A project to track and analyze, via mobile devices, Steely Dan-in-retail encounters. 

Imagine walking into a Rite Aid, pulling out your iPhone, and learning how many times Hey Nineteen has been played here, or learning that Dr. Wu (which features a strung-out junkie, BTW) once graced the audio backdrop at the prescription counter. Perfection and grace, indeed. 

In a very funny NPR interview   several years ago, Walter Becker -- one half of Steely Dan -- noted wryly, "It's universally agreed that our music is the best possible rock music to play in a supermarket."  In fact, it really is commonplace to hear a Steely Dan tune wafting down the aisles of a Home Depot, Thriftway, or Rite Aid. This phenomenon is bizarre enough considering that music so brilliantly written and executed has somehow landed in the harsh fluorescent milieu of retail; but what pushes it to the realm of the surreal is the fact that their always clever lyrics, delivered with dripping irony by other-half Donald Fagen, are densely populated with references to all manner of unsavory characters, e.g. drug dealers, pedophiles, addicts, pimps, the dangerously unhinged, general losers... you get the idea.  It even prompted a frozen food aisle epiphany for the great writer William Gibson, who related in a 2000 essay:

Do the people who program these supermarket background tapes have any idea what this song is actually about? On this basis alone I have always maintained that Steely Dan's music was, has been and remains among the most genuinely subversive ouevres in late-20th-century pop.

As a longtime Steely Dan fan this has been on my mind for many years.  I had my own epiphany on New Year's Eve 2006.   I walked into a busy PA State Liquor Store and found Deacon Blues playing, with patrons and employees apparently oblivious to the chorus "Drink Scotch whisky all night long / And die behind the wheel."  Then and there I determined that I must, somehow, initiate a worldwide tracking system to preserve this, and other golden Dan-in-retail moments, for posterity.  I set up a database and put a website together containing a form for people to input the when and where of their Steely Dan retail encounters.  

Fast forward to the creation of the ici mobile app. Geo-located data? User generated mobile content? Yes, ici and the Dantrack project are a match made in heaven.  Anyone and everyone is urged to contribute to this behemoth of truly significant data when they hear Steely Dan in public retail environments in one of four ways: Download the free "ici" app for iPhone and select "Input to report it on the spot;" online, submit to the Dantrack "channel" on icihere.com; email the details -- date, place, address, song, and notable circumstances to joan@yestheresgasinthecar.com; or post to the Dantrack wall on Facebook.

NOTE: To view Dantrack data collected so far from your iPhone, download the "ici" app, select Channel view, and then "Dantrack"; online, visit www.icihere.com, again selecting Channel view and clicking on "Dantrack."

Interested in Steely Dan's 2011 Shuffle Diplomacy tour? Read the my Huffington Post piece on the touring band here

In tough economic times, it is a sad reality that arts and culture are usually the first to hit the chopping block when government and foundations cut back on spending (never mind that any number of studies can show that arts funding spurs significant social and economic returns --  that's another discussion in itself).  The cruel irony is that this economic pinch coincides with a time of exponential growth in consumer-level mobile technology -- technology that cultural organizations in particular could harness to enhance programming, services, and audience outreach.    Audiences who are quickly adopting this technology are ready to be challenged and engaged in new ways, yet most arts organizations lack not only the money but the technical resources to keep up with this demand.    In ici's early planning stages, it was clear in our discussions with art programmers, administrators, and marketers that there is no shortage of need for innovative technology -- the stumbling block is simple lack of resources.

Thus came the decision to shape ici with the needs of the nonprofit arts and cultural community in mind, and also to support this community with dedicated channels within the ici platform at no-cost -- no strings attached.   The reward for ici is seeing our technology actualized at an optimum level by the most innovative users (early examples have included POST/Philadelphia Open Studio Tours 2010 & 2011 and Philagrafika 2010).   By helping creative organizations thrive and take advantage of exciting new technological possibilities, we are doing our part to promote the arts as a relevant -- and necessary -- component of a healthy society.