More insight into Boston's Brad Delp's suicide revealed

[Beaver Fever]

this is whack!

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2012/05/27/boston_singer_brad_delps_final_days_marked_by_crisis_over_hidden_camera/?p1=News_links

Brad Delp was her “best friend,” someone she could turn to after a bad
date, a breakup, or just a tough day. And for nearly 2½ years, Meg
Sullivan also lived with the famed singer for the band Boston, staying
in a spare bedroom at his house on Academy Avenue in Atkinson, N.H. By
all accounts, the arrangement was platonic; Pamela Sullivan, Meg’s
older sister, was Delp’s fiancee.


But the relationship between Delp and the Sullivan sisters took a dark
turn on the morning of Feb. 28, 2007. That’s when Meg Sullivan
discovered a hidden camera that Delp had placed in her bedroom. She
confronted Delp and fled to her boyfriend’s place, marking the start
of a personal crisis that appears to have dominated the last nine days
of Delp’s life. On March 9, Pamela Sullivan found Delp, 55, dead in
his bathroom. The deeply depressed singer had killed himself by
lighting two charcoal grills and letting the carbon monoxide overtake
him.


These previously unreported revelations regarding Delp’s relationship
with Meg Sullivan have become a central piece of the now two-year-old
defamation lawsuit filed by Boston founder Tom Scholz against the
Boston Herald.


Following Delp’s death, Herald stories, quoting an interview with
Delp’s former wife, Micki Delp, and material from unnamed sources,
seemed to suggest that Scholz was to blame for Delp’s suicide. A week
after his 2007 suicide, the Herald’s Inside Track writers Gayle Fee
and Laura Raposa quoted Micki Delp in a piece with the headline,
“Pal’s snub made Delp do it: Boston rocker’s ex-wife speaks.’’ They
wrote about the conflicts between Scholz and past band members and
stated that Micki Delp said her former husband was “upset over the
lingering bad feelings from the ugly breakup of the band Boston over
20 years ago’’ and “driven to despair’’ by recent changes in the
group. It was, the Herald reported, “the last straw in a dysfunctional
professional life that ultimately led to the frontman’s suicide,
Delp’s ex-wife said.’’


For the lawsuit, Herald attorneys point to voluminous testimony from
former Boston members, other local musicians, Delp’s doctor, and
Delp’s friends, including Meg Sullivan, many of whom say the singer
didn’t like Scholz, desperately wanted to quit the band, and felt
tormented by his role as middle man in an ugly conflict between
Boston’s founder and former band members. All of this was summarized
in a 140-page statement filed by the Herald in April.


Scholz’s attorneys argue that the guitarist didn’t cause Delp’s
depression and that the singer’s personal problems — deepened by his
fiancee’s affair in the summer of 2006 and the discovery of the hidden
camera in her younger sister’s bedroom — led to his suicide.


Meg Sullivan, who now lives in California, did not respond to requests
for an interview, but her taped depositions in the lawsuit, along with
e-mails to and from Delp filed as evidence, shed new light on the
tragic story of Delp and the complicated history of Boston, a band
that soared to fame in the 1970s before becoming consumed by decades
of conflict
Page 2 of 3 --

Scholz, a gawky MIT graduate, created much of the music on the band’s
1976 debut in his basement, layering guitars, keyboards, and Delp’s
soaring vocals into an album that is still the second biggest-selling
in US rock history. With hits such as “More Than a Feeling” and “Don’t
Look Back,” the band — made up of Scholz, Delp, and three other
musicians — went on to play sold-out arenas around the world.


But personality and business conflicts led to a series of lawsuits
between Scholz and former members. Over the years, only Delp remained
in Boston, which has continued to tour even after his death by hiring
other singers.


In Delp’s last days, the crisis involving Meg Sullivan weighed heavily
on him, according to legal filings examined by the Globe.


On Feb. 28, Meg Sullivan discovered the battery-powered camera in her
bedroom when it fell into view. The next day, Delp wrote her an
emotional e-mail saying, “I feel sick about this, and deservedly so.”
She didn’t respond.


On March 2, Delp had a show with his Beatles tribute band,
Beatlejuice, at the Sit ’n Bull pub in Maynard. Todd Winmill, Meg
Sullivan’s boyfriend, was scheduled to work as a sound engineer for
the show; Winmill had also been a sound man for Boston. Delp huddled
in Winmill’s car before the gig, according to Winmill’s testimony.


“He essentially apologized for about a half-hour,” said Winmill. “And
then I told him he had to tell Pamela. He didn’t like the thought of
having to do that.”


At 2 a.m. on March 3, Delp e-mailed Meg Sullivan again, pleading for
forgiveness.


“I want to try and make you understand that I consider myself a decent
person who made a dreadful error in judgment,” wrote Delp. “I acted
out of some impulse that is still not completely fathomable to me.”


He called his action an “aberration” and compared it to Pamela
Sullivan’s affair the previous summer — an affair that emerged in
previous testimony and was confirmed last year by Pamela Sullivan in a
Globe interview. At one point, Delp had tried to set up tracking
devices on her computer to catch her in an affair, but in the end, she
admitted the infidelity and the two eventually made plans to get
married.


Pamela Sullivan did not respond to recent requests for an interview.
Attorney Jeffrey Robbins, who is representing the Herald, declined to
comment on the case. Scholz attorney Nicholas Carter also declined
comment.


The e-mail Delp sent in the early morning hours of March 3 led to
responses from Meg Sullivan and Winmill.


Winmill pushed Delp to tell Pamela Sullivan about the camera. He gave
him one day to do it because, he wrote via e-mail, it was unfair to
ask Meg to keep the secret from her sister
Page 3 of 3 --

“It is because of [Meg’s] regard for you that she has given you this
opportunity to tell Pam yourself,” wrote Winmill, who now lives in
California and did not respond to recent interview requests. “It is
probably the best way for her to hear it, but please understand, and
this is not a threat, but understand that she will find out.”


Delp asked if he could have until March 5, when he planned to tell his
fiancee on the phone.


That day, Delp started purchasing tubes and vents at the Home Depot in
Plaistow, N.H., according to receipts filed in court. Delp’s idea was
to hook these up to the exhaust pipe of his yellow Volkswagen Bug.
This, he would later write in a note taped to his garage, was for a
backup suicide plan.


On the night of March 7, according to Winmill’s deposition, he and Meg
Sullivan showed up at Delp’s home to pick up more of her things. It
was an unpleasant experience, as described in Meg Sullivan’s
deposition. Winmill yelled and swore at Delp, who repeatedly
apologized and was in tears, according to Sullivan.


The next day, Delp bought a pair of charcoal grills at Walmart. And
that night, instead of returning to Delp’s house, Pamela Sullivan
stayed at an apartment they had rented for her. She found Delp’s body
the following day.


The Herald, in a pair of recent articles, has focused on Delp’s
relationship with Scholz, describing what it says were the singer’s
negative feelings about Scholz as relayed by the testimony of numerous
witnesses. The newspaper has referenced the events of Feb. 28, when
Meg Sullivan discovered the camera, only as “an extremely upsetting
and embarrassing incident” that Scholz has raised in the case. The
Herald has not mentioned Meg Sullivan or the camera.


The Herald also wrote that before the camera incident, Delp purchased
items the paper says were apparently used in connection with his
suicide, but the evidence here is unclear. The Herald noted that
according to court records, Delp bought 9-volt batteries and duct tape
on Feb. 27. A carbon monoxide detector was found on Delp’s bed with
the 9-volt battery removed, according to the police report. The hidden
camera also used a 9-volt battery, court records show. Delp bought
gray, metallic duct tape at Home Depot, according to the Herald’s
court statement, but the police report stated and showed in pictures
that brown duct tape was used to seal the bathroom door.


In a statement, Herald spokeswoman Gwen Gage said the Herald’s
coverage of the matter has been “both accurate and excellent” and
assailed the Globe’s coverage as “journalistic rivalry getting the
better of editorial judgment.”


Other evidence has also emerged. In her testimony, Meg Sullivan
discussed her role as a confidant for Delp when he discovered his
fiancee’s affair. She also detailed what she said were Delp’s
complaints about Scholz and the psychological toll his relationship
with Scholz placed on him.


“I believe that Tom Scholz and Boston caused the depression which
caused Brad to put a camera in my bedroom,” Meg Sullivan said at one
point.


Delp did not mention Scholz or Boston in his e-mails to Meg Sullivan
and Winmill after the camera was found. But he did reference Pamela
Sullivan’s affair.


“I do love your sister, as incongruous as that may seem at the
moment,” he wrote. “Maybe the emotional roller coaster that I was on
this past summer has in some way something to do with what possessed
me to do such an irrational and out of character thing.”


Before sealing himself in his bathroom, Delp left separate suicide
notes in envelopes for his former wife, his two adult children, and
Pamela Sullivan. He left a fourth note labeled “Meg and Todd.”


In his note to the couple, Delp apologized for causing them pain and
told them they were not to blame for his death.


“I have had bouts of depression and thoughts of suicide since I was a
teenager,” Delp wrote.


He went on to talk of Pamela Sullivan, whom he had planned to marry
later that year.


“She was my ‘ray of sunshine,’ but sometimes even a ray of sunshine is
no substitute for a good psychiatrist.’”

[Gern Blanston]

> The next day, Delp bought a pair of charcoal grills at Walmart.

I always wondered why a Delp, a vegetarian, had a charcoal grill.

[Will]

On May 27, 8:25 am, Gern Blanston <g...@blanston.com> wrote:
> > The next day, Delp bought a pair of charcoal grills at Walmart.
>
> I always wondered why a Delp, a vegetarian, had a charcoal grill.

Ever had grilled vegetables?

[Gern Blanston]

> > I always wondered why a Delp, a vegetarian, had a charcoal grill.
>
> Ever had grilled vegetables?

Yes.

Delp wa a long-time vegetarian, and this article implies he did not
have a grill (he went to Home Depot the day before he died and bought
two).

When the news of his manner of death broke, my friends and I
immediately questioned what he was doing with a grill, since it was
well known that he was a vegetarian. Now it appears that the grill
was bought for a specific purpose-- and it wasn't for smoking
vegetables.

[marcus]

I had no idea about the circumstances surrounding Delp's suicide... I
was always a fan, since their first album...listened to it constantly
35 years ago (loved the album cover too)...saw them in concert in
1978(wrote the review of it for a local weekly paper). And he was
well known as an ardent Beatles fan. Very sad.

Marc

http://marccatone.webs.com

[Kris Baker]

"Gern Blanston" <ge...@blanston.com> wrote in message
news:dbe4s7dtntd44nm3n...@4ax.com...

Kinda stupid, if you think about it. If anyone had been in the
home, the carbon monoxide could have seeped out of the
bathroom and also killed them.

We had a case a few years ago, where a husband went to the
garage (under the home) and started his car, leaving the
garage door closed. The entire family, in various locations
throughout the home, was found dead.

Kris

[Michael OConnor]

> We had a case a few years ago, where a husband went to the
> garage (under the home) and started his car, leaving the
> garage door closed.   The entire family, in various locations
> throughout the home, was found dead.

That sounds similar to what happened to former baseball player Don
Wilson, who died in 1975. As I remember it, he was drunk and pulled
the car into the driveway and closed the garage door remotely, but
passed out and left the car running. I know one of his children who
was in the house died of CO poisoning in the accident, not sure about
the rest of the family but I think they nearly died also.

[Gern Blanston]

> Kinda stupid, if you think about it. If anyone had been in the
> home, the carbon monoxide could have seeped out of the
> bathroom and also killed them.

He seemed to have thought of that possibility, and covered the
situation. No one else was in the home, and no one else died or had
any problems from it.

"Another note, left on a bedroom door, warned of the carbon monoxide
and alerted whomever discovered him to check on Floppy, their cat."
Re: "When, suddenly, the sun was gone"
http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2011/02/20/lawsuits_expose_details_of_delps_private_turmoil/?page=full

[Gern Blanston]

> It's so symptomatic of your strange mania that you cite his Beatles
> fandom as if this was one of his central virtues and something that
> makes his death sadder.


I think he just pointed it out because a lot of people like The
Beatles, and this was something they might have in common with Brad
Delp.

You are reading way too much into this.

[Kris Baker]

"Gern Blanston" <ge...@blanston.com> wrote in message

news:7ve5s7pl5pp8dh6nq...@4ax.com...

Thanks -- my brain didn't absorb that part.

Kris

[marcus]

You are correct. He is. Poisoned Rose is just a major weenie who
follows me from post-to-post as he did in this thread.

I've read many times in Beatlefan Magazine about Delp's Beatles
tribute band, and how good it was. Would have liked seeing him in
that. I did get to see him sing with Boston(as I mentioned), and he
was great.

Marc

http://marccatone.webs.com/beatlessixties.htm

[marcus]

On May 27, 11:45 pm, poisoned rose <pro...@poisonedrose.com> wrote:

> marcus <marcus...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > > It's so symptomatic of your strange mania that you cite his Beatles
> > > > fandom as if this was one of his central virtues and something that
> > > > makes his death sadder.
>
> > > I think he just pointed it out because a lot of people like The
> > > Beatles, and this was something they might have in common with Brad
> > > Delp.
>
> > >  You are reading way too much into this.
>
> > You are correct.  He is.  Poisoned Rose is just a major weenie who
> > follows me from post-to-post as he did in this thread.
>

> You really should drop the disingenuous "Boo hoo, PR stalks me" pose. By
> now, anyone can see how many fights you aggressively pick with me.
>
> As usual, I wish you the best of luck in finding a subject that
> interests you beyond 1) Beatles 2) "Sixties Generation" 3) baiting
> right-wingers 4) wallowing in sentimental personal memories and 5) me.

Actually, right now I'm thinking about wart-hogs.

[R H Draney]

marcus filted:

>
>On May 27, 11:45=A0pm, poisoned rose <pro...@poisonedrose.com> wrote:
>>
>> As usual, I wish you the best of luck in finding a subject that
>> interests you beyond 1) Beatles 2) "Sixties Generation" 3) baiting
>> right-wingers 4) wallowing in sentimental personal memories and 5) me.
>
>Actually, right now I'm thinking about wart-hogs.

Heh...I actually recognized that reference....r


--
Me? Sarcastic?
Yeah, right.

[marcus]

I'm sure that the person it was directed to hasn't. One envisions him
Googling the phrase now.

[R H Draney]

poisoned rose filted:
>
>marcus, posing superior as usual:

>
>> > >Actually, right now I'm thinking about wart-hogs.
>> >
>> > Heh...I actually recognized that reference....r
>>

>> I'm sure that the person it was directed to hasn't.
>

>Possibly not. I assume it's decades old, like all of your cultural
>references that aren't "House."
>
>I didn't give it much thought, but I did wonder if it was an allusion to
>a very early SNL skit. But I thought that mentioned "wildebeests"
>instead.

Nope...warthogs...Chevy Chase and, I think, Candace Bergen....

>(If I didn't Google Delp's useless Beatles-covers band, I sure wouldn't
>bother to Google *this*.)

If you want a Beatles cover, it's hard to beat these people:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1EjLk--ICY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHRAxP-e3iQ

(They also did "Rain" and "Lady Madonna", but those turn out to be different
songs with the same titles)....r

[marcus]

On May 28, 7:27 pm, R H Draney <dadoc...@spamcop.net> wrote:
> poisoned rose filted:
>
>
>
> >marcus, posing superior as usual:
>
> >> > >Actually, right now I'm thinking about wart-hogs.
>
> >> > Heh...I actually recognized that reference....r
>
> >> I'm sure that the person it was directed to hasn't.
>
> >Possibly not. I assume it's decades old, like all of your cultural
> >references that aren't "House."
>
> >I didn't give it much thought, but I did wonder if it was an allusion to
> >a very early SNL skit. But I thought that mentioned "wildebeests"
> >instead.
>
> Nope...warthogs...Chevy Chase and, I think, Candace Bergen....

The late Jill Clayburgh.

[J.D. Baldwin]

In the previous article, poisoned rose <pro...@poisonedrose.com>
wrote:
> Maybe you'd enjoy this old list I have saved: Beatles covers I've
> heard that I enjoy more than the originals.

The whole "Across the Universe" soundtrack.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone objects to any statement I make, I am
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / bal...@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it.-T. Lehrer
***~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------

[R H Draney]

poisoned rose filted:

>
>INVALID...@example.com.invalid (J.D. Baldwin) wrote:
>
>> > Maybe you'd enjoy this old list I have saved: Beatles covers I've
>> > heard that I enjoy more than the originals.
>>
>> The whole "Across the Universe" soundtrack.
>

>Wow. I can't even remember a version that I liked.

How about the "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" soundtrack, then?...

I'll give a thumbs up to Earth, Wind & Fire's "Got To Get You Into My Life", and
honorable mention to:

"Strawberry Fields Forever" by Sandy Farina
"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" by Steve Martin
"Sun King" by Alice Cooper
"Come Together" by Aerosmith

And yes, I know Aerosmith later apologized for having anything to do with the
project...the song itself still rocks....

Around the same time (give or take ten years), there was a TV special in which
an oddly-selected group of entertainers did Beatles covers...Sebastian Cabot
recited (you can't call it singing) "Eleanor Rigby", Tony Randall did "Being for
the Benefit of Mr Kite", and Melanie did "Rocky Raccoon" and "We Can Work It
Out"....r