Tag Archives: Steely Dan

Darn, no SD this year….

Well…as you know, I was really geeked up last fall when Steely Dan came to Grand Rapids for the first time and it was so cool to see them on our turf versus having to go across the state to see them. But, darn, it looks like that was a one time thing since I just got an e-mail with their tour announcement for this year and they are going back to the east side of the state to Pine Knob….now, I have made that trip 5 times before but, at this time in my life, I just don’t want to make that much effort anymore…and, they are not playing alone but The Doobie Brothers are co-headlining with them this year…now, I wouldn’t mind seeing the Doobies…I have liked them for a long time but I’m just not up for a 4 hour concert anymore, either…..so it looks like last year was the last time I’ll see SD…the end of an era…..

Steely Dan…part two…

Well….thought I’d do a slight review of the show and the day yesterday…had a nice ride downtown with the top down and found parking in the ramp right where I planned….walking over to the arena, a woman comes running out of a restaurant calling my name and, at first, I didn’t recognize her…but then my youngest son came out behind her and it dawned on me who she was….had a nice little talk and that was pretty funny since she said that they knew I was going to the concert, she looked out the window and I was there….once I got in to the arena, I had to have a beer and the sticker shock damn near floored me…I mean, 10 bucks for a beer? After that shock, I headed to my seat in the upper bowl at the back of the arena and one of the ushers stopped me and asked if I would like an upgrade to a floor seat….so, from a 39 dollar seat to a 150 dollar seat…didn’t have to think twice about it…and the cool thing was there were empty seats on both sides of me and in front of me so I had a great view….now, the concert…all I can say is wow….the band just knocked it out of the park…probably the best I’ve heard them sound…high energy and they played all the hits but FM and Pretzel Logic…which disappointed me some but the rest of the concert made up for it….and I was close enough to actually see their faces….way too much fun and I am feeling it a little today…but worth it!

Steely Dan

Well…no politics today with the excitement building for the SD concert tonight….even after seeing them 5 other times, I think I feel the same as I did the first time back in 2002….it will be different without Walter but life goes on….my only concern is that they haven’t been playing two of my favorites, FM and Pretzel Logic….but they have gone into the solo catalogs of both of them with a couple and that may be cool…it would be neat to hear Slinky Thing done live….whatever happens, it will be a nice, relaxing night…think I may take my earplugs just in case….

Not Steely Dan without Walter?

Well…just ran across a thread on facebook where people are commenting that since Walter died, it’s not Steely Dan anymore and they want their money back for the concert here in GR…now, these must be people who have never seen SD before…while I loved the way Walter played, there were many concerts this year where he was sick and wasn’t there and they had a fill in do his parts…to be honest, most of the time you really didn’t know he was there or not…and I’ve seen them 6 times….it was the same for me when John Entwhistle of the Who died a week before I was to see them here and it never occurred to me to want my money back…and Ox was more a part of the Who’s sound than Walter was to SD’s…and I’m a bass player fan that was looking so forward to seeing his unique style of playing. I wonder where this all comes from? Would you want your money back for Eagles tickets because Glen Frey died? Or not go to see them because he’s not there? All I know is I’m going to go see them and enjoy the night….I’m sure that Donald will be firing on all cylinders to make up for it…I know that it won’t be the same without Walter….but, we’ll still get to hear what Walter has left behind….and we can revel in the fact that he was here at all….

More on SD…

Well…just can’t get over the fact that Walter died….and I thought I needed to write more about it today…so, I will…Donald and Walter have been such a big part of my musical life since the 70′s that this is going to leave a hole there…I know the music will still be there but it’s like when John Entwhistle died the week before I was to see the Who here in GR…there’s just something less in the world knowing they’re gone…knowing that I’ll never again be surprised when I take the wrapper off a new SD disc and some new theme or lyric makes me smile….whenever I need to be soothed, whenever I need music to help quiet my brain when things aren’t going exactly right, I put on my SD playlists that I have heard a thousand times and I always feel better…Whenever I hear Doctor Wu and the emotions of loss and despair get replaced by elation by the end of the song, I am there waiting for Katy…that is the magic of Donald and Walter to me…that I can still be transported to other worlds with their story songs…and I grieve that there will not be any more of them…a sad, sad, day….

RIP Walter Becker…

Damn…this is one that I never wanted to do…Walter Becker, half of Steely Dan, died last night at the age of 67. I am still catching my breath about this…the Dan has been my favorite group for decades now and the plan was to see them for the 7th time in October here in GR. I knew there was something seriously wrong with him when he missed most of their concerts this year, and he didn’t look well at all in the youtube video of a concert from May….but his death still hit me like a ton of bricks, to use the old cliche….the Fagen/Becker partnership has given us some of the best, snarky and literate music that was really hard to describe…but the themes of old guys and young women, of outsiders that really liked being outsiders, and yearning for pasts that never were still resonate to me…and always will….RIP Walter…I’m going to miss you….

Steely Dan update…

Well…just on a whim, I decided to go out and look at ticketmaster again since people on Facebook were talking about cheap tickets….and there were! Got one for 39 bucks…it’s way in the back but in the front row of the section so no one will be in front of me…and it’s still closer than the lawn at Pine Knob….I am getting excited to go by myself and to not have to think about anyone else for the first time!

99 bucks for Steely Dan?

Well…I was really excited when it was announced that Steely Dan was coming to the VanAndel in October….I even went out to check ticket prices and saw that they were offering a 59 dollar ticket and thought that would be cool since there really are no bad seats there. But, this morning, I went out to check Ticketmaster and get signed on to get ready to buy a couple and the lowest price is now 99 bucks…now, if this was going to be the first time seeing them I’d pay it…and that would make it the most expensive concert ticket ever for me…but for the seventh time? Nope…the last time I saw them at Freedom Hill, the tickets were only 24 bucks for lawn seats and we were allowed to move into the 150 buck seats when a storm came through….I’m not going to rail against them for the tickets being so expensive…it’s just priced me out of the market is all….

Cheating away….

Well…sitting here waiting for the Wings alumni game to start and thought I’d do a short one on a death that happened in the past couple of weeks…and, I know, it’s cheating but I forgot to put this in this morning’s post. While I was reading the paper, I came across one of those lists of people who have died this year, and found a surprise…you probably don’t know who he is, but Ricky Lawson died last week…he was a drummer for a long time with Steely Dan and many other bands over his career and I saw him with SD quite a few times…always a smile on his face and a style that just fit them…now, he’s gone in his fifties and that is just too damn early….

April 28th

Hmmm…it was a nice night last night with the Wings winning and I got my bike back from the shop…thank you Village bike for re-cabling it and only charging 15 bucks…took the first 10 mile run this morning and it may need just a little more adjustment but I was grinning. The Steely Dan was perfect for a cool, crisp, and extremely bright morning. Oh, you are going to hear a lot about the Dan over time…it’s my favorite group and Donald and Walter (Fagen and Becker) speak to me like no other band. Their stories of losers, love, loss, and old guys and young women (think Babylon Sisters or Hey Nineteen) resonate with me as one who considers himself at the fringes of society living a life that not many 56 year olds live. More on the old guy, young women thing later…but I have to thank G for her jumping in with both feet a few times that have caused the people around us to stare.

Well…I have to warn you that this is the space that I will be peeling back the layers of what it is to be an old guy with a young one trapped inside, and I am still not sure of how much to share but maybe I’ll just think if it would embarrass my kids, I probably won’t share it.

On that note, the plans for tonight are the same as any Wednesday…out to Ada to play pool with Tom and try to not drink too much.