Interview shock! Fagen: We've lost our sense of humour!

Seriously though; here's a brand new interview with Donald Fagen in the Montreal Gazette. A couple of new quotes as he and the reporter revisit the Steely Dan saga once more.

Weekend music: Steely Week?

File under I-have-a-search-engine-and-I-know-how-to-use-it:

Stumbled across a blogger comparing a group called The Week That Was with Steely Dan. Quote:

Peter claims musical inspiration came from the early '80s when people were obsessed with Fairlight synthesizers and the Linn drum. But as I was listening to the album's first single, "Scratch the Surface," the more I listened the more it reminded me of Steely Dan than anything else. ("Night by Night," specifically.)

Well. Make up your own mind. Here's the song.

(Radio Dupree's Pop Department says: A catchy little song!)

P.S. The full blog post on The Week That Was (including mp3) can be found here.

This day in music ... June 21

Found this:

Today in music - June 21

1732 - Composer Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach was born.

1941 - Wayne King and his orchestra recorded “Time Was” with Buddy Clark.

1948 - Columbia Records began the first mass production of the 33 1/3 RPM LP.

1952 - Fats Domino’s “Goin’ Home” became his first #1 hit.

1955 - Johnny Cash’s first single, “Cry Cry Cry,” was released.

1975 - Ritchie Blackmore quit Deep Purple to form Rainbow.

1975 - James Taylor’s “How Sweet It Is” was released.

1979 - Mick Taylor released his first solo album after leaving the Rolling Stones four years before.

1981 - Donald Fagan and Walter Becker announced the break-up of Steely Dan.

1985 - Ron Howard directed his first music video for “Gravity” by Michael Sembello.

1989 - The New Kids on the Block released “Hangin’ Tough.”

1990 - Little Richard received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

1999 - Pantera rode a float in the Dallas Stars Stanley Cup victory parade in downtown Dallas. Pantera is responsible for the Stars’ theme song.

And I started to write something about how the importance of the items from the years included really doesn't seem to grow as you go down the list and closer to here and now. But then I decided not to... After all its just a list.

A big HAVE A GREAT, WONDERFUL AND EVERLASTING EVENING to all attendning the final night at the Beacon in N.Y. including the after party.
You never thought you'd be there tonight that day back in 1981 when Steely Dan called it quits. ;)

Fresh pics from the Beacon

With just the final of six nights to go at the Beacon Theatre in New York, msg.com has published eight photos of Steely Dan on stage.

Go here for the photos and to the blog named The Monitor if you went to one or more and want to share your thoughts about the shows.

Great new Walter Becker and Donald Fagen interviews

Do not miss this interview with Walter Becker in Time Out New York. Lots of talk about the new album, songwriting and Steely Dan!
New insights even for those of those who have read each and every line written about the band, Walter and Donald.

ADDED: And here's a new review of the Wednesday gig in Alpharetta, Georgia. After reading the diehard fans reactions and thoughts it's interesting to read this review of the show written by a guy that admits he's not that familiar with Steely Dan but ends up with a positive view of the evening.

AND FINALLY YET ANOTHER ADDITION TO THIS POST: Another brand new interview appeared today. It's with Donald Fagen and can be read over at the Gothamist.

And the winner is...

Time to announce the winner of our little competition announced this Sunday, just hours before the first show of the Think Fast Steely Dan tour.

The subject of the competition was to name 15 songs that would be on that first night's setlist.
Not much time to come up with a entr but quite a few did. And the guy that managed to find eight correct songs is Matt Kearns!

A copy of the international version of Walter Becker's Circus Money is the price.

So what songs were played? What did the setlist look like?
We won't be posting it here. We did the mistake to do that last year for the 2007 tour, and got a few rightfully sour reactions from people who were going to see the band and didn't want to know in advance what was being played.

SO if you want to know the setlists you can snip on over to Hoops bluebook were they usually appear shortly after each and every show.

Judging by the setlists so far this year's tour looks like a very good one for the Steely Dan fan. We're sad we won't make any of the shows this time around...

*goes off to sulk and perhaps try to find that smile again playing Circus Money on repeat*

Steely Dan tour 2008: Special guests

Opening acts have been announced for the Steely Dan tour that will start in less than a fortnight.

Bill Charlap Trio
Jun 13 - Beacon Theater - New York NY
Jun 14 - Beacon Theater - New York NY

The Chris Cheek Group
Jun 17 - Beacon Theater - New York NY
Jun 18 - Beacon Theater - New York NY

Catherine Russell
Jul 01 - Festival International de Jazz de Montreal - Montreal, QC
Jul 02 - Festival International de Jazz de Montreal - Montreal, QC

Sam Yahel Organ Trio
Jun 09 - Ruth Eckerd Hall - Clearwater, FL
Jun 11 - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre - Alpharetta, GA
Jun 20 - Beacon Theatre - New York, NY
Jun 21 - Beacon Theatre - New York, NY
Jun 23 - Bank of America Pavilion - Boston, MA
Jun 25 - Chevrolet Theatre - Wallingford, CT
Jun 28 - Susquehanna Bank Ctr. - Camden, NJ

More will be added here:
http://steelydan.com/tour08guests.html

According to the latest newsletter more dates will be added.

Led Zeppelin wins drum album poll

UK:s Rhythm Magazine asked the readers to vote for the top drum albums of all time. A whole lot of Led Zeppelin in the Top 50 including the top spot with Led Zeppelin IV.
Steely Dan's Aja clocks in at #7.

Here's a blog rundown of the Top 50.

And here's an inspired drum solo from Stevie Wonder who drummed his way to #16 with his 1973 album Innervisions.

The Carly Simon - Steely Dan connection + some new rereleases

The Radio Dupree homepage has just been updated with:

* The listener's Top 20.
* Who won the April giveaway?
* The connection between Carly Simon's brand new CD and Steely Dan.
* An upcoming bunch of Steely Dan rereleases for the completist collector.
* Album of the Month: King Crimson's The Great Deceiver.

Drop on by and have a look.

Steely Dan vs. The Eagles

This blog is not exclusively Steely Dan, far from it. But as we keep an eye on that very same group we should've had this clip here eons ago. It was about that time we first heard Yacht Rock mentioned.
And we meant to check it out. But you know how things go. You put it off and suddenly you're one way or another reminded that you haven't seen the clip yet. And you finally do and find it funny. And as we haven't had any clip here for quite some time we thought we'd give you Yacht Rock episode 10. The episode were we get to see how that feud between the two of the most successful 1970's bands played out. Steely Dan versus The Eagles:



P.S.
It just struck us as somewhat odd in a perplexing way that more than 30 years on both groups are still around, touring and recording...

Steely Dan 2008: Playing in Europe? Not likely...

It's a bit of a pipe dream, but living in Europe we're allowed to nurture it. And after last year's world tour we imagined that just maybe, just maybe, Steely Dan would take the 2008 tour abroad as well.

With the latest update to drummer Keith Carlock's homepage those dreams look set to stay just dreams. Keith will be on tour with his own band Rudder in September and Wayne Krantz in October.
Somehow we find it hard to see Steely Dan touring with a different drummer. And going back on the road in November?

Over on steelydan.com they've gigs listed until August 9, so theoretically they could add a few international dates for the remainder of the month. Hmmm... OK. It's back to dreaming!

But before we go a question:
Carly Simon has just released her first album of new songs in eight years. It's called This Kind Of Love and has a clear Steely Dan connection. What is that connection?
No, it's not drummer Rick Marotta who also played on Gaucho, Aja and The Royal Scam.
The correct answer to the question will be posted here this weekend if we don't get it in the comments to this post!

Ponderlingly yours,
N.S.

Steely Dan 2008 lineup?

So who's in the Steely Dan orchestra for the 2008 summer tour?

If we're to believe what's posted over on waltweiskopf.com this is the lineup:

Donald Fagen, Walter Becker, Jeff Young, Jon Herington, Freddie Washington, Keith Carlock, Carolyn Leonhart, Cindy Mizelle, Michael Leonhart, Walt Weiskopf, Jim Pugh & Roger Rosenberg.

"Fagen and Martha, man"

April 7 we promised a post in regard to Mr Donald Fagen the next day. So it's long overdue. But here it is. Finally.

While Walter Becker's Circus Money will be out June 10, the other half of Steely Dan will beat him to appearing on a new record. Donald Fagen plays on one of the tracks on Martha Wainwright's new album I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too.
The release dates are as follows:

UK - May 12th
Australia- May 13th
Germany - May 23rd
All Europe - May 26th
Canada - June 3rd
USA - June 10

The track Donald is on is titled So Many Friends. Now, that's a song she has been playing live for some time, and you can actually find and listen to three different preformances of the song on the Internet.

March, 2006 she performed So Many Friends and two more songs on Minnesota Public Radio. Here's the link. There are two listen-links up and to the right on the page.

And this link will take you to another Wainwright performance of the song. This time on National Public Radio. Both her and Neko Case's sets can be downloaded.

And finally there's the YouTube clip from Milwaukee and 2006.

Go listen to all versions and try to figure out what Donald will do on the keyboards with this song!

And for all who've missed Michael Leonhart's Memory Man videos on YouTube. Here they are, featuring Harlan Post Jr. as the Memory Man. Now, doesn't Harlan look familiar...? ;)

Could the R-E-A-L Rikki please stand up (and give us a call...)

Rikki don't lose that number
You don't wanna call nobody else
Send it off in a letter to yourself
Rikki don't lose that number
It's the only one you own
You might use it if you feel better
When you get home

Back in 1974 the song Rikki Don't Lose That Number from Steely Dan's Pretzel Logic was a big hit.
Who Rikki really was and if she/he really existed has been debated.

In the article Back To Annandale published in Entertainment Weekly in 2006 Rikki might be the wife of a professor:

"One such unrequited crush might have been a professor's young wife named Rikki Ducornet, whose first name will be familiar to Steely Dan fans. Fagen won't admit it — he's always been extremely reluctant to explain his songs — but it's easy to imagine that Ducornet was the inspiration for one of his band's most famous tunes, ''Rikki Don't Lose That Number.'' ''I remember we had a great conversation and he did suggest I call him, which never happened,'' says Ducornet, now a well-regarded novelist and artist. ''But I know he thought I was cute. And I was cute,'' she laughs. ''I was very tempted to call him, but I thought it might be a bit risky. I was very enchanted with him and with the music. It was so evident from the get-go that he was wildly talented. Being a young faculty wife and, I believe, pregnant at the time, I behaved myself, let's say. Years later, I walked into a record store and heard his voice and thought, 'That's Fagen. And that's my name!'"

The very same Rikki Ducornet pops up - pic and all - in an article named
Meet Springsteen's Rosalita and rock muses Rikki and Sharona, too published today by Daily News.

So is Rikki about Rikki Ducornet? Or maybe about guitarist Rick Derringer? Or is it a tale of gay lovers ... or some other explanation presented as fact? We don't know and Donald and Walter won't tell.

More on Rikki Ducornet and her writing can be found here.

Play MadLibs with Circus Money lyrics

walterbecker.com has been updated with a text titled Girls go to the sea. It is in part written using lyrics from Circus Money, and you're suggested to have "a little MadLibs fun".

The first thing we wondered was what "MadLibs" means.

Here's what Wikipedia writes:

Mad Libs (a play on ad lib, from Latin ad libitum - as you wish) is a word game where one player prompts another for a list of words to substitute for blanks in a story; these word substitutions have a humorous effect when the resulting story is then read aloud. The game is especially popular with American children and is frequently played as a party game or as a pastime. Mad Libs was invented in the 1950s by Leonard Stern and Roger Price, who published the first editions themselves.

So get reading and playing filling in those missing words! And there's also more than one reminder to sign up for the walterbecker.com newsletter if you're - as it is phrased - interested in any possible early acquisitions.

: : : : Steely Dan's summer tour 2008 : : : :

Meanwhile the number of shows that make up this summer's Think Fast, Steely Dan tour grows.
As this is being typed there are 25 shows listed and the brand new issue of the steelydan.com newsletter promise that more still will be added.
No word on any dates outside of the U.S. and Canada. And it might just be our negative disposition, but we doubt this tour will turn into a world tour like the one in 2007.

Another Black Friday

Thanks to Carsten who wrote us about this cover version of Steely Dan's Black Friday.
A band from Florida, USA named Ben Jackson Group that according to the groups MySpace page plays metal/progressive/rock. You can hear a minute of the Black Friday version four minutes into the track named New Record Preview.

Black Friday is on the groups upcoming third album Gold And Dragons. A bit more about the album and the band can be read here.

Puke-streaked tunic!

Thanks to the Rolling Stone we get a couple of choice lyrics as well as one more Circus Money song title:

"Becker lays down some mean bass lines (backed by a crack band of Steely vets) on rock-steady tracks, and busts out awesome phrases such as “lachrymose musings,” “puke-streaked tunic” and “Kundalini now!” He even name-drops “muscatel,” a sweet, fortified wine on the track “Darkling Down.” “I remember using muscatel in the Sixties,” says Becker. “For a headache that I didn’t have yet.”"

Question for the Steely Dan fan in-the-know:
What Seely Dan track also mention muscatel in the lyrics?

And to the two previous mentioned titles; Bob is Not Your Uncle Anymore and Do You Remember the Name, we can add Darkling Down. We have to go back to our Walter-watch page and see what other titles were mentioned back in November 2007:

A list of copyrighted titles/songs:

Walter Becker only:
- "The Happy Song"
- "Circus Monkey"

Walter Becker & Larry Klein:
- " Bob is Not Your Uncle Any More"
- " Downtown Canon"
- " Darkling Down"
- " Do You Remember the Name"
- " Door Number Two"
- " God's Eye View"
- " Paging Audrey"
- " Somebody's Saturday Night"
- " Three Picture Deal"

Hmmm...? Circus Monkey? Spelling error in the copyright office? And what other titles of those above will make the final track listing?
The CD is up for pre-order on a lot of different web-stores, but not one lists the tracks on the album.

: : : : : : : : :

Over on steelydan.com they keep adding dates for this summer's tour. Right now it looks like this:

Jun 08 - Seminole Hard Rock - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Jun 09 - Ruth Eckerd Hall - Clearwater, FL
Jun 11 - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre - Alpharetta, GA
Jun 13 - Beacon Theatre - New York, NY
Jun 14 - Beacon Theatre - New York, NY
Jun 17 - Beacon Theatre - New York, NY
Jun 18 - Beacon Theatre - New York, NY
Jun 20 - Beacon Theatre - New York, NY
Jun 23 - Bank of America Pavilion - Boston, MA
Jun 25 - Chevrolet Theatre - Wallingford, CT
Jun 27 - Borgata Event Center - Atlantic City, NJ
Jun 28 - Susquehanna Bank Center - Camden, NJ
Jul 01 - Festival International de Jazz de Montreal - Montreal, QC
Jul 02 - Festival International de Jazz de Montreal - Montreal, QC
Jul 04 - Casino Rama - Toronto ON | on sale TBA
Jul 13 - National City Pavilion - Cincinnati OH
Jul 15 - Chicago Theater - Chicago IL
Jul 26 - Greek Theatre - Berkeley CA
Jul 28 - Mountain Winery - Saratoga CA
Jul 30 - Chateau St. Michele Winery - Woodinville WA
Jul 31 - Chateau St. Michele Winery - Woodinville WA

With all this talk about Walter Becker and Steely Dan we should probably try to get some Donald Fagen update in here as well... Let's see. OK we'll have a Fagen post tomorrow.

Steely Dan live 2008: A fourth New York date

June 18 - Beacon Theatre - New York, NY

http://steelydan.com

Steely Dan live 2008: Added and changes

And here's another update with a couple of new dates as well as a couple of changed dates:


June:
08 - Seminole Hard Rock - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
09 - Ruth Eckerd Hall - Clearwater, FL
11 - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre - Atlanta, GA
13 - Beacon Theatre - New York, NY
14 - Beacon Theatre - New York, NY
17 - Beacon Theatre - New York, NY
23 - Bank of America Pavilion - Boston, MA
25 - Chevrolet Theatre - Wallingford, CT
27 - Borgata Event Center - Atlantic City, NJ
28 - Susquehanna Bank Center - Camden, NJ
July:
01 - Festival International de Jazz de Montreal - Montreal, QC
02 - Festival International de Jazz de Montreal - Montreal, QC
04 - Casino Rama - Toronto ON
05 - MBNA, Ottawa Jazz Festival, Ottawa, ON

"More to come"...

Steely Dan live 2008: Five more dates

Here's five more dates added to the Think fast, Steely Dan tour:

June 08 - Seminole Hard Rock - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
June 11 - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre - Atlanta, GA
June 25 - Chevrolet Theatre - Wallingford, CT
June 27 - Borgata Event Center - Atlantic City, NJ
June 28 - Tower Theatre - Philadelphia, PA

No tickets for sale yet for these dates. Check steelydan.com for more info.