Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Manson & Wilson: The Sponging Months....

Good people of Mansonblogland, I picked up a Beach Boy's book at the local library that explained in small detail the way Manson found his way into Dennis Wilson's life. Now, please take this with a grain of salt, and don't bite the messenger's head off. We don't know if this is 100% accurate, but most of us CAN agree that Manson wasn't exactly a model citizen, especially when it came to supporting himself. What he WAS good at, and probably still is, is the art of sponging/mooching off of others. I get a chuckle every time I think of Manson sitting by the pool of Dennis Wilson's house, being fanned by a nude Lynette Fromme, while another young female fed him grapes....all the while bitching about all the "material possessions" Dennis needed to let go of. Of course, Dennis DID get a song out of Manson, and a lot of BUSH, so everyone got something out of the deal! Please allow me to bring you an excerpt from "Catch A Wave: The Rise, Fall & Redemption Of The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson" with all it's weird typos by Peter Ames Carlin:

And even if the Beach Boys seemed determined to drift above the fray, no amount of cheerful harmony could keep the darkness around them from seeping into the sunny little world they continued to imagine in song. For Dennis, the chaos came to call one afternoon in the spring of 1968 when he picked up a couple of cute, young hitchhikers, and brought them back to his house on the western slope of Sunset Boulevard for what he hoped would be a quick three-way, sexual liaison. Indeed, the two young women were more than happy to spend the afternoon rolling around naked with the hunky, young drummer, and a good time was had by all. Later that evening, Dennis came home from a late-night recording session, to discover that the girls had returned, only now they were accompanied by an entire flock of similarly freaked-out girls, and the older man they called their guru: a dark-eyed, raven-haired drifter named Charlie Manson. Manson was even stranger, and less clean than most people Dennis tended to hang around with. But he spoke of brotherhood, and faith, knew where to get good drugs, and had such a hold over his flock of girls that when Charlie told them all to get naked, Dennis's living room became a writhing mass of pink, lithesome, submissive flesh. And for Dennis Wilson, this was all the transcendence he could ever imagine. 



All Charlie asked for in return was a place for him, and his family to live, food, drink, money, and access to everything else Dennis owned. Oh, and also a chance for Charlie to record some of his original music compositions, many of which elucidated his inimitable philosophies on life, love, and the inevitability of social conflict. And for Dennis, who had jumped from adolescence to wealth, and fame without pausing to resolve the emotional toll of growing up in the shadow of Murry (their manager), the situation was just poisonous enough to feel right. Many young, rock stars feel secretly (or not so secretly) guilty for their success, and Dennis experienced guilt with the full-bodied enthusiasm he brought to his various indulgences. He was accustomed to giving away his money, cars, and clothes. Such sacrifices made him happy, so if he could satisfy both his conscience, and his decadence in one, mutually fulfilling relationship with Charlie Manson, that was fine by him, no matter how dirty, and wild-eyed his permanent house guest could be. "Fear is nothing, but awareness, man," Dennis told a reporter from Britain's Rave magazine, going on to explain that he was quoting his friend, the Wizard, whom he described as being terribly wise, and also, at times, quite scary. And he would grow even more so, as the summer of Manson-Family fun went on. 

Dennis brought Charlie up to Brian's house to record on several occasions, and the sessions produced everything from straight-ahead pop songs, to more avant-garde tapes Mike Love described to a Rolling Stone reporter in 1971 as "...chanting, fucking, sucking, barking." It was a million laughs, believe me." Nevertheless, Dennis remained convinced of his pal's musical talent, and took him to the Beverly Hills home of Terry Melcher up on Cielo drive-the same house where Brian had asked Van Dyke Parks to help him write Smile a couple of summers earlier. The producer agreed to give Manson's music a listen. He decided against pursuing the project, however, thereby eliciting Manson's considerable rage. Manson never forgot where Melcher lived, either. And though the object of his hatred would soon move to another part of town, Manson's fury stayed focused on that house on Cielo drive.

Dennis also wandered into Manson's sights by taking one of his songs, "Cease to Exist," smoothing down its bluesy edges, and recording it with the Beach Boys as "Never Learn Not to Love." Reportedly, Manson had written the song specifically for the group, imagining that his vision of love as a soul-consuming act of submission would make them feel better about themselves. "Cease to exist, come and say you love me......Submission is a gift/Go on, give it to your brother," Manson sang in his demo recording of the tune. And he's neither a terrible singer nor a bad songwriter, which may explain Dennis's interest in the guy. Dennis ended up revising the song's words, then removed Manson's name from the song's credit line, an affront Manson used to justify prying several more months' worth of goods and services from his rich friend. 

Dennis eventually grew tired of Manson's parasitic ways, even if he had to move out of his Sunset Boulevard house in order to get the Wizard and family out of his life. Still, Manson's demands on Dennis would continue. And when they weren't satisfied soon enough, he or his minions would make threats, not just on Dennis's life, but also on that of his young stepson, Scott. The fear-slash-awareness would only deepen in the next weeks and months, and not just because Beach Boys, who put "Never Learn Not To Love" on the B-side of their next single, launched Manson's words and music onto the lower reaches of the Billboard charts. Soon the darkness of the age would seem to close in from every direction at the same time. 



A few pages down, the "Manson" part continues:

And as the 1960s drew to a close, the sun-washed optimism the Beach Boys had once given voice to seemed to have been subsumed by the darkness that had always hovered on its fringes. What emerged was a nation that had splintered along every imaginable social fault line: black against white, young against old, rich against poor, students against their universities, women against men, humans against Mother Earth, You say you want a revolution? That's exactly what was going on in 1969, and every day it didn't erupt into bloody, hellish violence was kind of surprising. Then in late July (August, the author seemed to forget) of that year, the Los Angeles police got that call up to the house on Cielo Drive that Terry Melcher had recently moved away from, and what they found-apparently intended for Melcher by its mastermind-was so gruesome, it seemed like that nightmare of violent revolution was becoming real. The facts have been reported so often, and so vividly, it seems pointless to go into it all again. Suffice it to say that Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of Roman Polanski, along with an array of friends, and house guests had been murdered in the bloodiest, most heartless way imaginable. To make things even more lurid, and awful, the murderers had scrawled vaguely revolutionary slogans-two drawn from the titles of recent Beatles songs-on the walls with their victims' blood. ( Austin Ann Notes: I didn't know pig, rise, & death to pigs was the title of any Beatles songs) A prosperous, middle-aged couple who lived nearby, the LaBiancas, were murdered under similarly hellish circumstances the next night. And paranoia in Los Angeles, and everywhere else, ratcheted up to alarming heights. But nowhere more than in the heart of Dennis Wilson, Terry Melcher, and the various friends and associates who had come to know something about Manson's revolutionary fantasies in the last few months. Manson turned up at Dennis's door a day or two after the killings, looking even wilder than usual. ("I been to the moon," he explained when asked what he'd been up to.) Dennis gave him all the money he had on him that night, but not nearly the $1,500 Manson had asked for, which aggravated him to no end. And Manson was even angrier when he returned a week or so later to find that Dennis was up in Canada with the Beach Boys. that time Manson left something for Dennis: a .45-caliber bullet. Dennis, Melcher, and their friends had whispered their suspicions all fall. But it took until mid-November for the authorities to build enough of a case to arrest Manson and his family for the murders. 



Here is the pic CWC sent:







65 comments:

Mr. Humphrat said...

is it true that any associates of the family were suspicious of them being involved in the murders before the general public found out?
this book suggests Melcher and Wilson suspected them. When Paul Crocket saw reports of the murders he said he asked little Paul and Brooks "Do you think your friend Charlie could have done that?" To which he says they replied "Ohhh Noooo"

CarolMR said...

I'd be surprised if Dennis Wilson and Terry Melcher DIDN'T suspect Manson after the Cielo house murders. It always bothered me that neither of them tipped off the police about "the family."

Patty is Dead said...

Good point, Carol. Maybe they had things they needed to hide?

Matt said...

Ann, was that pic of Wilson and Manson actually in the book? It looks like just a bad photoshop job yo me. Manson's head doesn't sit on the body correctly. I'm also pretty sure he didn't have that full beard until the trial.


AustinAnn74 said...

I found that photo online. I think it's a bad photoshop job too. Manson's head looks giant, and the body is almost child-like. Wait a minute, upon further reflection, perhaps it is a real photo....:)
Just kidding....

Ajerseydevil said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I didn't realize that Wilson had known Manson and the rest of his little cult. What an interesting story. I love getting this inside view.. which is why I probably love true crime and non-fiction books. I have been reading a lot of Ann Rule's books lately, since discovering her new website with all of her books upgraded to ebook format, and am amazed at how much research she puts into her books to give people the inside look at a particular crime. For instance, the book she wrote about Ted Bundy, "The Stranger Beside Me" is full of personal stories of Ted... she had worked with him at a suicide prevention clinic and then later corresponded with him directly to write the book. Thanks for sharing this story. I am going to go get the Beach Boy book now!

http://www.planetannrule.com/

AustinAnn74 said...

Ashley, Ann Rule is one of my favorite authors too. Welcome to our blog!!

Anonymous said...

That photo of Dennis & Charlie is fake.
It's from 1977.
I sent Matt the actual photo.

mrgroove said...

Definitely a photoshop job on the pic with Charlie and Dennis.

mrgroove said...

That is quite interesting Carol. Is it really plausible that Melcher and/or Wilson did NOT even slightly suspect the Manson gang as the murderers before they were indicted? The then unsolved murders were on everyone and everybody's mind in Los Angeles. So how could Melcher, who after all, lived in the actual murder-house for a two plus years, not have at least given the subject some deeper though than the average terrified LA resident? And then possibly light a fuse under the tails of law enforcement. It sure is curious, at least to me.

crash said...

Must have meant Piggies and Helter Skelter for the two Beatles songs.

Max Frost said...

Carol, the reason Melcher and Wilson didn't tip the police off was because they didn't need the reward money - they were rich.

Listen to Terry Melcher. There's a recording of him explaining who he thought, if anyone, would want to kill him. He NEVER thought of Manson.

Max Frost said...

And that is obviously a fake or we would've seen it before. I wouldn't call it a bad photoshop though. It's pretty good for the masses. I would've believed it 20 years ago. Look at the depth of field - Manson's arm comes into focus. There's a few more strengths as well - not bad.

SJ said...

That photo has been on this blog before and I pointed out it is obviously fake because Dennis Wilson was very young, beardless and good looking when he knew Manson. The girls were very lucky indeed.

Robert Hendrickson said...

A lot more than curious MrGroove - especially when you consider that apparently Melcher was banging the Manson Girls and HE did not reveal that to the cops. And had HE, the case could have turned more quickly. Because Melcher had lived there and left before his lease was up - even an LAPD detective could have heard the bells and whistles.

CarolMR said...

Yes, curious, Patty and Mrgroove. Max, I would think Wilson and Melcher would have tipped off the police because it was the right thing to do, not for the money. And I just don't believe that Melcher didn't suspect Manson, despite what he said. As far as I know both Melcher and Wilson were terrified of Manson.

Robert Hendrickson said...

How about this one folks:

Paul Watkins is told by the KILLERS about "Shorty" being killed by them, but HE still never suspects the Manson Family had ANYTHING to do with the Tate / LaBianca murders. Then Bugliosi gets a hold of Paul and HE then becomes the STAR witness for the Prosecution regarding the MOTIVE Helter Skelter. There's gotta be a lesson there.

When you incorporate a FAKE photo into an article / post - the entire post loses a certain amount of credibility.

Mr. Humphrat said...

Yes, in that photo it definitely looks as if Manson's head is not screwed on straight so it has to be a fake.

Unknown said...

Dennis looks "Mansonesque" in that photo.

Matt said...

AA, thanks for reporting on the book. I'm assuming you give it a thumbs-down?

crash said...

Ive seen that pic before and figured it was fake. The giveaway to me is always the shading of those type of photos. Nothing in that photo is as dark as charlies beard, even areas that should be dark from the background. But it is still a neat photoshop job.

mrgroove said...

So Mr. Henderson, Melcher kept his mouth shut to essentially protect his own ass?

And yes Carol, it would seem that Melcher should have tipped off the police not for the money, but because he had strong suspicions AND it would have been the right thing to do.

On the surface, Melcher and Wilson both come off as cowardly, selfish and/or stupid in these chain of events? But it also seems a possibility they knew a lot more than they ever acknowledged.

Unknown said...

Thanks Ann! I will be following your blog pretty closely in the future. It is full of tons interesting stuff!

leary7 said...

Wait, wasn't there some incident where Charlie showed up at Greg Jakkobson's house and left a bullet telling the person staying there it was for Dennis or Melcher. I seem to recall something like that.
No doubt whatsoever in my mind that Greg, Dennis and Melcher had to consider Manson for the Cielo Drive murders. And again, I seem to recall some confirmation from Dennis's wife that it was discussed.
I always thought that would make a great 'slice of life' film - a profile of Dennis, Greg and Terry and maybe others who HAD TO HAVE HAD suspicions post Cielo. Imagine trying to keep your head straight with that awareness and fear kicking around.

starship said...

If the freaking dumbasses of the LAPD had only released to thepublic that HEALTER SKELTER was written on the LaBianca's refrigerator, they all would have been in custody by Tuesday morning.

Matt said...

starship said...

If the freaking dumbasses of the LAPD had only released to thepublic that HEALTER SKELTER was written on the LaBianca's refrigerator, they all would have been in custody by Tuesday morning.


Yup

leary7 said...

I know I have read or heard that a hundred times, starship, and yet it still takes the breath away when contemplating that fact.

It begs the question would Manson have become the counter-culture icon he did if he had been arrested the day after TLB when the horror was so raw.

Patty is Dead said...

Good point, Leary. The media had months to whip everyone into a frenzy whereas a quick apprehension and trial may have mitigated all the hype. Patty'd never thought of it that way.

Mr. Humphrat said...

I think that information was withheld -I'm trying to think how you word it-so there would be things only the perps would know if they were questioned.

Max Frost said...

Carol, I was joking about the reward money, etc.

toocrowdedinthishouse said...

To whoever did that photoshop job: I would pay good money to put my husband's head on Dennis Wilson's body in that photo. I have the perfect vintage photo of him. I could post it with a magnet on the fridge and see who notices.

Robert Hendrickson said...

Leary, it gets really bizarre, when you consider that the cops in Ferguson MO have known from day one that the Black Guy who was killed, violently assaulted the cop who shot him. Instead, they let the backlash occur, including riots and looting. Now that the Feds have taken over and even the US Attorney General hit the ground in Ferguson - they revealed how very physically harmed the "cop" was.

WHY do cops hold back "information" ? Any cops out there - with the answer?

Anonymous said...

You can easily visit the dock that Dennis drowned from, but not from land, only by water. Just rent a sit-on-top kayak by the hour from the main tourist spot in Marina Del Rey, at the place called Fisherman's Village. It's easy to web research Dennis' exact dock number, and then get a marina map that lists dock numbers - it's less than a mile of paddling from the Fisherman's Village dock. There is lots of newly constructed docks nearby, but Dennis' original dock is still there. This is a special section of the marina for up to 60 foot yachts, my take is there are mostly Persian yacht owners there nowadays...never had the courage to say anything to the current residents. Also, I've never found out the exact slip number, just the exact dock shared by 8 or so yachts.

Anonymous said...

Of course you could just rent a motorboat from same place, but a kayak affords a much lower profile to sit around for a while and have a nice floating lunch.

HellzBellz said...

@Mrs Humphrat...... Mansons head actualy IS not screwed on straight...for real I mean

starship said...

My opinion is that more information is always better. So certainly, the cops can hold some things back so they can verify with the perps, but why they would have chosen to hold back such an odd phrase, which turns out to be an important key in this case, is beyond me.

Robert Hendrickson said...

JUST A THOUGHT :

What IF the Tate house HIT was merely a pre-distraction for the LaBianca HIT (Re: BLACK BOOK motive) ? If so, it worked !

JUST THINKING...

fiona1933 said...

starship, I have often wondered if Charlie himself knew that Pat Krenwinkel had done such a dumb-ass thing as leaving Charlie's calling card painted on the LaBianca refrigerator door.
I think it was either Jakobsen or Al Springer who said Charlie talked of Helter Skelter so often, he thought they must be Charlie's 'pet words' Surely if Charlie had known he'd have had someone go back and try and wipe it off.

sbuch113 said...

Good point RH.
I have heard the possibility of LaBianca occurring as a distraction away from the legit motive the night before....but it does work both ways.

CarolMR said...

"Carol, I was joking about the reward money, etc."

Thanks, Max!

AustinAnn74 said...

Ah, yes, Matt. I do, indeed give the book a rating of two tits down. I mean, two thumbs down. Sorry.

Anonymous said...

In this video Bugliosi says Dennis was terrified when Manson was arrested and refused to testify. (start @15:13)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFxhe6yIqvc&list=PLFFD889AD9694FFA3&index=1&feature=plpp_video

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
hendythefifth said...

My question is, since we now have the original pic of bearded, late 70's Dennis Wilson, who is that elf man standing next to him?

Mr. Humphrat said...

that's right Hellz Bellz

Anonymous said...

Dennis was being interviewed in a Toronto record store by someone named Gary "Pig" Gold on 8/29/77.
Here's the link:

http://motleynews.net/2011/07/29/pig-paper-06-oct-1977-interviews-with-talking-heads-and-beach-boy-dennis-wilson-pigsclusive-photo/

Anonymous said...

Here is the photo used for Charlie:

http://www.findadeath.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=47157&d=1371516205

Robert Hendrickson said...

GEE WIZZ, you think - IF the cops at least verbally whispered to the news media that: Helter Skelter was written at one of the crime scenes - someone would have realized that the Manson Family may have been involved and "Shorty" might still be alive.

BUT if the cops "wrapped it-up" so quickly - THEY wouldn't have gotten all that "OVERTIME" pay!
Sounds to me like THEY did the RIGHT thing, as usual, for THEMSELVES.

Sometimes NO sense makes sense to some, BUT making MORE money always makes MORE sense to "government" workers. I'm sure Clem figured this one out.

Mr. Humphrat said...

One would think also the police would have at least checked out associates of Bobby Beausoleil due to similar scrawlings at the crime scenes. And they wouldn't have had to reveal the what was written to the public.

AustinAnn74 said...

I always wondered why Mandon got away with so much stuff when he was on parole. Did he even check in with his PO ever? How did he get away with being arrested with underage girls, and not get his parole revoked?

Mr. Humphrat said...

I think Ed Sanders The Family mentions the various times he checked in with his parole agents and he informed them when he moved to Death Valley and other locales and they reassigned him to another agent, but I don't recall any account of whether they saw him with underage girls, etc.

Mr. Humphrat said...

But then I found other information online contradicting that.

AustinAnn74 said...

Manson, I meant. Not Mandon. Haha....Stupid Android phone! Haha..

mrgroove said...

According to Manson's arrest record on cielodrive.com, Manson was arrested more than a half a dozen times (including for "force rape" and having a fraudulent drivers license) all after his release in early 1967 and before his arrest for the TLB/Hinman/Shea murders. So what exactly constituted a parole violation in those days?

Gloope said...

mrgroove-see also the oft-reposted, alleged Paul Krassner interview of former LA DS Preston Guillery: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-krassner/the-mystery-behind-the-ma_b_255394.

mrgroove said...

Interesting article Gloope. It's quite hard to wrap my brain around the idea that Manson could just keep walking away scott-free from these types of arrests without his parole being revoked. It wreaks of some kind of higher-up involvement or complete incompetence. While my personal biases often lead me to go with incompetence over conspiracies, it's hard not to at least entertain the idea.

HellzBellz said...

If you read stuff like that, the interview of former LA DS Preston Guillery. Then something realy clear occurs me. No wonder people cant let go in this crime,cant lay it to rest,keep researching,searching for answers and so on. I did read this interview a while back, and I always asked myself this. If the whole thing was controlled by a higher force,and LAPD was not allowed things, in a way Manson was PROTECTED by that higher force.But when Manson got to Trail, the Higher force drove Manson in the claws of Bugliosi,they dropped Manson so to speak.... Why ??

Robert Hendrickson said...

Here's something relevant to think about: Was Manson's Helter Skelter actually about Muslims or Blacks, because the new Muslim ARMY has just taken over one third of Iraq, thus defeating almost everything WHITE America fought for - for the last ten years.

"Islam is rising" Sandra Good 1970

"Look-out - Helter Skelter" Steve Grogan 1970

AustinAnn74 said...

Indeed....

mrgroove said...

Considering the grafted head of Charlie's onto Gary "Pig" Gold's body is pretty funny since Gary's at least a foot taller than Charlie. I met Gary years ago. He's well over 6 feet tall. Just saying.

Anonymous said...

I found it funny mrgroove that somehow "PIG" was involved YET AGAIN in connection RE:The manson world.
It just goes round and round in circles....

mrgroove said...

That is amusing Chatsworth Charlie. And on and on it goes.

goomba said...

I just found this entry on IMDb for the upcoming movie "Bigger Than the Beatles" about Dennis Wilson And Manson:



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2786524/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1

Patty is Dead said...

Patty learned today that the source of the Photoshop masterpiece is Dooger, and that it made its way into a documentary on Reelz. Dude! Hilarious!