Inara George and Van Dyke Parks at Largo
Photo by Autumn DeWilde/Used with permission
Brian Wilson may have boogalooed it at the Hollywood Bowl Saturday night--but just a few miles away, on the Largo stage in WeHo, Wilson's former writing partner and bong-buddy Van Dyke Parks was tinkling the ivories behind a more recent collaborator, singer-songwriter Inara George.
You'd think Wilson, the genius behind the Beach Boys' entire oevre, would steal pretty much all potential audience members away from a performance by Parks, a diminutive white-haired dude with glasses and a gut who merely wrote the words to Smile over 40 years ago. God only knows why, but despite the other draw, Largo was packed, and possibly even sold out.
Part of that of course is due to the KCRW crowd. The radio station has been promoting the recent George/Parks album An Invitation, and have plugged this night's show a bunch, and themselves took up at least two rows in front during the performance. But serious kudos also have to go to Inara George herself, whose deep voice and deeper lyrics sounded so good on An Invitation and perhaps even better on the Largo stage. Talent this big gets noticed.
While the small, jazzy combo performing Saturday night didn't exactly top the talented arrangement of the album itself, it was nice to hear George singing along to Parks' lead piano playing, especially when they veered out of the songs from the album and into the Parks oevre. Songs such as "He Needs Me" from the Popeye soundtrack were performed so warmly and wonderfully. George's voice, a throaty and womanly alto reminiscent of sixties jazz greats such as Julie London, never sounded tight or constricted, and carried equally well whether doing George's own self-penned songs or numbers popularized by the likes of Harry Nilsson.
After the show, the triumphant Van Dyke Parks nearly bolted out the door once the bow at the end was done. He sat at a table in the courtyard, signing autographs and shaking hands, soaking up the adoration of the dozen or so hard-core fans from as far away as Holland and Belgium who had come to see their idol play.
Despite the fact that this reporter hates hounding his idols, I found myself standing in line too. Hey, he wrote "Heroes and Villians!" When I finally got to shake his hand, and asked Parks when they'd be playing again, he said they'd be going to Europe, after which time Inara would be returning to the U.S. to try to "get knocked up" by her husband. Wow... here's hoping that baby fever doesn't ruin the symbiotic relationship she and Parks have so far used to craft great American music together.