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    Eminent Hipsters
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    Eminent Hipsters
    Unavailable
    Eminent Hipsters
    Audiobook4 hours

    Eminent Hipsters

    Written by Donald Fagen

    Narrated by Donald Fagen

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    A witty, revealing, sharply written work of memoir and criticism by the cofounder of Steely Dan

    Musician and songwriter Donald Fagen presents a group of vivid set pieces in his entertaining debut as an author, from portraits of the cultural figures and currents that shaped him as a youth to an account of his college days and of life on the road.

    Fagen begins by introducing the "eminent hipsters" that spoke to him as he was growing up in a bland New Jersey suburb in the early 1960s, among them Jean Shepherd, whose manic nightly broadcasts out of WOR-Radio "enthralled a generation of alienated young people"; Henry Mancini, whose swank, noirish soundtracks left their mark on him; and Mort Fega, the laid-back, knowledgeable all-night jazz man at WEVD who was like "the cool uncle you always wished you had." He writes of how, coming of age during the paranoid Cold War era, one of his primary doors of escape became reading science fiction, and of his invigorating trips into New York City to hear jazz. "Class of '69" recounts Fagen's colorful, mind-expanding years at Bard College, the progressive school north of New York City, where he first met his future musical partner Walter Becker. "With the Dukes of September" offers a cranky, hilarious account of the ups and downs of a recent cross-country tour Fagen made with Boz Scaggs and Michael McDonald, performing a program of old R&B and soul tunes as well as some of their own hits.

    Acclaimed for the elaborate arrangements and jazz harmonies of his songs, Fagen proves himself a sophisticated writer with a very distinctive voice in this engaging book.


    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateOct 22, 2013
    ISBN9780698135789
    Unavailable
    Eminent Hipsters
    Author

    Donald Fagen

    Donald Fagen’s writing has appeared in Premiere, Slate, Harper’s Bazaar, and Jazz Times. He lives in New York City.

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    Reviews for Eminent Hipsters

    3.5/5

    30 ratings3 reviews

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    • 4/5
      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 learned a ton of facts from this book, and got turned on to the amazing music of the Boswell Sisters.
    • 2/5
      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...
    • 4/5
      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.