Between reading about Ray Davies' becoming a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and running into TimesWatch editor Clay Waters on the PATH train—who wrote a review of Muswell Hillbillies that I like far better than the album itself—I have the Kinks leader on the brain tonight.

Despite my lack of fondness for the well-loved Muswell Hillbillies—easily explained when you know that my musical sensibilities lie squarely in the Sixties—I adore the Kinks. (Village Green Preservation Society's my favorite of their albums, though I had the honor of penning liner notes for the reissue of what's arguably their last significant album, 1984's Word of Mouth.) So I was thrilled back in July 1998 when I had the opportunity to attend a Ray Davies press conference—especially since it promised to include a showing of his home movies.

The press conference was to promote a spate of Kinks reissues that included of Muswell Hillbillies. Davies' home movies included footage of Muswell Hill, the working-class London neighborhood where he grew up and to which he's maintained ties—the Kinks' studio, Konk, is based there. After he showed the films, he took questions from the audience.

I asked—nervously, but with every attempt at politeness—"How did the people of Muswell Hill appreciate your depiction of the neighborhood on Muswell Hillbillies? Would you say they believed your depiction reflected the neighborhood accurately?"

Perhaps it's unfair to ask an artist what his audience thinks of him. Even so, I was not prepared for Davies' reaction.

I don't remember his exact words, but I've checked my memories against those of New York Press writer J.R. Taylor, who was also there, and he agrees that Davies dismissed the question—and I recall that it was with utter disgust. How dare I presume that the reaction of the residents of the neighborhood he depicted could have any bearing upon his work of art! At any rate, he implied, the residents clearly adored him, so their opinion of the manner in which he immortalized them was immaterial.