re: Up vote if you like steely dan

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I read his book and came away understanding just how screwed up this guy really is. To begin with he's extremely paranoid and fears that he may find himself in a conversation with a fan. He writes that he's never felt comfortable listening to someone heap adulation on him and doesn't really understand it.

He talks about sleeping on the bus versus even risking checking into his hotel room for fear of running into someone wearing a Steely Dan T Shirt.

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Neil Peart is the same way.

lol I just checked back into this thread because I have "learn to work .. the saxophone" and "they got a name for the winners in the world". TOTALLY stuck in my head.

Steely Dan is just good. I have a hard time coming to terms with it for some reason. I'm almost but not quite 40.

Anyone been to a Dan show recently? They were in both Little Rock and Birmingham this spring and I missed out. I've gotta make one next year out of fear that they stop touring all together. I'm 26 - it'd be fun to catch a gig in the midst of nothing but 40-70 year olds

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Anyone been to a Dan show recently?

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Yes, I've seen them twice in the last two years. They are always ON...except for the obligatory one song where Fagen lets Becker rant on about weed, getting high, or whatever. It's the equivalent of the drum solo--he starts talking, you go to the bathroom and then refill your beer.

Otherwise, awesome and worth it.

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I'm 26 - it'd be fun to catch a gig in the midst of nothing but 40-70 year olds

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Enjoy it while you can, youngster. You'll be in that crowd before you know it.

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I've gotta make one next year out of fear that they stop touring all together. I'm 26

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when i first got into the Dan, they didn't tour at all. I was around 25-26 when they announced their first tour in like 19-20 years, it was awesome! Seen 10-12 times since, never disappointed.

Musical geniuses. Even haters must admit

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They also do a great job of making fun of themselves. My favorite is the taped show from NYC at Sony Studios. The camera crew is outside doing interviews with folks waiting to get in when they ask this chick what her favorite SD song is. She gushes and says, "I just love Year of the Cat."

How many acts would allow something like that to be aired.


The Bodhisattva intro is one of the funniest things on any album.

Sana Mockina done ever heard

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that's awesome.

From the comments:

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On their 1974 US tour Steely Dan had hired a truck driver cum emcee called Jerome Aniton. He was a character quite unlike his employers with an unquenchable thirst for alcohol and a devil-may-care attitude that, perversely, Becker and Fagan admired too no end. His fondness for alcohol did wonders for his introductions, and on more than one occasion he crashed the equipment truck. At the prestigious Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, where at the time Steely Dan were the only "rock 'n' roll" group permitted to play, Aniton did thousands of dollars' worth of damage driving their equipment truck out of the building, smashing a massive hole in one trailer which housed most of Dinky Dawson's personal possessions. It was raining torrents as Steely Dan's crew drove to their next gig in Boston so someone had crawl up on to the top of the trailer and try to patch the hole over before the gear inside was ruined. On another occasion Aniton drove from Baltimore to Washington at night without headlights accompanied by two fifteen-year-old girls in the front seat. He was accident prone and incessantly intoxicated, and ought not to have been allowed to continue with such responsibility, but Becker and Fagan had taken a shine to him and insisted he be retained in some capacity. So Aniton became the comedian of the party, sending the band into paroxysms of laughter with unconventional behavior he considered normal. Aniton was given the responsibility of introducing the band on stage and his introductions were exaggerated interpretations of what an emcee might say at black soul reviews. Aniton was a truck driver doing his take on a black emcee while under the influence of alcohol and presenting a white band... but it worked a treat. He gave some memorable and hilarious introductions, and even became something of a favorite among fans who relished yet another unexpected quirk of Steely Dan. The first time he introduced them, the band enjoyed it so much they played the opening song better than ever before. Part of the fun was that Aniton didn't even understand Steely Dan... he actually thought Donald Fagan's name was Stevie Dan. On one occasion, ever unsteady on his feet, Aniton stumbled into Fagan's grand piano on stage and said to one of the other players, "I bumped into Stevie's piano." His introductions varied nightly from "Stevie Dan" to "Mr. Stevie Dan and Whatever." The more Aniton drank, the more hilarious his introductions became so everyone encouraged him to partake as much as possible. Aniton might go on and do a rambling two-minute-plus introduction replete with expletives while the band members laughed aloud behind him, encouraging him with audible asides. At a gig in Cleveland, Aniton's geography deserted him and he referred to the city as being on the east coast.?

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