Michael Vosse, may he rest in peace.

[Cam Mott]

I believe that Ford Mustang was a perk from working for BRI. He was also involved with the Concert for Bangladesh and that design group associated with the Exile on Main Street album design [I think].

[Alan Smith]

RIP, Michael.

[punkinhead]

Ahhhh man, a Smile legend has left us for the Great Gig in the Sky. My heart goes out

[KittyKat]

Don't want to sound stupid or offensive, but who exactly was Michael Vosse?

I've never heard of him until this thread

Michael is featured very heavily in any Beach Boys or Brian Wilson biography due to his presence in Brian's home and in the studio while Smile was being recorded. He was part of the inner circle, one who left after Brian accused Michael's girlfriend of being a witch who was reading his mind.

[guitarfool2002]

Don't want to sound stupid or offensive, but who exactly was Michael Vosse?

I've never heard of him until this thread

Michael is featured very heavily in any Beach Boys or Brian Wilson biography due to his presence in Brian's home and in the studio while Smile was being recorded. He was part of the inner circle, one who left after Brian accused Michael's girlfriend of being a witch who was reading his mind.

It was Jules Seigel's girlfriend who Brian was paranoid of, and he had Vosse blocking the door at one point to tell Siegel that he was no longer welcome because of his girl freaking Brian out. Siegel himself hinted at this in his own article "Goodbye Surfing Hello God". She and Siegel are both in the Oct. 66 airport photos, one of which is posted on page one in this thread. This board is also one of the few resources which actually named her and ID'ed here in the photo, check the archives.

Long story short: It had nothing at all to do with any girl Michael Vosse was with at the time. It was Jules Siegel. And some might say as much as there was paranoia, perhaps Siegel himself had overstayed his welcome and they just needed an excuse to keep him away. But that's up for speculation only, unfortunately both Siegel and now Vosse are now gone and we can't ask them, nor can they defend themselves. But the word on the street is that Siegel at that time could be overbearing, and you can hear traces of it on the "Smile Party" bootleg session.

[guitarfool2002]

Here are some additional photos, for those who may never have seen them:

First, this was shot by Guy Webster, who did a lot of the Smile era photography for Capitol and who in 1967 joined forces with Michael Vosse to form a graphics design company, which would later get them hired by A&M records to run their graphics department, and which got Vosse deeper into the behind-the-scenes areas in the music business, including producing the record I mentioned on page one. This is a much clearer color shot of him than I was able to post last night:



The photo was from a series of photos around the vegetables theme, and in the December 17 1966 issue of KRLA Beat, an article appeared that was supposedly written by Brian but more than likely was told by Brian and actually written by someone like Vosse or Derek Taylor, and it was a bizarre, loopy kind of fun psychedelic spin on a vegetables fable. Remember this was an exclusive from Brian Wilson - in December of 1966 at the absolute top of the record business with the number one song in the country - appearing in the KRLA Christmas issue...I can't imagine what fans thought when they read this! Anyway, Vosse, David Anderle, cousin Barry, and ol' Brian Gemini digging their vegetables, a clearer scan than appeared in LLVS:



And finally, this one taken directly from LLVS' pages, an early 1967 shot from Columbia Studios with Michael Vosse and Dennis listening to some masterpiece over the playback monitors that we may or may not have heard, or may never hear, or which may be some version of Heroes or Surf's Up or Brian playing soda cans with heavy tape delay and reverb effects...

[Bicyclerider]

So who is now left of the "Vosse posse?"  Besides Van Dyke. 

Mike's memories of the SMile era remain essential for anyone trying to understand Brian's mindset and the zeitgeist of the period.  The Fusion article is the most important artifact close to the SMile period and of course he has posted here as well.

[Lowbacca]

Rest in peace, Mr Vosse. Gonna make me a sandwich now..

[Catbirdman]

Rest in peace Michael Vosse.

Thanks Gutarfool for all the great biographical information. It was very enlightening to read (other than his being one of my favorite voices in the Smile-era skits, I hadn't know much about Mr. Vosse outside of his involvement with Brian) and as usual for you, very respectfully and interestingly presented.

[Cam Mott]

So who is now left of the "Vosse posse?"  Besides Van Dyke. 

Mike's memories of the SMile era remain essential for anyone trying to understand Brian's mindset and the zeitgeist of the period.  The Fusion article is the most important artifact close to the SMile period and of course he has posted here as well.

David Anderle. Depending on how far out you want to go. Chrissie Jolly? Probably several people in the LAX photo maybe.

[KittyKat]

Mark Volman is definitely hale and hearty. As is the ex-Mrs. Van Dyke.

Oh, and Danny Hutton. I'm just counting people in the airport photo. Plus, all the Rovell sisters.

[Shady]

Thanks Guitarfool for all the information and pictures.

It's really sad to hear of michaels passing

[Peter Reum]

I met Michael in the mid Seventies when I was in the record biz. He was a creative, funny, and whole concept kind of guy. Through the years I would meet him again a few times when I was in LA.  He was a primary source of some of the ideas about Smile that I have advanced. He was very protective of Brian and did not want to do anything that might make Brian's life more complicated than it already was.  To his credit, he always believed that Brian would have a creative rebirth. I will miss him. He was an advocate for the "little guys" in life, and believed in justice and despised what he called "trickle down hypocrites." He was a creative and versatile guy of the highest caliber.

[Chris Brown]

Very sad to hear of Michael's passing...RIP.

[Mooger Fooger]

RIP Mr Vosse

[Mark Dillon]

I will miss him. Not to say I knew him well, but I enjoyed his posts on Facebook. I loved the fact that he still wrote passionately about Brian and the Boys after all these years.

[guitarfool2002]

I don't want to make assumptions, but has there been any word from Brian's camp about Michael's passing? I'm only going on the official Facebook BW page, and nothing has appeared there as of noon today.

[Disney Boy (1985)]

Sad news. RIP.

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

R.I.P Michael!

[jonathan anderle]

Michael was one of the best people I ever knew and will ever know. He loved me and my folks deeply and we loved him back so much. I'm jealous of the life he lived, and so grateful that I got to share in it. Like Peter said, he never stopped caring about Brian and always wanted and hoped for the best for him. He was and will always be my uncle Michael, and I miss him more than words can say.

[Don Malcolm]

A very creative guy. It's a shame that he wasn't able to stay "in the fold" with Brian in the aftermath of the Smile project. He was invariably supportive and protective of Brian's artistic endeavors and ambitions. He's going to a better place, and that batter place is itself better for havinh him. RIP, Mr. Vosse.

[Mikie]

Tough to follow Craig's, Peters', and Mr. Anderle's nice posts, but here's my .01 ....

I met Michael Vosse and had a brief conversation with him in the lobby of Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco the night of November 4, 2004. This was a few minutes before the first Smile concert in the Bay Area. I was walking down the aisle looking for the entrance to our seats when I saw a small gathering of people huddled near a wall. I was wondering who the man was standing there with a circle of people surrounding him. I walked up and asked whoever it was (Les?) in the circle who the man was. "Michael Vosse". I thought, wow, I wonder if David Anderle is here too! I already knew Frank Holmes was going to be there. And I think I recognized his face from the Beautiful Dreamer video when he talked about the tent at Brian's house. Anyway, I knew Mr. Vosse worked as a Producer and Writer at KGO TV News in the Bay Area (a hop, skip, and a jump from Davies Hall) so I wasn't real surprised that he was there. I just thought it was real cool that he made it to this gig in support of Brian (along with Frank Holmes who also lived in the Bay Area at the time) and I told him so. There must have been a lot going on in his mind while he was watching the concert with family/friends. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy who obviously appreciated the attention he received that night.

Guitarfool, thanks for the pictures of "The Vosse Posse".  Good stuff.

[guitarfool2002]

The question was asked about who was still around from the Smile days: Watching the Grammys memorial segment reminded me that another name from that era had passed away in 2013, Paul Williams who founded Crawdaddy magazine, one of the best examples of the new rock journalism from that era, before rock journalism was really defined outside the fanzines.

Brian posted a tribute in March, saying he remembered Paul coming by the house where he'd play Smile acetates and works in progress and talk music with him. Of course Paul and Crawdaddy had some notable stories published about Brian and Smile in 1967 and 68 which we all reference.

Paul in '67 from his family's blog, looking like the "kid" Brian remembered when he'd visit the Wilson house at this exact time in history:





I have not checked, but has there been ANY word from the BW online camp mentioning Michael Vosse's passing? If not someone should as him during the Facebook chat later today.


I haven't checked

[KittyKat]

Maybe he doesn't remember Micheal well or remember him fondly. He was alienated from most of those people eventually. Paul Williams stayed in Brian's life more because he was a journalist and wrote a book about him. I don't think "Smile" is a part of his life Brian remembers that fondly because he wasn't well at that time or at least by the end of it. It's not Michael's fault, but from every book I've read, it's not that unusual for Brian to be very close to a person then have little or nothing to do with them ever again. He may also have memory problems or claim to not remember if he doesn't want to remember.

[Bicyclerider]

As to who's still around from the Vosse Posse, someone mentioned Mark Volman - he was in the LAX photo but I don't recall ever reading about him hanging with Brian at the house or in the studio with Michael, Van Dyke, Jules, and David (the Smile party tapes) during the Smile sessions.  What was his link with Brian that he was called to LAX for the "graduation" or "moving on" photo?