Happy New Year!

We hope that 2011 has been a good year for you readers and listeners out there.
We have experienced good things as that Steely Dan has been touring again, when they performed a couple of very special shows as a rarities show for instance. We also saw the release of Pauline Butcher's excellent Zappa book, and the release of the Carnegie Hall (Zappa & The Mothers live in N.Y.C. October 1971).

Then there was the Pink Floyd event in Stockholm in May where the music that came from the stage at the Golden Circle club came from a previously almost unknown Pink Floyd recording made in the same venue in 1967. The same week in May 2011 Roger Waters played a show in the same city, but on a different stage, Globen.

There was a new album released by Kate Bush (50 Words For Snow), a reunion of Return To Forever...and Dweezil Zappa has continued his Zappa Plays Zappa thing including collaborations with Chick Corea & Return To Forever plus also Zappa veterans Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan.

New album by Kate.

There has also been sad news: Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood, saxophone player of the Mothers of Invention died, and so did Gil Scott-Heron. Guitar player Gary Mooore passed away and also Larry "Wild Man" Fischer. Wild Man was singing songs for dimes in the streets in L.A. in the 60's when Frank Zappa met him and produced the infamous An Evening With Wild Man Fischer album on his Bizarre label.

It's sad when favourite artists die, and one never really knows when the stars of the future is born but we do hope they are.

Let's see what 2012 will bring us. 
Happy New Year!

//Sigurd Huckle
Radio Dupree

R.I.P. Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood

A couple of sources report that Jim (James) "Motorhead" Sherwood, member of the Mothers of Invention in the 1960's, has passed away.
Sherwood went to high school with Frank Zappa (who later became leader of the Mothers in the 60's). Jim Sherwood started out as roadie for the group but soon became a regular member playing saxophone and tambourine. He passed away on December 25th at the age of 69.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Sherwood

http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/12/26/mothers-of-invention-saxophonistvocalist-jim-motorhead-sherwood-1942-2011

A new Zappa Birthday Bundle!

Yesterday on Frank's birthday iTunes made yet another Zappa birthday bundle available...featuring the song Dead Girls of London with Van Morrison on lead vocals!...and more.

"Lost" BBC David Bowie footage discovered

A rare David Bowie Top of the Pops performance has been found. BBC News reports that it's a performance of The Jean Genie that was saved from wiping by a cameraman. The recording was supposed to be broadcast again tonight at the Top of the Pops Christmas Special on BBC Two.

Václav Havel dies

Václav Havel, the playwright, poet and former dissident and president of Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic has died at the age of 75.

Havel was a Frank Zappa fan and in 1990 he appointed Zappa as "Special Ambassador to the West on Trade, Culture and Tourism". When visiting Prague in 1990 Zappa was surprised to see that his music was a symbol of independence and the fight for freedom.

BBC News: Havel dies
Radio Praha on Zappa's connection to Prague and Havel

Pre-order your copy now!

Barfko-Swill is now taking pre-orders for the Captain Beefheart album Bat Chain Puller. The music was recorded in 1976 but remained unreleased as a result of the big law suit between the producer Frank Zappa and Warner Brothers.

The album consists of original versions of several songs that were later re-recorded for the Shiny Beast and Doc At The Radar Station albums, plus a couple of previously unreleased songs. This is what Wikipedia has on Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) including some information about the original Bat Chain Puller.

Gil Scott-Heron biography coming early 2012

Jamie Byng, publisher of Canongate Books, was a friend of Gil Scott-Heron for more than 20 years. During 2010 they recorded this interview in London where the rapper-poet talked about his life and work, interspersed with intimate performances of his music.

Radio Dupree favourite Gil Scott-Heron's biography The Last Holiday will be published January 12, 2012.

More here including Gil reading an chapter from the book.

L'Image Live In New York

The band consisting of Steve Gadd, Tony Levin, Mike Mainieri, David Spinozza and Warren Bernhardt is playing at The Iridium in New York for the next couple of days ending Sunday the 18. Here are two clips from the opening night on December 14.

You can check the Iriduim homepage for more info on the group and the live page were they just might stream the shows live. Not sure, but hopefully they will at least air one or two.

Pizzarelli makes Fagen Tiptoe On Raindrops With Thad

Excuse the headline, but it was just a way to squeeze Donald Fagen's Walk Between The Raindrops, Thad Jones' Tiptoe and jazz singer/guitarist John Pizzarelli into one sentence. Both songs are on John's next album Double Exposure to be released in Europe in March and the U.S. in May next year.

The idea behind the album is to mash and mix songs together, so the two above is joined as one. For more on what other songs have been picked and joined together read the article over at billboard.com.

Just got the Carnegie Hall cd!

We at the Radio Dupree staff got a real surprise today. The Zappa Carnegie Hall 4 cd set in the mailbox, already!
It took Barfko-Swill/Music Today no more than 8 days to deliver...all the way from the US to Europe.
Our plan was to have the Carnegie Hall album as Album of the Month in January, but now we have already uploaded a couple of tracks on our playlists, and we plan to play it full blown already by Christmas all through January. Hotcha!

Dynamo Bliss - Circadian Rhythm video

It's on Radio Dupree's playlist since September, but here's the brand new video. Enjoy:



Homepage: dynamobliss.com

"Steely Dan"? There's an app for that!

In the Marketplace for Windows phones we find this Steely Dan app priced at $0.99 and with the following description:

Follow this legendary band through the years with trivia, up-to-date-news, find out about any local events from Steely Dan, and stream their entire library to your phone!

It was released December 3 2011 and looks like a basic app that collects stuff from the Internet and packages it into a few easy to navigate pages.

But being bereft of any Windows phone we've not been in a position to buy, download and check it out.
Maybe somebody reading this can help? We're especially curious about how the streaming of their entire library is achieved.

If you do spend the necessary 99 cents please add a review in the comments.

Creole is listed as the publisher behind the app, and he/she is also behind apps covering Aerosmith, Doobie Brothers, Donald Fagen, Home Made Bread, Fox Now Milwaukee, Pokémon Mobile Trainer and more. A total of 59 apps.

In fact, a sensible Steely Dan fan might try out the Donald Fagen app, as it is listed as free.

Jon Herington and Walter Becker - Rig Rundown

In these two videos Premiere Guitar takes a look at Jon Herington's guitars and stuff and then on to Walter Becker's:
 

Radio Dupree Top 15 - December 2011

1. Pink Floyd 

Us And Them (Richard Wright Demo)
The Dark Side Of The Moon (Immersion Box)

2. hr Big Band
FM
Do It Again - Plays Three Decades Of Steely Dan 

3. Weather Report 
Teen Town
Heavy Weather

4. The Who 
Baba O'Riley
The Kids Are Alright 

5. Robert Fripp 
North Star
Exposure 

6. Love 
The Red Telephone
Forever Changes 

7. The Beatles
Hold Me Tight
With The Beatles 

8. Donald Fagen
What I Do
Morph The Cat 

9. The Bee Gees
Sir Geoffrey Saved The World
1967 single b-side 

10. Elvis Costello
This Years Girl
This Years Model

11. Steely Dan - Aja (live) - Cousin Dupree-promo
12. Jean-Luc Ponty/Stephane Grappelli - Bowing-Bowing - Jean-Luc Ponty/Stephane Grappelli 
13. Be Bop Deluxe - Dance Of The Uncle Sam Humanoids - Modern Music 
14. Marianne Faithfull - She's Got A Problem - A Child's Adventure 
15. The Tubes - Cathy's Clone - Now

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

A scaled down demo of a Pink Floyd track and a pumped up big band verssion of a Steely Dan track. There you have the top two positions on the finals chart of the year.

Once again the chart pretty much reflects the mix that can be heard on Radio Dupree. Keep listening and voting!

-- N.S.

8-bit Steely Dan

For you weekend (or any other time you might read this) pleasure a couple of Steely Dan numbers getting the 8-bit early video game music makeover.

As presented on MrHopeTelevision's YouTube channel

More came to steelydan.com

Tour mementos added to steelydan.com

In a post Monday November 28 we wondered what the (more coming soon...) on steelydan.com could mean. What the "more" was.

Well, the answer is in and that is additional end-of-tour-page stuff like a montage of photos and a couple of video links.

This final(?) update of the homepage for 2011 was accompanied by issue #50 of the official Steely Dan newsletter - subscribe here! - that stated:

The Miles High Orchestra gave it their all, and crowds from Seattle to Sydney responded with the appreciation and enthusiasm for which Dan audiences are famous.
...
Thanks everybody!
Until Next Time ...