A bad back and lack of excitement makes James miss Steely Dan

Looking for reviews of the first Steely Dan show of the 2009 tour, we found this blog entry from James. A kid that dad wanted to come along to the show, and initially he said yes. But as the day approached he got second thoughts and finally mum and dad left for the show without him.

Here's his thoughts as the parents enjoy the June 9 show in Durham. It's worth a read.

Zappa plays Zappa Stockholm, June 8: Photos

While we're working on the big review of the show you might be interested in seeing a few professional pics from the Zappa plays Zappa-evening just uploaded to festivalphoto.se.

Don't miss this one of a smiling Dweezil helping a just as happy winner of the Hagström guitar giveaway to get a riff going. Her name is Katarina.

And some more photos are available here = rockfoto.nu.

And finally - for as long as it is available - the sing-a-long version of Bobby Brown as it sounded on the night in question. And from two different angles:

Twitter + Steely Dan 2009 setlists = true!

Yes. The need to get those setlists as they unfold can this tour be satisfied thanks to the work of Jim Hoops McKay and firends over on dandom.com.

As this is published the first show of the tour is just about to start. Get on over to dandom.com and catch what songs are being played as they're being played. Chat with other fans and have fun!

UPDATE:

Here are the songs played on the first night (Performing Arts Centre, Durham, NC):

The Sam Yahel Trio was the opening act.

* Reelin' In The Years (funky/Jazzy version)
* Time Out of Mind
* Godwhacker
* Bad Sneakers
* Black Friday
* Aja
* My Rival
* Hey 19
* Parkers Band
* Babylon Sisters
* Daddy Don't Live In That New York City No More (Walter on vocals)
* Here at The Western World
* Home At Last
* Band intros by Walter while the choir sings The Supremes' Love Is Like An Itchin' In My Heart
* Peg
* Josie
* Kid Charlemagne

Encore

* Black Cow
* My Old School

A few nice surprises for the real fans without forgetting the "hits" for the casual listener.

Jon checks in from Steely Dan rehearsals

Guitarist Jon Herington is happy with his new Talladega Pro Hamer guitar, and writes a letter to designer Jol Dantzig to tell him so.
All can be read in this blogpost dated June 9. For the guitar-curious there's another post about Jon's new one dated May 29.

Success for Zappa Plays Zappa

Many fans have been a little doubtful over what to expect of the recent Zappa Plays Zappa band, since there are no members from Frank's band around anymore. (Lead vocalist Ray White left recently just prior to the tour.)
But no one attending the Stockholm concert on June 8 could have left with disappointment. Dweezil and the band played a hard rocking show and the audience responded with standing ovations.
They opened with a blasting Apostrophe ('), which sounded close to the album version.
Montana and Zomby Woof followed.
They played for 2 hours and 45 minutes. Most of the material was taken from the mid 70's albums that Dweezil seems to prefer. Very rocky. Lots of guitar.
The show ended with a rather bizarre experiment: Dweezil asked the audience to sing Bobby Brown along the band's accompaniment. It felt a little weird to hear 1600 persons singing about "golden showers" like it was a big family gathering or an evening of Swedish "allsång".
A longer, more detalied review of the show will follow soon. Meanwhile, here is the song list:
1. Apostrophe (')
2. Montana
3. Zomby Woof
4. Village Of The Sun
5. Echidna's Arf
6. Don't You ever Wash That Thing?
7. Cosmik Debris
8. The Black Page drum solo
9. Black Page #2
10. Bamboozled By Love
11. King Kong
12. Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up
13. Outside Now
14. The Purple Lagoon
15. More Trouble Every Day/A Token Of My Extreme outro

Encores:
16. Don't Eat The Yellow Snow
17. Peaches En Regalia
18. Willie The Pimp
19. Bobby Brown

/Siggy

PS. Forgot to include Inca Roads. It was played somewhere in the first half of the set.

Steely Dan live 2009: First show tonight!

Tuesday evening, June 9, Performing Arts Center in Durham, North Carolina, USA is where the Rent Party '09 kicks off.

We won't be there, but look forward to the reports from the show. Will this year's special full album and internet request nights affect what's being played on "ordinary" nights like the one in Durham? We'll see...

Zappa Plays Zappa while Radio Dupree listens

Right now Radio Dupree is stalking the streets of Stockholm, where Zappa Plays Zappa will play tonight. It's the first of two Swedish gigs on this tour and you can expect a full review sometime tomorrow.

It's 4,5 hours til showtime. Time for a beer in the sun!

Steely Dan live 2009: Four more for New York!

In what might be a salute to the National Day of Sweden as well as the 65 years since D-Day and the 150 year anniversary of Oscar and Constance Wilde's marriage, a brand new issue of the Steely Dan Newsletter appeared this Saturday.

News item number 1:
Four more New York dates added, making the total numer of shows in that city eight this tour. These are the four new one:

Aug 03 - New York - Beacon Theatre / Internet Request Aja (Plus)
Aug 04 - New York - Beacon Theatre / Internet Request
Aug 10 - New York - Beacon Theatre / Aja (Plus) The Royal Scam (Plus)
Aug 11 - New York - Beacon Theatre / Internet Request

UPDATE a few hours later: Looks like the newsletter and the homepage (steelydan.com) differs on the August 3 & 4 shows. We're going with the homepage having the correct info and have adjusted the info above accordingly.
And while we're at it: Our phrase below; "opening acts", actually says "special guests" in the newsletter. And while they most likey are opening acts they could very well be artists joining the band for a song or three, so...

Sorry for any inconvenience this may or may not have caused you. If you're at the Padova or Perugia shows we'll buy you a beer or any beverage of your liking to - in some small way - make up for this fumble. ;)

News item number 2:
A tip to keep an eye open for announcements of opening acts. Make that "special guests".

Get your personal subscription to the newsletter here.

- - - - -

Two useful links:

steelydan.com - The only place for confirmed dates.
dandom.com/Bluebook - The fan page for breaking news, views and the occasional rumour.

Rare Ray Collins interview

If you're interested in Frank Zappa's Mothers of the 60's you will probably enjoy reading this rare interview with the group's lead vocalist Ray Collins.

His swell voice can be heard on classic Mothers albums as Freak Out! and Cruising With Ruben & The Jets, but he has hardly ever wanted to contribute in interviews, until now:
http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_12484780

Picture: Ray (center) with Frank and the other Mothers.

Abba-Benny supports feminist politician

The composer Benny Andersson, former member of Abba, gives one million Swedish kronor to politician Gudrun Schyman's campaign for the election to the European parliament.
This may surprise people since Andersson has never shown any support for any political ideas in public earlier, and Schyman represents the feminist party Feministiskt initiativ.
Schyman told Sveriges Televisions news program Aktuellt that Andersson wants to support technicals details in the election. Swedish news bureau TT reports that Schyman has complained that some polling stations are missing ballots for her party.

Steely Dan live 2009: Win tickets in the sweepstake!

If you go to the msg.com Steely Dan page and qualify as a "legal US resident, 21 years of age or older at the time of entry", you can enter your name in a sweepstake for a chance to win one of those VIP-packages that sell for $495:

• A pair of tickets in the first 10 rows after golden circle
• Pre-show party, including dinner & drinks
• Exclusive Steely Dan gift bag
• 5 Star souvenir laminate
• Hassle-free entrance to the venue
• Crowd-free merchandise shopping
• Parking where available

There is one VIP-package each for the Internet Request nights in Boston, New York and Chicago.

Here's the link: http://msg.com/steelydan/

Bruford: Four Of A Kind

Here's another example that shows that vinyl is not dead. The record company Discipline Global Mobile, DGM, is re-releasing four albums by prog drummer Bill Bruford in ye olde LP format.
The albums are Feels Good To Me, Gradually Going Tornado, One Of A Kind and Rock Goes To College. The latter one is an album compiled of music that was recorded for a television show in 1979. All four albums are highly recommended if you're into prog and excellent musicianship. The LP:s are available at Bill's shop as well, www.billbruford.com
They can be pre-ordered today.

Radio Dupree Top 20 - June 2009

1. Steely Dan - Haitian Divorce
The Royal Scam

2. Love - Old Man
Forever Changes

3. Todd Rundgren - Black Maria
Something/Anything?

4. King Crimson - The Howler
Beat

5. Genesis - Robbery, Assault And Battery
A Trick Of The Tail

6. Stevie Wonder - You Haven't Done Nothin'
Fullfillingness First Finale

7. George Duke - I Love The Blues, She Heard My Cry
My Soul - The Complete MPS Fusion Recordings

8. Walter Becker & Donald Fagen - Don't Let Me In
Catalyst

9. UK - Time To Kill
Night After Night

10. Warren Zevon - Genius
Genius - The Best Of Warren Zevon

11. Larry Carlton - I'm A Fool - Mr. 335 Live In Japan
12. Cream - Deserted Cities Of The Heart - Wheels Of Fire
13. Donald Fagen - Rhymes - The Nightfly Trilogy - 10 Extras
14. Gentle Giant - Nothing At All - Gentle Giant
15. Donald Fagen - Tomorrow's Girls - Kamakiriad
16. Emerson Lake & Palmer - Jeremy Bender - Tarkus
17. Frank Zappa - Whipping Post - Them Or Us
18. Gong - Sleepy - Expresso II
19. Pink Floyd - Pigs (edit) - Animals
20. King Crimson - Sleepless (dance mix) - Maxi single

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

Chart Commentary

A bunch of more or less typical Radio Dupree artists are found on the chart of the recent month. Steely Dan, King Crimson and Genesis are among our big favourites here at the station.

We are also glad to see that a song from Todd Rundgren's Something/Anything? has reached a top position.

(Yes, you probably know by now that the Radio Dupree monthly chart is produced by YOU listeners, by pushing those thumbs up and down buttons in the player window while listening.)

The Rundgren album was our Album of the month during May, and the chart position may show that some of you listeners enjoyed it.

But where are Frank Zappa and David Bowie, two of our other favourite artists? Well, Frank shows up at position 16, but with a cover song...Whipping Post (The Allman Brothers). And there is no sight of Bowie at all. Maybe we should let the thin white duke rest a little for a while?

/Siggy

The Beatles: Rock Band

Here's what George and John look like in the video game The Beatles: Rock Band:
Coming September 9 is 45 songs that you can play along to in various scenes from The Beatles career.

The game was presented at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles, and here's BBC:s video of the somewhat unscripted appearance by Paul and Ringo:


There's a site where you can learn more about the game: www.thebeatlesrockband.com

New Marian McPartland interview

All ABout Jazz has a brand new interview with musician, composer, writer and radio host Marian McPartland, who has this to say about Steely Dan:

Yeah, we've had people that you wouldn't call jazz: Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. When we had Steely Dan on, people wrote in and said, "Is this jazz?" but it was jazz. They were two guys that really loved jazz. They were so thrilled that I knew Duke Ellington that we spent half the show talking about Duke. I just loved those guys. There are so many newer people that are so very interesting.

Read the whole Marian McPartland interview here.

P.S. If you haven't checked out the McPartland/Steely Dan Piano Jazz CD, do yourself a favour and ... do!