This episode, we're enormously privileged to welcome award winning filmmaker and author, David Leaf, to discuss his latest book, SMiLE: The Rise, Fall & Resurrection of Brian Wilson. This celebratory work takes us to the very heart of Brian Wilson's lost musical masterpiece; its traumatic unravelling in 1967, and the road to a triumphant rebirth in 2004 as an ecstatically received live concert experience and studio album...

Join us on your chosen podcast platform for the full conversation, or link directly to our website;

https://dec4podcast.com/2025/04/09/david-leaf-smile-the-rise-fall-resurrection-of-brian-wilson/

In this our second Elvis and the Press episode, we're joined once again by our leading contributor, ‪Gary Wells, to take a deep dive into the coverage of Elvis' New Year's Eve performance in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the end of 1976. The jumpsuit of choice for the night was the black-on-white phoenix style, about which there is an interesting backstory.

Find the full episode on your chosen podcast platform, or at our website;

https://dec4podcast.com/2024/11/11/elvis-and-the-press-pittsburgh-pennsylvania-new-year-1976-77/

This episode, we’re enormously privileged to welcome award winning filmmaker and author, David Leaf, to discuss his latest book, SMiLE: The Rise, Fall & Resurrection of Brian Wilson. This celebratory work takes us to the very heart of Brian Wilson’s lost musical masterpiece; its traumatic unravelling in 1967, and the road to a triumphant rebirth in 2004 as an ecstatically received live concert experience and studio album.

David affords us some fascinating, behind the scenes insights into his 2001 television special recorded at Radio City Music Hall, An All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson, his Grammy-nominated documentary, Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of SMiLE, and talks candidly about some of the life experiences that shaped Brian’s exquisite artistry.

Brian Wilson’s epic journey through the music of SMiLE is a dramatic and inspirational story, and we’re so lucky to learn about it from someone with such a uniquely close and personal perspective, who was critical to bringing SMiLE back to life, and to whom Brian Wilson himself said, ‘I can’t do this unless you’re there with me every day’.

Our dedicated webpage for this episode has some additional background, images and links, with some suggestions for further reference;

https://dec4podcast.com/2025/04/09/david-leaf-smile-the-rise-fall-resurrection-of-brian-wilson/