Excitations

One of the surprises for me in watching "Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey" was Brian Wilson's appearance. True, "Good Vibrations" is the best known piece of music that uses a Theremin. Nevertheless, I didn't expect to see a very animated, very passionate, and very talkative B.W. in this documentary about the life of the instrument's inventor. Brian is notoriously monosyllabic in interviews, but you would never know it from this footage. He is verbose, his arms wave around, and he cracks jokes. Most importantly in regard to Leon Theremin, Brian credits the use of the cello with the Theremin for the success of "Good Vibrations."

Brian Sounds

WFUV has posted Pete Fornatale's interview with Brian Wilson, and, yes, its original airdate was in 2005. Most interesting part: Brian cracks jokes and laughs. Most disappointing part: B.W.'s shaky, out-of-tune live singing voice. Here's the interview.

Wake Up with Brian Wilson

In the mood for a little Brian Wilson at 7 a.m. tomorrow? WFUV's Pete Fornatale will be interviewing Brian Wilson on Mixed Bag Radio show. This may be a 2005 rebroadcast because I can't imagine B.W. doing an interview when he doesn't have something to promote. Still, it's worth a listen. Although Brian slurs a bit, he seems engaged and coherent and not his typical Rain Man self. You can listen to WFUV online.

Hang Onto Your Ego

Why do some book reviewers think that we actually care about them? Are their egos so massive that they believe we're interested in their quirks and obsessions? In Bruce Handy's New York Times book review of "Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson" by Peter Ames Carlin, it's all about Mr. Handy. Brian who? Let's talk about Mr. Handy. He's been collecting lots of rock bios about the Beatles and Dylan, and he cares about Ringo trivia and even talks about Jack Black before mentioning Brian. Oh, I'm sorry, did I wake you? Mr. Handy does get around to B.W. but only until about halfway through the article. And when he does, he rehashes the same old B.W. plot points (genius, madness, failure, cleanup). This book has received rave reviews from hardcore B.W. fans on blogs and message boards, but if I had read only the NYT review, I would have disregarded it. If you're interested in some insightful analysis of "Catch a Wave," check out Uncanny's posts on the book.

Dixie Chicks Brian-Wilsoned

Remember when entertainers who took a political stand and were penalized for it were called "Dixie Chicked"? Well, the Dixie Chicks have now been Brian-Wilsoned. That is, the country music group is writing songs about what they want to. And that's a bad thing, according to a Daily News article. Critic David Hinckley compares the group to Brian Wilson but not at all favorably and predicts the new Dixie Chicks' album is going to bomb because they are no longer writing "cruising anthems" but more personal songs. He writes, "Remember when Brian Wilson stopped writing about girls, cars and surfing and turned to vegetables?" Um, the album he's referring to is "Smile," which is considered a masterpiece, won a Grammy, and topped a gazillion best record of the year lists. I would never consider myself a Dixie Chicks fan, but now I'm rooting for this new album.

OD'ing on Insanity

I almost can't take it anymore. I can't deal with reading about, listening to, or watching creative geniuses or just average Joes who go daffy. Besides reading Brian Wilson's autobiography, in the past week, I've seen or read the following movies or articles or shows about unhinged characters: Tarnation (twice) about the director's insane mother, The Devil and Daniel Johnston about another schizophrenic, Jack Pierson's exhibit Melancholia Passing into Madness, and the New Yorker article on Werner Herzog's unorthodox film sets. I know that sane people are wildly boring, but I'm really OD'ing on the always interesting insane set.

Drive-in Saturday

In this weekly feature, I review in one sentence or less videos/DVDs of movies that you either have seen already or wouldn't bother to see.

"Time of the Wolf" (2003), directed by Michael Haneke: Cold and impersonal take on a post-apocalyptic France.

"Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Making of Smile" (2004), directed by David Leaf: Only gets interesting when B.W. goes into panic mode during the preparation for the tour.

In Their Rooms

There is a subculture of musicians who worship the Studio Brian Wilson, the guy who pushed, bent, and manipulated studio recording. These musicians pray to the iconic image of the "In My Room" Brian--the lonely genius creating music to an audience of patch bays and sequencers. One of these musicians has recently gotten under my skin, or into my ears: Keigo Oyamada, who records under the name "Cornelius." His 1998 album "Fantasma" has been cemented into my CD player for the past week. Although the album sounds more along the lines of The Jam meets My Bloody Valentine, the specter of B.W. is strong. He pays homage to B.W. by composing modular music chunks within songs, recreating a few well-known B.W. images and naming a song "God Only Knows." In addition, this tech wiz is perfectly happy to be alone with his ProTools software.

Drive-in Saturday

In this weekly feature, I review in one sentence or less videos/DVDs of movies that you either have seen already or wouldn't bother to see.

"The Beach Boys: An American Band" (1985), directed by Malcolm Leo: A bearded, bloated, bathrobed, and bedridden Brian Wilson gives an amazingly focused interview in this for-fans-only documentary that's chockfull of archival footage.











"I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" (1995), directed by Don Was: For both the hardcore and day-to-day fans, analysis of and tribute to the music and life of Brian Wilson.



"Stalag 17" (1953), directed by Billy Wilder: William Holden* is wunderbar in this captivating story about a WWII German POW camp.

*Written material and photos of William Holden are sorely lacking on the web. This actor is bloody amazing, someone whose acting style works as well in the 1940s as the 1970s, and that's saying something! If you haven't discovered the wonders of Bill H., please check out: Sunset Boulevard, Picnic, The Bridge over the River Kwai, The Wild Bunch, and Network. You will not be disappointed.

View Askew

Brian Wilson, one of the toughest interviews in the biz, will be on the couch with the ladies of ABC's superfluff "The View" tomorrow. I can't imagine B.W. -- notorious for giving monosyllabic answers or Rain Man-like responses and for even cutting off interviews -- yukking it up with Star Jones and the rest of the girls. Either his wife will have to accompany him or the interview will have to be scripted to a T. Or he'll have to do what he does best: sing and play music. (Images via Mediabistro and Paul Scharff)

"I'm a Genius Too"

If your dad was a drunk who browbeat your family with megalomanic speeches that ran the manipulation-spectrum of barking interrogation to maudlin self-pitying, you may want to skip this post. A WFMU blog, which I found on a Beach Boys message board, has posted a recording of Murry Wilson (dad of Brian, Dennis, and Carl) storming a Beach Boys' recording session. The blog sets the scene:

January 8, 1965: The Beach Boys enter the studio to record what will become their second number one hit, Help Me Rhonda. Well into the session, a drunken Murry Wilson arrives and proceeds to commandeer the session with psychodrama, scat singing and weepy, abusive melodrama. The session tape captured it all.

On the recording is the infamous line "I'm a genius too," which Murry zapped at Brian during the session. Also, Brian refers to his deaf ear, which allegedly came from a beating from Murry. The edited 12-minute recording is oppressive, sad, and depressing. Enjoy! (Image via Brian Wilson's Official Site ?? Can't remember)

Darkness at Midnight

For the past month, I have tried to get through Arthur Koestler's "Darkness at Noon." Can't do it. There's nothing wrong with the book or the writing; it simply puts me to sleep. Each evening I would crack open to the same page and within five minutes, my eyes would start to cross, and I'd sack out. I have wanted to read this book for years. When I read that one of Koestler's books ("The Act of Creation") had a huge influence on Brian Wilson (that's B.W. below in a bookstore), I pulled "Darkness at Noon" off the bookshelf. I first became aware of this book in 1993, when I read a horrific kidnapping story in which a man was buried in a hole and kept his sanity for 13 days by remembering "Darkness at Noon." I thought, "I must read this book in case I ever get kidnapped." Of course, I now realize that no book would save my sanity and that I would be reduced to a blubbering puddle. (By the way, if you are at all interested in the kidnapping story to which I referenced, here's a link. After reading this, I'm sure that you, too, will be reaching for your copy of "Darkness at Noon.") (Images via Michenermuseum.org and The Zen Interpretation)

God Bless Brian Wilson

I spoke with Brian Wilson yesterday. On Brian's website, he posted a challenge: donate $100 to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort and he will personally call to thank you. As well, the donor was allowed to ask Brian a question. How could I resist? Here is a transcript of our two-minute conversation:

Alicatte: Hello?
Brian: Hello, [my name]?
Alicatte: Yes!
Brian: This is Brian Wilson
Alicatte: Oh, my God, this is fantastic!
Brian: How are you?
Alicatte: Good.
Brian: I'm calling to thank you for your $100 donation.
Alicatte: OK.
Brian: And if you want to ask me a question, you can.

Alicatte: My question is: Can you tell me the role, if any, that God or religion plays when you're composing music?
Brian: Well, God works through me when I'm writing music. God helps me write my music.

Alicatte: Are there some times when you don't feel his presence while you're composing?
Brian: Yes. Sometimes I don't, and sometimes I do. It depends on the day.

Alicatte: If you don't feel that presence, do you stop or do you just try--
Brian: I stop when I don't feel it. And when it comes back into me, I start back up again.

Alicatte: Is that the same when you're performing or is that a different--
Brian: That's a different kind of thing when I'm performing. Yeah, it's a different kind of thing. Anyway, thank you so much for your $100 donation.

******

I'm sure that I was Number 535 Insane Fan he had chatted with, and he probably had another 500 to go. As Brian mentions on his website, what he really wants is for you to donate, donate, donate. Please donate to your favorite charity to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Here are the sites for Catholic Relief Services and the Red Cross.

It's a Sin Not to Share...

... or Cher, whichever you prefer. In my research, I've come across a few sites and blogs that make it all worthwhile. And I'd like share.
Uncanny is a treasure-trove of a blog on Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys. If you want to check out rare pictures, transcripts, upcoming bootleg or official release reviews, this blog will take care of you. Recent posts include a detailed review of B.W.'s yet-to-be released Christmas album, as well as links to other sites that will keep any fanatic satisfied.

Ever want to find a message board where readers are as film-obsessed as you are? People who groove on Klaus Kinski and Beat Takeshi and know their idiosyncrasies as well as their own? Well, look no further: CHUD message board is the place. (CHUD stands for Cinematic Happenings Under Development.) Watch out, though, these guys know their stuff.
While looking for art images, I keep happening upon this website, Art.net. Besides Amp Power, this site has on-the-money reviews of major art shows as well as hole-in-the-wall galleries. And the site posts a ton of hard-to-find images. (By the way, that's Andy Warhol sitting on the bed.)

All who joy would win
Must share it,—happiness was born a twin.
--Lord Byron

Brainiacs Embrace Brian

Get out your tweed sports coat (yes, the one with the elbow patches), pack your pipe, and put on your black-framed reading glasses: The intellectual biweekly New York Review of Books has just published an article about Brian Wilson and the evolution of his masterwork "Smile." No new ground covered here (that is, no new ground for B.W. fanatics). The most interesting part for me was an analysis of Van Park Dykes's sometimes convoluted lyrics. For instance:

A synopsis of the album's Americana theme, "Roll Plymouth Rock" begins with ... the lines "Waving from the ocean liners/beaded cheering Indians behind them/Rock, rock, roll, Plymouth Rock roll over." The latter line links together references to early rock-and-roll stars Bill Haley ("Rock Around the Clock") and Chuck Berry ("Roll Over Beethoven") with the site of the Pilgrims' landing as part of the album's pop exploration of American mythology.

Click here to read the article in its entirety.

For Brian Wilson Fans Only

Just saw this article in New York Magazine about Brian Wilson's influences.

Best Part:
NYM: Can you tell me what sort of literature affected you when you were growing up in Hawthorne, California?
BW: The Act of Creation, by Arthur Koestler, and it turned me on to some very special things. It explains that people attach their egos to their sense of humor before anything else. After I read it, I saw that trait in many people.

(Alicatte: Yes, I'm running out to buy this book.)

Most Disappointing Part:

NYM: When you came out of that dark phase in the eighties, what were you listening to?
BW: David Lee Roth. I thought that his version of “California Girls” was really, really good.

(Alicatte: I can take solace only in the fact that Brian W. was coked out of his brains and his judgment must have been impaired.)

For those of you interested in a time-capsule profile of Brian, check this article out.

SMiLE Delayed

Brian Wilson's "SMiLE" came out last September, but only recently have I given it a full- throttle listening. To read about the saga of "SMiLE," which Brian abandoned in 1967, click here. (This article is chock-full of delicious details of B.W. insanity, including the fact that Brian insisted that musicians wear firemen's hats during the recording of one song.) If you digged "Pet Sounds," definitely check this album out. If you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, let me put it another way. When "Good Vibrations" comes on the car radio and you can't help feeling just a tad bit better, then give "SMiLE" a listen. Melody is layered upon melody, tempo shifts from underneath you, and song bleeds into song, taking your ears on a giddy aural trip.