Uncanny

NEW TIMES SLO Says Jon Stebbins, “I will take a certain amount of credit for getting the ball rolling from a fan side, and it certainly helped revive interest in Dennis when the book came out in 2000. I was just a fan. My sisters—Carla and Tina—brought home all those records when I was a kid. I specifically remember my sister Carla bringing home Surfin’ USA and The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan on the same day—two of the most amazing records of all time. My sisters were teenagers when I was in grade school, and I remember listening to all those classic albums by the Beach Boys, the Doors, Hendrix—they had all of them.”

“I met Dennis in 1978, and even though he was quite a bit older than me, he was just like one of the guys from my hometown. Yes, he was a big rock star, but he acted like some garage band guy.”

“The ballads are very dark. Listen to ‘Cocktails’ on disc two. It’s like he’s bleeding onto the tape. It’s like a therapy session. And you’ve got to remember that when this record came out, the Beach Boys were kind of pass». Punk rock was the big thing. But Dennis’ album didn’t sound like anything else out there. I remember walking around with a stack of sealed copies, telling my friends, ‘This album is really heavy. You’ve got to hear it.’ I was just a big advocate.”

“I grew up in Livermore, which like [the Wilsons’ hometown of] Hawthorne was a suburban community, so I could really relate to their situation. I have no idea what it was like for John Lennon or Brian Jones growing up, but I knew exactly what it was like for Dennis Wilson because his childhood was just like mine.”

“To write the book, I pretty much had to hang out with the people who knew Dennis, who were around him—his friends, his family—and I examined all the materials and documents that had been archived.”

“As far as the family goes, I’ve built up a lot of trust with them, and I think they really appreciate what the book did for Dennis. He was a tragic figure with a good heart, and maybe if they had better treatment for addiction back then, things might have turned out differently.”

“Almost nine years after this book came out, I’m stilling talking about it, still being interviewed about it, but I’m most happy about this CD being reissued. It’s a big deal, man. The reviews have been stellar; there will be a Grammy campaign for it. I’m especially happy for Dennis’ family. If someone had told me ten years ago that all this was going to happen because of a book I wrote, I wouldn’t have believed it.”