I posed this question in the last California posting: who would have thought that a visit to the Playboy Mansion would not be the big story of Monday morning, October 26, 2008? Jimmy had no sooner pulled out through the gates of the Playboy Mansion, that Dick Bann was making a startling exclamation from the front seat of the car: “Look…that’s Brian Wilson!” Now how Dick could pick out Brian freakin’ Wilson as we pulled up behind him as he was taking a walk (away from us) is beyond me. God Only Knows. I still have visions of Dick not spotting him, as Jimmy, Dick, and I obliviously drove past one of the most iconic figures in the history of pop music.
But as it was, Dick did manage to spot him taking a brisk morning walk through Holmby Park in Holmby Hills, not even a mile from the Playboy Mansion. As soon as it registered in my head what Dick had just said, I asked…or rather demanded…that Jimmy pull the car over. As Dick had just given us a tour of the Playboy Mansion, I had grown accustomed to asking his permission to take photos, etc. – so my first thought was to ask Dick if he thought it was okay if I approached Brian Wilson.
Dick’s response: “I wouldn’t…he’s nuts!” After considering this for about two seconds, my response was: “I don’t care. I’m nuts too.” I handed Jimmy my camera and we got out of the car and approached him. As we had pulled ahead of where he was walking, we were now approaching each other by foot on the sidewalk. Before he could turn and run, I shot out my hand and said “Hi Mr. Wilson, how are you?” He looked a little surprised that he had been recognized. In fact, he looked rather disheveled, walking slightly erratically (mostly due to his stroke I assumed), and was dressed very modestly. He was just a guy out for a morning walk, mumbling a little bit to himself – perhaps writing his next opus as I lived and breathed. But still, he shook my hand and said hi back at me.
I had nothing for him to sign and I really had nothing to say. What do you say to a man like Brian Wilson, who with the Beach Boys had written some of their most popular and creative music, the genius behind the unbelievably incredible Pet Sounds, the prodigy who kept the album Smile in his head for forty years before completing it? I asked him if he would mind posing for a picture with me, and he said “sure.” And so I, Brad, stood next to Brian Wilson with my arm around him for three seconds while Jimmy snapped our photo.
Meeting the legendary Brian Wilson. Who would have thunk…?
I then thanked him and told him that I was a huge fan of his incredible music. He thanked me and moved along on his brisk, morning walk, That was that. Five minutes earlier I had never met Brian Wilson, and then suddenly I had. This was nothing but fate, pure and simple. Both Dick and Jimmy had professed that in all the years they had been living in California, neither had ever seen a celebrity of any significant fame roaming the streets like that. Amazingly, if you check my MySpace page, you will find a list of people whom I would like to meet. Among the seven, Brian Wilson is listed. Morrissey was also listed – and I shook his hand in 2007. Perhaps it will be Bob Newhart, Robert De Niro, Bill Clinton, Paul McCartney, or Jerry Seinfeld next year.
This was the most unexpected surprise of the trip, and well worth the cost of the plane ticket alone. But as amazing as this story is, the post script is almost equally as incredible. After we met Brian Wilson, Jimmy, Dick, and I spent a few mintues pontificating on how unreal the event that had just taken place was. Finally I jokingly told Dick to stop talking and keep his eyes focused out the window to see who else he might spot.
And sure enough, seconds after I said that, Dick said “Well there’s Dick Van Dyke. No it just looks like Dick Van Dyke. It is Dick Van Dyke!” I looked out the car window and there was Dick Van Dyke, walking along in a commercial area of Beverly Hills. But this story is a bit anticlimactic because tried though we did (at my frantic urging), Jimmy could not find a space to pull the car over. We circled the block, but by that time Mr. VD had been swallowed up into one of the restaurants or shops on Beverly Drive.
After dropping Dick back off at home, Jimmy and I decided to explore Beverly Hills for a bit, naturally canvassing that area to no avail. We browsed the shops for a bit while we waited for a phone call which would send us on our next adventure. One dream had come true by design that morning, another fantasy had come true by luck or fate, and now a second dream was about to come true – lunch with someone I had long hoped to meet. But first a brief stop in Beverly Hills to check out some Hal Roach movie locations…
To be continued…
Now I’m envious! YOU got to meet Brian Wilson and tell him you’re a fan of his music! I’d like to meet him and tell him the same, as I think a face-to-face compliment would be better than writing him a letter, which he may never read. I’ve heard his recent shows are fantastic – maybe some day I’ll be able to attend one.
Bill
November 22nd, 2008
WOW!!!
Dave Chasteen
November 22nd, 2008
You and Dick should have dove out of the car, tucking and rolling of course, to get a picture with Dick van Dyke. We’re talking about Rob Petrie here! I thought you were dedicated to your craft!
It’s a shame though that you didn’t have something for him to sign. I would think that you would carry a pen and a stack of 3×5 cards at all times.
Chris
November 24th, 2008
“Him” being Brian Wilson.
Chris
November 24th, 2008
It’s a matter of instinct, a matter of conditioning, a matter of fact. You can call me Pavlov’s dog.
Aaron
November 25th, 2008
Well, I understand that Paul McCartney has a home in California and loves to drive what used to be Route 66–so maybe I’ll hang around Duarte and see if he shows up. I have read accounts of people meeting him in “a little Mexican restaurant in Pomona” (where he sang “Happy Birthday” to the daughter of a guy he’d been chatting with at the bar) and in a Marie Callender’s coffee shop. Evidently his tastes are solidly middle-class. Good for Macca.
Glad you got to meet Brian Wilson. Talk about an amazing comeback; I saw the Beach Boys in 1979 at Universal Amphitheater, and Brian shuffled out from the wings in a bathrobe, looking disheveled, overweight, with a cigarette dangling from his lips. He fumbled at a keyboard for a couple of songs before going backstage, and that was it. The same week, I saw Jan and Dean at the Roxy and they put on a much, much better show, even with Jan’s impairment from the auto accident. I’m so glad to see Brian’s recovery and his return to making new albums. I don’t have “That Lucky Old Sun” yet but plan to get it.
Randy Skretvedt
November 26th, 2008
I have met Brian a few times. He has always looked like the way he does in your picture. He grew up in Hawthorne and I went to a rival high school so we had a connection. Last time I saw him was a few years back at Capital when all the Beach Boys were there to get gold records. Brian can be odd, and yeah, crazy, but the body of music is amazing. I told him “Kiss Me Baby” was by fav Beach Boys tune. He smiled and said that was the first time anyone told him that was their favorite. Most people like “the hits”, as he told me.
Raul Moreno
December 2nd, 2008
Brad… thanks for the Brian Wilson story! Envious, I am!
Tim M
December 6th, 2008