David Leaf

[SG7]

I think the one thing I learned about the BB community no one forgets and seldom forgives. Unfortunate, but true.

[Bill Tobelman]

David Leaf was nice to take my two phone calls, he yelled a little during the second one, but he also wrote back when I wrote him later on.

It's obvious that he's in Brian's corner & maybe without his stance we wouldn't be seeing a SMiLE release in November.

I also loved his liner notes all along the way. One less than factual aspect about his writing was that it was true believer stuff about the possibilities possible.

Leaf's "keep the faith" attitude toward Brian has paid off for all of us.

[Peter Reum]

David is the reason the Smile stuff is on the 1993 Box from Smile, and also helped Brian through 2004. Both those factors contributed to this year's favorable reaction from Brian.

[Mikie]

What on earth? Outside the relatively select community of BB researchers, what does it matter if David Leaf is standoffish or not?

It mattered to me. Back in the late 70's I almost met the "standoffish" David Leaf. At the time, he was writing the Pet Sounds fanzine. A friend of mine and I went down to L.A. and were in the neighborhood and decided to drop in to meet him. He lived in an upstairs apartment at the time, and we had his address and apartment number. We climbed the stairs and he was coming down the stairs. I recognized him from a picture (probably from the fanzine) and we said hello to him. He looked at us and told us he wasn't David. He was definitely David Leaf - unless he has a twin brother! He stopped and looked at us, and we told him we were big fans of the Beach Boys. "No! I'm not David!", he said in a tone like we were bothering him. I know we showed up unannounced, but as big fans of the Beach Boys and his fanzine, we just wanted to visit with him for a few minutes to talk about the band and ask him where we could see a couple of old BB sites in L.A. and if he had 'connections' to meeting any members of the band.

After that, I bought three copies of his book, saw him at a Beach Boys convention and one of Brian's shows, but didn't bother to approach him. He's probably a nice guy in Beach Boys fan circles like you guys say, but I thought he was too high on himself, so eff him. 

[37!ws]

It seems that a lot of people are very black'n'white in the Beach Boys world....some people are very love 'em or hate 'em.

FWIW, I did enjoy Leaf's twofer notes (despite the factual errors later found out) and his book. I don't think Beautiful Dreamer is so much fiction as it is very one-sided, but I still love it...heh...I went to the second Carnegie Hall Smile concert, and I remember seeing David Leaf in the back of the hall after the show. There was practically a reception line forming in front of him of people shaking his hand, patting his back, etc., complimenting him on Beautiful Dreamer, which had just aired on Showtime.

But still, his "Brian good, everyone else (including Christ himself) bad" attitude -- or at least the implied attitude -- is a bit disturbing. One semi-insider I spoke with (who now is no longer with us; guess you can figure out about whom I'm talking) said that David went so far as to say that if hell exists, he believes that's where Carl is because of how he treated Brian.  Uhh...

[SMiLE Brian]

It seems that a lot of people are very black'n'white in the Beach Boys world....some people are very love 'em or hate 'em.

FWIW, I did enjoy Leaf's twofer notes (despite the factual errors later found out) and his book. I don't think Beautiful Dreamer is so much fiction as it is very one-sided, but I still love it...heh...I went to the second Carnegie Hall Smile concert, and I remember seeing David Leaf in the back of the hall after the show. There was practically a reception line forming in front of him of people shaking his hand, patting his back, etc., complimenting him on Beautiful Dreamer, which had just aired on Showtime.

But still, his "Brian good, everyone else (including Christ himself) bad" attitude -- or at least the implied attitude -- is a bit disturbing. One semi-insider I spoke with (who now is no longer with us; guess you can figure out about whom I'm talking) said that David went so far as to say that if hell exists, he believes that's where Carl is because of how he treated Brian.  Uhh...

What?, Murry and Carl don't belong in the same place. Everybody loved Carl and Carl helped free Brian from Landy.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Everybody loved Carl and Carl helped free Brian from Landy.

Eventually... and remember, Carl was party to the decision to re-engage Landy in the first place.

[SamMcK]

Is even Murray bad enough to deserve to go to hell?

It seems that a lot of people are very black'n'white in the Beach Boys world....some people are very love 'em or hate 'em.

FWIW, I did enjoy Leaf's twofer notes (despite the factual errors later found out) and his book. I don't think Beautiful Dreamer is so much fiction as it is very one-sided, but I still love it...heh...I went to the second Carnegie Hall Smile concert, and I remember seeing David Leaf in the back of the hall after the show. There was practically a reception line forming in front of him of people shaking his hand, patting his back, etc., complimenting him on Beautiful Dreamer, which had just aired on Showtime.

But still, his "Brian good, everyone else (including Christ himself) bad" attitude -- or at least the implied attitude -- is a bit disturbing. One semi-insider I spoke with (who now is no longer with us; guess you can figure out about whom I'm talking) said that David went so far as to say that if hell exists, he believes that's where Carl is because of how he treated Brian.  Uhh...

What?, Murry and Carl don't belong in the same place. Everybody loved Carl and Carl helped free Brian from Landy.

[Emdeeh]

Eventually... and remember, Carl was party to the decision to re-engage Landy in the first place.

And Carl lived to regret that decision in many ways. The whole Landy experience was very painful for him.

[ghost]

Murry sits at the right hand of God, folks. The man was a saint & sinner like all great men. A chaos, duality, madness. To reach heaven you must go through the depths of hell first. Tree roots go deep, tree grow high.

[Jason]

Carl was a lot of things but I doubt he "ended up in hell". That's just preposterous.

Hopefully Mr. Leaf doesn't read this board. 

[rogerlancelot]

Do you think David Leaf believes in ghosts?

[Pretty Funky]

What on earth? Outside the relatively select community of BB researchers, what does it matter if David Leaf is standoffish or not?

It mattered to me. Back in the late 70's I almost met the "standoffish" David Leaf. At the time, he was writing the Pet Sounds fanzine. A friend of mine and I went down to L.A. and were in the neighborhood and decided to drop in to meet him. He lived in an upstairs apartment at the time, and we had his address and apartment number. We climbed the stairs and he was coming down the stairs. I recognized him from a picture (probably from the fanzine) and we said hello to him. He looked at us and told us he wasn't David. He was definitely David Leaf - unless he has a twin brother! He stopped and looked at us, and we told him we were big fans of the Beach Boys. "No! I'm not David!", he said in a tone like we were bothering him. I know we showed up unannounced, but as big fans of the Beach Boys and his fanzine, we just wanted to visit with him for a few minutes to talk about the band and ask him where we could see a couple of old BB sites in L.A. and if he had 'connections' to meeting any members of the band.

After that, I bought three copies of his book, saw him at a Beach Boys convention and one of Brian's shows, but didn't bother to approach him. He's probably a nice guy in Beach Boys fan circles like you guys say, but I thought he was too high on himself, so eff him. 

Sorry Mikie. Turning up like you did would creep me out to!

[Bicyclerider]

It seems that a lot of people are very black'n'white in the Beach Boys world....some people are very love 'em or hate 'em.


But still, his "Brian good, everyone else (including Christ himself) bad" attitude -- or at least the implied attitude -- is a bit disturbing. One semi-insider I spoke with (who now is no longer with us; guess you can figure out about whom I'm talking) said that David went so far as to say that if hell exists, he believes that's where Carl is because of how he treated Brian.  Uhh...

BH?  it's a shame he's not still here to see the release of the Smile Sessions - I'll be thinking of him when I finally getnto listen to it.

[adamghost]

It seems that a lot of people are very black'n'white in the Beach Boys world....some people are very love 'em or hate 'em.


But still, his "Brian good, everyone else (including Christ himself) bad" attitude -- or at least the implied attitude -- is a bit disturbing. One semi-insider I spoke with (who now is no longer with us; guess you can figure out about whom I'm talking) said that David went so far as to say that if hell exists, he believes that's where Carl is because of how he treated Brian.  Uhh...

BH?  it's a shame he's not still here to see the release of the Smile Sessions - I'll be thinking of him when I finally getnto listen to it.

Someone somewhere told me Carl, when asked privately about the SMILE album in the '80s, was pretty dimissive of it.  I don't remember who said that, and it was just one person repeating a conversation, but it made me think a bit.  And as I thought about it I didn't remember Carl being super effusive about the music at the time, unlike, say, PET SOUNDS.  Seems like he kept pretty quiet on the topic overall, though he was the one spearheading the '73 release.  Which did not happen.