Wiki Challenge

It’s been quite a while since I found enough time to take the wiki challenge, but if you’re thinking about taking the challenge yourself, then here’s the subjects for Friday’s show :-

Steely Dan
The Mapp and Lucia Novels of E.F.Benson
The Boston Bruins since 1970
Henry Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor

I’ll be honest, if I don’t wiki then this show could see me have my lowest specialist aggregate since the start of the current series. None of these subjects offers me the chance for many points. I’ve never read any of the Mapp and Lucia books, and I know nothing about the Boston Bruins. I know a tiny bit about Mayhew’s work, since I kept coming upon references to it while I was researching the history of the London side of my family. I know a very very little about Steely Dan, however that and the Boston Bruins would be my choice for the most wikiable subjects.

With that in mind, then, I’ve wikied Steely Dan, and these are the 40 questions I think might give me a chance of a few points.

Steely Dan Wiki Questions

1. Which magazine described Steely Dan as “The Perfect musical antiheroes for the 70s.” ?
2. On which album did Becker and Fagen use 42 musicians and 11 engineers, despite the fact that it only contained 7 songs ?
3. In which New York town did the band originate ?
4. Becker and Fagen first met in which cafe?
5. Which group containing Becker and Fagen, originally called the Bad Rock Group also featured the comedian Chevy Chase on drums ?
6. Which member of the group Jay and the Americans took an interest in Fagen and Becker after they moved to New York city ? 7. The pair produced early work on the soundtrack of the film You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat which starred which comedian ?
8. What did Jay Black , lead singer of Jay and the Americans, nickname Fagen and Becker ?
9. Which of their songs did Barbra Streisand record on her 1971 album Barbra Joan Streisand ?
10. Who produced all of Steely Dan’s albums in the 1970s ?
11. Gary Katz originally hired Fagen and Becker as staff songwriters for the label which was to become Steely Dan’s first – which was it ?
12. The name Steely Dan was taken from whose novel “Naked Lunch” ?
13. Who was the group’s first drummer ?
14. Dallas and which other song featured on their first single, which sold poorly ?
15. Following the release of their first album, Can’t Buy A Thrill, who undertook most of the lead vocal duties in stage performances due to Fagen’s stage fright ?
16. What was the title of the group’s second album, featuring the singles Show Biz Kids and My Old School ? 17. Which of the group’s singles incorporated a piano riff lifted directly from the title track to "Song for My Father" by hard bop pianist Horace Silver ? 18. Which composition of Duke Ellington and James ‘Bubber’ Miley was covered on ‘Pretzel Logic’ ? 19. Which drummer, formerly one of Sonny and Cher’s band, joined the group for their tour of their second album, before eventually joining Toto ? 20. Which keyboardist and vocalist who eventually went on to have a solo career featured on Pretzel logic ?
21. On which album did Walter Becker play guitar for the first time ?
22. On July 4th 1974 the band made their first retirement from touring after a concert in which venue ?
23. Both Jeff Skunk Baxter and Michael Macdonald went on from Steely Dan to join which group ?
24. Where did Becker and Fagen publicly apologise for the album Katy Lied ?
25. Which song from the Royal Scam album gave Steely Dan their first successful single in the UK ?
26. The story of which grammy award winning Steely Dan album was featured in an edition of the TV show Classic Albums ?
27. The theme song from a movie gave Steely Dan a hit in the US and the UK – what was its title ?
28. Which track intended for the album Gaucho was accidentally wiped by an engineer and subsequently abandoned ?
29. The release of the album Gaucho was delayed following contractual problems after ABC was acquired by which label ?
30. What was the name of Becker’s girlfriend who died of an overdose in their shared apartment ?
31. Who sued the band , claiming that the title track of Gaucho infringed the copyright of his own song "Long As You Know You're Living Yours”
32. Who featured as a guest guitarist on the song “Time out of mind” on the album Gaucho ?
33. The song “My Rival “ was featured in which John Huston film ?
34. Following their break in 1981, where did Becker move to ?
35. During the 1993 reunion tour, Fagen introduced himself as Rick Strauss – as what did Becker introduce himself ?
36. Which 1996 tour was their first to Europe for 22 years ?
37. What was the title of their four grammy award winning 2000 album ?
38. On which song from the Everything Must Go album did Walter Becker sing his first lead vocal on a studio album ?
39. Which jazz festival did Steely Dan play during the 2008 Think Fast tour ?
40. Which song on Two Against Nature won a grammy for Best Pop Performance by Duo or Group with Vocal ?

I think there’s gotta be a chance of a couple of these at least coming up. We’ll find out on Friday.