My 4th Santa Barbara Bowl Concert (9/24/19)

Teenie's Blues (Open)
(Oliver Nelson cover)

Sign in Stranger

Black Friday

Hey Nineteen

Aja

Time Out of Mind

Bad Sneakers

Kid Charlemagne

Rikki Don't Lose That Number

The Goodbye Look (Donald Fagen song)

Dirty Work

Home at Last (with David Crosby on Backing Vocals)

Green Earrings

Keep That Same Old Feeling (Band Intros)
(The Crusaders cover)

Peg

Bodhisattva

My Old School

Encore: Reelin' in the Years
(with David Crosby on Electric Guitar)

A Man Ain't Supposed to Cry (Band Outro)
(Joe Williams cover)

==============================================

It was a beautiful evening at the Santa Barbara Bowl.

This was the 4th time we made the trip up to Santa Barbara to see Steely Dan in Concert. The other years were: 2011, 2015 and 2017.

The last time was shortly before Walter Becker passed away in 2017. So it was going to be a somber remembrance. As a matter of fact, Donald acknowledged his late partner, at the very end of the show. Perfect.

The seats were on the last row of section E and that actually ended up good. We could walk to the end of our row and then go up one row to the aisle, which made going up to the top of the venue, much easier.

Starting the concert with Sign In Stranger was a masterful stroke. The first words out of Donald Fagen's mouth were "Have you heard about the boom on Mizar 5?" OMG! My friend in Belgium, Gina, would have loved that.

The band has replaced Walter Becker with the young guitarist from Woodstock, Conner Kennedy. He is all of 25 and one hell of a guitarist. They had him on a tight leash for most of the concert, but he truly broke out with tasty guitar work on My Old School and Reelin' in the Years. He is the future of guitar work and worth the price of admission alone.

Jon Herington on lead was magnificent and him having the second guitar, definitely helped give a richness to the performance, that was missing last year at the Forum.

Carlock's drum solos were out of this world fabulous. He never disappoints at all.

How was Donald's voice? Not great, but not bad, either. He was Donald. The Danette's back him up wonderfully and know just what to do, to help the overall sound of the songs. Catherine Russell did quite a number, at one point. She is a great solo performer.

As the past concerts have been, the smell of pot was just all over the place and my Husband said someone was vaping something with coconut flavor in it and he was going crazy, because he can't stand coconut. Sigh...

The big event of the evening was that Donald brought out David Crosby, to sing with the Danette's on Home at Last. I didn't hear him in the mix, but it was good to see.

The big highlight was they brought him back for the encore "Reelin' In The Years". A 3rd electric guitar is just what this girl wanted. WOOT!

The photo at the top is Reelin', btw. (Don't tell Donald we took this photo, lol)

Great concert and worth every penny.

Walter Becker Way Is Coming To Queens

Steely Dan (specifically Walter Becker fans) were sent information about an event happening on October 28th of this year.

The City of New York has decided to name an intersection in Forest Hills Queens, Walter Becker Way.

If you want information, check this page out. Walter Becker Way

Here is a screen capture of 72nd Drive and 112 Street, which is where Walter lived during his younger days.

It is about a block from Grand Central Parkway, so the street he lived on dead ended a block away. To give you a hint of where it is, it is by Grand Central Parkway, across the parkway from the World's Fair Site.

I will have just visited NYC, so I will miss this event, though I am sure it is tied to the Beacon dates in NYC.

Glad to hear about it, though. I wonder if Donald will make an appearance.

Steely Dan With The Doobie Brothers (2018)

It was a jam packed night of music. I had originally decided to skip this concert, since it was at The Forum (which is not the best venue for music).

I didn't have much money, so several hundred dollars was not in my budget.

Then along came an offer from Live Nation (Irving Azoff's company) and I could not resist.

2 concerts for $29 (plus fees). We got seats about half way back (way at the top in row 26) and were happy.

We got to the Forum in plenty of time for the 7:30PM start and waited.

The Doobie Brothers did not come out until around 7:45P. We were late right off the bat.

Here is their set list, via Setlist FM. Trust me, mine was a mess, since I don't really know Doobie songs...well, minus the big hits.

Natural Thing

Rockin' Down the Highway

Road Angel

South City Midnight Lady

Dark Eyed Cajun Woman

Jesus is Just Allright (The Art Reynolds Singers cover)

Eyes of Silver

Disciple

piano intro/Takin' It To the Streets (with Bill Payne)

The Doctor

Black Water

Long Train Runnin'

China Grove

Encore:
Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)
(Kim Weston cover)

Listen to the Music

My thoughts as I listened.

There were too many guitars and they just overpowered everything.

Seriously, Steely Dan's Jon Herington sounded so weak, after that guitar overload.

Their sax player was great! I really appreciated when he took over.

They also had one of the guitarists play pedal steel during one number...but we were moving down to a closer seat that was given to us. Big improvement on location (row 8), but I missed watching the pedal steel in use. I am sure, back in the day, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter could have played that very instrument.

"Black Water", a total high point, for me. They had us sing along with them. Love that song, especially since it brings me back the spring of 1974, when I was at my 2 year college.

I knew several songs, but had a hard time hearing the lyrics. My Husband said basically the same thing.

We got through it...but it went on too long and too loud.

Next up, Steely Dan, who arrived just before 10PM. I know I turned to My Husband and commented, long night.

I wrote these down, but I did check what Setlist FM had and concur with them. Here it is:

Fan It, Janet (Maynard Ferguson cover)

Bodhisattva

Hey Nineteen

Black Friday

Aja

FM (No Static at All)

Time Out of Mind

Kid Charlemagne

Rikki Don't Lose That Number

Green Earrings

Dirty Work

Don't Take Me Alive

Peg

Keep That Same Old Feeling (The Crusaders cover)

Black Cow

Josie

My Old School

Encore:
Reelin' in the Years

The Untouchables (band only)
(Nelson Riddle cover)

Thoughts on the Steely Dan set.

Walter was missed!

At one point, pretty early in the concert, Donald apologized that his partner could not make it this evening. The crowd reacted and then Donald said, "I miss him too...but we will go on".

It was a touching moment.

They need to get another guitarist! My thought, add Wayne Krantz to the mix. Jon is doing a masterful job holding both seats, but it needs more.

Some of the songs that have been used as last songs, or encores were ended with that last song/encore end. Kid Charlemagne, Don't Take Me Alive, Josie. It was a bit different and I am not sure I like it done this way.

I had not seen Don't Take Me Alive, for almost a decade. Good to have that back.

I had also not heard FM in quite a while, glad to get that in the Set List.

High points, Green Earrings, always stellar and loved by this "angel".

Rikki. Never hear this one enough, so it was good to have that oldie but goodie.

All in all, a good performance and an appreciative audience.

For The LA Times take on the concert, check HERE.

Steely Dan With Donald Fagen Will Be Touring In 2018

It is sad to see what has gone on since the death of Walter Becker.

The Steely Dan website, that fans have loved so much since the mid 90's has been archived and is no longer active.

So HERE is the new website, where you can purchase tickets to Steely Dan's upcoming tour.

You can check them out, down below.

MAY10 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at PNC Music Pavilion Thu 7:30 PM EDT · 8,803 guests PNC Music Pavilion Charlotte, NC

MAY11 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Coastal Credit Union Fri 7:30 PM EDT · 6,009 guests Coastal Credit Union Music Park Raleigh, NC

MAY13 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Daily's Place Sun 7:30 PM EDT · 2,449 guests Daily's Place Jacksonville, FL

MAY14 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at MIDFLORIDA CU Amphitheatre Mon 7:30 PM EDT · 2,478 guests MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre Tampa, FL

MAY17 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Coral Sky Amphitheatre Thu 7:30 PM EDT · 2,786 guests Coral Sky Amphitheatre West Palm Beach

MAY19 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Verizon Amphitheatre Sat 7:30 PM EDT · 7,035 guests Verizon Amphitheatre Alpharetta, GA

MAY20 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Ascend Amphitheater Sun 7:30 PM CDT · 6,608 guests Ascend Amphitheater Nashville, TN

MAY22 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Smoothie King Center Tue 7:30 PM CDT · 2,585 guests Smoothie King Center New Orleans, LA

MAY24 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Smart Financial Centre Thu 8 PM CDT · 2,225 guests Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land Sugar Land, TX

MAY25 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Fri 7:30 PM CDT · 5,127 guests The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory Irving, TX

MAY27 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Austin360 Amphitheater Sun 7:30 PM CDT · 3,919 guests Austin360 Amphitheater Austin, TX

MAY30 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at The Forum Wed 7:30 PM · 5,721 guests The Forum Inglewood

JUN1 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Shoreline Amphitheatre Fri 7:30 PM · 6,340 guests Shoreline Amphitheatre At Mountain View Mountain View

JUN4 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Moda Center at the Rose Quar Mon 7:30 PM · 2,746 guests Moda Center at the Rose Quarter Portland, OR

JUN5 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at KeyArena at Seattle Center Tue 7:30 PM · 3,879 guests KeyArena at Seattle Center Seattle, WA

JUN7 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Spokane Arena Thu 7 PM · by Steely Dan Spokane Arena Spokane, WA

JUN9 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Taco Bell Arena Sat 7:30 PM MDT · 2,513 guests Taco Bell Arena Boise, ID

JUN10 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at USANA Amphitheater Sun 7:30 PM MDT · by Steely Dan USANA Amphitheatre Salt Lake City, UT

JUN12 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Pepsi Center Tue 7:30 PM MDT · 1,731 guests Pepsi Center Denver, CO

JUN15 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Xcel Energy Center Fri 7:30 PM CDT · 4,114 guests Xcel Energy Center Saint Paul, MN

JUN16 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Breese Stevens Field Sat 6:30 PM CDT · 6,477 guests Breese Stevens Field Madison, WI

JUN18 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Starlight Theatre Mon 7:30 PM CDT · 6,160 guests Starlight Theatre Kansas City, MO

JUN19 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Hollywood Casino Amp. Tue 7:30 PM CDT · 7,907 guests Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre St. Louis Maryland Heights, MO

JUN21 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatr Thu 7:30 PM CDT · 3,273 guests Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre Chicago Tinley Park, IL

JUN23 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Blossom Music Center Sat 7:30 PM EDT · 5,682 guests Blossom Music Center Cuyahoga Falls, OH

JUN24 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Sun 7:30 PM EDT · 3,380 guests Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center Noblesville, IN

JUN26 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at DTE Energy Music Theatre Tue 7:30 PM EDT · 4,341 guests DTE Energy Music Theatre Clarkston, MI

JUN27 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Riverbend Music Center Wed 7:30 PM EDT · 7,068 guests Riverbend Music Center Cincinnati, OH

JUN30 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Saratoga Performing Arts Cen Sat 7:30 PM EDT · 3,330 guests Saratoga Performing Arts Center Saratoga Springs, NY

JUL2 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Budweiser Stage Mon 7:30 PM EDT · 3,720 guests Budweiser Stage Toronto, ON, Canada

JUL3 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Lakeview Amphitheater Tue 7:30 PM EDT Lakeview Amphitheater Syracuse, NY

JUL6 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at PNC Bank Arts Center Fri 7:30 PM EDT · 2,546 guests PNC Bank Arts Center Holmdel, NJ

JUL7 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Xfinity Center Sat 7:30 PM EDT · 3,315 guests Xfinity Center Mansfield, MA

JUL10 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Jiffy Lube Live Tue 7:30 PM EDT · 2,610 guests Jiffy Lube Live Bristow, VA

JUL11 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at BB&T Pavilion Wed 7:30 PM EDT · 4,718 guests BB&T Pavilion Camden, NJ

JUL13 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers Bank of NH Pavilion Fri 7:30 PM EDT · 2,356 guests Bank of NH Pavilion Gilford, NH

JUL14 Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers at Bethel Woods Center for the Sat 7:30 PM EDT · 4,935 guests Bethel Woods Center for the Arts Bethel, NY

A Second Chance At The 2nd Arrangement

When Walter Becker died, Steely Dan made Youtube take down all the fan shot concert footage. I am not sure if mine is still there, I should probably check it out. :-)

One of the many videos that we lost, was The 2nd Arrangement, which I saw performed at the Beacon Theater, back in 2011. It is not a great video, but it does show off a song that we never heard Donald and Walter actually perform, until that night. Before that, it sat in Steely Dan lore...the one that got away, via erasure by a studio tech.

It is up again, but I don't know for how long and so I did 5 screen grabs from the video and I decided to post them here.

Here is the link, if it makes it past today. 2nd Arrangement

So...How Many Steely Dan Concerts Have You Seen?

I guess they ask this question, because of the death of Walter Becker.

How many Steely Dan Concerts have you seen, over the years?

My answer is: 20 going on 21.

I managed to miss both the East Coast and West Coast concerts for the Two Against Nature tour.

I was on vacation in NYC, when the Jones Beach Concert was going on. I thought about it, but it was way too late, by then.

In Los Angeles, I thought about trying to get to Irvine Meadows, but decided not to, since I could not get in touch with the person I would have gone with. I found out later that my Steely Dan work friend would have come with me, had I bought the tickets that I saw at the last minute. Oh well, live and learn.

2003 -3 Concerts
My first year, I managed to get to the Fairgrounds at Paso Robles, The Roseland Ballroom (Friday Show only), and Universal Amphitheatre

2006 -3 Concerts
In 2006 we were treated to Donald Fagen going on a solo tour, at the Wiltern Theater, L.A. Then we saw Steely Dan at The Embarcadero Marina Park, in San Diego, for the final concert that they played 2 sets with an intermission in the middle. Then I flew to Michigan, for the SD/Michael McDonald show at DTE Energy Music Theatre.

2007 -1 Concert
Chumash! Santa Ynez

2008 -2 Concerts
We saw them at the Nokia L.A. (ask about the champagne and truffles sometime), then at the Pond in Anaheim

2009 -4 Concerts
Royal Scam, Aja, Gaucho, and Internet Request Night, at the Gibson Amphitheater

2011 -2 Concerts
Santa Barbara Bowl and The Beacon NYC (Rarities and Unreleased)

2013 -1 Concert
Boston, The Wang Theatre

2014 -1 Concert
The Forum, Los Angeles

2015 -1 Concert
Santa Barbara Bowl

2016 -1 Concert
Hollywood Bowl Opening Night

2017 -1 Concert(going on 2)
Santa Barbara Bowl (Hopefully Donald Fagen and the Nightflyers this month at the Masonic in San Francisco)

Which concert, out of all of them, was my favorite?

It is a tie between The Roseland Ballroom "Everything Must Go" Tour and the infamous Rarities and Unreleased at the Beacon.

May Donald continue in Steely Dan's name, for years to come.

No Pretzels Today

It has been a very hard 2 days.

The death of Walter Becker has brought out so many posts and so many memories.

Up onto my Facebook feed, Twitter feed and Blog feed, among other places.

I am overwhelmed by it all.

This photo I found, right at the end of day 2, and it said it all for me.

The Pretzel Logic cover, that I have mentioned before.

Godspeed to you, Walter. You will absolutely be missed.

A tribute by his daughter, Sayan Becker (the one mentioned in Book of Liars, with the line "And there's a Hello Kitty for his pride and joy"), can be found HERE.

Walter Becker Has Died

Walter Becker has died.

To say the least, I am heartbroken.

Godspeed to you Walter.

You can read more, HERE.

Updated to add a statement from Donald Fagen.

Donald Fagen statement September 3, 2017:

Walter Becker was my friend, my writing partner and my bandmate since we met as students at Bard College in 1967. We started writing nutty little tunes on an upright piano in a small sitting room in the lobby of Ward Manor, a mouldering old mansion on the Hudson River that the college used as a dorm.

We liked a lot of the same things: jazz (from the twenties through the mid-sixties), W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, science fiction, Nabokov, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Berger, and Robert Altman films come to mind. Also soul music and Chicago blues.

Walter had a very rough childhood - I’ll spare you the details. Luckily, he was smart as a whip, an excellent guitarist and a great songwriter. He was cynical about human nature, including his own, and hysterically funny. Like a lot of kids from fractured families, he had the knack of creative mimicry, reading people’s hidden psychology and transforming what he saw into bubbly, incisive art. He used to write letters (never meant to be sent) in my wife Libby’s singular voice that made the three of us collapse with laughter.

His habits got the best of him by the end of the seventies, and we lost touch for a while. In the eighties, when I was putting together the NY Rock and Soul Review with Libby, we hooked up again, revived the Steely Dan concept and developed another terrific band.

I intend to keep the music we created together alive as long as I can with the Steely Dan band.

Donald Fagen & The Nightflyers - Green Earrings

Truly, I am such a sucker for the song, Green Earrings. :-)

Donald Fagen and the Nightflyers are out and playing the songs of the tour.

This one turned up on YouTube the other day and I decided to give you a hint as to what an old man and a bunch of just barely above drinking age band members sound like.

They sound pretty good.

Steely Dan Band 1993 (Shoreline Amphitheater)

Nice things keep turning up on Youtube.

The other day a fan pointed out a beautiful video from a Steely Dan concert. It was at the Shoreline Amphitheater back in 1993.

I have seen songs, but never the full concert. You can check it out HERE.

Pretty good quality, especially when what I have seen is usually on VHS tape and in no condition to be watched.

This was a treat for me and might be for you, too.

Enjoy.

Band Members:

Bill Ware III: Vibraphone
Bob Sheppard: Saxophone
Brenda White-King: Vocals
Catherine Russell: Vocals
Chris Potter: Saxophone
Cornelius Bumpus: Saxophone
Diane Garisto: Vocals
Donald Fagen: Keyboards
Donald Fagen: Vocals
Drew Zingg: Electric guitar
Peter Erskine: Drums
Tom Barney: Electric bass (finger)
Walter Becker: Vocals
Walter Becker: Electric guitar
Warren Bernhardt: Keyboards