Pretzel Logic (song)
"Pretzel Logic" is a song written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, released as a single by Steely Dan from their album ''Pretzel Logic'', originally in 1974 by ABC Records. It reached number 57 in the Billboard charts. Background ''Steely Dan FAQ'' author Anthony Robustelli describes "Pretzel Logic" as a bluesy shuffle about time travel. Fagen has stated that the lyrics, including anachronistic references to Napoleon and minstrel shows, are about time travel. According to Robustelli, the "platform" referred to in the song's bridge is the time travel machine. But ''Something Else!'' critic Victor Aaron describes the lines "I stepped out on the platform, the man gave me the news/He said, 'You must be joking son, where did you get those shoes?'” as a memorable putdown line. Steely Dan biographer Brian Sweet hypothesizes that the first verse was inspired by the band's distaste for touring, particularly the tours of the American South on which their record label had sent th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band founded in 1971 in New York by Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Initially the band had a stable lineup, but in 1974, Becker and Fagen retired from live performances to become a studio-only band, opting to record with a revolving cast of session musicians. ''Rolling Stone'' has called them "the perfect musical antiheroes for the seventies". Becker and Fagen played together in a variety of bands from their time together studying at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. They later moved to Los Angeles, gathered a band of musicians, and began recording albums. Their first album, '' Can't Buy a Thrill'' (1972), established a template for their career, blending elements of rock, jazz, Latin music, R&B, bluesAllMusic Steely Dan: Biography and sophisticated studio production with cryptic and ironic lyrics. The band enjoyed critical and commercial success through seven stud ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Brownsville Herald
''The Brownsville Herald'' is a newspaper based in Brownsville, Texas, circulating in the Cameron County area. Jesse O. Wheeler, a newspaperman from Victoria, purchased Brownsville's ''Cosmopolitan'' newspaper in 1892 and renamed it the ''Brownsville Herald''. In early years, the paper voiced concern for the need of a railroad connection to the north and a bridge to the nearby city of Matamoros, Mexico. A bridge opened in 1910. It was owned by Freedom Communications until 2012, after Freedom filed for bankruptcy. Its papers in Texas — the ''Herald'', '' Odessa American'', '' Valley Morning Star'' of Harlingen, ''El Nuevo Heraldo'', The Monitor of McAllen, ''The Mid Valley Town Crier'' of Weslaco Weslaco is a city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 41,103, and in 2020 the estimated population was 41,103. It is located at the southern tip of Texas in the Rio Grande Valley near the Mex ..., ''Coastal Current'' of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dean Parks
Weldon Dean Parks (born December 6, 1946) is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Albums Parks was member of the North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los Angeles to work with Sonny and Cher in 1970. In 1980, he was a founding member of the Christian Jazz Fusion band Koinonia. Parks is best known for his many contributions to albums by Steely Dan, Michael Jackson, and Bread. Notably, he played guitar on Steely Dan's ''Royal Scam'' track, "Haitian Divorce". Parks is also a long time collaborator on David Foster albums, such as '' Shadows'' by Gordon Lightfoot. Parks features on Cat Beach's albums ''Letting Go'' and ''Love Me Out Loud''. In 2008, Parks participated in the production of the album ''Psalngs'', the debut release of Canadian musician John Lefebvre. Dean Parks is very prominently featured on Viktor Krauss' album ''II'' (2007), where he plays a plethora of other stringed instruments in addition to electric and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wurlitzer Electronic Piano
The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptually similar to the Rhodes piano, though the sound is different. The instrument was invented by Benjamin Miessner, who had worked on various types of electric pianos since the early 1930s. The first Wurlitzer was manufactured in 1954, and production continued until 1983. Originally, the piano was designed to be used in the classroom, and several dedicated teacher and student instruments were manufactured. However, it was adapted for more conventional live performances, including stage models with attachable legs and console models with built-in frames. The stage instrument was used by several popular artists, including Ray Charles, Joe Zawinul and Supertramp. Several electronic keyboards include an emulation of the Wurlitzer. As the Wurli ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jeff Baxter
Jeffrey Allen "Skunk" Baxter (born December 13, 1948) is an American guitarist, known for his stints in the rock bands Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers during the 1970s and Spirit in the 1980s. More recently, he has worked as a defense consultant and advised U.S. members of Congress on missile defense. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Doobie Brothers in 2020. Early life and education Jeffrey Baxter was born in Washington, D.C., and spent some of his formative years in Mexico. He graduated from the Taft School in 1967 in Watertown, Connecticut, and was a self-described preppie. At Taft, he played drums in an upperclassmen band, King Thunder and the Lightning Bolts. He enrolled at the School of Public Communication (now College of Communication) at Boston University in September 1967, where he studied journalism while continuing to perform with local bands. His freshman roommate was blues musician James Montgomery. Music career ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Country Music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, old-time, and American folk music forms including Appalachian, Cajun, Creole, and the cowboy Western music styles of Hawaiian, New Mexico, Red Dirt, Tejano, and Texas country. Country music often consists of ballads and honky-tonk dance tunes with generally simple form, folk lyrics, and harmonies often accompanied by string instruments such as electric and acoustic guitars, steel guitars (such as pedal steels and dobros), banjos, and fiddles as well as harmonicas. Blues modes have been used extensively throughout its recorded history. The term ''country music'' gained popularity in the 1940s in preference to ''hillbilly music'', with "country music" being used today to describe many styles and subgenres. It came to encompas ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pedal Steel Guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can play unlimited glissandi (sliding notes) and deep vibrati—characteristics it shares with the human voice. Pedal steel is most commonly associated with American country music and Hawaiian music. Pedals were added to a lap steel guitar in 1940, allowing the performer to play a major scale without moving the bar and also to push the pedals while striking a chord, making passing notes slur or bend up into harmony with existing notes. The latter creates a unique sound that has been popular in country and western music— a sound not previously possible on steel guitars before pedals were added. From its first use in Hawaii in the 19th century, the steel guitar sound became popular in the United States in the first half of the 20th centur ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Electric Guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic guitar exist). It uses one or more pickups to convert the vibration of its strings into electrical signals, which ultimately are reproduced as sound by loudspeakers. The sound is sometimes shaped or electronically altered to achieve different timbres or tonal qualities on the amplifier settings or the knobs on the guitar from that of an acoustic guitar. Often, this is done through the use of effects such as reverb, distortion and "overdrive"; the latter is considered to be a key element of electric blues guitar music and jazz and rock guitar playing. Invented in 1932, the electric guitar was adopted by jazz guitar players, who wanted to play single-note guitar solos in large big band ensembles. Early proponents of the electric guitar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its coverage of rock music and political reporting by Hunter S. Thompson. In the 1990s, the magazine broadened and shifted its focus to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors, and popular music. It has since returned to its traditional mix of content, including music, entertainment, and politics. The first magazine was released in 1967 and featured John Lennon on the cover and was published every two weeks. It is known for provocative photography and its cover photos, featuring musicians, politicians, athletes, and actors. In addition to its print version in the United States, it publishes content through Rollingstone.com and numerous international editions. Penske Media Corporation is the current own ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hook (music)
A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock, R&B, hip hop, dance, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often found in, or consists of, the chorus. A hook can be either melodic or rhythmic, and often incorporates the main motif for a piece of music.Davidson, Miriam; Heartwood, Kiya (1996). ''Songwriting for Beginners'', p.7. Alfred Music Publishing. . Definitions One definition of a hook is "a musical or lyrical phrase that stands out and is easily remembered." Definitions typically include some of the following: that a hook is repetitive, attention-grabbing, memorable, easy to dance to, and has commercial potential and lyrics. A hook has been defined as a "part of a song, sometimes the title or key lyric line, that keeps recurring." Alternatively, the term has been defined as and can be somethi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Record World
''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record World'', under the ownership of Sid Parnes and Bob Austin. It ceased publication on April 10, 1982. Many music industry personalities, writers, and critics began their careers there in the early 1970s to 1980s. History Growth ''Record World'' has been considered the hipper, faster-moving music industry publication, in contrast to the stodgier ''Billboard'' and ''Cashbox'', its sister magazine. ''Music Vendor'', as it was then known, published its first music chart for the week ending October 4, 1954. A weekly, like its competitors, it was housed in New York City at 1700 Broadway, at 53rd Street, just across the street from the Ed Sullivan Theater, and West Coast editorial offices in Los Angeles on Sunset and Vine. Rock bands frequented ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cash Box
''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online magazine with weekly charts and occasional special print issues. In addition to the music industry, the magazine covered the amusement arcade industry, including jukebox machines and arcade games. History Print edition charts (1952–1996) ''Cashbox'' was one of several magazines that published record charts in the United States. Its most prominent competitors were ''Billboard'' and ''Record World'' (known as ''Music Vendor'' prior to April 1964). Unlike ''Billboard'', ''Cashbox'' combined all currently available recordings of a song into one chart position with artist and label information shown for each version, alphabetized by label. Originally, no indication of which version was the biggest seller was given, but from October 25, 19 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |