Zappa's Stage series celebrating 20 years

I can still remember the excitement when I got it in my hand...the first volume of Frank Zappa's You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore. And that is 20 years ago now.
It was just around the time of the European leg of Zappa's 1988 tour. (His last tour.)
I recall sitting in the lobby of the Falkoner Theatret in Copenhagen just before the concert when someone pulled out a copy of the two brand new 2 CD sets, You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore (YCDTOSA) and Guitar. I was very excited just to be able to read through the song titles. The excitement may also have depended on the fact that I had tickets for three different Zappa shows that week!

Great mix
Anyway, the first volume of YCDTOSA, the retrospective collection of live tracks from Frank's entire carreer, was awaited for a long time by the fans, and I think most of us loved it.
Unfortunately, some of the following YCDTOSA volumes were not of similar standards.
Volume 1 is a great mix of different bands and great performances and it included several unexpected tracks as the previouosly unreleased song Rollo that came at the end of the Yellow Snow suite (London 1979).
So along with all this live King Crimson stuff, Steely Dan and David Bowie, you can also expect some You Can't Do That On Stage music on Radio Dupree in May.

Last chance to get the free CD!!

Just a few days left to join our giveaway! Win our Album of the Month!
Last day is Wednesday, April 30.
We are giving away a copy of Wild In London by The Tubes. Nice fold out cover. Comes with a nifty little booklet. All mint condition!
Send an e-mail to radiodupree@yahoo.se
No catch! We will announce the winner on our website and/or blog, BUT we assure you that name and adress information will be handled in a discreet way.
We are doing this just to bring some extra festivitas to our little 5 year anniversary! Yep, Radio Dupree has been on "the air" since April 2003.
C'mon lads and ladys...send in your e-mails! radiodupree@yahoo.se

Walter Becker's Circus Money: Soundclips!

Short clips from all songs can be listened to NOW!

walterbecker.com

Q: So ... how does it sound compared to his first solo album and all the Steely Dan ones?
A: Go listen for yourself ;)

And guitar-interested should keep an eye on Sadowsky guitars homepage for news of the Walter Becker Signature Model Guitar.

Crimson orgy on Radio Dupree in May

Prepare for an orgy of King Crimson live recordings from the magical era 1973-74.
Radio Dupree's Album of the Month for May is the 4 CD monster set The Great Deceiver.
The Great Deceiver was first released in 1992 and is a "must have" for true crimheads, but has been a "hard to get" item for years. But some months ago the 4 CD set was re-issued as two double CD sets.
Anyway, be sure to tune in to Radio Dupree to hear songs like Exiles, Starless, Shark's Lungs In Lemsip...and Doctor Diamond, a song that never was released on any of the ol' KC albums.
Enjoy the collective musical efforts of Robert Fripp, John Wetton, Bill Bruford and David Cross!

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.

Backwards free download idea

The dance duo Gnarls Barkley is the latest artist trying out the free download of music. But since the new album is called The Odd Couple it's being done ... the odd way:

What you do get if you go to http://www.fronttobackbacktofront.com and register is a file with the complete album ... in reverse! The file type? It's an OK 160 kbps mp3.

More on this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7354254.stm

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.

Walter Becker's Circus Money: The tracks

And amazon.com have the 12 tracks. No listen-to links though.

: : : : :

Correction time!
(a few hours after the original post)

A wlm kindly points out in his comment walterbecker.com has listed track 11 as God's Eye View. And just this once we'll go with walterbecker.com rather than amazon.com ;)
Now, let's see who'll be first with the 30 second preview clips of the songs!

Get this CD for free!

You can still join our little giveaway here!
We are giving away this CD by The Tubes...Wild In London.
Send an e-mail to radiodupree@yahoo.se before April 30.
The person who sends us the most amusing e-mail will get the CD.
There is no catch! We are just trying to bring some extra festivitas to our little 5 year anniversary! Yep, Radio Dupree has been on "the air" since April 2003.

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.

Radio Dupree sounding even better!

Radio Dupree makes the "big switch" tomorrow (Saturday April 5) at 6 p.m. Central European Time. While we've been happy enough with the music on the playlist, we've been less than happy with the sound quality of the station. We started out using a higher bitrate, but downgraded after a couple of months to give people connecting using a modem a chance to listen in. The number of listeners increased and we've stuck to the 32 kbps stream. That is, until tomorrow evening.

In one hopefully quick and trouble-free switch we're going to 64 kbps mp3PRO.
Listen in, tell us what you think and just to help you keep track of the switch; here's a countdown timer:

(If you can't see the timer your javascript is most probably disabled)

Drumming for fame

Thanks to Clas for the link. This is for all the drummers out there. No need to hold back! Just do it your way...

Outtakes! Mysterious mp3! And it's just the first day of the month...

April is usually a good month. The light is back after a long, dark winter and spring is just around the corner for all dwelling in Radio Dupree land. But the way the month shapes up on this the first day of April 2008 looks like it could be something extra. Something for the histroy books!

Gina over on Mizar 5 have a few comments on Circus Money from keyboardist Jim Beard who played on Walter Becker's upcoming album. Read the whole post here!

But that's not all! Gina also has a brand new review (published today) of a four track EP of outtakes. The whole article can be read on the All About Jazz website.

But wait! There's more:

Timestamed April 1 Radio Dupree recieved an mp3 from an anynomous mailer. We played it back and heard 85 seconds of dub reggae rhythms. To our sculpted receptors it sounds like some instrumental try-outs that might or might not have something to do with the above mentioned outtakes.
One thing that might lead one to think it really does is the mention of "ferrets" about 50 seconds into the instrumental collage.

But why take our word for it? Give it a listen for as long as we're able to feature the file. And feel free to share your thoughts using the comments function.

CD giveaway - Win our Album of the Month!!

Hip hooray!! Radio Dupree is celebrating five years!
Come and join our giveaway!
We are giving away a copy of the CD Wild In London by The Tubes.
(No joke although it's April 1).
By the way, Wild In London is our Album of the Month too, and you will be able to hear a whole lot of Tubes stuff on our playlists in April!

Wanna win this CD?
Send an e-mail to radiodupree@yahoo.se before April 30. That's your lottery ticket.
Don't forget to enclose your name and address...and hey! Not more than one entrance per person, OK!? We will choose the entrance that we find is the most interesting or entertaining for a winner...Send no money, but you may send a photo of yourself, or a photo of your record collection, or a short story of your best musical memory or something instead. The winning entrance will be published here on the blog and on our website. (So please, no dirty stuff, hrmm...)