@edcyn, small world: I too lived in the Valley for years. Sherman Oaks, Burbank, and Glendale, mostly. I then bought a house up in the Foothills above Glendale, in Tujunga. A lot of musicians live up there.
Van Dyke’s Song Cycle is an acquired taste, way too odd for most folks I imagine. It was his inclusion of Randy Newman’s "Vine Street" on the album that alerted me to Newman’s existence. Thank you VDP!
@1111art, good choice in Emitt Rhodes. His debut is a perfect album, after which the brutality of the music business soured him. He finished a couple more okay albums, then retreaded to his home studio, making a living recording locals. I did a session with him in the late-90’s, and one live show, his first in a quarter century. You know he died last July, right? I have his last album (issued on LP in 2016), but have been afraid to listen to it. ;-)