Carl's health and other problems

[Jay]

I've been meaning to make a thread about this. Somebody on here once mentioned that Carl had gout at one point in his life. Does anybody know the story on that? Was it at the time of his cancer? Somebody on this message board also mentioned that Carl wore a back brace in the 1990's. I read that he hurt his back, but that was in the 1970's. Did he have long term back problems since his injury? Did he have any operations or anything? My next question is about his "bad habits". It's pretty well known that in 1976-ish, Carl's personal life went downhill for a while. He started drinking and doing cocaine and heroin. It seems that the 1978 Australian Beach Boys tour was when it really got out of control. My question is, exactly how long was Carl's drug and alchohol addiction? Did it start in 1976, or was it even earlier? After the Australian debacle, was that pretty much the end of Carl's problems? Did it last much longer than that? In "Brian's autobiography", it kind of paints a modern day picture of Carl as a lonely, depressed alchoholic. I don't really put much, if any, faith in that book. But I was just curios if there is ANY truth at all when it comes to talking about Carl during that period in the 1980's-early 1990's.

[Pretty Funky]

Maybe I'm alone here Jay but Carl got sick mid 90s and died Feb 6 1998 and I'm happy to leave it there.

The 'details', photo's etc of him ill just don't appeal so count me out on this one.

[Jay]

I know that a lot of people are sensitive about Carl being sick. I once hung around on a message board that actually BANNED any pictures of him from the last year of his life. I don't want to know all the pain and heartache of his last few days. There are just a few things that I'm curios about. There seems to be so much that we don't know about Carl, at least compared to Brian or Dennis.

[MBE]

I've been meaning to make a thread about this. Somebody on here once mentioned that Carl had gout at one point in his life. Does anybody know the story on that? Was it at the time of his cancer? Somebody on this message board also mentioned that Carl wore a back brace in the 1990's. I read that he hurt his back, but that was in the 1970's. Did he have long term back problems since his injury? Did he have any operations or anything? My next question is about his "bad habits". It's pretty well known that in 1976-ish, Carl's personal life went downhill for a while. He started drinking and doing cocaine and heroin. It seems that the 1978 Australian Beach Boys tour was when it really got out of control. My question is, exactly how long was Carl's drug and alchohol addiction? Did it start in 1976, or was it even earlier? After the Australian debacle, was that pretty much the end of Carl's problems? Did it last much longer than that? In "Brian's autobiography", it kind of paints a modern day picture of Carl as a lonely, depressed alchoholic. I don't really put much, if any, faith in that book. But I was just curios if there is ANY truth at all when it comes to talking about Carl during that period in the 1980's-early 1990's.

He hurt his back in early 1976 moving a TV I think. Brian mentioned it in an interview conducted during the 15 Big Ones sessions. I think the pain from that started the heavier drug use. I think by the late summer of 1978 he was more or less clean. Frankly Brian's book disturbed me when I first read it but not anymore. By the mid ninties when I started talking to people in the Beach Boys world I knew it was merda. If Carl did drink then it didn't interfere with his job and there are no stories about it being a problem otherwise.

[grillo]

Maybe I'm alone here Jay but Carl got sick mid 90s and died Feb 6 1998 and I'm happy to leave it there.

The 'details', photo's etc of him ill just don't appeal so count me out on this one.

    Seems silly to ignore a person's history simply because they are dead. Heck, half the people we talk about on this board are dead, some from sickness, some from decisions they made, yet still we try to gain insight into them despite their having shuffled off.
     I too feel like the mid 80's-90's BB universe is WAAAYYYY under reported and can honestly say I have little understanding of any of the guys' lives from that period. If someone were for (some demented reason) interested in my life I hope they don't only read about my teens and twenties then skip ahead to my tragic death. I mean, they say life doesn't even begin until 40, so learning about Carl's later life doesn't strike me as sick, just thoughtful.

[Jay]

I've been meaning to make a thread about this. Somebody on here once mentioned that Carl had gout at one point in his life. Does anybody know the story on that? Was it at the time of his cancer? Somebody on this message board also mentioned that Carl wore a back brace in the 1990's. I read that he hurt his back, but that was in the 1970's. Did he have long term back problems since his injury? Did he have any operations or anything? My next question is about his "bad habits". It's pretty well known that in 1976-ish, Carl's personal life went downhill for a while. He started drinking and doing cocaine and heroin. It seems that the 1978 Australian Beach Boys tour was when it really got out of control. My question is, exactly how long was Carl's drug and alchohol addiction? Did it start in 1976, or was it even earlier? After the Australian debacle, was that pretty much the end of Carl's problems? Did it last much longer than that? In "Brian's autobiography", it kind of paints a modern day picture of Carl as a lonely, depressed alchoholic. I don't really put much, if any, faith in that book. But I was just curios if there is ANY truth at all when it comes to talking about Carl during that period in the 1980's-early 1990's.

He hurt his back in early 1976 moving a TV I think. Brian mentioned it in an interview conducted during the 15 Big Ones sessions. I think the pain from that started the heavier drug use. I think by the late summer of 1978 he was more or less clean.

When was the PM Magazine interview? He was fairly obviously high in that.

[MBE]

June 25th 1978. I think Carl's involvment with MSIA was what he arrived at when he wanted to straighten out.

[Jay]

I think somebody on here(c-man?) mentioned that Carl had some kind of operation, and was on pain meds. Was that back related?  That might explain why he seems a little "spaced out" in that interview.

I might be showing off my lack of knowledge here, but what is MSIA?

[mikeyj]

I might be showing off my lack of knowledge here, but what is MSIA?

the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness

[Jay]

Brian's book mentioned something about Carl having a guru or "spiritual guider", but I didn't pay much attention to it.

[MBE]

Well Brian's book screwed that up to saying the guy's name was John Rogers. It's actually John-Roger. Carl stated in a 1979 interview he was following MSIA so I looked up some more info and confirmed it. Here is what I posted. 
http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,7194.0.html

[Jay]

Well Brian's book screwed that up to saying the guy's name was John Rogers. It's actually John-Roger. Carl stated in a 1979 interview he was following MSIA so I looked up some more info and confirmed it. Here is what I posted. 
http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,7194.0.html

Hmmm....he doesn't seem much better than Landy. At least this guy didn't keep Carl drugged up.