Steely Dan @ Sony Studios
Steely Dan Tapes Two For TV In New York City
Reports and Pictures
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PBS - In The Spotlight: On January 28th and 29th, 2000, PBS and filmmaker Earle Sebastian taped an "In The Spotlight" Special at the Sony Studios in New York City. The resulting film features both performance and documentary/interview footage, and aired on most PBS affiliates during March [Purchase info for the Home VHS and DVD versions is here]
VH-1 - Storytellers: On February 1, VH-1 taped a "Storytellers" featuring Steely Dan, also at Sony Studios in New York. It is scheduled to air on April 24th.
Walter and Donald were joined onstage by Jon Herington (guitar); Cornelius Bumpus (sax); Chris Potter (sax); Michael Leonhart (trumpet); Jim Pugh (trombone); Ricky Lawson (drums); Tom Barney (bass); Ted Baker (keyboards); Victoria Cave (BG vocals); Carolyn Leonhart (BG vocals), and Cynthia Calhoun (BG vocals). [For more on these players, see our band bio page]
Check out some pictures and a few fan reports, below [Click on each picture below to bring up a larger version in a new window].
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Viewing Note: These are digital photos taken and upload in low-resolution format. For best fidelity, set your monitor to a moderate resolution and as many colors as possible ("millions of" colors works best: "thousands of colors" is marginal, but OK for most shots: "256 colors" is trippin' time).
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Ted Baker, Ricky Lawson, Tom Barney being interviewed by PBS crew
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DaKine Dave Russell
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Donald Fagen
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Jon Herington and Walter Becker
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Contest Winner Thomas Shea writes:
I can't say how happy I was to get the opportunity to see Steely Dan live,
especially given the venue. I flew in from Los Angeles just to take in the
show. There was certainly an attendant amount of bullshit involved (being
moved from seat to seat; more than one industry type suggesting that I
couldn't sit where I was told to sit; that there were no bad seats, but no
word on why I had to move if there weren't any bad seats); but the show was
more than worth all of the inconveniences. The Dan's sound is as tight as
ever. The news songs were all excellent, and the fact that over a third of
the set was dedicated to new stuff shows me that Steely Dan isn't a nostalgia
act. They tweaked a few of the old tunes, but I wouldn't have minded seeing
more adventurous forays beyond what has become such a tightly structured
sound.
Donald's voice seemed weak at moments; strong at others; it seemed like
he wasn't always hitting the mike right at moments, at other moments, the
audio level of the mike seemed too low. His crotchety onstage demeanor is
hilarious; Walter Becker's guitar is strong as always. Their music is as
compelling to me now as it ever has been. The happiest surprise of 2000 (of
course, in addition to winning the taping passes) is a new Steely Dan album;
and one of such high quality... I can't wait for the tour!
By the way, if it can be avoided, don't try sleeping in a terminal at
JFK. That's one of my New York lessons.
- Thomas Shea (TSheator@aol.com)
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Walter Becker and Donald Fagen
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Cornelius Bumpus, Chris Potter, Michael Leonhart, Jim Pugh
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Victoria Cave, Carolyn Leonhart, Cynthia Calhoun
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Jon Herington
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Kind Of Blew: Cornelius Bumpus, Chris Potter, Michael Leonhart
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Ricky Lawson
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Contest Winner Gabe Sasso writes:
The excitement started when I checked my e-mail on January 20th. Amongst
the ads, solicitations, and other assorted refuse and spam were some
legitimate messages. One of them informed me that I'd won 2 tickets to see
Steely Dan tape their PBS special on January 29, 2000. To say I was
thrilled would be putting it mildly.
My first step was to confirm acceptance of the tickets by return e-mail.
After that I called my friend Dave to see if he'd come along as my guest.
A silly question really since I knew that barring actually being bedridden
any self-respecting Dan fan would kill to be at the taping. Of course he
accepted.
The excitement of the event seemed to build as the day got closer. It was
only just over a week but it seemed much longer. Finally when we were
ushered out of the line by [website assistant] D. and into Sony Studios the time had come.
We had great seats dead center and about 5 rows back from the stage thanks
to D. providing VIP passes. Truthfully the studio which I would guess
seats less than 300 people doesn't look like it has a bad seat. Intimacy
was definitely at a high.
The time from seating to the actual show passed and the band was brought
on. Last onstage of course were Walter and Donald. They thanked everyone
for coming and Donald commented that everything about the night would seem
like a show but in fact it was not. Actually he said it was just
television.
Then the band launched into "Green Earrings." It was a terrific opener and
the crowd, which was clearly primed and ready, was into it from note one.
The band's intensity never seemed to ebb as they moved seamlessly from old
favorites to brand new songs from the upcoming album. My impression was
that the new tracks retain the classic Dan sound while adding a new flavor
to the mix here or there. Of the new tunes played at the taping my
favorite at this point is "Gaslighting Abbie." Of course this is subject
to change once I've had the opportunity to listen to all of "Two Against
Nature" a few dozen times.
Throughout the night the band took a couple of breaks. Donald mentioned
that this was due to the TV aspect of things. One of the breaks was due to
a lighting issue that needed correcting. Each time they came back on stage
the crowd was back into it instantly. Breaks like that which one would
think might stifle the crowd's momentum did anything but.
I must mention the band Donald and Walter have surrounded themselves with.
Comprised of both veterans of the Steely Dan tours of the 90's and
newcomers to Dan this group can flat out play. The horn section made up
this time of 2 sax players, one trumpet and for the first time a trombone
was particularly fantastic. The trio of backup singers also shone
particularly on tunes like "Babylon Sisters" where their vocals were
brought to the forefront. These are just two examples. At points
throughout the evening every member of the band had his or her exceptional
moments. Donald and Walter for their part looked like they were having a
blast. And well they should, everyone else was too.
All told it was a fantastic evening of great music in an intimate setting.
And of course with a new album due and a tour on the horizon 2000 promises
to be a new and exciting chapter in the world of Steely Dan. I'm already
looking forward to the special when it airs March 1st on PBS.
- Gabe Sasso
Gabe Sasso and David Vermeire
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Ricky Lawson and Tom Barney
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Jon Herington, Walter Becker, Ricky Lawson at sound check
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Ted Baker
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Cornelius Bumpus and Chris Potter
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Walter Becker
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Cornelius Bumpus, Chris Potter, Walter Becker, Michael Leonhart, Jim Pugh,
Donald Fagen, Ubiquitous Cameraman, Ricky Lawson
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Victoria Cave, Carolyn Leonhart, Cynthia Calhoun
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Contest Winner Russell Greenberg writes:
What a night!!! Thank you so much for one of the
more special evenings. The band sounded great and both Donald and Walter
were in top form. The new stuff was excellent as well as all the classics.
The arrangement on "Do It Again" brought tears to my eyes .......Mind boggling
stuff!!!! Thanks to all the staff at the theatre who where helpful
throughout.
- Russell Greenberg
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Webfriends Kent Sheldon, Pat Beemer, Mary 'Moonflower' Garrett,
Jim "Hoops!" McKay, Joe Murtha, Carole Murtha
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Thanks again to the contest winners -- some of whom traveled a great distance at their own expense to make it to the shows -- and apologies once more to those we couldn't find in the midst of all the madness to welcome personally and take your pictures. We hope everybody had a great time.
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