, or rather be "allowed" to drink. Even "socially". Somebody with the brain of an addict can't really even "tempt" their sobriety even with an occasional glass/bottle. I haven't even mentioned Brian's mental state, and whatever medication comes with it.

It was also mentioned that Brian would usually have a beer or two at Scott's house when they were working on That Lucky Old Sun. Maybe he can handle it these days? There's nothing serious about getting too drunk once in a great while. I suspect that Brian managing to drink 30 shots in one night had something do cocaine. If you start drinking at 8 or 9 and stay up until 5 or 6 on good coke, drinking that much isn't actually that hard. Knowing Brian, he was probably still eating crap loads of food that night despite whatever drugs he was on, which helps you drink more some too, I don't care what scientific studies say.

Was Brian allowed to drink under Landy's regime anyway? I believe Brian has said that Love and Mercy was written when he'd had half a bottle of Champagne...

Mike also had Brian at his home around 1995 or so and said they had a toast. He noted Brian drank his champagne down in one gulp.

Sounds very probable. I can't really imagine Brian sipping posh red Burgundy and making diligent notes like: 'nice tannines, bit of mulberries and peach in there, really fine overall composition, four stars out of five for this one'.

Brian still drinks the odd beer after a gig. Somebody asked him in an interview during the SMiLE tour if he still does drugs.

"Oh yeah! After a concert I have my medicine and sometimes I have a beer!"

Hehe, a US/Holland thing: I think you guys also call regular medication 'drugs', we don't. Drugs over here are illicit substances.

Exactly. And we're the ones who are right.  ;D

The famous Dutch singer Ramses Shaffy died last December. He'd always been such a heavy drinker that he ended up in a rest home with Korsakoff syndrome. But even when he was there, the staff allowed him to keep drinking wine. They'd just make sure that he'd drink it glass by glass and not bottle by bottle like he used to. So as long as you've got people to look after you, I guess its possible for (certain) recovered alcoholics to just have a drink every now and then.

Right. I was thinking about author Gerard Reve. In his best (worst?) times he guzzled strong booze, he had a real psychotic delirium tremens in 1966. Later in life he remained an enthousiastic wine drinker. His last years were also marked by Korsakoff(-like) symptoms.

As for Brian... I find it hard to assess his memory capacities. Does he use a teleprompter because he's not good at remembering lyrics? Or because he's shy and needs a fixed point to stare at much of the time? Since he's always been a keen eater, I'd say he never really lacked proper intake of Vitamine B; if one does not get this vitamin one develops Korsakoff (the core cause, more than the damaging effect of alcohol itself on nerve cells).

I would think the teleprompter is due to BOTH memory problems and on-stage nerves. A lot of singers use them, but usually they're not as obvious.  I was thinking about this alcohol issue when I was watching the Golden Globes. There are all the TV and movie people with their food they don't eat and bottles and bottles of wine. And there is Drew Barrymore, and there is Robert Downey Jr. I'm not sure either of these two were alcoholics, but Downey was chewing gum the whole night, and I was wondering if he was trying to keep himself together.

gee what makes you think that  :-D

Well that might explain the HOF speech for sure, I would bet he was drinking heavily that night! Mike's performances in the 80's were not some of his best at all, so maybe there is something to that. In fact, I think he is better now than at anytime since '83.

i'll go along with that.

I have a confession to make. In late 2004 - early 2005 I was drinking way too much (mostly wine from a box) and I would crank up "Love You" and "POB" over and over and over. Drove everybody around me totally nuts.

Just getting in the right mood and being at one with the artists  IMO.  :smokin :beer :drunks :brian

I had something similar with BW '88. Now I realize that Love You is by far the better option.