Thanks, Ira. I chalked up that addition to the vicissitudes of memory. And I assume because it's a funny line, no one ever thought to check it out. Honestly I was a little sad to discover "assholes" wasn't in the ad.
It is! Really the only complete Steely Dan biography that exists. Writing it was a tough task (particularly because Fagen and Becker wouldn't agree to interviews), but Brian did a great job. (Relatedly, I did an interview with Mr. Sweet, which will appear in a future Expanding Dan post.)
I've read bios with and without the assistance of the subject -- my favorite was the Neil Young bio "Shakey" where he helped at first and then sued to block the book midway through!
But sometimes not having assistance can be good -- forces you to get creative and work harder. Less hagiographic.
I've been umming and aaghing over taking out a subscription to Expanding Dan since coming across it around the time that Second Arrangement was first made available on here. I've been researching a timeline of this early period for a few months over the past year or so, which I have called The Ascent of Dan. Only last week I did the exact same trawl through the VV archives to no avail - but this morning I found a reference to DD stating that he "first met Walter and Donald in '69" which made me think, perhaps Brian Sweet's date (Summer 1970) was wrong! I had noticed earlier this week that Expanding Dan had covered this subject which more that piqued my interest, and having now taken out a month's subscription it turns out this article that Jake has produced confirms precisely that. This is a real game changer in terms of the timeline, so thank you Jake for doing the hard bit here! Plus to have DD confirm the advert and the identify of Bruce is the icing on the cake! Brilliant work!!
Now THIS is the content I'm paying for! :)
Maybe the "no assholes" was less apocryphal and more predictive?
Thanks, Ira. I chalked up that addition to the vicissitudes of memory. And I assume because it's a funny line, no one ever thought to check it out. Honestly I was a little sad to discover "assholes" wasn't in the ad.
Question: Is the Brian Sweet book worth buying?
It is! Really the only complete Steely Dan biography that exists. Writing it was a tough task (particularly because Fagen and Becker wouldn't agree to interviews), but Brian did a great job. (Relatedly, I did an interview with Mr. Sweet, which will appear in a future Expanding Dan post.)
I've read bios with and without the assistance of the subject -- my favorite was the Neil Young bio "Shakey" where he helped at first and then sued to block the book midway through!
But sometimes not having assistance can be good -- forces you to get creative and work harder. Less hagiographic.
Shakey is amazing, great call
Great save of his feelings in the end there!
Thanks, David! :)
Wow! It’s awesome that Denny was in touch and helping verify the search! Great read.
I've been umming and aaghing over taking out a subscription to Expanding Dan since coming across it around the time that Second Arrangement was first made available on here. I've been researching a timeline of this early period for a few months over the past year or so, which I have called The Ascent of Dan. Only last week I did the exact same trawl through the VV archives to no avail - but this morning I found a reference to DD stating that he "first met Walter and Donald in '69" which made me think, perhaps Brian Sweet's date (Summer 1970) was wrong! I had noticed earlier this week that Expanding Dan had covered this subject which more that piqued my interest, and having now taken out a month's subscription it turns out this article that Jake has produced confirms precisely that. This is a real game changer in terms of the timeline, so thank you Jake for doing the hard bit here! Plus to have DD confirm the advert and the identify of Bruce is the icing on the cake! Brilliant work!!