Steely Dan

I had a pair of lawn seats to the show, but I stopped by the box office to see if there was anything else avaiulable. The young lady at the window said "no, nothing really" and I went away knowing that at least I would get in. About 20 minutes later, she stopped by the van and said there was one seat left, third row center. Shit, I don't have a hundred bucks for a seat and I was reminded of the time when I was married to my first wife. I had 7 bucks in my pocket to last all week. I found an English import copy of "Blues Helping" by Love Sculpture at my favorite record store for seven bucks. Well, what to do...you guessed, I bought the album but didn't have any money left. It had been 13 years since Steely Dan played in St. Louis and I am pretty sure they won't be back. So, I did it. Bought the ticket and after the broadcast, went inside to get my seat. Wow, unbelievable, Micheal McDonald was close enough to spit on me. Now, I am not the greatest Micheal McDonald fan. I think he has pretty much mumbled his way to stardom and I think he wasn't the guy the Doobie Brothers needed at the time. Some of his stuff is OK and his Motown covers are pretty pedestrian. He can't hit the high notes anymore and I thought he was OK.
Steely Dan come out to the tune of "Bodhisatva" and immediately, it was apparent that these guys had surrounded themselves with a crackerjack band, especially the young buck on drums. But wouldn't you know, the way my summer has been, there were two couples on my left that had the women sitting next to each other. Yak yak yak yak. I finally said to the guy next to me, "Look, I am not trying to be a prick or anything, but, shit I paid a hundred bucks I didn't have after waiting 13 years, is this conversation really necessary?" He leaned over said something and then the ladies left while feeding me a dirty look. Cool. The guy on my right however, kept asking an unnamed person on the phone.."where are you?" and chatting with that person. When did a concert become a fucking sporting event? Shut the hell up, people and enjoy the music you are in the third frikkin row!!! Back to the show, perfection personified. The encore was "FM" and "My Old School" with Micheal McDonald joining them. They played my favorites "Aja", "Home At Last","I Got The News", "Kid Charlemagne" "Do It Again" with MM on lead vocals and a very interesting version of "Show Biz Kids" done to the tune of "Cold Sweat" that was weird but highly entertaining. No "Deacon Blues", no "Reeling In The Years" but overall, true excellence. It started raining towrds the end of the show and I immediately thought of my friend Sean who is probably a bigger fan than I having to endure the rain while listening to the tunes. Man, what a way to close out the summer. I have high hopes that fall will bring a change of luck. How I wish I would have played that Martin guitar I bought in 1980 more, I would be pretty good by now.