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Looking Back On 2007

Broken Trail Soundtrack To Be Released

Composed by David Mansfield & Van Fyke Parks

The romantic adventure epic (and Emmy-winning) Broken Trail is a compelling miniseries directed by filmmaker Walter Hill. The original AMC production plunges into the lawlessness, evil, freedom, and grace fighting for dominance of the Old West through the tragic circumstances of five young Chinese strangers. Unable to speak or understand English, they cling to each other for support, the strongest helping the weakest, as they are sold to a trafficker who packs them onto a wagon to head for a life of forced prostitution in a mining town. Fate drops these women into the hands of two men, who are leading a herd of 500 horses across the vast, untamed American West - fighting specters of both flesh and spirit - their trials bring the women both tragedy and hope; the men, unexpected second changes.

For the soundtrack to Broken Trail, composers David Mansfield and Van Dyke Parks teamed to deliver a score that captures the essence of this story of American assimilation, infusing sounds traditionally associated with the Old West with Chinese vernacular. For the former, "banjo bravado; mesmerisms of the lowly Jew's harp; hammer dulcimer with its double-string 'desafinado' ('slightly out of tune'); or the plaintive evocations of Celtic melodies that crawled across the American fiddler's frontier, you'll find it's all here," comments Parks. The latter features Shakuhachi performed by Masakazu Yoshizawa, whose previous film work includes scores by John Williams and Ry Cooder.
The score to Broken Trail was also nominated for an Emmy.

This release is featured in Intrada's Signature Editions and is limited to 1000 copies, calaouge number:Intrada Signature Edition ISE 1016.

Latest VDP News

latest additions to vandykeparks.com

A Brief News Round-Up for the Past Months

latest additions to vandykeparks.com

Back Through The Opera Glass Yo See.. - Two Years Of SMiLE

New Interview With Van Dyke Parks

Richard Parks Designs Van Dyke Parks T-Shirt

         

The t-shirts are available through the website of Old Koton Industries. Of special interest for visitors of this site might be the sound clips on the Old Koton Industries site, which are said to include some unreleased material by Van Dyke Parks. Unfortunately they don't play on my computer, so I can't give any further information about that.

Van Dyke Parks & Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE In The Media

The premier Beach Boys magazine Endless Summer Quarterly (ESQ) features a major (5000+ words) interview with Van Dyke Parks. For more information on hwo to purchase this fine publication, visit their website at http://www.esquarterly.com/.

National Public Radio (NPR) aired a special on the SMiLE sessions featuring interviews with Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks.An archived recording of the show is available on the NPR website.

Showtime Network will air a special on the making of SMiLE on 5th October. Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of SMiLE was produced by Wilson's biographer David Leaf and will feature exclusive interviews with many of the SMiLE sessions' participants, among them Van Dyke Parks.

A SMiLE feature in the US edition of Rolling Stone magazine includes an interview with Van Dyke Parks.

This one is a bit older but still worth a mention: Van Dyke Parks has contributed an essay about his trip to the world premiere of SMiLE in London to the all-SMiLE focussed website The SMiLE Shop. The SMiLE Shop is the web's main ressource for finding out about and discussion all things concerning SMiLE, from the first songwriting sessions back in 1966 to the tours and gigs in 2004. The website is run by two fans and their message board has become the main hang-out for SMiLE-aficionados from all over the world.

vandykeparks.com is back! - a 2004 news round- up

Apart from Robert Altman's movie The Company (as mentioned elsewhere on this page), a second movie with a score by Van Dyke Parks has premiered in the cinemas this year: The Adventures of Ociee Nash, an independet film that sadly has been featured only in selected cinemas so far.

Brian Wilson's latest studio album Gettin' In Over My Head features a track with lyrics by Van Dyke Parks. For the song Brian Wilson added a melody to a set of lyrics written by Van Dyke Parks a few years ago.

Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson Share A Smile

to be released on 28th September by Nonesuch Records

On 20th February Van Dyke Parks and his wife Sally flew over to wintery London to attend the world premiere for Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE. It was one of those nights that no fan, no music critic, no musician and probably not even Wilson and Parks themselves could have imagined a few years ago... The legendary SMiLE song cycle was brought up on stage in all its beauty, its moments of happieness and sadness going hand in hand, its joy, its subtlety and multi- layered complexity. Almost fourty years after the original and much discussed SMiLE album plans were scrapped, Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks sat together with Wilson's keyboarder Darian Sahanaja to go through the original tapes and lyric sheets. They came up with a finished and sequenced version featuring many previously unheard lyircal gems penned by Parks way back in 1966/67 and during the process of sequencing the lost masterpiece. The London premiere and the suceeding two European tours of the SMiLE cycle were greeted with standing ovations by overwhelmed and enthusiastic audiences and with rave reviews in the press. The LA Times commented on the London premiere: ""What we do know now is that Wilson and Parks created a glorious piece of music whose grand ambition is outstripped only by its inherent beauty and cumulative power." The British Guardian remarked upon its "groundbreaking complexity and sophistication"and added that it seemed "the grandest of American symphonies". This fall Brian Wilson and his band will perform SMiLE in the USA for the first time.

On 28th September (in some countries: in the first week of October) Nonesuch Records will release a studio recording of SMiLE, featuring Brian Wilson and his touring band. Van Dyke Parks didn't participate in the studio recordings as a session musician, but the studio recordings feature his lyrics as assembled with his participation last winter.

Song Cycle And Discover America Rereleased On Vinyl

Orchestral VDP Track Joshua Tree Suite On CD Compilation

Van Dyke Parks' orchestral piece Joshua Tree Suite Pt.1 has been released on a 2CD compilation earlier this ear. German indiepop and 60s-pop focussed label Marina Records celebrated its 10th aniversary with the compilation Ave Marina . For this 2CD set the compilers asked around the Marine roster of artists,but also among possible non-Marina contributors to supply songs for their release. Van Dyke Parks is featured with The Joshua Tree Suite Pt.1, the first part fo a two-part suite that was originally released as part of Rudy Vanderlans' book project Jushua Tree. Other artists featured on this vrey fine record are 60s legends The Free Design, Kim Fowley, indie acts like Glasgow's Secret Goldfish or The Pearlfishers, French indiepoppers Tahiti 80, German avantagrde NDW-act Der Plan and Josef K. The CD-set features 38 songs and is recommended not only for the VDP tune, but as a great mixtape-like treasure box of obscurites and old friends to everyone with a soft spot for tuneful but sophisticated pop music.

VDP assembles SMiLE with Brian Wilson

New Robert Altman Movie WIth Score By Van Dyke Parks

VDP Performs In Utrecht/NL With The Mondriaan String Quartet

Van Dyke Parks Performs In Europe In July

Additionially he will perform a solo concert (without orchestra, Wainwright or Frisell) in Utrecht/Netherlands on 16th July at the Tivoli. For more information visit the venues website at http://www.tivoli.nl/.

Chabliz Cover Van Dyke Parks Song On Their New Album

Dutch band Chabliz covered Van Dyke Parks' song An Invitation To Sin on their new album Nightporter. Click here to read the vandykeparks.com review of the album that brings together inspirations from Van Dyke Parks to Nick Cave to Kurt Weill. An album like this one is a rare gem and truely worth giving a listen (says the webmaster of this site, who has been constantly playing it on his stereo during the last week).

latest additions to vandykeparks.com

The Brian Woodbury Songbook

Some of you may have already picked up a copy of The Brian Woodbury Songbook, a CD featuring 17 songs by L.A.-based songwriter Brian Woodbury. The album has already been released back in 2000, when it received a rave review for Van Dyke Parks. He wrote: "Consummate songwriting craft! Wildly eclectic & celebratory. This music is built to last, with its constant element of surprize. Bright scansion that infuses hope into the lyrical art...with effortless ease. Not since Esquivel and the wondrous works of young Brian Wilson in his lettuce years have I heard sound of this romantic design. World beat with an American watermark. Indispensable."

Visit Brian Woodbury's homepage at http://www.somephil.com/ to learn more about the album and the artist and listen to samples taken from the Brian Woodbury Songbook. As far as I know the album isn't available in stores but only through Woordbury's website.

Updates

New Documentary About VDP Premiered In Utrecht, Netherlands

Canvas The Town And Brush The Backdrop! - The Results

Calypso Legends pay Tribute to Late Great "Lord Kitchener" Oct 12, UCLA's Royce Hall - Produced for UCLA Live by Van Dyke Parks

UCLA Live, in association with Van Dyke Parks, presents Calypso, a Tribute to Kitch (Lord Kitchener, the late great Calypsonian Aldwyn Roberts) with The Mighty Sparrow, Calypso Rose and David Rudder for one night only at 8 pm, Saturday, Oct 12 at UCLA's Royce Hall. The musicians will announce all songs from the stage.
The musicians will be joined by the Berment Band, a big band led by Music Director Clinton Crawford and featuring soloist Robert Greenidge on Steel ("Pan") drum.
If "The Mighty Sparrow" and "Calypso Rose" are the King and Queen of Calypso, David Rudder is certainly Heir Apparent. Their bodies of work span about a dozen American Presidencies. Their songs speak to a contemporary tropical topicality, as the Island Nation of Trinidad/Tobago morphed from British Colony (freeing its slaves 30 odd years before America abolished slavery) to independence.
Calypso was born simultaneous to jazz. Its etymological origin, like the word "Jazz" itself, is just as fascinatingly undetermined. But we know "Calypso" speaks to the literacy of its founders in the 20th Century's second decade. Like jazz, Calypso is totally rhythm-clad, but many distinct rhythms play a powerful part in selling the lyrical commentary. It can be a fist in a velvet glove. For beyond an often-hypnotic revelry may be a call to consciousness of some highly social purpose.

Slinger Francisco, better known as THE MIGHTY SPARROW, affectionately dubbed, "The Birdie" is the unrivaled Calypso King of the World winner of the calypso monarchy and an eight-time winner of Trinidad and Tobago¹s Carnaval Road March competition. With a career that spans over 40 years and counting, this artist par excellence has entertained audiences across the globe, including the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, to name but a few.
Born to a poor working class family in Gran Roi, a rural fishing village in Grenada, Sparrow migrated to his adopted homeland, Trinidad, when he was just a year old. He attended the New Town Boys School where he was selected to sing in the boys' choir of St. Patrick's Catholic Church. The harmonics of the Gregorian Chants and the Plainsongs of the church that were embedded in him would later affect the depth and intensity of his compositions. Sparrow was also influenced by American street quartets, pop tunes and the early calypsos of Lord Melody, Lord Kitchener, Lord Christo, Lord Invader (of Rum and Coca Cola fame) and the Mighty Spoiler, to name a few.
At the tender age of 20, Sparrow emerged as the leading Calypsonian with his record-breaking hit, Jean and Dinah in 1956, and later Carnival Boycott in 1957, a song that was eventually responsible for the formation of the Carnival Development Committee, an organization to assist calypsonians, steelband men and mass men.
In 1958 he became the only calypsonian to have had a triple win in the same year in the Road March Competition. One of the calypsos was titled P.A.Y.E. (Pay As You Earn, a song that enabled the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, to understand the importance of paying taxes). Sparrow¹s musical understanding and vocal technique is complimented by his lyrical wit. His songs are full of clever double entendres revealing something new every time your hear them.
Sparrow received the honorary title of Chief of the Yorubas in Nigeria. He was also bestowed the title of "Cultural Ambassador of Grenada," given an honorary doctorate from UWI (University of the West Indies) and bestowed the title of Order of Caribbean Communication "OCC." In 1986, Mayor Ed Koch of New York proclaimed March 18th, The Mighty Sparrow Day. He continues to record and tour the world.

Having shared her enormous talent with audiences all over the world, CALYPSO ROSE is the premier ambassador of Caribbean music. Rose began her illustrious career at the age of 15 in the village of Bethel on the beautiful Caribbean island of Tobago. As a woman in a male arena, she challenged the world with her music. In 1966, Calypso Rose wrote the immortal Fire in me Wire, a song which has become a Calypso anthem. It has been recorded in eight languages and is still the first Calypso to be sung for two consecutive years at the annual carnival competition in Trinidad and Tobago.
Rose has won more national and international awards than any other calypsonian save for Mighty Sparrow and Kitch. For five years, Rose outclassed the competition to win the national "Calypso Queen" title in Trinidad and Tobago. The National Calypso King Competition had to be changed in name to the National Calypso Monarchy Competition as a result of her being the first female to ever take the crown in 1978. Rose also became the only woman to win the Road March title, a distinction she held for 21 years.
Rose's volumes of music include political commentaries such as The Balance Wheel and Respect the Balisay party songs and rhythms such as Do Dem Back and The Action Is Tight, topical songs such as Gun Play On The Parkway and Help; women's rights songs such as No Madam and infectious songs such as You Can't Buy Love.
As her 1994 album, Soca Diva illustrates, Calypso Rose is still expanding her horizons, fusing the rhythms and melodies of Africa, Central America, and the Caribbean into a sweet and spicy bouquet.

DAVID RUDDER was born in Belmont, Trinidad on May 6, 1953. One of nine children, he spent much of his early childhood with his grandmother, a spiritual Baptist, growing up near a pan yard and a Shango yard, in a neighborhood where boys dreamed of being entertainers. It was at school that he discovered how much art, painting and sculpture really interested him. Rudder began singing at the age of 11 with a group called The Solutions. In 1977, he joined the brass band Charlie's Roots and began charting his musical career.
In the early days, Rudder acquired a reputation as a back-up singer in the calypso tent run by Lord Kitchener, while earning his living as an accountant with the Trinidad Bus Company. Rudder's first big break came when Christopher "Tambu" Herbert, lead singer with Charlie's Roots, fell ill after an exhausting tour of Guyana and suggested his friend Rudder as a temporary replacement. Rudder stayed on as a co-lead singer, and built a reputation for his scintillating performances. His exposure to Shango and the Pan Yards influenced his music. He was also influenced by Jazz and African artists such as Yossou N'Dour, Alpha Blondy.
Known as one of the few band singers who wrote all his own songs, Rudder has often been described as a pensive, self-contained individual; a person who, wrote Trinidadian columnist Wayne Brown, "has acquired the notion of singing as a king of self-sacrifice, involving surrender of personality and of the singer dissolving to become at once a symbiotic extension of the audience and the anguished medium of the song, a voice of the mercy of a Baptist testifier."

Tickets to Calypso, a Tribute to Kitch are available for $40, $35, $30 and $15 (UCLA students with valid I.D.) at the UCLA Central Ticket Office at the southwest corner of the James West Alumni Center, online at http://www.uclalive.edu/ and at all Ticketmaster outlets. For more information or to charge by phone, call (310) 825-2101.

An internationally acclaimed producer and presenter of music, dance and theater, UCLA Performing Arts' dynamic program outstanding and provocative artists to Los Angeles each year. Committed to supporting the development of new work, UCLA Live has commissioned pieces by major and emerging artists including Pina Bausch, the Kronos Quartet, Bill T. Jones, Philip Glass and Robert Wilson. Lectures, residencies, and extensive outreach programs expand the impact of its unparalleled performances that include a lively mix of distinguished masters and innovators from around the world.

Brian Gari Sings Brian Wilson

Brian Sings Wilson is the title of a special Brian Wilson tribute album. The Brian behind the album is singer, producer and composer Brian Gari who has written over 800 songs during the past 25 years, recorded by artists like the Tokens, Jana Robbins, Kaye Ballard and Margaret Whiting. Brian Sings Wilson is the fourth album Gari recorded as a singer. Gari, who is incidentially also working as consulting producer and composer for the E True Hollywood Story of the Beach Boys for the Entertainment Television Network, has choosen an unlikely selection of songs for the album, avoiding any 'obvious' choices. This is exactly what people who know about Gari's association with the band would expect him to do. He has been a Beach Boys fan and collector since the early 1960s and contributed information to many Beach Boys related projects, like Capitol Records' Good Vibrations boxset.

One of the most interesting and unexpected selections on the album is the song Thinkin' Bout You Darlin', a recording based on an early Brian Wilson-produced version of the classic Beach Boys song Darlin'. It was recorded in 1968 under the title Thinkin' Bout You Baby by a singer called Sharon Marie. You'll also find a version of Caroline No that includes additional lyrics by Tony Asher which weren't used by Wilson for the familiar version on the Pet Sounds album. These are just two of the many subtle and unusual details woven into the album.

Inside the CD booklet you find notes regarding the album by former Brian Wilson collaborator Tony Asher and by drummer Hal Blaine, who played on many classic Beach Boys recordings from the 1960s. Also reprinted is a letter from Van Dyke Parks, in which he comments on the album and especially on the cover version of Wonderful, a song co-written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks in 1967:

	Dear Brian, Your album? Beyond "Wonderful"! I was astonished to receive and hear your take on "Wonderful"---on my birthday no less. I was totally refreshed to hear this, the first cover of the tune I've heard since Brian Wilson and I authored it nearing forty years ago. There just isn't one false move in your work, which is a decidedly deceptive piece, with one anecdote after another neatly evaporating, on a plane with Mr. Wilson's bright intentions. I took the whole tour through your tribute to Wilson, both for your preservationist skill, and the creative perspective you've added. It's inescapably romantic, physical, up-front and personal.....you've given us a totally honest shake. I know your CD will be a bonus for any real Wilson afficianado's library. You've brought some real timeless music clearly into the present tense in this project. And, your talent has provided the margin of incite that other Brian deserves. It's about time. I'll treasure "Brian Sings Wilson" for all time. Hats off to you and Jeff Olmsted on the production. You guys put the "B" back in "Subtle". What can I say? .....You're a Hero! Your pal, Van Dyke

For more information on Brian Gari and the album Brian Sings Wilson please visit http://www.briangari.com/.

Billboard Editor-In-Chief Timothy White Dies At Age 50

Please look at the Billboard web site for a biography and an orbituary for Timothy White.

Van Dyke Parks Gold Record Up For Auction In Charity Auction

Daniel Johns From Silverchair Seriously Ill

The official Silverchair website explains:
As previously announced Daniel Johns is suffering from a severe case of reactive arthritis. The condition's primary symptoms are chronic swelling of the joints resulting in impaired movement and extreme pain. These symptoms are caused by the body's reaction to an underlying virus - hence the name 'reactive arthritis'. About 6% of males have a genetic predisposition to suffer from this condition once in a lifetime and DNA tests have confirmed that Daniel Johns is part of that 6%.
In the majority of cases reactive arthritis lasts for around three months. Johns originally contracted the condition in December 2001 but in January 2002 he managed to fulfill his obligations on Australia's Big Day Out Tour. After that his symptoms got worse leading the band to postpone a mid-March concert. During April he improved significantly, allowing the band to tour New Zealand and do various promotional activities for their album in Australia. At this point it seemed that he was on the road to the full recovery that his doctors had predicted would probably occur after about three months.
However in recent weeks his symptoms have not only returned, they have spread into other parts of his body. While previously the swelling was mainly confined to his legs, it is now present in most of his other joints, including his left hand. This is causing him extreme pain and is severely limiting his movement. As a result he is unable to play guitar on most days and on some days he has difficulty walking for more than a very short distance.
Unfortunately, in spite of his best efforts Daniel has not responded to numerous treatments that have proved successful for other people. These have included a recent hospitalization and a wide variety of conventional and homeopathic medications.
Furthermore, new medical test results yesterday revealed a number of other complications relating to Daniel's condition. These complications involve some glandular and lymphatic dysfunctions, both of which require further intensive treatment. It seems that these other problems are preventing Daniel from fighting off the underlying virus that is triggering his arthritis. This may explain why he has not responded to all the various treatments he has received.
As a result of these new test results Daniel's Doctors have changed their longstanding prognosis of a short term recovery.
Their prognosis is now that it may be a year before Daniel has recovered sufficiently to allow him to undertake a normal touring workload. They remain certain that the condition is not life threatening and that he will eventually make a complete recovery. However, they have imposed a strict treatment regimen and categorically ruled out any possibility of touring for the time being.

Van Dyke Parks Inducted To Mississippi Musicians' Hall Of Fame

Van Dyke Parks Completes New Arrangement Work

Win A Set Of Lyrics To The Song 'Surf's Up' Handwritten By Van Dyke Parks
Canvas The Town And Brush The Backdrop! For this competition, the follow-up to Van Dyke Parks' Mike Love Joke Contest, we ask you for the pictures that are on your mind - not for any pictures, but for pictures the lyrics of Van Dyke Parks evoke on your mind. You can paint or draw or assemble collages or take photographs, you can even compose computer prints, any visual contribution inspired by the words of Van Dyke Parks is eligible. This includes any lyrics written by Mr. Parks, no matter if they were recorded by him or by another artist. Van Dyke Parks generously submitted a set of handwritten lyrics to the song Surf's Up - the song that includes the line canvas the town and brush the backdrop - as a unique and very special price for the winner of this competition. I'm very happy to announce that the juror for this contest will be the first artist who ever visually interpreted lyrics written by Van Dyke Parks - no one else but Mr. Frank Holmes, the artist who put the images to Van Dyke Parks' words for the never finished album Smile by the Beach Boys. Holmes also designed the famous "Smile Shop" cover artwork for the album. A few of Frank Holmes' images, which were meant to appear in the booklet accompanying the Smile album, are featured above this announcement. You should send any submissions as a scan to the editor of vandykeparks.com at webmaster@vandykeparks.com. Please e-mail to that address as well, if you don't own a scanner and want to send in a submission by 'snail mail'. I'll scan these 'snail mail' submissions and forward the scans to Frank Holmes. With submitting an image the participant agrees that the image may be published in an online exhibition on vandykeparks.com after the contest closed. The contest closes on 30th July 2002. The best submission will be selected in the sole judgement of Frank Holmes. Please check the contest page for further announcements regarding this contest. And if you are lost for words you can always check out the lyrics archive

Van Dyke Parks Contributes Orchestral Suite To A Book Project

Van Dyke Parks contributed a two-part orchestral piece titled Joshua Tree Suite to Rudy VanderLans' new book Joshua Tree. Some readers may be already familiar with VanderLans' work, as he edited a book inspired by Van Dyke Parks' song Palm Desert. A review of the book Palm Desert was posted on this site two years ago. Joshua Tree is the third book in a trilogy started with Palm Desert. In the three volumes Rudy VanderLans connects photography of places in California with legendary Californian music form the 1960s. Palm Desert deals with Van Dyke Parks' music, especially with the song Palm Desert, Cucamonga is about places frequented by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band during the recording of the album Trout Mask Replica and Joshua Tree was inspired by the music of Gram Parsons. I conducted an interview with Rudy VanderLans, in which he talks about the trilogy and added a review of Joshua Tree and Cucamonga to the website.

Country Legend Waylon Jennings Died On 13 February

vandykeparks.com Brian Wilson Interview

Van Dyke Parks Performs At Sing Along For The 'Harold And The Purple Crayon' Videos Van Dyke Parks will perform at Storyopolis Bookstore and Gallery in L.A. at 11:30, Saturday February 9th for a Sing Along of songs he wrote for the animated series Harold and the Purple Crayon. The series is to be released on video by Sony and HBO Family. Please have a look at the flyer for the event for further information.

Long-Time Esso Trinidad Steelband Pan-Player Carl Borde Died