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Finally back to add my “where were you…” testimony. Hi. I’m D-Mod. And I’m a Whackdict. (But first thanks again to Matt for penning another hunk of ‘Becker oral history’.  You know that everything on WBM will reverberate beyond our humble readership in this present moment, joining other preserved Beckernalia to form a voice that will speak through time -- about a singular, category-resistant artist and those who vibed with him most deeply.) All-righty then. For my first whack, I was:   in a remote New Hampshire hamlet; humping a new tenure-chasing Ivy-league gig; anxiously prepping for a brutal winter by studying catalogues from LL Bean, Patagonia, and REI— (trying to learn about this strange new category of clothing and accoutrements known as  ‘technical cold-weather gear‘); living off the Co-Op pasta bar, an aging record collection, and the irresistible antics of songbird, raven, and red squirrel societies that decorated the pine groves all around ... … and utterly cut off from whatever meager pipelines may have carried news of Fagen, Becker, and the Dan.  No publication reaching me would have wasted ink on an obscure project from some “second-fiddler” uninterested in auto-iconography. I’d not found the babydan byways on the budding Interwebs. And I’d never even heard of Metal Leg.  But one autumn evening a college radio DJ mentioned in passing that Becker’s solo debut was “on the way”. It fact, it had already dropped… but I guess The Wells Fargo Wagon was still making its way up the rutted pony road to us.  So I placed my order with Ye Olde Village Music Shoppe, vaguely expecting something Kama-like but with a novel voice (which could have been…a bit of a let-down, frankly… but that’s another tale).  And when the order arrived and I got whacked? Notably, I felt none of the first-listen disorientation many others report. For one, I immediately absorbed Becker’s voice not as comparison or contrast but simply a given: This is what that guy sounds like. This is how that guy expresses what he chooses to express with wot pipes god gave’im.  And I was drawn to that voice without any intervening dissonance….perhaps because it fit comfortably within a bluesy, idiosyncratic style I’d long been attracted to anyway? Similarly with the stripped-down demo aesthetic, which I immediately understood as set of choices. Intriguing choices to be sure… but only adding to my sense of there being an intentional artist behind the art. In fact that was my overarching reaction to all aspects of 11TOW [I’m excising several paragraphs of needless analytic first-draft bloat here]: yeah, I pretty much loved the work right away — and was simultaneously, acutely aware of a he-who-generated-and-molded it. At its core, in other words, this work had presence.  So. As a piece of music and from first listen (and moreso over time), 11TOW entertained, satisfied, and impressed me. And from my first introduction to its presence,   I was intrigued. I was delighted. I was captured. [POSTSCRIPT: No discussion of 11TOW should fail to include the intrepid Dave ‘Da Kine’ Russell — Walter’s engineer, mixer, gear-wrangler, Hyperbolic manager and maintaner, and all ‘round long-time booster and helpmeet in so many aspects of work and life. If there’s been a truer, more dedicated Sancho Panza to any questing fool, I’ve yet to hear of him. ❤️🙏. And of course he was deply invested and involved with 11TOW in particular. Perhaps he’ll take me up on my suggestion to add his thoughts to this thread.…? [PPS: more generally, we’ll soon be reviewing/editing our media pages to ensure they include Dave’s engineering and/or mixing credits where appropriate. ’Cause folks, WBM would be but a small pile of hissing midnight MIDI cassettes without Da Kine Dave Russell 🙏.]]

ExcellentaMundo, my dear lady.. in my previously uncharted clinic, hidden within the borders of Akron, we are working for those poor souls who have wandered into the area, only to find themselves reduced to a quivering mass of Human Jelly, unable to escape, or to even roll over on their own.. These are very strange days indeed and no-one thought that they would spend their retirement lives in such a manner as this, while expending more energy than they did when they were on the Swim Team in College, and for What ? Hush now, don't worry, maybe there will be a Tomorrow.. Dean Parks is such an Incredible guitarist, as is Walter, with his distinctive phrasing and imagination.. These jam sessions break out during .monotonous hours in the studio, and man, it's Golden, but nobody ever gets to hear this music.. Until Now.. Til Now ! ! Thank you D-mod, Thank you, thank you, thank you ! ! Somewhere far, far away, where music is King, and perhaps there is hope of a better tomorrow, there are Great artists, and such talented musicians as this, roaming the Planet in complete comfort and joy ! ! Playing with reckless abandon and joyous celebration of the various Gods of Christmas they bring Everything to the less talented people of the World.. These are days like we have Never Seen, and this finds nothing but the Very Best Wishes to You, and to your family and friends today, and a Better, More Glorious Tomorrow.. All my love, Lary

A ribbon cutting?? I can only hope giant oversized scissors are involved. Love You Ax: Oh my god that ending is way too cool!! The instrumental bridge section manages to hold up really well even without the context of what comes before it, I'm surprised he wasn't able to work that into something else. Oceans and Thimbles: This is a nice treat. I've often wondered what his notebooks and tapes of ideas and fragments was like. A great look into the creative process of someone infinitely more creative than I could ever dream of being.

First thing I notice are the first 2 lines of the "oceans & thimbles" clip are almost verbatim used in Bob Is Not Your Uncle Anymore on CM. Very cool to see\hear this earlier writing process. Miss you W. KEEP THEM COMING, and thank you Matt & D-Mod!

Love You Ax: Walter's got some keyboard chops. Nice!

ICYDK, Maui can do some s-t-r-a-n-g-e shit to clothing….and after some weeks performing a baffling array of DIY laundry rituals  [whadaya want? I failed HomeEc], I’ve managed to rehabilitate…uh…exactly two and a half problem garments. Sigh.  So with that now behind me — plus a couple of home plumbing emergencies — I’m moving on to the penultimate test: Printer vs. Avery address label sheets. Assuming Printer is victorious, I’ll finally be ready to commence the random drawing and notification emails Thanks for your patience...

Well, fits like the proverbial glove! Thanks, D-Mod. Maybe some day I'll thank you in person. In the meantime, thanks for all you do here.

Aloha. I am most grateful to have received my Goodwill Giveaway item today. It's something I will treasure for the whatever time's left me. I'm having mixed (mostly good) feelings about "owning" it but that's to be expected I think. I would like to make a donation to WBM to help with the outlay of postage for this program and to support the site. Seems the very least I can do. Is there an easy way to donate here abouts somewhere? Mahalo nui loa.

MATTHEW OMFG your GF thumbnails on the Downloads page 😝 I'm dyin' ICYMI (reduced size) ©️Matthew Kerns ©️Matthew Kerns©️Matthew Kerns ©️Matthew Kerns

I set my alarm to wake up because of the time difference here in Japan and managed to stay awake all night bidding trying to snag a dream guitar. I didn’t manage to in that auction so I was so happy when I heard there was to be a second online auction! I made a number of bids and was determined not to miss out on my last chance. I was at the airport flying home to London for xmas with the family when I made the bids and as the plane took off all I could think about was how the auction was going and whether I would get lucky! I was so happy when I landed in London to see that I had won two lots!! Happy is an understatement, I was beaming like a lottery winner after the 12 hour flight! i got two Fulltone effects pedals, one is an amazing tremolo Supa Trem, the other is a Robert Trower overdrive. They sound incredible, the Supa Trem even has markings of the settings Walter used on the tape attached, I have to admit I have stared at these pieces of tape for an unhealthy amount of time. The second lot was a Digidesign studio console that was housed in Walters Hyperbolic Sound studio, it blows my mind to have something from Walters studio, the console has EQ and Vox written on two channels so I can’t stop wondering what may have been recorded on this, if anybody out there could let me know any more about it I would be forever grateful. I have already got it up and running and downloaded the old drivers to get it working and its great. I‘m so happy with everything I got and these items will be used and cherished in equal measures! i