The summer of 2002 at the Wilson birthday party I met Van Dyke again and I made plans to have dinner with him.

The summer of 2002 at the Wilson birthday party I met Van Dyke again and I made plans to have dinner with him.

The openness of rural Nebraska certainly influenced me. That openness, in a way, fosters the imagination. But growing up, Lincoln wasn't a small town. It was a college town. It had record stores and was a liberal place.

I went to a rare live Van Dyke show and met him there. And then he came to a show of mine and we spoke back stage. The third time was at Brian Wilson's birthday party.