Hey Luke Wilson (open letter from Steely Dan to Luke about Owen Wilson)

Residential Suites memo via SteelyDan.com ^ | July 17, 2006 | Don & Walt

[weegee]

NOTE: You'll have to go to their site to read the memo where they take Owen Wilson (a recent public contributor to the Hillary campaign, by the way) to task for being in a lame movie that illegally adapted a character from one of Steely Dan's songs.

[willyd]

Question
Where did the name Steely Dan come from. A friend of mine told me he thinks that a "steely dan" is a dildo made out of silver or some kind of metal. I'm not making this up. I "googled" the name but only came up with hits about the band. I couldn't find anything about the origin of the name.

Thanks,
Kim

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Answer
Hi Kim!

I'm so sorry you've been waiting so long! I've had some trouble in my life, and I just havent been online for weeks! My apologies.

Your friend is right! The name comes from a metal strap on dildo in the William Burroughs book "The Naked Lunch" where a prostitute uses "Steely Dan III" on a customer!


Hope that answers your question! Fagen and Becker were both huge beat literature fans.


Kind regards


Mike

So now who stole what from where?
source: http://experts.about.com/q/Steely-Dan-606/name-Steely-Dan.htm

[weegee]

Naked Lunch.

I am unfamiliar with the meaning of any Steely Dan songs.

I know that Ricky shouldn't lose that number, but I haven't really paid attention as to why.

I grasp from the letter that they are claiming that the character in the movie and the name of the character are aped from this movie.

I know that a John Hughes film (Some Kind of Wonderful?) had a character named Amanda Jones and on the soundtrack was a 1960s cut by the Rolling Stones Miss Amanda Jones. At first, I wondered how they got the Rolling Stones to write a song for their movie...

Maybe if Hughes' film had been called Miss Amanda Jones, the Stones would've wanted more than just the money they were getting for use of the song.

[Rocko]

It's a reference from the William Burroughs novel Naked Lunch.

[wideawake]

Wow.

These guys come across as complete idiots, even if their "narrative voice" is a put-on.

Also, the plot of the movie has apparently nothing to do with the paean to pedophilic incest that is "Cousin Dupree."

Also, they lose extra points for badmouthing Middle Americans.

[Holicheese]

Worst movie adaptation of a book EVER.

[JennysCool]

Ha! Great rock 'n' roll we're-hanging-around-the-hotel-on-tour-bored-out-of-our-minds letter!

Thanks for the post!

[willyd]

I know what it is from...I was just laughing at how Steely Dan is getting all bent out of shape about someone making a movie with Dupree in the title when they themselves stole the name of their band from a Burroughs book...kind of hypocritical if you ask me.

[weegee]

Worst movie adaptation of a book EVER.

I don't think there could be a fair adaptation (I have not read it).

Wouldn't the continuity need to be sliced up and randomly pasted together?

I'd say the 60 minute Monogram B-movie adapted from Harry Stephen Keller's 400-paged "12 Coins of Confucius" probably missed much (they made for that by casting Bela Lugosi as the villain).

Of course, the hour long version of A Clockwork Orange by Andy Warhol (called Vinyl) was probably very lacking. I've read alternate descriptions claiming that it was authorized and that it was unauthorized. I'd have to look it up again to confirm is this was a legitimate adaptation.

And David Lynch's Dune was probably somewhat off. Don't know how Alexandro "El Topo" Jodorowsky's Dune (with Dali, Groucho Marx, and set design by H.R. "Alien" Gieger) would've been.

[weegee]

They just played Houston. Who knew they've be sitting down in Corpus?

[Holicheese]

Dune was painful to watch.
I have only heard of 12 Coins of Confucious. Never had the pleasure.

[lainie]

tor responds to Steely Dan accusation


LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Owen Wilson has denied any connection between his new movie, "You, Me and Dupree," and '70s supergroup Steely Dan, a spokesman for the actor said Friday.

The band recently posted a letter on its Web site claiming (somewhat impishly) that Wilson's Dupree character was based on their Grammy-winning song, "Cousin Dupree," about a couch-hopping houseguest.

In a statement released by his spokeswoman, Ina Treciokas, Wilson said: "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.'"

Larry Solters, a spokesman for the band's management company, did not immediately return a call for comment.

Steely Dan released a string of hits in the '70s, including "Hey Nineteen,""Reeling in the Years" and "Rikki Don't Lose That Number."

"There are some pretty heavy people who are upset about this whole thing and we can't guarantee what kind of heat little Owen may be bringing down on himself," band leaders Walter Becker and Donald Fagen wrote in the letter.

The band asked Wilson, 37, to appear at a concert to apologize to their fans.

"You, Me and Dupree" co-stars Kate Hudson and Matt Dillon as a newlywed couple annoyed by Dupree, a friend who crashes on their couch.

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.

source: cnn.com


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heh!