Jules Siegel

Siegel attended Cornell University with Pynchon during the 1953–54 term and graduated from Hunter College with a degree in English and philosophy in 1959. He was involved in politics, working for both the Nixon and Kennedy campaigns. He began working as a journalist in 1964.[2] In 1966, he published a piece about Bob Dylan for The Saturday Evening Post.[3] According to Siegel, the article helped establish his credentials on the Sunset Strip, "which is about the only place that sort of thing counted then. ... My taking rock music seriously was considered one of my little quirks."[4] Siegel caught an interest in the Beach Boys and their increasingly sophisticated music after Pynchon recommended him their 1966 album Pet Sounds.[3]

From late 1966 to early 1967, Siegel had a close acquaintance with Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. He was first introduced to Wilson by Beach Boys associate David Anderle, who had enjoyed Siegel's article about Dylan and suggested that Siegel write about Wilson.[4] Siegel, who had recently migrated from New York to Los Angeles, was impressed with Wilson, and he documented his experiences for an article which he had presold for The Saturday Evening Post.[5] He became part of a coterie that accompanied Wilson for much of the band's Smile era,[6][7][8][9] a circle that Siegel later referred to as the "Beach Boys marijuana-consumption squad".[10]

By early 1967, Wilson had run into issues completing Smile and grew suspicious of his surrounding associates, including Siegel. Siegel said that Wilson "had forgotten that I was a journalist, and the reason he got rid of me was because Anderle reminded him of that – because of a disagreement that David and I had about what I would and wouldn't write ... After that [my girlfriend], I and Pynchon went to Studio A and [Michael] Vosse was there, and he said, 'No, you're barred.'"[3]

As Siegel claims in his piece, The Saturday Evening Post ultimately rejected his story due his overly enthusiastic depiction of Wilson's material.[7][9] It was instead published in the first issue of the magazine Cheetah in October 1967.[4] The article subsequently propelled the mythology of Smile and the Beach Boys.[5][11] It is the origin of several of the project's legends, including Wilson's fear of the film Seconds, his cancelling of a $3,000 recording session due to "bad vibrations", and his irrational fear of an acquaintance whom Wilson believed practiced witchcraft (Siegel later revealed that it had been his girlfriend).[12] Writing in his 33⅓ book about the album, Luis Sanchez commented:

[Siegel] probably had no idea that in writing this story he was also laying the foundation for a mythology that would eventually curl back on to itself and become a snare. As long as there wasn’t a finished album that could speak for itself, the mythology that displaced it came to signify not only a broken promise, a tragic turning point in The Beach Boys’ career, but a way to reduce Brian himself to a set of eccentricities, self-destructive habits, gossip, and, finally, madness.[7]

Among the other topics discussed in Siegel's article: Wilson's race against Bob Dylan and John Lennon for the title of "genius", the formation of Brother Records, the moment Wilson decided to place a sandbox under the grand piano in his home, Wilson's collaboration with Van Dyke Parks and the tensions that ensued, and Carl Wilson's arrest for draft evasion from the previous April.[7]

In 1971, Carl told Rolling Stone that Siegel's writings "and a lot of that stuff that went around before really turned [Brian] off."[13] Anderle later alleged that Siegel had inflated the myth through writing falsehoods so that he could appear more "important".[14] Siegel rebuked Anderle's allegation: "If it weren't so stupid, it would be libelous. ... I admired Brian a lot and I also liked him. ... I wasn't aware of him as a myth. I just wrote down what I saw and heard. ... It was fun hanging out with Brian and getting stoned but it was hardly important in the sense that David means."[4]

In 1977, Playboy published Siegel's article "Who Is Thomas Pynchon and Why Is He Taking Off with My Wife". The article is a memoir about his relationship with Pynchon and Pynchon's affair with Siegel's second wife. According to journalist Adam Ellsworth, "In certain circles, this article is far better known than 'Goodbye Surfing, Hello God!' It is certainly more personal ..."[1]

Siegel lived and worked in Mexico, beginning in 1981 (moving to Cancún in 1983), where he was a witness of the Hurricane Gilbert landfall.[15] He was also active in the field of book art. Three of his works are in the Artists Books Collection of the Museum of Modern Art. His books and calligraphic journals were exhibited at Franklin Furnace in 1978.[16]

On November 17, 2012, Siegel died of a heart attack at age 77.[1]

• Record: The Journal of an Egomaniac. Straight Arrow. 1971.

• Who is Jules Siegel? – curriculum and selected credits