Brian in Sept. 1982 - Close To The End

[petsite]

Was trolling around youtube last night and saw this clip. It says that it has been there for 11 months but I just came across it. It is from Allentown Pa. state fair. I had seen them just a week before here in Houston at the AstroDome and this tape pretty much shows the same Brian I saw them. From Eric's setlist page, a brief description of the scene on the tape:

State Fair, Allentown, PA
September 5, 1982
First Show

Brian Wilson was present at this show and said the following impromptu comment before "Surfin Safari", much to Mike Love's dismay: "Now it's time for the great Rock Out! I want everybody, everybody, to stand up! Now, I want everybody to put their hands in the air and wave, and rock out!"

I shudder everytime I watch it. Turn the sound down because it is just a  bad dub of Leid In Hawaii. Just watch the clip.

Bob

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKkj-DbB1Kw

[phirnis]

At 3.50 it looks like Brian almost fell over. He looks and acts like a caricature. This really is some equally intriguing and disturbing footage.

[Beach Boy]

One of the saddest footage of the Beach Boys' career.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I was at that concert. The ironic thing was, if you didn't know Brian's history, you thought he was really "into" the show. He was, should I say, very animated. But, if you did know about Brian, you knew he was on something - not good. Needless to say, his physical appearance was very alarming...

[Wilsonista]

He looks totally wired! How could anyone think that he looked like he into the music?

[petsite]

I won't say that Brian was wearing the same thing over and over again, but, here is a photo from the Houston show 2 weeks before:

[Shane]

It is interesting to see that Carl is back with the group in this footage.  When did he rejoin the group?  I thought it was closer in time to Dennis' death.

[petsite]

Carl rejoined the group in late spring 1982.

[MBE]

Petsite just beat me. I think it was June

[Beach Boy]

I always thought that the picture is from 1979, because Brian looks a lot better then in 1981 and 1982 footage.

[XY]

Didn't he go to Hawaii with Landy later that month?

[Andrew G. Doe]

Think it was in October - he was hospitalised first then shipped off to Hawaii, the intent being to get him away from Carolyn Williams.

[edit] - I'm wrong, he was hopitalised for two weeks on 1/2/83, then flown to Kona, by Landy.

[Ian]

I'm sure you all remember that Brian was touring off and on with the group that Fall of 82. On Nov 5 1982 the group "fired" him to force him back into Landy's care. By January 1983 he was back with Landy in Hawaii. The group played shows in Hawaii in late Feb 1983 and Brian apparently showed up and played at one of these shows- looking slimmer and, of course, off drugs (or at least non prescription ones). While his "auto biography" is pretty worthless as history, it  does have some incrtedible photos of Brian's recovery in Hawaii that show how bad he was when he got there and how he lost the weight

[Chris Brown]

While his "auto biography" is pretty worthless as history, it  does have some incrtedible photos of Brian's recovery in Hawaii that show how bad he was when he got there and how he lost the weight.

I agree...its pretty amazing to watch him transform from a 340 pound near-death blob in 1982 to an extremely lean, healthy and fit 45 year old by '87-'88.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I won't say that Brian was wearing the same thing over and over again, but, here is a photo from the Houston show 2 weeks before:

Yeah, somebody should've called the "fashion police"....Oh, nevermind. It's Brian. That's OK then....

[Wilsonista]

Whatever..... 

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Is it just me, or does he look like Santa in that picture? A Photoshop edit of that pic would've been a great cover for What I really want for Christmas...

[Pretty Funky]

Look at the picture of Brian then look at Jim Morrison on the left (I think its him). Talk about clones!

[Aegir]

I won't say that Brian was wearing the same thing over and over again, but, here is a photo from the Houston show 2 weeks before:

Yeah, somebody should've called the "fashion police"....Oh, nevermind. It's Brian. That's OK then....

That's actually one of my favorite pictures of Brian.

[mikeyj]

Yeah, somebody should've called the "fashion police"....Oh, nevermind. It's Brian. That's OK then....

I don't get it. How is that even bad?

[Jay]

That footage is pretty hard to watch. I wish it had the original audio, if nothing else than to just hear what Brian said when he took center stage. The part where Mike jumps across Brian's piano is interesting too. I just noticed that Jeff Foskett seems to be missing. You can see Ed Carter though. Does anybody know when Brian performed his last show before he was "fired"? I'm curios to know how close to the end this show was.

[c-man]

That footage is pretty hard to watch. I wish it had the original audio, if nothing else than to just hear what Brian said when he took center stage. The part where Mike jumps across Brian's piano is interesting too. I just noticed that Jeff Foskett seems to be missing. You can see Ed Carter though. Does anybody know when Brian performed his last show before he was "fired"? I'm curios to know how close to the end this show was.

Probably pretty close.  I believe he missed their Cleveland shows the next day (he definitely missed one of them at least), but DID play with them in Atlantic City Sept. 7-9 (at least one show anyway).  Then they played Hutchison, KS on Sept. 10 (unsure if he was there, but doubt it), and then I saw them at the first of two shows in Lincoln, NE on Sept. 11 (Brian was absent, and the review of the night's second show said he was also absent then).  Next day they played Red Rocks outside of Denver, then returned for a series of west coast shows in late September, which I think he was absent from as well.  Maybe Ian can find out for sure about that. 

BTW, you can see Foskett in this clip...he's to the right of Ed Carter, in the back kind of between Al and Brian.  At one point you can see him banging two tambourines together. 

[donald]

I saw Brian while Carl was not yet back with the band.  He  was the only Wilson there that night.  I can't remember exactly when it was.   He was wearing some kind of large jogging/stretch pants or pajamas.  He sat behind to white piano and sang 3 or 4 songs ....voice in really bad shape.  Seems it was Surfer Girl, Don't Worry Baby, and maybe Sloop John and another song.  Sat behind the piano and did little much of the time, and sat back stage with his feet dangling from the risers the rest of the time.  I remember being toward the front, to the side, and could have easily walked back and spoken to him.  But somehow, I felt I should leave him to his thoughts.  It was interesting to see him live for SMiLE and Pet Sounds all these years later.  You wouldn't know it was the same guy.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I wish Brian could've cleaned up in 1983 without Landy's intervention; something was lost after that...

[donald]

I might argue that something was lost before that.   Landy took the spark out of the psychosis, true.   But the psychosis would have killed eventually.