Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Audiobook4 hours
Eminent Hipsters
Written by Donald Fagen
Narrated by Donald Fagen
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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.
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.
Unavailable
Author
Donald Fagen
Donald Fagen’s writing has appeared in Premiere, Slate, Harper’s Bazaar, and Jazz Times. He lives in New York City.
Related to Eminent Hipsters
Related audiobooks
The Devil Pulls the Strings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nightfly: The Life of Steely Dan's Donald Fagen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lara: The Untold Love Story and the Inspiration for Doctor Zhivago Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5George Bernard Shaw: A Very Short Introduction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle over a Forbidden Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sing, Memory: The Remarkable Story of the Man Who Saved the Music of the Nazi Camps Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSo Many Roads: The Life and Times of the Grateful Dead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Minor Characters: A Beat Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Voice Is All: The Lonely Victory of Jack Kerouac Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hearts on Fire: Six Years that Changed Canadian Music 2000-2005 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRhythm Man: Chick Webb and the Beat that Changed America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpace Is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Belle Cora: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Biography of a Phantom: A Robert Johnson Blues Odyssey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Feud: Vladimir Nabokov, Edmund Wilson, and the End of a Beautiful Friendship Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jacksonville and the Roots of Southern Rock Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBody and Soul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSkydog: The Duane Allman Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Leper Spy: The Story of an Unlikely Hero of World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5E Street Shuffle: The Glory Days of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Liner Notes: On Parents & Children, Exes & Excess, Death & Decay, & a Few of My Other Favorite Things Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Its Quest to Spread Peace, Love, and Acid to the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Saddest Words: William Faulkner's Civil War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5South Toward Home: Travels in Southern Literature Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Flight of Poxl West: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rock & Roll in Kennedy's America: A Cultural History of the Early 1960s Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Grapes of Wrath Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary of Jack Kerouac's On the Road Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Red Wave Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Entertainers and the Rich & Famous For You
I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yes Please Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Paris: The Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Down the Drain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pretty Boys Are Poisonous: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Woman in Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If You Would Have Told Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pageboy: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tell Me Everything: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Counting the Cost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making It So: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wishful Drinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Happy People Are Annoying Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5BRITNEY: Breaking Free Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Is this Anything? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Taste: My Life Through Food Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hello, Molly!: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inside Out: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Not My Father's Son: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whiskey in a Teacup Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Mother Was Nuts: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Office BFFs: Tales of The Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bad Mormon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Eminent Hipsters
Rating: 3.6166666333333333 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
30 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Music 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.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Loved 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...
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fun, 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.