Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Kalinich. Him and his team share his story with us below.
Can you kick things off for us with some background?
I am a poet-artist performer songwriter. Immersing himself in the anti-war movement – always a strong theme in his writings – he began working the LA scene as a poet and performer.
It’s not very often that we have the honor of promoting an album that was co-produced by the legendary Brian Wilson. But even now, when it seems like everything that Wilson touched has been exhumed, we find a lost gem in Stephen John Kalinich’s A World Of Peace Must Come, an album of music and psych-poetry that has remained unreleased since its recording in August 1969 in Brian Wilson’s own LA home.
Kalinich was a long-haired, young poet who had drifted from the East Coast to California in the mid-‘60s, transferring from New York’s Harper College to UCLA. Immersing himself in the anti-war movement – always a strong theme in his writings – he began working the LA scene as a poet and performer, appearing at legendary venues such as The Troubador.
“At 13 or 14, I started writing poems and articles about World Peace,” he says. “Very early I wanted to be an influence for peace and good in the world.” “Leaves Of Grass,” co-written with Kalinich’s early collaborator Mark Buckingham, recorded in 1966 and included here as a bonus track, earned Kalinich a record deal with the Beach Boys’ Brother Records, but radio stations wouldn’t play it, wrongly assuming it was about marijuana.
At the time, Kalinich was studying and working at a petrol station for a living, but despite their different lifestyles, he instantly hit it off with Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson. From that friendship came many wonderful collaborations, including Little Bird and Be Still, the first tracks co-written and sung by the band’s drummer Dennis Wilson.
One Kalinch/Dennis collaboration ‘Rainbows’ appeared on the recently reissued Pacific Ocean Blue and another Kalinich co-write (with Brian this time), Gettin’ In Over My Head, was recorded by Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney. Flash forward to 22 August 1969, when Stephen was a regular visitor to Brian Wilson’s Bel Air home.
Over the course of many nights and studios, Kalinich and Wilson co-produced A World Of Peace Must Come, an album of poetry backed by sparse harmonies and ethereal wisps of instrumentation played by Brian and his then-wife Marilyn Wilson. These were strange times in LA. As the hippie movement snowballed, The Doors and Love were exposing the dark underbelly of the ‘60s dream.
Kalinich’s poetry rests on that pivot point; spiritual and peace-loving, but in tune with the dissolving society as it hurtled towards the ‘70s. It’s as political and intense as it is beautiful. Though Kalinich was actually the first artist signed to the Beach Boys’ Brother Records, the album remained unreleased. Later, as the tapes went missing, it looked set to remain a lost relic – and many Brian Wilson experts refused to believe it ever existed.
Almost 40 years later (and nearly 20 years after those tapes finally materialized), the album has finally found a place to call home. Light In The Attic Records is set to release A World Of Peace Must Come, and restore Kalinich’s place, not just in the history of the Beach Boys, but in the cultural landscape of late-’60s LA.
Kalinich, who now splits his time between Los Angeles and Brighton, UK, and is still a close friend of Brian Wilson, decided A World Of Peace Must Come needed to finally see the light of day after the September 11 terror attacks, when he stood on an LA stage and recited America, I Know You to a rapturous response.
The finished album will be presented in a beautiful digipack, with liner notes incorporating the full poems, archive photos, and notes by Beach Boys archivist Alan Boyd. For the first time, this truly timeless snapshot of an era and an ethos will be available internationally. We can only hope that Kalinich’s prophecy is eventually fulfilled Then in 2014 it came out on vinyl and sold out on Record Store day .
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Not a smooth road.Ups and downs. Getting signed by the Beach Boys very young and then breaking my contract. A lot of money and then no money. Having people tell me for years my record A World Of Peace Must Come would never be released, and eventually, it was. I keep believing, and eventually, people became interested.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Music Art Poetry – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
-I am a poet who became a songwriter.
-I specialize in song lyrics and spoken word performers.
-I now also do Art and am planning a major show and do album covers for other artists.
-I recently did an album cover for Jason Faulkner.
There are thousands of references on Yahoo, Google, etc.
-I am 77.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
To continue as an artist painter spoken word and regular albums. To tour around the world with spoken word and percussion Bobbye Hall and to do a project in the UK with David Courtney.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.stephenjohnkalinich.co.uk
- Email: [email protected]
- Facebook: Stephen Kalinich and Stephen J Kalinich
- Instagram: beachboys72
- Twitter: Starcries
Image Credit:
Christinna Guzman
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
