The Smiley Smile Message Board

So I tried to e-mail Van Dyke Parks about some "Smile" stuff, and this is the bizarre reply I got...

>....And what are you up to these days anyway Steve?
>Give me some insight into the world of Steven Worek.
>Far more insteresting, I suspect!

...huh??  Can anyone more fluent in 'Van Dyke' translate this???

But I did make an attempt to reply:

"If you really need to know, I'm an undercover FBI agent who was assigned to decode the supposed 'hidden subliminal messages' embedded in the lyrics of "Smile", because the government is suspicious that you were using them to brainwash America's youth.  They're especially curious about 'columnated ruins domino.'"  :D

My guess:  He's tired of answering Smile questions at the moment.

He's dissing you.

Also, it's not necessarily in the best form to quote private email correspondence in such a public way. Tsk.

I don't want to sound condescending, but take heed, TheLazenby; maybe Van Dyke is just trying to save you from falling into vacuous veneration.  Not that you would, but... :)

This reminds me of a Bob Dylan interview circa "Love & Theft": "These so-called connoisseurs of Bob Dylan music...I don't feel they know a thing, or have any inkling of who I am and what I’m about.  I know they think they do, and yet it’s ludicrous, it's humorous, and sad.  That such people have spent so much of their time thinking about who?  Me?  Get a life, please.  It’s not something any one person should do about another.  You’re not serving your own life well.  You’re wasting your life."

He's right.

Or, maybe he's right...

Or is he right?

No, wait, he's right!

The many mood swings of idigworms.

I would agree that he is tired of Smile related questions.

But also, due to his psuedo celebrity status, he may just be tired of all fan base related questions. The email message seems like an automated email response that responds back with a sort of "fill in the name blank" type message. On the other hand, he might just be an enigmatic fellow!

By the way, did anyone watch "Broken Trail" last night on AMC? The credits list Van Dyke Parks and someone else for writing the score to the movie. Sometimes I wonder if Van Dyke is more talented than Brian in some ways, especially when you look at Van Dyke's list of recordings/collaborations.

He worked on the music of one of the greatest films of all time..."Follow That Bird".  Never knew it at the time I watched it most...always works that way!

Don't forget The Brave Little Toaster !

Mea culpa.  The Brave Little Toaster is probably the better of the two in terms of story.

dont forget the pee wee's christmas special...

@TheLazenby: What did you ask VDP?

I emailed Van Dyke regarding "Orange Crate Art" and got back a very gracious reply.  Maybe you just caught him in a bad mood.

I wouldn't know what to begin to ask...

...maybe I'd ask about his work on the clarinet, i.e. "The Bare Necessities" from "The Jungle Book"...?

Who is Steven Worek?

Who isn't Steven Worek?

That's me... he saw the name that sent the e-mail.

I only asked him politely that I heard some strange track about Brian falling into a piano, and since he was on it too, I was curious to know what it was recorded for...

But if he's dissin' me, I'ma smack him harder than a dude'll-doo.  :D

This isn't the first time I've heard that VDP is a villain...

Hey Mr. Lazenby,

next time send him naked pictures of yourself. He'll answer any questions you want. Van Dyke is funny that way.

D'you know this from experience, Heywood? lol

:lol

(http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/3307/harmonica129zt5tb.png)

"Am I wearing pants?"

Of course it's true, what the hell else do you think him and Brian did in that tent?  :p

I dont' see what's weird at all about his response.  He likely would find more interesting what you are working on yourself than trying to remember/analyze/discuss stuff he did in a drug induced haze close to forty years ago.  I'd be complimented that he showed an interest.

Well, OK, what should I say back to him then?

Send him the naked pictures. Not only will be discuss Smile, but he'll take you to dinner. Van Dyke is a little funny that way.

Say, "Thank you for asking" and tell him about yourself.  Get him on your good side, and then you can figure out how to get him to remember things he likely doesn't remember from there. 

Bit of a one-track mind. Two posts, same joke. We get it.

There's an old story about a sultan who made a drunken beggar think he was sultan for a day, then restored him to the alley the next day, then again made him sultan.  The actual sultan was laughing his head off in a closet, the beggar thought closet possessed a demon and proceeded to stab the closet.  The moral is, "Never tell the same joke twice."

The moral of that story should be don't mess with a drunk that has a knife! :lol

what'd you ask him?

 :o Van Dyke is hot!  In a poetic way.  ;)

Van Dyke is a bit odd but pretty creative.

It was pretty funny the second time. No...it was A LOT more funny.  ;D

Let's see .....  you were lucky enough that VDP responded to your correspondence.  He didn't say none of your business.  He didn't say he would never say, and he did give you an opening for a dialog.  And you are a SMILE/BB fan.
Well if it was me I would respond and tell him a little about myself.  I likely would include something about  how I got interested in his work and perhaps what I liked best about it.   Even if he was dissing you (which I tend to doubt) I suspect he will respond if you are sincere.  To me it sounds like he is saying he would like to get something out of the conversation too, and I find that to be a very reasonable thing.     

Like the last suggestion. If someone I'd never heard of emailed me out of the blue I might want to know a little bit about them too.  Must be frustrating when the world knows who you are and everything (they imagine) about you, and folk strike up conversations or email communications like they were old pals!  Be NEW pals!

Favorite Van Dyke quote "I met a Beatle or two, the individuals. They are handsome but they are transcontinental and I can't get behind that. 1976

that's a great quote...i remember hearing him say that in the American Family Movie

Another good quote is him on the 1976 special (Good Vibrations tour DVD) talking about Dennis: "He's got a lotta meat"
Not really sure what he means, but i'll probably agree anyway.

Shortly after Orange Crate Art came out, I e-mailed VDP at the address in the liner notes...

First, I disclaimed I wasn't going to mention Smile because he's probably sick of people talking to him about it.

Second, I asked him if any of Song Cycle was influenced by "Mind Gardens" by The Byrds [except I accidentally wrote "Mind Games"], as many of the songs sound like "Mind Gardens" in both melody and vocal delivery, and

Third and last, if there's any way I could get an autograph from him (on anything -- bar napkin, tree bark, WHATEVER) that says "Save The Prairie Squid."

he replied, in all capital letters,

1) Yes, he was sick of people talking to him about Smile, especially as it was such a short and small period of his life.

2) No, Song Cycle wasn't influenced in any way by "Mind Gardens," and

3) two weeks later there was a tube in the mail from Warner Brothers with a 17 x 24 poster of the Orange Crate Art album cover, complete with VDP's "Save The Prairie Squid" autograph and his self-portrait. I'm STILL kicking myself for not thinking of bringing that thing to Brian's 1998 meet'n'greet; I could have had both their autographs on that thing....arrghhhh...

...

I know this is a logical answer, and on the surface makes perfect sense - but I don't believe him.

I think in a way he likes the attention. I mean without smile how else would BB/BW fans talk about him  ::)

Why be in show business if you don't like attention?

I don't think he dislikes the attention. Van Dyke seems like a big ham. I think anyone would get tired talking about the same merda over and over and over again for forty years. Especially since he spent less than a year working on Smile.

Well look at it this way, Brian and Van Dyke probably get asked about Smile everytime they are interviewed or meet fans. I think (especally) before 2004 it was vexing. I mean it's like The Beatles being asked when are you getting back together. That's why Brian said the tapes were junked. I am sure that while Smile may have been their creative peak, it was also not  their happiest periods personally. I think the Brian of Friends and the Van Dyke of Song Cycle were probably much happier people which is why questions about things like that get more respectful answers from them.

Yeah, I think that's a lot of it.  I hinted in an earlier reply, too, that I think part of the problem is that Van Dyke and Brian don't remember a ton of the stuff that people WANT them to remember about SMiLE.  Van Dyke (and of course Brian) have had a long life of recording music; to them it's their job, they do it all the time, it'd be the equivalent of asking Clint Eastwood "Hey, in Dirty Harry, it says on the production notes that you were in the backlot at Warner Bros. filming that in early February; What color was the original costume you were going to wear that day that was accidentally lost by wardrobe?" or some crap like that, how the hell are they supposed to know? 

I think usually VDP or Brian will talk about large themes of the sessions but people usually try to ask them either bland questions that they can just whisk away with any old answer, or extremely pedantic stuff that as lifelong musicians they probably simply don't remember about a certain recording session. 

Maybe if you ask the right question...don't know what that would be, but there aren't that many, even in rock journalism, who have that particular knack. 

HeftySums is friends with V.D.P's son.

V.D.P seems like a nice man who tends to feel a bit superior with the average simpleton every so often throughout his days. It's expected though for a person of such talent and intellect like he has. V.D.P was born about one hunded and fifty years late though; travelling through the 1800's with a large moustache seems to suit his person moreso than a 1960's and onward hipster musician and writer.