Evan Landy makes an appearance ...

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I dunno...I get a bit creeped out by his seeming attempt at looking & dressing like Brian. I get a 'Single White Female' (the movie, not an actual SWF) vibe from him.

With the possible exception of Gary Usher, I've yet to hear one positive thing about Evan from people who were around back then, either, although in all fairness he was in his 20s at the time and might have grown as a person.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Evan has a right to voice his opinion, and to defend his father. Problem is, said father's actions are almost entirely indefensible. Yes, Landy saved Brian's life in 1982. However doing that does not confer the right to then assume control of that life, to the point of then almost killing Brian with the meds he totally illegally prescribed.

I'm with Ray on this one, as any right-minded human should be.

And yeah, that pose is creepy: no way that's accidental.

[adamghost]

You can take everything Evan Landy says here at total face value (and I don't doubt quite a lot of it is true), but it's worth pointing out that, read closely, none of it negates or rebuts the bad allegations concerning his dad.  It's a perspective (and certainly one worth being aired), perhaps if you want to be charitable it's added context, but it is not a defense.

[guitarfool2002]

Call it whatever, it's bullshit.

[Andrew G. Doe]

"Evan said: 'I'm sure the movie doesn't tell things like Van Dyke Parks giving him heroin… that's what Brian told me. Or the William Morris agent who gave him acid before he went on stage.""

Anyone else agree that this sounds like a scene from a certain 2000 mini-series ? Maybe I'm naive but I cannot believe VDP ever did that. Speed, pot, acid, yes, that's documented... but smack ? If Brian told him, then sure as hell he told dad, and I cannot imagine EEL keeping quiet about that.

"I think the occasional marijuana usage was kind of prevalent at the time, but I don't remember seeing Brian do anything else."

True, but the context was that, if Brian had been a "good boy" that day, Landy allowed him one joint in the evening.

[Jay]

Is it known if VDP himself ever used heroin, or had reason to be around it?

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

To my knowledge, no. I'm not the biggest VDP fan by far (putting it mildly...his music ranks around Caitlin Bruce Johnston's for me) , but I can't imagine it ever happening, not even once.

[puni puni]

Is it known if VDP himself ever used heroin, or had reason to be around it?

There are at least two interviews I've seen/heard where VDP admits to having a substance addiction during the latter half of the 1970s but I'm not sure if anything specific was named beyond 'prescription drugs'. Heroin? Who knows. None of us were there. It doesn't matter anyway.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Cocaine? I can see.  Can't picture any downers, though.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Is it known if VDP himself ever used heroin, or had reason to be around it?

There are at least two interviews I've seen/heard where VDP admits to having a substance addiction during the latter half of the 1970s but I'm not sure if anything specific was named beyond 'prescription drugs'. Heroin? Who knows. None of us were there. It doesn't matter anyway.

So... you'd be cool if someone accused you of supplying heroin to a friend on a national newspaper's website ? If that were me, yes, it would matter, and I suspect VDP will have something to say.

[Jay]

I'm pretty sure he meant that it doesn't(or shouldn't) matter to us, the mere fans who weren't there.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

That's how I took it too. At the end of the day, it's none of our business.


That said, if Parks reads it (the article), I imagine he'll be hitting the roof, and Evan will be victimized by some buffoonery pretty quickly.


Heh....I just pictured VDP beating the sh*t out of him  while saying his usual, like 'Over and Over the Crow flies while I kicketh thy ass'. Apples would be HIS last name

[Jay]

Something's gotten into you tonight, Billy. 

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I'm actually running a fever and generally feel like sh*t so just trying to amuse myself!

[petsite]

Peter Carlin said it best in his book.

Eugene Landy saved Brian Wilson's life. And after having done so, he proceeded to make it a complete mess.

[The Shift]

Has Evan Landy seen the film, or just the trailers? Whatever, I can fully understand though why a son sold defend his dad and have a different perspective … whether it is skewed of not, we have to consider that he was there throughout this period, and we - most of us at least, I'm assuming? - were not.

It occurs that Landy's own life would make for an amazing biopic.

I think that Evan Landy's voice deserves to be heard, but not through the Daily Mail, which is the sleaziest of British tabloids.

Really ?  I think all of them can go to f...king hell where they belong.  You can quote me on that

Hi Ray, didn't mean to hit a nerve and bow your experience. As a fan of Brian and the band I'm just always keen to read/learn more.

Andrew, the heroin ref surprised me too; seems highly unlikely and possibly libellous.

This is though the Daily MAil's usual attempt to skewer someone in the limelight, no matter how far they've come from their lowest points. They've done it before with the Beach Boys and I don't dont they'll do it again. I would like to read an interview with Evan that's properly back-researched, that queries any conflicting assertions and is balanced by even one word from any other qualified observer.

Yes, Evan's sudden emergence and the publication of this interview are opportunism but I suspect that's more on the part of the Mail (or its stringer) than on Evan himself. The paper trades in muck.

[ontor pertawst]

Right... You don't think Evan was shopping his little stories around to the highest bidder in time for the movie premiere? How naive... they don't just trade in muck, they BUY it from shitheels other newspapers won't go near with a ten foot pole. Good luck with the balance.

[guitarfool2002]

The way to handle it would have been to say an emphatic "No." when approached by the publication for an interview if that's the out he's being offered. Instead, it's this crap that got published...perfectly timed, no less. It stinks.

[The Shift]

Right... You don't think Evan was shopping his little stories around to the highest bidder in time for the movie premiere? How naive... they don't just trade in muck, they BUY it from shitheels other newspapers won't go near with a ten foot pole. Good luck with the balance.

Sorry …

[ontor pertawst]

Maybe you can become his special pen pal friend and get all kinds of great stories from him! You can find out why his dad wanted to steal most of Brian Wilson's estate and how it was for good reasons. I betcha $500 will get you in the door. Make no mistake: $$ was involved and the likes of the Daily Mail are the only creeps that would bite. So far.

[Paul J B]

I've said it before and I'll say it again...Landy did NOT save Brian's life. The people that HIRED Landy to help Brian saved Brian from becoming the next Elvis. Had a LEGITIMATE DOCTOR and his/her staff been hired to help Brian, then maybe Brian would not be suffering a lot of the problems he has today.

Threads that bash people really serve no purpose. I don't even like to get involved in threads that bash Murry... but Landy was a horrid money grubbing egotistical freak that used a "patient" with severe mental and substance abuse problems to make himself rich and famous. It does not get much lower than that. Any long time Beach Boy fan that lived through the Landy years could see exactly what was going by about 1986. It was infuriating to watch.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Maybe you can become his special pen pal friend and get all kinds of great stories from him! You can find out why his dad wanted to steal most of Brian Wilson's estate and how it was for good reasons. I betcha $500 will get you in the door. Make no mistake: $$ was involved and the likes of the Daily Mail are the only creeps that would bite. So far.

Dude....having known John here for years,  unless I am completely wrong....I don't think he meant it as a defense of Evan. Relax, ok?

Paul,  I agree

[guitarfool2002]

Maybe you can become his special pen pal friend and get all kinds of great stories from him! You can find out why his dad wanted to steal most of Brian Wilson's estate and how it was for good reasons. I betcha $500 will get you in the door. Make no mistake: $$ was involved and the likes of the Daily Mail are the only creeps that would bite. So far.

$500 ? Not even necessary, show up with a photog, a digital voice recorder, and a crisp 100 and you'll get all the scoops the readers would want. The results can go next to the "Elvis Found Living In Butte Montana!" tabloid cover and the horoscope mini-books in the checkout line at Piggly Wiggly.

[drbeachboy]

Maybe you can become his special pen pal friend and get all kinds of great stories from him! You can find out why his dad wanted to steal most of Brian Wilson's estate and how it was for good reasons. I betcha $500 will get you in the door. Make no mistake: $$ was involved and the likes of the Daily Mail are the only creeps that would bite. So far.

Man, don't be such a prick. Right or wrong when there is more than one person involved, there is always more than one side to a story. You don't have to agree with, but if he wants to give his side then he should be able to. Had this all gone to trial, I'll bet they would have called him to testify.

[The Shift]

Maybe you can become his special pen pal friend and get all kinds of great stories from him! You can find out why his dad wanted to steal most of Brian Wilson's estate and how it was for good reasons. I betcha $500 will get you in the door. Make no mistake: $$ was involved and the likes of the Daily Mail are the only creeps that would bite. So far.

Who are you, and what is your gripe with me? Real name, mind…