Eminent Hipsters, Donald Fagen
Eminent Hipsters, Donald Fagen
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Eminent Hipsters

Author: Donald Fagen

Narrator: Donald Fagen

Unabridged: 4 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 10/22/2013


Synopsis

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.

About The Author

Donald Fagen was born in 1948 and grew up in New Jersey. He is a graduate of Bard College, where he met musician Walter Becker, with whom he formed Steely Dan. His writing has appeared in Premiere, Slate, Harper’s Bazaar, and Jazz Times. He lives in New York City. Visit donaldfagen.com.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Susan on November 18, 2021

I love Steely Dan, so please indulge a bit of fangirling before I begin my review proper. Donald Fagan and Walter Becker were the greatest song writing duo of the 1970s. I want to write a review of every song in their catalog. And I may yet do so. But Eminent Hipsters is such a good book that it des......more

Goodreads review by Ian on January 20, 2022

CRITIQUE: Fagen's Dozen If you count the Introduction, there are a dozen pieces of writing in this book by Steely Dan's pianist and singer, Donald Fagen. If you can believe Fagen, he wasn't "making a desperate bid for mainstream integrity by putting out a book of belles lettres." Until he went to Bard C......more

Goodreads review by Josh on September 06, 2016

Say this for Eminent Hipsters: It does seem very authentic to Donald Fagen, permeated by snarky (often condescending) humor and a sincere love for jazz, and paying tribute to some of the formative influences in his life; there is almost nothing here that qualifies as truly revealing autobiography, b......more

Goodreads review by John on April 23, 2014

I felt a point of contact with Donald Fagen, whose Eminent Hipsters provided a palate cleanser between novels. I’d kind of skimmed through it before Christmas, but I wanted to return to it when I had a little time on my hands. Okay, so there’s something mildly frustrating about one half of Steely Da......more

Goodreads review by Thierry on March 14, 2014

The best way to describe this book is to say that it is almost exactly what you would expect when picking up a collection of essays-cum-tour diary written by Donald Fagen. Erudite, caustic, cynical and often genuinely laugh-out-loud funny, Eminent Hipsters covers everything from Fagen's fascination......more


Quotes

Praise for Eminent Hipsters

“[An] excellent. . . and satisfying memoir.  This is less about Fagen’s career than about his tastes. . .He writes insightfully about music, films, and books. . .with this remorseless, hilarious book, Fagen reveals himself as a first-class grump. . . Eminent Hipsters is also a convincing testimonial to the honing effect of a lifelong devotion to the culture of misfits, weirdos and cranks.”Rolling Stone
 
“Fagen is utterly charming when he describes other performers. . .he defends TV and film composer Henry Mancini from charges of fuddy-duddyness. . . his essay on Connie Boswell is the kind of top-notch, incisive cultural critique you ain’t gonna get from the likes of Keith Richards.  Just like the lyrics he penned for the Dan, Fagen’s writing here is charged with a zingy, acerbic intelligence.”—Slate.com
 
“As you would expect from someone who has been one of the most consistently sardonic voices of rock, Fagen can write.”—GQ.com