Melinda?

[Nicole]

This may have been asked before, but I feel like I'm kinda missing something here.

I've seen quite a few posts ragging on or making jokes about Melinda. How come? I don't really know why, maybe I just don't know enough about her, but I've been wondering what the reason is for all of the jokes, lol.

[GLarson432]

Good question.  I think Melinda (and her true role in BW's life) still remains a mystery to most BB/BW fans.  Melinda?  Maybe.  The woman who has kept Brian on the path he's followed since his return to touring?  Probably, in my opinion. 

This is not a question with a 'black and white' answer.  Some think that, along with David Leaf, she is the reason a 2011 (50th anniversary) will never happen.  Internal politics.  Mike Love is the Devil.  All of that. 

I've met Melinda twice.  Both times she was very personable and friendly.  That means nothing at all to your question.  Ultimately, I think she has nothing but the best intentions for Brian.  But some fans feel she has overstepped her bounds.  Has she?  I can't answer that.  I can only tell you that there will always be derisiveness concerning Melinda Wilson on the internet. 

Again, it's not a black or white issue.    Hope this clarifies things a little for you.

[The Shift]

Agree that little is known but on the couple of occasions I've met her very briefly she's been sweet and seems very genuine about her commitment to BW.

Remember she's his wife and mother to his adopted kids ... it's very hard to tell the extent of her involvement in his business/professional management. I'd love to know more... maybe some of the questionable management & marketing things that have happened in recent years are symptoms of well-meant inexperience?

Whatever I'm darned sure that without Melinda BW wouldn't be o the road and recording so much "new"/old material as he is.

I'm sure AGD could tell us a lot more, if it doesn't involve indiscretions....

[Smilin Ed H]

Melinda and Leaf are devils.  Everyone spoke highly of the Lovester until these two evil fucks came along.  Look through all the literature on the BB in the 60s; look through all the literature on Dennis. Nothing.  Everyone loves the Lovester. If it wasn't for Melinda and Leaf (and that equally evil money-grubbing dissenter Al Jardine) we'd have The Beach Boys again.  Well, okay, Carl and Dennis are no longer with us, but you know what I mean. Of course, she can't run a tour and BW doesn't seem to have the last say about what he does... Maybe they mean that?

[Marie Jayne]

I do worry that Brian is pressured into touring and performing when perhaps he'd just prefer to be in the studio making music, but who knows, I guess you can never really know what goes on behind the scenes. Saying that, I am still going to see him on 3rd Sept, can't wait, hypocrite that I am!

[Thunderfingers75]

Melinda and Leaf are devils.  Everyone spoke highly of the Lovester until these two evil fucks came along.  Look through all the literature on the BB in the 60s; look through all the literature on Dennis. Nothing.  Everyone loves the Lovester. If it wasn't for Melinda and Leaf (and that equally evil money-grubbing dissenter Al Jardine) we'd have The Beach Boys again.  Well, okay, Carl and Dennis are no longer with us, but you know what I mean. Of course, she can't run a tour and BW doesn't seem to have the last say about what he does... Maybe they mean that?

Mike? Dr. Love? Is that you?   

[Mahalo]

If it wasn't for Melinda and Leaf (and that equally evil money-grubbing dissenter Al Jardine) we'd have The Beach Boys again.  Well, okay, Carl and Dennis are no longer with us, but you know what I mean.

We came pretty dang close w/ Still A Mystery and Soul Searchin', but that fell apart for other reasons besides Melinda and Al. Those 2 songs are so good that it is criminal that they were never properly finished and released...then Carl died, and well- no more Beach Boys.

[Matt H]

Combined are they Lucifer himself, or are they just his demonic angels? 

Seriously, Mike Love was being called out for things in the press by Dennis well before Melinda was around, and do you really think that he said about MIU, "That album is an embarressment, and should foda up Mike Love's karma forever," because of Leaf, or because he thought the albums sucked?

Melinda and Leaf are devils.  Everyone spoke highly of the Lovester until these two evil fucks came along.  Look through all the literature on the BB in the 60s; look through all the literature on Dennis. Nothing.  Everyone loves the Lovester. If it wasn't for Melinda and Leaf (and that equally evil money-grubbing dissenter Al Jardine) we'd have The Beach Boys again.  Well, okay, Carl and Dennis are no longer with us, but you know what I mean. Of course, she can't run a tour and BW doesn't seem to have the last say about what he does... Maybe they mean that?

[donald]

I recall an interview with Melinda...audio or print I can't recall....where she discussed her advice/input to Brian on his career.  It was something to the effect of ;  "Brian, if your going to have a career, you can't do a studio album once every 10 years and then retreat.  You have to get out there and promote  and do interviews and tour."  Sounded like a wife givng her husband some strong wifely advice.      I suspect Brian is the kind of guy who needs a firm hand. 
Now, the question is, does Brian need to tour quite as much as he does?

[tpesky]

Melinda and Leaf are devils.  Everyone spoke highly of the Lovester until these two evil fucks came along.  Look through all the literature on the BB in the 60s; look through all the literature on Dennis. Nothing.  Everyone loves the Lovester. If it wasn't for Melinda and Leaf (and that equally evil money-grubbing dissenter Al Jardine) we'd have The Beach Boys again.  Well, okay, Carl and Dennis are no longer with us, but you know what I mean. Of course, she can't run a tour and BW doesn't seem to have the last say about what he does... Maybe they mean that?

It's a good thing the Beach Boys had your positivity to outweigh all that melancholy over the years Dr. Love. Not to mention your inclusion of John Stamos time and time again.   

[lance]

he wrote that good vibrations part you know, the part that copies the bass line and goes "i'm thinking of good vibrations"

[Marie Jayne]

I recall an interview with Melinda...audio or print I can't recall....where she discussed her advice/input to Brian on his career.  It was something to the effect of ;  "Brian, if your going to have a career, you can't do a studio album once every 10 years and then retreat.  You have to get out there and promote  and do interviews and tour."  Sounded like a wife givng her husband some strong wifely advice.      I suspect Brian is the kind of guy who needs a firm hand. 
Now, the question is, does Brian need to tour quite as much as he does?

That's my dilemma - I do believe Brian wants/needs someone to guide and organise him and his life to an extent, but as you say, it's whether he's doing all the touring to keep other people happy or because it's what he really wants to. When I saw the Brian Wilson on Tour DVD with footage from around 2000, it struck me how much fun he seemed to be having and how engaged he was - he was even dancing! He doesn't seem to be having so much fun now, I know he's older, but still... I just hope he feels ok about touring.

[Roger Ryan]

The BRIAN WILSON ON TOUR DVD was edited to show Brian at his most enthusiastic; it would not be representative of his overall behavior/attitude during that time period.

It's been pointed out a number of times, but Brian won't really go along with something he is dead-set against. I'm sure there are still aspects of touring he enjoys, but ultimately he is just doing his job, a job he knows will keep him active. Like for any of us, a job can become a drudgery, but it's something we stick with because it keeps us busy and keeps money coming in. In Brian's case, the money is not so much an issue, but keeping busy is. Unlike most other performers (who will fib about how life on the road is always fantastic), Brian has been vocal about what a drag it can be. That doesn't mean he is being forced against his will to perform. When you go to see him in concert, he's doing his job for you; sometimes, nothing more. I've seen him "do his job" as a solo artist seven times now and thought he put forth a decent effort each time. Your job as an audience member is to enjoy the performance as much as you can.

[Mahalo]

To raise a new question... How much does Brian enjoy touring, playing the jams, and receiving incredible(?) audience feedback from some of the most loyal fans on the planet?

[Andrew G. Doe]

One thing I think is pretty common knowledge - he hates the meet & greets.

[Jon Stebbins]

Melinda and Leaf are devils.  Everyone spoke highly of the Lovester until these two evil fucks came along.  Look through all the literature on the BB in the 60s; look through all the literature on Dennis. Nothing.  Everyone loves the Lovester. If it wasn't for Melinda and Leaf (and that equally evil money-grubbing dissenter Al Jardine) we'd have The Beach Boys again.  Well, okay, Carl and Dennis are no longer with us, but you know what I mean. Of course, she can't run a tour and BW doesn't seem to have the last say about what he does... Maybe they mean that?

This post cracked me up. I assume it was meant as humor because its so far from reality. Mike started getting bad press in 1966/67, especially due to his banter in-between songs at concerts, and because of the nasal quality of his voice. By 76/77 he was getting nailed for much more than that. This stuff is all on the record and easy to access if you really want to know the truth. There were also plenty of positive things written about him through those years...but Mike was clearly the Beach Boy who had the most negative press long before David Leaf came along. I'm not a David Leaf fan, nor a Melinda fan...but your post was either great humor, or bad history, or maybe a satirical hybrid which blew my mind.

[Mahalo]

One thing I think is pretty common knowledge - he hates the meet & greets.

Thats because he hasn't meeted and greeted me yet...

[Andrew G. Doe]

I'm sure AGD could tell us a lot more, if it doesn't involve indiscretions....

Well... let me phrase it this way - I'm currently requested not to post on the Bloo, partly because I was needlessly profane towards an admittedly antagonistic poster (who some think was a plant designed purely to wind me up - entirely successful, I have to say), but also partly because I was stating some unpalatable (to the management) truths concerning some of Brian's songs (i.e. the best track on the 2005 Xmas album was recorded nine years previously in collaboration with Joe Thomas... and Scott, not Brian, wrote the intro/outro to "Midnight"). I've heard much about Melinda, good and bad, from many reliable sources. I've drawn my own conclusions from various managemental decisions 1998-2009. I've met her several time, when she's been variously charming, aloof and icy. Managing Brian Wilson is a thankless and almost impossible task: that said, some of the decisions made by his people these last ten years seem hugely questionable.

[Shady]

One thing I think is pretty common knowledge - he hates the meet & greets.

Yeah, who's the brains behind those, I won't point the finger at Melinda but I sure hope she's not.

I don't hate Melinda, but I hope she puts Brian's will first and not the moolah, I still wish he stuck with Marilyn though.

Was she any better though?

[Smilin Ed H]

"This post cracked me up."

Thank God.  I was beginning to think some people believed it!   

[Wilsonista]

One thing I think is pretty common knowledge - he hates the meet & greets.

I don't hate Melinda, but I hope she puts Brian's will first and not the moolah, I still wish he stuck with Marilyn though.

Was she any better though?

Apples and cherries. Marilyn did the best she could under circumstances that no one her age should have been dealing with in the first place. She was barely in her 30's when she and Brian finally split. Which meant that when Brian was hanging with the Vosse Posse, she was literally still a kid trying to deal with her husband's undiagnosed mental illness, his alarming drug use AND possibly losing her husband's attention and infuence.  By the time they split, she had had a decade and a half of dealing with those isues. I don't blame Marilyn at all for making that decision.

[the captain]

needlessly profane

This, good sir, is an impossibility. There is no such thing as needless profanity, which is in and of its someofabitching self, fucktacularly splendid.

[Andrew G. Doe]

needlessly profane

This, good sir, is an impossibility. There is no such thing as needless profanity, which is in and of its someofabitching self, fucktacularly splendid.

OK... gratuitously profane, then.

[the captain]

I spell "gratuitously" e-n-j-o-y-a-b-l-y. And spellcheck lets it fly.

[Marie Jayne]

The BRIAN WILSON ON TOUR DVD was edited to show Brian at his most enthusiastic; it would not be representative of his overall behavior/attitude during that time period.

It's been pointed out a number of times, but Brian won't really go along with something he is dead-set against. I'm sure there are still aspects of touring he enjoys, but ultimately he is just doing his job, a job he knows will keep him active. Like for any of us, a job can become a drudgery, but it's something we stick with because it keeps us busy and keeps money coming in. In Brian's case, the money is not so much an issue, but keeping busy is. Unlike most other performers (who will fib about how life on the road is always fantastic), Brian has been vocal about what a drag it can be. That doesn't mean he is being forced against his will to perform. When you go to see him in concert, he's doing his job for you; sometimes, nothing more. I've seen him "do his job" as a solo artist seven times now and thought he put forth a decent effort each time. Your job as an audience member is to enjoy the performance as much as you can.

Yeah, that makes sense and I definitely hope you're right and that is the case. I saw him last year and I'm going to see him  again in a month's time and I know I'll love it and have a great time, I'm really looking forward to it!  I just like to know that he's happy and ok (as happy and ok as he can be)!