Van Dyke Parks performs in Ginsberg/Howl tribute April 7 in LA

[rn57]

http://exclaim.ca/Music/article/howl_tribute_event_gets_courtney_love_devendra_banhart_kevin_drew_andy_kim

Don't think it's been mentioned here yet but on April 7, at 7:30 pm at Ace Hotel on Broadway in LA, Van Dyke appears in a tribute to Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl to mark the 60th year of its first reading. (Thought about putting this in GMD but then again, this is Van Dyke, and he's been making ominous suggestions his future public appearances will be cut back, so...)

 This is a Hal Willner extravaganza - with some kind of sponsorship by David Lynch too - and the lineup is the usual kind of Willner eclecticism....and then some.

 Because if you think you need to rub your eyes when you behold the name between Petra Haden and Courtney Love, you don't - yes, Andy Kim, the man who gave us the Spector cover Uncle Phil hates most ("Baby I Love You," which rose much higher in the Billboard Hot 100 than the Ronettes' original) and of course "Rock Me Gently," is on this bill. And it isn't some kind of US- Canadian cultural exchange - he's there because the guys in Broken Social Scene have teamed up with him to turn him into a hipster icon.

Which leads me to wonder just how much longer it will take for Gino Vannelli to show up at that group reading of Gravity's Rainbow they do at Princeton every year.

[bgas]

http://exclaim.ca/Music/article/howl_tribute_event_gets_courtney_love_devendra_banhart_kevin_drew_andy_kim

Don't think it's been mentioned here yet but on April 7, at 7:30 pm at Ace Hotel on Broadway in LA, Van Dyke appears in a tribute to Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl to mark the 60th year of its first reading. (Thought about putting this in GMD but then again, this is Van Dyke, and he's been making ominous suggestions his future public appearances will be cut back, so...)

 This is a Hal Willner extravaganza - with some kind of sponsorship by David Lynch too - and the lineup is the usual kind of Willner eclecticism....and then some.

 Because if you think you need to rub your eyes when you behold the name between Petra Haden and Courtney Love, you don't - yes, Andy Kim, the man who gave us the Spector cover Uncle Phil hates most ("Baby I Love You," which rose much higher in the Billboard Hot 100 than the Ronettes' original) and of course "Rock Me Gently," is on this bill. And it isn't some kind of US- Canadian cultural exchange - he's there because the guys in Broken Social Scene have teamed up with him to turn him into a hipster icon.

Which leads me to wonder just how much longer it will take for Gino Vannelli to show up at that group reading of Gravity's Rainbow they do at Princeton every year.

Andy Kim and Kevin Drew were on Letterman last week:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYNEsnRNCyY

[the professor]

Now there's a poem that has fallen out of the canon.

http://exclaim.ca/Music/article/howl_tribute_event_gets_courtney_love_devendra_banhart_kevin_drew_andy_kim

Don't think it's been mentioned here yet but on April 7, at 7:30 pm at Ace Hotel on Broadway in LA, Van Dyke appears in a tribute to Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl to mark the 60th year of its first reading. (Thought about putting this in GMD but then again, this is Van Dyke, and he's been making ominous suggestions his future public appearances will be cut back, so...)

 This is a Hal Willner extravaganza - with some kind of sponsorship by David Lynch too - and the lineup is the usual kind of Willner eclecticism....and then some.

 Because if you think you need to rub your eyes when you behold the name between Petra Haden and Courtney Love, you don't - yes, Andy Kim, the man who gave us the Spector cover Uncle Phil hates most ("Baby I Love You," which rose much higher in the Billboard Hot 100 than the Ronettes' original) and of course "Rock Me Gently," is on this bill. And it isn't some kind of US- Canadian cultural exchange - he's there because the guys in Broken Social Scene have teamed up with him to turn him into a hipster icon.

Which leads me to wonder just how much longer it will take for Gino Vannelli to show up at that group reading of Gravity's Rainbow they do at Princeton every year.

[rn57]

Just a reminder that this coming Tuesday Van Dyke is appearing at the Ace Hotel in LA as part of the tribute to Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl, as linked above.  A pretty unusual lineup, as I said before - and now Terry Adams of NRBQ has joined it.  Whether Van Dyke will sing, play, muse about the Beats, or do a mixture of all three, I don't know.

In the meantime - if you've ever felt like sitting back and listening to VDP ramble about whatever comes into his head for 90 minutes, just click below. It's a lecture (of sorts) that he did at a festival sponsored by Red Bull in NYC in 2013.  (He was also scheduled to perform on a bill with Philip Glass, but had to cancel due to a hand injury - the same injury that has apparently resulted in his giving up playing keyboards in public for good after his shows next month.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRVy6HjxnYE

[rn57]

So far, have seen no reviews of the show last night where VDP appeared....but the Getty Images site has a whole bunch of photos of him there.  He indeed played keyboards as well as spoke but I don't know what else was involved.

[rn57]

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/live-reviews/courtney-love-amy-poehler-salute-allen-ginsbergs-howl-in-l-a-20150408

Above, the Roll-and Stone's account of the event. It turns out VDP recited a Lawrence Ferlinghetti poem backed by some strings - not too surprising, since he's often expressed his admiration for the near-centenarian founder of City Lights Books.

Below, a video of another part of the show - Courtney Love, Charles Mingus's son Eric and Andy Kim performing "Sugar Sugar" which AK co-wrote with Ron Dante.  Ron, who sang the original Archies version, was once publisher of the famed literary magazine The Paris Review. Which published poems by Allen Ginsberg. Who wrote Howl, the poem that this event was celebrating. Which, I guess, was why "Sugar Sugar" was being sung.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDpIoQVBlW4

And, to bring this back to Van Dyke - here he is, in his famous bowtie-and-overalls ensemble, talking about arranging a Jerome Kern song for Cassandra Wilson. Don't know why the tie's untied.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjuiKroH1ug