So, the last thing Im gonna do for awhile is post a reaction to the relevant passages from Steve Gaines' Heroes and Villains. I probably won't make another significant contribution to this thread for another month.
1. The House of Smile & Sorrow
First of all, he provides the most complete description of Brian and Marilyn's house on Laurel Way I've ever seen. Almost every single detail here is something I've seen written elsewhere, but this is the best book to get it all in one place. I'll post the whole passage in Italics: While Brian busied himself composing new Beach Boys material, Marilyn set about fixing up the house with the help of decorator Lee Polk (wife of director Martin Polk) -and Brian's overriding advice. The master bedroom had flocked red wallpaper. A huge four-poster bed, with a headboard of carved angels, was blanketed in a leopardprint spread. In the bathroom hung a plastic picture of Jesus, whose eyes opened and closed when you moved. In the shag-carpeted living room several "Lava Lamps" slowly undulated, while nearby, inexplicably, was a display rack of children's dolls in their plastic shipping tubes. On the walls were Kean prints of dark-eyed children, along with cheap prints of the Mona Lisa and Blueboy. The large dining room was furnished with an immense, Spanishstyle table covered in a dark blue cloth and· surrounded by high-backed chairs. The kitchen had black-and-white houndstooth-check wallpaper and striped window shades, like an "Op-art painting," according to one visitor. The den was a small room prepared in a bright orange, blue, yellow, and red wall fabric, with a jukebox loaded with Beach Boys singles and Phil Spector tunes. A pair of mechanical parrots, dyed fluorescent colors, sat in a huge cage. Two dogs, Louie (named after Brian's pal, Lou Adler), a dark brown Weimaraner, and Banana, a beagle, completed the scene. Later, this book confirms the "new" detail I found in WIBN, that Brian has a playset installed in the front of the house so you had to crawl through to get inside. ^Reading all this, I think the place ought to have been preserved as a walk-in museum, similar to the "A Christmas Story" house. I understand the reverence for Belagio 10452 with its private studio and all, but for me 1448 Laurel Way is the true Abode of Wilson's Muse, where his best work was done, the House Surfing Built (and SMiLE destroyed).
2. Pet Sounds Tidbits
Similarly, this book has the most in-depth recounting of Asher and Brian's time together. More or less everything you've heard elsewhere is here but then it goes more in-depth with things like making hash brownies for a whole paragraph rather than a quick aside.
I was shocked to hear Asher only earned $60,000 for his work on the album. I'm guessing that figure hasn't been updated since 1986 and now Pet Sounds has been rereleased so many times since then it must be a lot more, right? At least six figures? If not, that's insane.
3. The LA Scene
Something Gaines notes that gets lost in the conversation is that the other guys didn't "get" SMiLE or sense the change in the winds because they weren't in LA while the new counterculture was developing. It's not (just) that they were squares, they just missed out on the seismic shift in what was considered "cool" and didn't get the memo until the Beatles and Monterey brought Flower Power to the mainstream outside Hollywood, San Francisco and swinging London. Some of the things going on that influenced the hippies, like a 10 PM curfew, were news to me.
4. SMiLE Conception
This is the first I've ever heard of VDP even being aware of Tony Asher's existence, because as far as every other source is concerned, the two never interacted or influenced each other. Here, VDP is keenly aware of Asher's less-than-ideal experience with Brian Wilson and this makes him hesitant to sign on as collaborator.
Something that raises an eyebrow is the depiction of their first meeting, where Brian has already conceived Dumb Angel as the epic teenage symphony to God, with "threads of music entwined from song to song in a vast tapestry." I was under the impression that specific description came later, like Badman puts it at October (the issues with that book aside) but it's certainly not impossible. The entwined music may not be so far off from "a lot of talking and laughing between cuts" that's a verified, vintage quote but also could be the later mythology seeping into the historical record as well. It's not something where I can say definitively which is right or wrong, but it's a notable difference. My theory? Gaines is just trying to get the SMiLE exposition out of the way by putting it all in the first meeting rather than drip-feeding it over time, as I expect is probably closer to the truth. We all know Brian's mind changed a lot and I think the scope and specifics of SMiLE snowballed over those 7 months between May and Dec of '66.
It's like how the popular perception used to be that SMiLE would have all these repeated leitmotifs until more people realized the sessions were a chaotic mess and those repeats only happened because Heroes cannibalized the rest of the music. Unfortunately, Gaines repeats that misconception elsewhere in the book, saying the songs "had passages which repeated and echoed each other." I know this predates most bootlegs and info on the unreleased SMiLE tracks but it shows.
6. Brian and Van's Relationship
I remember in my earliest exposure to SMiLE, imagining VDP and Brian as two peas in a pod, eccentric cool genius buddies who saw eye to eye on everything and big bad Mike Love ruined it. Then slowly but surely I find that Van hated the Fire sessions, had some bad blood with Brian ("victimized by [his] buffoonery"), hated the Psychedelic Sounds, fought with Brian often enough that Anderle talks about it at length, disagreed with the choice of Veggies as a single and now I find out he hated the tent & sandbox from the first. (I assumed the WIBN quote was fake or in reference to seeing dog sh*t in it, not his "Calvinist frugal" reaction to such wasteful opulence.) I sort of understand VDP's mindset (although at least Brian's indulgences sound cool, not like other rich people dabbling in politics and buying every business and sh*t) but I find it a tad hypocritical how these misgivings about extravagant wealth went out the window once they were used to benefit him personally. I'm referring to both the car payment and purchase of literally thousands of dollars worth of hash. Still, the quote "There were no stipulations about what the five thousand dollars represented, but what it meant was my undying loyalty to Brian Wilson," is pretty touching all the same. VDP never forgot that kindness and mentioned it in his memorial to BDW.
With all this in mind, Van doesn't seem the type not to mention getting 40 mice from a guy he already thought was a weirdo too loose with money others'd kill for, so I think we can safely write off that anecdote in WIBN as bullshit.
7. SMiLE Tidbits
According to this book, Brian and Van wrote "about half the album" in one go, laying on their backs because they were too stoned to stand, microphone hovering about a foot off the ground, only stopping when they got sleepy.
There's a VDP quote I'd never seen before: "we were trying to write a song that would end on a freeze frame of the Union Pacific Railroad-the guys come together and they turn around to have their picture taken." ^This sounds more like Cabinessence than anything but it's listed separately as "yet another song" when Gaines easily could've made the connection. I'm going to say it morphed into CE and Gaines or VDP didn't specify, or this idea was abandoned. How do you end a song on a "freeze frame?"
Brian is said to have taken "occasional psychedelics" but "never in the presence of Anderle or VDP." Anderle is said to have taken "up to 5 desbutols a day" along with Brian, though.
8. The "Humor Album" and "Sound FX Album"
I still maintain there was a ton of bleedover between SMiLE and the supposedly separate humor album and "sound effects album," for the following reasons:
1) that aforementioned quote "a lot of talking and laughing between cuts,"
2) the name of the album and its ethos of exploring the spiritual power of laughter,
3) the fact the two biggest skits were done with Wrecking Crew musicians explicitly tied to SMiLE songs in theme (Veggie Fight) or during the same session where music was recorded (George Fell),
4) that Brian included humorous skits on Beach Boy albums before and
5) Smiley explicitly combined the two as any honest listener would admit and Anderle testifies in Crawdaddy. The "sound effects album" is a somewhat less commonly known tangent but I feel more or less the same--there must've been a ton of bleedover between it and SMiLE if nothing else, considering Smiley has water pouring and other musique veritae kind of effects on it. Anyway, long buildup to say, Gaines makes it sound like Vosse's water recordings were meant for this separate project instead of the Water element but I don't think there was such a hard boundary in Brian's mind. Vosse is also said to have recorded "chewing and swallowing" sounds, fountains/hoses, crunching gravel, and animals which seems to me like descriptions of the "lost Psychedelic Sounds" mentioned in Badman's book.
Gaines writes about this supposedly separate humor album in confusing terms: "There was also an entire album devoted to humor, which Brian actually recorded with photographer Jasper Dailey, and which was rejected by A&M Records." ^This implies Brian actually made an LP's worth of material with Jasper instead of three separate tracks, and even then it's my understanding that wasn't "the humor album" but a one-off gag and excuse to procrastinate. This description implies the Jasper Dailey tracks were a sincere offering to A&M rather than a put on at their expense (and at the cost of weeks' worth of work, dammit Brian!). Gaines implies that this apparently finished humor album made with Jasper getting rejected by A&M and Capitol is what led to Brother Records. I'm sure the ability to make whatever he wanted was the genesis but I think Gaines is connecting the wrong dots, or the right dots in the wrong context, to get to the correct conclusion if you get me.
9. Brother Records
This source confirms Anderle's recollection that Mike was most receptive to him (Anderle) and the Brother Records endeavor. It's explicitly stated "[Mike's] support for Anderle, whom he respected him as a businessman, lent the idea weight." This sort of kills the idea that Mike hated all of Brian's new connections, or that there is one singular "Vosse Posse" (while a cool name, it really should be called the "Anderle Assembly" or something because he was the "mayor of hip" who brought Hutton, Vosse, VDP and so many others into Brian's orbit). Really, Brian's circle of new "friends" during the SMiLE Era are varied people with their own agendas and obligations. I like Mike's classification of a "hip intelligentsia" who were there to do a job (though I'd include Vosse in that class, along with Anderle, Taylor and maybe Siegal on a good day) and "hipsters" who just sort of got in the way whether their intentions were good or not. (I regret being so harsh towards Daro for how I spoke to him over things he did 50 years previous, but I still include him in this category along with Danny Hutton, Mark Volman and Stanley Shapiro. It's not that this makes them bad guys, just that they had no legit reason for being there.)
The other guys are said to have been excited to use Brother Records as a means to work with other acts and get out from under Brian's shadow.
Small point of difference too, where other sources say Nick Grillo looked at the books and discovered irregularities, here it's said he hired Abe Somers who found them.
10. Brian's Deterioration
I'd never heard this before, but in Gaines' book it mentions that anytime Murry was set to visit, Brian would "vomit in fear."
I either never read or forgot (it may be in Fusion, been awhile since I read it) that Brian hired a team to debug his car: "Magically," said Michael Vosse, "they found a bug in Brian's car. To this day I think they brought it with them to get the job."I really like this Anderle quote: "Thinking back," Anderle said, "there was so much weirdness going on that was whimsical and humorous, those signs certainly didn't alarm me. Brian wasn't the only one. We were all strange, doing strange things." Is there another source to the Carol Mountain story with Stanley Shapiro? It's not an anecdote you see in most sources and I've heard Shapiro's reputation as an honest source is spotty. Certainly this is among the most embarrassing, erratic, concerning examples of Brian coming undone. It's not an experience I'd imagine you forget yet it isn't in WIBN. Shapiro certainly doesn't sound like a real friend, just one of those people using someone else for a laugh, a story and probably free hash. He reminds me of that episode of Parks and Recreation "he takes vacations in other people's lives." I may be reading too much into one story but anyone with an ounce of common sense would say it isn't a good idea to call up your old unrequited high school crush while married, and it sounds like it must've been a humiliating heartbreak for Brian both times, not something to laugh at. Maybe I'm too sensitive, I don't know.
The Seconds anecdote is relayed again with slight differences. Another source (admittedly I forget which off the top of my head now but I believe Leaf) mentioned Anderle was upset at Brian's "Jewish conspiracy" but the way I read that, it sounded more like hurt and sadness. When Gaines tells the story, "veins throbbing in his forehead" it sounds more like anger. Small but noted difference. And here Brian says "did you hear the Beatles album?" not "the new Beatles album" nor "Rubber Soul." This could go either way; is it "the" as in "the newest" or "the" as in best, which would imply RS since that seems Brian's favorite and certainly the most impactful on him.
11. Inside Pop
I love this Oppenheim quote and I'm surprised I never saw it before in any other major source: Oppenheim set off for Los Angeles, and soon after arriving drove up the hill to the house on Laurel Way. He1 just walked in and said who he was. "It was a kind of informal drop-in place," Oppenheim said. "There were always people around. . . . Brian at the time had his piano put in the sand, and in the back there was a tent. I was invited into the tent. I went in once or twice but never understood what it was about. Brian was looking at the TV set with the volume off and just the color, detuned, and lots of vegetables around. Marilyn was nice, receptive and warm, and made sure I had a drink. I never understood Brian and her together. It was a strange, insulated household, insulated from the world by money . . . . A playpen of irresponsible people. If they'd had to feel the road and the gravel under their feet, they would have had to behave in a very different way, but this wasn't necessary.^The scene this sets almost feels like a sort of crack den in my eyes, a perpetual party house of hangers-on wanting a glimpse at the rockstar, Brian half-aware of their presence on a good day. I'm wondering how much stuff must've been stolen in all the unchecked comings and goings: like loose jewelry, drugs and most insidiously, those precious acetates containing missing SMiLE sections we'd all kill to hear, lost puzzle pieces that would rewrite our entire understanding of the album. In another thread, I compared Brian to Jay Gatsby but this "insulated by money" description is more befitting the Buchanans and it just goes to show money doesn't buy happiness. Even Oppenheim could tell Brian and Marilyn weren't really in love.
"A film crew and I went to Columbia Records's studios with Brian and his friends, and they were doing tiny little pieces that made no sense in and of themselves . . . just a few notes . . . also the sessions didn't inake a scene that was at all interesting. . . . I had hoped to get Brian_ masterminding a recording session, but instead it was terribly spread out . . . . Brian was a little spacy, but he didn't seem drugged. We filmed a piece called 'Surf's Up,' and he accompanied himself at the piano. After that we tried to talk with him but didn't get much out of him. Some guy said, 'He's not verbal.' He was odd and he seemed odder. I had heard the stories before we got there about how crazy he was. Van Dyke seemed brilliant, intelligent, off-the-wall, and smashed."^It's strange how everyone assumed the filmed sessions that "went very badly" represented a band fight when this book, published almost 40 years ago, makes it clear they just didn't look interesting on camera. I think this shows the power of film over print in an age where few bother to read anymore, and in this case specifically the power of Leaf's film "Beautiful Dreamer" that undoubtedly shaped a certain narrative for years afterward. Only in the last 10 years and very slowly has the pendulum swung back to something more reasonable and evidentiary rather than "literary." In short, while it may be annoying listening to him bitch about it, Mike has reason to be pissed at how he's been portrayed. The primary sources still attest to certain blow ups but it was definitely overemphasized in the immediate aftermath of BWPS if not before.
The "he's not verbal" ties in with Anderle's quote in the Leaf book, so much that I wonder if he's the one who said that to Oppenheim here. If Oppenheim really wept and said "it's the best song I've ever heard" (paraphrased) like some sources posit, he doesn't admit so here. He seems more perplexed and put-off than overawed. (Which makes sense and rings truer to me anyway.)
12. Taxis, Planes (and Bicycle Riders?)
Gaines confirms Brian was worried about how GV would sound live. The more I think about it, combined with the relative lack of quotes criticizing how the BBs recreated the new stuff live in Badman's book, I'm wondering if this "SMiLE was too complex to take on the road" thing might've been another of Brian's paranoid anxieties. Not that there wasn't some talk PS/GV not sounding as good live among critics and possibly Badman's quotes are cherry-picked but still. Was it really expected a band sound EXACTLY the same out of the studio? I'm wondering if it wasn't a case of Brian holding the material in such high reverence that he would not hear of any compromises to its presentation. This is the guy who demanded such perfection in the studio, it's not unreasonable to think he'd never be satisfied with any live arrangement; he'd want perfection every time for fear any mistake or limitation reflected badly on him as a songwriter. I wonder if this same guy who was so afraid: of Murry, of Spector, of a painting, of a woman (ESP witch), of the Monterey hippies...wasn't just inventing another thing to get antsy about in his head. Point is, I think it may've actually been Brian using that "it won't play well live" angle as an excuse to quit this increasingly burdensome project rather than an attack levied by the Beach Boys themselves. (Or maybe they did that and he was all too happy to use it as an excuse to give up a project that'd become an albatross around his neck, either way the point is he wouldn't have needed much convincing on this front.)
Gaines also mentions that the Taxi Cabber recording lasted an entire hour, talking about rock n roll and the youth (no mention of directions as we hear on the actual bootleg). I'm now inclined to believe this is true, but then where's the rest of it? Was the bootleg release edited due to limited space? Does that imply we may have gotten a truncated Smog, Lifeboat Party, Bob Gorden's Real Trip, Basketball Sounds and Veggie Fight too? LP and VF do kind of begin and end abruptly while BGRT and BS are so abstract they could be a small snippet out of an hour for all we know. I'd love it if someone here could answer--is there more of this stuff in the vault? (And can you give me access or a copy? I'll literally sell you my soul to hear it, I'm that obsessed!)
No other source I'd ever read says that Brian ordered all the entries on the first class plane back to LA where the famous photo was taken.
13. Mrs O'Leary's Fire
The Gaines book repeats (originates?) the same story about a mid-November session of Fire where Brian sent everyone home because of bad vibrations, VDP is there and mortified which is why he didn't go to the 11/28 session, "Brother Julius" is pressured to light the trashcan on fire. I mean...am I crazy...did this happen? I trust AGD completely and it isn't on Belagio10452, even though he lists canceled sessions too. If Gaines is lying, it's such a weird thing to make up. In the same way I suspected Gaines of taking a bit of editorial liberty by condensing the "SMiLE exposition" all into the first meeting with Van Dyke, could he be doing that here? Combining the infamous canceled sessions "bad vibes" with the general fire-witchcraft "bad vibes" into one, more-exciting anecdote? Bad journalism in any case.
At least with regard to the "Brother Julius" part of the story, it seems to be corroborated by an actual Brian quote: "I walked in [to the studios], and there was a janitor named Brother Julius who lived in a little bungalow in the backyard. Before I walked in, I said, 'Brother Julius, could you start a little fire in the bucket and bring it in the studio?' Well, he hit the ceiling. He said, 'What do you want me to do that for?' I said, 'I want these guys to smell smoke.' You see, I was flipping. I wanted to smell smoke. "So there were the musicians smelling smoke with fire hats on. They were all firemen. Rooooar, rooar. The violins were screeching up, reaching upward, rolling down . . . Whoooorrr . . . "14. The Beach Boy Battle
Gaines makes it clear that, while the group initially trusted Anderle, they "came to resent him" when coming back in December, both for bringing all his weird hipster friends around (most of the "Posse" were really connected to him, primarily) and for encouraging Brian to go solo.
This is the sole source I've seen that cites any lyric in the VDP-Mike standoff other than CE's fade. Here it's actually "columnated ruins domino" as the primary sticking point, even though it's not even something Mike would've sung. Gaines also makes a point to say that VDP's "I don't know what it means, I have no excuse sir" was a defensive, sarcastic quip rather than a genuine admission of nonsense. This went without saying to me, but I've run into people here who use that line as reason to discount ANY deeper meaning or thought in VDP's lyrics at all, so I guess I'm glad at least one source spells it out that he wasn't serious. It's not that Van didn't make a sincere effort at writing thoughtful lyrics guys, it's that he was caught offguard, felt insulted and played along with the image Mike clearly had of him because he knew it wasn't a question being asked in good faith. (Really, is it that hard to understand "over and over the crow cries uncover the cornfield?" Those might be the most straightforward lyrics in the whole album, ironically enough!)
Still, Gaines quotes VDP saying he thought SMiLE would still come out even if he wouldn't be asked back in stark contrast to the way this scene is presented in WIBN, which almost certainly used this book as a source.
15. Coming Undone
This version of Anderle's painting includes a quote from Brian about how "It's like the American Indians who have their soul captured." Was there any rational reason for him to say this, or is it just another weird thing Brian said that didn't mean anything?
This book has the best, most heartbreaking depiction of the final meeting Brian had with Anderle: A final incident involving Brian and Anderle took place several days later. The lawsuit Anderle had helped implement against Capitol Records was coming to a headdepositions were being taken and it was a time of serious tension. "I brought an attorney up to Brian's house," Anderle said, "and Brian would not come out of the bedroom." Anderle tried to get Marilyn to bring him down, but he would not come. Anderle told Marilyn, "I will not do business this way. I will not be one of those guys in Brian's life who is treated this way." But Marilyn was helpless, and eventually Anderle went up to the bedroom door himself and knocked. "Brian?'' he called out. "Listen, Brian, if you don't come out of this room, I'm gone. This isn't kid time anymore. Do you hear me, Brian?'' But there was no answer. Anderle never saw Brian again on a professional level. The painting of Brian to this day hangs in Anderle's living toom, but he has never painted again.^A man so broken by drugs and abuse, so sheltered by money and fame, now having to face adult responsibilities besides just recording music for its own sake. And the man who's been feeding his indulgences, fostering his creativity, wanting to shield him as much as possible yet put in the position of having to be the "bad guy" for the first time. I wonder what it must've been like for Anderle driving home after that, or Marilyn realizing her husband was so dysfunctional he just drove away probably the best friend he'd ever have. (How embarrassed she must've been here!) I wonder if Brian knew the true significance of that moment as it was happening or, like so much else, thought he could carry on as an "Adult/Child" and everything would just continue to work out for him because he's rich.
Gaines says of the album's demise: Many things dealt the final blow to Smile-Brian's inability to finish the album, the drugs, the lyrics, the family squabbles-and finally, the release of two new Beatles singles, "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields," so wondrous and differentsounding that Brian was crushed. ^I'd say it was probably due to the following, in order of significance:
1) the lawsuit, including fear of Capitol mishandling SMiLE in retribution plus resentment at letting them profit off his masterpiece,
2) dopamine crash, depressive withdrawal and personality collapse from chronic drug overdose--not just hallucinogens but speed and hash,
3) creeping insecurity in the music due to his own terminal perfectionism, stepping out of his comfort zone conceptually and the group's reaction,
4) procrastination and dread at the process of putting it together,
5) uncertainty of what the project even was anymore since his mind kept changing, endless possibilities with modular editing, VDP left and as I've said I suspect it grew in a direction he hadn't first intended,
6) post-SFF and certainly post-Pepper, fear of being seen as copying the Beatles rather than forging his own unique path.
There's an absolutely insane anecdote in this book I'd never seen before: Brian's final decision not to show up at Monterey may have been made one night about two weeks before the festival, at Alan Pariser's house. Vosse had brought Brian there to meet Pariser for the first time, and Brian seemed distant and uncomfortable from the start. After some small talk, Pariser said casually to Brian, "I don't even know what you guys are doing. I haven't beard from you in a while."
"Brian's mouth flew open," Mike Vosse said. "He was so insulted. Just at the climax of all this tension, the door flew open and in came . . . a guy who was a chiropractor ... a pushy hippie-type. He took one look at Brian and said, 'Terrible back, we're going to have to do something about that.' Before Brian knew it, be was on the floor on his stomach, screaming in agony as the chiropractor worked him over.
"He was absolutely terrified," Vosse said, "but too scared to tell him not to do it. . . . He was totally humiliated and in pain."
When Brian left that night, Pariser said, "If I don't see you before then, I'll see you at Monterey."
And Brian said, "I doubt it."^Brian was flat out assaulted by a psychotic chiropractor.
16. From Gatsby to Kane
The house boasted a large living room, a formal den with a fireplace, and a hidden study that could be entered through a secret door behind a bookcase. There was a fountain in the inner courtyard and a spiral staircase in the entrance foyer. Marilyn and Brian had some minimal construction done-they removed the old flagstone from arouncfthe swimming pool, replacing it with mosaic tiles, and built a tall brick wall around the perimeter of the acre-and-a-half grounds. The psychedelic and hippie paraphernalia from Laurel Way was thrown out, and Marilyn decorated the new house in tasteful pastels and with fashionable furniture. All that remained from before was the grand piano on which Brian had composed Pet Sounds, and the four-poster bed with its headboard of carved angels. To keep strangers away, a new electric gate was installed with an intercom and a sign that read STAND BACK-SPEAK NORMALLY. At first Brian wanted to repaint the house a bright magenta; the painting was only half finished when the Bel Air Residents Tenants Committee started a suit to stop him. The house was painted a simple beige.^No one could accuse Gaines of being a bad writer. He has a great way of using seemingly innocuous descriptions to set a mood, like here where just the recounting of Brian's move to Bellagio makes me feel the death of creativity. That "STAND BACK-SPEAK NORMALLY" reminds me of the "NO TRESPASSING" sign that bookends Citizen Kane, from ostentatious parties to oppressive palace. That detail of not even getting to paint his house the color he wanted feels like a final slap in the face on top of all the other humiliations suffered by Brian that year. 1967 may be the best year for pop music but the man who arguably did most to set it all in motion was having the worst time of his life.
Gaines calls Smiley "a throwaway" and says "the only song on it Brian cared about was H&V" and he explicitly connects Veggies as the Earth element here, for some reason. (Previously, he implied that Brian and Paul "co-produced it" on the spot in April.)
Genevelyn the astrologer has been mentioned in almost every major source on SMiLE but here she is said to have visited Brian's house "frequently." She strikes me as a pretty weird, almost shady character and I wish more was known about her.
