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To:
The Los Angeles Times
From:
Donald Fagen and Walter Becker
Date:
January 19, 1998
We would like to thank Steve Hochman for once again acknowledging our website "Hall of Fame letters", this time as part of his Pop Year In Review. But a few points must be made in the interest of fairness and historical/textual accuracy.
1. Steve, you stated in your piece that we "mocked" the absence of Joni Mitchell and Neil Young from last year's ceremonies. The fact of the matter is that we applauded Joni's absence (due to reappearance of love-child) and Neil's absence (due to insufficient compensation). We also applauded the love-child reappearance in and of itself, as do all decent citizens. And of course we applaud Neil Young and his fine body of work on general principles, a few dyspeptic offerings from the late Reagan Era notwithstanding.
2. You implied that we attempted to deliberately insinuate ourselves into the petty political squabbles attendant upon this year's inductions, to wit, the issue of which bandmembers of ours should in fact be inducted into the Hall. The truth is that we have not and would never oppose the honoring of any of our former mates by the august Hall - we were simply wondering aloud whether it wouldn't be a good idea for them to get their trophies backstage, off-camera, at another time and venue of their choosing, so as not to cause any interpersonal angst or bad vibes or confusion which might detract from the festivities. In fact, as of this writing, it is our position that all of the musicians who ever played on our records or in our concert bands must be inducted simultaneously, on a live coast-to-coast hookup. We are currently engaged in a nationwide search for the surviving members of this illustrious company, in order to make this dream come true.
3. You stated that we were deliberately left off the Hall of Fame ballot this year, our first year of eligibility. This is incorrect. The unintentional omission of our names from the ballot was a result of the fact that our generous and thoughtful gifts to the commissioners (digital tape recorders, case of honey mustard, etc.) were returned for insufficient postage to our offices. By the time they came bouncing back, we were preoccupied with other matters and so missed the ballot deadline by a few months. We feel certain that, had these irresistible gifts been received by the concerned parties, our names would have appeared on the ballots and the rest would have been rock'n'roll history.
4. In your piece, you refer to us as "the two". Your arithmetic is correct, but it is customary to use the honorific capitalization when referring to us in this way - thus: "The Two".
Saloots for now,
Donald Fagen and Walter Becker
Founders, Steely Dan
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