
Concert In The Park
Do you feel it? The smell of fall as the lazy, hazy days of sunshine dwindle faster than a Harley-Davidson financial comeback.
Too soon the leaves will fall, rain will flood the roads and snow will fill the air as television news canvas the area to report fender-benders over and over. Before this happens, however, there is still time to ask: “Am I making the most of my 2009 summer riding season?”
In trying to stretch out summer as much as possible I attended an outdoor concert last night. Was it motorcycle exhaust fumes mixed with cigar smoke and classic rock music like Summerfest in Milwaukee? No, but Body & Soul reunited last night to perform high-energy Tower of Power, Chaka Khan, Stevie Wonder and classic rock.
Speaking of classic rock, I’m not talking about Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild” or Springsteen’s “Born in the USA”, rather it’s about Steely Dan and “My Old School.” Remember it was the “boomers” who grew up with music at the center of their lives. There were no cell phones, there was no Facebook. They lived to twist the AM dial in the coupe, if lucky had a FM radio and a phone in their bedroom. The glue that kept them together was the music. They call this music “classic rock”. Classic, as in aged, as in done. But, I beg to differ.

Body & Soul Music Group
Insiders will tell you the best Steely Dan album was the second, “Countdown To Ecstasy“, the one that ended their touring career, the one sans any hits. I disagree. It was “Can’t Buy A Thrill” which was truly a masterpiece. At the concert last night Body & Soul performed “My Old School” and hearing those guitar riffs made me want to blog about it.
For the uninitiated, or those who grew up in the mid-west, or even further left, Annandale-on-Hudson is the location of Bard College, where those who were smart, but thought high school was B.S and didn’t have the grades commensurate with their intelligence ended up going to college to further their creativity. It’s where Walter Becker and Donald Fagen went to school before moving on to back up Jay Black as two of his Americans and ultimately getting a deal with ABC Records. They were forced to get a lead singer, David Palmer, since Fagen’s voice was “supposedly” deemed not radio-ready by the studio execs. Mr. Palmer sang the lead vocal on a legendary track, but I like this version of “Dirty Work” however, when performed live it hasn’t got the same power with backup singers taking the lead.
After struggling in the music trenches for years, plying their trade far from the spotlight, Steely Dan became a success and was an AM radio fixture. Not an FM staple. Remember back… FM was in the process of getting dumbed down, featuring meat and potatoes rock as opposed to intelligence, but when the hooks of “Do It Again” and “Reelin’ In The Years” poured out of one speaker it could not be denied by AM radio and the album “Can’t Buy A Thrill” became a huge hit. It was an album seen most often in dorm rooms of those not quite hip, but didn’t have to worry about their cred.
For those of us who lived through it, when we hear Steely Dan songs we’re brought right back. I’ve seen Becker and Fagen at the Gorge Amphitheatre a couple of times. Their troupe of hired musicians return us to what was and who we used to be. And one could say it was aged music, but like wine, some things get even better as the years go by.
Even though youngsters these days might not understand, they positively get awesome musicianship. It’s not about staging or production it’s about the music. Yes, the sun is setting on these baby boomer acts. Their audience is getting older, fans don’t feel the same need to go to the show. But if you’re a musician you play anyway. That’s what you’re in it for, the SOUND!
Steely Dan and Body & Soul photos courtesy of respective web sites.
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