Final Days of Dennis Wilson

[Ed Roach]

Does anyone know any more about Bill Oster, whose boat Dennis was on, or who else was with him that fateful day?  I don't think anyone has really spoken since then about it.  Also, I've tried tried to find out what happened to the "Harmony".  I always thought if I got rich I would have loved to have bought that and had it restored like Dennis was talking about doing before he died.  Can anyone shed any light on it's last know whereabouts?

Funny that I guess this has never really been delved into, but Bill & Dennis probably never in a million years would have been friends had they not have been 'neighbors' in their boat slips...  (although, having said that, I'm sure there were a lot of people that felt the same way about Dennis & my friendship!)  Bill was a salt of the earth kind of guy, an R&D man for McCulloch Chain Saws.  He first met Dennis in the middle of the night, begging him to let him get a good night's sleep on The Emerald.  He took the next day off, and before long was going out on tour with both The Boys & Fleetwood.  His life was never the same after meeting Dennis; but I think most people that even spent a night on the road with Dennis can say the same thing...

[Jay]

Was Dennis always a hard drinker? I'm just wondered if there is a certain time that he became what could be considered an "alcoholic". Or was he always one, but it just never really became a serious problem until later in life?

[MBE]

Was Dennis always a hard drinker? I'm just wondered if there is a certain time that he became what could be considered an "alcoholic". Or was he always one, but it just never really became a serious problem until later in life?

1971 is a turning point once he hurt his hand. Late 1974-75 he cut back and even stopped briefly. 1977 is when I feel he really started showing the strain at some shows. By 1978 it was bad.

[Ang Jones]

Of course, it's about Dennis but for me one human being deciding on whether or not God exists is like one of Richard Dawkins' skin cells concluding that the species Homo sapiens doesn't exist. We're a part of something very big, with whatever connotations that may have and there is little point being anything but openminded.  One of the worst things about the Church historically was intolerance - let's not allow the same preachy tone to issue from non-believers too. If it comforts some to believe, as long as they're not doing any harm, so what? Dawkins got married three times - what was the point of this? It's ritual and for those who talk about a contract, that can be done in a solicitor's office, and you can still have the party. The ritual is really a form of magic, isn't it? OK for those who believe in magic.

With Dennis also, the truth is that we simply don't know. He could have knocked his head, died of hypothermia or could have just decided he'd had enough. I hope whichever was easiest for him is the truth. Dennis' last days were awful but looking back, I realise that the signs were there long before those last days, and that is the worst of it. Had his problems been picked up at an earlier point, perhaps they could have been resolved. By the last weeks of his life it was already probably too late. Dennis died as he lived.  Few with Dennis' appetite for life make it to advanced old age. He enjoyed taking risks and never lived life in moderation. And it is very hard for me to imagine Dennis as an old man. I don't suppose for a second that this has anything to do with it, but Scott Bennett and the Dotted Line's song Pearls reminds me of Dennis. 'Watch the spinning blades of time shred the final days of your prime......... waiting for the tide or the bends, open your eyes, hold your breath, lean your body backwards, spread your arms, lie down on the ocean floor. Just because you can't sleep doesn't mean you can't dream...." .

[Tony S]

A question I've always wondered that maybe those "in the know' like Ed or Stebbins can answer.....did Dennis ever recognize the deterioration of his voice from the early 70'S up? And if he did, did he attribute it to the drugs and drinking, and did that ever give him cause to try and clean up? He had such a great voice in the early 70'S....listening to MIC really reminds me of that, and then hearing some of the latter day tunes there.....just such a shame that his voice was silenced.

[bgas]

Drugs/drinking certainly took their toll; I tend to believe the throat punch(es) by the Love Slugs had more to do with it than anything else.

[pixletwin]

Drugs/drinking certainly took their toll; I tend to believe the throat punch(es) by the Love Slugs had more to do with it than anything else.

That coupled with the Dennis' impatience with letting the healing process do it's thing before he started using his voice again.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

Drugs/drinking certainly took their toll; I tend to believe the throat punch(es) by the Love Slugs had more to do with it than anything else.

And those punches didn't lessen Dennis' need to medicate himself.

[bgas]

Drugs/drinking certainly took their toll; I tend to believe the throat punch(es) by the Love Slugs had more to do with it than anything else.

That coupled with the Dennis' impatience with letting the healing process do it's thing before he started using his voice again.

And those punches didn't lessen Dennis' need to medicate himself.

 Whether he was impatient, whether he was medicating himself, the great need for either  most likely disappears if the root cause never happens
 

[pixletwin]

Agreed. But what was the root cause in your opinion?

[SurfRiderHawaii]

Agreed. But what was the root cause in your opinion?

My Father was an alcoholic and literally killed himself with vodka. His root cause? None really. He started having drinks at lunch in the 70s and got addicted. Whether he had a genetic disposition for it, unknown. Depression maybe. As to Dennis, he over-consumed and got hooked. He had it all: looks, women, fame, money, musical genius.... 99.9% of us, with all that, are gonna live a very happy life.You can blame it on his Dad or whatever but the fact is he partied too hard, too much and paid the price.

[bgas]

Agreed. But what was the root cause in your opinion?

My Father was an alcoholic and literally killed himself with vodka. His root cause? None really. He started having drinks at lunch in the 70s and got addicted. Whether he had a genetic disposition for it, unknown. Depression maybe. As to Dennis, he over-consumed and got hooked. He had it all: looks, women, fame, money, musical genius.... 99.9% of us, with all that, are gonna live a very happy life.You can blame it on his Dad or whatever but the fact is he partied too hard, too much and paid the price.

 For Dennis, maybe, but I say the damge to his throat was an exacerbating detail that sent him over the edge. Without it, he has fun but never goes over the edge.

[mikeddonn]

Does anyone know any more about Bill Oster, whose boat Dennis was on, or who else was with him that fateful day?  I don't think anyone has really spoken since then about it.  Also, I've tried tried to find out what happened to the "Harmony".  I always thought if I got rich I would have loved to have bought that and had it restored like Dennis was talking about doing before he died.  Can anyone shed any light on it's last know whereabouts?

Funny that I guess this has never really been delved into, but Bill & Dennis probably never in a million years would have been friends had they not have been 'neighbors' in their boat slips...  (although, having said that, I'm sure there were a lot of people that felt the same way about Dennis & my friendship!)  Bill was a salt of the earth kind of guy, an R&D man for McCulloch Chain Saws.  He first met Dennis in the middle of the night, begging him to let him get a good night's sleep on The Emerald.  He took the next day off, and before long was going out on tour with both The Boys & Fleetwood.  His life was never the same after meeting Dennis; but I think most people that even spent a night on the road with Dennis can say the same thing...

Hi Ed, thank you for taking the time to reply to my post.  It's always great to read your posts and gain more insight into the topics at hand.  It would also be cool to see a book with all your photos from through the years, along with little anecdotes to accompany them.  I've always enjoyed seeing and hearing your contributions to other author's work or the documentaries you have been part of, including the aforementioned BBC one.  One of my dreams came true when I managed to go to LA some years back and grab a few beers in Chez Jay's as well as the other touristy stuff.  Thanks again!

[MBE]

A question I've always wondered that maybe those "in the know' like Ed or Stebbins can answer.....did Dennis ever recognize the deterioration of his voice from the early 70'S up? And if he did, did he attribute it to the drugs and drinking, and did that ever give him cause to try and clean up? He had such a great voice in the early 70'S....listening to MIC really reminds me of that, and then hearing some of the latter day tunes there.....just such a shame that his voice was silenced.

Yes he did talk about it with Steve Desper and Ed Roach. I have good quotes from both. Will have news on the book in two months.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Drugs/drinking certainly took their toll; I tend to believe the throat punch(es) by the Love Slugs had more to do with it than anything else.

His voice was deteriorating before then: the POB tracks recorded in 1975 display that. Used to have an article that stated it was a punch to the throat in a fight in the early 70s that began the problems. The beating Stan & Rocky gave him didn't help any, but it wasn't the root cause.

[MBE]

Punch happened in early 1974 and was completely different than the 1981 incident. The first time it was Steve Love who punched Dennis after an altercation.

[Mikie]

Forgive my memory for a second. Was just reading back on Jon's post and he said Dennis got in a fight the day before he died? I don't have his book handy right now, but is that event in there? I don't remember anyone stating that before. Where/why/who did that happen on 12/27/83? Was it at Chez Jay's? Because he was with Bill Oster for most of those last two days, wasn't he?

[bgas]

Punch happened in early 1974 and was completely different than the 1981 incident. The first time it was Steve Love who punched Dennis after an altercation.

This is the time period I was thinking of ( 1974)

[Pretty Funky]

Forgive my memory for a second. Was just reading back on Jon's post and he said Dennis got in a fight the day before he died? I don't have his book handy right now, but is that event in there? I don't remember anyone stating that before. Where/why/who did that happen on 12/27/83? Was it at Chez Jay's? Because he was with Bill Oster for most of those last two days, wasn't he?

Have a read of this from Steven Gaines. Pg C4. Mentions a fight with a boy friend of Shawns over the use of a phone Christmas night, and looked beaten up on the 27th. Not sure if it was the same fight but all pretty sad.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ezFkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yfkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2605,1314168&dq=steven+gaines+dennis+wilson&hl=en

[Jon Stebbins]

Forgive my memory for a second. Was just reading back on Jon's post and he said Dennis got in a fight the day before he died? I don't have his book handy right now, but is that event in there? I don't remember anyone stating that before. Where/why/who did that happen on 12/27/83? Was it at Chez Jay's? Because he was with Bill Oster for most of those last two days, wasn't he?

Have a read of this from Steven Gaines. Pg C4. Mentions a fight with a boy friend of Shawns over the use of a phone Christmas night, and looked beaten up on the 27th. Not sure if it was the same fight but all pretty sad.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ezFkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yfkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2605,1314168&dq=steven+gaines+dennis+wilson&hl=en

That's right, it was two or three days before...when he was admitted to Marina Hospital on the 26th he was described as bleeding from his face, and bruised on his forehead with a black eye. So I'd think that when they found him on the 28th he'd still have some of that damage apparent.

[bgas]

Forgive my memory for a second. Was just reading back on Jon's post and he said Dennis got in a fight the day before he died? I don't have his book handy right now, but is that event in there? I don't remember anyone stating that before. Where/why/who did that happen on 12/27/83? Was it at Chez Jay's? Because he was with Bill Oster for most of those last two days, wasn't he?

Have a read of this from Steven Gaines. Pg C4. Mentions a fight with a boy friend of Shawns over the use of a phone Christmas night, and looked beaten up on the 27th. Not sure if it was the same fight but all pretty sad.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ezFkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yfkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2605,1314168&dq=steven+gaines+dennis+wilson&hl=en

That's right, it was two or three days before...when he was admitted to Marina Hospital on the 26th he was described as bleeding from his face, and bruised on his forehead with a black eye. So I'd think that when they found him on the 28th he'd still have some of that damage apparent.

And unfortunately for everyone, there could have been some undiscovered damage that only became apparent when he went underwater.

[Mikie]

Thanks for the info from the Gaines book, Funky dude!

Yeah, he must have gotten a bad beating.  Makes you wonder if he'd had some residual damage from the fight.  That mixed with alcohol and a history of blackouts plus the reduced lung capacity from repeated dives in 12 feet of cold water.........not good.

[Jay]

Punch happened in early 1974 and was completely different than the 1981 incident. The first time it was Steve Love who punched Dennis after an altercation.

Going from the little that I've read and heard, it seems like the 1981 Super Bowl Sunday might have been the "final nail in the coffin", so to speak. Dennis was well and truly in deep trouble by then(perhaps to the point of not being able to save himself), but after that 1981 beating I think he just thought "f*** it", and just did whatever he wanted to do until his body gave out. After that 1981 incident I think he well and truly gave up whatever fight he may have had left.

[Ang Jones]

I have some photographs of Dennis taken many years ago at a concert (this was long before 1983 and when Dennis was still in good shape). There were signs of injuries then too - not necessarily a fight, of course but looked like it. I haven't seen them in the Press but that doesn't mean they weren't published anywhere. He was wearing dungarees but without a T shirt.

[Heysaboda]

So uh.... yeah. Dennis, anyone?

Dennis was gone from us WAY WAY too soon.  That's all I got.