“Everyone stopped to stare at your technicolor motorhome”

Monday Music finger-snappin’ toe-tappin’

My first Steely Dan album was on 8-track tape.  Today I have a dozen+ of their studio albums on vinyl and CD - Becker & Fagen are just phenomenal.  Check out this live version of Kid Charlemagne:.

Bonus quiz questions: why was Kid Charlemagne famous, and what sudden crisis did he face?  What was the proposed solution?

Lots more here.

Posted by George on 10/22/07 at 05:22 AM

  1. It’s all been downhill since I crossed my old man back in Oregon…

    Posted by Ted  on  10/22/07  at  08:09 AM

  2. why was Kid Charlemagne famous?

    My guess.

    Posted by Ted  on  10/22/07  at  08:15 AM

  3. Kid Charlemagne was Owsley Stanley, an acid chemist; presumably this is the story of the bust. He is referred to as black (cross ref to ‘all the white men on the street’) but he’s not. He was an extremely famous guy in his day, and was someone who influenced the Grateful Dead profoundly as their soundman, their acid chemist, the guy who turned on the Haight, and finally as the financier of the band and procurer of their manager and so on…Owsley is the guy who came up with the skull and lightning bolt logo associated with the band (I believe Kelly and Mouse rendered it). So voila, this is a tribute to someone who indeed turned the world around, a little or a lot.

    Posted by Eric Francis  on  10/22/07  at  06:15 PM

  4. Well I don’t know what the prize is, but you both got it!

    I love the cultural, historical, and mythological references in Steely Dan’s music. And lots of other aspects too.

    Posted by george.w  on  10/22/07  at  06:45 PM

  5. I like the pop-music and pop-lit posts. They usually inspire more nostalgic conversation, but Steely Dan is musically so tight (jazzy, complex) so it’s not as “pop” as many others or as clear cut traditional rock. I think that musical taste influences outlook a LOT, so it says a lot about the way the moral and ethical development goes.

    Trivia: What’s the “Fez” about?

    Also, how do you feel about Little Feat—the SoCal boys that sound like a New Orleans band. Likewise, musically very complex, and started getting jazzier as the 70s ended? People either like them a lot, or hate them, but I find few that are in the middle.

    How about posting your top-ten albums so that we can get an idea where things flow. People sometimes tend to include marginalia in top-ten lists to appear deeper, but really, that’s certainly unnecessary, the flaws in taste say even more. I’d also like to get an idea of what the young generations (webs05 and others) considers top-ten quality (keeping in mind that some time should pass to determine classic status.)

    Posted by Ted  on  10/23/07  at  10:58 AM

  6. wink The Fez is about why you should wear a condom all the time.

    I am not sure if Akbar and Jeff (two indistinguishable queer guys) of the Life in Hell comic by Matt Groening, who always wear very tasteful fez hats, is a pun on this song or the same thing, but a fez is a condom.

    Posted by Eric Francis  on  10/23/07  at  11:21 AM

  7. Oh, the Technicolor Motorhome was probably “Furthur,” the Merry Pranksters’ psychedelic bus, created in the summer of 1964. This however was financed by Ken Kesey from royalties he was earning on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In effect these were tue first hippies - the Merry Pranksters, who did a lot of Owsley acid.

    Posted by Eric Francis  on  10/23/07  at  11:24 AM

  8. Post Postscript, the little bear you sometimes see dancing along on people’s bumpers - or used to see - is a reference to Bear, who is Owsley. Now kids get to play with plush “Bear” dolls…in the age of Say No to drugs…not realizing it’s a tribute to a guy who synthesized nearly half a kilo of pure LSD. Haha.

    Posted by Eric Francis  on  10/23/07  at  11:26 AM

  9. Best. Comment. Thread. Ever.  I love you guys…

    The Fez is about why you should wear a condom all the time.

    ...and so is this song: “I am condom friend”.  But Fez is way more stylish.

    Posted by george.w  on  10/23/07  at  08:46 PM

  10. You reminded me that I had some tapes around. After some searching, found the 30 year old Steely Dan cassettes. Still don’t sound too bad - a bit muffled maybe compared to CDs.

    I also found some TDK cassette tapes of KILO 94 (Colorado Springs) recorded in 1979. That was a good rock FM station that would play an album in its entirety once a week (so that the pore folk could record the whole thing off the radio). Albums were 7.99 plus tax, and a bunch of us made $150 a week, so it was appreciated.

    Posted by Ted  on  10/29/07  at  02:16 PM

  11. Man I can, and have, listen to those albums for hours on the road.

    a good rock FM station that would play an album in its entirety once a week (so that the pore folk could record the whole thing off the radio).

    I always assumed that was when the DJ had a special friend in the studio… but maybe I saw too many episodes of WKRP in Cincinnati

    Posted by george.w  on  10/29/07  at  04:05 PM

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