Quote from Don Malcolm:

The question remains just what parts of the Todd Gold bio are legit and what is distorted and stage-managed by Landy. That said, I think its material related to SMiLE has mostly held up well in retrospect.

Think the 3 LSD trips in the Todd Gold bio definitely hold up well. Got this from the CNN transcript when it was online:

MELINDA WILSON: "The funny part about it is Brian's doctor now says that in terms of what most people were doing in the '60s, Brian didn't do much. I mean, when he talks about LSD, he went on -- he took three trips. In the '60s that wasn't a lot."

from Larry King Live, August 20th 2004

Got the Leaf book yesterday & quickly looked over the treatment of the 66-67 SMiLE era. One thing stood out to me, the lack of important LSD related content.

LSD was pretty much talked about on just two pages, 13 & 14. The famous Brian quote to Tom Nolan about LSD was there, but missing was its connection to the then titled Dumb Angel album. Brian told Nolan, "I think pop music is going to be spiritual....that's the direction I want to go." And Brian's LSD comment explained what had inspired his new spiritual direction.

IMHO SMiLE's raison d'etre isn't given nearly enough attention.

Leaf asks, "How much LSD did Brian take in his life?" No answer is given. But there is an answer and it was given during a Larry King interview with Brian and Melinda. Melinda is talking about Brian & conversations with his doctor and drug use in the Sixties & Melinda states Brian went on 3 trips. Coincidently the Todd Gold bio mentions only 3 trips. The bio also details what occurred during the trips.

Leaf notes Brian's contradictory statements regarding the effect LSD had on him. But if the Gold bio was consulted one would know that Brian had two bad trips & one phenomenal trip. Brian's responses reflect the variety of his experiences.

One thing I learned & liked from the book was that Van Dyke mentioned Brian's sense of farce. Parks was talking about "Heroes And Villains" and states, "And I didn't mind as we got into it his sense of farce, because...anything that Brian was interested in, even farce, was great."

I think that Frank Holmes' involvement with SMiLE is underrated.

An issue of Endless Summer Quarterly first introduced me to the artist. When Frank stated, "The SMiLE Shop is a paradox. The drawing is a surrealist idea; a visual that is not accessible in conscious reality" I got the feeling that out of the 3 creators behind SMiLE, Frank was the most forthcoming.

True to form it's Frank Holmes who has mentioned "enlightenment" the most often (in mags like Open Sky & ESQ). Brian mentioned enlightenment in the Todd Gold bio and in his "Surf's Up" lyric explanation in the Jules Siegel Cheetah article but Mr. Holmes has brought it up at least a half a dozen times. He has revealed that some of his SMiLE images represent enlightenment, or at least a step in that direction.

To me, Holmes' essay in the SMiLE Sessions is the finest piece ever written on SMiLE.

Keep in mind Frank was chosen by VDP, met Brian & discussed stuff, and did the LP cover & sketchbook art. It certainly seems to me that the SMiLE Shop LP cover has a lot to do with the Pickwick Bookstore incident outlined in the Todd Gold bio.

When one searches for Holmes' artwork online you find that his SMiLE pieces are unlike his other works. His style for SMiLE remains consistent, 1966 to 1996 to whenever. This suggests that SMiLE was/is a unique and consistent project. While some maintain that the SMiLE era was a catch-all for all of Brian's obsessions the 'modular' musical form suggests a consistent musical pattern.....as consistent as Holmes' art. While SMiLE's subject matter seems all over the place there is an underlying consistency.

Dreams can include many variables & they're open to multiple interpretations, but they're still basically dreams. SMiLE is like that, it's basically consistent.

The reason folks find SMiLE a catch-all work is, IMHO, due to the literal focus given the images presented.

Think that SMiLE's method of creation is mentioned by Brian in his lyric explanation for "Surf's Up." Brian said,"He's off in his vision, on a trip. Reality is gone; he's creating it like a dream." Hey, that sounds a little like Frank Holmes; "The drawing is a surrealist idea; a visual that is not accessible in conscious reality"

Think this is likely my last SMiLE page ever. 34 years in the making.
https://www.goodhumorsmile.com/page27.htm

Tried to do a few off the cuff videos recently just to maybe add some different SMiLE conversation to the fan videos out there. Yeah, I'm embarrassing and old these days. Sorry about that.

Here are the links if anyone is interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlHuEGzthy0&t=143s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDkeJncZkos

Haven't seen these kind of ideas elsewhere other than my old tired website.

Kinda cool how Vosse Posse folk's POV makes sense given this interpretation. Jules Siegel's POV about Brian & hip works out. David Anderle's opinion that much of the weight of SMiLE falls on the public's assumptions plays into it. Michael Vosse's insistence that Brian was in control & cool seems accurate.
The LSD guys: Brian, Van Dyke & Frank also fit into this view quite well.

A fairly recent by Brian reeks of truth, "A lot of the groups and singers in the mid 60s were taking acid and all those kind of drugs, and what it did was expand people's consciousness to the point where they didn't know how to handle it, you know?".

What Brian did at the time, and his way of handling it, seems to correspond with the way things are outlined in the previous post's link. It's quite amazing how folks gravitate to status quo points of view.

Tried to lay out my perspective after all these years regarding SMiLE. I may expand but here's where it stands if anyone is interested....

http://www.goodhumorsmile.com/page26.htm

The photo is on the back cover of Brian's tour program. On Facebook, David Leaf said, "It's Brian, at his piano, in the sandbox, circa fall 1966."

I did ask Loren if he knew of Arthur Koestler's book The Act Of Creation and if he'd had anything to do with Brian's exposure to the book. Loren was unaware of any such connection.

Is there anyone who hung out with Brian Wilson during the SMiLE era who was aware of the influence of The Act of Creation? Not a single mention until Bri mentioned it in the Don Was flick. What a secret.

I suggest checking out Frank Holmes' essay in the Smile Sessions Box Set for proof of Koestler's influence. His essay both exposes & hides. IMHO it's the best thing ever written about SMiLE & working methods behind the project.

JakeH said:

"Brian, however, took LSD more than one time.  The source of the LSD for his other doses is not as well-established as it is for that first dose. In fact, Loren Schwartz is only associated with Brian's first LSD trip in March or April 1965.  Who knows who, or what, was involved with Brian's other trips. All this stuff would be relevant to an understanding of what really happened with Brian in the mid-1960s, but that info is probably lost to history."

There are three trips mentioned in Brian's bogus bio from the 1991. I tend to give some credence to these accounts as I doubt they were a total Todd Gold invention, they may have been culled from some court testimony, at the time Brian was working on the bio he seemed very forthcoming (see the bonus track on his solo CD for some honesty), and, if you can believe it, they work SMiLE-wise.

Good point Dan. Thanks.

https://tamingthesaxophone.com/saxophone-laugh

Those pieces were included in the SMiLE Sessions but not in the live BWPS performances. The music isn't that far off from the holding nose laughter stuff on some versions of "Vegetables." Maybe the piece of music was meant to hint at some laughs.

The poster shoulda been the Teen Set ad.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/oct/11/beach-boys-smile-brian-wilson

I personally like how 'Health' is written in all blue which suggests water as in "Cool, Cool, Water," "Da Da," and "In Blue Hawaii" (you get the idea) and Brian's water filled elements experience as told to Paul Williams of Crawdaddy by David Anderle. I guess one could also include Curtis Springer's Zzyzx mineral springs as a possible water connection as that connects with the vegetables idea as well. In my view symbolic meaning was 'IN' at the time.

If Dean Torrence designed this ad he was definitely taking directions from Brian IMHO.

Here's where I found it.
https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Cash-Box-Magazine.htm

From the 12/24/1966 issue of Cash Box:

https://scontent.fbed1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/35425239_10156323244975340_5896298757997199360_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&_nc_eui2=AeFZF7lZ0EulzTaSYgyyahYNDRTlEr3z_rFPgs0g5ewgeSR-nyS_X0PxfmdUShwTVqDqIZ1DpxH2B1IPsiNnnZHD_o17jclgFb6SyxHArq5RAw&oh=47f5cddbba3ee7af2f5e4b8eb9236e17&oe=5BC3623B

Just heard that VDP said that the threesome of himself,  Brian & Frank Holmes formed; 'a triumvirate in freeform flight.'

How true!

Those who claim that Frank Holmes wasn't down with, or on board with Brian & Van Dyke's creative process are fooling themselves.

Thanks to Ang Jones for the 'triumvirate' quote.

There was a working method for SMiLE that was employed in an attempt to anticipate the next big trend. The attempt was similar to those employed throughout the history of art. It combined a new philosophy with the art form to forge something entirely new.

It didn't work out for SMiLE's participants and nobody else at that time had the same idea-----that's why SMiLE is a one-of-a-kind piece of art.

Brian said that it's hard to anticipate trends but his attempt to do so in 1966 jumped fences higher than anybody knew existed.

Here's the latest minor addition. David Anderle's revelation regarding Brian's view on humor & violence (found in the SMiLE box set book) is supported by Brian's fave book, The Act Of Creation. Don't know if anyone else has made this connection before.

"The key word for Brian was humor. He would see the solutions to all problems in terms of humor. If people could laugh about things or feel good about things, you wouldn't have violence. You can't have humor and violence, really. I think that's the essence of Brian. It starts with humor, happiness, love."
~David Anderle

"When we laugh...the pleasurable relief does not derive from a consummatory act which satisfies some specific need. On the contrary: laughter prevents the satisfaction of biological drives, it makes a man equally incapable of killing or copulating; it deflates anger, apprehension, and pride."
~ Arthur Koestler from The Act of Creation

http://www.goodhumorsmile.com

Here's a copy of a list found online of Curtis Springer's products. You'll see that some of the items are vegetarian.

http://www.goodhumorsmile.com/page24.htm

The self-help books Brian was reading almost belong in the same category as the source of Brian's vegetable obsession, that being radio evangelist Curtis Springer. Self-help books & miracle cures are products often pedaled by hucksters.

One of Springer's elixirs, called Manna, may be the major catalyst behind Brian's obsession as it's "a blend of ten different fruits and vegetables."

You can read more & listen to a 1961 broadcast by Springer at the following link.

https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/zzyzx-revisiting-doc-springers-boulevard-of-dreams

The additional material potentially presents a new reason why SMiLE has never been fully explained.

The book, The Magic of Believing, cautions against revealing one's goals and it's very possible that Brian was using the techniques outlined in the book to obtain a successful outcome with SMiLE.

Brian had, after all, held prayer sessions for Pet Sounds where they'd prayed for a hit.

The "Heroes & Villains" Humble Harve session preamble seems to indicate that Brian may have used the visual techniques from The Magic of Believing to get a hit with "Good Vibrations." So it seems very possible that he, especially in light of the success of GV, employed The Magic of Believing to achieve SMiLE's goals, & would've had to keep it all a secret.

Added a few things to the Good Humor SMiLE page: some quotes from a couple of books. They're near the bottom of the page, mostly in light orange.

http://www.goodhumorsmile.com

In the book The Magic Of Believing (mentioned a few posts prior) Claude M. Bristol speaks of cosmic consciousness & an experience with "brilliant white light." This is likely something along the lines of a spiritual experience. And what did Bristol take from this experience?

...the memory of that single experience will always remain, for in those few seconds I received more knowledge and understanding than I had ever received in my years of reading and studying.

Sounds somewhat similar to what Brian was saying "Child Is Father Of The Man" is about ("knowing yourself so you can make the best decisions in the world").

If you look again at Wordsworth's poem you'll see that the phrase "the Child is father of the man" likely occurs at the moment of a spiritual experience.