Jules Siegel (October 21, 1935 – November 17, 2012) was a novelist, journalist, and
graphic designer who is best known as one of the earliest writers to treat
rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...
as a serious art, although his writings about rock constituted only a small part of his total output.
His work appeared over the years in ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...
,
Best American Short Stories The Best American Short Stories yearly anthology is a part of '' The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the BASS anthology has striven to contain the best short stories by some of the best-known writers in co ...
'',
Library of America
The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published over 300 volumes by authors rang ...
's ''Writing Los Angeles,'' and many other publications. He occasionally contributed
book review
__NOTOC__
A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is merely described (summary review) or analyzed based on content, style, and merit.
A book review may be a primary source, opinion piece, summary review or scholarly revie ...
s to the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...
'', and he administered newsroom-l, an email discussion list for journalists.
His articles about
Brian Wilson,
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
,
Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, scie ...
and other prominent Americans were primary (and often unique) sources of information based on his personal acquaintance and extensive direct interviews with the subjects. "Goodbye Surfing, Hello God!" has been anthologized several times and is used as a primary source in every book about Brian Wilson's struggle to complete
''Smile'', his "teenage symphony to God."
Background
Siegel attended
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
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. In 1966, he published a piece about
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
for ''
The Saturday Evening Post
''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...
''.
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."
Dylan biographer
Clinton Heylin
Clinton Heylin (born 8 April 1960) is an English author who has written extensively about popular music and the work of Bob Dylan.
Education
Heylin attended Manchester Grammar School. He read history at Bedford College, University of London, ...
wrote that Siegel caught an interest in the Beach Boys and their increasingly sophisticated music after Pynchon recommended their 1966 album ''
Pet Sounds
''Pet Sounds'' is the 11th studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on May 16, 1966, by Capitol Records. It was initially met with a lukewarm critical and commercial response in the United States, peaking at number 10 on the ...
''.
Conversely, in a 1977 article, Siegel supported that Pynchon had suggested that he write about the Beach Boys, but added that he himself introduced ''Pet Sounds'' to Pynchon.
Association with Brian Wilson
From late 1966 to early 1967, Siegel had a close acquaintance with
Brian Wilson of
the Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...
. 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.
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''.
He became part of a coterie that accompanied Wilson for much of the band's ''
Smile
A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile.
Among humans, a smile expresses ...
'' era,
a circle that Siegel later referred to as the "Beach Boys marijuana-consumption squad".
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
y girlfriend I and Pynchon went to Studio A and
Vosse">ichaelVosse was there, and he said, 'No, you're barred.'"
As Siegel claims in his piece, ''The Saturday Evening Post'' ultimately rejected his story due his overly enthusiastic depiction of Wilson's material.
It was instead published in the first issue of the magazine ''
Cheetah
The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...
'' in October 1967.
The article subsequently propelled the mythology of ''Smile'' and the Beach Boys.
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). Writing in his
33⅓ book about the album, Luis Sanchez commented:
Among the other topics discussed in Siegel's article: Wilson's race against Bob Dylan and
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
for the title of "genius", the formation of
Brother Records
Brother Records, Inc. (BRI) is an American holding company and record label established in 1966 that owns the intellectual property rights of the Beach Boys, including "The Beach Boys" trademark. It was founded by brothers Brian, Carl and Dennis ...
, the moment Wilson decided to place a sandbox under the grand piano in his home, Wilson's collaboration with
Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks (born January 3, 1943) is an American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer who has composed various film and television soundtracks. He is best known for his 1967 album ''Song Cycle'' and for his collaborations with ...
and the tensions that ensued, and
Carl Wilson's arrest for draft evasion from the previous April.
In 1971, Carl told ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' that Siegel's writings "and a lot of that stuff that went around before really turned
rian
RIA Novosti (russian: РИА Новости), sometimes referred to as RIAN () or RIA (russian: РИА, label=none) is a Russian state-owned domestic news agency. On 9 December 2013 by a decree of Vladimir Putin it was liquidated and its asset ...
off."
Anderle later alleged that Siegel had inflated the myth through writing falsehoods so that he could appear more "important". 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."
Later years
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 ..."
Siegel lived and worked in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, beginning in 1981 (moving to
Cancún
Cancún ( ), often Cancun in English (without the accent; or ) is a city in southeast Mexico on the northeast coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. It is a significant tourist destination in Mexico and the seat ...
in 1983), where he was a witness of the
Hurricane Gilbert
Hurricane Gilbert was the second most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Atlantic basin in terms of barometric pressure, only behind Hurricane Wilma in 2005. An extremely powerful tropical cyclone that formed during the 1988 Atlantic hurr ...
landfall. He was also active in the field of
book art Book Art is a field of art that involves the creation of works that use or refer to the structural and conceptual properties of books. The term is also used to describe works of art produced in this field. These works may contain text, images, or bo ...
. Three of his works are in the Artists Books Collection of the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
. His books and calligraphic journals were exhibited at Franklin Furnace in 1978.
On November 17, 2012, Siegel died of a heart attack at age 77.
Bibliography
*
References
External links
Who is Jules Siegel?– curriculum and selected credits
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siegel, Jules
American short story writers
American male journalists
American graphic designers
1935 births
2012 deaths
Cornell University alumni
American male short story writers