Donald FagenEminent Hipsters

The read started a bit dryly but gained momentum about 1/4 of the way into the book Donald Fagan's life long experiences and observations made me realize that being a curmudgeon isn't limited to us aging regular folks. I certainly identified with too many of his observations (yikes). Overall, I enjoyed the book and am certainly much more informed about the life of a touring musician of Donald Fagan's caliber. Which surprising to me was very interesting. If you're a fan of Steely Dan or Donald Fagan, I encourage you to give it a read.

It's just a fun read. For me, I didn't want it to end. As a musician myself just a couple of years younger than Fagen, and a huge fan of his music, I really never knew very much about his personal life. This is an entertaining run down of the cultural icons of his youth that helped shape his musical and artistic tastes. This is stuff that fertilized the seeds in his mind that eventually grew into his own personal musical garden. It's all stuff I totally relate to and experienced somewhat myself. Although his experience is that of an east coast mid 20th century American boomer and I represent a west coast version. Recommended for Steely Dan fans, Fagen fans, Boomers in general, Gen Z-ers who might want to understand boomers better.

Steely Dan fans have always been hungry for more information about it's two reclusive owners, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. Brian Sweet's "Reelin' in the Years" is the place to start but it was done with zero input from the duo (their choice), so the natural next place to look would be this book by Fagen, sometimes positioned as his memoirs but that would be a false and misleading description. The first part covers Fagen's influences while growing up in suburban New Jersey, including the Boswell Sisters, Harry Mancini, and philosopher Alfred Korzbski. Only a page or two into this book, Fagen open admits that he dislikes almost everything in society today. This turns into a theme that is woven into the entire book, especially the second part. I found this part of the book to be very entertaining and it portrays a very different perspective of the 1950's vs. what you would see in Happy Days. His experiences going into the Manhattan jazz clubs and his Bard College ("My Old School") remembrances are fascinating, which Steely Dan enthusiasts should enjoy. For perhaps contrarian reasons ( a familiar pattern to Steely Dan fans), or maybe a failed attempt at being cool and artistic, or just because he was lazy and needed material to fill out the book, he completely skips the Steely Dan years and time-warps forty years later to 2012 where he's on a non-Steely Dan tour with Boz Skaggs and Michael McDonald. Here he just includes his hotel-room journal entries, and his cranky, entitled old-man routine gets tired immediately, making the rest of the diary entries tedious and insufferable to get through. Yes, it's a tough life staying at the Four Seasons. You'll immediately wonder why in the world is he on tour in the first place given that he dislikes people and society. He surely doesn't need the income and he'd be much happier bunkered down at home listening to his Rudy Van Gelder jazz record collection from the 1950's. Knowing his past written shenanigans that he played with Becker on their Steely Dan website, perhaps the joke is on us for reading this book in the first place. Speaking of Becker, why are there only minimal mentions of him in this book for someone who was Fagen's partner for over 50 years? For hardcore Steely Dan fans, this book is a must-read but you'll come away disappointed.

As an urbane, neurotic gal and major Dan fan, of course I enjoyed this book, if only as a sneak-peek (snark-peek?) into the mind of my favorite urbane, neurotic artist - the sublime Donald Fagen.There is much charm in this winsome tome. Fagen calls it an “art-o-biography;” lively essays on his early life and influences comprise the first half; the second is a tour diary from his 2012 deployment with Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs in "The Dukes of September" ensemble of aging uptown troubadours.DF’s takes on his nascent years are earnest and edifying, answering at least some of the questions one might posit if one ran into him, say, at Coachella’s Empire Polo Club (as he desperately attempted to flee your clutches).The tour diary is a stone scream. SO many laughs! DF’s glacial observations on his now-decrepit audiences - thinking that one crowd must have come in on slabs, saying that he now works in assisted-living, etc. Ennui over his own age and health issues - fretting over recurrent kidney pain, how he “crab-walked” back to his hotel room after a petite masseuse administered a ball-peen-like massage. Laundry-listing his various maladies and summing up with, "let's face it, I'm a dead man.” A wicked venue-inferno fantasy aimed toward a particularly sub-par audience. And, my favorite - referring to himself as “Old Uncle F!%*wad,” due to his fear and loathing of the hand-held techno-device culture.Another delightful passage describes Fagen’s "Dukes" compatriots, Messrs. Scaggs and McDonald, receiving obligatory "I Love You!" cat-calls from the ladies during performance, while he, himself incites anguished cries of "DONAAAALLD!" from presumed-unhinged males. Fagen really could make a beautiful dollar as a stand-up (assuming stabilization of his renal health).My only (and long-held) criticism speaks to DF’s oft-avowed statement that he and partner Walter Becker generally never cared what their audiences thought; they created primarily to amuse themselves and each other.Well, kind sir, while you and Walter may wish to create in a vacuum, that tugboat has sailed. Talent of your caliber couldn’t help but escape into the deacon-blue freakin’ yonder, to julienne and delight our hungry little brains. Your work always will stand of great and major influence.So what, exactly, do you suggest we DO in response to your output? Not dig you? Not get it? Purchase in reverential silence?You put it out there, boys. And we fell in deep, twisted love with it.Any major dudette will tell ya’.

Llego todo doblado y arrugado.

ボスウェルシスターズとかマンシーニとかモリコーネとかの浮世離れしたコラムとAOR三大古老ツアーの愚痴大混じりの日記。いわゆる自伝ではありません。

内容はあまり濃くはない感じ。もう少しフェイゲンの内面がさらけ出されていたら面白かったのに。後半半分はツアー日記みたいな感じ。コアなSDファンがお布施のつもりで購入する本ではないかと思う。

A very unusual biography. In fact after reading a number of pages I checked back to the title to confirm I WAS reading a book by Donald Fagen.The first few chapters illustrate the early jazz, bop and country style music that he loves and of course what you are actually reading is all of the early musical influences of Fagen.His tastes are wide but during his times of stress and depression, he always reverts back to jazz.Sadly there is not much about Steely Dan in the book; Walter Becker is mentioned just a few times in passing in the second part of the book. During this section there is a diary report of travels throughout the USA with a multi mix band which includes a host of brilliant musicians including Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs. I would have loved to see this set up in action. There is not a lot of words about the actual music but rather a list of complaints about the travelling, his health, the hotels and the tour buses, interspersed with Fagen's dry and sometimes cutting comments.The book is not what I thought it would be, but it certainly is an insight into the mind of Donald Fagen who produced some of my all time favourite music.

Very strange book. Really two books, the first half of this book is as described, being a short biography with descriptions of influential artists who left an impression on Donald. However the second half is a road diary of a tour in the USA (with Boz Scaggs and Michael McDonald ) also somewhat interesting but no further mention of eminent hipsters......... I would only recommend to Steely Dan fans or people who like short stories.