He is here tonight. Mr. Magnificent one is here.

At the risk of letting this space devolve into either a YouTube repository or a Steely Dan news site, I just have to pass along this item. I believe either my brother or I owned a 45 rpm record with a live version of Steely Dan's "Bodhisattva" on the flip side, performed at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Far more memorable than the guitar solo was the lengthy introduction, delivered in a drunken drawl by a roadie. Dan fans, naturally, tend to think it's one of the funniest things ever. And now, someone has used the power of YouTube to distribute this delightful re-creation:



In night vision, naturally.


FMFM: Ellington's first jazz symphony, Black, Brown & Beige, performed onstage in Carnegie Hall in 1943. I believe this is the only complete recorded version (though it incorporates a section recorded elsewhere, due to technical troubles that night in New York). Another wax transfer I'll be enjoying in a digital version.