This morning the following rather cryptic message from the "Webdrone" in charge of the official Steely Dan website, appeared on one of the high-traffic Steely Dan message boards:
"The new CD - Everything Must Go - came out in June, the EMG Tour is over, and now steelydan.com will power down to archive mode. A kiss from Donald or Walter and these pages and will blink awake again. Until then, we slumber.
"What will happen here next? Who can say.
"We do know it will be different - - - but The Dan Abides."
"Everything Must Go" received something of a lukewarm reception, and its sales reflected that. Last year Steely Dan swept the Grammies; this year they're more likely to get a lump of coal in their socks. [Note: As I suspected, they did not receive a single Grammy nomination this year. The NARAS voting panel was evidently mortified and chose to apologize to Eminem for their lapse of judgment in choosing Steely Dan over him last year. And Slim Shady notwithstanding, to further indicate their poor judgment in favoring middle-aged white men last time around, this year the voters weighted their nominations heavily toward black female performers such as the immortal Beyonce and the profound Erykah Badu.] So under the circumstances, Becker and Fagen's strategy, if you can call it that, seems to be to lie low, enjoy the good life in Hawaii, Woodstock, and Gotham, and let the music industry limp by without them until they start running low on funds again. Maybe Becker will produce some new artist (especially if she's under 30 and stunning, and has a good connection ;)); Fagen will probably be shanghaied by his better half into remodeling his apartment in the city or his house in Woodstock. If he really gets bored he might knock off part of a song. If he really, really gets bored he might collaborate on knocking off part of a song with Carole Bayer Sager, or Diane Warren, or Norah Jones, or Madonna.
Meanwhile, the music biz will be cranking out the same old swill it always does. New kids on the block will come and go. Trends will tumesce and detumesce, leaving behind not even a microscopic bubble. Wild-eyed upstarts will attempt to foil the corporate recording/releasing/marketing juggernaut by starting up maverick record companies. Most of them will fail; the few who survive will go on to eventually become...you guessed it...corporate recording/releasing/marketing juggernauts.
In these days of stress and dreariness, we need Walter Becker and Donald Fagen to keep us honest, or at least to keep us amused. They may be aching to rest on their laurels, to power down to archive mode, to merely abide...but distasteful as they may find it, these two middle-aged zhlubs have a mission to fulfill.
Walter Becker and Donald Fagen are probably the only true radicals left in the musical mainstream today. It would be great if they could somehow fight off inertia -- their own and the music industry's -- and pitch us a screwball out of left field...crank off a dozen new tunes, better than anything on "Everything Must Go" and "Two Against Nature", hire an entirely new lineup, go into the studio and record everything in two blazing weeks, then announce a tour for next spring. A world tour. With a lot of dates in intimate venues, and a top ticket price of $10.
Failing that, one or both of them could run for President in the next election. Strictly an informational campaign, of course. The "Two Against Nature" platform. Becker could send out daily e-mail dispatches to the press. Fagen could rewrite the National Anthem to include minor-seventh extensions and mu-major chords. Both could give snappy interviews and mission statements ("if we're elected we'll put Charlie Parker on the 20-cent first class postage stamp").
Back to reality. It's going to be a long winter, I have a feeling. And a silent spring.
