Mike and Dennis in 80 or 81

[c-man]

<That is why writers like Stebbins and Doe are so important in the face of the David Leaf mentallity.>

I absolutely agree.  I love David's work and what it has done for Brian since 1978, but it definitely needs to be balanced.  Anyone reading "The Beach Boys and the California Myth" without reading Stebbins, Doe, or White as well only gets part of the picture.  Unfortunately, many of the journalists who write about Brian seem to only have read the Leaf book.

[Glenn Greenberg]

I have read a lot about how their relationship soured over the years. I am sure many of you have seen this video before, but it seems that Mike and Dennis are enjoying each others company at the moment.

I always thought (based on their body language and facial expressions) that it looked more like Dennis was trying to make Mike feel uncomfortable by walking over to him, putting his arm around him and looking at him like he was deeply in love, and that Mike was thinking something along the lines of "Thousands of people are watching, keep smiling Mike... And let's hope this idiot won't do anything stupid"... It's actually quite an amusing scene if you imagine that that's what's happening... 

Nah--at the very beginning of the clip, you can see Mike good-naturedly rolling his eyes at Dennis, as if to say, "Here we go again with 'Surfer Girl'," and that prompts Dennis to come over to Mike and get all mushy with him.  I think it was a rare moment of fun and camaraderie between them.

[petsite]

I saw Dennis up close several times in the late '70s / earlt '80s. Hell, he even tossed my copy of Pet Sounds like a frisbiee when I asked him to sign it in '81. Had to walk down a flight of hotel stairs, pick it up, and took it back to him. He smiled and said "you're alright kid!" and signed it. Dennis had a warm heart but had NO IMPLUSE control. He felt it and did it. No thinking involved. Brian did the same in the '60s, just not as damaging as the stuff Denny did.

Murry Wilson is to blame for alot of the problems. As are Mike Love's parents (Glee was over-protective and extremely judgemental.....sound like her son?) And Mike was deeply affected by his father's sudden loss of a livelyhood and a home. So this enitre group is as disfunctional as they come. And Al probably did feel like he was in an insane situation half the time. And on a personal note, having dealt with friends with drug problems, no matter how much you love them and how talented they are, you do get to a point where you just start treating them like crap because it gets to be too much. You canonly take so many "incidents" before you say "You know what? Get the hell out of here until you are sober!"

I think David Leaf said it best that THE BEACH BOYS ALWAYS CAME FIRST, before anyone's problems. Mike, Al, Carl, Dennis & Brian were secondary to this thing called THE BEACH BOYS. It might have become a monster to Brian, but I am sure it flet like that to the rest of them as well.

[Jonas]

I saw Dennis up close several times in the late '70s / earlt '80s. Hell, he even tossed my copy of Pet Sounds like a frisbiee when I asked him to sign it in '81. Had to walk down a flight of hotel stairs, pick it up, and took it back to him. He smiled and said "you're alright kid!" and signed it.

Great story!