twin peaks and van dyke parks

[dudedude]

i started watching twin peaks again last week
and noticed that van dyke parks had a part in the second season and I had some questions...

what is the connection between parks and david lynch?
how did he get to be on twin peaks?
has he ever acted before or after?
did he have any input on the sound track or any of the music used in the show?

thanks

[Andrew G. Doe]

Can't say I know anything about 1,2 & 4, but he was a child actor in Hollywood - his biggest role was probably in The Swan with Grace Kelly (1952, I think). I believe he was in an early TV series of Heidi too.

[endofposts]

A Google search finds Van Dyke Parks/Twin Peaks questions answered here (and a recent interview with Van, at that):

http://twinpeaksarchive.blogspot.com/2007/10/exclusive-van-dyke-parks-interview.html

[martin]

"Van Dyke Parks: I've thought about it. Still, there's something highly co-optive about it. Most autobiography by celebs in the music racket draw a pretty thin line between fact and fiction. Consider this possible entry:

"........so, I was at lunch one day with Barry Gordy Jr. It was my treat.
I liked the guy. So I said to Barry
'....no Barry, not MOTOR TOWN RECORDS.....call it MOTOWN RECORDS.....
Easier to pronounce.....good ad-speak.'
Barry turned to me, astonished. He said:
'....gee Van Dyke....that's brilliant....can I use it?'
I said 'Sure Barry, no prob. Be my guest'."
The rest is history.

The foregoing, just a sample of the incredible challenge i'd have in writing a plausible rear view for the public.

All my best wishes to you Jerry. Thanks for including me. Much fun."

 

[endofposts]

I think Van was having some fun at his own expense.  He claims to have named both Buffalo Springfield and Three Dog Night, although I'm not sure there's definitive proof of either claim.  Danny Hutton has always claimed TDN was named by his then-girlfriend, June Fairchild.  But since Van Dyke says he got it from Danny's bathroom reading material, who knows?  They probably both used the bathroom and read the same magazine.