Steely Dan's Aja, Deconstructed

If you have ever listened to the title cut from the Steely Dan album, Aja, then you know what a complex piece of music it is.

Donald and Walter took pieces of other compositions they were working on at different times and combined them into a suite, of sorts.

They not only put together the music, they got some of the best in the business, to play on it.

Steve Gadd on Drums and Wayne Shorter on Sax, add just the right amount of punch to the tune.

Check out THIS article and play the songs, as you read it.

The men are geniuses and that is why this album is "The One" that decades of audiophiles used to test their speaker systems.

Enjoy.

Steely Dan At The Hollywood Bowl - June 18, 2016

I decided to go to one tour date for Steely Dan this year.

The one that attracted me, was the Hollywood Bowl. Not because it was close by, but because it would have the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra playing with them.

My bet was on Aja and Deacon Blues being played and yes, that turned out to be the case.

I also thought Josie would get played, because of the ethereal open they normally use as an intro. I figured it was right up the Orchestra's alley.

So, how did I do...

Three for three. :-)

Here is the set list, from someone else who attended. It matches mine, so hey.

Set list at the Hollywood Bowl 6/18

LA Phil star spangled banner.

LA Phil/various

Green Earrings (Yay, angel!)

Aja

Caves of Altamira

Hey 19

Royal Scam

Deacon blues

Night by Night

Time Out Of Mind

Third World Man

Home at Last

Josie

Bodhisattva with fireworks!

Kid Charlemagne

Honestly, it was a great show. The orchestra did most of the opens and then stayed in the background, for most of the tune. I am sure they were adding extra punch to the songs, but they did not get in the way.

Walter Becker did a pretty good speech during Hey 19. Especially since they lived in LA for a decade of their lives. Something about Reseda comes to my mind.

Everyone was great and the fireworks during Bodhisattva, just took it over the top. As Donald said, he has never played to fireworks before.

Cheap night and such a great unexpected bunch of lesser played songs.

A great review and GREAT video! Check it out, HERE.

The Dan Who Knew Too Much Tour Begins

The Dan Who Knew Too Much Tour 2016 has begun.

They did a soft open up in Port Chester, New York and now they have played at New Orleans Jazzfest. This photo was taken at Jazzfest. Seriously, I have never seen Donald Fagen look so cool.

They will round out the first leg of the tour with another 4 dates and that will be it til June.

In good news, for me. The Hollywood Bowl date finally got a pre-sale and I managed to purchase 2 tickets in the nose bleed section of The Bowl, on Friday.

They are end seats, which makes my Husband and I happy and the total came to Just over $100.

Opening night, Fireworks and The Dan. I am not expecting anything unusual, music wise, but the vibe will be different.

What a night it will be!

The Dan Who Knew Too Much Tour (2016)

We had heard that Steely Dan would be performing at Jazzfest in New Orleans in April and then last week the date at the Hollywood Bowl was announced. That meant that a tour was not far behind...since it costs a lot of money to make this 11 member band go on the road.

It turned up on Monday (on Facebook only) and here are the dates so far.

Apr 18 The Capitol Theatre
Port Chester, NY
Apr 19 The Capitol Theatre
Port Chester, NY
Apr 22 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
New Orleans, LA
Apr 24 Legacy Arena at the BJCC
Birmingham, AL
Apr 27 Toyota Oakdale Theatre
Wallingford, CT
Apr 29 Seneca Niagara Events Center
Niagara Falls, NY
Apr 30 Borgata Event Center
Atlantic City, NJ

Steve Winwood Opens for most of these dates.

Jun 07 Riverbend Music Center
Cincinnati, OH
Jun 08 DTE Energy Music Theatre
Detroit, MI
Jun 10 Four Winds Casino Resort New
Buffalo, MI
Jun 11 FirstMerit Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
Chicago, IL
Jun 13 Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Morrison, CO
Jun 14 USANA Amphitheatre
West Valley City, UT
Jun 16 Shoreline Amphitheatre
Mountain View, CA
Jun 18 Hollywood Bowl (Opening Night with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and Fireworks)
Hollywood, CA
Jun 19 The Colosseum at Caesars Palace
Las Vegas, NV
Jun 22 American Airlines Center
Dallas, TX
Jun 23 Starlight Theatre
Kansas City, MO
Jun 25 Verizon Arena
Little Rock, AR
Jun 26 Chastain Park Amphitheatre ASO
Atlanta, GA
Jun 29 Cruzan Amphitheatre
West Palm Beach, FL
Jun 30 MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre
Tampa, FL
Jul 02 PNC Music Pavilion
Charlotte, NC
Jul 03 BB&T Pavilion
Camden, NJ
Jul 06 PNC Bank Arts Center
Holmdel, NJ
Jul 07 Xfinity Center
Mansfield, MA
Jul 09 Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
Bethel, NY
Jul 10 Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Saratoga Springs, NY
Jul 12 Jiffy Lube Live
Bristow, VA
Jul 13 Veterans United Home Loans Ampitheater
Virginia Beach, VA

I am thinking of going to the Hollywood Bowl, since they will be performing with the orchestra. That might be worth the money. :-)

Oh and Fireworks!!!!!

If I had any extra money, I would love to see them in Red Rocks...but alas, I don't.

Check out the "On Sale" dates, they are coming up by the end of the week...and good luck.

It's FM Day!

My Husband and I spent a few days living around the Empire State Building in NYC, this summer.

Our Hotel had an excellent rooftop view and of course we got photos.

After reading THIS article, I am dying to return to my hotel on Thursday.

According to the article, there will be a light show on the Empire State Building, today, to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the FM Radio Transmission tower, which is located at the top of the building.

WCBS radio will play the Steely Dan Song "FM" (from the movie of the same name).

The light show will be coordinated to the music.

Knowing what Steely Dan is named after (a marital aid), there is nothing quite as appropriate as the lights, the music and the building, all screaming Steely Dan, in front of 8 million residents and potentially, the world.

I hope somebody gets it on video and posts it for us fans.

Update: HERE it is!

FM

Worry the bottle Mamma, it's grapefruit wine
Kick off your high heel sneakers, it's party time
The girls don't seem to care what's on
As long as it plays till dawn
Nothin' but blues and Elvis
And somebody else's favorite song

Give her some funked up music, she treats you nice
Feed her some hungry reggae, she'll love you twice
The girls don't seem to care tonight
As long as the mood is right

FM - no static at all

Give her some funked up music she treats you nice
Feed her some hungry reggae she'll love you twice
The girls don't seem to care tonight
As long as the mood is right

FM - no static at all

Where Was That Pretzel Man Located?

A year or so ago, I came across THIS webpage (called Pop Spots) in my travels around the Steely Dan Universe.

It was an exhaustive search for the exact spot that is showcased on the cover of the Steely Dan's 4th album, Pretzel Logic.

One of the landmarks that the writer of this article used, were 2 identical towers on a building, which are on the opposite side of the park. One of the towers is partially obscured by a tree.

I can go through it all for you, but it is better if you click that link up at the top of this post.

Yesterday, our friend's son who lives in New York, showcased that very building, with a photo that is very similar to the one that I had seen in this article. In case you would like to see that, it can be found on THIS post.

So I looked for it and found it and yes, it was indeed that same building.

It is a beautiful area of Central Park and I enjoyed both people's journeys within.

Maybe someday, my Husband and I will walk around in there.

Bodhisattva And Denny

In good news, for me at least, someone with a youtube channel (sgibson), actually did a semi decent recording of the entire Beacon Concert on October 17th.

If you are into it, here is the link to the entire concert.

Entire Concert

Want the cliff notes version of my personal favorites from this gig?

Here is:

Bodhisattva.

Pearl On The Quarter

Green Earrings

Still glad I did not spend money I did not have, to get there. Also glad that someone took pity on us and sent us a crumb to watch. Yay!

The Most Unforgettable Night of Whatever Setlist

Well, it took most of the night to finally hear what was the final show for Steely Dan for 2015.

The special guest ended up being (my personal choice) Denny Dias! I mentioned that possibility HERE, back in May.

From what little I heard as of midnight last night, he played during most all the songs, with the band members who joined HIS band, so many decades ago. That would be Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. :-)

Here is the setlist.

The Most Unforgettable Night Of Whatever

Special Guest: Denny Dias

Teenies Blues
The Freaky Intro from the Boxset.
Bodhisattva
Black Cow
Aja
Hey 19
Black Friday
Pearl of the Quarter
Show Biz Kids
Babylon Sisters
Green Earrings
Daddy Don't Live
Gaucho
Joe Tex (Band Intros)
Josie
Peg
My old School
Reelin' in the Years

Encore
Kid Charlemagne

Well, I was seriously worried that the evening would be something I would totally regret missing, but minus the chance to see friends, before the gig, it looks like most everything played, were things I have seen and heard before.

Thank goodness.

Photo of Denny Dias and setlist courtesy of Reidar Solli, who flew in from Oslo, Norway. He went to all 8 shows and provided us with color from all of them.

He gets super fan of the Beacon dates, in my book. :-)

On The Eve Of "The Most Unforgettable Night Of Whatever"

The 17th of October will be the ultimate Steely Dan fan event. Labeled: The Most Unforgettable Night of Whatever - Featuring Spectacular Musical Guests, Glorious Tunes and Riffage, and Whatever the Party Calls for! Special Guest Madeleine Peyroux opens.

To say the least, if I had a single dollar to scrape together, I would be there...but I don't and so I won't.

As we the fans ramp up for this stellar event, I saw a copy of the setlist that was played at the Rarities and Unreleased concert, 4 years ago. I was in attendance at that show and wrote about it many places, especially my review of the full concert, HERE.

It is not often that I cry at a concert...but I did indeed cry at this one. To hear a song that I never thought I would ever hear live, from the original members of the band who created it, was very emotional to me. I will never forget that night.

Can they top this show? I have absolutely no idea, but I would love to be there to hear what they put together.

Hopefully someone gets video of some of the gems that will be played.

I can't wait to hear about it.

The Making Of Deacon Blues

Donald Fagen and Walter Becker (of Steely Dan) went into this song in pretty great detail in the Classic Albums: Making of Aja program. So I was not totally surprised with the things that I read in a Wall Street Journal article, the other day.

There were new gems to explore and just the fact that this was in The Wall Street Journal, gave it extra cred (at least in my humble opinion).

If you have a few moments, take the time to find out about how the song Deacon Blues came about. Click the link HERE.

Just to jog your memory...the lyrics.

DEACON BLUES

This is the day
Of the expanding man
That shape is my shade
There where I used to stand
It seems like only yesterday
I gazed through the glass
At ramblers
Wild gamblers
That's all in the past

You call me a fool
You say it's a crazy scheme
This one's for real
I already bought the dream
So useless to ask me why
Throw a kiss and say goodbye
I'll make it this time
I'm ready to cross that fine line

CHORUS:
I'll learn to work the saxophone
I'll play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whisky all night long
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me Deacon Blues

My back to the wall
A victim of laughing chance
This is for me
The essence of true romance
Sharing the things we know and love
With those of my kind
Libations
Sensations
That stagger the mind

I crawl like a viper
Through these suburban streets
Make love to these women
Languid and bittersweet
I'll rise when the sun goes down
Cover every game in town
A world of my own
I'll make it my home sweet home

CHORUS

This is the night
Of the expanding the man
I take one last drag
As I approach the stand
I cried when I wrote this song
Sue me if I play too long
This brother is free
I'll be what I want to be

CHORUS