I was delighted to receive an intelligent and well-worded comment in reaction to my post Why MTV can never befriend Indian indie rock. Here’s how it went:

What is your definition of ‘Indie’, Bijoy? Does a band necessarily need to attempt to earn a living off music, to qualify? Where would you place the Sarjapur Blues Band, for instance? Have you heard of them? They’re an underground band that’s been around in Bangalore for more than 20 years and have never played a note that isn’t their own. 18 years ago they already had a repertoire that extended well over 3 hours; and 3-4 hour concerts were the norm till they turned 50.

Secondly, are you suggesting that Steely Dan and Pat Metheny are musically superior influences? Is there an intellectual hierarchy in music?

Surely, your one-liners about the music scene in Bombay (bollywood-besotted), Delhi (Hindi-mein-gao) and Calcutta are as unfair to the faithful in these cities as their dismissal of Bangalore as a source of meaningful music?

These are just some examples: One gets the distinct impression that, having got your opening disclaimer off your chest, you feel completely free to carry your biases towards TAAQ into the article. Are your readers entitled to a bit more phrenic rigour?

Those are very sharp observations and I had to stop and think them over.

This is what I had to say:

Indie band… I’m not a fan of the phrase myself because I think it is a label for styles of music that you can’t/ don’t want to stick a label on. I mulled over that blog title before I posted it but I kept the word in for a reason — to catch the eye of those who debate over what indie is.

Now, to answer your question, I don’t think an indie band need make money at all. But it must make original music even if it appeals to an audience of one. And it does not even have to publish or promote this music.

But then again, indie also refers to the endeavour to create music independently and make it available and accessible to an audience whether through performance or distribution. Derivatively, indie also refers to the infrastructure that must exist for indie musicians who want to make a living doing what they love and believe in.

Most important, I feel that indie needn’t be seen as some low-on-frills, preachy fringe movement but a sort of cooperative society for independent musicians that helps them feel confident about the worth and validity of their music. Of course, this feeling of self-worth and achievement should also put money in their pockets because they too need to feed their dogs, send their kids to college, and splurge on a vacation at Bora Bora.

Arguably, the word has substantial currency and can be used to draw a rough boundary around the murky puddle of true musical activity and suspiciously insincere entrepreneurship that aims to promote “independent music” in India. In fact, indie has become another genre upon which the mainstream music industry hopes to capitalise. But right now, as a cash cow it is short by at least three teats. So the industry, with help from Bollywood and all the rocking that has ensued in the wake of Rock On and London Dreams, will milk it hard and dry.

Fact: truly indie artists are never going to benefit from this so-called revolution because it plays by the same rules as the mainstream.

In response to the question about Metheny et al, please allow me to clarify. I meant that few bands attempt to look for influences in relatively unconventional artists. I’d be more interested in listening to a band that is inspired by a relatively unconventional sound that one that is inspired by, say, Metallica or Bon Jovi. I’m not sure I would call it intellectual hierarchy but I certainly find music that is composed and arranged with intelligence and creativity — both lyrically and musically — more appealing than music characterised by little more than unwavering volume, energy and histrionic performance.

My comments on Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta are a direct response to the article on MTV Iggy that celebrated bands from those cities without a word about contemporary independent bands that came from Bangalore. Perhaps, that is also the reason why my blog post appears to be biased towards TAAQ.

The article in question covered the music scene starting from the early nineties to the present. Also, it focused on bands that had attempted to distribute their music. In response, I limited my response to bands that were born during that time.

I used to love the Sarjapur Blues Band though I haven’t watched a performance in a really long while. I’ve watched them at Freedom Jams and as far back as the Night of the Long Guitar someplace in Bannerghatta (I was too stoned to remember where). I used to love Lady Nicotine.

It’s time I watched them again — I have been very negligent.

While we are on the subject of early Bangalore bands, here is some deserved reading that survived the newspaper morgues. And “phrenic rigour” — wow, that sounded like it came from the late Sunbeam Motha!

I’m getting ready to open a bookstore later this month, and along with the minutiae of daily operations — where to get credit-card processing, what kind of coffee-makers to get, LLC or INC — there is one overwhelmingly crucial matter: what should be the first song I play on the sound system? Since irony and black humor are my default setting, my first thought was “Busted” by Ray Charles.

On the other hand, as a child of the Seventies I retain a great deal of fondness for Bachman-Turner Overdrive and its chunka-chunka meatball anthem “Takin’ Care of Business.”

Interesting to think that Neil Young cites Randy Bachman as an early role model for his guitar playing.

Speaking of the Seventies, this Pink Floyd number comes to mind:

Heard it before? Kind of an obscure tune, I know.

Actually, I’m pretty sure the first song will be “Step Right Up” by Tom Waits. When it comes to Waits I tend to prefer the weirder, more recent stuff, but I still love this cut off his fourth record, Small Change:

“The large print giveth and the small print taketh away.” The guy has so many great lines, Bartlett’s should print a special Tom Waits edition.

Chiefly, I hope to avoid ever having to play this song:

193.41MB
1. Lady GaGa – Bad Romance
2. Blatta & Inesha – Urban Cougar (The Bulgarian’s Hunt The Hunter Remix)
3. Peaches – Mud
4. City And Colour – As Much As I Ever Could
5. Morrissey – I’m So Sorry
6. PNAU ft. Ladyhawke – Embrace (DJ DLG Re-Edit)
7. Julian Casablancas – 4 Chords of the Apocalypse
8. Gojira – Where Dragons Dwell
9. Radiohead – Pyriamid Song (Zeds Dead Illuminati Remix)
10. Slagsmålsklubben – Brutal Weapons
11. Felix Cartal – Skeleton (KILLABIT Remix)
12. Snoop Dogg – Drop It Like It’s Hot
13. Taylor Swift – You belong With me (Makaio’s Kanye Club Mix)
14. Chromeo – Night By Night
15. The B-52’s – Rock Lobster
16. Steely Dan – With A Gun
17. Nick Lowe – So It Goes
18. R. Kelly – Ignition (Remix)
19. Final Fantasy – Lewis Takes Action
20. James Ingram – Yam Mo B There
21. Turboweekend – Trouble Is (Joker Remix)
22. Biz Markie – Just a Friend
23. TC – Deep (Jack Beats Remix)
24. Mountain – Don’t Look Around
25. The Devin Townsend Project – Hyperdrive!
26. Amon Amarth – Thousand Years of Opression

I suck at updating. Instead of daily/weekly updates I’m just going to post a mixtape once a month. ~25 songs is what you’ll get each mixtape. They’ll have a pic and stuff. Yeah.. I’ll post little things when I feel like it, but otherwise, mixtapes. Lots of them. They all contain individual tracks.

It’s been far too long since my last post, at least in my mind.  Life became hectic at work, I took a two narrative fiction writing classes, and…well, time just passed.  Thanksgiving arrived and the days off from work offered a perfect time for me to continue on my efforts of writing my first novel.  With great anticipation, I looked forward to the “down time” to get back into my efforts.  That was until today…

Today I was reminded of the reasons we really should just slow down and give thanks, for we have so much for which to be thankful.  I am going to attempt to list those reasons and ask that you forgive me the ramblings and tangents that are already occurring in my head:

1) Our Legislative branch and health care reform-  The rigors of health care reform were to be expected.  Just look back to President Clinton’s attempts in 1993.  It’s a complex issue, no doubt.  But I was shocked at the partisanship that has accompanied the current efforts.  The sound bite, fear mongering has been incredible.  If it’s not “death squads”, it’s “America fall to socialism”, to the arguments that no “public option” can support abortion.  Look, I understand that this is, in many ways, an argument of values (see David Brooks NYT’s Op-Ed piece “http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/opinion/24brooks.html”

My sister-in-law is a woman of fine tastes and pursuits. She is a mountain climber, marathon runner, partner in a leading law firm. She likes fine wines and gourmet cheeses. And when it comes to music, she leans definitively in one direction: opera.

She is one of two people I know who are willing, or semi-willing, to let their ignorance of popular music serve as entertainment for others. Ask these people who sang “Stairway to Heaven” or who was the guitarist for the Beatles, and they will furrow their brow, gamely give an answer, then shrug it off when the “informed” around them giggle.

My sister-in-law does make some exceptions, though. One of my clearest early memories of her finds her singing happily with my brother in their kitchen, during a visit to their house in Seattle when I was 19. (I can pinpoint it because it was my birthday, and my brother began the day by blasting Steely Dan’s “Hey 19″ — another story entirely … ‘cept that’s pretty much it.) Though I can’t recall the song that inspired their duet, I know it wasn’t opera.

She can also catch some references to bad ’70s songs, and seems pleased when that happens. And as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, she likes listening to songs my nephew discovers.

Occasionally, she’ll like a song so much she’ll ask my brother to download it for her. Aaaaaaand MamaKitt gets to the point: One of those songs is “Hey There Delilah.” I’ve no idea if she still likes it, or if the passion passed, but I recall my surprise a couple of years ago upon hearing her make that request. I’d written this song off as nothing more than angsty teenage pop, and I couldn’t compute.

I still find the song a bit insufferable, but I take pleasure in knowing that it gives her pleasure, whatever the reason.

This month, the band of the month is Steely Dan. Not the typical fare for rockists like those that populate the virtual halls of CCC, especially on first listen. In fact, I can’t imagine liking these cats as a young buck. But the band is addictive, a major habit.

It’s like cigarettes or alcohol. You gotta want to like ‘em at first. Then, it’s all to easy. (Note: This version of MOB traces the career of SD Mach I).

1. Can’t Buy a Thrill

Most of you who have spent anytime in a car w/ FM radio will be familiar w/ the majority of tracks from this album.  “Reelin’ in the Years”, “Do it Again”, “Dirty Work”, etc. are all long wave warhorses, and deservedly so. But the album is chockablock w/ deep cuts.  Released in 1972, a year in which Nixon was reelected in a landslide, I think I hear some voodoo going on in “Kings” and “Changing of the Guard” — must have worked, ‘cuz Watergate broke shortly thereafter… I listen to “Kings” now in 2009 and get a good feeling about a recent “Changing of the Guard.” Hard to imagine it was the hey-day of Glam Rock with a joint like this going off.

Kings

2. Countdown to Ecstacy

The album title is great Americana. The record is my favorite (also said to be Fagan’s). “My Old School” is irresistible unless you were one of “those guys.” “Pearl of the Quarter” was covered by CCC. This is where their literary, V.U. meets Bukowski lyrics really start to get salty and here they are matched by the grinding, winding, insinuating tunes inimitably.

My Old School
Pearl of the Quarter

3. Pretzel Logic

AMG has this as the Dan’s best. I dunno. It is easy to listen to. The songs are compact, stylistically distinct. It’s an album. I guess this is the band showing that it can do it all. “Charlie Freak” has a great ramble-tamble piano hook climbing up and down over an interstellar guitar lead. Sleigh bells top it off. Tight. “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” was apparently a big hit for he dudes. Is it possible that it was the inspiration for Phil Collins’ insipid “Don’t Lose My Number” ? When you are atrocious as Phil, anything is possible, no jacket required.

Charlie Freak

4. Katy Lied

Queer album cover w/ some sort of funky insect (Katydid?) checking you out. “Daddy Don’t Live in That New York City No More”… what can I say? You can hear the fingers flying on the guitar lead and you don’t hear it equaled often. Hand claps. Swelling keys. Damn, son. “Everyone’s Gone to the Movies” is a vibed-out joyride until you digest the lyrics. Pedophilia anyone? How many other bands can make you feel so creepy about tapping a toe?

Daddy Don’t Live in That New York City No More
Everyone’s Gone to the Movies

4. The Royal Scam

This one is a major grower. The album cover is atrocious and just gets worse. “Kid Charlemagne” is the ultimate tune, retelling the story of the tragicomic psychedelic 60s through the figure of Owsley Stanley, who first synthesized LCD on a large scale for the hippies of San Francisco. Like the Gimme Shelter film (“People…”) or Vineland, it details the failure of the hippie “counter-culture” to achieve any lasting social-political value: “look at all the white men on the street.” Indeed. When will we be free from these hypocrites? “Haitian Divorce” is an anti-love story set to a fantastic reggae-esque arrangement. I love the intense wah-guitar character mocking the whole affair.

Kid Charlemagne
Haitian Divorce

5. Aja

People are nuts about this record. I know a girl whose parents thought it worthy of their daughter’s name. You might also. Jazz musicians dig it. A triumph for Steely Dan, I guess, but for me (a jazz non-fan) not so much. Kind of aimless and self-absorbed in the same way I receive the genre (jazz). I suspect this album is responsible for a lot of the “smooth jazz” misery I’ve experienced in various dentists’ offices. Trauma.  “Deacon Blues” has some great lyrics though, another classic (jazz) rock jab at Alabama. Lynerd Skynyrd weren’t equipped to respond to this one, obviously.

Deacon Blues

6. Gaucho

This was like the “Loveless” of the seventies, I gather (tho’ technically released in 1980): cost a sh*tload of money, took a long time, everyone on drugs and it pretty much ruined the band. Give it to me Wiki:

The pair are well-known for their near-obsessive perfectionism in the recording studio, with one notable example being that Becker and Fagen used at least 42 different studio musicians, 11 engineers, and took over a year to record the tracks that resulted in 1980’s Gaucho — an album that contains only seven songs.

Too bad it isn’t close to being a Loveless or a Pet Sounds or whatever freakout album you prefer. Its essentially more of the smooth jazz rock pioneered on Aja — pretty much as far from freakout as you can get. Sounds decent enough in the background, cooking something gourmet in the kitchen maybe. Here’s a track that gets used as a segway lots on Fresh Aire w/ Terry Gross, detailing the glitzy life  & times of an LA  coke dealer to the NBA stars. Maybe I’ll understand these last two Dan albums some day.

Glamor Profession

Today on America’s Newsroom, Danica Patrick, IndyCar’s first female winner and Sports Illustrated model, showed why she is GoDaddy.com’s prized possession. When AN co-anchor Bill Hemmer hammered her with questions about whether she would join the IndyCar circuit full-time, there was no beating around the bush with her. Although a tad exasperated, she patiently answered his queries and then got the interview back on track.

When Hemmer finally mentioned her historical Indy Japan 300 victory (first female Indycar winner), he asked, “What is it like to compete in a man’s sport?” Picking up her man-eating persona, Danica declared, “I don’t know any different: You know, it’s how I grew up. I grew up with a bunch of boys in Go-Karting, and now I’m with a bunch of men in Indycars.” She added, “I enjoy it, actually. Men think simple. You guys are easy and obvious….Whatever is on you mind is what you’re thinking. Whatever is obvious.”

Subsequently, Hemmer queried Danica about her GoDaddy-sponsored IZOD IndyCar Series car. Seamlessly seguing into her role as GoDaddy.com spokesmodel, she pointed to its phallic-shaped nose and purred,”You got to start from the front because I have…a chrome horn or chrome nose. I’m hoping it’s filled with, like, something really solid and. Then she racily added, “Never mind! I won’t go there. But, yeah, we’re all GoDaddy now.”

Yes, it’s Steely Danica and her car. It’s name? Chromy Dan-ica, perhaps. She can certainly crush the men on the field and off.

Been reading Burroughs‘ Naked Lunch lately, Danica?

Whatever became of me...

When Black Friday comes
I’m gonna dig myself a hole
Gonna lay down in it
‘Til I satisfy my soul
Gonna let the world pass by me
The Archbishop gonna sanctify me
And if he don’t come across
I’m gonna let it roll
When Black Friday comes I’m gonna stake my claim
I guess I’ll change my name.

- Steely Dan, “Black Friday”

Well, now that we’re all sated on turkey, football and bargain crazed shopping, let’s give thanks that its once again Friday and time for us to our trip through the tubes.  I’m most thankful that my fellow GonzoGeeks got their links in to me before they disappeared for the holidays.  We’ve got some good stuff here today kids, so hang on.

Of course, before we serve up the links, we have to serve up the cheesecake.  This week, we decided it was time to go retro once again.  Stephe and I decided that we could think of no vintage cheesecake more appropriate for the day after Thanksgiving than Loni Anderson.  Why?  Because of the legendary “Turkey Drop” episode of WKRP in Cincinnati, that’s why.  Loni tweaked the dumb blonde secretary stereotype magnificently on WKRP and in this episode especially.  Don’t know what I’m talking about?  CLICK HERE.

In the meantime, enjoy the links.

1. The early days of some of your favorite websites.
2. Iraqi Metal.
3. The BIG Boom (scroll down).
4. Translation be fun time to me.
5. Ms. Couric, your freak is showing.
6. Rob Schneider vs. radio imbeciles.
7. Stephe’s lone contribution of the week.  Its even in English this time.
8. TEQUILA!
9. The dangers of MMORPGs exposed.
10. Another chimp attack victim goes on Oprah.
11. Cool pictures of vintage girl bands.
12. As the 00’s come to a close the “best of” lists have started to roll in.
13. This week’s gratuitous Twilight post #1.
14. Gotcha?  You betcha.
15. Even when Hulk Hogan is playing air guitar on the title belt?
16. How to pick cereal.
17. This week’s obligatory Twilight post #2.
18. Just in time for Black Friday, what not to buy in 2009.
19. 25 scariest moments in non-horror movies.
20. It’s evolution baby!
21. Rock Band reaches 1001 song catalog.  Take that Creed!
22. This is as close as I will ever come to watching a Lifetime movie.
23. At long last, Angelina Jolie weighs in on POTUS.  America can sleep better tonight.
24. The Most Brutal Martial Arts Training…EVER.
25. I fail to see the problem.
26. But who will correct and/or hack the entries?
27. And finally, David’s Iraq deployment blog.

The only good thing about Black Friday is that I now have that song in my head.  Welcome to Black Friday, the day that throngs of people assault retail stores in droves for After Thanksgiving Day sales.  If we were to apply the adage that time is money, then I think a sound argument could be made for staying home today, especially if you don’t like the process of shopping in the first place.  For one thing, the extra time spent zig-zagging to clear a walking path and gasping for any extra lingering oxygen in the air might as well equal the amount of money you’re saving, not to mention the added stress of being surrounded by women going apeshit over a sale.  And believe me, they can get vicious.

Don’t get me wrong, I love material goods and beautiful clothes and gadgets just as much as the next girl, but to traverse through crowds of rabid women in primal acquisition mode sounds truly horrifying.  I would rather have hot forks poked in my eyes.   Lest anyone think I’m a detractor of capitalism and free markets, one can always bundle up in a plush robe, pour a cup of hot tea and click away in bed, wrapped in a down comforter to the sounds of Steely Dan’s urbane Black Friday – and still feel just as legitimately American.  Even if you do enjoy shopping, why would any one with fully firing synapses voluntarily choose to subject themselves to the worst lunacy of the season?  Let us hope that what happened last year was our rock bottom.

The draw of Black Friday is, to me, just as baffling as the type of reaction that ensues when Jamba Juice, for instance, announces they’re giving away free smoothies.  Free smoothies!!!!!  AAAAAAAAGGGH!  RUN, do not walk to the nearest Jamba Juice.  I witnessed this recently: news reached the masses that a free smoothie was to be had at Jamba Juice (retail value: $4) and in a matter of minutes there forms a line winding around three corners of the block.  You would think that Robert Pattinson was there signing autographs and holding a raffle for a marriage proposal.  But no, all of this waiting over a $4 cup of sugar. Maybe I’m missing something, but based on the time spent wasting in line is this free $4 smoothie really worth it?  One hour of your life for a free smoothie?  I would rather have the time thank you.  It’s incredible the rose-colored glasses we look through when we hear the word “free” or “sale.”  I refuse to be hypnotized by these words.  Who knows, with all of these bargain shoppers out and about stampeding the streets, maybe my internet connection will run faster as the cyber world becomes a Ghost Town.

Back in 2007, I got very very obsessed with the sophomore album from Sunderland’s Field Music, a 30-minute progressive punk art rock odyssey into the mundanity of small-town life. In borrowing the least lifestyle elements of Steely Dan and fusing them to a jerkiness that recalled Wire, the then-trio (comprised of the two brothers Brewis, and their friend Andrew Moore) created a masterpiece that provided concise chunks of song that packed in a multitude of musical ideas – from Billy Joel-esque piano, to crisp beatboxing. Tones of Town was magnificent, and its lack of fame was nigh-upon criminal. When the band announced they were going on hiatus, I practically cried myself to sleep.

Well now, via several intriguing side projects, they’re back. And in a more expansive mood, clearly, because their forthcoming third album, entitled Field Music (Measure), is a double album, with twenty songs that aren’t afraid to be less cohesive, in a manner apparently styled after Tusk and The Beatles. Predictably, I’m very excited, especially since the band (now a four piece, sans Moore) are whetting our appetites with two choice cuts from the album.

The first, “Each Time Is A New Time”, cruises in on a liquid bassline and some pretty FM-rock guitar, backed up by typically intricate drumming. When the vocals come in, the way they harmonise and interlock is sophisticated and aurally pleasing. Halfway through, the song cuts to a stripped-down passage that builds back up with insistently mellifluous guitar figures, wordless chanting and military percussion, before breaking straight back to the original riff. And then, in true Field Music style, it’s over.

The second sample, the title track, “Measure”, explodes from a suitably baroque string arrangement into a clanging, rustling, piano-led groove. The band has not lost its knack of combining the ancient with the modern, as the vocal interplay and hand claps (which sit alongside the strings, and some very steely guitar) will testify. The mood is wistful and meandering, interspersed with occasional shouts that recall Steely Dan and Fleetwood Mac. As the song fades out to looped strings and a thrumming beat, I can’t help but feel a wave of relief that the band has stretched away from the brilliant style they had previously perfected, in order to explore new ground.

Both songs are little gems, and, wonderfully, both are available for free, from the band’s charming website. Field Music (Measure) is released 16th February 2010, on Memphis Industries, and promises to be one of the year’s most intriguing albums, not only in terms of scope and scale, but also in terms of the fascinating, filigree-like music it will contain.

If it was up to the capacity crowd last night, Steely Dan’s performance would have lasted well-beyond the just over two hours that partners in crime Walter Becker and Donald Fagen and their 11-piece band performed. It was that good.

As advertised, it was Aja night, with set one being a performance of the classic 1977 album in it’s entirety (tonight’s second show will feature 1976’s The Royal Scam; trust me, it was a tough choice to pick one night over another). No big special effects with this kind of show; it was all about top-flight musicianship. I did get a kick though when, to signal the start of the Aja set, one of the backup singers placed an album on a turntable at the side of the stage then flipped it over to ’side two’ at the appropriate moment. The band was met with tremendous cheers and applause at the conclusion of each song from Aja, and when Part 1 of the evening was done, it was onto the real fun of the night.

Hitting the ground running with one of my faves “Bodhisattva” from 1973’s Countdown To Ecstasy, it was one crowd-pleasing number after another. With such an amzing catalogue of material to choose from, and going in you know an entire album is going to be played, there were bound to be tunes not played which I would have loved to have heard, such as Do It Again and FM. But still, one can’t fault them, this is Steely Dan after all, and for those of us who have been fans of the band for years and years, they could really do no wrong.

Donald Fagen held court mostly at his electric piano at center stage, lurching back and forth like a man possesed but he was having a great time, part lead vocalist, part ringmaster. Guitarist Walter Becker, who’s looking more and more like an English professor the older he gets, took lead vocals on Daddy Don’t Live In That New York City No More, and also took charge of the band intros while the band played the Supremes Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart. Didn’t expect that one, but a lot of fun nonetheless.

The post-Aja setlist covered tracks from various points in their career, form the aformentioned Bodhisattva , to Don’t Take Me Alive, to Black Friday (to which I said “YES!”. Love that song) to a couple of tracks from 1980’s Gaucho. The lone latter-day track was Godwhacker from 2003’s Everything Must Go. (Nothing from 2000’s Grammy winning Two Against Nature).

The sole encore, the outstanding Reelin’ in the Years, had the crowd on its feet wanting more. Kudos go out to drummer Keith Carlock and lead guitarist Jon Herington, who thoughout the evening more than held their own in not only recreating the solos and fills that are so familiar from the records but for providing the solid musicianship that has alwas been the cornerstone of Steely Dan, both live and on record.

Pardon the pun (but I can’t resist) the band will Do It Again tonight. The final show of the tour hits Montreal on Saturday.

Opening act Chicgao-based Deep Blue Organ Trio (just one killer Hammond B-3 organ actually, plus drums and guitar) provided a brief of but upbeat set of jazz-blues instrumentals that the crowd ate up which set the mood for what was to come, including a well-received cover of Earth Wind & Fire’s “Can’t Hide Love“.

Steely Dan set list:
Aja album
Black Cow
Aja
Deacon Blues
Peg
Home at Last
I Got the News
Josie

Bodhisattva
Hey Nineteen
Daddy Don’t Live In That New York City No More
Godwhacker
Babyolon Sisters
Green Earrings
Black Friday
Dirty Work (sung by the backup singers)
Love is Like an Itching in My Heart (band intros)
Don’t Take Me Alive
My Old School
Kid Charlemagne

Encore
Reelin’ In The Years

My attempts to get a decent video of Steely Dan were thwarted by the Massey Hall security goons who told me to turn off my camera. Oh well, I tried. Here’s what I got. Better than nothing:

Right off the bat, I want to admit that I find the word underrated to be overrated.  And overrated…well, that’s just…well…that’s overrated, too.  I mean, how can we, as consumers, public viewers, the opinionheads of the country, really know how to gauge the “ratedness” of a particular item/product/etc.  There’s the internet, but that’s only a fraction of the population.  A hefty fraction, but still, you’re leaving out other demographics.  There are box office rates and billboard and award shows and many other outlets that give us, the public, a peak into the majority opinion.  BUT…that still doesn’t determine what is “underrated” or “overrated”.  This opinion often includes those disinclined to go to the movie theater (like myself) and wait for DVD, or those people who don’t buy DVD’s in store – but rather from a street vendor, or get it themselves online.  It’s the same with music.  There are forums and message boards where people from around the world can talk/argue/bullshit about the media around us.  But still, how can you really know what should be considered underrated or overrated?  Some throw these words around, with the meaning behind it their own opinion, rather than everyone elses’.  For example, Johnny may have seen The Dark Knight and couldn’t find one redeeming factor in the duration of the runtime.  But what about the numbers?  It shattered box office records and made millions on top of millions, so Johnny here, would say, “The Dark Knight is overrated.”  It’s a blockbuster, though.  How many people go to the movies to see the blockbusters just because they’re the blockbusters?  I would bet a decent amount.  Then, there’s the hype.  Word of mouth.  People at work talk about Heath Ledger’s performance or Christian Bale’s death-metal-vocalist impersonation, and soon that word travels, and a good chunk of the populace are going to see it.  The movie earns a spot on the biggest moneymakers of all time.  Johnny must feel something here.  He must be thinking, “this movie is overrated”.  It makes sense.  It seems everyone and their mother has gone out to see this movie!  BUT, so has Johnny.  How many Johnny’s are out there?  For every person like me, who enjoyed the hell out of the movie, there’s someone who didn’t take away anything from the viewing.  Therefore, it wouldn’t be fair to call The Dark Knight overrated. 

Then, there’s music.  Like today’s pop music.  I can’t stand it, nor can I find any ounce of talent or heart or soul in the majority of what’s considered popular music today.  All that American Idol, Britney Spears stuff, or the Lil’ Wayne, modern rap stuff.  I see how popular it is, and just think, how overrated?  But once again, for every American Idol-loving person, there’s the opposite, the one like me, wondering what the hell happened to good music?  There’s usually an equal divide.  What’s underrated to one, may be overrated to another.  It’s all based on opinion – where there is no right or wrong.  It’s a touchy subject, therefore I tend to stray away, and worry only about the opinions of myself or the people close to me. 

While a talented band musically, LRB weren't the best-looking band.

So why name a blog Criminally Underrated when I’m against the word choice altogether?  I’ll tell you why – because I believe it.  Who listens to the Little River Band?  Seriously?  Who?  Aside from the few songs on the radio, who else, besides a tiny portion, could name a Little River Band song?  Maybe the word/phrase I’m searching for is under looked. 

Little River Band is an Australian rock band whose heyday took place in the late 1970’s.  Their biggest hits in the U.S., ranging from 1975 to 1981 included “It’s a Long Way There”, “Lonesome Loser”, “Lady”, and “Reminiscing”, which peaked at # 3, making it their biggest hit.  By 1983, they had lost many of their core band members, including lead vocalist Glenn Shorrock and harmony vocalist/guitarist  Beeb Birtles.  Founding member Graeham Goble stuck with the band throughout the 80’s, trying to keep it fresh and innovative, but this is around the time when the band’s excellence started to decline.  They went for a faster, more aggressive (with the times) sound that just didn’t work for LRB.

I’m not saying they’re the greatest band in the world.  We all know that title is reserved for Tenacious D.  But somewhere between Crosby, Stills and Nash and The Eagles is Little River Band – with their harmonic choruses and smooth arrangements.  They also have a few country-tinged tunes (mostly found on the rare After Hours album which apparently the U.S. record company found “too dark” and had them record a new album which would be Diamantina Cocktail).  However, besides the hits, there are a great number of songs to be heard in the discography of LRB.  The tragic part of the tale is that the Little River Band touring today features no founding members.  It’s basically a cover band.  They played at a festival in my city a year ago, and I opted not to go because of this little fact.  If Shorrock, Birtles or Goble aren’t there, well, I’m not either. 

Now, the reason I call LBR underrated is that I’ve only met a handful of people who’ve actually heard of them.  One of them is my father.  This makes sense – he remembers them from when they were a successful rock band.  But what about now?  Why no resurgence?  You’ll hear younger people talk all day about CSN, The Eagles, Steely Dan, and other countless “classic rock” acts, but why no LRB?  Am I alone in this respect for the band?  Well, if I am alone, then that would certainly justify the title “underrated”.  There are not many forums or message boards where LRB is being discussed on the internet, and literally every record store I’ve been are missing any selection from this band.  Why is that?

Below are some videos from youtube.  Check it out and let me know what you think.  Is this the first time you’ve heard of this band?  Are you a longtime fan?  Do you think I’m crazy for defending this one-time popular but now washed-up band?  Comment below and share your opinions, people of the internet!

Here’s Ween performing “Stacey” in 1991.  Best Parts:  A young Gene Ween and Dean’s solo.

Flight of the Conchords - “Ladies of the World” in 1999 on Newtown Salad (public access?).  What an audience.  Anyway, another great early performance from a duo.

Here’s another duo, Tenacious D, performing “Explosivo” in 1998 on what looks like a Comedy Central show.  And did the creators of Hancock rip off his get-up from Jack Black’s accessories here?  Who’s to say?

Next up is Bauhaus performing “Stigmata Martyr”.  Not sure what year this was filmed or how long the band had been together at this point, but it looks like an early capture.  Quality is a bit choppy, but a gem nonetheless.

And here’s my favorite “early performance” on Youtube - Steely Dan performing “Reelin’ in the Years” sometime in the early 70’s.  The video reads it was in 1978, but apparently that’s when this performance aired and not when it was filmed.  By 1978, Steely Dan had become strictly a “studio band”  but this video showcases their live capabilities. 

And those are my selections for now.  One day, I’m sure I’ll stumble upon some early videos of Pixies or Wilco and will have to add them to the list.  Until then, enjoy these selections hand-picked for your viewing pleasure.

For this week’s post, I thought it would be a nice diversion to listen to some tunes. Better yet, to listen to some tunes while watching moving images.  In this sampler we have a couple of music videos and a couple of live cuts from a few of my favorites—hope you find something you like, too.

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Donald Fagen

“Snowbound”

From the album, Kamakiriad, 1993.

Donald Fagen is of course half of the brain trust known as Steely Dan, creators of genius music puzzles for the past several decades. The album was a solo project for Fagen, which thematically explored a bleak, ironic future for mankind. The video was directed by Michael Gondry, the man behind a ton of cool videos and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Let me also state for the record that Gondry’s film Be Kind Rewind is an underrated gem which you should rent as soon as possible.

 Click here for “Snowbound” Video

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James Taylor (with J.D. Souther)

“Her Town Too”

From the album, Dad Loves His Work, 1981.

Apparently, this album came out while Taylor was simultaneously divorcing Carly Simon and suffering from drug and alcohol addiction. J.D. Souther, a widely-respected writer and musician in his own right, lends a sweet harmony to the song. It’s hard to believe this came out nearly 30 years ago (unless you look at their wardrobes).

 Click here for “Her Town Too” video

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Jackson Browne (with David Lindley)

“Late for the Sky”

From the album, Late for the Sky, 1974.

This clip is from an unknown 2006 folk festival and features a grizzled Jackson Browne and an understated David Lindley.  Not that Jackson Browne has ever needed backup of any kind, but Lindley’s soaring guitar work helped shape Browne’s signature sound when he was a musical force in the 1970’s. If you haven’t listened to some of Jackson Browne’s earlier work, find these records and listen to them through an old pair of headphones. You will be moved.

 Click here for live “Late for the Sky”

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Gillian Welch and David Rawlings

“Caleb Meyer”

From the album, Hell Among the Yearlings, 1988.

I had the good fortune to see Gillian Welch and David Rawlings at Merlefest several years in a row and again at the Town Hall in NYC. The selected song is a higher tempo than some of my favorite Gillian Welch songs, but you get a sense of his brilliant guitar technique and her anachronistic songwriting, like haunted old tunes written in the 1840’s.  The interplay of their voices is an amazing sound to hear live.

 Click here for live “Caleb Meyer”

What I’m Watching (On TV):  Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dexter, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Dollhouse, Supernatural

What I’m Watching (On DVD):  Gilmore Girls Season 2, Star Trek (The Original Series) Season 1, SCTV Volume 1

What I’m Listening to:  Flight of the Conchords – I Told You I Was Freaky, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Dig Lazarus Dig!, Steely Day – Can’t Buy a Thrill

What I’m Reading:  Neil Gaiman – Sandman, Stephen King – Salem’s Lot

What I’m Doing:  Pre-Production of short film, Con Artists – filming hopefully to begin sometime next month.  This is a project I’m working on with my lady friend, Katie, and is something we’re both passionate about.  Con Artists follows 4 washed-up actors reuniting in a shitty bar for the first time in 15 years.  What follows is lots of beer, bad food, and a look at storytelling synonymous with banter. 

The new season of Curb is going pretty pretty pretty good, forgetting even all of the Seinfeld hype.  Can’t wait to see what LD has in store for the season finale.  Dexter is quite interesting this season and they even took some really big risks (ex: SPOILER – the death of Lundy).  I’m certainly enjoying this season much more than the last.  Jimmy Smits was great and all, but looking back, Season 3 was kind of boring.  Plus I think John Lithgow is doing an exceptional job.  Kind of makes you forget about a time when he wasn’t considered a “villain” by the viewing public.  And as far as Dollhouse goes, all I can say is that it is getting better each episode.  Sad to see it cancelled but will make the most of it and watch the rest of Season 2/Series in December.  It’s Always Sunny…while still probably the funniest show on TV, just doesn’t compare to the early seasons (1, 2, maybe 3).

I’m not afraid to admit I’m a fan of the Gilmore Girls.  The study of small town behavior, friends and family (and coffee) resonates somewhere in my mind and blocks the fact that this is even considered a ”chick show”.  Plus, it’s fun to watch a show where you catch 95% of the references.  I’m only on episode 4 of Star Trek but I already see it will be a low-budget (or cheap) but revolutionary sci-fi show that will present interesting ideas in space.  SCTV  (Network 90) is a straight-up classic featuring two of my favorite comedic actors:  John Candy and Rick Moranis.  Some of my favorite sketches include:  anything with Johnny LaRue, Monster Chiller Horror Theater, The Gerry Todd Show, and Mel’s Rock Pile.

Flight of the Conchords – I Told You I Was Freaky is getting heavy rotation in my car due to basically all of the songs.  What a fun album to listen to!  I also just brought out Nick Cave and the Bad Seed’s album Dig Lazarus Dig! for the first time since it was new, and I still think it’s one of the band’s best.  Steely Dan’s Can’t Buy a Thrill LP is being played on the record player – a great album to hear on vinyl if you haven’t.

Just finished Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Vol. 2:  The Doll’s House.  I could not put this book down.  I was enthralled by the story from the get-go, from the prelude to the closing chapter, and especially the in-between (Men of Good Fortune and the Cereal Convention).  Going for Dream Country next.  Also got through the first part of Salem’s Lot and now working on the Emperor of Ice Cream.  I’ve seen both films but this is my first time reading the book.  So far, book is winning.

Starting a new blog. Will discuss music, new and old, and give insight to my recording process.

1. Flipping around with the remote only to find commercials and extreme volume variance.  Thank god for the mute.  I mute all commercials after I’ve heard them once.
2. The Democrats calling 1 Republican vote evidence of bipartisan support for health care reform.  The Dems don’t even have partisan support.  And the Blue Dogs – tell me, how can they even call themselves Democrats?  They seem to have more in common with the Republicans.
3. Folks on the subway with bad musical taste who unwittingly or perhaps intentionally share, or I should say blare bad music through crap non-noise canceling headphones.  And there are those with no headphones at all who broadcast fully distorted favorites on cheap cell phone speakers to captive riders.
4. A dumb smart phone.  Mine has virtually no signal strength on the subway lines.  Not only can I not make a call, I can’t read the news, check e-mail or FB – nothing.  So I’m back to lugging a book with me on my morning commute, and frankly I don’t miss the news one bit.
5. Mike happy T conductors trying to sound like flight attendants or DJs.   Come on, the stops are all prerecorded, just open and close the doors already and let’s get going.   Makes me think of REM’s “Driver 8“:  And the train conductor says “driver 8, take a break, driver 8 take a break, we can reach our destination, but we’re still aways away.”
6. A hot toasted bagel served with tubs of cold butter on the side.  Dunkin Donuts is guilty of this crime.  I guess that’s why they’re called Dunkin Donuts and not Dunkin Bagels.  What’s worse, they waste so much plastic, serving a knife and a handful of tiny plastic tubs of butter per customer.   It would actually take the worker less time to slap on some butter than it does for them to pack the butter and plastic knife.  Notwithstanding the waste, it’s next to impossible to peel the covers off those tiny tubs.
7. Artists sampling the classics.  I think it’s a bit of a Royal Scam if the sample is not credited or authorized.  Speaking of the LP by the same name, Kayne West sampled a riff from Steely Dan’s “Kid Charlemagne” in his song “Champion“.  Is it a rip-off or a tribute?  I can’t say I’m annoyed at the reference in this contemporary song, but I wonder how Walter Becker and Donald Fagen feel about it?

Grab your Steely Dan t-shirt & get thee to a concert hall…last night this dexterous duo played the Riverside in Milwaukee…if you’ve never seen them live, put this on your gotta-do list.

The show started with the Aja album, played from start to finish, which is what I had been looking forward to. But it got even better after that…I felt like I was transported back to the ’70s. The playlist included Babylon Sisters, My Old School, Kid Charlemagne–even a rendition of Dirty Work. It was obvious that Fagen and Becker were there to make sure everyone had a good time, in stark contrast to their standoffish reputation. Fagen suggested we get up and dance, to which we responded with a collective shake-and-shimmyfest. I’m pretty sure we would have done anything he asked.

Cool glasses, aren’t they? Kind of a leopard thing goin’ on…

The Riverside is my favorite place to see a concert. It’s smallish, so it feels intimate, and you can bring in a camera, as long as you’re not obnoxious with it. It also has a long and storied past. Built for vaudeville in 1927, the theater was restored to its former beauty in 1984 thanks to a generous donation by Milwaukee patron Joseph Zilber. It’s one of the few historic theaters left in Milwaukee, and, amazingly, it looks just about the same on the inside as it did in 1927. I hear that there are “Haunted Riverside” tours given by one of the employees…but I’d rather get my thrills & chills listening to some fine Steely Dan jazz.

A ban on literary allusion in rock lyrics strikes me as a good idea.  Wouldn’t it be great if Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On” didn’t have those Tolkienisms?  Isn’t Grace Slick’s “rejoyce” more enjoyable as pure piano-driven dada than as a farrago of Ulysses references?  Isn’t “Killing An Arab,” Camus via the Cure, a major drag?  Is there anything in rock we really value that we’d lose with the ban?

Well—we might lose great songs that were inspired by literary sources.  Without the Tolkien connection we might not get “Ramble On” at all (or “Sympathy for the Devil” without The Master and Margarita, or “Kid Charlemagne” without The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test—or the neat band name Steely Dan without Naked Lunch—or—).

All right, it would be madness to forbid literary inspiration, but wouldn’t it often be better to disguise the debt?  Do I have to hear (every time) about Mordor and Gollum in the calm verse before the perfect storm chorus of “Ramble On”?  —Worse, must we take seriously the kind of commentary that thinks literary allusions make rock songs more seriously interesting?[1]

Allusion has a notable power to turbo-boost the action of thought in a purely literary context, but does any of this power carry over to rock songs, which are designed to appeal immediately and viscerally to a youthful audience (I mean all of us as youthful) for whom fresh experience must matter far more than either cultural reminiscence or artistic cleverness?

To the point, then:  Is there any such thing as a great rock allusion hook, an exception that proves (or, if not so exceptional, wrecks) my rule?

Probably there are many contenders.[2]  One I admit I like is the Lolita reference, “just like the old man in that book by Nabokov,” in “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” by the Police.  The allusion is charmingly external, simple and naked, and actually adds meaning, too, since the sexual deviance of the schoolgirl hitting on the teacher in “Don’t Stand” is complementary to Humbert Humbert’s famous perversion in Lolita, and we glimpse with the teacher the horrid possibility of being turned involuntarily into something like a Humbert.   Plus it’s cute to rhyme “that book by Nabokov” with “he starts to shake and cough” in the preceding line (which sets the scene for his horrid transformation, as though into Mr. Hyde).

But the cuteness of the rhyme and the connection begins to undermine the whole experience.  Is it a one-trick song after all, a gag?  Without the allusion, this doubt wouldn’t have been sown.

I do know one allusion that impressively hits a rock nail on the head.  It’s the reference to Lewis Carroll’s Alice books in Grace Slick’s “White Rabbit,” bridging two worlds of mind-expansion, the Victorian fantastic and the 60’s psychedelic, drilling to just the right depth of cultural memory and perfectly leveraging the implicit claim of all allusion that the mind can make a greater truth.  Someone might object that my example isn’t a specific reference within a song but rather a whole song made of references to Carroll, like an Alice mini-opera.  I contend, however, that (a) with its sharp thematic focus (in glaring contrast to “rejoyce”) the song really works as an extended allusion, for we never forget that its primary subject matter is not Alice, who remains relatively in the distance, but our own possibilities of out-of-bounds experience; and (b) the allusion is so effective because it is so dominant, forcing everything else in the song to agree:  the bass line becomes a scuttling march over thresholds of wonder, the slightly dirty lead guitar becomes the sizzling forward edge of the exploring mind, the eventual big beat becomes the discovery of the hungry center—the head that must be fed.

Unlike “Sympathy for the Devil,” which alludes interestingly to a Russian novel that few of the Rolling Stones’ listeners have even heard of, “White Rabbit” makes a crackling connection with a book everyone knows well, a book that has already injected us with subversive joy.[3]  Never mind Slick’s boring claim that she wrote the song merely to make a point about how the flower children’s parents had set them up for drug use by reading them drug-allusive texts like Alice and The Wizard of Oz.[4]  “White Rabbit” reminds us that our original trip through the looking glass was an unsettling, exhilarating initiation into mental freedom, a revelation of the volatile truth that consciousness is—and can launch us again, whenever we want to continue the adventure.

2.  Almost any of them will raise interesting questions about the nature of allusion.  For instance, does Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear The Reaper” allude to Romeo and Juliet as elements in Shakespeare’s play, or as the source idea that Shakespeare worked with, or as post-Shakespeare cultural icons? Consider also Dire Straits’ beautiful “Romeo and Juliet,” which uses R & J as a general archetype for star-separated lovers but specifically alludes to the balcony scene in the play (and also to West Side Story’s take on R & J:  “‘There’s a place for us,’ you know the movie song”).

3.  Much of what I’ve claimed for “White Rabbit” could be claimed also for Cream’s “Tales of Brave Ulysses” in relation to the Odyssey, but “Tales” has to work too hard to make the Odyssey material vivid for us, so that Homer’s world becomes more like a contemporary Western tourist’s plunge into Aegean waters.  But this migration among worlds could be seen as a strength.

4.  Interviewed in Jeff Tamarkin, Got a Revolution!  The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane (New York:  Atria, 2003), p. 110.

From The NYT, an interesting article on how to build homes, complete w/ some great images of the work of  architect Roald Gundersen:

According to research by the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, run by the USDA, a whole, unmilled tree can support 50 percent more weight than the largest piece of lumber milled from the same tree. So Mr. Gundersen uses small-diameter trees as rafters and framing in his airy structures, and big trees felled by wind, disease or insects as powerful columns and curving beams.

Taking small trees from a crowded stand in the forest is much like thinning carrots in a row: the remaining plants get more light, air and nutrients. Carrots grow longer and straighter; trees get bigger and healthier.

And when the trees are left whole, they sequester carbon. “For every ton of wood, a ton and a half of carbon dioxide is locked up,” he said, whereas producing a ton of steel releases two to five tons of carbon. So the more whole wood is used in place of steel, the less carbon is pumped into the air.

These passive solar structures also need very little or no supplemental heat

And now for something entirely different:

Memo to Kanye: the “Champion” from the Dan song was Owsley.

Come on… I had to, right?

-Kevin

Steely Dan performed four straight nights of concerts on August 21-25, 2009 at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles. Each night they performed an entire album in its entirety starting with Aja, followed by  Gaucho, the Royal Scam, and final night of internet fan requests. I went each night with a different friend/guest. Below are my reviews from all four nights. Enjoy!

Steely Dan / Night one/ Gibson Amphitheatre

Subject: Steely Dan Aja

Okay.. Here is the official observation from the first night of Steely Dan. Perfection. Top of their game. Mind-numbingly good playing, singing and arrangements.

Aja from head to toe… Never seen anything like that from a live band. Ever.

After Deacon Blues.. One of the backup singers walks down in the spotlight, and picks an album up from a turntable and flips it over… For the second side! And they launch into PEG..

This is the best big Rock n Soul revue jazz band playing.

The good news: they play a lot of songs from all phases of their career… So each night you don’t really miss much.. Plus you get to see the first hour devoted to one album from top to bottom. Pretty amazing.

Fagen is spot on. Absolute genius. Great band leader. Ray Charles re-incarnated.

However, Becker noodles endlessly on guitar while occasionally landing on something that resembles the song.. And is given two throwaway songs to sing. (Daddy Don’t Live In that New York City No More from Katy lied )

This guy must do some helluva job behind the scenes, arranging, writing.. Etc.. Because he is the lightweight of this band. (man that was harsh)

Keith Carlock, is with out a doubt, the best drummer playing anywhere right now in any genre. It is one thing to have played on a few Steely Dan records as a session drummer or player and quite another to play the entire Steely Dan catalogue live and continuously for hours.

(also makes you realize how good Steve Gadd and some of those guys were on some of those records, because Carlock nails them)

This show is a couple of production steps above the last show I saw them do at Nokia. They have definitely wised up to the fact they have the best drummer on the planet and have built in production cues to highlight his work through various passages. Just excellent. The look is like an old Rock and Soul R&B Revue.. Great horns and rhythm section.

Horn section, backup singers, bass player all top notch riveting players.

However, there is no guitar slinger in this band. Both Becker (who plays and noodles most leads) and John Herrington (who is a very capable guitar player and has been their main guy for many years.) just cant seem to step out play some big meaty riffs. They are tasteful but not blazers. And many people will say they are playing within the band and the arrangements. Fine.

But it wouldn’t hurt to put some big guitar playing into the mix. This is a band dominated by horn section.. And keys.. Which is okay because the arrangements and playing is spot on.

. But there is no one to match the horns intensity and precision or Fagan’s vocals and step out and do the big signature guitar licks that made a lot these great records.

NO LARRY CARLTON TONIGHT ALTHOUGH WEBSITE AND ONLINE SAYS HE IS SUPPOSED TO PLAY ALL 4 NIGHTS.. Oh well.. Maybe one of the nights you guys are going.. We’ll see.

In the end, I felt like I was watching a precision surgical procedure.. With a lot of infectious rhythm. You cannot stop moving.

I do think we saw something historic tonight and I am excited about seeing history made 3 more nights.

Last note: our seats are row FF  Sec 5 on the aisle… Excellent seats and sound mix for the band (Fagen’s vocals get a little lost).. I walked upstairs to listen.. And didn’t sound good in the cheap seats.

We hit the motherlode..

You will not be disappointed. Still reading?

Cheers.. Jim

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Okay.. Steely dan .. Night two.. Gaucho.

This album in its entirety did not equal to Aja, which was blessed with many FM friendly hits. The audience the night before new practically every song on Aja.. Not so much on Gaucho.

However, the band once again performed the album flawlessly albeit at a bit lower energy level. Glamour Profession, Time out of Mind, and Third World Man stood out.  Gaucho was a short album and went by quickly.

The band immediately dove into their catalogue again.. Starting with Godwhacker from Everything Must Go. Fagen stands up on this song (and a few others a plays his mellodica and sings from center stage..)

The crowd was smaller tonight than first night.. Plenty of open seats in spite of the fact that they had draped off half the arena… From 6300 normal capacity to 3100 for the Steely Dan shows. I imagine this is due to lack of ticket sales..and they didn’t want it to appear like an empty arena. Regardless, still a lot of empty seats in upper level.. Tickets abundant outside. These are shows for fans.. Not the casual concert goer.

Couple of songs tonight they didn’t do first night… Dirty Work from Cant Buy a Thrill, which I have never seem them do live. Probably because Fagen didn’t sing that song originally (ABC had brought in David Palmer on the first album because the felt Fagen didn’t have a radio friendly voice). Tonight he let the backup singers each take the verses and chorus. He did not sing on the song.

Becker seemed to play a little better tonight, he still noodled a lot but not to the extent of first night. I still get the feeling they cover for him a lot.. He is buried in the mix quite a bit even when he steps out for his solos…  ( I am rough on this guy.. Can’t get over the fact that he now takes most of the guitar leads… And his endless noodling)

Jon Herrington played brilliant guitar as usual, and the rest of the band were spot on all night. My OlD School, Bhodistavva, and Show Biz Kids were incredible.

For the encore, Fagan announced they had been asked to do the original arrangement of Reelin in the Years.. He said we’re gonna try.. And proceeded to rock the house down.

They still have not played anything from Pretzel Logic (other than first night E. St. Louis Toodle-Oo) nor much from Katy Lied (they did let Becker sing Daddy Don’t Live in that New York City No More again)\

I personally think they should have done Pretzel or Katy Lied as one of their album nights… But..

I took my 17 year old son tonight… It was interesting watching his reaction. When we walked in he laughed and said.. It was weird going to a concert and seeing so many people that looked like me! A bunch of old nerds walking around!

He had a good time and really got into the musicianship despite the fact that Becker’s big music stand blocked half of the view of center stage including where the bass player stood (my son is a bass player, so he wanted to see Freddie Washington). He also made a comment about all the white people around us clapping on the wrong beat…! What are you gonna do?

Anyway.. On to night 3 on Monday.. The Royal Scam.. My favorite album. However still no Larry Carlton sighting.. I am feeling a bit Scammed myself over that.

Cheers.. Jim

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Steely Dan/Night Three/The Royal Scam/Gibson Amphitheatre/LA

“…is there gas in the car? Yes, there’s gas in the caaaaarrr!!”

Okay.. Tonight, was the third of four nights seeing Steely Dan do 4 different albums in their entirety. The Royal Scam.

Perhaps in the beginning not one of your favorite Steely Dan albums… But through the years , the one you probably go back to more than the others..it is meaty, beaty, big and bouncy.. And dark.

If you read my earlier observations from the first night, you remember my whining about the fact that there isn’t a guitar slinger in this band. No one to step out and blaze on any of the signature guitar riffs that have become ingrained in your mind on every Steely Dan song. They set the bar high. You expect perfection. They have trained you to only settle for the best.

Well tonight, the smokin’ gun finally showed up. Larry Carlton walked on and played from the opening note to the final curtain.

His presence and tone alone took everything to another level immediately. Becker quit noodling and started actually laying in some nice solos since he had limited moments with Carlton firmly in the saddle. Jon Herrington, gracefully, moved over and let Carlton let loose on many of the songs that he designed the blueprint for. And Herrington stepped his playing up a notch as well.

Carlton played the opening solo to Kid Charlemagne note for note, and set the bar early on for the rest of the playing and solos throughout the night.

The crowd responded immediately with loud standing ovations on every solo, phrase or simple rhythm that Carlton laid out. Carlton had stage presence. And a tone and sound that let everyone know that there is a guitar legend among us. He telegraphed to the audience with sweet, long, drawn out notes in the beginning of all solos .. To let everyone know.. Look over here.. I am about to unleash. He did not disappoint. The hype is real. The man can solidly lay down some amazingly creative and powerful guitar.

Throughout Royal Scam..  He laid down riff after riff that made you realize he was the guy who drew up the map on all of these. And as good as Jon Herrington is, and with great respect for the guitar work he has done while playing in the shadow of Carlton, Jay Graydon, Skunk Baxter, Denny Diaz, et al.. He does not have the stage presence of these guys.. And especially Carlton on this night.

Still Herrington stood his ground, helped Carlton sift through the huge Dan catalogue and willingly shared the spotlight (literally.. The lighting director seemed to not know Carlton was on stage for the first song.. As he stood in the edge of Herrington’s spotlight.. Even when Herrington wasn’t playing!)  Carlton played from sheet music most of the night, but stepped out and burned on his signature solos from memory when he needed to.

Fagen, seemed a little relieved not to have to carry the burden tonight, as he has struggled with bronchitis (according to the web blogs) and has had trouble hitting the high register on a lot of songs. His vocal has been buried in the mix all three nights.

However, after the band introductions, which Becker handles with the ease of a carnival barker, complete with witty reparte’ and a few good jokes, the band launched into Third World Man from Gaucho (the album they played in its entirety on Saturday)… And immediately you knew this was going to be something special. Fagen was able to nail this song in this key, Carlton played his best and tastiest shots of the night.. And the band hit its stride… This was the highlight of the evening and definitely a step above the first two nights.

Tonight was one of those nights that make you feel good about all the trouble you go through to get tickets to all the shows, make the effort to go out each night, and endure the crazy looks people give you when you tell them your are  actually going to see a band that is more than 40 years old play all four nights. In the large scheme.. Four nights of your life is nothing. I spend four nights a week routinely doing nothing of note. So why not get out and see a band that has brought you countless nights and hundreds of hours of great joy…. A mere half hour from your front doorstep.

I saw this band a year and a half ago when the new Nokia theatre opened in downtown LA. It was the best show I saw that year. And when the tickets went on sale this year.. I knew I would go and see all the shows they played in LA.

B Thank god they didn’t do a 17 night run, ala, the Allman Brothers at the Beacon! It would have been tough explaining that to everyone. Brenda would have me locked up no doubt, and I know she thinks about it anyway, fairly routinely.

So, night 3 is history. One more night to go. Fan internet request night. Should be great. I haven’t heard Rikki Don’t lose That number or FM, or Any Major Dude, or much from the later Dan records… So maybe tomorrow night will hold a few new surprises.

I have had great company all 3 nights.. That’s for sure. My colleague and friend Michael Niles was with me for Aja (he told me that he went out the next day and bought a new copy of the cd he was so impressed.)

My 17 year old son went with me to see Gaucho. He sat through a small jazz quartet and 2 plus hours of unfamiliar songs… But had a great take and appreciation and spent some time googling Jon Herrington afterwards. Today, I come home and he is listening to a bootleg version of Thelonius Monk. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

And tonight I went with my friend and often business associate Sean Weber Small. A guitar player and a drummer. And a very critical audiophile. He was tough. But fair. And enjoyed it immensely.. He also pointed out to me that my belief that Keith Carlock is the best drummer on the planet, has to be tempered by the fact that Steve Gadd wrote the map as well for most of those licks. I still put Carlock on the top of the heap.. He is the best drummer, pound for pound, playing anywhere today.

What a week… One more night to go. Then its back to watching old ON Demand episodes of Entourage and True Blood!

“..we dolly back… And then we fade to black..”

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Steely Dan/night Four/internet fan request night/Gibson Amphitheatre LA

“..got a case of dynamite.. I could hold out here all night…”

The end of the road. The last picture show.

I feel like when I was a kid and the carnival would come to town for the week.. And the last night you would leave knowing that in the morning they would all be gone. Nothing left but an empty ball field with candy apple wrappers and empty popcorn boxes.

What a great run. Took my brother tonight for his birthday. We have seen a bunch of Steely Dan shows together and something strange always happens at them. Tonight was no different.. We’ll leave it at that.

Larry Carlton was back. Fagen’s voice was in better shape. And the band trotted out some songs we hadn’t heard yet.. Including Any Major Dude Will Tell You, Rikki Don’t Lose That number and Pretzel Logic from the album of the same name.

While not a totally uneven performance, I think it lacked the discipline required to play an album in its entirety, as in previous nights and did not seem to have the same energy or urgency. Or either I am approaching SD saturation. Impossible.

It is funny the things you notice after seeing the same show 4 nights in a row. Becker tells the same jokes and stories when introducing the band, Fagen repeats almost verbatim little quips to the audience and you realize most nights are very similar for them as performers. It’s a show. A well rehearsed show.

From my standpoint, I quickly figured out which songs to make bathroom and bar runs (anytime Becker starts Daddy Don’t Live in that New York City or the old Motown song that the band does while introducing the band. Becker handles the MC duties as always.. And introduces Fagen last with the same banter and introduction….”.. Songwriter, producer, hitmaker, man about town, my partner for more than 40 years.. Donald Fagen!”

The encore is always Reelin in the Years. The crowd would settle for nothing less. Fagen always comes back out smoking a cigarette and flips it across the stage still burning (that little rebel!)

And tonight with Carlton and Herrington doubling on the main riff.. Made it very special…we were all truly reelin in the years in our big final sing along.

All in all, four very satisfying nights. If I had to rank them, I would say:

1. Night 1 with Aja

2. Night 3 with Royal Scam and Larry Carlton first appearance

3. Night 2 with Gaucho

4. final night internet request night

Final thoughts. Jon Herrington is a fine guitar player and has earned his right to be in this band for a longtime. Becker is a smartass but a genius arranger. Fagen is the re-incarnation of Ray Charles and has the most unique phrasing of any singer I have known. Keith Carlock is a human drum machine with unbelievable talent and stamina. The Steely Dan catalogue may be second only to the Beatles in depth and complexity. They make great records that do and will stand the test of time.

I must make a correction from last night’s review. My son took offense to my description of his attendance Saturday night.. And wanted everyone to know that he has been into jazz for a long time and had the bootleg Thelonius Monk record long before he saw Steely Dan. I stand corrected and apologize to my son for assuming that the Gaucho show was an entry point for him into jazz! Rock on my little son…

And with that.. I thank all my concert companions.. And all 6 of my readers out there for hanging in and reading about my adventures with Steely Dan.

Next on the horizon… Bob Dylan in October at the newly renovated Palladium in Hollywood as well as Loggins and Messina at the Greek Theatre. I will be sure to post some (hopefully shorter) reviews of those shows.. So until next time..

.. “your everlasting summer.. You can see it fading fast..”

Hope everyone enjoyed these as much as I did… take care, pic.