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Eminent Hipsters Hardcover – October 22, 2013

by Donald Fagen (Author)

185 customer reviews

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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.

Eminent Hipsters

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In these entertaining sketches, Steely Dan keyboardist and front man Fagen pays tribute to the talented musicians, writers, and performers from beyond the suburban New Jersey of his youth. In one chapter, Fagen recalls his early fascination with now-forgotten jazz singers the Boswell Sisters. He singles out Connie—whose career was affected in some measure by an early brush with illness (likely polio)—and praises her last recording, saying that she sounds like a toned-down Wanda Jackson or Brenda Lee. Fagen sends a kind of love letter to Henry Mancini, telling the composer of the theme from the television show Peter Gunn—a theme whose first notes every neophyte guitarist tried to learn back then—that his music continues to be young and fresh. Fagen vivaciously recalls his college days at Bard, meeting his future Steely Dan bandmate Walter Becker, and playing at a Halloween party with Walter and actor Chevy Chase on drums. In 2012, Fagen, Michael McDonald, and Boz Scaggs toured as the Duke of September Rhythm Revue; during the months of the tour, Fagen kept a journal, included in these pages, that's filled with irony, sarcasm, humor, anger, and flat-out honesty about what it's like to be on the road playing to houses filled with aging hippies: Tonight the crowd looked so geriatric I was tempted to start calling out bingo numbers. By the end of the set, they were all on their feet, albeit shakily, rocking.... So this, now, is what I do: assisted living. Agent: Andrew Wylie, Wylie Agency. (Oct.)

From Booklist

Since the popular music group Steely Dan produced its last album in 2003, founding member Fagen has been keeping busy performing in occasional reunion tours and channeling his celebrated, lyric-generating talents into penning crafty and incisive essays. In his first collection of these distinctively droll and erudite pieces, Fagen covers a wide range of topics, from boyhood memories to musical criticism. The eminent hipsters referred to in the title are Fagen’s early idols, such radio personalities as Jean Shepherd, best known for narrating A Christmas Story, and late-night jazz DJ Mort Fega, the cool uncle you always wished you’d had. Class of ‘69 recounts his momentous years at New York’s Bard College, where he met Steely Dan cofounder Walter Becker, and With the Dukes of September excerpts his journal notes from a recent musical tour he took with fellow music legends Boz Scaggs and Michael McDonald. While Steely Dan devotees will, of course, revel in Fagan’s barb-edged observations, any observer of popular culture will find his essays informative and trenchantly amusing. --Carl Hays

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Product details

Hardcover: 176 pages
Publisher: Viking; 1st Edition edition (October 22, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0670025518
ISBN-13: 978-0670025510
Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.7 x 8.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
Average Customer Review: 185 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #661,871 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2157 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Biographies > Rock
- #3095 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Musical Genres > Rock
- #6330 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Actors & Entertainers

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Alan Nitikman

Donald Fagen is a very funny, grumpy, insightful man.

October 1, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

The book starts with Fagen's early life and influences, skips his 40 years with Walter Becker & Steely Dan, then picks up in the late '80's and up to 2014. His journal of that later period is especially hilarious and occasionally very moving. He even did an excellent job of reading his own book for the AudioBook edition.

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ventana

No BS glimpse into the life of a hardworking musician.

October 17, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

If you are a fan this is a must read. Fagen lets the reader slip past the hip exterior to the vulnerable soul underneath. I'm hoping there will be a second installment.

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gwaller

Disappointed and then some.

November 5, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I'm a huge Steely Dan fan, but this was a chore to read. DF is beyond pretentious, and I'm willing to allow for eccentricity given his musical gifts. Really disappointed in this read.

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Keith T. Yager

Four Stars

November 18, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Fagan is a pretty good writer and some of his cranky stories are pretty funny.

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S. Sechi

Five Stars

October 28, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

pretty cool

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Gene Burnett

I liked this quite a bit

September 19, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I liked this quite a bit. Fagen is not nearly the silky smooth hipster his songs might lead you to expect. He comes across more like a grumpy insurance salesman when he shares his tour diary...but hey, he's grumpy about some of the same s*** I am...like these "TV kids" who show up at concerts and stare at their phones or video the thing instead of BEING THERE. Some great essays on the music he loves as well. Must have for Dan fans.

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Rob Vollmar

... a highly literate if cynical figure who doesn't sit comfortably in the annals of rock history and this collection ...

May 9, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Long time Steely Dan fans have an impression of Fagen as a highly literate if cynical figure who doesn't sit comfortably in the annals of rock history and this collection of personal essays, Eminent Hipsters does nothing to dispel this myth. If anything, it solidifies Fagen as one of popular music's most eloquent spokesmen and offers readers compelling glimpses into an America that no longer exists. This is a book I'll read over and over.

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Shirley Ferraro

Pretty cool guy

October 23, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Pretty cool guy.

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