LUCIFER RISING

Part 2

In the sixties L.A. rock scene everybody knew everybody. The Doors, the Byrds, the Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, Love, the Mothers of Invention, the Mamas and Papas, etc: all the stars and their satellites hung out with each other.

With his guitar, his mesmerizing guru speak, and his bevy of hippie chick admirers, the Fifth Beatle of Revelations began to network immediately. His first score was Dennis Wilson and Terry Melcher. While waiting for the Beach Boy and his producer to buy studio time and draw up a contract, Charlie and his groupies lobbied others in the business. 

First came Frank Zappa. The Mother declined to become a Manson sponsor after hearing about Helter Skelter, and the Family’s plan to dig a tunnel to a Death Valley bunker. Next came the Mamas and Papas’ Cass Elliot and Michelle and John Phillips. Phillips, the organizer of Monterey Pop two years before, found Charlie a little too far out as well. Then came the Doors’ producer, Paul Rothchild. Everybody in L.A. had rejected the Doors first demos too – except, finally, the ultra-hip, Rothchild. So Charlie had high hopes. But Rothchild shot him down too: he simply didn’t find anything compelling about Charlie’s clichéd, folksy sound. 

So, in his quest to eclipse the Beatles, Manson was now back to square one: Wilson and Melcher. He had totaled Wilson’s Ferrari, trashed his mansion, and his girls had given the drummer the clap, but Wilson was still calling him “The Wizard” so Charlie remained optimistic. Until Dennis and Terry came out to his desert commune one day long-faced and jumpy.  

“Look, Charlie, there’s mixed emotions about promoting you,” Doris Day’s son told him. “You’re unpredictable. You amaze me at times, and at other times, disappoint the hell out of me.” 

That’s when Dennis got the silver bullet. And Terry moved to Malibu with his mother, the star of Pillow Talk and Something’s Got to Give.