Don't mess with the Dan.

first thing i thought when i saw the name of the film was the steely dan song.

In 1967, Zal found himself in legal trouble for being in an upscale penthouse apartment in downtown Los Angeles, at the time of a big drug bust. Choosing to leave Los Angeles on a jet plane, he went home to his native Canada, effectively quitting the band. In so doing, he evaded the long-arm jurisdiction of the state of California, and successfully avoided extradition, and prosecution for a marijuana arrest. At the time of the arrest, other musicians found in the apartment were not so lucky as he was, and, having no option to depart from the U.S., were tried and convicted of possession of controlled substances, or frequenting a place where there was drug activity. Had Yanovsky remained in Los Angeles, he could have spoken up and aided in their defense. Failure to appear and testify on behalf of the other musicians in the bust, led to his widespread rejection by the musical community in Los Angeles. Later, as rumors spread of his having fingered his own friends, a significant barrier arose to block licensing and distribution deals for him as a solo performer

http://www.steelydan.com/wbmemos.html

I was over at Tower Records last night, buying CDs for the Radio Free Steely Dan thing - and when I checked the SD bin it was once again choked with all kinds of fake SD records -- bootlegs and the same set of crummy old demos, just renamed and repackaged on all sorts of little fly-by-night labels* (list of titles below). I feel sorry for the fans who buy these stinkeroos thinking they are getting the new Steely Dan CD but I also feel sorry for us, because as you are aware we don't get a penny in royalties from any of these old repackages. It's just not fair - we work our butts off doing the guitar solo on "Jack of Speed" and some newbie runs out and buys "I Can't Function." Is there no justice in the world? In the words of Warren Beatty - is there no protest? Is there no outrage?

Look, I have an idea that will help us get our foot in the door of the booming fake SD market. My engineer at Hyperbolic Sound in Hawaii, Dave Russell, has made a childrens' album called "The Singing Mongooses." He sells them in stores in Hawaii and on the internet. It's a spinoff on the old chipmunk records, with sped-up voices and all - but this time they're not chipmunks, they're mongooses, like the ones you see all over Hawaii - get it? They sing cute little songs about living in Hawaii. See what I mean? Dave did all the vocals and played all the instruments too, and he did a great job.

Anyhoo, sales of The Mongooses have begun to slack off a bit and, although Dave hasn't mentioned anything about this, I couldn't help but notice that there are several large stacks of unsold Mongoose CDs stashed in his office. My plan, Craig, is simply this: we buy out the remaining stock of The Mongoose CDs. We slap a sticker on the front of the things that says "Steely Dan: The Furry Years." We promote the hell out of them here on the internet, sell 'em through the website, maybe even send a couple down to Tower Records in NYC to see what happens. Of course neither Donald nor I are on the record but, what with the sped-up vocals, who's gonna know that for sure? Nobody, that's who. I mean, what the hell - it'll be a rip-off, but at least it will be OUR rip-off. For a change.

W 1/19/00

* Note - This is a partial list: Additional re-re-re-releases appear almost monthly
Android Warehouse
Any World That I'm Welcome To
Art Crimes
Becker & Fagen of Steely Dan
Becker and Fagen - The Collection
Becker and Fagen - The Early Years
Becker and Fagen - The Masters
Becker and Fagen Remember Steely Dan
Beginnings
Berry Town
Brooklyn
Catalyst
Choice First Cuts: Walter Becker & Donald Fagen Vol. I
Collection
Come Back Baby
Cosmic Forces
Demo Masters: Pre-Steely Dan Vol. I
Doing It Again
Featuring Walter Becker & Donald Fagen
Fleetwood Mac and Steely Dan
Forward Into The Past
Founders of Steely Dan Vol I & II
Legends
Old Regime
Origins of Steely Dan
Remembering Steely Dan
Roaring of the Lamb
The Root of Steely Dan
Roots of Steely Dan
Spotlight
Spotlight on Steely Dan
Star Power
Steely Dan
Steely Dan Featuring Becker & Fagen
Steely Dan Featuring Walter Becker and Donald Fagen
Steely Dan: The Best Bits
Stone Piano
Sun Mountain
Tempus Fugit
The Best Bits
The Caves of Altamira
The Collection
The Early Times
The Early Years
The Legends Collection
The Root of Steely Dan
The Steely Dan Collection
This Is Steely Dan
Yellow Peril
You Go Where I Go
Walter Becker and Donald Fagen

about five minutes from now somebody on that other message board will express the exact same sentiment, oddly enough

"I have never heard the song 'Cousin Dupree' and I don't even know who this gentleman, Mr. Steely Dan, is. I hope this helps to clear things up and I can get back to concentrating on my new movie, 'HEY 19.' "

In 2001, ''Cousin Dupree'' won a Grammy for best pop performance by a duo or group from Steely Dan's album ''Two Against Nature,'' which snagged album of the year.