Eminent Hipsters

Music biographies come in two flavors: "I'm a miserable guy, but you'll like me a little better after reading this," and "I'm a.m.g. and this biography will ruin my music for you." This sits in the first category -- of *course* Donald Fagen is a grumpy guy, but he's an interesting thinker who reads and listens to everything, so this book is packed with wide-ranging thoughts about how he formed his taste, what art means to him, what art should be. The second half of the book is his unadorned and almost stream of consciousness tour diary, a big tonal shift from the closely argued and sourced first half of the book, but once you settle in, he's ... not good company exactly but honest in a way that feels genuinely respectful. As a bonus, I show more learned a ton of facts from this book, and got turned on to the amazing music of the Boswell Sisters. show less

Musician Donald Fagen, known primarily for his work with Steely Dan, tells us about some of the music that fascinated him as he grew up, the late-night jazz DJs he listened to, his time at Bard College, and more. It's all a bit fluffy. He spends the most pages quoting from journals that he wrote while touring with the Dukes of December, who included Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs. He's not a big fan of touring now that he's older. The writing is clear and he doesn't hesitate to expose his own anxieties and history. Probably of interest mostly to fans who would like to learn a bit more about this interesting fellow.

Eminently readable. I like an autobiography where the writer mostly describes influences and that's exactly what this does, with Fagen's hip literary jargon providing a jazz-meets-Dylan sensibility, just like Steely Dan's music.

Eminently readable. I like an autobiography where the writer mostly describes influences and that's exactly what this does, with Fagen's hip literary jargon providing a jazz-meets-Dylan sensibility, just like Steely Dan's music.

Fun, though really the bare minimum to qualify as any kind of memoir/autobiography. A good read but would have loved a more fleshed out project with stories and info about Steely Dan and his solo albums. But fun—you can really hear his voice.

Loved the essays in the beginning but the tour diary was barely readable. In the end he comes across as a spoiled jerk. But now I do know what venues, hotels, cities, and types of people he hates so I guess I did learn something...

I won this in the Goodreads First Reads giveaway, although I already had it on library hold at the time I entered. I enjoyed it but I'm not sure I would have bought it; the book really is that short, just 159 pages--and half those pages are the 2012 Dukes of September tour diary. I did enjoy the essay portions, particularly the essay on Henry Mancini.