Stanley Dee — Author Archives

Summer…

..and Stanley has been on holiday to the exotic destination of Blues Beach. We can thoroughly recommend the Manatee Bar as a good place to chill and enjoy a nice Tropical Cooler. And talking of ridiculously contrived links….

Fri 29 Aug sees Stanley Dee return to Tropic At Ruislip. This is a great venue which hosts dozens of bands throughout the year and is a real supporter of the live music scene. Check the gig list on their website and you can see how booked up they are, even well in to 2015.

We’d love to see lots of you there to support the good work these guys are doing…..oh, and to come see us do our Steely Dan thing too of course. Loads of new songs in the set since our last time there so please come along, sing, drink, dance, and say ‘Hi’.

In other news…

One recent loss to music during the Summer has been that of the jazz pianist Horace Silver. You might not know him, but listen to the opening bars of his ‘Song For My Father’ and I think you’ll soon know he had a big influence on a certain Steely Dan hit.

And for those interested there’s another good collection of facts/musings about Steely Dan on this LINK.

Thanks to those who sent some really nice comments to us after our recent Redhill gig. It’s very much appreciated, and your kind words will join Stanley’s ‘Hall of Fame’ over on the reviews page of this very website.

Ok, that’s about it for now. See you on 29Aug in Ruislip hopefully. If not, then we look forward to seeing the lovely Surrey SD contingent when we go back to the Farnham Maltings on Sat 20 Sep.

Hope you’re having a great Summer…..and enjoy those merciful rays.

Redhill

Another new venue for Stanley, and another Surrey excursion!

We’re really excited to have a date confirmed at the Harlequin Theatre in Redhill. Should be a great night and we hope to see lots of you there!

Start time approx 8pm. Please see venue website for ticket details.

Surrey…..

…seems to be the hardest word. That was an inexcusable pun – apologies.

However, we are excited to say that Friday 25^th July sees Stanley head off to the Harlequin Theatre in Redhill, Surrey. Yes….a proper theatre, with a big stage, and like, seats and everything! If you’ve only ever seen us in some of the smaller, more spatially-challenged venues, then you really must come along and see the full wide-screen version of the Stanley Dee experience. It’s going to be a lot of fun so we’d really love to have friends old and new join us for this landmark event in the Stan calendar.

Please check out the venue’s website and book your tickets HERE.

So, save that date folks – Fri 25^th July. What a beautiful world this will be…….

Putney

Back to the famous Half Moon in Putney. How else could you spend a better evening on a Monday in early July?!

Start time approx 8pm. Please see venue website for ticket details.

Ascot

It’s American Independence Day! What better way to celebrate the music of your favourite US act than to come and watch Stanley Dee’s joyful tribute to Steely Dan in the always wonderful atmosphere of Jagz in Ascot. Last time here was an absolute blast, so please come along again and join in the fun.

Start time approx 8:30 – see venue’s website for ticket info.

Stanley Dee United FC

In the spirit of World Cup Fever (soon to be dampened quite a bit for many when the ‘Lions’ make their all too customary early exit) it’s probably appropriate to now formally announce the expansion of Stanley Dee to an 11-piece. With the addition of Paul in the horn section, we now officially have sufficient members to put out a decent side for any upcoming jazz-rock band based football tournaments. What do you mean, there aren’t any?!!

The keen-eyed amongst you would have spied Paul doing his saxy stuff at recent gigs, but we’ve only just got around to updating this on the website…apologies Paul!

Paul’s induction into the band initially came from a desire to beef up the harmonies on some of those lush SD horn arrangements, but also because we noticed at some gigs there was at least a 30sq centimetre gap of floor space on the stage that we felt needed to be filled. You may have noticed we tend to favour the ‘cozy’ formation (at some venues more so than others) and Paul admirably fulfils both the musical-harmony and space-management roles with aplomb. Welcome aboard Paul!

We’ll be playing him in central midfield in our next fixture away at Jagz FC in Ascot on Friday 4^th July – please come along and cheer on the team!

St Albans

Springtime with Stanley at the Farmer’s Boy…..ooo-aarrrr!

Start time approx 8:30pm. Free entry!!

Tring

We’re pleased to have been invited to kick-off the day at Dunfest in Tring.

This is a fundraising festival at Dundale School in Tring, and Stanley will be opening proceedings at 2:30.

Please see LINK for details – more updates from the school to follow in due course.

Festival season is almost upon us…

…and rather than playing the same old predictable ones such as Glasto, V, Latitude etc, Stanley is pleased and proud to be playing the much more compact and bijou ‘’Dunfest 2014’’ in Tring on Sat 17^th May!! We’ll be opening up the proceedings so keep your fingers crossed for some Saturday afternoon sunshine.

Some event blurb below…

‘’Dunfest 2014 will take place on Saturday 17 May 2014 on The Field, Dundale School, Tring., starting at 2pm till 9pm As well as chilling out and relaxing to the live music we are planning to have a variety of stalls.

Come and join us for a great family day out – an afternoon with live music, great food and stalls to browse and buy something unusual! Again we will have a licensed bar selling beer and cider from Tring Brewery as well as a selection of wine and lager. ‘’

And you can keep up to date with more event info, and details of the other wonderful bands on the line-up, by checking out the Dunfest Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dunfest-2014/267350966779994

See you there!

A Drinking Dictionary..

We’re fast approaching the Easter Hols and if you’re anything like Stanley, a cheeky drink or two may be consumed over the long weekend. So what an opportune moment to share this link from Classic Rock magazine, celebrating Steely Dan’s top 10 songs mentioning beverages of various degrees of ‘exoticness’ (if that is indeed a word…….once you’ve drunk enough, it will make sense I assure you)

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/steely-dan-drinking-songs/

I’m pretty sure some of those drink names were unfamiliar, eh? I mean when was the last time any of you drank Kirschwasser from a shell?!

Part of the beauty of Don and Walt’s lyrical landscapes is the obscure references they often throw in to confuse us all. However, help is at hand when you feel the need to dig a bit deeper into the meanings of their songs. This great resource will enable you to uncover the explanations to Squonks, Bodhisattvas, Custerdomes and many more!

http://www.steelydandictionary.com/

Happy reading, and…..Cheers!!