One of the things I love about playing in the band is the level of subs we’ve had. They always add a unique flavour to the mix. Because Steely Dan is popular amongst many musicians a lot of the tunes are familiar to them but they’re complex (even the ‘simple’ ones) and we appreciate the amount of work they put into coming in, sometimes just for a night, and not for a ton of dough. After I paid one smartass for his debut he said, thanks, that’s about five bucks an hour for all the work I put in it. But we’ve had him doing it a few times since so he’s up to about ten bucks an hour!

I thought I’d spend a few Covid down-time minutes by listing them, in appreciation of their talent and hard work. All took the time- OK, one didn’t, a jazz snob- to go over the charts we provided and came in prepared. Also for what they brought by dint of a fresh sense of humour: One fellow just killed the first set culminating with a fine solo in Aja. I said, great job, man, and good-looking, too! Without missing a beat, he said, yea, it’s tough being me. Perfect. Here’s a list of our subs, excluding former and present members, in no particular order. Check out their impressive resumes if you will. Apologies if I missed anyone- we’ve been doing this for a few decades.