Inara George and Van Dyke Parks Live In The Hague 11/20/08!

[The Heartical Don]

Last Thursday, Nov 20, 2008, The 'Crossing Border Festival', held in The Hague, The Netherlands, had Inara George and Van Dyke Parks as one of its headlining acts. The Crossing Border Festival has grown into a prestigious five-day festival that concentrates on music and literature. Its status can be deduced from the fact that it is staged in one of the finest theatres in Holland: the Royal Theatre in The Hague, which has around seven halls, ranging from small and intimate to the Royal Hall, its finest venue.
It was precisely in that Royal Hall that on Thursday, Nov. 20, Inara George (daughter of Little Feat's founder Lowell) and Van Dyke Parks appeared as the main attraction. For this very occasion, a chamber orchestra was formed around the famous Dutch Mondriaan String Quartet, and the whole group consisted of 20 classically trained players, completed with a great drummer/percussionist Van Dyke brought with him from the United States. Van Dyke's role was that of conductor (of his own arrangements, of course), and sometimes pianist and raconteur.
After a lovely instrumental introduction (Van Dyke's Danza), the whole of Inara and Van's recent album An Invitation (Everloving Records) was performed, with the whole group. So, where the album has a very intimate setting of only a few instruments, here everything gelled into an entirely differently sounding experience: a lush, romantic chamber orchestra, with Inara as the singer in front.
What can I say? I tried to avoid superlatives mentally just before writing this, but it did not work. It was totally, utterly brilliant. Two main factors were that Inara is a uniquely gifted singer, who does not need any artificiality or narcissistic retreat to convince the audience. Without ever sounding flat, she can convey every tiny human emotion in overwhelming fashion. Secondly, and this is crucial: the sound engineers had reached perfect balance between the one person singing and the large backing ensemble.
Van Dyke directed everything in spontaneous fashion, with great body language. He often wiggled his behind to accentuate his great happiness with the whole enterprise.
The music gained greatly from the extended band. Jazzy, melancholy, then again uplifting, back to contemplative mood, and everything in between, whilst Inara not so much made an effort to sing as just seemed to pluck the lovely melodies from the sky. Songs danced around like butterflies. Musical references to this listener were Gershwin, Ives, Copland, and Debussy.
After the album proper was finished, a standing ovation was mandatory, of course; and Inara stated repeatedly how happy she was to perform at such a prestigious theatre (three-level balcony, for instance). Acoustics had been perfect.
Then, she giddily called out for 'party time!', and what joy that was. Van Dyke now sat down at his grand concert piano and the two of them played Jump and An Opportunity For Two from Van Dyke's Jump album (after the tales about Bre'r Rabbit); another highlight was Vine Street (from 'Song Cycle', the Randy Newman song), which gained a lot from the extra female vocal; profoundly moving was Trouble, by Inara's dad, she nailed it to perfection with all emotion intact; and the party continued with Another Dream off of 'Clang Of The Yankee Reaper', in this setting a beautiful summery calypso treat.
The final song, repeatedly requested by the capacity crowd, was He Needs Me (from the OST to Robert Altman's 'Popeye', but perhaps better known as a key track to the movie 'Punch-Drunk Love', taken in there by Jon Brion). This particular song is very popular in Holland now because it accompanies a TV ad and people often refer to it as 'that song, you know, from TV, who sings it? It's lovely!'.

After the concert proper Inara and Van Dyke immediately were open to a Q&A session for 45 minutes in a small room. My God, how courteous these people are... they answered all questions from a group of around 40 persons with great care, taking their time. And then they signed various items (I have three CDs as proof...). Van also proudly announced that he re-acquired the rights to the original master tape for 'Song Cycle', and was working together with Lenny Waronker now to remaster it and to construct a genuine surround version too. Inara is a joy to behold from very nearby. Some beautiful nymph from another galaxy, and always willing to answer your every question.

Even after your every wish has come true and been fulfilled on such an evening, you still feel sad to have to leave eventually and go home through the damp, cold, misty November night.

I asked Van if the show was recorded for posterity (it having been a unique occasion, not to be repeated in the near future).  Sadly, this was not the case - but it is a sign of Van's unselfishness and generosity that he stated to be very, very thankful that it had come true at all.


Oh, and: the quote of the show: Van Dyke salutes Inara from behind his piano after yet another lovely performance. He gently shouts: 'Inara George!....She knew me when I was a brunette!'

[dogear]

Thanks for the great review. I wish I had been there...

[the captain]

That's awesome. I envy you. Couple comments: 1) You're dead-on about how courteous (at least) Van Dyke is. I'm often amazed at how accessible and open he is. 2) I don't agree that Inara is necessarily a uniquely gifted singer. The more I've listened to her over the past few years, I've begun to believe she's actually not a great singer at all, but I do think (and your review hinted at this) that she's quite a good actor, which is just as valuable in pop singing as singing. Anyway, it's great they pulled off what sounds like such an amazing show. I consider An Invitation among the best five or so albums of the year, and only wish I'd have seen that show. Sadly, the Hague isn't exactly next door to Minneapolis.

[The Heartical Don]

Thanks for the nice compliments, guys. What made it all the more striking is that the asking price was so modest. You had admission to three simultaneous goings-on, so to speak, with many different acts and authors reading their stuff. I preferred to stay at the main hall, of course, others chose to move around a bit. This evening there was also Death Cab For Cutie, to name but one.
I paid the equivalent of $ 30,00 all in, which was silly money given the nature of the venue, the sheer quality of hospitality, and so on and so forth. And there's the rub: to stage a show like VDP and Inara's, it's almost certain that losses were made and that many players didn't take a large fee, if any at all. And that includes Inara and Van Dyke themselves.

[Aegir]

If only they would do this in NYC or somewhere else close to me. I've been really into this album since it came out.

[The Heartical Don]

If only they would do this in NYC or somewhere else close to me. I've been really into this album since it came out.

...is the essential remark of the day. I wondered about this too. When I wrote my review, I thought: I might make a couple of folks envious. How I wish that some generous promotor would make it possible to organize a tour of major US cities. What it took in Holland was the nucleus of a great string quartet (classical players aren't used to large fees the way pop stars are), and an energetic/idealistic festival chef who worked together with that quartet to contract a lot of its (the quartet's) friends. Inara and Van Dyke aren't avaricious for sure, they'd play for free because they enjoy it so much.
I also thought: jeez, I adore the New Yorker (the weekly). This would be their cup of tea... if a magazine like that can exist in NYC, then a show like this could be staged too... the event itself is the epitome of civilized playing, and there are no unnecessary fireworks or bombastic tech contraptions needed.
In short: I really wish that it will be realized in America too; and perhaps good sales of the album can support it.

[the captain]

I'd imagine an appropriate venue might be part of it. They can't sell out large places, theatres cost a lot and clubs wouldn't have the sound to handle the details of this show. Basically it seems to me they'd either need to really ride Inara's Bird and the Bee fame to push theatres sales or be really creative (like playing college theatres or something that might be cheaper and smaller, but still have decent sound).