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I'm still exhausted, but things could be worse. It was beautiful yesterday in LA, and my son and I spent almost the whole day at the beach. I had (have) a stiff neck, so I sat in my chair and wrote lyrics while he played in the sand and water. One of the new tunes I'm very happy with. You can read them (I've got 8 new lyrics in all) here .
I'm getting tired of the stiff necks and other aches/pains. Could this be what post-40 is all about?
Well, I finally bought "Gaucho" yesterday. Despite my deep love for the music of Steely Dan, I never owned Gaucho. I was a bit of a SD snob, sticking instead to the first 5 albums (the more guitar oriented stuff). Although I owned Aja, it was begrudingly. I have since of course grown to love every cut on "Aja", learning "Josie" note for note on both guitar and bass, and having played along with "Home at Last" more times than I can count. But I still didn't buy "Gaucho". "Hey 19" was so overplayed on FM radio in the early 80's, and I told myself, "too slick", "no soul", etc.
Well, that all changed last week. It's been cracking for some time, mostly due to seeing/hearing "Babylon Sisters" live. But it really hit home last Thursday, about halfway through the tune "Time Out of Mind." Fagan was singing:
---
Children we have it right here, It's the light in my eyes
It's perfection and grace, It's the smile on my face
Tonight when I chase the dragon, The water will change to cherry wine
And the silver will turn to gold, Time out of mind
---
I'll leave the interpretation to the reader (email me if you have no idea), but I'll take the first lines at face value...because in that moment, I experienced perfection and grace. I was touched. I bought the damn album. Now I'm angry. And sad. I spent all those years WITHOUT THIS ALBUM. No, it isn't perfect, and isn't my favorite. BUT, it has a few more conduits to emotions. The title track is stunning on a number of levels. "Time Out of Mind" is up and down at the same time. "Third World Man" is stark and haunting (there is a great live version on the "Live in America" disc from the '93 tour with Erskine on drums...and in the liner notes, it simply says "Erskine - perfect").
So what's the take home lesson? Open your mind. Don't let your preconceived notions be your gatekeeper. Take a chance with your ears.
This is a funny town. Crowds in LA are probably the toughest in the country (maybe the world). They've seen it all, and have lots of choices of things to do. As a result, concerts can be odd events. I was able to have a pretty direct comparison between Steely Dan playing last Friday down in San Diego (outdoor amphiteater), and last night in Los Angeles (indoor Amphitehater). Exact same set list exact for "Everything Must Go" (played last night..an ode to the end of the tour I think) for "The Last Mall."
In San Diego, I was actually suprised by how loose the band seemed. And not musically (they were dead on perfect and tight), but rather their demeanor. Fagan was downright personable, coming out wearing a Funkadelic sweatshirt, and seeming at ease and faving fun. The rest of the band also had plenty of smiles. Last night fagan seemed a bit tighter. The biggest difference was Herington...it looked like he really didn't want to be there. Maybe the night before with Dean Parks sitting in was weird? I don't know...but the only time I saw him smile was during FM...the last tune of the night.
Becker made a comment about coming 30 years later to where their career started, but I think they always had a love-hate relationship with LA. Becker and Fagan are east coast boys, NY through and through although these days Becker lives in Hawaii (he's no fool).
To the credit of the crowd, they actually were very responsive. Highly animated by LA standards. Much singing along, especially for the encore tunes of "My Old School" and "FM." Other "LA" tunes like "Babylon Sisters" also got big receptions, as did most all of the early stuff, with tunes from Aja and Gaucho being the crowd favs. Keith Carlock was amazing again. He is one of the hottest drummer I've EVER heard or seen. I actually shed a tear or two during "Home at Last." Carlock has the Purdie Shuffle down pat, and takes it to new levels. And the band played such beautiful music. Michael Leonhart's horn arrangments are just amazing and sweet.
It's funny because I listened to the first 5 SD albums over and over again during my "lost years." At certain points, I wasn't sure if I'd ever live to hear the songs again, let alone see them played live. I've been lucky enough to see SD now on 4 different tours ('93 at the Greek in LA, '94 at Mountain View in the Bay Area, '00 at Coors Amphitheater in San Diego, and '03 at Coors and Universal Amphitheater in LA). Given all the things going on in my life right now, these past two shows really stuck a chord (pun intended). There is much work to be done, and I don't know where I'll end up, or who I'll end up being. But I can say that I have heros, human though they may be. Thanks Don and Walt, for writing the tunes I wish I had, and setting the bar so damn high. Now I've just got to jump.
I seem to recall many years ago, Apple making a digital camera. It was cool. But then the "pixel race" was born. Now if you don''t have at least 4 Megapixels, you''re passe. Gawd knows I *need* 2272x1704 pictures...yup, gotta have it. Supersize my photos. Bigger must be better. Well, except for the camera itself...make that smaller. Ergonomics be damned...make it tiny. We like big and tiny.
I like a small camera like the Canon digital Elphs...pop it in your pocket and be ready to shoot wherever, whenever. But I have somewhat of a tough time using it. Small buttons, endless menus, short battery life. At least it has a separate battery so you can bring extras. But then you start getting to the point where you might as well have a bigger camera with a bigger battery. I want my electrons now *and* later.
Actually the worst offender are the ridiculous small keyboards that exist on pdas and increasingly, phones. Who can type on them? The new Sony PEG-UX50 is a technical marvel, but damn near unusable. Tiny fonts on the screen, tiny keyboard, tiny stylus, low megapixel count (see...back to haunt us). Jack of all trades, master of nothing except costing money and looking cool.
I want my Newton 2100 back...