Augusta Georgia, March 1983

[Jay]

I was looking around for Dennis Wilson pictures and articles when I stumbled upon this article somebody wrote about seeing The Beach Boys a few times back in the 1980's. In it he mentions a few interesting details about a show from March 1983 in Augusta Georgia. In the article he says that Dennis was apparently in really bad shape, and it ended with an onstage fight between Dennis and Mike. I was wondering if anybody has heard or read anything about this? I know that there were a few "disturbances" onstage on a few occasions, most notably the Universal Amphitheater in 1979. But this is the first I've heard of a fight with Mike and Dennis happening in 1983. With the upcoming concert guide book, I wonder if there will be anything about it. Here is the article: http://apple.copydesk.org/2012/07/03/what-ill-be-doing-tonight/

[Steve Mayo]

if truthful we now know when that dennis photo was taken.
i saw them in march 1983 in louisville, ky. 2 shows. recorded the first one. dennis was drinking beer all night getting wasted. last time i saw dennis. sad.....

[gfac22]

As sad as it is to think about the shape Dennis was in at the time, it makes me smile knowing that he was stirring $hit up right until the very end.

[Emdeeh]

I was at that show. Dennis was drunk, in very bad shape, and was disrupting the show. It was painful to watch.

I wouldn't call it a fight between Denny and Mike, more of a discussion -- but it was obvious Mike was ejecting Denny from the show. Denny left the stage, but then came back and talked to Carl for a couple of minutes, then left altogether.

[SonicVolcano]

You Are So Beautiful from the 4th of July show (I think?) is just so sad to watch...

[Rocker]

if truthful we now know when that dennis photo was taken.
i saw them in march 1983 in louisville, ky. 2 shows. recorded the first one. dennis was drinking beer all night getting wasted. last time i saw dennis. sad.....

Was it that show that you saw Dennis always holding his hands up an wiggling with his knees everytime Carl loked at him during his solo spot ("What you do to me")? You mentioned something like that once iirc.

[Aegir]

I think this picture is the biggest find from that article.

[Steve Mayo]

if truthful we now know when that dennis photo was taken.
i saw them in march 1983 in louisville, ky. 2 shows. recorded the first one. dennis was drinking beer all night getting wasted. last time i saw dennis. sad.....

Was it that show that you saw Dennis always holding his hands up an wiggling with his knees everytime Carl loked at him during his solo spot ("What you do to me")? You mentioned something like that once iirc.

that's the one. and downing beer all the time. it looked like he was trying to get carl to laugh. carl was not playing guitar during that song and dennis was away from the drums during that song, standing in back of stage.

[Alex]

I think this picture is the biggest find from that article.

Imposters!!

[SonicVolcano]

I think this picture is the biggest find from that article.

Seems legit.

[Rocker]

I think this picture is the biggest find from that article.

Seems legit.

Those seem to be the actors from "An american family". I also see promo pictures from "Summer dreams" from time to time that claim to be the Beach Boys in the 60s

if truthful we now know when that dennis photo was taken.
i saw them in march 1983 in louisville, ky. 2 shows. recorded the first one. dennis was drinking beer all night getting wasted. last time i saw dennis. sad.....

Was it that show that you saw Dennis always holding his hands up an wiggling with his knees everytime Carl loked at him during his solo spot ("What you do to me")? You mentioned something like that once iirc.

that's the one. and downing beer all the time. it looked like he was trying to get carl to laugh. carl was not playing guitar during that song and dennis was away from the drums during that song, standing in back of stage.

I don't know why but that story always stuck out in my memory when seeing/hearing performances from '83

[Jay]

if truthful we now know when that dennis photo was taken.
i saw them in march 1983 in louisville, ky. 2 shows. recorded the first one. dennis was drinking beer all night getting wasted. last time i saw dennis. sad.....

You're talking about the picture of Dennis with a bottle in his hand, right? Actually, if you read the article carefully, I believe that picture was from another show mentioned, from June of 1983.

[Steve Mayo]

yes i saw that jay. at one time it was suggested the photo may have been in the fall of '83.

[Paul J B]

I saw BB's shows with Denny in '78, '80, '81, '82, and '83 and had close enough seats to see that he was downing beer/drunk in all of those years accept the '78 one. All of those shows were in Milwaukee. I also saw them in '75, '76 (Chicago) and '79 but don't recall if Denny was at those as I'm sure he was not for at least the '79 one....but I could be remembering wrong. No revelation here but Denny routinely not being able to lay off the booze for a 90 minute set tells you how bad he had it.

[Jay]

The sad thing is that by 1983 he was in such bad shape that he probably literally couldn't stop for that long of a period. When an alcoholic is at their worst point, their body actually needs the alcohol, and going for a long period without a drink can induce Delirium Tremens, or seizures.