I seem to remember a Gary Katz interview in which he mentioned that WB's solo was painstakingly cut together from many takes. Damned if I can find that now. Anyone else remember that?

And how! More accessories than Barbie!

Having been married to a drummer (now a self-styled “drum consultant”) for almost 30 years, I can say this looks all too familiar. When we bought our house back in 1997, we had to get one with 4 bedrooms, even though there were only the 2 of us; the drums needed their own space(s).

Oh wow! Thank you! As I was looking these over, I was thinking, “got it, need it, want it, hey, what’s this??”

Congratulation, Matt! It’s arriving today, and it’s going right to the top of the teetering TBR stack(s)!

A very highly educated guess?

I very much like, "it's no wax off your bikini." Very, very good.

Ah, this one I like.

Thank you! Thank you for giving us such an unexpected new chapter in the brilliant book that is Becker. Now to take another of my "listens."

@Moderator: D-Mod I had to sit with your last comment for a bit. I’ve got a habit of highlighting passages that I like/admire while I’m reading. When I finished up with the insert notes they were mostly yellow. One sitting? No edits? Not surprising, yet, jeez. That squeezes my heart. Thanks for sharing this.

Oh wow! That’s some good stuff there! Thanks!

Oh, lord. This gave me such a belly laugh. It reminds me of something my mother once said about the same book(s): "Au recherche du temps... aw, who the hell has the energy!"

3M machines round 2!

I watched the auction online, and found it fascinating. I wish I could have been there in person, but alas, 'twas not to be. I did bid on the ukuleles, but they soon rose out of my price range. My thinking was that, since I don't play any instrument (I'm not counting the period of time I had to take banjo lessons when my father decided our family should have a "family band" - the less said about that, the better), nor do I have any real eye/hand coordination; a uke would be something I could actually learn to play. I didn't want to bid on/purchase anything that I couldn't actually use; that seemed disrespectful to WB's memory. All of the instruments were so beautiful, just works of art, but with real purpose and functionality, that it seemed a shame to buy something to just have. Moot point, as it turned out. But you know what? The exercise of seeing the auction, bidding on the instruments, hearing the delight in those that were able to purchase WB's gear inspired something in me I didn't even know was there - a desire to play music, even in my own clumsy way. So, I'm going to look into buying a ukulele, and learn how to play. So, upshot: gratitude.

I thought the same as I was working my way through the catalog. "Why, hi there old pal! You still here hanging around?" And then I got so choked up I couldn't look at the catalog again for a while. I think seeing the 3M machines and his signed Les Paul award for some reason gave me pause. I know it's that way for others when they see a particular guitar or amp; that tug of recognition, of fondness and loss.

@Moderator: D-Mod Thank you - It's so lovely; poignant and wistful. I assumed that he wrote it, but wasn't sure if it was from a larger work that I somehow missed. Thank you so much for sharing it.

What is the "Firefly" quote from?

This: "... but for this book loving boy (ed: in my case, girl) it was and will always be the words – and the way the music twirls so achingly gracefully with them – that cement Steely Dan as my favorite rock lyricists, surpassing even the Bard-like Bob Dylan for me because of their embrace of common charms and everyday disasters, the compassion they show the weary and overlooked, as well as their saucy naughtiness and tales of wrong side of the tracks adventure. And I think much of that too-fucking-much-to-fully-explicate power flowed from Walter Becker, channeled and artfully sculpted by the least enthusiastic frontman ever." What I always thought and felt, ever since I was 15 and and I bought the brand-new album copy of "Countdown to Ecstacy."

That's my feeling as well, Matt. I don't begrudge anyone wanting to see the Steely Dan Band as it is currently, but it's not my idea of Steely Dan. The sum was the whole of both parts. Anything else to me is another band. It's not bad, it's not good, or better. It's just... something else entirely. And I speak as someone who was conflicted about seeing them live in the first place; afraid that there was no way that whatever they could do onstage would stack up to the records. But, that's life, I guess. Things change. I also don't knock DF for wanting to tour; it's his prerogative , I suppose.

This is fun...and interesting. What do you think he is playing at/with here?