Not gonna lie…it’s incredibly hard for me to see Brian like this. I know it happens to us all but that doesn’t make it any easier .

During my year long hiatus from the board, I experienced a number of personal setbacks , most of which I don’t care to go into publicly. One I will,  however, is the loss of my Aunt Dee, who raised me from childhood.  I barely knew my birth mother but Aunt Dee was my mother in every other way. She passed away just shy of turning 96 last March , and suffered from dementia the last few years of her life. I wouldn’t wish that on *anybody* , and to see one of my heroes in life currently dealing with this is harder on me than I can express.

I also have to say: Anybody complaining about the prominence of David, Blondie, and Ricky in this book (e.g. not having their names and faces on the front cover) must know ZERO about the history of this band and how the organization/politics, etc. have worked.

Remember the 50th reunion tour? There was a SPECIFIC (and OBVIOUS) reason the names on all the posters and merch always read: Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks, *in that order*. Same order (in reverse obviously) that Jeff would announce them on stage.

I don't know how you can be a lifelong fan and own ten thousand photos of Brian Wilson and not immediately vibe and innately know why the cover of this book has the six principal members, and ONLY them, on the cover.

Also, the pedants complaining about "not enough rare photos" also appear to not understand what a BOOK EDITOR is. I think some fans who have hard drives squirreled away with every odd duck photo of the band don't understand how shaping/editing the flow of a book works. I wasn't involved in the book, but I'm guessing edict #1 in making this book was NOT "find a photo nobody has ever seen." It was surely about ILLUSTRATING the STORY they're telling.

AND, if you claim a photo isn't "rare enough" even though it has NEVER actually been published in a book (meaning you've had it on your hard drive since 1997), then you're in a very small bubble.

Some of this stuff is like complaining that the "Hotel Tape" isn't in "Endless Harmony."

^This

Awesome! Will check it out after work

There are quite a few AI songs popping up ; not referring to the Dae Lims experiments (which are generally excellent) but the deep fake type deals. I’m at the point of not even bothering to click anything unless it’s from an official source .

Definitely will be checking it out!

Hmm… color me intrigued

I would slaughter something for a 1964-style “Midnight’s Another Day”

I made the mistake of going to The Beach Boys subreddit… some idiot is making jokes about Brian’s condition. Some people in this world are truly sick

This all makes me wonder. Not wonder about Brian's bravery and determination, for he has those to spare.

But I wonder about me, and about so many of us who wanted to see Brian do well. If I look back honestly, the shows I saw him do in 2009 were incredible -- the best ever -- but even the BB50 dates didn't quite reach that level. And everyone could see that he was lagging by the 2013 Beck tour, and each subsequent jaunt saw him do a little worse. Yes, he would rally time after time, and you could always see some of the old spirit and verve. But he was growing older, and the performances objectively declined.

Then we come to 2022, and anyone who saw those shows knew something was seriously wrong. Perhaps it had started a couple of years earlier with the back surgery, but no one could deny the difficulty that he now faced. And I just wonder. Should we have been firmer about pushing back form 2015-2019, when it was clear he was doing okay broadly speaking but going through the motions a bit at the shows? I hate to think that we encouraged him to go out when he was scared and unprepared and uncomprehending.

Who knows. Perhaps he wanted it. But I think those of us who love him, those of us devoted to this man's music, have to be a little self critical now. I wish it wasn't true. But it is.

I see where you’re coming from, Wirestone. You’re one of the few in The Beach Boys world whom I hold a lot of respect/trust for your insights, information, and thoughts, so I do not take what you wrote above lightly. We care for and love Brian, and I think that’s why we’re so passionate about our viewpoints. I honestly don’t know what the right answer is, but here are my thoughts:

At the end of the day, it was up to Brian, Melinda, and his doctors. But ultimately up to Brian. I’ve heard it many times, and wonder how much of it is true, but the statement “Brian isn’t going to do anything he doesn’t want to do.” comes to mind.

If Brian was scared and didn’t want to face the fear, he wouldn’t have performed. If Brian would’ve rather stayed at home watching TV, he wouldn’t have performed. And honestly when he stopped touring most recently, I think that was Brian finally saying he had to stop.

Now, for those recent years he was performing, you have to ask, okay maybe Brian wanted to perform but is that in his best interest given his age, mental fragility, limited mobility, etc? I’d honestly say yes (and I wonder if his support staff including doctors also agreed with this). I’d imagine that those support people around him saw that Brian being active was good for his mental and physical health. You stay at home watching TV all day with no purpose you’re going to check out rather quick. I honestly think that Brian liked being on the road, and thus that’s what he did and it kept him active and alert and physically moving (even if it was from the bus to a chair). As someone watching a loved one currently die of late-stage Alzheimer’s, I can without a doubt say that I’d rather see this person out and about smelling the roses (while they can), than cooped up indoors watching movies on Lifetime.

No, I don’t think we should have been firmer in pushback. Why? Because we are fans who have no idea what is happening in Brian’s head, we don’t sit in on appointments with Brian’s support team at UCLA. We aren’t Brian Wilson.

What I do know is that Brian’s path in life has led him to this point now. Brian Wilson, the once 300+ pound cocaine addicted, prisoner of Landy, mind shattered by LSD, hears voices of negativity, taken to court countless times, taken advantage of countless times, etc etc…that man is still alive at 81. And for the last 30 years he has been on a healthy course of life: making music, putting smiles on countless audience goers, facing his fears. And that path also includes his last years of touring.

No, if collective “fans” had any say in how Brian had run his life for the last 30 years then I doubt Brian would be alive right now. I think everything that happened to Brian was meant to happen to Brian - the good, the bad. But the last 30 years, at moments sometimes imperfect, I think have been the best situation Brian could have ever found himself in. And even his last years on tour, he was out there trying - trying to recapture youth? Trying to make his audience happy? Trying to live another day.

My thoughts exactly.

Ive been debating on whether to post this, but … I think this is the reason why his tour was postponed a few years back. I know there was a lot of debate on why he was continuing to tour , but I think now we know for sure .

This is extremely depressing but we knew this day would come eventually. Doesn’t make it any easier though

Dammit

This address was posted for those who wish to send cards to the family.

The Wilson Family c/o
Beachwood Entertainment
2271 Cheremoya Ave
Los Angeles CA  90068

Thank you for posting that!

Is it true that fans were worried about Brian in 1991/92? I was a fan, but an outsider. I had no insight into what fans were feeling at that time. I was concerned, for sure.  I was worried that without Landy, Brian would fall back into his old habits - smoking, drinking, drugging, hiding away from the world. I had no idea what was happening with him throughout 1992/93/94.

If you want to know how thing were in 1991, this Diane Sawyer report offers probably the single best insight into that period:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVP7pNjJd30&t=64

I remember seeing that prior to becoming a fan a few years later and being quite disturbed. I was a kid of 13 but something seemed off as hell to me

I apologize in advance for a long post, but I have some thoughts I'd like to share.

Most of us really don’t know anything about Melinda as an actual, real-life person. I certainly don’t; what I know is what I’ve observed through looking at and studying Brian’s life, and through that you can infer what she provided. When I heard the news, a few things immediately entered into my mind:

-   Brian’s lyrics on “One Kind of Love” – especially the verse with about “sometimes, from out of the blue /an angel comes to you / but you’ve got to have an open heart.” (I assume on this song Brian did the words and Scott Bennett was more involved in the music – the words sound like Brian).  This is Brian basically describing what happened for him, on both her side of it, and his side of it. Not only that she provided love, but that Brian realized that he had to be willing to trust another human being—a woman—and accept love, or grace. This can and does happen for people, if they’re lucky, and Brian was fortunate to have crossed paths with Melinda, but also he should credit himself for not pushing her away (and in a way, he does, on “One Kind of Love”) Anyway, that’s how it looks to me from a distance. The song is both about Brian and Melinda, but it’s also about everybody.

-   On the same issue, another thing that I immediately came to mind is one of the most memorable scenes in the 2015 movie, when the Brian-character tells Melinda to leave his house in Malibu because Landy is coming, and he’s saying “leave… leave… but don’t leave me.” (yes I know that’s only movie, but I do believe that the events in the movie occurred as Melinda and Brian remembered them.) It’s what that scene represents which is really significant. It’s the part of the movie which communicates that Brian wants to do the right thing and knows that it’s the right thing, but he’s in a situation in which he’s trapped. This is the story of his life.

-   It was only after seeing that scene in the movie and how the movie was trying to communicate this problem that you start thinking back to the Gershwin album and Brian’s cover of “I Loves You Porgy.” In that story, that’s Bess singing to Porgy; the meaning of the song in the context of Porgy & Bess is that Bess’s life is basically out of control, she has a lot of problems (in her case it's drugs, prostitution, her attachment to an abusive, exploitative man she can't break free from) and she’s telling Porgy she hasn’t the strength to do the right thing for herself, but if Porgy can “keep her” she wants to stay with him. I have to assume Brian knew what he was singing when he covered that, and I think he covered it well because he understood the song and had lived it.

-   The last thing that popped into my mind was again from the 2015 movie: the image of Melinda standing in the doorway of her office, staring down Landy. This was the climactic moment in the film, the end of the movie basically, and that image sums up what the movie was about. I think we have to understand, whether we like it or not, that this is what Brian had been missing in his life since early childhood. And the movie is saying, that finally, the abuse and exploitation stops here, at this symbolic moment.

That scene is my favorite in the movie. The way Melinda takes the verbal abuse from Landy and then flips the tables on him by opening her office door and staring daggers at him, it’s so brilliant. And then when he leaves, she takes a second to collect herself, dusts herself off, and says “OK, let’s sell some cars.”  I adored that character ever since.  And, I have to say, I also admired and respect the actual woman.

Same… I was thinking about that scene earlier today, and it hit me all over again. I can’t believe she’s gone… I’ve been praying for Brian and the family since learning the terrible news. My heart goes out to them

I am at a loss for words …. My deepest condolences to Brian and his family

What program is he using?

I do notice in the few recent pictures we’ve seen he’s looked much better than he did during that final tour

Yeah hopefully he's doing better.  I really hope he isn't pushed into touring any further if he doesn't want to and isn't in good shape for it.  There's been recent videos going around on Facebook of an 89-year-old Frankie Valli hobbling around on stage and is very clearly lip-syncing to a pre-recorded vocal track and it's not a good look.  We don't need Brian going that route. 

Frankie Valli has been lip-syncing for eons. It's truly bizarre that he still gets bookings when for years and years (probably well over a decade?) he's been doing this, and very unconvincingly. I guess people are still buying tickets.

I’ll never understand lip synched concerts , like, ever

I do notice in the few recent pictures we’ve seen he’s looked much better than he did during that final tour

My deepest condolences to his friends and family

I think if there was going to be a release of anything we’d have gotten some sort of word by now

Moderator Billy C isn’t it?

Yes it’s me

I’m back after 6 months without internet access… will be here more often now.

So happy! Realized that you hadn’t been online for a number of months and I was getting worried.

Glad to see you back, Billy!

There's nothing wrong with a relatively quiet board--it's clear that when topics that push past the well-traveled topics pop up, we have the same level of engagement as was more commonly the case in past years. As GF noted, fewer clashes and less focus on agendas involving revisionist history might mean fewer overall posts, but the peace of mind that has ensued is a welcome tradeoff.

We've been blessed with a tremendous amount of unreleased material in the past 5-6 years that has given us a much better sense of what was happening with the band in what is arguably its most interesting period: 1967-73. That in itself has resulted in a reduction of speculative posts/discussions that probably accounted for 20-30% of the overall traffic.

We are really in legacy mode at this point, with hopes that some kind of grand synthesis might occur from those who have more active control over things. We can hopefully look forward to a big project from Ed Roach, which will give us new access to "in the moment" events and a set of untold stories that can give us more context into the band's complicated dynamics. We'll see just how useful the latest "official" biography will be when it's widely available, and we can hope that some final kernels of creative fire are still at work with Brian as he retires for the second time from the road.

So it's all OK...and, as Mike sings in the last verse of that song: let's enjoy while it lasts.

Appreciate it… I’ve had some personal struggles this year and was without internet access for the past six months

I’m back after 6 months without internet access… will be here more often now.

Billy! It’s great to see you back here. Missed you!

Thank you!

I’m back after 6 months without internet access… will be here more often now.

I’m more annoyed by the idiotic monkey section and the strings . The rest of it is ok