About Expanding Dan
Expanding Dan is a newsletter about Steely Dan, the musicians and artists on the Dan’s vast and varied musical tree, and the stories they have to tell. It includes original interviews, oral histories, audio stories, music mixes, and more transmissions from the Danverse.
The newsletter is reported and written by me, Jake Malooley, a veteran journalist, record collector, occasional DJ, and inveterate Danfan. “Dirty Work,” my 50th anniversary oral history of Steely Dan, was published by Wax Poetics in the magazine’s November 2022 issue. While working on that 10,000-word feature during the better part of a year, I developed an extensive network of contacts within the typically cloistered halls of Dan World.
I’ve written about music, crime, sports, film, books, media, science, technology, and numerous other subjects for The New York Times, New York magazine, Rolling Stone, The Ringer, Wired, Esquire, ESPN, Bon Appétit, and The Guardian, among other publications. I’m also a contributing features writer at Chicago magazine. Previously, I was editor in chief of the Chicago Reader, the city’s venerable alternative weekly newspaper.
What you can expect
Interviews | Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald, Gary Katz, Elliot Scheiner, Denny Dias, Chuck Rainey, Bernard Purdie, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Steve Gadd, Rick Marotta, Dean Parks, Larry Carlton, Steve Khan, Jay Graydon, Tom Scott, Rob Mounsey, Elliott Randall, Timothy B. Schmit, Bill Schnee, Lee Ritenour, Jim Keltner, Ed Greene, David Paich, Chris Parker, Randy Brecker, Bernie Grundman, and so many more
Plus: Conversations with Steely Dan–adjacent artists such as early Becker-Fagen collaborator Linda Hoover, one-album wonder Dane Donohue, Barney Hurley of 1990s yacht revivalists Samuel Purdey, and the Dan-loving duo behind Young Gun Silver Fox
Oral histories | Deep dives into key moments in the Steely Dan timeline, constructed from new interviews with musicians, producers, and engineers: Katy Lied and the dbx debacle (with Denny Dias!); the recording of “Aja” (with Steve Gadd!); the invention and application of Wendel (with all the salty drummers from Gaucho!)
Audio stories | Short pieces blending first-person storytelling with music: Michael McDonald on how a random New Year’s Eve gig at Universal Studios with future members of Toto led him to Steely Dan; Elliott Randall on playing the solo on “Reelin’ in the Years” and turning down an offer to join the band; Elliot Scheiner on how the quickie dissolution of his marriage inspired “Haitian Divorce”; Jim Keltner on precisely how he ended up playing a trash can lid as a ride cymbal on “Josie”; Jay Graydon on the dirty joke that had Donald and Walter in stitches
Danfans | Conversations with notable SD heads: Oscar-winning director Peter Farrelly, comedian from hell and Curb Your Enthusiasm star Richard Lewis, Brazilian musician and AOR superfan Ed Motta, Los Angeles funkster and DJ Dam-Funk
Gone to the Movies | Explorations of the Steely Dan cinematic universe: tracking down the rarely seen You’ve Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You’ll Lose That Beat; the making of the Aja episode of Classic Albums, with commentary from the filmmakers
Tracks of Whack | Playlists of Dan and Danesque tunes—AOR, city pop, real jazz, fake jazz, and fake-fake jazz—selected by Expanding Dan interviewees
Defend Your Steely Dan Thesis! | A surprising amount of academic brainpower has been spent interrogating the Becker-Fagen oeuvre. The researchers behind Dan-related dissertations and journal articles try to explain what, exactly, they’ve uncovered deep within the Caves of Altamira.
Miscellany | Non-Dan (but still Dan-ish) digressions I may occasionally indulge: analog audio technology, terrestrial radio, midcentury-modern architecture and design, the films of Michael Mann, Hawaii, TV, books, magazines, the NBA’s cocaine era, among other whims
Why you should subscribe
This is a world that you’re welcome to.
As a paid subscriber, you’ll get every new edition of Expanding Dan sent directly to your inbox, access to the archives, plus invitations to special events such as subscribers-only talks with guests from the Danverse.
I’m asking the Substack minimum: $5 per month ($60 annually). Every subscription directly supports the labor—hours of reporting, interviewing, transcribing, writing, and editing—required to bring you original journalism about the so-called Manson and Starkweather of rock ’n’ roll.
