Some really great photos of Sharon & Roman with about 5 that we've never seen

This was a joint effort between myself & Deb:

No Hypocrisy Here...

An interesting fact is that one of the people running Manson's ATWA group works for one of the largest known polluters of our landfills, trash on the roadside etc. Not to mentioning the world's largest purveyor of processed, fatty, sodium-laden unhealthy food!

Going... Going... Gone!

 



Nellis Auction house in Las Vegas has large lot of Bobby Beausoleil's items coming up for bid in a couple of days.  This lot has a bounty of great stuff.  Described as:

 "Massive Collection of original paintings/drawings erotica, original drawings and paintings for book by Beausoleil, entire book assembled, court transcripts, Truman Capote radio interview file, photograph collection: Beausoleil, Manson and others signed and dated"

Check it out

 

 



NBC Gives 13-Episode Order to David Duchovny Charles Manson Drama

David Duchovny won’t be out of the series game long after “Californication” finishes its seven-season run on Showtime this year. The actor will star in a period NBC drama as a police detective on the trail of the Los Angeles-area hippie cult leader who turns out to be Charles Manson.

NBC has given a 13-episode straight-to-series order to “Aquarius,” penned by drama vet John McNamara (“In Plain Sight,” “Profit”) who exec produces with Duchovny, Marty Adelstein (“Prison Break”) and Duchovny’s longtime manager Melanie Greene. “Aquarius” hails from ITV Studios and Marty Adelstein Prods.

The pact also marks Duchovny’s reunion with NBC Entertainment chief Bob Greenblatt, who greenlight “Californication” during his tenure as Showtime entertainment prexy. Greenblatt and Duchovny also go back to the origins of “The X-Files” when Greenblatt headed drama at Fox.

“I’m thrilled to be working with Bob Greenblatt again and coming back to broadcast television. I think ‘Aquarius’ has a chance to be a special show and I can’t wait to get going,” Duchovny said. Greenblatt returned the compliment, adding: ”I’m especially pleased that he wanted to come to NBC where I know there is a big audience waiting to see him.”

In “Aquarius,” Duchovny will play a Los Angeles police sergeant with a complicated personal life. In the late 1960s, he and his younger partner begin tracking a small-time criminal who specializes in luring vulnerable young women to his “cause.”

The plan is that the series will follow “the twists and turns” of Manson’s early efforts, but the horrific murder spree in August 1969 that made his name synonymous with evil will not enter the story until subsequent seasons.

“Event series are a big priority for us, and the combination of a show that charts the lead-up to the Manson murders, along with a television star of the magnitude of David Duchovny, is the very definition of an event,” said NBC Entertainment prexy Jennifer Salke.

“Aquarius” is not the only TV project to delve into the Manson murder milieu. Fox is developing an event series from Bret Easton Ellis and Rob Zombie that would focus more specifically on the brutal murders of seven people in two separate incidents that became known as the Tate-LaBianca murders. Among the victims were actress Sharon Tate, wife of Roman Polanski who was eight months pregnant, and prominent Hollywood hairdresser Jay Sebring.

The straight-to-series order also marks NBC’s most recent big bet on high-profile talent. The Peacock last month gave a straight-to-series order to a drama to star Jennifer Lopez as an FBI agent.

The auspices and 13-episode order make “Aquarius” one of ITV Studios’ most high-profile network projects to date.

“We’re delighted to be working with Marty on this incredible series that he, John and David have put together. This is an exciting and major project for ITV Studios America as we continue to expand our scripted drama presence here in the U.S. and internationally,” said Paul Buccieri, president and CEO of ITV Studios US Group.

Original article here

Barbara Beausoleil Art Website

 From Bobby Beausoleil's Facebook Page:

It is my honor to announce the debut of a new website devoted to showcasing the dynamic legacy of my late wife Barbara Beausoleil, whose birthday we celebrate today. 

Barbara, who is also called Mimi by members of her family, was our beloved family matriarch, and is held in high esteem by her many friends and acquaintances. This website has been established as an expression of love in an effort to preserve the memory of this remarkable woman and her many accomplishments, on behalf of all those whose lives she touched. 

 The Website is HERE

Thanks to Ken O. for the tip

A long way from "The Family Jams"

Steve Grogan aka Clem sure has come a long way....musically, at least. Once upon a time, he was a dusty, mixed-up kid who could pick a guitar slightly, while singing about the Manson Family's favorite subject matter: Death! Now, he is an accomplished, professional blues guitarist with a TON OF TALENT. Obviously, he has come a long way, because I found a video of him playing, and SINGING in a Paris, France club! OUI OUI!!

National Lampoon September 1970

For a later edition of a National Lampoon piece on Charles Manson visit Manson's Backporch

Tex Declared for Leslie!

Why did Tex Watson waste an afternoon, or morning on writing, and signing a declaration for Leslie Van Houten's 2007 parole consideration hearing? By doing this, he not only made himself look like he still cares for his fellow co-defendants, but he also got caught fibbing! Uh oh! Jesus freaks aren't supposed to lie, are they? Leslie has said in numerous parole hearings, and interviews that she KNEW that people were going to get killed the night she tagged along with them. Why is Tex saying otherwise? What the hell? Leave it to Deputy District Attorney Sequeira to find these little gems, and bring them up when these assholes are lying to everyone's face during parole hearings! Our little deputy DA had this to say when Tex made his last appearance before the board:

"In 2005, in conjunction with Leslie Van Houten's parole hearing, Tex Watson wrote a declaration and signed under the penalty of perjury, it's a four-page declaration at the request of Leslie Van Houten which was submitted to the Hearing Panel at that time. And in that -- I won't go into the whole declaration, but basically this declaration attempts to minimize and assist Leslie Van Houten to get a parole date, basically saying things such as -- and I'll just take one paragraph. I'm just going to briefly -- basically, he says that Leslie Van Houten didn't know that a murder was going to occur, that she didn't plan a murder, she didn't know a theft was going to occur. It was dated 11/2/2005 and it was executed here at Ione, California. But my point is, is that I don't believe that this inmate has completely severed his ties or his connection with his crime partners. I note that although he has discussed his crime at different times, I also believe that there were many more instances of crimes that he's aware of that may have been committed by other Manson Family members during the course of the time at the Ranch."

 

And, in Leslie's 2007 parole hearing, which this declaration was supposed to be for, she refused to talk about the crime itself, yet in her last parole hearing, which was this past summer (June 2013), she was asked by the presiding commissioner if she was aware of the five murders that took place the night before, and Leslie answers this:

"Yes." "We saw bodies being taken out on gurneys." Plus, she went on to state that Pat Krenwinkel had told her all about the murders they had committed the night before. So......all & all, the declaration Tex wrote was a bunch of horse shit! The Deputy DA seems to think these people still want to keep in contact with one another. What do y'all think? It sure does seem that way to me! Opinions on the matter? Anyone? Anyone? To read the actual parole transcripts for both of these mentirosas, please visit the always-bad-ass site of cielodrive.com!

The Curious Case of Brooks Poston

I had finished editing Manson Family Movies in 1984, minus the soundtrack. I was living in Encino and saw that Brooks & Jane were playing in Venice so naturally I went to see them. I figured I was the only one in the audience who knew who Brooks was in relation to Manson. Between sets we talked and I told him I had made a Manson movie that was in some ways a comedy due mainly to being made with no money. He thought that was a good approach. I also told him I was working on the soundtrack and he said "I recorded some of Charlie's songs you could possibly use." So I got his number. When I tried calling the number a few days later it did not work.

The next time I ran into Nick Bougas I told him the story, and he said he would work on locating Brooks. As it turned out, Nick was living in Burbank and so was Brooks, so Nick told him he was really interested in his music and arranged a meeting. He was able to score one of the audio tapes that Brooks and Jane had put out, but claimed that Brooks was adamant that he never recorded any of Charlie's music, and that he never said he had.

Nick made me a copy of the tape that he got and gave me Brooks' number, so I called him. I told him how we met and reminded him of what he had said, and again he denied ever having said that he recorded any of Charlie's music. I told him that I would like to get a copy of the other tape he put out, so he said to send him like $5 and he would send me one, which he did. Sometime later Nick told me that Brooks and Jane had joined some other cult and fled L.A. because their new cult leader told them that "L.A. would fall in the ocean."  

Many years later Nick moved to Georgia and I talked to him maybe once a year rather than all the time. Several years later I heard a rumor that Paul Watkins was talking to Nick on the phone, who recorded the call, and that Paul said that he had never turned on Charlie and that the Bug told him, as well as many others involved with Manson, that if they did not say in court what he told them to say that he would charge them with accessory to first degree murder. I wanted to hear this call so I called Nick but he denied any knowledge of it. I told him I had heard otherwise. He then said he had a flood in his basement, and since he had so much stuff he may have had it but it most likely got destroyed.

More years went by. I ran into [a prominent TLB scholar] at a flea market and he told me he had paid a lot of money for the original tapes of Brooks and Jane's music, and that Nick's girlfriend told him to not buy from me because I had crappy copies of this music. I had always been good friends with her and Nick, so now what's up? I told this man that Nick got one tape directly from Brooks and I got the other one directly from Brooks, and that Nick had made my copy off of the one that he had, so this "bad quality story" was some sort of con or who knows what.

Even more years pass and it is now close to the present time. Some guy turns up selling CDs of about 15 concerts and studio recordings of a band I never knew existed called Desert Sun comprised of Brooks, Jane, Paul and this other guy. The amazing thing is they HAD recorded a number of Charlie's songs!  It was obvious that this band was into Charlie as they recorded a number of his songs live and in studio. Furthermore Paul did a song explaining his present feelings toward Charlie, basically saying that he was still with him but they had gone different ways.  This band seems to have existed from 1972 on however I'm not sure when it ended.

I have been involved in ways with the Manson case since I first heard of it in 1969 following Altamont in November 1969, which I attended. When the case broke in December 1969 I was all over it. From 1971 and onward for the next several years I was Hitch Hiking on the Road and immediately ran into a number of people and we stayed together for years as a sort of Family. We were quite aware of the parallels with the Manson situation. The reason I mention that is because if I had known of this band's existence back then, I definitely would have gone to their concerts.

Another CD in this collection is called Hello Nick and it is a 40 minute message from Paul to Bougas. I was finally able to hear it recently. This was not the rumored phone call between Nick and Paul regarding Paul's being coerced by the Bug into testifying against Charlie in court. So perhaps the recording of that phone call actually was drowned in Nick's basement? Then again I did hear from someone years ago regarding the gist of the call. So someone somewhere has a copy.

I also found out recently that the mysterious new cult leader that Brooks and Jane fled with was Paul Crockett. It was around 1984 or 1985 as that's when Nick lost track of them and they were no longer living in Burbank. They had all moved to Washington.

Even more recently I heard that Crockett had died so now what is Brooks to do?

Devil's Hole Pupfish: "Species in a bucket"

Patty is finishing up her BS this spring and will finally get to wear a black bathrobe and goofy hat on stage. WOOT!  Before that however, there is the matter of a term paper on the evolutionary topic of her choice. Of course, she has chosen the Devil's Hole pupfish.  Do you know much about them? The story goes like this:

The Death Valley pupfishes consist of two groups of 3 distinct species with a total of 7 subspecies, and are an example of "rapid post-Pleistocene allopatric divergence" that occurred between 10-20,000 years ago. It occurred because Lake Manly, which at one time covered most of Death Valley, receded and left just a few isolated patches of water in its wake. Below is a picture of the dry Lake Manly lake bed from Devil's Hole, today.

Intriguingly, it is thought that Owens Valley pupfish are related to those in today's Colorado River, while Death Valley pupfish are related to a species found in Chihuahua, Mexico. This data suggests that there were two separate invasions of pupfish into the Lake Manly area that hybridized with each other to form the different subspecies of Cyprinodon.

The Cyprinodon diabolis population in Devil's hole may have once been as large as 800 adults. Conservation efforts began in 1969 when the hole may have appeared much shallower to visitors, like Charlie et al. In recent years, the C. diabolis population has varied from 38-95 adults, representing an increase since they became protected in 1976. The last time water levels were as low as they were in 1976 was 6,000 years ago. 1969-76 were the years with the lowest recorded water levels in years, due to explosive anthropogenic growth in Las Vegas. This growth required that more water be withdrawn from the natural aquifer that runs from Salt Lake City to Death Valley.

Devil’s Hole is also inhabited by 80 species of algae that provide most of C. diabolis' food. Water in the hole has a consistent temperature of 89.6F, is supersaturated with calcium carbonate and is its own little semi-closed system: i.e., "net autotrophic."  Attempts to raise C. diabolis in captivity have had limited success, though those collected in the springtime seem to be most fertile. At right is a diagram of the shape of the hole underground. It exists because the underground aquifer (aka the Amargosa Flood Plain) is forced upwards there, due to bedrock that was also pushed upwards by plate tectonics millions of years ago. This can clearly be seen in the photograph, below.

The Family is known to have repeated native stories about fertile subterranean lands inhabited by redheaded giants, and is likely the reason they were so interested in the Devil's Hole. Countless little habitats like this one were probably feasible human residences at some time in the history of the advancing and receding Lake Manly, but Devil's Hole is one of the most well known. Some scholars have written (albeit dubiously) since 1932 that the redheaded giants of native lore were the dessicated mummies of a taller native people from the North who lived and died in these habitats. The mummies' dark hair turns red due to the chemical composition of the caves, much like the hair on the "bog bodies" of Northern Europe (see below).

Anyhow, Patty contacted the National Park Service to see if they are having any problems with people trying to climb or throw things over the fence there? She thought that perhaps she could get the word out to Manson oriented tourists to "be cool." Patty is pleased to report that Dr. Wilson who is in charge of the fish's wellbeing reports that indeed, park visitors have been very respectful. Here is what he wrote:

"Thank you for your interest in Devils Hole.  I'm currently the Devils Hole Program manager for Death Valley National Park.  My title is an Aquatic Ecologist.  I have a PhD in Zoology from the University of Toronto and did my masters working on energetics of Devils Hole back in 2000-2001. Program staff have recently upgraded the security system and overall site at Devils Hole.  This has reduced vandalism, but some minor events have occurred.  For example, someone threw broken glass down into Devils Hole from the observation deck. Otherwise it has been quiet over the last several years.If you are ever in the area please contact me and we could arrange a more personal tour of Devils Hole.Regards, Kevin"

The desert. It's fucking amazing. If Patty wasn't planning on being in the area anytime soon, well then, she is now!

References:
Andersen, M.E. & Deacon, J.E. 2001. Population Size of Devils Hole Pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis) Correlates with Water Level. Copeia, 2001(1): 224-228. 
Barrett, P.J. (2011) Estimating Devils Hole Pupfish Lifestage Ratios Using the Delphi Method. Fisheries, 34:2, 73-79.
Baugh, T.M. & Deacon, J.E. 1983. Daily and yearly movement of the Devil’s Hole pupfish Cyprinodon diabolis wales in Devil’s Hole, Nevada. Great Basin Naturalist, October 1983, 592-596.
Bernot, M.J. &Wilson, K.P. (2012). Spatial and temporal variation of dissolved oxygen and ecosystem energetics in Devil’s Hole,Nevada. Western North American Naturalist 72(3), pp. 265–275.
Deacon, J.E., Williams, A.E., Deacon Williams, C. & Williams, J.E. 2007. Fueling population growth in Las Vegas: How large-scale groundwater withdrawal could burn regional biodiversity. BioScience, 57(8): 688-697.
Duvernell, D.D. & Turner, B.J. 1998. Evolutionary genetics of Death Valley pupfish populations: mitochondrial DNA sequence variation and population structure. Molecular Ecology 7: 279–288.
Duvernell, D.D. & Turner, B.J. 1999. Variation and Divergence of Death Valley Pupfish Populations at Retrotransposon-Defined Loci. Molecular Biology and Evolution 16(3): 363–371.Echelle, A.A. & A.F. Allozyme Perspective on Mitochondrial DNA Variation and Evolution of the Death Valley Pupfishes (Cyprinodontidae: Cyprinodon). Copeia, 1993(2) pp. 275-287.
Echelle, A.A. & Dowling, T.E. 1992. Mitochondrial DNA Variation and Evolution of the Death Valley Pupfishes. Evolution, 46(1), 193-206.
Lee, B. 1932. Death Valley Men. MacMillan Co., N.Y.
Wilson, K. 2014. Personal Communication via email with Devil’s Hole Program Manager for National Park Service: March 3, 2014.