Steely Dan live 2011: Two more dates plus band announced

Over on steelydan.com two more dates have been added. Both go on so called pre-sale tomorrow (March 1) followed by on general sale March 4. That gives us a total of four shows so far:

New dates:

Jul 23 Canandaigua, NY - Constellation Brands * Pre-sale/General sale
Opening act: Sam Yahel. <- Was also the opening act for a handful of the 2009 shows.

Aug 02 Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion * Pre-sale/General sale

Previously announced:

Jul 13 Thackerville, OK - Winstar Casino * TBA

Jul 26 Lenox, MA - Tanglewood * On sale now

Still missing is the July 19 date in Cincinnati, that was up on Ticketmaster for a short while before it disappeared again.

And who'll be part of the Steely Dan band this time around? Well, if you are to beleieve the info pdf supplied by Constellation Brands on the homepage it's a return of the 2009 version of Steely Dan with the exception of backing vocalists Tawatha Agee and Janice Pendarvis. Cindy Mizelle from 2008 is back. But, then again, things have been known to change during a long tour.

For the show, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker are back with their awesome group of players including Keith Carlock (drums); Jon Herington (guitar); Freddie Washington (bass); Jim Beard (keys); Michael Leonhart, Walt Weiskopf, Roger Rosenberg and Jim Pugh (horns); plus background singers Carolyn Leonhart, Cindy Mizelle, and Catherine Russell.

/Click Shuffle Dimplomacy Twenty Eleven for all our posts regarding the tour./

Queen celebrates 40 years with exhibition

The rock group Queen celebrates its 40th anniversary.
On February 25 band members Roger Taylor and Brian May opened an exhibition in The Old Truman Brewery in London to mark the anniversary.
BBC News
The exhibition Stormtroopers In Stilettos

Dweezil Zappa collaborates with Flo and Eddie

Dweezil Zappa announces that he is planning a handful of special shows with ex Mothers singers Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan (Flo & Eddie) in 2011.
Mark and Howie will also join the Dweezilla music bootcamp staff.

"This camp is a unique five-day experience where Dweezil Zappa and his band, Zappa Plays Zappa, will mentor you. Dweezilla classes have been designed to enhance your musical skill level and improve your focus by providing a wide range of master classes available for all ages and skill levels."

Read more Dweezilla here.

February 20, 1950

http://walterbecker.com

Official: The 2011 Steely Dan tour!

After a couple of months of speculation and three dates advertised elsewhere the official comfirmation is here in the form of an updated homepage at steelydan.com:

Two of the dates are listed; Thackerville, OK - Winstar Casino, July 13 and Lenox, MA - Tanglewood, July 26. The July 19 date in Cincinatti is so far not up on steelydan.com, but as it is written: "Watch this space for much more touring news, coming soon".

* * * * *

And as we at Radio Dupree are no strangers to grasping at straws, we gladly acknowledge the choice of blue and yellow on the homepage as a hint that the band will indeed be back in Sweden this year. :)

(Proud Swedish flag partly obscured by assorted Abba members)

May we suggest the 44th Umeå Jazz Festival? Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald have all played it. How about some Steely Dan? (It would also reduce our travel expenses to local bus fare ).

/Click Shuffle Dimplomacy Twenty Eleven for all our posts regarding the tour. /

Jon Herington interview on Monday

Just quoting the Inside MusiCast team:

Jon Herington returns to Inside MusiCast this Monday! The Steely Dan guitarist and music director is back to chat with Rick and Eddy about his new solo project "Shine (Shine Shine)", along with a little Steely and Dukes Of September chat. You won't want to miss this one - coming Monday!

http://www.insidemusicast.com/

You might want to go there before Monday though, as there are a lot of fine stuff in the archives!

Steely Dan live 2011: Cincinatti July 19

Yes, it's a third date for the Shuffle Diplomacy Twenty Eleven Steely Dan tour. The only one listed by Ticktemaster. July 19 at the PNC Pavilion, Cincinatti, Ohio. Tickets go on sale March 18 at 10 a.m. EDT.

So far we also have:

The Winstar Casino, Thackerville, Oklahoma on July 13.
Tickets go on sale Friday May 13 at 10 a.m. CST.

Tanglewood, Lenox, Massachusetts on July 26. Tickets went on sale February 6.


/Click Shuffle Dimplomacy Twenty Eleven for all our posts regarding the tour. /

Dukes of September on tour and TV in 2011

Quote from an interview with Boz Scaggs (who together with Michael McDonald and Donald Fagen toured last year as The Dukes of September Rhythm Revue) in The Houston Press:

C: Any more dates for the Dukes?

BS: We're taping a live show for PBS, and that's going to kick off a wider tour. The high point was being onstage with each other. We got to be sidemen! As far as choosing material, we must have exchanged hundreds of e-mails.

The biggest surprise I got is that we were looking at material from the Philadelphia Sound era, and we settled on "Love Train." I thought it would be a good song for Michael, but he and Donald pointed at me and said, "No, you're gonna sing it" (laughs). It was nice to be challenged.

Late spring/early summer/early winter dates look likely as late summer/autumn is Steely Dan touring time. Let's see:

The three Steely Dan sates announced so far are in mid- and late July. On Michael's homepage there are solo dates listed for February, late March and late June. Over on Boz Scaggs' solo dates run through mid-April with nothing in March.

February: Michael McDonald solo
March: First half free, second Michael McDonald solo
April: First half Boz Scaggs solo, second half free.
May: Free
June: First half free, second half Michael McDonald solo
July: Steely Dan

As it looks right now I guess a few Dukes dates could be scheduled for late April, all of May and into June?

Esperanza Spalding!

Watch the full episode. See more Austin City Limits.

Watch the full episode. See more Austin City Limits.

Steely Dan live 2011: A second gig announced

And here's where it's at:
The Winstar Casino, Thackerville, Oklahoma on July 13.
Tickets go on sale Friday May 13 at 10 a.m. CST.

(Still nothing on the 2011 tour over at steelydan.com)


/Click Shuffle Dimplomacy Twenty Eleven for all our posts regarding the tour. /

Steely Dan Twitter boost

Almost a week since the tickets for the so far only announced date of Steely Dan's 2011 tour, and no additional dates/details have been released. The grapevine says a July - November tour named Shuffle Diplomacy Twenty Eleven, but it is still unconnfirmed.

While waiting for touring news we found that Twitter is a place that Steely Dan/Donald Fagen/Walter Becker can turn to for some positive reinforcement at 140 characters or less.
Yes, you read that right. Twitter is as far as music goes not only a forum for the latest flash in the pan pop star. You can also find people interested in music that has stood the test of time.

Here are a few of the best Steely Dan mentions over the last couple of days:


P.S.
Don't go looking for any Steely Dan/Donald Fagen/Walter Becker accounts on Twitter. We think it is safe to say that what we wrote a year ago still hold true: Apart from the official sites steelydan.com, donaldfagen.com and walterbecker.com there's just the Steely Dan and Walter Becker MySpace pages. Or "billboard" as Walter wrote.
For more information see this post from January 2010.


/Click Shuffle Dimplomacy Twenty Eleven for all our posts regarding the tour. /

The Sound of Music à la Brooklyn Rundfunk Orkestrata

Does this woman look familiar?
Correct of you identified her as Carolyn Leonhart. But she's not the only Steely Dan singer featured on Brooklyn Rundfunk Orkestrata's The Hills Are Alive. No, there's also Victoria Cave:

The band consists of Peter Kiesewalter, keyboards, Ben Butler, guitar, Richard Hammond, bass and Jeff Lipstein, drums. Featuring: Everett Bradley, Victoria Cave and Carolyn Leonhart.

The album is all Rodgers and Hammerstein compositions from the classic musical The Sound Of Music. But the songs won't sound as you expect them to. Why not pop over to the music page where you can listen to the whole album right now. It will be released March 8 with live shows here:

Los Angeles - Thursday March 17 - 7pm - Hotel Cafe 1623 Cahuenga Blvd.
buy tickets

New York City - Tuesday March 22 - 8pm - Highline Ballroom 431 W 16th St.
buy tickets

Chicago - Sunday April 10 - 8pm - Lincoln Hall 2424 N Lincoln Ave.
buy tickets

Jim Fisk reporting #1

Hello!

* Saw some comments on Twitter regarding the halftime show at this year's Super Bowl mentioning Steely Dan. That they ought to do it.

Well, the Steely Dan performing at a sports happening sentiment has been aired before. Before Twitter. Back in 2000 during a q & a with fans asking the questions Donald and Walter got a chance to address the subject:

Question:

Would you ever consider singing the National Anthem at a World Series game?
- - - Submitted by: Patty Rasmussen

Answer:

We have been prepared for this possibility for some time now, in that we have written a new, hip, contemporary national anthem for the U.S. which is entitled "Hell of a Country, Ain't That So!" Our previous anthem attempt, "O Say Can You Dig?", which was more of a rewrite than a freestanding original, has been abandoned in favor of this new exciting tune. We have not heard back yet from Congressman Barr or from Chuck Knoblauch, but we are ready to go.

For the complete q & a go to Under The Banyan Trees.

* The dandom.com Bluebook is where quite a few Steely Dan fans go to discuss the music and to share news. It is is currently being rebuilt, so new posts will take a little time to appear.

Another page I expect to change shortly is steelydan.com.

To be truthful I had expected it to publish the first official news of the 2011 tour as the first date went on sale Sunday 6. But so far nothing.

Let's see who's updated first; dandom com's Bluebook or steelydan.com!

* Did you catch the inteview with guitarist Jon Herington on webradio station TheGlowRadio Sunday?

What came across is what a gentleman and nice guy he is. He also shared some news:

- With his news album Shine, Shine Shine still just released he's planning to record the remaining 6 songs of a total of 9 that will make up the next record. Longer songs, more guitar compared to Shine, Shine, Shine.

- He'll tour with Madeleine Peyroux in the Stated in April and then go to Europe. Apart from that and a few dates with his own band he has nothing else planned for 2011 so far.

- Asked about what Steely Dan (Donald Fagen and Walter Becker) are up to he said that as far as touring goes there's nothing official.

Would be nice if that interview could be made available online for all who missed it.

As heard on Radio Dupree: Jon Herington's great new album!

Walt Weiskopf on practicing, Steely Dan, composition and more

Here's a link to Best. Saxophone. Site. Ever. and a podcast where saxophone player Walt Weiskopf talks about practicing, Steely Dan and composition.

He's playing on the latest Steely Dan album Everything Must Go (2003) as well as touring with the band.

Guitarist Gary Moore dies

Rock guitarist Gary Moore has died, the BBC has learned. Moore died on 6 February while on holiday in Spain.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12377862

Jon Herington interview today

Just saw this on Twitter posted a couple of hours ago:

TheGlowRadio: Interview with DJ James Bound and Guitarist Jon Herington. www.theglowradio.com Jon discusses his new Cd and being in Steely Dan Sunday 9PST

Might be of interest to Jon and Steely Dan fans. If we adjust the time correctly that will mean 12 am CET and 6 in the morning (Monday) European time, right?

donaldfagen.com: The Freebird of Pro Audio

While we wait and wonder if steelydan.com will have some sort of 2011 touring update in the next 48 hours thanks to the tickets to the only announced show so far going on sale February 6, you might enjoy this prosoundnews.com article about the "Freebird of pro audio", i.e. Donald Fagen's I.G.Y. It's "reprinted" in the donaldfagen.com news section. Or catch it here in its original prosoundnews.com blog incarnation.

Two exclusive Beatles tracks on iTunes

February 8 is the date the 2006 The Beatles/Cique du Soleil album Love is made available on iTunes.
What makes it special is the inclusion of two previously unreleased re-mixed versions of The Fool On The Hill and Girl.

If you were excited when the Love album was originally released this might be worth checking out.

Radio Dupree Top 20 - February 2011

1. Stackridge - Anyone For Tennis? - Do The 'Stanley'

2. Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention - Status Back Baby - The Ark (Beat The Boots I)

3. Godley & Creme - Madame Guillotine - Birds Of Prey... Plus

4. King Crimson - Thela Hun Ginjeet - Discipline

5. Ted Kooshian - Aja - Underdog, And Other Stories

6. James Blood Ulmer - Fun House - Black Rock

7. The Woody Herman Band - Aja - Chick, Donald, Walter & Woodrow

8. Steely Dan - Night by Night - Pretzel Logic

9. Michael Leonhart - Mr. Venus - The Suzy Lattimore EP

10. Godley & Creme - Five O'Clock In The Morning - Music From 'Consequences' + L

11. Gino Vannelli - Brother To Brother - Brother To Brother
12. Mahavishnu Orchestra - One Word - Birds Of Fire
13. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen - Parker's Band - Catalyst
14. Jethro Tull - Heat - Under Wraps
15. Dave Garfield And Friends - Lowdown - A Tribute To Jeff
16. Deep Purple - Burn - Burn
17. Focus - My Sweetheart - Mother Focus
18. The Rolling Stones - Complicated - Great Hits
19. Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band - Owed T'Alex - Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)
20. Frank Zappa - Treacherous Cretins - Frank Zappa Birthday Bundle 21 Dec. 2010

-------------------------------------------------------
Chart compiled by listeners voting
on the songs they hear on Radio Dupree

A surprising and stunning chart full of "newcomers" to the chart as well as a few regulars.

Who'd have thought that folk/prog/pop band Stackridge would take the top spot? Makes us interested in mining that early 1970's UK scene a bit more. Stay tuned for our Album of the Month!

Ted Kooshian with a Steely Dan cover and James Blood Ulmer have been strangers to the chart until now and our Album of the Month managed one track among the Top 20; Captain Beefheart landing at 19.

All in all a very interesting and refreshing chart this month!