Amazing! I first got onto the internet as a UCSC freshman in 1994, and was often using precious computer lab time to chase down info in the nascent SD web world. And their website was hilarious; I even was one of the lucky winners when they had a strange contest to send something like 5 random CDs they were removing from their personal connects to the first responders. To my bafflement, I was one of the winners and, to this day, I have a Sheila Jordan CD signed by Donald and Walter.
Portrait of Sheila, a really great 1963 Blue Note date w Steve Swallow (before he switched to strictly electric bass), Barry Galbraith (every guitar teacher's favorite guitarist), and bebop vet Denzil Best. I had heard Jordan on George Russell and Roswell Rudd records before getting this one from Donald & Walter, but this one was new to me. Very solid album; more straight ahead than a lot of her work, but damn good..
Wow that's an amazing slice of social history. I have been a Dandom Digest subscriber since foerever. Being in the UK, I never knew much about the fan events. Great piece, thanks a lot Hoops and Jake.
This is maybe my favorite piece I’ve read from you, Jake. My friends and I are huge Dan fans but being that we’re only 22, we didn’t get to experience this era. I’ve done digging of my own in the past of archived Steely Dan websites and have read some of Donald and Walter’s hilarious blog posts but never knew about their direct connection with the fans. Awesome stuff, RIP Walter.
Oh man, are you ever on the money with this. I didn't even buy my first computer until the fall of 1998 and one of the very first things I did was stumble upon the original alt.music.steely-dan Usenet group. The buzz for the forthcoming album had started and eventually became a roar. It was as you described, just the right time and place and only the like-minded were welcome. I chipped in when appropriate, but the level of conversation was astounding, and everyone was good to each other, unless you were a jackass or troublemaker. It was like a family. I remember Diane DeRooij, Dr. J, Klaus and the Rooster, and one guy who always contributed the same line in lyric discussions with "It's about drugs. All Steely Dan songs are about drugs." The excitement peaked with the little 15 second audio previews of songs from the yet to be released 2VN (as we called it then). Was also introduced to Oleander's lyric interpretation site (the name of which I can't recall) and was like a kid in a candy store. The memories are fading away, but as you suggest, it really was THE greatest time on the Internet. Thank you for this post Jake. 👍
Amazing! I first got onto the internet as a UCSC freshman in 1994, and was often using precious computer lab time to chase down info in the nascent SD web world. And their website was hilarious; I even was one of the lucky winners when they had a strange contest to send something like 5 random CDs they were removing from their personal connects to the first responders. To my bafflement, I was one of the winners and, to this day, I have a Sheila Jordan CD signed by Donald and Walter.
Thanks for sharing! I'm curious—which Sheila Jordan album?
Portrait of Sheila, a really great 1963 Blue Note date w Steve Swallow (before he switched to strictly electric bass), Barry Galbraith (every guitar teacher's favorite guitarist), and bebop vet Denzil Best. I had heard Jordan on George Russell and Roswell Rudd records before getting this one from Donald & Walter, but this one was new to me. Very solid album; more straight ahead than a lot of her work, but damn good..
Wow that's an amazing slice of social history. I have been a Dandom Digest subscriber since foerever. Being in the UK, I never knew much about the fan events. Great piece, thanks a lot Hoops and Jake.
Thanks, Toby! Glad to shed a little light.
This is maybe my favorite piece I’ve read from you, Jake. My friends and I are huge Dan fans but being that we’re only 22, we didn’t get to experience this era. I’ve done digging of my own in the past of archived Steely Dan websites and have read some of Donald and Walter’s hilarious blog posts but never knew about their direct connection with the fans. Awesome stuff, RIP Walter.
Thanks, Joseph! Though I'm a bit older than you, I mostly missed this period, too. Stay tuned—there's more to come on the Web 1.0 Daniverse.
Oh man, are you ever on the money with this. I didn't even buy my first computer until the fall of 1998 and one of the very first things I did was stumble upon the original alt.music.steely-dan Usenet group. The buzz for the forthcoming album had started and eventually became a roar. It was as you described, just the right time and place and only the like-minded were welcome. I chipped in when appropriate, but the level of conversation was astounding, and everyone was good to each other, unless you were a jackass or troublemaker. It was like a family. I remember Diane DeRooij, Dr. J, Klaus and the Rooster, and one guy who always contributed the same line in lyric discussions with "It's about drugs. All Steely Dan songs are about drugs." The excitement peaked with the little 15 second audio previews of songs from the yet to be released 2VN (as we called it then). Was also introduced to Oleander's lyric interpretation site (the name of which I can't recall) and was like a kid in a candy store. The memories are fading away, but as you suggest, it really was THE greatest time on the Internet. Thank you for this post Jake. 👍
I seem to recall that Oleander’s site was called “Fever Dreams”?
Correct! I actually have something coming up about Fever Dreams. Stay tuned!
Thanks to Hoops for all he did!!!