Recently I've been exploring music from the late 60's and early 70's, especially the Byrds and the Beach Boys. I came across some truly fascinating information I had not heard before.
Everyone knows that Manson's family killed actress Sharon Tate along with several others in 1969, but do you know why she was picked? It was a horrible coincidence related to the Beach Boys, the Byrds and the Beatles.
In brief, by 1968 Manson had established himself in Southern CA as the head of a hippie commune. He had a violent past and was charismatic and had a few men and a couple dozen women under his control. In March two of his female followers were hitchhiking and were picked up by Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. Dennis must've like the girls, because he took them home to hang out for awhile, and they rather presumptuously invited Charlie and his followers over. The "family" more or less took over Dennis Wilson's home for a couple of months. Manson was smart and had weed and women, which certainly made him OK by Dennis. He was also something of a songwriter, and Dennis and his buddies became interested in Manson's songs. Wilson actually recorded one of Manson's songs (without giving him credit for it).
Eventually, Wilson became fed up with Manson and the girls, who wrecked his car and gave him a bad case of the clap, so he kicked them out in August. One of Wilson's friends and fellow musicians was Terry Melcher, Doris Day's son, who had produced the Byrds among other projects. Terry had been living in a house owned by mutual friend Rudi Altobelli, and when he moved out, Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate were invited to move in.
Manson and his followers moved to a ranch owned by an old farmer named Spahn for a few months, as they concocted their psychotic scheme to slaughter people and trigger a race war that would bring on Armageddon--famously influenced by the Beatles' White Album. In March 1969 several of Manson's crew went to Altobelli's house looking for Melcher, who had offered to produce an album of Manson's songs, but found Tate and several of her friends (including Folger coffee heiress Abigail Folger) instead. You know what happened next.
I was unaware of the involvement of many of SoCal's best-known musicians in the Manson saga. I also did not know that Manson had been sexually molested as a child in juvenile detention and had later raped another male inmate and had himself become the submissive partner of a member of the Aryan brotherhood after being incarcerated at San Quentin.
Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. Crazy stuff that we can only hope will never be repeated.
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson)
Everyone knows that Manson's family killed actress Sharon Tate along with several others in 1969, but do you know why she was picked? It was a horrible coincidence related to the Beach Boys, the Byrds and the Beatles.
In brief, by 1968 Manson had established himself in Southern CA as the head of a hippie commune. He had a violent past and was charismatic and had a few men and a couple dozen women under his control. In March two of his female followers were hitchhiking and were picked up by Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. Dennis must've like the girls, because he took them home to hang out for awhile, and they rather presumptuously invited Charlie and his followers over. The "family" more or less took over Dennis Wilson's home for a couple of months. Manson was smart and had weed and women, which certainly made him OK by Dennis. He was also something of a songwriter, and Dennis and his buddies became interested in Manson's songs. Wilson actually recorded one of Manson's songs (without giving him credit for it).
Eventually, Wilson became fed up with Manson and the girls, who wrecked his car and gave him a bad case of the clap, so he kicked them out in August. One of Wilson's friends and fellow musicians was Terry Melcher, Doris Day's son, who had produced the Byrds among other projects. Terry had been living in a house owned by mutual friend Rudi Altobelli, and when he moved out, Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate were invited to move in.
Manson and his followers moved to a ranch owned by an old farmer named Spahn for a few months, as they concocted their psychotic scheme to slaughter people and trigger a race war that would bring on Armageddon--famously influenced by the Beatles' White Album. In March 1969 several of Manson's crew went to Altobelli's house looking for Melcher, who had offered to produce an album of Manson's songs, but found Tate and several of her friends (including Folger coffee heiress Abigail Folger) instead. You know what happened next.
I was unaware of the involvement of many of SoCal's best-known musicians in the Manson saga. I also did not know that Manson had been sexually molested as a child in juvenile detention and had later raped another male inmate and had himself become the submissive partner of a member of the Aryan brotherhood after being incarcerated at San Quentin.
Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. Crazy stuff that we can only hope will never be repeated.
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson)
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