Van Dyke Parks – HuffPost 3.21.12

Mike Ragogna: Van Dyke, do you have any more advice that you think would be valuable to artists just starting out?

Van Dyke Parks: I can only reiterate what Vic Chesnutt said – “There is no shelter in the arts.” It is uncertain by definition and flies in the face of the five-year plan. But it must be pursued with a discipline and a willingness to learn things that seem irrelevant. In terms of music, I feel that music should be read to be believed. You can always abandon a page, but if it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage. And that’s the truth. It takes work and discipline, but it also takes an incredible power of forgiveness and a desire to serve the music completely without any sort of cosmetic desire. Stripped and bleeding…baring your soul, so that someone else might feel exalted and able. You must learn to give if you want to pursue the arts.