Review: Music Documentaries at SBIFF

Review of several music documentaries at the 2012 Santa Barbara International Film Festival: Under African Skies, Family Band: The Cowsills Story, Music Man Murray, Rhino Resurrected, Tales From the Tavern, Cure For Pain: The Mark Sandman Story, plus an appreciation of the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange

Interview: Richard and Van Dyke Parks

Murray Gershenz, aka Music Man Murray, is passionate about music, and has spent over 70 years collecting, buying, and selling records. But the time has come to sell his collection, which numbers in the hundreds of thousands. The catch – he wants his collection to stay intact. It sounds like he’d settle for half a million dollars, a bargain for a collection valued in the millions.

Murray’s story is captured in the documentary film Music Man Murray, which premieres at this year’s Santa Barbara International Film Festival. This film was produced and directed by Richard Parks, with music by his father Van Dyke Parks, who has had his hand in many notable music releases over the last five decades. Richard and Van Dyke responded to the following questions by email on January 20 and 21, 2012.

Interview: Van Dyke Parks

The legendary Van Dyke Parks is in the middle of his new vinyl singles project, which will encompass six records with gorgeous sleeve art from some of today’s most notable artists. These are available by subscription from bananastan.com, and as Parks puts it, “Downloads from iTunes insures aid to those stuck in the digital ditch.”

These singles represent the next chapter in an amazing career in music for Parks, who wrote the lyrics for the lost-Beach Boys-masterpiece Smile which is finally scheduled for release later this year. Parks also played keyboards on many albums and songs including The Byrds’ Fifth Dimension album, Tim Buckley’s self-titled debut album, and the should-have-been-a-hit “Magic Hollow” by The Beau Brummels. His production credits include the first albums by Ry Cooder and Randy Newman, both with Lenny Waronker, and he has also done arrangements for U2, Laurie Anderson, Joanna Newsom, and the song “Bare Necessities” from the Disney movie The Jungle Book. His solo albums include Song Cycle from 1968, and the Caribbean-tinged Discover America from 1972.

The following interview was conducted by email, with answers received on 7/27/11.

Concert Review: Steve Young with Van Dyke Parks and David Jackson

Review of 1/23/10 Sings Like Hell performance of Steve Young with Van Dyke Parks and David Jackson

Interview: Steve Young

Steve Young is a singer and songwriter whose best known song is “Seven Bridges Road,” which was covered by and became a Top 40 hit for The Eagles. He also wrote “Lonesome, On’ry And Mean”, which became a trademark song for Waylon Jennings, and “Montgomery in the Rain”, which was covered by Hank Williams, Jr.

This interview was conducted by phone on 1/5/10, and formed the basis of a preview article for the Steve Young with Van Dyke Parks and David Jackson show on 1/23/10 at the Lobero Theatre.

Concert Review: Dan Wheetman, Van Dyke Parks, and David Jackson

Review of performance on 4/13/09 by Dan Wheetman, Van Dyke Parks, and David Jackson at UC Santa Barbara

Advice From Musicians

Songwriters and musicians answer the question: What advice would you give to an aspiring songwriter/musician? Responses from:

Pete Seeger
Sir George Martin
Steve Reich
Jeff Barry
David Crosby
Graham Nash
Fats Domino
Willie Nelson
George Clinton
Wanda Jackson
Jon Anderson
Greg Lake
Chuck D
Rickie Lee Jones
Todd Rundgren
Alan Parsons
Mark Volman
Howard Kaylan
Richie Furay
Ted Nugent
Billy Corgan
Peter Buck
Bryan Adams
Maceo Parker
“Weird Al” Yankovic
Kronos Quartet: David Harrington, John Sherba, Hank Dutt
Abdul “Duke” Fakir
David “Honeyboy” Edwards
Ray Manzarek
John Densmore
Paul Kantner
Jorma Kaukonen
Jack Casady
Martin Gore
Robben Ford
Bob Cowsill
John Cowsill
David Pack
David Lindley
T-Bone Burnett
Johnny Rivers
Gary Brooker
Robin Trower
Garland Jeffreys
Airto Moreira
Seun Kuti
June Millington
Jean Millington
Jake Shimabukuro
Country Joe McDonald
Jonathan Richman
Van Dyke Parks
Steve Wynn
Steve Diggle
Pete Shelley
Andy Shernoff
Tony Kaye
Glen Phillips
Larry Ramos
Jim Yester
Gary Lucas
Charlie Musselwhite
Carl Giammarese
Martha High
Steve Vai
Thurston Moore
Bob Mould
Lou Barlow
Cris Kirkwood
Mike Watt
Will Oldham
Bill Callahan
Buzz Osborne
Dale Crover
Neil Hagerty
Bob Bert
Don Fleming
Ritzy Bryan
Kim Manning
Linnea Vedder
James Jackson Toth
John Doe
Henry Rollins
Jack Grisham
Ron Emory
Joey Burns
Dallas Good
Michael Chapman
Russell Ferrante
Jimmy Haslip
Eddie Tuduri
Brute Force
Mark Tulin
Ian Underwood
Billy Cox
Will Cullen Hart
Scott Spillane
Julian Koster
Bert Lams
Paul Richards
Seymour Duncan
Daniel Levitin
David Freiberg
Steve Young
Justin Roberts
Larkin Grimm
Jason Reeves
Buddy Miller
Black Francis
Alex Ebert
Al Kooper
Jeff Hanneman
Ira Kaplan