Van Dyke Parks Songwriter Interview

July 29, 2011 -> songfacts.com

Dan MacIntosh (Songfacts):

You wear so many different hats: composer, performer, instrumentalist, arranger, producer, and lyricist. What do you think is your greatest strength as an artist?

The Beach Boys' "Smile" Sessions: Why the Album Never Came Out, And Why It Now Will - Part 1

08 September 2011
-> peteramescarlin.com

Then one day in 2003 you hear something astonishing.

Brian Wilson has decided to finish "Smile." He and his new band will debut the completed work in London in February 2004, then record a studio version to be released in the fall.

Part I
+ Part II

repost: VAN DYKE PARKS TO DO RARE LIVE PERFORMANCE AT MISSISSIPPI STUDIOS

Repost from 2010, because it has some interesting quotes, and it might shed a light on why Van's participation on the upcoming 'SMiLE Sessions box' is low key / or maybe publicity is kept low key at his request?

QUOTE:
Also don't count on hearing any songs from "Smile."

"I spent a lifetime of condemnation in the shadow of its incompletion," Parks said.

He calls the finished album (BWPS 2004) "adequate" but bemoans the absence of artist Frank Holmes' original cover art (which inspired the songwriting process, Parks said).
Other than calling him in to finish a few lyrics, Parks said, Wilson's camp didn't consult him on any decisions regarding the finished "Smile."

January 30, 2010 Peter Ames Carlin
http://www.oregonlive.com/O/index.ssf/2010/01/van_dyke_parks_to_do_rare_live.html

+ MySpace
http://www.myspace.com/vandykeparks

MISSISSIPPI SHEIKS TRIBUTE CONCERT LURES FAMED COMPOSER/ARRANGER ON MAIDEN VOYAGE TO CANADA

VANCOUVER -- Van Dyke Parks grew up in Mississippi, home of famous country and blues string band the Mississippi Sheiks.

From 1930 to 1935, in the heart of the Great Depression, the Sheiks created the soundtrack to an era, defining a genre that would lay the foundation for a multitude of followers — from Robert Johnson to Nat King Cole, Bob Dylan and Jack White — and would eventually influence every aspect of rock ’n’ roll.
(Agenda: Capilano University Performing Arts Theatre, on March 13 and 14. )

March 8, 2010 FRANCOIS MARCHAND
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/CULTURAL+OLYMPIAD+Mississippi+Sheiks+tribute+concert+lures+famed+composer+arranger+maiden+voyage+Canada/2658516/story.html

+ wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Sheiks

+ tribute cd "Things About Comin’ My Way"
http://blogcritics.org/music/article/music-review-various-artists-things-about1/

A GATE SO GOLDEN

QUOTE:
Parks' manner of speaking has a similarity with the music he creates, nonchalantly integrating influences from far and wide.
Explaining himself, he blends in metaphors and proverbs: "I'm a black ant on a watermelon." "It's like going from zero to hero." "There may be snow on the roof, but a fire rages within."
When making music, he moves through and fuses musical genres from every direction, finding new points of entry and exit.

Feb 11, 2010‎ Michelle Broder Van Dyke
http://www.sfbg.com/2010/02/11/gate-so-golden?page=0,0

+ Live Review: Van Dyke Parks and Clare & The Reasons
http://www.oregonlive.com/music/index.ssf/2010/02/live_review_van_dyke_parks_and.html

Van Dyke Parks - On The Rolling Sea When Jesus Speak To Me

1970

196? Written by: Joseph Spence



youtube.com/watch?v=8rErS_vznXs&fmt=18

+ Joseph Spence wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Spence_(musician)

+ Timothy White – “Van Dyke Parks and B’rer Rabbit” (1985)
http://beatpatrol.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/timothy-white-van-dyke-parks-and-brer-rabbit-1985/

+ Van Dyke Parks Remembers Harry Nilsson (2005)
http://fortheloveofharry.blogspot.com/2009/12/van-dyke-parks-remembers-harry-nilsson.html

THE DAY VAN DYKE PARKS WENT CALYPSO

When 80,000 barrels of oil spilled into the waters of the Santa Barbara Channel in January of 1969, the crude-splattered water, beaches, and birds along the California coast in its aftermath became the symbols of modern eco-disaster.

While the ensuing public outcry helped hasten the formalization of the environmental movement as we now know it, for musician Van Dyke Parks, the spill and “the revelation of ecology,” as he calls it, was a very personal, life-altering occasion. “It changed my M.O. and changed my very reason for being,” he says.

November 19, 2009 Denise Sullivan
http://www.crawdaddy.com/index.php/2009/11/19/the-day-van-dyke-parks-went-calypso/

VAN DYKE PARKS: EIGENARTIG SCHÖN

Van Dyke Parks ist ein bescheidener Mann.

Stets hat er sich lieber im Hintergrund des großen Pop-Rummels gehalten, obwohl seine musikalischen Verdienste unschätzbar sind: als Komponist, Texter, Arrangeur, Produzent, Studiomusiker und Interpret.

216.11.2009 H.P. Daniels
http://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/pop/Van-Dyke-Parks-Kreuzberg-H-P-Daniels;art971,2951475

+

http://www.welt.de/die-welt/kultur/article5239250/Herr-der-Lieder-Van-Dyke-Parks-in-Berlin.html

+ Orangenkisten, Kunst und Popsongs

http://www.taz.de/regional/nord/bremen/artikel/?dig=2009%2F11%2F17%2Fa0019&cHash=3c314545e5

+

http://www.fr-online.de/in_und_ausland/kultur_und_medien/feuilleton/2088571_Komponist-Van-Dyke-Parks-Zwischen-Sicherheit-und-Zweifel.html

+ Konzertbericht: Van Dyke Parks live im Mousonturm in Frankfurt
http://www.regioactive.de/story/9315/konzertbericht_van_dyke_parks_live_im_mousonturm_in_frankfurt.html

+ Stille Nacht mit Einstein

http://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/Van-Dyke-Parks;art772,2948390

SONGWRITER VAN DYKE PARKS IN BRISBANE

Imagine what it would be like to work with the who's who of music.

Sep 09, 2009
http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2009/09/a-very-specky-drive-program.html

ONGOING ARRANGEMENT

Van Dyke Parks has a life mantra: "Boldly going forward because we can't find reverse."

It's a phrase the celebrated American producer, arranger, songwriter and jack of many other trades picked up in England from a Liverpool taxi driver.

August 08, 2009 Iain Shedden
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25881734-5013575,00.html

MUZIEKPROFESSOR OP TEENSLIPPERS

NL

In de foyer van Muziekcentrum Frits Philips overhandigt de legendarische arrangeur en popcomponist Van Dyke Parks (66) zijn visitekaartje. `
Een nogal ongewoon visitekaartje, blijkt bij nadere inspectie.
"De heer Van Dyke Parks excuseert zich voor zijn gedrag", staat er vrij vertaald.
"Hij heeft oprecht spijt van schade die hij heeft aangericht of overlast die hij veroorzaakte."

dinsdag 02 juni 2009 Frank van den Muijsenberg
http://www.ed.nl/uitcultuur/muziek/5052918/Muziekprofessor-op-teenslippers.ece

BRIAN WILSON, VAN DYKE PARKS AND THE SMILE YOU SEND OUT – PART 3: SMILE!

I was there when Smile was announced.

After Orange Crate Art and I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times Brian Wilson continued to make an incredible artistic recovery.

2008 aug
http://andrewhickey.info/2008/08/31/brian-wilson-van-dyke-parks-and-the-smile-you-send-out-part-3-smile/

+ more from andrewhickey.info:
part-1-dumb-angel-to-smiley
part-2-orange-crate-art-is-a-place-to-start
part-four-that-lucky-old-sun

+ http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Oct04/articles/smile.htm

VAN DYKE PARKS ON 'NAKED SONGFESTIVAL' EINDHOVEN

Quote:

"Naast de optredens van bovenstaande artiesten zijn er ook workshops te bezoeken. Deze worden gegeven door diverse artiesten.
Componist, arrangeur en producer Van Dyke Parks, bekend door samenwerkingen met Beach Boys en The Byrds, verzorgt enkele workshops: hij vertelt over zijn tien beste popsongs en hoe je een song arrangeert."

2009 Apr 20 Music From NL
http://www.musicfrom.nl/magazine/nieuws/31817/naked-song-festival-op-30-mei-in-eindhoven.html

COPYRIGHT WRONGS AND ROYALTY RIP-OFFS

Governments can and must help artists to get a fair deal, the legendary lyricist and composer Van Dyke Parks tells Carl Rowlands

2009 Mar 31 - Carl Rowlands
http://www.tribunemagazine.co.uk/2009/03/31/copyright-wrongs-and-royalty-rip-offs/

ENDLESS SKY VOLUME III - VAN DYKE PARKS

Uncovering the cornfield has never been this much fun!!
Spike Jones, Walt Disney, Brian Wilson and Beyond

2009 Mar 23 - endlessskyvideo
http://endlessskyvideo.blogspot.com/

Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks - Orange Crate Art

1995
Written by: Van Dyke Parks




http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=OiykTknz51U&fmt=18

THE OXFORD AMERICAN BOOK OF GREAT MUSIC WRITING

Edited by Marc Smirnoff, foreword by Van Dyke Parks

Quote:

"Not only have a breathtaking array of musical giants come from the South—think Elvis Presley, Robert Johnson, Louis Armstrong, Jimmie Rodgers, to name just obvious examples—but so have a breathtaking array of American music genres. From blues to rock & roll to jazz to country to bluegrass—and areas in between—it all started in the American South.

(2008 Dec 3 / New York Times 2007?)
http://www.uapress.com/titles/fa08/smirnoff.html

CLASS FITS ‘AN INVITATION’

“An Invitation” (Everloving) is a song cycle of sorts, a collaboration between Inara George and Van Dyke Parks. George is the daughter of Little Feat guitarist Lowell George and one-half of the jazz-pop-electronica duo Bird & The Bee; Parks has contributed production for several decades worth of acclaimed recordings from The Beach Boys “Smile” to his own “Song Cycle.”

(2008 Dec 4 / Jahontan Valley News)
http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20081204/NEWS01/812049942/1047&title=Class%20fits%20‘An%20Invitation’%20and%20‘To%20Survive

END