Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, dear Radio Dupree listeners and Radio Dupree blog readers!
2007 was not our best year since we started this internet radio station in 2003. The total listening time has gone down with about 50 %. One of the reasons for that are some changes in the rules for internet broadcasting, but I'm not going to bore you with the details of that now.
We are still around and so are many of you listeners and that's what counts.
2007 saw some enjoyable things too, and we will start 2008 with one of them. Check the photo above and you'll get the picture (!)
Album of the month in January is a new live album by Genesis from the tour last summer. Well, it's not their Live Over Europe album released in November, and on the other hand it is. Check out the Radio Dupree homepage http://www.pergunnareriksson.se/dupree.htm
in a couple of days to solve that mystery.
Cheers, fellows!
/Siggy
Radio Dupree station manager

Ian Anderson becomes MBE

Everyone talks about singer Kylie Minogue when the subject is the New Year Honours list and The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Kylie becomes an OBE (officer). Radio Dupree congratulates Kylie but would like to focus on Ian Anderson, leader of prog veteran group Jethro Tull instead. He is made an MBE (member). Ian sure deserves this. BBC News puts it this way: Ian enters his 45th year in the music industry in 2008.

2008 ... it's official!

Still a couple of days to go, but the official Steely Dan site is already on 2008. Apparently.
And nothing wrong with that! 2008 is a year to look forward to. At least if we're supposed to believe Fagen in that newly published interview. Walter Becker will release his second solo album, Steely Dan and/or Donald Fagen solo will tour...

And - most importantly - Radio Dupree will celebrate five years on the air!
Expect us to make good use of this special year in Radio Dupree's short but pleasant existence. We'll have fun on the station, web page and blog. Consider yourself informed, warned and updated.

Walter Becker's solo CD: No news this year

Call us slightly anal retentive, but a change in the news section over on steelydan.com has made it clear for us that the promised indicated news about Walter Becker's upcoming solo album won't be here before we shout "Happy New Year 2008!"

This is what it used to say:


This is the same paragraph as of December 27:

Hmmm...

Baal for Christmas

For Christmas and the last days of 2007 we serve you...Baal, one of David Bowie's more odd recordings.
Baal is a musical play by Bertolt Brecht. It is a rather dark story about the life of the amoral poet singer Baal.
In 1982 BBC wanted to record it as a TV play and Bowie was offered the role as Baal.
He found it appealing since he thought it was the saga of the original super punk.
The record company RCA wanted to release the five song soundtrack as a part of a new Bowie album. However RCA thought that Bowie did not come up with any new songs that would fit the Baal music so they cut down their ambitions to an EP including nothing but the five Baal songs.
Many fans probably found the recording more true to Brecht than anyone would have guessed, and the Baal record was probably nothing to recommend for the new fans who embraced his Let's Dance album just one year later.
The Baal record was released both as 12" and 7" records. It has never been rereleased in its entirety on CD, but was made available as a download just some year ago.
The Baal songs played on Radio Dupree have been transferred from a 12" disc.
The Baal TV play can be found on
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnyXoFlyB1Q
if you want to check that one out.
Merry Christmas!

The Nightfly Trilogy - a review

All About Jazz has a thorough review of Donald Fagen's The Nightfly Trilogy box set. Well worth a read.

Here's the link:
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=27807

Donald Fagen on Ike Turner

Ike Turner passed away last week. He was 76.
Donald Fagen writes a fine obituary in Slate magazine. You can read it here:
http://www.slate.com/id/2180162/

And why not give Ike's Rocket 88 a spin while you're at it:


And here's Roscoe Gordon's No More Doggin' mentioned by Donald in the obituary:


And, believe it or not, but Donald's favorite is up on YouTube to hear as well!
Quote:
"My favorite from this period, though, is "I'm Blue (The Gong Gong Song)" by the Ikettes, with Dolores Johnson singing the lead vocal."

Reeling through the channels

The Next Great American Band is apparently yet another music show on TV where they try to find the flavor of the month, with a winner that'll survive an album or two before being relegated to the has-beens. Perharps with a little luck eligible for a part in some reality show where they round up the sad remnants of fleeting fame and let them make a final spectacle of themselves. You get the drift.

Here's a link to one of the groups remaining in the competition doing a Steely Dan tune; Sixwire and Reeling In The Years. Good, bad or indifferent? You be the judge.

Jimi Hendrix: Acoustic + in Sweden

In keeping with our Album of the Month-artist Jimi Hendrix, we sifted through some YouTube dreck to come up with these two must-sees.

Jimi playing an acoustic guitar and singing:




Jimi in Sweden doing Voodoo Chile:

XMas: Jimi Hendrix Christmas Medley

Since the Radio Dupree Album of the Month is Axis: Bold As Love from The Jimi Hendrix Experience, we found it quite natural to present this "video" of pictures set to the Christmas medley of Little Drummer Boy/Silent Night/Auld Lang Syne recorded back in 1969.
The picture of Jimi in a Santa outfit was originally taken to promote Axis... in UK music magazine Record Mirror, but was also used for a 1999 vinyl release of this medley.

Our Zeppelin reunion post

Apparently a good time was had by all at the Led Zeppelin reunion gig in London Monday night. Here are a couple of links:

BBC:s take on the show.

Links to other media reviews.

And here's the fan page!

Pictures.


And over on YouTube and other sites like it videos are uploaded by people who were at the show with their cellphones/mobiles. And the videos are taken down by the record company.
A bootleg of the whole Zeppelin show has already been announced. It's business as usual...

XMas: Pogues & Kirsty MacColl

Let's get ready for Christmas with a few videos! And the first one is a classic; Fairytale of New York where The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl teamed up. Here's the original video version and a live version from 1988. Enjoy them both and be back in a couple of days for another Christmas video.

Weekend music: Sweet Pea Atkinson!

Having a soft spot for 80's/90's group Was (Not Was) makes this a natural choice for our occasional weekend video.
One of the singers in that group was (and is*) Sweet Pea Atkinson. Listen to that voice!

Here's a pretty brand new recording of him and various others doing Back In Love Again. It was originally a hit for the group L.T.D. back in 1977.

And look out for the drummer. It's a guy named James Gadson. He's played on some of the greatest records in R&B history including Marvin Gaye's I Want You and Bill Withers’ Use Me.



(*) Yes, Was (Not Was) is back together again. Have been touring a bit and recording for what might be an upcoming album.

Sweden loves Springsteen

And that's no secret. He's always been popular here. Well, at least from Born To Run and onwards.

His summer show 2008 tickets went on sale and all 50 000 of them were sold out in an hour. So they added a second show and another 50 000 tickets. They sold out almost as fast.

I think it is safe to say that Bruce Springsteen has passed The Rolling Stones as the top draw in this country.
What we do wonder here at Radio Dupree is how long both these veteran bands can count on the same level of interest from Swedes? And will there be anyone that can sell tickets like them in the future?

Sex Pistols play Isle of Wight and Peace & Love

Punk veterans The Sex Pistols are topping the bill of next year's Isle of Wight music festival. BBC reports that The Police will be another main attraction of the festival. The Sex Pistols will also play the Peace & Love Festival in Borlänge, Sweden the same month (June).

It's here...!

"It" being the Nightfly Trilogy box set. The Swedish Customs (Tullverket) and the Swedish Postal Service (Posten) added 169 Swedish kronor to the total. That's $25.50 or £12.90 or €18.00. But, hey! I got one of the 100 signed copies sold through donaldfagen.com.

While waiting for my box set to arrive I searched for info on it and pictures of it on the Internet. I wanted to know what it looked like, what it contained.
So now that I have my own copy I'll do just that; get some pics and text up as soon as possible so you can see what you get if you buy Donald Fagen's Nightfly Trilogy.

I have a busy Friday, but sometime late this Saturday a page should be up and ready. Check back for a link.

P.S.
We've added the two previously unreleased tracks; Hank's Pad and Viva Viva Rock 'N' Roll, to the Radio Dupree playlist.

- - - - - Update December 2 - - - - -

The Trilogy page is up! Just a few photos and quick description of what it looks like. To see and read just click this link to get there.

The Swedish Arrangement...

Time to get local. And once again push our local Steely Dan tribute band; 2nd Arrangement. The previous - and first - time we mentioned them was two months ago.

A new video from the latest gig is up. It's a six minute sweep containing a quick taste of the following songs: Lunch with Gina, Bad Sneakers, Green Earrings, Peg, Any Major Dude, Do It Again and The Second Arrangement.

They've added trumpet and saxophone and are eight people strong by now.
Looking forward to the next gig! Radio Dupree promise to be there.

Fagen Trilogy promo sold on eBay

What can you do with $71.01?
You can buy a promo copy of Donald Fagen's The Nightfly Trilogy box set on eBay.


That's what somebody did earlier this month. Looks like a two-record deal; one CD and one DVD.

Here's a link to the page.

Donald Fagen MVI page

We've mentioned it a couple of months ago, but it looks a bit different now so we thought we'd give you the URL once more:

http://www.mvimusic.com/donaldfagen/

That's the official page on what "MVI" is in regard to the Nightfly Trilogy box and Donald Fagen.

(MVI's are basically DVD discs with music and bonus stuff like videos, text and pics.)

And here's a link to a discussion on an audiophile forum. The view of the box set so far seem to be unimpressed.
Unimpressed by the sound: No remastering of the albums and the bonus cuts just in stereo.
Unimpressed by the packaging: No printed booklets. All the text/credits on the MVI discs only. A custom-ringtone application were you have to pay for whatever ringtone you create from the one song per album that's available. And then there's the mp3 versions of the music for the mp3 ripping-challenged among the boxed set owners.

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=101396
(The comments on the boxed set starts on page seven...)

For us the interesting stuff is to see what Donald has to say in the written track-by-track comments to all songs. And what the three promised bonus things will prove to be. According to the MVI-site we can expect something more:

"At least three "connected events" will be made available at minimum to registered owners of an MVI release. These events will include the ability to download bonus songs or video and may also include access to album updates, artist posting and special offers. Some artists may offer more than three connected events if they choose."

We can't help notice that the "Kamakiriad Behind The Scenes Documentary" mentioned in early press releases has disappeared from the box set. Our guess is that it might be one of the three bonus thingies coming up.

Anyhoo... We'll see what we think of the whole shebang as soon as our copy arrives.

One thing we were reminded of reading the forum postings was that this would've been a great chance to release Donald's version of the song Bright Lights, Big City from the 1988 movie of the same name. It was recorded but never made the soundtrack CD ... and not this boxed set either.

Got your copy of the box set already? Not bothering to get one? Feel free to share your views by adding a comment.

What's in a "remaster"?

An interesting article about remastering for all audiophile buffs out there. And for the casual listener as well. Should I buy these songs one more time if I already have the vinyl and/or a CD version?

Timesonline: "Do the song remain the same?"

The article is based on the new remastered Led Zeppelin-collection Mothership as it is compared to the 1990 remasters and the original vinyl.

Food for thought and after reading the article we can only come to the conclusion that the art of remastering is a mix of technology, philosophy, personal taste and business.

New Fagen interview

Reuter's has a new interview with Donald Fagen here.
Of special interest is the final question & answer:

Q: What's next?

A: "I'm back into songwriting mode ... for myself and also talking with Walter about a Steely Dan album. We are planning to go out with Steely Dan in the summer (playing live) and maybe next fall (2008) I'm hoping to go out with my band ...We are having a lot of fun in our old age."

The full interview can be read here.

(P.S. As often is the case this Steely Dan-related link was found over on the dandom.com's BlueBook.)

New CD with E.S.T.

The successful Swedish jazz trio E.S.T.(Esbjörn Svensson Trio) is releasing a live CD on November 21.
It's a 2 CD set recorded live in Germany one year ago. The title is simply Live In Hamburg.
The discs include 5 songs each, all original compositions by E.S.T.

Great Bill Withers interview!

Bill Withers has been a personal favourite since I heard Ain't No Sunshine and Lovely Day for the first time. I've wondered what happened to him after a few albums in the 70's and a final one in 1985.

I'm glad to see he's alive and doing well in this fresh interview on Swedish Television. It's 30 minutes mostly in English, so no problem for you non-Swedes when it comes to watching it. The link is here:

http://svt.se/content/1/c6/97/10/17/071116musikbyran.asx
(The link will expire December 15, 2007.)

It's kinda odd that I haven't gone searching for him on the internet, but you know how these things go. While writing this I found his official homepage! Well worth a visit for more on Bill Withers.
A great songwriter and a great singer. Here's hoping he eventually will get around to doing at least one more album...

Reason to be cheerful: Trilogy in the mail

Friday the status for my ordered copy of Donald Fagen's The Nightfly Trilogy changed from "processing" to "shipped". So it's on its way! That info put a smile on my face.

And this does too. Donald and Walter back in 1996 sharing the vocals on a familiar song:

Collector's corner: Fagen/Becker autographs helps charity auction raise £16 000

One of the things up for auction this past week during the BBC's annual Children in Need fundraiser was the aptly named Star Guitar from artist Beth Nielsen Chapman.

She got a few friends to add their autographs to the guitar. OK, we can't say she collected the autographs herself. Here's what the BBC site says:

The front of Beth’s "Star Guitar" is signed by Wake Up To Wogan favourites Dolly Parton, James Taylor, Jack Johnson, Art Garfunkel, Katie Melua, Nanci Griffith, John Fogerty (Creedence Clearwater Revival), Donald Fagen and Walter Becker (Steely Dan).

Autographs on the back include: Michael McDonald, B. J. Thomas ('Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head'), legendary guitarist James Burton (who played with Elvis, Ricky Nelson and Emmylou Harris), John Kay (Steppenwolf), country star Tanya Tucker, and Delbert McLinton (the man who taught John Lennon to play harmonica).

How much did someone pay for the signed guitar? £16,000! Which equals $32,766.

And while we're on Steely Dan stuff being sold:

We haven't mentioned these two items on Ebay before so here goes...

October:
Walt Becker Steely Dan 58 Fender Precision Bass

This example of a 1958 Fender Precision bass was used in early Steely Dan recordings. Walter Becker purchased this bass in 1973 and used it on the recording of the Pretzel Logic album including the hit song "Rikki, Don't Loose That Number." The bass has been stored in Hawaii for several years and depicts some finish flaking due to the high humidity on the islands. The maple neck is very clean.
(From the Jimmy Crimmins 'Vintage Connection' Guitar Collection.)

Sold by Heritage Auctions for the neat sum of $29,500. More info here.

November:
Royal Scam Gold Award

Sold for $ 690. More info here.

Zappa Plays Zappa DVD out now

The Zappa Plays Zappa live DVD is available now. The 2 DVD set features more than 3 hours of music.
For more information: Check out http://www.zappa.com/ or http://www.barfkoswill.shop.musictoday.com/
Three concert dates of Japan are added to the Zappa Plays Zappa tour schedule:
January 21, 2008 Osaka
January 22, 2008 Tokyo
January 23, 2008 Yokohama

The Essence of Swedish Progressive Music 1967–1979

Looking for a slightly different Christmas gift? How about a 4 CD box of Swedish progressive music from the late 60's to the late 70's?

Following the book The Encyclopedia of Swedish Progressive Music 1967–1979 released earlier this year, comes a collection of tracks/artists that goes for the essence of Swedish progressive music.

"Explore the experimental groups, the power trios and the psychedelic acts. Over five hours of music, with the majority of the tracks previously unreleased on CD. Whereas most other compilations from this part of the Swedish rock era have focused on its political angle, this time we take the opposite route. It’s time to let the music do the talking!"

The limited edition box set titled The Essence of Swedish Progressive Music 1967–1979 will be released November 15.
Read more about it here. And see the full track listing here.

Looks like a must-have for the person interested in Swedish progressive music of yore!

Trilogy countdown

It's about a week left until Donald Fagen's The Nightfly Trilogy box is released. Europe on the 19, the U.S. on the 20 and Japan the 21. So we thought we'd add a little countdown to mark the days, hours and seconds left. It can be found up on the right side of the page.

Since we ordered our set from donaldfagen.com's webshop to get it signed by DF himself, we expect to wait a couple more weeks for it to make it across the pond and through customs. As long as it gets here safe and sound we're willing to wait .... Might have to start another counter for that!

Weekly Top 10 - November 11, 2007

1. Bill Bruford - Seems Like a Lifetime Ago, Pt. 1 - Feels Good to Me

2. David Bowie - Silly Boy Blue - Bowie At The Beeb
3. Surfjan Stevens - Free Man In Paris - A Tribute To Joni
=. Steely Dan - The Caves Of Altamira - The Royal Scam
5. David Bowie - Lady Grinning Soul - Aladdin Sane
6. Traffic - Don't Be Sad - Traffic
=. Jerry Garcia - Accidentally Like A Martyr - All Good Things
8. Allan Holdsworth - Dodgy Boat - Wardenclyffe Tower
=. Pink Floyd - Eclipse - Dark Side Of The Moon
=. Lindsey Buckingham - September Song - Law & Order

Currently enjoying...

... the Robert Plant & Alison Krauss collaboration Raising Sand. You can watch an 8 minute interview with Robert and Alison here:



We're also enjoying the November update of the Radio Dupree homepage.

Donald Fagen on stage in New York November 26!

Donald Fagen is one of the artists playing the 2007 Gala Benefit Concert of the Lauri Strauss Leukemia Foundation on Monday, November 26, 7 p.m. at Carnegie Hall, New York.

Legendary songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller will be honored and among the headliners besides Donald we find Natalie Cole, Ben E. King and Chuck Jackson.

Tickets are on sale. Read more about it here.

New Zappa CD from the vault!

There is a new Frank Zappa CD out. It is a 2 CD set with the Grand Wazoo Orchestra recorded live in Boston on the 24 of September 1972.
http://www.zappa.com/ is taking pre-orders. On the site you can also hear a couple of minutes of music from the album. Sound quality and sound mix seem to be of similar quality as on the album Imaginary Diseases, recorded the same year and released on the same label (Vaulternative Records) last year; Some balance problems since it's a recording of a "big band" with a lot of instruments, but certainly not bad for a '72 road tape.

Track list disc 1: Intro, The Grand Wazoo, Approximate, Big Swifty

Track list disc 2: "Ulterior Motive", The Adventures of Greggery Peccary (4 movements), Penis Dimension, Variant I Processional March

Weekend music: Georg Wadenius

Here's 45 minutes from the gig that Georg "Jojje" Wadenius played at the Umeå Jazzfestival October 26. The links will work for 30 days. (Useless as of November 27, 2007).

It was part of Swedish Radio's live coverage and as they chop the broadcast into 1 hour chunks you'll have to do it like this to get it all. First go to this link:

* First hour *

Go 52 minutes in and you get 8 minutes of the first song "Longing". It continues here:

* Second hour *

and is followed by three more songs.

Songs (Composer):
Longing (Wadenius)
Atlantis (McCoy Tyner)
Tom Terrific (Rob Mounsey)
Sushiland (Magnus Lindgren)

The band:
Jojje Wadenius; guitar
Tommy Berndtsson; keyboards
Petter Gunnarsson; bass
Pelle Claesson; drums

More on Georg on his official homepage or his old and his new MySpace pages.

Weekend music: Godley and Gouldman

We added a couple of tracks from The Eagles' new one a few days back. And I've also noted on the Steely Dan pages I frequent that The Eagles is one of the bands/artists that that you're supposed to distance yourself from. At least if you consider yourself a person with a taste one step above the masses when it comes to the appreciation of real music.
I myself can buy the view of The Eagles as one of those 70's superbands that stuck around for the money, but at the same time I can't see why I shouldn't be able to say they did some great music. And still do. So in some way I pity the "I hate The Eagles"-people, the I hate-this-or-that-musician/music view of thinking.
It's a surefire way to miss a lot of fine music in genres and by artists that you turn your back on just because...

Which brings us to another Radio Dupree favorite that we ususally seem to play for our own pleasure and very few of our listener's: 10cc.
A popular 70's band that recordeed some great records.
The founding members are still around making music. Kevin Godley and Graham Gouldman have been trying out some new music together, uploading tracks to a website since 2006 that we found by accident this summer.
There are currently six songs available for download purchase and a video was added this week. So enjoy an old 10cc number (Old Wild Men), a new one (beautifulloser.com) and check out http://www.gg06.co.uk/.

Weekly Top 10 - October 28

1. Frank Zappa - He's So Gay - Thing-Fish
=. David Bowie - Come And Buy My Toys - David Bowie
3. King Crimson - Neal And Jack And Me - Beat
4. Genesis - Broadway Melody Of 1974 - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
=. Frank Zappa & The Mothers - Cheepnis - Roxy & Elsewhere
=. David Bowie - Warszawa - Low
7. Steely Dan - Kid Charlemagne - The Royal Scam
=. Frank Zappa - Tush Tush Tush/Stinkfoot - You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore - Vol. 2
9. The Velvet Underground - I'm Waiting For The Man - Live At Max's Kansas City
=. Frank Zappa - Friendly Little Finger - Zoot Allures

Gino Vannelli's Swedish success

Is that Gino?

Gino Vannelli's concert in Umeå, Sweden on October 27 turned out to be a huge success. The great showman Gino invited no less than four local guest musicians on stage.
Gino's only companion on stage pianist Michiel Borstlap immediately set the musical standards in the opening of the first song, Black Cars. When Gino started singing the first lines it was goosebumps time. What a voice! (and it did not fail during the entire show).

"We need a percussionist!"

It was one of those concerts with great communication between the stage and the audience. It may have helped that this concert was arranged by the Umeå Jazz Festival. The drunk howlers that you may find in clubs don't go to the festival. So the quiet parts were very enjoyable too.

There was a lot of audience participation. Gino first requested a drummer and a percussionist from the audience, and later on two guest vocalists:

"Anyone out there with a big ego?"

Reciting poetry

Gino also wanted some background vocals for one song where everyone could join in. The show included new and old songs (Wild Horses and Brother To Brother to name a few), plus two examples from an upcoming book of poems (!)

This concert showed how two musicians can keep an audience thrilled for one and a half hour. The key to that is great musicianship and showmanship.

Here are some more great news for the Gino Vannelli fans: The concert will probably be broadcast on radio later since Sveriges Radio had their recording trucks outside the concert venue. Gino was also interviewed by the SR channel P2.

Weekly Top 10 - October 21

1. Genesis - Broadway Melody Of 1974 - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
=. David Bowie - The Supermen - Bowie At The Beeb
=. David Bowie - Beauty And The Beast - "Heroes"
=. Bowie, David - Right - Young Americans
5. The Velvet Underground - I'm Waiting For The Man - Live At Max's Kansas City
=. Iggy Pop - China Girl - The Idiot
=. The Doors - Spanish Caravan - Waiting For The Sun
=. Donald Fagen - New Frontier - The Nightfly
=. David Bowie - Diamond Dogs - Diamond Dogs
=. David Bowie - Stay - BBC Radio Theatre, London, June 27, 2000
=. Bowie, David - Word On A Wing - Station To Station
=. Bowie, David - Up The Hill Backwards - Scary Monsters

(Hey! Apparently we're playing some guy called "David Bowie"?!)

Weekly Top 10 - October 15

1. Steeleye Span - Saucy Sailor - Below The Salt
2. Soft Machine - Facelift (excerpt) - Third
=. Joe Goldmark - Peaches En Regalia - All Over The Road
=. Iggy Pop - Some Weird Sin - Lust For Life
=. David Bowie - All The Young Dudes - The Best Of David Bowie 1969-74
=. David Bowie - The Supermen - Bowie At The Beeb
=. Bowie, David - I'm Waiting For The Man - Bowie At The Beeb
=. Bob Dylan - When The Deal Goes Down - Modern Times
9. Public Image Limited - Poptones - Metal Box
=. Pink Floyd - The Post War Dream - The Final Cut
=. The Persuasions - Tears Began To Fall - The Persuasions Sing Zappa
=. David Bowie - Scream Like A Baby - Scary Monsters
=. Bowie, David - Sound And Vision - Low
=. Bowie, David - Yassassin - Lodger

Zeppelin goes digital (as in download)

The Beatles as well as Led Zeppelin are among the final big names who hasn't made their music available for legal download. Rumours regarding The Beatles finally doing that has been heard even more regularly since the solo stuff from Ringo, John, Paul and George has gone online.
But while The Beatles music still stays on CD, Led Zeppelin has announced that their complete catalogue will be available for digital download next month. That's November 2007.

Says Jimmy Page:
"We are pleased that the complete catalogue will now be available digitally. The addition of the digital option will better enable fans to obtain their music in whichever manner they prefer."

Zappa Plays Zappa in Sweden right now

Yesterday the Zappa Plays Zappa entourage played in Lund in southern Sweden. Tonight they're playing Stockholm. And what I'm I doing? Sitting in the Radio Dupree office as usual.
Well, I actually saw Dweezil and ZPZ last year and this time I thought I could relay on those wonderful memories + save some money.
But a quick look at the zappa.com tour date schedule gives us the song list of yesterday's Lund concert:
Joe's Garage, Wind up working in a gas station, San Ber'dino, Andy, City of tiny lights, Advance Romance, Dumb all over (with FZ on the big screen), Whats new in Baltimore? How could I be such a fool, I aint got no heart, I'm not satisfied, Lonely little girl, Pygmy twylyte, Duprees paradise, Ray White Polar Bear improvisation, Uncle Remus, Willie the Pimp, Zoot Allures, Doreen, Cosmic Debris (with FZ on the big screen), Illinois enema bandit.
Encores: Dog meat, G-spot tornado, Muffin man (with FZ on the big screen).
Look out America! (since the Stockholm show is the last one in Europe before the tour continues in the US).
/Siggy

Ray Davies does a "Prince" - giving away 1 500 000 CDs

Prince did it earlier this year; gave away his latest album with a newspaper. While he went with The Mail on Sunday, ex-Kinks frontman Davies has picked Sunday Times. October 21 is the date to buy the paper to get his new album Working Man's Café. A "single"; the song Vietnam Cowboys will be available as a free download on the newspaper's homepage that same Sunday.

With the music industry changing it's another sign of record companies and artists trying new ways to get the music out to the public.
Radiohead is busy giving away their new album with downloaders having the possibility to pay whatever they feel for the songs.

A sign of the very same times is the news that successful superstar Madonna is set to leave Warner Music after 25 years. Instead she'll sign a 10 year contract worth 120 million dollars with the concert promoter Live Nation.
Live Nation will get the the rights to distribute albums, promote tours, sell merchandise and license her name.

The times they are a-changin'...

Weekly Top 10 - October 8

1. Frank Zappa - Easy Meat - Buffalo
=. Bowie, David - Breaking Glass - Stage
3. Neil Young - Be With You - Are You Passionate?
=. King Crimson - Neal And Jack And Me - Beat
=. Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick - Live Bursting Out
=. David Bowie - The Voyeur Of Utter Destruction - 1. Outside
7. David Bowie - Andy Warhol - Hunky Dory
=. Bowie, David - We Are The Dead - Diamond Dogs
9. David Bowie - "Heroes" - "Heroes"
10. Suss von Ahn - Mystery Boulevard - Train To Stockholm
=. Public Image Limited - Poptones - Metal Box
=. Jimi Hendrix - Message To Love - Live At Woodstock
=. Iggy Pop - Tonight - Lust For Life
=. Frank Zappa - Muffin Man - FZ:OZ
=. Bruford - Travels With Myself - And Someone Else - The Bruford Tapes

Steven Wright!

As it is my birthday today I've decided to post something that makes me laugh everytime. And that something is anything by Steven Wright. Deadpan delivery of surreal, sometimes confusing oneliners. Like this:
STEVEN WRIGHT - LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN

Neb S.

: : : : :

A couple more from Steven:

* I bought some powdered water, but I don't know what to add to it.

* If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happen if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?

* Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time.

* Hermits have no peer pressure.

* If you were going to shoot a mime, would you use a silencer?

* It doesn't matter what temperature the room is, it's always room temperature.

* The other day somebody stole everything in my apartment and replaced it with an exact replica... When my roommate came home I said, "Roommate, someone stole everything in our apartment and replaced it with an exact replica." He looked at me and said, "Do I know you?"

A whole site of quotes can be found here.

Go take a peek!

First off to http://www.mvimusic.com/ where the people behind the MVI (Music Video Interactive) DVD format explains it all and includes a couple of pics that show what Donald Fagen's The Nightfly Trilogy box set will look like on the computer screen. If you strain your eyes you can read a sentence or two from the accompanying text that Donald has written for the record set. Out November 20, by the way.

OK. After you've looked at the MVI stuff we suggest you trip on over to the newly updated Radio Dupree homepage. Have a look at our Album of the Month (Bowie's Heroes), read some news and then click all the links to find out about stuff. And things. It's our 109 update and by far the best. Yet.

Weekly Top 10 - September 30, 2007

1. Frank Zappa - Watermelon In Easter Hay - Guitar
=. Bowie, David - We Are The Dead - Diamond Dogs
3. Soft Machine - Facelift (excerpt) - Third
=. Quant - Miracle Man - Getting Out
=. Bob Dylan - Nettie Moore - Modern Times
6. The Rolling Stones - In Another Land - Their Satanic Majesties Request
=. The Persuasions - My Guitar - The Persuasions Sing Zappa
=. The Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star - The Age of Plastic
=. Frank Zappa - Twenty Small Cigars - Chunga's Revenge
10. David Bowie - Across The Universe - Young Americans
=. Bo Hansson - Before The Rain - Magician's Hat

Here's an opportunity to check out what songs on this weekly chart makes it to the monthly chart published tomorrow (October 1) on the updated Radio Dupree homepage. That is if everything works out as planned and we get the update out October 1. Otherwise you might have to wait a day or three.
If we look at the chart above it's all well-known names with one exception; Quant.
Quant is actually Jonas Quant from Gothenburg, Sweden. The song is from his 2004 album Getting Out.

Weekend video: Walter Becker's EPK from 1994

1994: Walter Becker's solo album 11 Tracks Of Whack is released. As part of the marketing a so called EPK (Electronic Press Kit) is assembled.

September 26, 2007: A kind soul posts the seven minute EPK video on YouTube. A rare find as very few Steely Dan fans - and an even lower percentage of the rest of this earth's population - have had the chance to see it.
If you want to hear Walter sing and play; buy the album. If you want to see a fun take on a promo video, then do watch this one:

P.S. The link to the youtube link posted on The Banyan trees Sign in Stranger forum and there's where I found it.

Preparing for the Radio Dupree Bowiefest

Hi all you "Heroes", Earthlings and Aladdin Sane persons out there. Radio Dupree is preparing for a real Bowie party during October. We are celebrating the 30 years anniversary of the "Heroes" album.
Yes, it was first released in October 1977! So here's the deal: We will play all the songs from "Heroes" PLUS stuff from the other Bowie albums of the same era as well for more variation.
So put on your red shoes and dance the blues...No, sorry, that one came years later, totally different too...The party starts on Monday October 1st.

Reasons to be cheerful part 1

walterbecker.com. The last update was back in April. Yesterday's item in the Steely Dan newsletter stating that news about Walter Becker's solo album is coming soon was followed by five words in orange on the frontpage of walterbecker.com:


It is also repeated on the news page:


For anyone who - like us - has been eagerly awaiting a new solo album from Walter, this is good news indeed.

Steely Dan: Tour over and newsletter posted

The four month long Heavy Rollers 2007 tour of USA, Europe, Australia and New Zealand is over.
Who knows when or where Steely Dan will play lie again? Must be at least a couple of tours left in the "machine"!

While we wait we can read the Steely Dan Newsletter sent out today. Apart from positive remarks about the just finished tour it notes that while Steely Dan takes a rest Donald Fagen and Walter Becker will pursue solo stuff like Donald's Nightfly Trilogy box and Walter's solo album:

>> ** Becker's second solo album release
will be announced soon.
For first-word Becker news,
visit
http://walterbecker.com
and sign up for Becker's mailing list. <<

So how soon is "soon"? Must be sooner rather than later. So ... 2007? Early 2008?

Oh! And there's a bunch of new pics from the tour over on steelydan.com!

Weekly Top 10 - September 23

1.Roxy Music - In Every Dream Home A Heartache - For Your Pleasure
=. Rod Stewart - Get Back - All This And World War II
=. David Bowie - Andy Warhol - Hunky Dory
4.Neil Young - A Man Needs A Maid - Harvest
=. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Heard It Through The Grapevine - Cosmo's Factory
6.David Bowie - Rebel Rebel - Diamond Dogs
=.David Bowie - The Voyeur Of Utter Destruction - 1. Outside
8.Yes - Sweet Dreams - Time And A Word
9. Talking Heads - The Great Curve - Remain In Light
10. Frank Zappa - Imaginary Diseases - Imaginary Diseases
11.David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust - Bowie At The Beeb

Looks like a chart picked right out of the 1970's! Bowie on four tracks favoured by our listeners the past seven days. One of them sharing the top spot with Rod Stewart from a rare album of Beatles covers and Roxy Music with a track from the groups second album. The cover model Amanda Lear went on to a career as a disco artist and the panther she has on a leash was pumped so full of whatever they give panthers to take the edge off and keep them in a friendly, mellow mood, that they had to paint the menacing eyes on the photo afterwards!

Weekend music: Our local Steely Dan tribute band!

Let us introduce the six man strong 2nd Arrangement. A Steely Dan tribute band from our hometown with two gigs played and a third coming up November 1.

Here's a 10 minute clip of songs from the show they did earlier this month. You get just 40 - 60 seconds of each song. We'd like to see a couple of complete songs as they grooved along just fine that evening. We were there and enjoyed the setlist, pleasantly surprised at the inclusion of a less well-known favourite like Lunch With Gina.

http://www.2ndarrangement.com will get you to the bands MySpace-page.

It's Joni Mitchell time!

We just got Joni Mitchell's new album Shine and have started to add songs to our playlist.
Tune in and hear her first record of new music in five years.

You can read her comments on all tracks in this article.

Steely Dan: New tour pics and album rumour

The Pics from the road link over on steelydan.com has been updated with a handful of pics from Japan and Australia. And the Heavy Rollers 2007 tour that began in May is almost done; one more gig in Australia and two in New Zealand is all that's left.

And a YouTube video of a cover version of Babylon Sisters is accompanied by a by YouTube-standards long text about the group Steely Dan ending with the paragraph:

In the upcoming November issue of Guitar World, Walter Becker states that Steely Dan are recording once again. The new album scheduled to arrive in spring/summer 2008 has a working title of "Suffice It To Say. . . "

The current issue of Guitar World on sale is dated September and not a word re: Steely Dan or Walter Becker can be found on the magazine's homepage.

Steely Dan's Everything Must Go is four years old by now, and when Donald Fagen's solo album Morph The Cat was released early 2006 he sounded in a "studio mood" raising hopes for another solo album and/or Steely Dan ditto.
Whatever the truth to the Guitar World quote above may be Radio Dupree has never doubted that there would eventually be another Steely Dan album.

If the quote proves to be true we will at least have a date to count the days delayed for the album from...

: : : : :

And finally the November date for Donald Fagen's Nightfly Trilogy that has been up on the official online store's page a couple of weeks now, has finally been confirmed in an email sent to us that pre-ordered the box this spring:

"Dear Donald Fagen Customer,

Thanks for your patience. The Nightfly Trilogy Music Video Interactive Box Set has now been rescheduled to a release date of November 20. We will be shipping all pre-orders on or around November 16. If you selected Express Shipping, you will get your order on the release date.

This box set has been readjusted a bit for the better: the box set will now include 7 discs-three MVI discs with all of the bonus materials, along with 4 regular audio CDs. The CDs will contain the original sequences of the original three albums; the fourth CD will include the bonus tracks (except for interviews). This way, you can take the audio portion of the box set into your
car or anywhere else you might not have a DVD player handy.

Thanks,
Donald Fagen Official Store "

The news section on donaldfagen.com has also been updated with the latest info.

Gino Vannelli goes to Sweden

Gino Vannelli plays several European gigs this fall, and fans in northern Sweden will be happy to know that Gino will play Umeå Jazz Festival.
On October 27 he plays in Umeå with pianist Michiel Borstlap.
A prominent person of the festival staff says that "they will play stuff from Gino's back catalogue but also some jazz standards".
Gino played 2 gigs in the Netherlands on September 8.
September 20 Naples, Italy
September 29 Bilzen, Belgium
October 4 Montreal, Canada (with the Portland Band: Randy Porter - piano, Reinhardt Melz - drums, Sandin Wilson - bass, Allen Hinds - guitar)
October 13 Master class: Grenoble, France
October 27 Umeå Jazz Festival, Sweden
November 14, 16, 17 New Orleans, Louisiana, USA (w/the Portland Band)

Thanks to http://ginovannelli.tripod.com/ for tour info.
On some of the European shows Vannelli and Borstlap will be accompanied by drummer Erik Kooger and bass player Boudewijn Lucas.
By the way, the far north jazz festival has yet another Radio Dupree favorite on the bill: Jojje Wadenius.

Weekly Top 10 - September 16

1.David Bowie - Sound And Vision (bonus track '91 remix) - Low
2.King Crimson - Model Man - Three Of A Perfect Pair
=.David Bowie - Word On A Wing (CD bonus track) - Station To Station
4.David Bowie - Fame - Stage
=.David Bowie - This Is Not America - BBC Radio Theatre, London, June 27, 2000
6.The Rolling Stones - In Another Land - Their Satanic Majesties Request
7. Steely Dan - Almost Gothic - Two Against Nature
=.Jimi Hendrix - Message To Love - Live At Woodstock
9.Ben Webster & Joe Zawinul - Like Someone In Love - Soulmates
10. Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention - Gee - 'Tis The Season To Be Jelly (Beat The Boots 1)
=. Frank Zappa - Filthy Habits - FZ:OZ
=. Bruford - Sample And Hold - The Bruford Tapes

Led Zeppelin ... and the naughty Swedish bits

Here's a little link to a blog post in Swedish featuring a picture that we at Radio Dupree think you should ponder this weekend.
It all has to do with this weeks news that the remains of Led Zeppelin will once again reform for a one off gig and already 20 million fans have supposedly signed up online for a chance at one of those 20 000 or so tickets that will be sold.

Radio Dupree is pretty sure that out o all those 20 million registered at the special ticket site at least 15 million are by fake ticket scalpers who plan to sell their tickets at inflated prices as soon as they get them.

Radio Dupree is also pretty sure that the picture at this link is the weirdest of Led Zeppelin we've seen. Click on the pic in the post to get the full black and white photo of Led Zeppelin in Stockholm 1973 accepting gold records for sales. Nothing strange about that ... except for the place and the arrangement.
The four members of Led Zeppelin stand on stage at the Stockholm strip/sex club Chat Noir. In front of them are a number of gold record awards propped up against a small podium on which a male and a female - both naked - are in the middle of "getting it on".

We'd sure like to know who thought up this photo opportunity. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments. And have a great weekend! :-)

P.S. This post is not published to give Walter Becker any ideas for marketing campaings and/or cover shoots for his forthcoming album. If he decides to be inspired by this Zeppelin photo a few stratecially placed Sadowsky guitars might come in handy.