I just realized I am over ten shows behind on my blog. I need to catch up to try to remember my experiences from this year and part of the last. I woke up early this morning to watch the Italian Grand Prix live from Monza, Italy as I have for several decades now. I am a long time Ferrari fan and this is the race of the year for the Tifosi…the fans. I was well into the race watching live timing and scoring when I just happened to glance at some other screens in front of me. One of my old music friends had put up something about Walter Becker and I saw it out of the corner of my eye. The first thing I thought was here is another internet hoax. It cannot be. I stopped what I was doing to start the search across my resources. Suddenly I saw the information that confirmed my horror. Walter Becker has passed away. I was a bit stunned. I was not ready for this after a year of losing many of my musical extended family. I have yet to write an article about Gregg Allman on my blog. I am just not ready to yet.
Steely Dan. I remember being in the fifth grade back in the 1970’s in Meridian, Mississippi and watching these long-haired guys on the “Midnight Special” play “Reeling in the Years.” Wolfman Jack introduced them and they played their song which was soon to be a big FM radio hit. I liked the song but really did not latch on to the band at that point. As a little time progressed I started to learn about all of the musicians in this band. As the albums began to pour on to the market I would go right to the store and buy them. The first thing I would do is record the vinyl straight to the best grade of cassette tape I could afford. I wanted to preserve the vinyl copy for the future and crank the cassette at home and on the road. Back then I had a Pioneer Supertuner cassette deck and classic 6 by 9 inch speakers in the rear. I was and always have been an audio purist. The pursuit of the best sound reproduction whether live or recorded is very important to those of us who are so passionate about what we listen to. I always tried to get the best gear I could to make the sound great. Steely Dan was the reference band for awesome fidelity and checking frequency response.
A few years passed. I remember my road trips though Mississippi and even the ones through the southeast up to North Carolina. The flashbacks I get thinking about this are the long hours commuting to college or to visit girl friends in remote towns. I am a native North Carolinian who grew up in Mississippi so I have spent my time on the road listening to music. I can almost see the winter day speeding down a rural Mississippi highway on my way to the delta listening to “Pretzel Logic” over and over. This was just after the album released and I am sure I was likely using a Made in Japan TDK metal tape to play the album over and over. My obsession with Steely Dan continued through these years. I remember standing in line to buy the first of many copies of the masterpiece album “Aja.” I was young and spend a few of my last dollars at the time to buy that first copy. As time went by I found myself back in North Carolina still working my way through college. I had some government grants, scholarships, and I always worked…always. I would take the money I had after paying bills and upgrade my amps or pick up a new pair of speakers. I can remember buying a pair of early Bose 301 speakers at an audio shop in North Carolina. I wanted these speakers badly as they were extremely cool and sounded great for a small space which I frequented at this point in my life. I took all of my Steely Dan music to audition the speakers to make my final choice. I knew all of the music so well I could listen to certain passages in the songs to see if the frequency response was meeting my requirements. This was important as I had worked very hard to earn this money and I wanted to make sure I was getting the best value. The Steely Dan was awesome on these speakers. As a note I recently traded this very pair of speakers for a new version of the same speaker from Bose and they took them on trade! I almost could not bear to part with them but having a new version keeps the memory intact. My audio sales person in this era was a girl who could call me by name as I would open the front door of the store. She had a saying as she would flash those baby blues “You’re such a purist.” Anytime I wanted to buy something she would go to the back and bring out an original master recording vinyl of a Steely Dan album. She knew my requirements. Smart salesperson.
The 1990’s and beyond. I attended my first live Steely Dan show. I remember the first very well. I was working in my corporate job very long hours everyday and doing pretty well. I wanted to see Steely Dan live and they were coming to Charlotte, North Carolina. I had recently developed a relationship with an out of state ticket broker in Austin, Texas. At the time ticket scalping was illegal in North Carolina but you could fax your drivers license and a copy of your American Express to this person and they could get you the same seats for almost any show in North Carolina that Ticketmaster managed. In this case the tickets were third row center for Steely Dan and I was going. I was very excited. I arrived at the show and met all kinds of interesting people in the parking lot who were just like me. They enjoyed the awesome music and the whole vibe of this band. It was purity. The sound was awesome. The music production was so extreme it was a real challenge to reproduce on a live stage. They did it. When they hit the opening note on that night chills ran down by neck and my hair stood on end. I have never heard such sonic reproduction on a stage. I was hearing the instruments and the amplifiers not the PA system overhead. It was amazing. I have been to decades of live music and the only thing that even comes close to a Dan show is a live symphony show. But this its different. It is Steely Dan.
I have been to many Steely Dan shows. As many as I could possibly go to in fact I have never missed a tour since the first show I went to see. I have tons of photos from being very close to the stage as I work at being close through my connections and networks. I never take these shows for granted. The band is a great unit and they always have something cool to offer. Back to Walter.
Walter Becker. The guy who is the partner. The guy who was the coolest cat on the stage. He always introduced the band and no one introduced him many times. I noted that. He was one of the guiding hands of this band but you would never know it by seeing him on stage. He just blended with the band. When he would step out I have always made some noise to let him know i appreciated his ability as a musician and artist. One of my favorite moments of any Steely Dan show was his “rant” just before playing “Hey Nineteen” which is a song off of the album “Gaucho.” Walter would get going on some recent topic and just rant for several minutes on all kinds of things prior to opening the song which talked about things like “Quervo gold tequila” and “fine Columbian.” That song is such a masterpiece. It is one of many. I am so glad I lived during a time that Walter Becker was on a live stage and recording music. It has been an awesome journey. I will miss you Walter Becker. I really will. But you can bet I will play your music ’till the day I join you. Thank you my friend.
Way back when
In Sixty-seven
I was the dandy
Of Gamma Chi
Sweet things from Boston
So young and willing
Moved down to Scarsdale
Where the hell am I
Hey Nineteen
No we can’t dance together
No we can’t talk at all
Please take me along
When you slide on down
Hey Nineteen
That’s ‘Retha Franklin
She don’t remember
The Queen of Soul
It’s hard times befallen
The Soul Survivors
She thinks I’m crazy
But I’m just growing old
Hey Nineteen
No we got nothing in common
No we can’t talk at all
Please take me along
When you slide on down
Nice
Sure looks good
Mmm-mmm-mmm
Skate a little lower now
The Cuervo Gold
The fine Colombian
Make tonight a wonderful thing
No we can’t dance together
No we can’t talk at all
Here is a not so great video I found on You Tube that captures the rant…
