"Cassius" Love vs. "Sonny" Wilson 2005: lawsuit text

Bastardized the Beach Boys' name? Duping ticket buyers? Long and well documented history of mental and emotional problems?
Why does the phrase "being called ugly by a frog" spring to mind?
Ladies and gentlemen, this is National Lampoon territory.

 

It's just incorrect. David Marks was sent packing somewhere between the recording/releases of the "Surfer Girl" and "Little Deuce Coupe" lps, though he appears in the cover photos of both lps. I'll have to go check, but I think Al is also on the back cover of LDC. Hell, Al is on the cover of "Concert" from October 1964. There must be a dozen TV clips from that year showing him performing with the band.

Not in the touring band till 1965? Wrong.

Dale

 

Mike has a point here: All other members left the touring band at some point for some time in order to pursue their solo career. Mike stayed.

 

As a lawyer, I found the Complaint fascinating, particularly its reliance on the jury's verdict in Love's songwriting action against Brian as establishing that the two had a partnership. Call me crazy, but that case was resolved by settlement. If Brian's lawyer did his job in drafting the settlement document, the jury's verdict should be gone, vanished, kaput.

As a Beach Boys' fan since I was 13, I found the Complaint extremely sad.
Most revealing is Paragraph 41:

41. The back of the CD cover lists ten songs, most of which were big hits for The Beach Boys, including: “Good Vibrations,” “California Girls,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Darlin’,” and “Help Me Rhonda,” “Love and Money,” “God Only Knows,” “Soul Searchin’,” “Getting In Over My Head,” and “Sloop John B.” (Emphasis added.)

Could be the name of Mike's autobiography.

 

I think you are exactly right. Now that Mike Love knows there is money to be made, the chances of an official SMiLE box set has greatly increased if a settlement is reached.

 

I agree, however I would rather have the boxset unrleased instead of coming to THIS to get it released.

Sigh..............ok Boys & Girls......fill in the blank:

Mike Love is a(n) _____________________________________________

 

It's times like this I miss Dennis Wilson.

Back in the day, The Real Beach Boy could be counted on to step up when most needed, when ML became most intolerable -- and simply punch him in the nose -- KO!

Thereby shutting him up for at least a couple months of quiet bliss.

Denny, we hardly knew ye...

 

Alan Jardine was also a member of the Beach Boys touring band for all of those years as was Bruce Johnston for a good part of the time. I'm sure they both helped "carry" the band. Mike Love's lawyers make it sound like he did everything.

When I met the Beach Boys in 1988, (private after concert party) I found Carl, Alan, and Bruce to be very nice, humble, quiet. I found Mike Love to be loud and arrogant. It appeared that he liked to be the center of attention.

Is it a coincidence that Carl passed away in 1998 and Alan stopped touring with the Beach Boys?

 

No. Carl was the peace maker and the heart and soul of the group.

 

By the way, the details about Al leaving the band in 1998 are still unclear. Mike claims that Al did not show up for a couple of concerts without excuse, and was therefore not "invited" anymore. Al, on the other hand, claims that he was told to leave.

 

Love and Money. Oh, dear. That really is a Freudian slip, more revealing than most.

 

Hmmmm... Mike's version... Al's version... which to believe?

Duh.

Bruce!... run away before Mikey puts the screws to you too!!!

 

IMO, its true here, that with the passing of Carl, the inmates are running the asylum now.

 

Mike's made more money than most people will be able to spend in 10 lifetimes. Why the hell can't he just let Brian enjoy one of his finest achievements? What's this lawsuit going to accomplish? Seems like there's more behind this than money. Things like this are going to make people remember him not for being a Beach Boy but for being a pathetic little jackass.

 

Obviously.

Possibly one or more of the following:

1. Avarice.
2. Ego.
3. Jealousy.
4. The fact that Dennis got laid way more than Mikey.

Mike Load should concentrate on playing the county fairs... while they'll still have him.

Kinda surprised that his own bad PR hasn't finished him by now.

Or maybe that's just more evidence that ML is not a big deal at all.

 

“FREE INSIDE . . . BEACH BOYS SURF HITS CD” next to a photo of the CD’s cover, a cover that includes three photographs of the members of The Beach Boys, and each photo includes Mike Love’s image.

I took this out of the main post. It caught my attention because last summer I spotted a CD - manufactured by Capitol no less - that was a Beach Boys Greatest Hits deal with a totally faked group of "Beach Boys" on the front cover ! I did a double take on it and was horrified to see on the front a collection of real human "lookalikes" dressed as and posing as the Beach Boys playing vintage instruments - yet it was a "legit" CD (as far as I could tell). Why on earth was this done? Did Mike Love approve of this and yet object to Brian's free CD? The CD I saw, by the way, was in one of those Cracker Barrell restaurants. Anyone else ever see this thing?
I dunno - for some reason I was shocked to learn that there is still some sort of Beach Boys corporate entity that Brian Wilson is still tied to. Depressing.
------ Chris

 

Mike Love - Not War (a great song by Oranger).....

My guess after reading every word of this is that Love's gonna win another suit.

Thanks for the explanation of why Dennis's estate isn't included in BRI. I wondered, too, why Bruce Johnston, after 40 years of 'service to the cause' was never made a partner.

One hopes a side effect of this suit will be to force BRI to have a 3/1 vote and take away Mike's right to tour under the name. Which of course would undoubtedly force another suit from Mike to prevent Brian from playing any of the songs live either. Net result: lose/lose. Theirs and ours.

Interesting to note that unlike the news stories, this suit really isn't about Smile per se, which was wise on Love's lawyers' parts. That may prevent Brian raising as a defense the mental cruelty, abuse, and rejection from Love over the Smile project (mostly in 1966, incidentally, not '67) which is generally given as the primary factor in Wilson's mental breakdown.

"Love and Money" hee hee hee, I didn't catch that typo when I read it.

It would indeed appear to my legal eyes that Mike's opened himself up to slander suits from Al and Brian in the text, and that the (correct) factual problems with Mike's assertions ('Murray', Marks' tenure, etc.) might bolster the defense.

I'm torn between laughing outloud and crying after reading this -- but at least it all makes sense now - the previous stories in the media (and on this site) made this appear to be a frivolous suit - and it's not at all. I can't believe Brian's attorneys allowed the Beach Boys CD giveaway without BRI authorization, if that indeed transpired as alleged. If so, it'll sink Brian.

There's never been much justice in the music industry, but this is about as low as it gets. I feel so sorry for David Leaf, too.

Thank God I got to see Brian Wilson, The Wondermints, Jeffrey Foskett et al perform both Pet Sounds and Smile. Those were two of the most moving, emotionally affecting and triumphant moments in my life. And last spring at SXSW, I watched Leaf's wonderful Beautiful Dreamer doc with Brian sitting a row back, I could glance sideways and see him watching the movie; another moment I'll cherish for life. At the SXSW panel, with Van Dyke, David, and others, Brian was sitting in front of hundreds of fans and media people, and kept having to wipe away tears caused by the overwhelming display of love and affection both for himself and for Smile that the audience was showing. One sensed that he was finally 'getting' just how much that album means/has meant to fans all around the world.

Now this. [sigh]

God bless Brian. And Carl and Dennis, too.

 

I thought it said the free cd giveaway was of the Beach Boys' songs "as performed live by Brian" or something to that effect, not the original recordings.

 

The lawsuit is a joke.

The legal brief reads like fiction.

Mike Love...just when you think he can't sink to a new low...

 

I couldn't agree more.

 

The cd said, "The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson" with Beach Boys in small typeface and BW in large. There ARE three pictures of the BB's with Brian, which could be argued merely made the point that Brian is from the Beach Boys. I can't see a big settlement coming out of this. Mike will have to show real dollar amounts that were lost, which will be difficult to prove.

Comments made about Al are not deemed slanderous because it is a court filing. If he said it public, yeah slanderous.

 

And after Looking Back With Love was such a critical and commercial success too! Clearly the man is a saint. Didn't he simply give a Mike Love action figure to a crippled child who then threw away his crutches and walked? No, wait, that was Evel Knievel....

(and a little bit of )

Geoff