.png)
R.I.P. Brian Wilson
Just got the word that Brian Wilson has passed. Never mind the cause. The man was 82. Still, who’d ever dream that all three Wilson brothers would die before Keith Richards?
I had something like a nervous breakdown during my two months of solitude at the MacDowell Colony in 1994 working on a comedy that was set at a circus during the Civil War, and listening to Brian Wilson’s then-recently released Smile sessions — which as all fans know are conducive to a nervous breakdown. The creator of the music was having one while he was creating it. Wilson’s original piano-only solo demo for the eye-winkingly named “Surf’s Up” is the track to listen to today, if you can bear it. Lonely, apocalyptic, gorgeous, just like the town the President is tearing apart right now. It’s one of my favorite songs to listen to in the world. That outro/ fade out section is just devastating. It gets me every single time.
My grief is great. Was going to share a long form essay I wrote about him in 1996, but I just re-read it and it is terrible and pompous and unworthy. But I can share these relevant, less ambitious pieces from here on Travalanche. And I’ll add more when I can.
Comments