Got my tickets for his show at The Joint here in town.

He's got one of those sounds that have been incorporated into my DNA over the years.

Looking forward to the new disc, too.

Like you, I never grow tired of SD. Becker and Fagan are great musicians and often have some strange thoughts running about in their brains. LOL I think now days if you started out with a group on LP and we're still with them on CD, that is a pretty good indication of staying power.

Thanks Monty. I have liked Robin Trower a very long time. I look forward to finding it on-line for purchase (not down-load, never have never will) as I doubt anywhere locally carries anything but major sellers.

Fagen doesn't have Florida on the schedule, either. DRAT!

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Yup, you and me both. I never grow tired of Steely Dan. It doesn't look like Fagen is coming my way this go around.

I just read where Robin Trower has a new release coming out as well. Somebody was asking about electric blues a couple of days ago...well, here ya go.

Just getting around to this post - love Steely Dan and Robin Trower as well

www.trowerpower.com

Not sure how Robin popped up in a Fagen thread, but I am a huge fan, and am always happy to spread the word.

Brian

Robin Trower dvd available from Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=br_ss_hs/104-3013936-1229518?search-alias=aps&keywords=robin%20trower

Well, The Donald came through town and played at The Joint at the Hard Rock.

In reserved seating mode, the place holds around 800 people; so, not small, but not big, either.

I was impressed by the new material and how tight the band was.

Very Steely Dan-like, of course, but with more of a late night feel.

He had two guitar players (plus a guest guitarist), a bass, an extra keybord player, drummer, two back-up singers, sax player, and a trumpet player.

The arrangements were stellar and he was very good about showing the individual skills of his band, as well.

It was about a 2 hour and fifteen minute show. Only at the end does it hit you that he could play for 8 hours and there'd still be songs you'd want to hear.

That band would be my fantasy lounge act of all time!

Anyway, if he hits your town, highly recommended.

Crowd mix was middle aged and white with one sigthing of a person of olive complexion or darker.

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It was kind of concert week for me and the woman last week. We saw The Eagles of Death Metal (quite entertaining, actually) and The Strokes at the same location on Wednesday night.

The Strokes played a good show, but they mixed the vocals so far down in the sound that unless you already knew the words, it wasn't worth your effort to listen.

Friday night was Donald. After his show, we went and saw a local Steely Dan cover band just to keep the vibe going.

Last night was the IV THieves (just OK) and The Pretenders at the House of Blues.

Chrissie is much more charismatic and outgoing and attractive live than you'd exoect from her persona.

My buddy and I had seen her in, geez, 15 years or so, and we were both amazed at how great her voice still sounds.

She had gotten raves at SXSW, but seemed to have trouble with her iPod (earphones) and didn't get her vocal tracks high enough to be heard about 1/3 of the time.

She was obviously frustrated and only played about 70 minutes.

Still, the band was great. Their bass player looks like Seth Green gone goth and really keeps a groove going.

Other people there told me she has been playing MUCH longer shows, so I will not give two thumbs down, just two hands wiggling asi-asi.

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The sound:

House of Blues runs neutral to not so hot. Lots of EV gear aimed everywhere.

Surprisingly, acoustic acts like John Prine or Willie Nelson sound very good, but when it hits higher dB levels, the sound gets very congested.

The Joint used to have two walls and a procenium of horn loaded babies that looked like vintage Klipsch drivers. It was dynamic and clean and could hit you with enough dB to make the show feel like it really meant business.

I saw the place with the curtians in front of the speakers raised a while back and it was clean and purposeful.

The room used to sound great.

For some reason, they've changed out the speakers and now it sounds like a giant club system. Could be worse, but they used to verge on the edge of sounding like they ran an actual hi-fi rig for a giant listening room.

Sad.