OK, so from time-to-time we talk about IGY, the International Geophysical Year. I was born during that scientifically momentous period. A lot of cool stuff happened. Amazing propagation conditions too. So for a while (around SolderSmoke 149) I was using the opening bars of Donald Fagen’s song I.G.Y. as the intro for the podcast. That song comes from Fagen’s album Nightfly. The album cover appears above.
This morning I got two e-mails from Steve N8NM about another connection between SolderSmoke and IGY. At first I thought he was pulling my leg. But before I show you the e-mails, let me show you another picture:
Steve writes:
Hey Bill!
I’m Listening to #149, where you introduced Donald Fagen’s “I.G.Y” as the new theme song. Have you heard that the protagonist on that album is based on none-other than Shep, K2ORS. Don’t know if that’s necessarily true, but the album title (The Nightfly), Fagen being from NY, and the era depicted certainly make that plausible…
I guess it’s factual – This is from an interview Fagen did with New York Magazine:
Symphony Sid was very popular. Mort Fega was probably the best all-around jazz D.J. Ed Beach on WRVR would do this very scholarly afternoon show, and I’d listen to that when I came home from school. But the figure of the Nightfly was based more on a guy who didn’t play jazz records, Jean Shepherd. He was a monologist who used to just talk and tell stories and say funny things. He was a social satirist.
Nightfly is an amazing Album. What an era. Bill and Pete … keep up the good work mates. Hope to meet up with you both one day!