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Thought I’d share a clip of an artist and a song that Walter loved. The artist is the sublime Marvin Gaye. But the song isn’t one of Gaye’s many Valentine-appropriate paeans to “erotic fantasies” (Gaye’s phrase) but rather an amazing live rendition of his iconic What’s Going On? —with a segue into his What’s Happening Brother. This 1972 performance in Chicago was released as part of the 1973 documentary Save The Children, and is interspersed with non-performance segments. It can be found on YouTube in several edit variations. But this clip, IMO, shows what needs to be shown. Some folks think What’s Going On is all about the studio production — the layered vocals, the echos and effects, the strings, the “everything is everything” ambient chatter — and while all these production features and more do indeed weave themselves into a tapestry of emotional innovation and power, this live rendition reveals the song, and Gaye’s gargantuan talent, in all their “naked” glory. But the real V-Day gift for Walter is the appearance of his absolute bass hero: the great James Jamerson. Seeing him in an occasional two-shot, and hearing him so beautifully audible throughout, is a rare treat. Happy Valentine’s Day, Walter. And may all those who mark the day find something that opens the heart ... and someone to share it with.

Ted gave so much to so many during his obscenely short life. He was a magnificent, preternaturally talented musician of course — but he was also very funny and warm and … well, there was just something in his nature that put him at the center of so many of the best stories, moments, and memories I have of our years sharing a space. But what I really want to say is this: I’m so grateful for the time I spent in his company, and I was truly, deeply honored to hear him play each and every night. For all my running around trying to get a decent pic of everybody each touring season, every once in a while a pretty great shot would just fall into my lap. I sometimes feel as though Ted simply willed this image directly into my camera. Later that summer, his parents turned up at a show in t-shirts sporting this picture. Our warmest thoughts go out to his family, and to everyone who loved him.

In an interview with Guitar Magazine back in March of 2000, the title track to the Two Against Nature album came up, resulting in this interchange: Guitar.com: On the track “Two Against Nature,” is that played bass or sampled bass? Walter Becker: No, that is a bass synth that is being triggered by a sequence. That is the only track where we actually used a sequence for anything. Guitar.com: Did you use all the machine elements in that track to confer a play on words? Walter Becker: Partially. We had a percussion sequence that we liked. There was something good about it, something a little hokey about it, something sort of like Hollywood session players. There used to be an album I loved called Daktari. It was all this African-sounding stuff played by Hollywood session players. And it was a great take on African music because it sounded vaguely African but there was nothing truly African about any of it. I always liked that kind of African music a lot. And so the original sequence that we had was in that vein. We've recently heard some of that African music influence on the track Danger Zone, composed and recorded in 1993, well before Two Against Nature. Danger Zone having been passed over for inclusion on 11 Tracks of Whack, Walter revisited those interesting rhythmic elements and musical textures in the composing sessions would ultimately yield "The New One's" title track. In addition to the drive of the bass here, I particularly enjoy Walter's rhythmic guitar embelishments, especially how he plays around Donald's vocal on the first chorus and then lays out of the second chorus before coming in with his solo, which then comps the bass part while the saxophone solos. Also on this track are: Drums: Keith Carlock Timbales/percussion: Daniel Sadownick Percussion: Gordon Gottlieb Bass clarinet: Roger Rosenberg Saxophone: Dave Tofani Saxophone: Lawrence Feldman **Special thanks to the Steely Dan Reader for the vast compilations of interviews in a searchable format, including the Guitar Magazine interview available here. And to the webdrone for keeping the grand days of Steely Dan's online kingdom alive at the Steely Dan Archive.**

movie: matt kerns They had so much fun -- Walter, the Lost Tribe guys, Beas, Dean, Rog, Dave, Bob... Here Walter started one of his monologues -- The Prison Story I guess we'd call it -- Beas started some mood music (did Adam join in?), and someone flipped the 'record' switch. The picture; just a few from books of Polaroids.

Dear Friends, Enemies, Bots, and Whatever Else Is Still Lurking on the Algorithmic Scrapheap Formerly Known as Twitter: It is with a measured and appropriate degree of regret, but mostly a vast and abiding sense of relief, that we here at Walter Becker Media must inform you that we are officially vacating the premises of X [better known as, and much better when it was] Twitter, formerly a kind-of-fun limited character dive bar before a K-addled overgrown incel, pockets bulging with government contract moolah, decided on a strip-to-the-studs reno in the beloved Move-Fast-Break-Shit school of contemporary design. And who are we mere citizens to say that the resulting crypto-fascist Chuck E. Cheese — named after the most cliched, pseudo-scientific letter of the alphabet [sorry Q]— is not the very height of contemporary fashion and taste? Not we, O my people. We live to serve. Unless, of course, we find ourselves regularly regurgitating our meals, and cannot function as good community members and scam targets while gagging and wrenching our days away (and yes, we confess with shame, ever more frequently seeking that sweet release, aided surreptitiously by a little finger down the throat). And as Ol’ Granma Betty used to tell us: “That’s not *healthy*, bubelah! You’re skin and bones!” Indeed, we've already lost 98% of our muscle mass — most of it from the neck up. So, it’s time to move on. We thought about noping the fuck out without saying a word, leaving a Walter Becker Media-shaped puff of smoke in our wake, but thought it would be best to at least say goodbye — oh, or should we say: Auf Wiedersehen. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Walter Becker Media, how can you leave now? What about the deeply insightful cultural observations? The pithy rejoinders? The occasional, inexplicable references to Wernher von Braun, Richard Lewis, and/or the Iron Sheik?” And to that, we say: look, it’s been kinda fun. It’s also been fucking weird, because let’s be honest—this place was always a little wobbly, but now it’s careening full-speed down the digital freeway in a fug-ugly Blitzwagen with shit-for-brakes, a busted axle, and hideous wrap-around gossamer “bullet-proof” windows, all of which will inevitably — if past is prelude and data & consumer experience are any indication — burst into a hellish ball of flame at the next slightly damp, gentle bend in the road. But weep not, O people, for the sorry smoldering mass of mangled Cyberscrap that was once our merry home: It will Live On! ...If only through the recently reported $400,000,000 Pentagon line-item grift—er—expenditure for a very special fleet of “Armored” vehicles, to be produced by — you guessed it — the very self-same engineering “genius” cum poster boy for the Dunning-Kruger Effect who's currently transporting all here to glass-shattering, bone-crushing agony, followed (eventually) by a fiery incinerated final demise. Make America Combust Again! But please, take pity, and call us not cowards, snowflakes, libtards. We did our best. When the platform started its grease-lightening collapse into a cesspool of rage-baiting grifters, dudes posting through their second and third divorces, and that one asshole who thinks every historical event is a false flag, we tried to tough it out and laugh it off. We really did. We endured the bot invasions, the checkmark class system, the conspiracy theory of the week (lizard people faked the moon landing/moon people faked the lizard invasion/chemtrails turning the frogs gay). But, as Grandpa Harry used to say, when you hear jackboots instead of jackhammers echoing out in the street, it’s really, REALLY time to sweep family albums, green cards, and a big buck three-eighty worth of shekels into Granma’s knitting bag — and get the fuck outta Dodge. Or Doge, as the case may be, secure in the knowledge that There Is A Promised Land Where The Bluebirds Sing, just beyond the next hill. So that is where we shall be: hunkered down with the last remaining scraps of internet civilization, where people speak in complete sentences and Incel Nazi Edgelords haven’t yet figured out how to monetize it. Maybe we’ll send a postcard. Maybe we won’t. Either way, we’ll sleep just fine, knowing we have dropped out of the Hieronymus Bosch School of Attention Economics — taking our eyeballs and clicks elsewhere. We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to those of you still trapped here, running around like lab rats on an engagement-optimized treadmill of doom. If you’re still here, we hope you’re getting hazard pay. If not, well, Godspeed, little doodle. With great regards, and minimal regrets WBM https://bsky.app/profile/walterbeckermedia.bsky.social

Just wanted to report I've received the catalog. It's not hyperbole to say I'm speechless -- and breathless. I know my emotional reaction may be unique, and when I look at it I'm looking at ...a piece of Walter. A beautiful piece of Walter that is going to last, that is going to exist, that no one can demand it be "taken down" or erased from the world. It's here. He's here. But I also see all the care and heart that the Julien's folks put into this, wanting to make it the very best they could. Maybe because I was involved with the process, and saw their devotion and refusal to compromise, but looking at this catalog I find that very moving as well. More later, maybe, after I wrestle my emotions into a more socially acceptable form`

True, we asked if you had this track, to please not share or post it yet; we'll put it here soon enough. But that doesn't mean you can't tell us what you think of it! Anybody here in Queens on Sunday? What's your take on 'his building'?

He already had the paper: notebooks filled with couplets, bits of prose, punchlines without the jokes ... even a poem-let or two. He'd written a bit with DF c. ‘85 and had been producing albums since the same year [full WB credits here](http://walterbecker.com/wbmaster.html#production).    As the decade advanced, he tricked out a sweet add-on room with a midi deck + keys, acoustic wall treatment, and all the CPUs and RAM that island money could buy. And Lo, in the middle of the Pacific — “kinda isolated from the musical community at large” — his DIY experiment began. “… and I started writing some instrumental pieces,  and I thought...” (in a less-than-convincing tone) “… oh,  this is nice …" [from the 11 Tracks of Whack EPK](https://www.walterbeckermedia.com/forum/street-legal/11-tracks-of-whack-epk) We believe we've now heard all (most?) of these instrumental fantasias, pulled from dusty cassettes labeled with crazy nonsense names. “And eventually I started to write some tunes...  that had some lyrics to them”. [the EPK again] But before this merger, he also advanced at least one of his midi instrumentals a step further: he convened a small group of live musicians to run it down, in a studio, on the mainland. And we've got an audio. We’re still nailing down the precise time, place, and personnel of these run-throughs (we have two major hypotheses), and will  update this page once all the details are in. We may also post the audio itself, so stay tuned. But we wanted to tell you all about this interesting footnote to the dawn of a new creative era, yet another life for a cool cat named Walter, who had 9.

has anyone done a deep dive into the music theory behind Becker‘s compositions? (From what I understand, at the risk of oversimplifying, he and Fagen understood music theory quite well, but didn’t necessarily think about it in the songwriting process). So much of Becker’s stuff has a unique and distinct harmonic language. There are relationships between chords that I don’t hear anywhere else, save a handful of Steely Dan songs. As a keyboard player, I find most SD/Fagen songs have some linear chord logic I can intuitively follow (if not fully comprehend). Becker’s stuff is a different animal. Maybe it’s just a guitar vs. piano thing, but at any rate, I’d be interested in some analysis of, say, Surf And/Or Die, if such a thing exists.

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, anyway. 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 .... movie: matt kerns .....and Ghost of Hipness Past. movie: matt kerns 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. Great sounding versions also on our Downloads page, as usual. Jeez -- Dan, Matt -- coming through to save the day. I'm beginning to feel a little more like The Damsel In Distress than I'm comfortable with. Watch out: compensation for such states usually involves a lot of testosterone (and yeah, we got some too)