= Get CIRCUS MONEY Early = 

Teaming with Circus Money's superfine distributor, 
Mailboat Records, we are pleased to extend this 
First-on-the-Block offer to you, our faithful 
Newsletter Subscribers: 

:::
::: If you pre-order Circus Money 
::: [Audio CD] [MP3 @256 kbps] [Lossless FLAC] 
:::
::: through the new Walter Becker Store
:::
::: before May 26, you get:
:::
::: = Delivery of your order 5 days before Release Date
:::      and
::: = Immediate MP3 download of a Circus Money track 
:::
::: 
::: Check it out: The Walter Becker Store

==========

Want To Share?

This offer was created for Subscribers, and
we're sending the Store link today just to you.

Eventually, perhaps, it may get around, 
get posted, and go public.

But until then, only *you* can share this offer 
with as many non-subscribed friends as you choose.

:::
::: Do it with your personalized
:::
::: Tell-a-Friend service at
::: <link only in Newsletter> 
:::

========== 

Updates Aplenty

If you've visited
http://walterbecker.com
lately, you've noticed some updates;
audio clips (can video be far behind?),
press links, etc.

There will be more to come as we hurtle toward
official release, so do check in often.

========== 

"Think Fast, Steely Dan" Tour

About 36 summer dates are announced and on sale,
with the possibility of more to come.

Monitor 
http://steelydan.com
for the latest.

Last Few Days to 
Get CIRCUS MONEY Early 
And a Full Track Now

::: Visit the Walter Becker Store 
::: for the deal...

::: ... and tell a friend about it at
::: <link for subscribers only> 

Thanks to all who have already pre-ordered. 

========== 

Who Tube? 

Some of you found a couple of online
audiovisual oddities in recent days, e.g.,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iowlpXE1YkI&fmt=6
and 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHyNzWHPVsA&fmt=6

Fair enough ... but do you mean to tell us 
there's only *one* Circus Money monkey out there
with iMovie and a YouTube account?!

==========

International Release 

We're just a few days away from giving 
a good hunk of our subscriber list some
hard information about the International 
release and distribution of Circus Money
later this summer. 

Check the C$ FAQ for this and other updates

<//outdated links deleted //>

========== 

Promo Pig-Out

Before too long, some press, interviews, and
articles re: Circus Money may start
appearing here and there. 

We'll try to note some of the biggies
on our 'Press and Promo' page 

========== 

...and now, back to rehearsals for the
"Think Fast, Steely Dan" Tour...

Until Next Time...

CIRCUS MONEY is out and wandering free
amongst retailers in North America.

Our very own one-stop shop is 
The Walter Becker Store, carrying 
CIRCUS MONEY in Audio CD, MP3/256, and FLAC.
Downloads include pdf full packaging and lyrics.

==========

International Release -- with BONUS

We're delighted to announce 
the International release of CIRCUS MONEY 
through Sonic360 this Monday, July 14!

(As with our Brethren and Sistern of 1789, 
the date will find us "intoxicated with 
liberty and enthusiasm.")

The International release includes the exclusive 
B o N u S   T r A C k 
'Dark Horse Dub', plus an additional 
package insert. 

Pre-order now through 
the Sonic360 Store .

==========

Speaking of More ....

So you probably figure: Now that
CIRCUS MONEY is out, it'll be another X years 
before there's more from Becker and crew.

Such Old Paradigm thinking! 

Look -- you never know anymore what happens
next, and when. So just keep this 
Newsletter subscription active, OK?

========== 

Promo On Parade

The 'Press and Promo' page has been updated 
with some recent press and promotional events, 
including a lengthy interview in
Time Out New York, and guest DJ stints 
on several Sirius radio shows. 

Coming soon: new photos! 

Circus Money Press and Promo Page

********************** 

Becker Signature Model Guitar

Last time we reported that Becker and 
master luthier Roger Sadowsky teamed up
to produce a Walter Becker Signature Model Guitar.

The beauty made its debut on the Steely Dan tour.
Find specs and pictures at Mr. Sadowsky's site

Sale proceeds will be donated to 
The Jazz Foundation, supporting musicians in need. 

********************** 

Think Fast! Steely Dan Tour

The summer shows are rolling strong and long. 

Even the Circus Money Tee-shirts 
are getting great reviews! 

Think Fast, Steely Dan Tour

 Until Next Time ...

A Newsletter Exclusive:
Free Track Download 

In this issue, current subscribers were invited to download
"Circus Money Hammerhead Remix". 

If you were subscribed on Dec 31 but haven't gotten your Newsletter
yet, check your Junk Mail Box! 

"Circus Money Hammerhead Remix" is a Newsletter Exclusive. It doesn't
appear on any Circus Money release.

Speaking of those releases -- it's getting tough to sort out all the Global
Versions, Bonus Tracks, Extended Plays, Dubs, Remixes...etc

This Guide should help you keep them all straight: 
CDs, EPs, Release Versions, Track Info, and Buy Links 

Happy New Year! 

Steely Dan Live: Special Setlist Nights 

The "Left Bank Holiday" (Europe) and
"Rent Party '09" (U.S.) tours are shaping up nicely 
over at steelydan.com

Also just announced there: Rent Party '09 will include 
multi-night stands of special setlist shows
in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

You want yer Classic Album (Plus) Nights?
You want yer 'Takin' It To The Seats' Internet Request Nights?

Then visit and follow  steelydan.com
for dates and details - including news about promotions, 
packages, and more 

Circus Money T-Shirts Return

Missed getting a Circus Money T-Shirt 
at an '08 Steely Dan show?
You've got another chance over at 
Sonic360, Circus Money's international distributor.
Warning: Don't wear one of these 
if you're bothered by double-takes. 

Sonic360's Becker site 

'Downtown Canon' Single + 2 Bonuses (Track + Tix)

Speaking of Sonic360, they're releasing The Circus Money track 
Downtown Canon as a Radio Edit single in a few weeks. It will be available
digitally outside US/Canada at all good digital stores June 15, and on
international iTunes June 16 

BONUS #1: The Downtown Canon single will be bundled -- digitally speaking --
with the bonus track Bob Is Not Your Uncle Anymore (Demo)

Becker elaborates on this: 

Songwriters' demo of track Bob Is Not Your Uncle Anymore as recorded on 
Circus Money. MIDI sequence done on Becker's computer, plus vocal done
at Larry Klein's recording studio in Los Angeles. Used as a point of departure
by the musicians at the tracking date, and included here just for giggles,
really, the latter day listener/musicologist is invited to draw his/her own
conclusions as to what light, if any, this demo sheds on the music-making
"process" of all concerned. 

BONUS #2: Free pair of tix to any 2009 Steely Dan show goes to the first fan who
correctly identifies the 70's reggae track Becker used for inspiration here. Hint:
It's a record that makes you want to "tap" your feet.

"DA RULES": 

Email your guess to  email address in Newsletter.
[contest closed].

Sorry -- emails of unusual length, with any 
graphics, enclosures or viruses attached, or email sent 
to any other email address will not be considered

Until next time ...

Update: Three Newsletter Subscribers correctly identified 
Tapper Zukie: Man Ah Warrior in our demo-related contest. Each won a pair of
tickets to their Steely Dan show of choice. 

Hello friends:

It's so sad that our first Newsletter in ages comes
too late for Walter himself to write to you any longer.

But we can all still hear his inimitable voice.

So let's celebrate Walter's birthday - 2/20/18 - by enjoying that voice
anew, as he gifts us a tune very few have ever heard!

This unreleased song in MP3 format along with a slideshow, 
Were You Close Today, (with Adam Rogers - guitar: Fima Ephron -
bass: Ben Perowsky - drums: Dave Russell - Engineer) and a discussion
forum for related chat, is up at  walterbeckermedia.com, Walter Becker Media,
a location that, depending on how this try-out goes, may soon expand.

A few notes:

There is a copyright on this song, © 1997/2018 Zeon Music LLC, but you
may share it freely: download it, burn it, email to friends. The operative word
here is freely... If you see someone using it for $profit, notify us as the
copyright holders, then please tear him or her a new one without delay

You have to create an account -- two steps, email and password --
in order to post in the forum. (no account needed to hear the clip or read
the comments) But you can remain anonymous if you like. Your default handle
is the first part ofcthe e-mail address you enter at sign-up, but you can edit it to
whatever you want in your profile. Also, your email need not actually exist;
choose the combination of privacy and notification settings that will give you
the profile you want.

We will start by trying out a very light and rapid moderation. Anything goes for
musical opinions and related ideas, broadly defined. What will not fly are off-topic
posts, gratuitous nastiness, serious violations of privacy and basic good manners,
ad hominem arguments, and the like. All moderation will be removed in the future
if this trial shows everyone leaves the nasty stuff at home.

_____________________________

Humble thanks to the supernaturally generous cowboy who got this off the ground,
First Lieutenant Atticus Matticus, Director Of Operations, Technology, Motivation,
and All-Around Righteous Action. And thanks also in advance to Beckerphiles of
goodwill who, we hope, will contribute to a joyful and tuneful expansion here.

Please make sure your friends are signed up for the Walter Becker Newsletter as it will carry news of significant changes and adds, as will the Official Walter Becker Website
at walterbecker.com.

Happy birthday, Walter!

jeepers, we sure do miss you .....

Until Next Time...

a special post... 

Story at the end of this Newsletter

Audio quality: YouTube vs Downloads

Most of you have probably discovered that the audio on a YouTube
video associated with media posted on walterbeckrmedia.com is
considerably worse than that offered on our Downloads page on the same
media site. Yes, it's true -- gasp -- YouTube does F^&*k-MESS WITH
audio: the max volume goes down, distortions happen at lower volumes,
and overall quality drops a notch or two, at least (it also juk-i-fies
video and stills). We're learning more and more about how to go around
these limitations.

But in the meantime, keep in mind that the files offered on the Downloads
page do not go though YouTube. Instead, the links on the Downloads page
go directly to "clean files" hosted by our server, and offer you pretty faithful
copies of the sound files we created. Bottom line: if you want the best
sounding files, do not download from youTube, or from the audio attached
to the video at the top of a wbmedia page (that's just a copy of the YouTube
version). Instead, go to the Downloads page and get your tracks from there. 

Compilations?

Lots of you now writing in to vote for a compilation of these tracks: the
best sounding versions of the music (we'e done virtually no audio manipulation
to date but know they can be improved upon): maybe some commentary by
a few of the musicians or other relevant people: a few pictures, etc. Personally,
we have no doubt that at least one compilation will come from this music.
But patience, lasses and laddies: when it comes to material, we've barely
gotten started!

Volunteers...

We'll call on you soon. Some may be able to help us compile info.
Others have expressed interest in writing "long-form" pieces for the website.

...for a special event 

...and some of you will take part in a special event in the WB world.
Before we can announce the event we have to wait on th action of an
official body -- no lie--which should be coming in a few weeks. But we can
say it's an event in the Northeast, sometime around the last week of
September, and will be almost entirely shaped by fans, for the enoyment
of fans. More soon. 

Plan B Downloads

This release we don't have the nice Download interface of other offerings.
For a few weeks at least, we'll just be offering simple links to 2 fidelities
of the song. Nothin' fancy, but it gets the job done. 

Only One Season 

(vebose version of this story on the post page)

It's like this: I wrote him a birthday haiku. He wrote me a song. It's
good enough that we thought of posting it on online.

Today, though, I hoard his gifts. I once urged him to share it with
everyone; now, I don't want to share it with anyone.

But I know how good it is. And now that I feel among friends here at at
wbmedia, friends who hold WB's talent in esteem and his memory with
affection, I'm happy to present you, fellow WB freaks, the World Premiere
of Walter Becker's

Only One Season

--------------------------------

All praise and thanks go to Matt Kerns, who does
virtually everything here, which is why, when he
shockingly decided to have a life and vaction with
his family, this place knocks down to Plan Bs and work-arounds. 

And continued thanks to you, for listening. 
For appreciating. For remembering.

Official Walter Becker Website is at
walterbecker.com.

Until Next Time...

Walter Becker Receives Street Co-Naming Honor
New York Musician's Queens Roots Remembered

Street Co-Naming Honor: The New York City Council bestows
street co-naming honors on New York activists, cultural heroes,
and community leaders who's contribution has a lasting impact
on the city, the country, and the world. City council member
Hon. Karen Koslowitz of the 29th District (Queens) recommended
Becker by way of a legislative bill, which was approved by a
full council vote on June 28. 

Becker was a native of Forest Hills, Queens, growing up
at 112-20 72 Drive. "Walter Becker Way" will join the street signs
at 112th and 72nd Drive

Unveiling — Oct 28: The date for the street sign ceremony is
Sunday Oct. 28, 2018. Since this event is for the enjoyment of
the fans, with a priority on fostering a fun and free gathering to
honor and celebrate Becker as only his fans can, the Becker
family has opted to give the fanbase complete control over the
planning and organization of the day's festivities. These fans
have decades of experience holding "Dan-Fests" throughout
the country, and always find creative and surprising ways of
celebrating the day. Those plans are in the works as we speak,
and more details of their machinations will appear soon.

Check walterbeckerway.com for details, updates, news, and info.

"Old and Improved"

Facing deadlines for the exciting news above, we've pushed back 
the post of the eary ('91) " Mystery Track" for a week. But we've got
two treats that are just as good.

We're all familiar with the crusty "11 Tracks of Whack Outtakes" that
have been banging around the interwebs for a couple of decades. 
Sure, they're neat sounding tunes--- what we can hear of them,
at least.

It sounds like the versions out there are some advanced generation
of an old cassette. We found the first generation cassette. Add some
nifty modern digitization tools, a tweak or two from superfan Dan Belcher,
and  NOW we've got something to hear! 

We're starting with Sanpaku and Ghost of Hipness Past.

We'll get to the others eventually. But in the meantime, 
please to enjoy
the creamy goodness of these tunes sounding quite a bit more like
God and Becker made 'em

A Connection

"I am a daughter to a father with wings and a guitar."
Sayan describes the connection between father and daughter.

Until Next Time ...

Walter Becker ... Plagiarist? 

This song is something of a mystery,
perhaps resolved only by the preponderance of opinion. 

Dave Russell says this one "didn't make it past
11TOW demo sequence", yet Walter continued
on to add vocals and electric guitar.

He may have taken it that far, despite knowing
it wouldn't be on Whack, because it may
have been part of something else; a dare, or a
challenge, or to make a particular point. Make sure to
read the full story (and register your impression)
on our thread at

She Was Good

========================

Newsletter Restraint

You may have noticed that not every post of
new media gets a Newsletter announcing it;
we don't want to spam you out with issues
at every turn, and Walter long ago decided
he wanted his newsletter to be "informative...
and infrequent". If a new clip is all we've got,
we may not send a Newsletter just for it.

We will, however, always flag it on 
the home page. So you may want to check out 
the site from time to time for additions
you may have missed. For instance, have you
gone to Uncle Waltie's Story Time yet? 

But the real reason to visit, IMHO, is the great
posts in the Discussion threads. Not much
back and forth, and that's somewhat surprising; 
I must have assumed that Becker fans might be a
touch argumentative :-). But I think it's clear that
everyone is simply trying to keep it civil and 
positive. That's a rare achievement on the internet
of today!

In any case, cantankerous or kumbaya, please drop into
the threads and add your voice.

========================

Audio Manipulation (long)
D-Mod and Matt

Over here at Walter Becker Media, we often consider just
how far afield to take a file before presentation. We'd like to
stick to releasing tracks in their native state. In fact, our policy
and practice so far is that we try not to substantively alter audio
except to make an otherwise unlistenable track listenable, to boost
volume on what is barely audible, or to try to correct for media
damage like a scratch or stretch. 

Our rationale is that this is where Walter stopped with the file,
and although it is obvious he would have improved it were he
to continue work on it, and perfected it prior to release, we can't
know and therefore can't do what he would have done...so we don't. 

Now obviously, if these were bound for a commercial release,
audio engineers would be all over these things like white on rice, 
stripping in tracks, dropping in from different versions, using
tools and tricks we can't even imagine exist. But that's not
where we are. We've made it clear we will be dealing in scratch
vocals, demos, working versions, tracks otherwise at various stages
of complete. And for better or worse, we have chosen to present these
as the "official" versions of Walter Becker Media, the purpose and
charter of which is not to maximize these tracks, but to present them
as Walter left them, and as we found them. Walter asked I share
some of his unfinished starts; he didn't say anything about finishing
them.*

A part of us -- the irrational part! -- wishes that was perfectly
copacetic for 100% of you; doesn't the whole world feel that what
we've presented is "enough"? Ah, were it only so! But we know
that once a file is released, a few of you might not be able to sleep
unless it sounds more like you want it to sound. And we understand;
back in the day, when Walter was spending countless hours
holed up in a studio, fidgeting with controller board levels and
Dolby gear and Magneplanar speakers and whatnot, he never
would have presumed to direct the gentle listener on how to
curve the band equalizer on their home hi-fi, if the vinyl product
in-hand sounded to them like nails on a chalkboard. Sound is
incredibly subjective. Moreover, we all differ in what we want
or need to extract from these humble, skinny orphans.

So while we wouldn't presume to stop anyone from
cleaning up a track so as to sound acceptable to them,
it does present some odd issues to those of us who are
supposed to be protecting the exclusivity of an Estate-released
collection. 

But really, upon further thought, perhaps the only issue is one of
the semi-porous boundaries found around musical territory in 
this day of easy and instant audio manipulation. If we want to
curate a collection of material in its found state, and you feel
there is some value in such a collection, then how can we 
preserve that collection qua The Walter Becker Media Project,
without letting personal manipulations or alt versions swamping
or obscuring it?

We think it simply comes down to being circumspect in how
you share your changes -- if you wish to share them at all --
avoiding wherever possible wide and indiscriminate posting 
of your version on open platforms like Youtube or
Facebook, where a simple search on a song title by any newbie 
would increase the number of amazingly similar versions
in the search result.

Recently, one of Walter's fans made noticeable sonic improvements
to one of our releases. We could not object to this, although we
recognized some "dangers" in widespread publicized alterations,
and needed to work out what we could present as our "policy" or
preferences in this matter. This fan was considerate in asking how
we would like to handle it -- and patient as we worked out an answer.
He didn't intend to change the track, just maximize the sonic
experience, and he shared the outcome discreetly i.e., only with those
he knew were likely to be interested.

So that is our "policy" on sonically enhanced or alt versions:
We fully understand that some amount of fan modification/sonic
improvement is to be expected, especially from the admittedly
audiophile audience that Walter accumulated (and appreciated)
throughout his career. So fix it up the way you like it. If you're
convinced a splash of grenadine in the proverbial cocktail
will greatly improve the experience, we won't (and wouldn't) argue. 

Pardon our Blurt

... but "It's a real occasion", and thought you may want
to know right away. 

At long last, after decades of nothing but fuzzy concert footage
and buzzy, echoing sound, we've finally posted
a proper version of 

Our Lawn

...a fantastic unreleased song from the 11 Tracks of Whack era.

Finally, a legendary tune is birthed into the open air.

enjoy!!

It's On!

The Walter Becker Way Street Dedication Ceremony

Weather will cooperate
No rain forecast for event day
Current outlook is Cloudy, High 54F, Winds at 5-10 mph 

WHERE: Corner of 112th Street and 72nd Drive
Forest Hills, NY 11375

WHEN: Sunday, October 28 (12NOON – 1PM)

WHAT: Beckerphiles will gather in the Forest Hills
section of Queens -- the neighborhood where Becker
grew up -- for a fan-organized celebration of the naming of a
street in his honor, as a sign proclaiming "Walter Becker Way" will be
officially unveiled...just across the street from WB's old brick and
mortar home 

Jim Kerr of New York's Classic Rock Q104.3 will serve as Master of
Ceremonies & the station will stream the event on Facebook Live. The
event's keynote speaker will be Becker's childhood friend, screenwriter
Howard A. Rodman. An hour of Becker-centric trivia contests and
giveaways, lightly sprinkled with a few reminiscences.

The event will feature some fantastic prizes and
giveaways from Walter's life. Attendees will also get
a party favor produced especially for them on this occasion, and a
Becker/Klein demo will be premiered. The name of the demo? 
"This Is My Building". Fo Weal.

And a dollar isn't too much to pay, is it, for a
Becker item that sold out almost as soon as it appeared
at the merch tables? Especially if that dollar goes to
The Jazz Foundation to support musicians in need?
So put on your wighat, think 'layers' against the cooler temps,
and hook up with those of your kind to celebrate
Our Man in the Walter Becker Way.

Check walterbeckerway.com for any late-breaking
updates. This website will remain active after Sunday,
housing things like fan and press reports, videos
shown during the hour, and any other post-event
materials as may present themselves. 

Alert: This event has garnered a rather startling
amount of media interest, many representatives of which have
threatened to attend. 

Bring 'em on; 
Becker fellows and fillies know how to represent

Until Next Time ...

Happy Hollandaise Everyone!
(h/t Digby) 

Welcome to your penultimate WB Newsletter of 2018.
It covers 2 new rarities, 1 contest, your standard PSA appeal,
and a review of systems, so to speak. 

In a few weeks, the very last Newsletter of 2018 will
arrive, containing some WB-Net reflections on
the year past and the one ahead. 

And Old Friends may recall our historical fondness for
dropping a little something extra in New Years'
Newsletters. [ sorry - not a track] So keep an eye on the international 
dateline, just before half of us turn back into
bumpk..er, ah, pumpkins.

This Is My Building

This demo is a rare exception for our otherwise vociferously
hi-fi Walter Becker Media site. In fact, it may well be the
worst sounding thing you'll ever hear there. It is a very rough
demo of a song written for Circus Money (2008) by Becker 
and Larry Klein.

It was first released exclusively on a USB Drive given away
during the dedication of "Walter Becker Way" on Oct 28,
across the street from Walter's childhood home in Queens.
Its thematic resonance with the occasion was undeniable. 
We hope you agree that sonic shortcomings aside, it
was worth presenting to mark the occasion -- and is worth
sharing with you all now. 

This Is My Building

Caption Contest

Some people hate holidays, some people love 'em.
But most of us usually enjoy some goofy pictures of WB...
and we can say with authority that most of you enjoy
flexing Witty and Clever for your Becker Brethren and
Sistren. So for your holiday amusement... a Caption Contest! 
We expect New Yorker quality stuff.

This was to be part of the Walter Becker Way festivities,
but there was just not enough time, what with all that
world-class Becker Trivia zooming around like a psychotic
frisbee on speed, and a line at the Circus Money T-Shirt
table that eventually sent a thousand smackers to
The Jazz Foundation

In the present case, we're going to run this contest
off of walterbecker.com, because we don't want to forget 
that this, after all, is Walter's Official flagship website, the
one he started and shaped, to which he contributed some 
great writing and gags, and that will continue as the major
hub of WB 'net activity, come what may. 

And should you find yourself clicking around some of
those older links of his around the holidays (you'll find most
of them off the news page), you might be inspired to raise a
glass to friends and fun and lots of superfine music. 
That's what we're gonna do, anyway.

Now get to that Caption Contest 
and send us some great submissions.  

A New Rarity

Gene
Page
Door
Somebody's
Upside
Deal
Downtown --

These were some of the names you'd find inked on CD
labels and tape canisters during the recording of Circus
Money. Long-standing practice, starting with SD sides. 
Every song — from its music charts to tape on the mixing
board — had some abbreviated name by which it was strictly known.

But hold on — what's this —other names, on other labels;
Unfamiliar names. Songs that didn't make the CD. Ouch!
Building: Mayor: Mouse: Lucky: Lucy: Danger: and more.

Perhaps oddest of all, you spy one called Couchies.

Couchies?

We posted the demo for Couchies way back in April.

When you superimpose a melody on certain tracks, their
character can change rather dramatically, because the
melody isn't particularly resonant with the harmonic or
rhythmic structure of the track itself. We feel this is true
as Couchies became Couchriders In The Sky.
What do you think? 

Enjoy some of our favorite players along with Walter's
scratch vocal of…..

Couchriders in the Sky

See the text posted with this track for more on the
song name, issues of technological manipulation,
and some hard choices we may all be facing in the
months ahead. 

(And as always, thanks to Uber-mensch Larry Klein,
the most bestest colleague and friend our boy could
even dare hope for.)

Do Your Bit for Herstory

We know you'll be on vacation and all…busy with
family and ball games and the traditional satanic rituals,
blah blah blah... but we really hope you continue to post
lots on the discussion boards of Walter Becker Media — 
and, as the young people used to say, just keep on truckin

Because you -- your comments, perceptions, expertise, 
sentiments, sensibilities, oddities, tastes, your tangents
and fever dreams, your humor and hilarities (and for these
last, we are thinking in particular of some world-class belly
laughs that came out of the "Hints" thread of the now-classic 
Night Of The Missing Easter Egg -- all these, from you, are
very much a part of the context, story, and history that we wish
to see and preserve here; one could argue they're equally 
(or uniquely) illuminating of WB's public "voice" and creative
presence as are the tuneful fragments themselves.
... by the company they keep ...

Remember, some hapless high school student may 
someday be assigned a holographic cloud report on this
Walter Becker Way guy….so let's make sure we show her all 
she needs to know to "get" it; not just The Music, but us; who
were these people? what in the world were they thinking?
(or smoking?) Why was this music so for them? Why were they
so out of step, in step, ahead and out of their time and mind... ? 

So let's make it easier for that unwoke future scholar to
grock all that too, and about our special bond
with an "indelibly cool, impossibly droll, triumphantly cryptic,
unimaginably hip" (h/t Howard Rodman) mid-century artist ...
and with one another. 

Current State of the Neckerverse

That's the Walter Becker Net Universe, of course.

Oh, that's terrible.

Beckerverse is nice, but it needs some
"net". or Web. WaltWeb; too pedestrian, too small.
Brainstorming here: three syllables probably scan the best.
Should it go big, as in cosmos? Or tiny, as in the padded
room at Bellevue? I guess we got our next contest ;-}

In any case, let's review:

See the Becker WeB Dynasty Link Index here

Until Next Time ...

New Years Greetings Everyone!

In this issue we offered  a few New Years Nuggets for our faithful
Newsletter subscribers, in addition to our personal reveiw of 2018 in the Walter Becker Webworld Dynasty--- and an early email from WB (1996) expressing his hopes for an online presence and why he wanted to build one.

We closed with a solicitation of your ideas for what you'd like to see
from us in 2019 (below):

------------------------

Back to the Future

X So what's next for us in 2019? Is is there no place to go but Up? 

Y Alternately, as Franz K liked to suggest:
"There is an infinite amount of hope in the universe ... 
but not for us." 
?

X Let's not go there for now. I don't know about you, but I don't
think I could cram another quark of sincere emotion onto these
pages, today. 

Y You're probably right. So we know what to do, right?

X Indeed: we ask our faithful readers to show us the way.

Y Let's open up a thread . Hell, let them do a little work
for their champagne tonight!

X Well, we already have some ideas...

Y Prose. Walter's prose. He always planned to post some..
Not the usual brilliant web gags and Dirt Blogs and the like: but his
honest-to-god short stories, poems, and...

X ...pardon me -- did you say poems? 

Y Well lets skip right over that for now. Back to stories: The
first he had prepared to post was that great story about the litte ancient
lunch-cart in the middle of the busiest city in the world....

X Oh yes, that's a good one. So some WB prose, for sure

Y speaking of writing ... have you noticed that many of our
visitors are pretty great writers themselves? Remember way back
when we talked about soliciting some long-form pieces ...

X ..wherein they could write about...

Y ... anything at all. Or we could play Editor, and suggest some 
"assignments", Like ...

X .... "Life Under the TechnoDawg", or...

Y .. "My Brush with Steely Don and Walt", or...

X..maybe we should leave the topics up to the interested scribes
themselves.

Y. Fan Fiction? 

X Are you Knucking Futz? Getouttahere....

Y Very well. But do you think they'd bite? Or do you think we
have on our hands the dread "shut up and post the tunes" syndrome?
Who asked them if they wanted to sing for their tuneful suppers?

X Half of them are probably tone-deaf anyway. 

Y But that's neither here nor there. We should just ask them

X I guess; they've surprised us before.

Y Speaking (again: still) of writing; how many of them know, do you think,
that their very own First Lieutenant Atticus Matticus has, at this
very moment, a freaking book in the hands of a prospective publisher? 

X Anxiety-alert. May we move on?

Y- Very well. How about more pictures? Home movies? Pics are always good

X - Backstage Stories?

Y Groan...

X They ca...uh, what was that?

Y Never mind. How about one of Walter's favorite indoor sports:
World-class Spite-Work. 

X World-class Spite-Work? Is that a tag-team, or a relay perhaps?

Y Some notebook contents? -- some good stuff there...

X- W's photographic masterpieces?

Y- lists, those great end-of-lyrics-file brainstorming,
the "Songs That Belong"...various other arcana...

X - Do the term "shut up and post the tunes" ring a bell?

Y- Ah the tunes. Yes. Well, there's more of those, of course,

X and then there's the demos, great tunes, and the full file
beautiful kick-ass lyrics to go with. But we have...

Y - none of them put together. What then?

X well this is tricky, now we'd be talking about actually
creating ...

Y - ..stripping together something that Walter never ...
Would we be able to do that? Should we? or is that...

X .. or is that...

Y -another can of worms...?

X - ... a bridge too far...?

Y ...

X ...

X I'm plum out too. No gas in the car. 

Y Running on fumes over here. It might be time to just
open up that thread and see what the tide brings in....

X- Didn't Walter and Larry write some tunes for other artists?

Y- Yes! And some of them still being actively pitched by
the hardest working man in this Business Called Show.

X - well then...

Y. But Larry's a professional. He's a family to feed.
I don't think we could ensnare him into recording songs
they never finished on the basis of t- shirt sales alone...

X ....

Y ...

X ... I have a headache

Y Oy. Me too. Hand me over that Nyquil, will you?

X- I guess we're done. Will you...wait; you plan to toast
the New Year with Nyquil? 

Y For now. Two birds, one bottle...

X I hear ya.

But hey, Matt?

Yeah D?

Happy New Year, my friend

....and to all our friends, here's to many more ...

Until Next Time ...

Meet Lucy D

Well, actually, meet WB meeting Lucy D. Again.

We hear his rap, and it is strong.

We'd help him out if we could but......

we couldn't even tone down his teeth-rattling
snare sound, alas.

"Lucy D" is the type of tune he was spooling out
pretty much right along. For songs like these, he
often composed the melody and lyrics on the fly,
as he free-sang along with his looping "track" (you
can tell from a "flub" that he was lamenting about 
Chelsea D for a while). A song like this could 
fall together with head-spinning speed. 

He never went any further with this tune, leaving
Lucy D to wait in the low-hope holding room along
with a little crowd of other spontaneous one-take
characters: spurned lovers, careless hearts, treacherous 
party-girls, post-apocalyptic wanderers …and the
occasional earnest poet.

Lucy D

Walter's Tale for Valentine's Day...

... was posted under the radar, unheralded 
by a Newsletter. If you missed it, here's the
story about a lunch wagon in an ancient city,
and a pair of intimate strangers. 

This Is It?

We'll be posting some more of Walter's 
stories and prose as we go.

Site Changes

Our web host has recently souped up
their speed; you may see a noticeable
improvement in loading and download times.

But the new feature winner is a search
engine! And not a moment too soon; we've
long go exceeded a threshold in the volume
of words pecked out on these pages 
(we do wish, however, that a greater volume
of those words came from you and not us...)

Anyway, you'll see a search icon at
the top of all Forum pages. Now you can
find that weird post you've always meant
to follow up on. 

Captions Closed

Although we'll leave the pictures up, new
entries for the Caption Contest are closed.
Judging will commence soon!

Underpromise, Overdeliver

That's been one of our instincts, 
and it's worked out pretty well, in the main.

Still, there are times when we can't resist
telling you that some really cool stuff
is in the hopper... if for no other reason that
we're as impatient to see it posted as you are.
But we will serve no wine (whine?) before its
time, so to speak, and want to iron all the wrinkles
before we hang 'em up on the rack. Soon, 
bretheren and sistren, soon.

Thought of the Month

The small man
Builds cages
For everyone
He
Knows.
While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys
    all night long
For the
Beautiful
Rowdy
Prisoners

- Hafez

Until Next Time ...

An Anniversary

Hard Core Beckerphiles know the date:
April 7, 1995.

So that makes it 24 years today since 

Adam Rogers (Guitar)
Fima Ephron (Bass)
Ben Perowsky (Drums)
John Beasley (Keyboards) and
Bob Sheppard (Sax)
joined Walter for the first and only live gig of his "new music" from
the 11 Tracks of Whack era at Slim's in San Francisco.

For roughly 23 of those years, it was presumed that no record
of the evening existed. But The Fates smiled upon us and Lo,
in amongst the stacks and stacks or DATs and cassettes we 
found a great-sounding recording by Dave Russell, engineer
extraordinaire -- still in good condition and sounding great!

To mark the date, we've dropped a cut from
that rainy San Francisco evening on the Downloads Page
only. Eventually we'll post it in the usual manner; this was 
he quickest way for us to share in the middle of our already
overbooked lives...if you can even call them that... .

Speaking of you Newsletter Subscribers, whom we
value and thank with all of our little black hearts, the last 
couple of tracks were posted without Newsletter notice --
just a link flagging new material on our front page.

So you might want to visit now, to make sure you've heard all about
Lucy D, and shuddered at another Becker dispatch from
that Danger Zone of (almost) no return.

Apropos of Nothing (and everything)

Was doing some research earlier -- on 3M machines, it so happens --
that happened to lead me to the classic 
Hall Of Fame thread -- Countdown to Infamy -- on the steelydan.com
archive site. I must have read or sampled this thread dozens of times
since its publication and well knew why it was a classic.

Or so I thought. People I swear that reading through the whole
thing -- opening every entry, following every link -- produced more
chuckles, spit-takes, and belly laughs than I remember having in all the
years since publication put together. You think you remember why it was
so funny, and so good --- but you don't. If you give yourself 30 minutes,
you'll see all you've forgotten. Many of us often bemoan that Becker didn't
write, he was so talented. Well, he did write, and this short story is among
his finest work. 

Today I really needed lifting up, I really needed something to lighten
something that was pinning me down...and I found it. That's why I'm
pestering you all with this personal review; there may be some of you
out there that could use this kind of lift as well.

Carry on.

Until Next Time ...

Don't Let Us Go Down 

Walter's notebooks contain, among many other jewels, his "got some things, 
need some things" lists; song titles in his stable that were worthy, in his mind,
of further work, perhaps ultimately to appear on an album. The list
was always shifting as new titles appeared and old ones dropped away. 

This song was on his list early, and for a long time. I'd never heard it before --
didn't know it existed -- until the notebooks sent me looking for it. It comes
from a different side of Walter as a writer, and is one of a group
of songs -- moving, earnest -- I was surprised to find he had written.
I don't mind telling you I ached a little when I first heard it. Still do a little.

It's got amazing changes.
Not a hint of the smart-ass cynic. 
Hell, it's downright poetic -- dare I say...beautiful, even.

And I think its pretty great. But what do you think?

Don't Let Us Go Down (1991)

Help Wanted - Get The Next One Out

We have a serious bottleneck here at WBM. We've got some
cool tracks ready to go. But the visuals, the movies, the
slideshows... gotta tell you …sometimes, like
now, we just don't have it in us. 

Can you to help out?
Here's a chance for the collaboration(s) we've always hoped
to have with you.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to make a visual
track — video or slideshow — for …drumroll please…..

Girlfriend, with Live Band 
(Rogers, Ephron, Perowsky, Parks, Bease, WB) 

We need it to be:
= an m4v 7:00 in length (we can convert from X to m4v) 
= absent type, with no sound.
= lightweight, simple, quick n' dirty 

Several of you have requested this music and yes, we found it,
and Bob's yer uncle. .. if only we can get a visual done. Use
the thread we've started where the 1 or 2 or (-6) of you who are
interested can quickly decide which one of you will give it a go
(don't worry, if this works out, there'll be plenty of unpaid exploitable
labor jobs to go around). And we'll post a couple of WB pics you can
use if you like.

But please … shake a tail feather. The sooner we get a visual we
can use, the quicker we can post GF w/ Band, *plus* a cool companion 
cut we have in mind! We'll monitor the thread for the lucky (talented,
heroic, wunnerful, generouos, valient) volunteer and get in touch.

Pre-Order Rodman's New One

You remember Howard; Becker's childhood friend and the wonderfully
eloquent and soulful keynote speaker at the Walter Becker Way
dedication? (His keynote address is reprinted here). There's still a
few more days to pre-order Howard Rodman's book The Great Eastern!

Advance praise for this thing is so good it's almost scary.
Just two among dozens of blurbs:

A historical phantasmagoria and ripping adventure.
Like twelve of your favorite movies at once,
in full Sensurround. 
—Jonathan Lethem.

Howard Rodman's powers of invention, connective synthesis,
and grim humor are matched only by his literary ventriloquism
and psychological insight…A ready-made binge-read! 
—Steven Soderbergh.

You can read lots more about it here. But can we tell you a secret
we've learned from our own forays into The Marketplace? 

Quoting Howard himself: Pre-orders are vital. 

They drive book reviews, tell booksellers how much to stock, determine 
whether a book makes best-seller lists (pre-orders are counted as
first-week sales). And of course: a book that lands on the Amazon
Top 100 garners far more attention from readers and the media alike. 

Pre-orders are the single best way of supporting an author, and of helping
a book find its place in the world.

This is the god's honest truth. It was your
preorders that landed Two Against Nature at #6 on its release day! 

So if you think you might read The Great Eastern eventually, you've got
a few days left to pre-order it (release is June 4).
Let's help give Howard's ship a mighty launch! Thanks.

The proprietors would like to say this may be the
only commercial tout to appear on walterbeckermedia.com. Howard
was a great friend to Walter, and Walter would want us to do no less. 

What Did You Miss?

If you regularly browse over to Walter Becker Media, you didn't miss a thing,
since new material is always flagged on the front page.

But if you rely on this Newsletter for notice, you probably missed

Much Has Been Done (1990)
Part Max Headroom, part Laurie Anderson, part just a guy playing with some
new home deck effects -- resulting in a trance loop that earns the introduction 
"And now for something completely different".

And don't forget the two tracks
that were covered lightly a few months ago: 

Danger Zone (1993): It's time to roll them bones.

Cinder Annie Live at Slims (1995): I never call, I never send flowers.

There have also been some great discussion posts on half a dozen
threads. Tip: Keep up with the new b-board action using
My Account > Settings > Forum Notifications. 

New Slideshows (Matt)
Slideshow Index is Here

Back when I first discovered Steely Dan, the full scope of my
knowledge of Walter Becker as a human was captured in two
pictures. The first was the photo of him playing a 1957 Duo Sonic
in the Aja liner notes, and the second was that famous Anton Corbijn
photo from the Amsterdam Hotel in 1976, with Walter long and dark
and lean, hands tucked into his pockets, mysterious and vaguely
menacing as he provides the image's negative space.

A web search for Walter Becker now would leave the curious searcher
with a decidedly different image in mind. The vast majority of images of
Walter on the internet now are concert shots, taken at one of the hundreds
of Steely Dan shows between 1993 and 2017. There is Walter under the
bright stage lights, guitar in hand, and concentration evident on his face. 
One word that I see used often to describe Walter in the "Post Steely Dan
breakup" years is professorial, and it isn't hard to imagine him in elbow
patched tweeds walking across a campus somewhere rather than with
his guitar and black shirt on stage.

In chronicling the history of the man, we've also compiled the visual
history of "this web thing" as it applies to Mr. Becker's presence on
the interwebs. More than just a walk down memory lane, it's a look
at the ways that Walter visualized himself online, and the ways we've
chosen to do so in commemoration.

So I hope you enjoy these slideshows and this slightly lifted veil
as much as I did. Even now, it's so nice to get to know him.

Matt

On The Horizon?

= Can this really be all that we came together for?
= Another Big Becker autumn date? 
= Do Signets mate for life?
= Are all our chump-change sins forgiven?
= Did you get a good price for my guitar?
= Is there a remedy here worth digging for?
and
= Want in on a good deal later on? Subscribe! 

Until Next Time....

He Wants You (Out)  (1997)

Another one of Becker's infamous "Love Songs". Anyone woman at
all familiar with his Whack work and demos would think long and
hard before sweetly trilling "write me a love song, dahling!" -- knowing
she was as likely to get one of these than an Almost Gothic or a 
Paging Audrey. That musical bouquet of his was always as likely to conceal
a shiv than sweet-nothings.

This tune was one of three demos Walter sent me on a DAT in late 1997 
(ever-thoughtful, he bundled it with a portable "Walkman"-type DAT player.
Sort of like Voyager. I was impressed). I asked him: "so these are rejects
from Whack?" to which he replied nah,  just a few things he'd been working
on lately. By this time he was  deep into writing for Two Against Nature with
Fagen, so it took me a couple of beats to realize that after his Whack work,
he and his Opcode had apparently just kept on trucking along. 

He must have liked this one, must have been keeping it on his "potentially
active" list, since he was still occasionally listening to it few years later... 

...as he was one afternoon in late '99 while displaying his ASCAP award for
"Rap Song of the Year". Go to our post on walterbeckermedia (scroll down
to the second video on the page) for proof of this amusing cooccurrence.  

PS: His vocals on these three '97 demos were uncommonly lackluster,
to put it kindly.  One of them, in fact -- a tune called The Love You Ax -- 
will remain forever sealed, falling into the rare category of the demo vocal 
he would never allow out of the box. It's a nice tune though; perhaps one day
'll post an instrumental of its solo and outro, for a sense of its feel. I just have 
to guess first  if that would make more of you pissed or pleased.
 

Walter Becker: SD's Spirit Animal?  

A mere two days after Walter’s passing, writer Dennis Cook, publishing in
the music site Dirty Impound, bid Goodbye to Steely Dan's Spirit Animal. Most
people missed this one at the time. If you're one, go read it now;  Deeply and
fiercely cherished, Walter is, he says. Thank you Mr. Cook; he was, and is. 
 

Big Announcement Coming Next Week

Well, big to us, anyway. Watch for it.

Why You Should Keep Your Subscription Current 

On an UNrelated but also significant  matter, we will be hectoring everyone
all summer to keep their WB subscription in good order, which means:

• if you were going to unsubscribe, you might want to wait....a little bit .
• Make sure you're still getting the newsletter at a current email you
  have access to (can email from). Sign up again if you've lost email access.
• Tell anyone you care about, or forward your Newsletter, to sign up for
  their own subscription at the   Walter Becker Newsletter Page

You will  thank us. You will thank yourself. They will thank you. Everybody
will be thanking everybody  else-- it'll be a regular thank-tank in here. 

Mark our words.....A valid individual subscription attached to a valid email
that you have access to will become a sort of ...ticket, you might say, to
something you just may want very much to get in on.

Until Next Time ...

Announcing: Property from the Estate of Walter Becker
October 18 and 19, 2019 | Beverly Hills, CA @ Julien's Auctions

Known for his sublime and immediately identifiable guitar tone, his
intimate knowledge of the tools of studio and stage, and his unique,
impeccable ear, Becker is heralded as one of the most potent forces
in popular music of the last 50 years.

“Julien’s Auctions is thrilled to offer this exceptional collection of musical
instruments and gear owned and cherished by Walter Becker, the co-founder
and creative genius of one of the most acclaimed and visionary bands of all time,
Steely Dan, and a solo artist of uncommon uniqueness and creativity,”
said Darren Julien, CEO/President of Julien’s Auctions 

"Walter Becker was legendary for his unique tone, his curiosity, his knowledge, his high audiophile standards, and the pleasure he took in experimenting to create
just the right sonic landscape that would best support his creative and musical
intentions. This fine and wide-ranging collection reflects all of these characteristics
—  and more — that helped make Walter Becker one of the most talented and
respected all-around musicians and sonic connoisseurs of his generation."

But More, Much More Than This ...
I Did It Myyyy Waaaay (W. Becker, in a letter)

Yes, my dear kiddles, it was bound to happen. And so “it” has, at last.

If this event interests you, your first visit should be to Julien’s Auctions , 
my carefully-considered choice to handle Walter’s much beloved babies
and to usher them into what we all earnestly hope are new loving and 
musical homes. Do your old D-Mod a solid — would you? —  and send
up a little wish for just that outcome

That’s what Walter wanted, of course. And I like to think his legacy
deserves no less.

The Julien’s Auctions folks have been truly spectacular, and I’ve been
 blown away by their knowledge, the care they are taking with this
inventory, and what appears to me to be a truly above-and-beyond
effort to do this one up right! They value Walter Becker, his work, and
his legacy ... in addition to his stuff! Wonderful! 

And their hard-cover catalog, let me tell you, just might be the definitive
historical record of a rather extraordinary collection. 

Their site dedicated to The Becker Auction will be updating with details

and news -- such as today's Rolling Stone piece on the auction -- and all you
need to know to view the live auction online or even bid remotely,
 if you're so moved. 

I strongly urge you to sign up for their newsletters and alerts! 
No way will we  keep up with all the happenings and must-knows;  
So, please sign up with them if you're interested in following along.

Your second visit, however, should be to our splash page at 
walterbeckermedia, then onward to my post about the auction for --
a surprise to no one --  a few personal observations.

And of course since that’s a post on wbmedia, response and discussion
will be open to all of you---and  much hoped-for and welcome to boot. 

So don't be a stranger.

(... oh and hey, you know, I just today heard someone mention a modest
Beckerfest might descend on Beverly Hills in October;  Julien's will have
a Public  Exibition  of some of  Walter's gear the week preceding the auction.
Plus, our favorite west-coast hang, nearby Santa MONKina, is beautiful
that time of year. Just sayin'...).

Over and out for now. 

Why You Should Keep Your Newsletter Subscription Current 

On an UNrelated but also significant  matter, we will be hectoring
everyone all summer to keep their WB subscription in good order,
which means:

• if you were going to unsubscribe, you might want to wait....a little bit .
• Make sure you're still getting the newsletter at a current
  email you have access to (can email from). Sign up again if you've
  lost email access.
• Tell anyone you care about, or to whom you forward  your Newsletter,
  to sign up for their own subscription at the   Walter Becker Newsletter Page

You will  thank us. You will thank yourself. They will thank you. Everybody
will be thanking everybody  else-- it'll be a regular thank-tank in here.

Mark our words.....A valid individual subscription attached to a valid email
that you have access to will become a sort of ...ticket, you might say, to
something you just may want very much to get in on.

Walter Becker Online Auction Preview 
Online previews are now up for Property from the Estate of
Walter Becker Auction,
October 18 and 19, 2019 | Beverly Hills, CA @ Julien's Auctions

All auction items are now online and open for pre-auction bidding

The printed catalog is also online in flip-book format

Julien's Summary Post with links to all relevant pages

Contact Julien's Auctions:
http://www.juliensauctions.com/contact-us

Walter Becker Online Auction Preview 
 
Thanks to the help and hard work of a lot of people and the very impressive Julien’s production team, Walter Becker's collection of instruments, amps, and recording gear is now ready for its close-up. 

And quite a close-up it is; the flip-through version of the printed catalog is especially nifty, and includes thumbnail formats, zooms, print, download, and annotation features. It's probably the best way to take in the collection in browse-friendly style.

If you're interested in the bidding format, on the other hand, head over to the pre-auction bidding list. Julien's has also put their Newsletter online, containing every auction-relevant link  along with a couple of dozen Spotlight items and other helpful information -- including links to their app -- all in one convenient location.  

We'll have more to say about the collection in the coming weeks, along with some ideas I have for those of you who would really like to shelter a genuine piece of Walter's collection but don't have collectors' money to splash around. The place for these ideas -- and experienced bidders will hopefully contribute their own -- will be over at the Walter Becker Media Site, in the discussion thread dedicated to the auction.

Bidding Information

Julien's summary of all auction-related links will tell you all you need to know about following the action online when October 18 comes around. 

But if you think you may be interested in bidding, here are a few pointers. And if your only online auction experience is with eBay, you'll definitely want to pay special attention and plan ahead. 

Terms and Conditions: Mandatory Reading 

Everything you will need to know before, during, and after the auction is described and defined in Julien's Terms and Conditions. They can be found:

1) In PDF and downloadable format here (with Registration Form)

2) At the end (pg 589) of the flip-through online catalog

3) With the download Bidder Registration Form 

Four Ways to Bid 

There are four ways to bid in this sale during the auction dates and times on Oct 18 and Oct 19. (For a detailed description of these methods see Terms And Conditions.)

1) Bid through Julien's Auctions Online Live in Real Time at JuliensLive.com

2) Bid over the telephone through an auction house representative

3) Submit a bid in person

4) Enter Absentee bids. Absentee bid forms are printed in the back of each catalog, at the bottom of Page 1 of the Bidder Registration Form, and are also available by calling Julien's Auctions or online at www. juliensauctions.com

In addition, bids can be entered during the pre-auction stage which is going on now, up until the live auction date of Oct 18. Registration at JuliensLive.com is required. 

First-time bidders: See Registration: Section 2b of Terms and Conditions for the required approval procedure 

In Person, Phone, and Absentee Bids: Download and Submit the Bidder Registration Form

Online: Register to bid online at JuliensLive.com 
 

Know the Full Cost of Your Bid  

Carefully review Winning Bids: Section 4 of the Terms and Conditions for information on the Buyers Premiums, Service Fees, and taxes that are added to your winning bid amount (The "Hammer Price") for the total cost of your winning bid. Section 4e, Lot Retrieval, also describes Pick-up and Shipping terms and conditions

Plan Ahead  

All first-time bidders should  review Registration: Section 2b of Terms and Conditions -- and complete that procedure well in advance of the auction date. See the Bidder Registration Form  for items relevant to In-Person Bidding,  Phone Bidding, and Absentee Bids, and register for Online Bidding at JuliensLive.com.  If you plan on bidding online, I strongly recommend  you take into account the vagaries of internet connections; you should be very confident in the speed and regularity of your internet connection when logging a bid "in time" is a matter of seconds.  Visit the thread dedicated to the auction at the Walter Becker Media Site, where I hope we can start a discussion on various bidding strategies and options. 

Before during and after, Julien's is available for all your questions. They will help you register for your preferred bidding method if you need a hand, get you set up with live-auction phone support if desired,  and generally make sure that bidders and observers know and get what they need. Also note that Julien's will provide Condition Reports -- Section 7d of Terms and Conditions -- for any auction item upon request; from the Bidding List format, select the photo or title of an item and then click the Request Condition Report link at the Description section. 

By phone or email, they are ready to help.
Contact Julien's Auctions

Auction Exhibition Week (Auction Preview!) in Beverly Hills

From Monday October 14 to Friday October 18 there will be a Public Exhibition of auction items, free to the public, 11am - 6pm. I learned with some excitement last week from Darren Julien, President and CEO, that "the majority of the auction will be on display" and that Julien's personnel will be present to answer questions and to supervise requests for visitor tests. In other words, this week will be a true blue, full-blown Auction Preview, where you can inspect the items before auction. This Exhibition, and the live auction itself, will take place at 257 N. Canyon Drive in Beverly Hills. 
 What Clip Did You Miss?     

If you regularly browse over to Walter Becker Media, you didn't miss a thing, since new material is always flagged on the front page. But if you rely on this Newsletter for notice, you probably missed:

Book of Liars: Surprise Piano Version: This extremely early rundown of Book of Liars by The 11TOW band is interesting on several counts, not the least of which is the peek it affords  into the studio process. The recorded version on 11TOW has long inspired speculation a’plenty about that rather unique keyboard solo. Here, on one of the earliest rundowns, we hear what might be its etiology -- and learn the die on this solo was cast early on. 

Hey 19 Raps Goes Dark   

Some of you have asked why the website indexing Walter’s Hey 19 Raps has gone offline. Here's all I know: A take-down demand came from Donald Fagen’s lawyers, identifying audio and/or video of Walter’s raps as unauthorized and demanding their immediate and permanent removal. 

Almost two years ago,  I wished aloud that such a collection existed and, when Matt Kerns created one as a labor of love — with generous help from many of you — I gratefully promoted and linked to it. Since that was the extent of my involvement with the site,  details will have to come directly from Matt Kerns, who is solely responsible for the site’s construction and maintenance  (Jim McKay’s only involvement was limited to having donated webspace to Matt for that purpose). 

At this time I have nothing to say publicly about this action, except to observe its obvious effect: A large chunk of Walter Becker has been disappeared from online, apparently forever. Of course I am disturbed by the implications of this fact.  

RIP John "JR" Robbins

Sad news. 

John “JR Robbins has passed away. JR was the Front of House sound engineer for many Steely Dan tours.  He worked for a very wide variety of artists and in all types of venues. He was great at his job and was well-liked by all. Those are the known facts. Less known was how he almost single-handedly salvaged a Steely Dan touring season thanks to his kindness and professionalism.  I was lucky to have watched him work during countless SD shows from my perch at the soundboard. JR was also very funny. He passed at an obscenely young age. Sympathies to his family and loved ones.

You Should Keep Your Newsletter Subscription Current 

• If you were going to unsubscribe, you might want to wait....a little bit..
• Make sure you're still getting the newsletter at a current email you have access to (can email from). Sign up again if you've lost email access.
• Tell anyone you care about, or to whom you forward  your Newsletter, to sign up for their own subscription at the   Walter Becker Newsletter Page

You will  thank us. You will thank yourself. They will thank you. The air will be thick with thanks. 

Why all the fuss? Because a valid individual subscription attached to a valid email that you have access to will become a sort of ...ticket, you might say, to something you may want to get in on.

Until Next Time ...

Subject: Becker Online Auction II: Another Whack, Anyone?

The Becker Online-Only Auction is Live!

Lots begin closing at 11a.m. PST on Dec. 9th, 2019 
Go to the Online-Only Auction Now

Complete Auction Information
 

Go to the Online-Only Auction Now

Want To Take Another Whack?

"Damn it, Becker...
I wish I knew how to quit you!"

This is a Julien's Online-Only Auction of items for which there wasn't room or time to include in the October Live Auction.

It's a bite-size collection with some fine guitars, well-loved amps, sweet microphones, recording and stereo components...and more. It will offer a different auction experience as well, more like eBay -- with Lot bidding ending according to the clock, not the hammer.  Bound to be less frenetic. 

Effects Boxes 

Once again there's an impressive number of effects pedals and boxes on offer. We had been told there was a demand for these and the October auction certainly bore that out. If they didn't tend toward the pricey side, the graphics fan in me would arrange and display pedal-boards just for their aesthetic...and apparently I'm not alone in my non-functional appreciation;  the ever-perspicacious  William Gibson, upon seeing the Becker Catalog, characterized the Effects Box collection as an "Otaku deep-dive!". Indeed. 

"Table-Top" Components

As with the cataloged items of October's Live Auction, use-notes are included for many items here as well. But  looking at the collection now, I see that our comments under-document Walter's use of many Lots (speaker cabinets that come in a road case labeled Japan, for instance, at the very least traveled with the tour gear). 

But the real "intimacy" of this collection is that the recording and audio components didn't come from a storage locker, or even from the back of any closet. Instead, until recently the recording gear was hooked up as part of Walter's home studio -- either relocated from Hyperbolic Sound or acquired for the home location --  and the stereo components were part of a system that was set-up and in use somewhere on a Becker property  (with plenty of backup and swap-in speakers, of course!).

So go to the Online-Only Auction catalog and take a look, already...

A Few Procedural Notes

= Each auction requires its own Registration. So even if you registered for the October auction, you have to register for this one if you want to bid in it. Full information and forms are here 

= Make sure to review the supplemental Terms and Conditions for this Auction, which is under the Terms and Conditions tab in the solo view of each item.

Complete Auction Information

Go to the Online-Only Auction Now

Raison D'être

We haven’t forgotten why we exist. “New” Becker music is on the way.

Until Next Time ...

Reminder To Bid! The Becker Online Auction
Closes This  Monday, December 9th starting at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time.

KOUNTDOWN KLOCK

Official Walter Becker Website:  walterbecker.com
Rarities, Discussion, and Downloads:  walterbeckermedia.com
Complete WeB Directory:   walter becker webworld dynasty

WAR baby..HUH--good god y'all-- what is it GOOD for?

War Baby (c. 1994)

Always liked this one. The DAT(s) presented a few sonic challenges -- so what else is new? --  main among them the very wide volume range Walter uses here.  But that makes sense, given the lyrics, which are almost delivered with the dynamics of natural speech. And we can tell he's singing close to the mic -- close, where one might also be for any real-life version of this "talk". 

It all suggests to me that he was feeling it, that the song wasn't just an inventive tale conjured by a great storyteller.   But who knows? I sure don't, 'cause happily, he didn't have this conversation with me :-)

But oh, I do love hearing the broad richness of his voice again.

So sure, a few artifacts… but we think it sounds respectable enough, and you get to hear another sweet "throwaway" tune from our talented and much-missed boy.

And hey --- I think that bass line -- seemingy spooling out more complex versions of the changes on keys-- is worth the price of admission alone.

War Baby 
W. Becker, c 1994. 
 

Apology: Sorry we've been so preoccupied with all the auction action, but now with all that almost behind us (final bidding begins and ends this Monday!),  we hope to turn out more tunes, as our sanity and stamina allow. Thanks to all for your patience during our season of high and fast commerce, roller-coaster style. (I only threw up twice! Matt got Nystagmus.)

... And about those auctions  

From Julien's (and us): 

Reminder To Bid: "Property From the Estate of Walter Becker Online Only Auction"
Closes Monday, December 9th starting at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time.

COUNTDOWN CLOCK

Here are the Becker Auction offerings, along with the current bids. 

You can keep up with Julien's Auctions on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Shhhhhh....You know...this may be unwise or illegal or something, or of questionable morality (well, we already knew about that one). But people got some amazing steals in October -- and I was happy about  that! Happy that dealers were not obcenely jacking up prices beyond the reach of many fans. But I could tell that some items had not been researched very much if at all. This made me worry that some humble fan out there --- maybe even one of you!---was missing out on an exact something they wanted... but just didn't know it for lack of information or research. 

So now here, at the very end, I want to at least do two (hyypothetical) Subscribers a soild, and share some information they may find worthwhile. I'm thinking about the Subscribers out there who are in the market for some quality (and compact) speakers...but who may not have researched all the speakers in the auction, the large number of which does make things pretty confusing, I agree! So here's my dime drop:  Devore Fidelity speakers are da bomb, and the multiple informative reviews on their site say exactly what I (and WB) would say about them. We've owned and admired every critter in their Primate series.  In fact, I've kept back 2 pair of  the Gibbon 3XLs  for myself.

Lookit,  I'm not giving away any privileged information here.  And I promise I'm not trying to sqeeze a couple hundred bucks more from somebody! (besides, proceeds go to the kids' Trusts anyway). And I certainly don't want anybody to pay more than current retail..(3.5K?!). I still want you to get a deal! But I can't help but picture a couple of our Subscribers who might  miss out on a wanted good thing for a random bad reason. That would be a  shame.

To my Julien family: Can you please forgive me? Either for writing this tout---or maybe for not writing one  for more items? lol ? In any case and as always,  I am at your mercy

.. And about those auctions ... and YOU

We may have more to say about the whole auction experience later on. But frankly, there's been so many great postings on Walter Becker Media, so many fantastic and generous stories, that you're really saying it all, and then some.  

Take for instance the "Calling All Auction Survivors" thread, only one of several auction-related threads (there's a search box at the top right of every page, if you want to find the others) where folks tell tales of the wins, the misses, great edge-of-your-seat  stories of wins and loss and wins again, surprise or unintentional top bids, errant button-pressing and internet Golums...   It's really a great thread -- which I hope continues to grow -- because it is convincing me that my highest hopes for these instruments have not been misplaced.

Then, the even-mostest-bestest part: when the instrument arrives, folks tell us all about it. They take pictures. They post audio. They share the experience.  I've been delighted and proud to hear many posters comment on a great tone, or an interesting modification, or a good disposition, or different personalities on different pickups... it seems many of you are finding that even the  humble no-name can feel great, and may well have been modified... or at least set up carefully and well.

This is no accident.  If Walter bought a guitar -- that is, if he selected it from somewhere after playing everything else in the place for hours-- you can bet he saw and heard something in it. Almost immediately, he and his current tech would bring the new acquisition into the workroom and think about what improvements may be needed, or what modification(s) Walter thought he would like to try next. 

It wasn't paid for and then shelved. It was paid for and then fussed over, at least for a while.

...and as for his amps.......oy, don't get me started. In many ways, they were his true pride and joy. 

So one could say my loss is your gain; all the hours he was playing around with his sound toys downtown, while I languished uptown consoling myself with mounds of pasta,  he was in fact training up a very large and fit army of magnificent musical soldiers. 

And now I couldn't be any happier about that!
 

Why You Should Keep Your Subscription Current 

Here it is again, we are hectoring everyone
to keep their WB subscription in good order at least into 2020, which means:

• if you were going to unsubscribe, you might want to wait....a little bit .
• Make sure you're still getting the newsletter at a current email you
  have access to (can email from). Sign up again if you've lost email access.
• Tell anyone you care about, or forward your Newsletter, to sign up for
  their own subscription at the   Walter Becker Newsletter Page

in other words, make sure you have a valid individual subscription attached to a valid email that you have access to, and can email from.

Apropos of nothing in particular,
a little elf told us a holiday season is just around the corner 

Until Next Time ...

Special New Year's Bonus For Subscribers

Happy Hollandaise Everyone! 
(h/t Digby) 

...and a Happy 2020(!) to all our loyal Walter Becker Newsletter Subscribers! 

Around this time of year, we like to send you a token of appreciation for your continued interest in the life and work of one Walter C.  Becker. Your connection to and shared enjoyment of WB's work has never been more important in keeping that work, and his legacy, alive.

For otherwise it's been a year of erasures:The Auction disbursed The Becker Collection far and wide, and we watched it's dissolution in person or online; DF interpreted his new solo rights to extend retroactively, declaring  performances of the other half of SD as "unauthorized"(!), instantly dissappearing a significant chunk of the Pure Becker from the internet;  These are WB work performances, as close to a "solo turn" as anything on an SD stage could possibly be. And the performer, as a co-equal half of SD, approved them for online (as long as it was just his/raps over a repeating vamp, and not performance of the song by the band) Moving on to oher 'losses', studio spaces have been dismantled and emptied out, new locks on the doors and new tenants in the space; and get this: some online databases have removed all the SD albums from Walter Becker’s discography… 

... and so Walter’s footprint in the world continues to shrink... 

If that shrinking is avoid or slowed, if Walter's work and memory persists across time, it will be because of you. Plain and simple.  Ain't nobody else working to preserve his memory or legacy (or even his presence) but you. We are very grateful.

So we're excited about what we have been able to pull together for you this year!  The bonus is an exclusive  2.5-day sneak-listen to a special audio track, never heard publicly, and being the first to learn of an  exciting related addition to the WB historical record.

=Instructions for how to hear sneak-listen plays went here=

What Are We Listening To? 

Have you ever looked at the credits of 11 Tracks of Whack -- the Recorded at line? it reads  "Hyperbolic Sound USA, and Signet Sound, Los Angeles CA.” 

Hyperbolic, we know. It’s Walter's studio in Maui, where he cut the tracks with the Lost Tribe-based group… resulting in all the rehearsals and rundowns that we’ve heard so far — and virtually all the live playing on the album. 

So what about this Signet Sound? What's that all about?

If you begin to wonder if the place even really exists, I can tell you that Walter did in fact do some recording at Signet Sound in LA,  but none of it was heard on 11 Tracks of Whack.  In fact, the very first tracking sessions —  no overdubs, unfinished —  for 11TOW were recorded in LA, at Signet Sound, during the spring of 1992. And I can tell you that not a note of this LA work appeared on the record, and that nothing from those sessions was ever heard by the public... until today. By you, exclusively, until we post it widely on site. 

We trust you will find this knowledge an intriguing and perhaps illuminating (or confusing!) piece of the puzzle that is 11TOW.  At the very least, it will broaden our understanding of some of the choices Walter made, now knowing that he started with a very traditional audio process, but abandoned that approach relatively quickly in favor of the primitive and “elementary” sound of the final product. 

Like many of us have known all along, Walter made choices.

There’s much more to say about this and about other aspects of our multi-tracks discovery, and we suspect that the discussion on WB Media will be interesting and rich. In the meantime please join us in having your heads blown by WB in LA 

Love In The Fourth (AKA Lies I Can Believe)

Signet Sessions 

Carry on. 

Until Next Time ...

Official Walter Becker Website: walterbecker.com
Rarities, Discussion, and Downloads:  walterbeckermedia.com
Complete WeB Directory:   walter becker webworld dynasty

Matt Writes ....

Well, that year went a lot like a Steely Dan lyric.

2020. It was a year.  A pandemic, calls for social justice, a contentious election, an economic crisis...and none of them contained in just 2020, each threatening to spill over the border of 2021.  That’s right, you heard it here first. The first part of 2021 is going to feel an awful lot like the last part of 2020.  Except it will feel that way with a new (to you) Walter Becker track.

At this point, through the machinations and under the auspices of the Walter Becker Media, we’ve made thirty-four rare, unreleased, or demo tracks available for your listening pleasure.  We’ve trusted you to accept these songs as what they are: examples of Walter Becker the composer, arranger, musician, and lyricist at work, but not necessarily—and in some cases not at all—indicative of what the final product might have been, had Walter chosen to pursue these germinal ideas to a satisfying conclusion.

And it hasn't been just music.  Some of Walter’s prose, like This Is It?,  the Lost Whack Liner Notes, the poem Firefly Time, and the quarantine-ready  In The Hills of Hilburn, have been made available for like-minded Beckerites to peruse and ponder.  And numerous posts within discussion threads also include bits of Beckeralia writings, quotes, and reprints. 

The hope is that with each thing we send out into the world, the public understanding of Walter’s prodigious talents becomes a little bit broader and a little bit clearer...a little bit harder to ignore.

So the last track of 2020, or the first track of 2021, depending on when you’re receiving it, is

Golden City

I pulled my house down and made my invocation 
To the clapped-out pleasures of a dying world
A whole new fresh for ’94 situation
A brand new city and a brand new girl 

Then I went down to the Union Station
Where I stood there crying in the lonely queue
That’s when I knew my true destination
That’s when I come all over again in love with you

Poor little match-girl heart I thought I felt you beating
Against the crossed rhythms of your chorus line 
I’m not hard of hearing there’s no need in repeating
I guess I already heard you now the second time

Spell out your demands on tattered funny pages
Hung out like proud banners in the cobalt sky
Strung out like a ribbon through the bars and the cages 
We’ll read them all weeping in the salty by and by

Yeah
Kingdom come
Seven come eleven

Yeah
Kingdom come
Seven come eleven

So I quit the pale precincts of your endless evening
Of your long-suffering New Jerusalem
You won’t do me with any easy loaves and fishes
But hey that starlet rising, now that’s a nifty one

Last night I walked down to the near side of the river 
There was a golden city shining in the sun
Where we all laughed and loved all our chump change sins forgiven
But you know me I’ll believe it when that day is come 

To me that last stanza really captures my feelings looking into 2021.  I’d love to believe we’re heading into the bright golden city of the future, a brand new situation and a brand new lease on life.  I’d love to believe that we’ll find peace in a new vaccine or a new political reality or a new tune.  But you know me, I’ll believe it when that day is come.

In the meantime, I’m glad to have some prescient music to fill the silence.  Welcome 2021.

-- Matt

Ketchup 

What he said. 

Also: if you visit Walter Becker Media regularly, you'll catch the new cuts as they go up, and stay abreast of the ongoing discussions of posts old and new. 

But if your browser's been stuck on the CDC website since March -- or you are following the HalC/Belcher Program© -- you might want to visit WBM again, scroll to each of the major posting categories, sort by "Newest", and become aquainted with, among other things, Blues in the Key of Bark, meet one girl in Pelham Park and another with a red guitar, hear an early Whack Track with real drums, and read lots of real good community action on Everything Else and elsewhere. 

Lots of stuff. Too much, we sometimes think, to be well served by our current catch-all topic headings. So the to-do list for '21 includes a reorganization of site material into what we hope will be more useful categories and user-friendly navigation. Some of the more ambitious items on said list promise to greatly expand the scope  of WBM content.  

We figure it this way: someday, some poor bastard will write a proper dissertation on the creative output of a  certain writer singer player and speaker we know: deconstruct his metaphors; excavate his obsessions; analyze his motifs, liet or otherwise. When she does, we want Walter Becker Media — perhaps then accessed only via the wayback machine — to serve as a central reference. To the extent that we will have extra engery to expend in '21, we aspire to expend it towards realizing that notion.  

January 1, mid-aughts: Chesterman Beach, Vancouver Island


Hau'oli makahiki hou walter, wherever you are

Da Kind

Be kind. To others...
...and to yourself: Put this on a loop!

--  Those dead leaves piled up out by the mailbox
Stacked up against the first decent blow
You wonder what would it feel like
To just dive in and let go --  

W. BECKER (OUR LAWN)

Until Next Time...

Official Walter Becker Website:  walterbecker.com
Rarities, Discussion, and Downloads:  walterbeckermedia.com
Complete WeB Directory:   walter becker webworld dynasty

In This [Matt-Authored] Issue

     = This Moody Bastard at Slims
     = New posts you may have missed
     = Matt Kerns' Book Release! 
      

This Moody Bastard Remembers 
 

He remembers that in the depths of the pandemic/lockdown/toilet paper shortage of 2020, we did nothing to mark the 25th anniversary of Walter's lone solo show at Slim's in San Francisco on April 7, 1995.

Unfortunately, Slim's closed its doors on March 18 of 2020, another victim of the aforementioned plague and the plethora of problems it produced. We cowered and quaked in our respective hidey-holes, and while its not quite in the long ago and far away, it does appear that with the help of some hand sanitizer, billions of masks, and the height of medical efficacy by the brothers Johnson, Pfizer, Moderna, etcetera etcetera, we're able to at least glimpse the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. 

We might have missed the 25th anniversary of THE event, but we can get together (virtually) and belatedly celebrate the 26th. We've already given you Three Sisters Shakin' and Cinder Annie, two tracks from that night that weren't on 11 Tracks of Whack in its final form. So we thought we'd give you a more familiar track, specifically requested on the walterbeckermedia.com forum, in This Moody Bastard. If you're thinking to yourself, —man, I wish it had been Down in the Bottom, or Girl Next Door to the Methadone Clinic, or Tennessee Jazz Odyssey, or, or —well all I can say is get on the forum and join in the conversation. Someone who did is getting to hear the track they most wanted. That could be you.

This Moody Bastard has been oft interpreted, with answers posed for questions like "Who is the moody bastard? Who is the little friend? When were the salad days? Where were the ivy walls"? I've believed at least three completely different internal explanations for this song, which might be why I've always found it so damn compelling. Most of the times I've listened to it, I was the moody bastard who once in a blue moon really needs a friend. But sometimes, I was reaching out to one of the many moody bastards in my own life, reminding them that I was some kinda friend now and again, and that I was still there if they needed me once in a great while. Honestly, there's a lot of mileage in this one, and I'm glad we all get to hear Walter sing it live. I'm struck again by how close this version is vocally to the recording on 11ToW...for whatever technical limitations Walter may have had as a vocalist, his phrasing, timing, and tone are consistent and consistently great.

So give this a listen. Somewhere a couple of minutes in, I hope you’ll be smiling. In fact ...

This Moody Bastard: Live at Slims

[Ed Note: The earliest lyric sheet for this song is really interesting; it's a rather different narrative, and either illuminates some of our questions about the song's "meaning"...or is simply an early take of a song that would have told a different story but never got finished. We may post it  down the road: watch this thread. - D-Mod ] 

You May Have Missed...

Since our last newsletter, we've posted a few goodies you might have missed

= One in the AM
A great tune from the 11 Tracks era, available only here
 

= The Walter Becker Fake Book
where we dissect, discuss, and try to come to terms with just what is going on in these songs, in terms of chord changes. Submissions, please! 

==========

and now for something completely different... 

Matt Kerns' Book Release 

It's the Shameless Self-Promotion hour on the Walter Becker Network, and I (Matt) would like to take a moment and encourage you to buy my book:

[Ed Note: Keep an eye on this thread on walterbeckermedia.com for word on upcoming book-related news and events --- which may even include a contest or two for those of you smart enough to give this book a look. - D-Mod]  

One of the reasons it's been a little quiet around here for the last little bit is that I've been busy getting ready for the May 1st release of my first book, a tome entitled Texas Jack: America's First Cowboy Star. 

Some of you might remember from some of my writings about Walter and my love for his music that I was first exposed to Steely Dan on many trips my family took "out West" in the springs and summers of my youth. So in a weird way, the sound that immediately takes me to the long drive from Moab, Utah up into the Manti-La Sal National Forest and to Warner Lake Campground is Aja on cassette. Medicine Wheel in Wyoming sounds like Black Friday.

Well, in much the same way that Steely Dan was a ubiquitous part of my childhood that loomed ever larger as I became an adult, the West has never really left this southern boy alone. At some point, I started researching the history of the reality behind the Wild West myth, and came upon an interesting anecdote: in 1874 many Americans in the eastern part of the United States could go down to their local theatre, pay a quarter, and see live on stage three giants of the American West in reality and legend: Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild Bill Hickok, and Texas Jack Omohundro. Now, if you're like most people you're well aware of Wild Bill, the deadliest gunslinger of them all and arguably the most famous lawman in American history. You likely remember Buffalo Bill as well, the famous scout and buffalo hunter turned showman, and the driving force behind our mythologized version of the west in literature, art, and film. 

So if this Texas Jack guy was worth equal billing with those luminaries, why had I never heard of him? I set myself to answering that question. The short answer is that Texas Jack was the first cowboy in American history to achieve notoriety, standing at the foundation of all of our cowboy tropes. The long answer took me three or four years to put into words and takes about 368 pages to get right. 

To tie it back in and make it (loosely) relevant, without Texas Jack Omohundro Steely Dan would have never sung about  "a natural man / wearing a white Stetson hat."

Anyway, I'm incredibly proud of the book and hope that those of you with a passing interest in pop culture, cowboys, westerns, American history, or supporting me as a writer give it a shot and pick it up. 

Texas Jack: America's First Cowboy Star is available in both hardcover and e-reader formats at most of the usual suspects where book buying is concerned.  For those of you without a local independent bookstore, check:

Buy From Amazon

or

Buy From Barnes & Noble

If you'd rather find a copy of Texas Jack locally, the first edition hardcover can be purchased, while supporting your favorite local bookstore, from:

Buy From Bookshop.org

While awaiting the book's release, I decided to put a picture that my wife took of me proudly holding my first copy of my first book on Reddit. Due to the wild machinations of fate, the post somehow took off, with 54K+ upvotes and more than a thousand comments. That lead a whole slew of people to my site (www.dimelibrary.com), and according to what I can gather from the web, to purchasing the book.  Given some time and the just right circumstances...

A quick glance through the comments shows a lot of support from the larger Steely Dan community, which really means a lot to me. Thanks guys!

If you need a little more convincing before you give the book a shot, check out author Julia Bricklin's review, which reads in part:

This groundbreaking work by Matthew Kerns brings to light a lesser-known but vitally important figure in any history of American pop culture...Kerns meticulously reconstructs the fascinating -- if sadly shortened -- life of Texas Jack Omohundro. What emerges is the story of the man who actually was the driving force behind Buffalo Bill's decision to go into show business, and perhaps was too authentic to shine as brightly as Cody through the ages. Until now.

      Until Next Time....