You gotta love the way things work in Atlantic City. Take a concert like Steely Dan at the Borgata on Friday. Sold out for weeks. So, naturally, when we walk up to the box office at 8:15 p.m. for the 8 p.m. show, the guy behind the counter smiles and says, "How about front row seats?" Hoo-kay. "Guy must not have wanted to leave the table," he says. Thank you, Mr. High Roller. We buy the seats (previous and intermittent connections to free seats having been at the moment severed, long story) and go inside. The usher looks at the seats, notes the location (front row, center, on the aisle) looks up expectantly and sees ... not who she was expecting to see. Anyway, we get escorted past our friends who bought seats weeks ago, down to the stage, where I am practically knee to knee with the security guard with his back to the stage, which is not necessarily where you want to be if you're me. Thank you for not letting me occasionally move over a few empty front row seats so I could see the drummer, Mr. By-the-Book Security. Anyway, watching Donald Fagen (above, from a New Orleans show) from a few feet away, and from below, is arguably way too close, but it was still cool, his voice sounded great, some lush backup by aces Cindy Mizelle and Tawatha Agee, and it was a great show, despite no Dr. Wu. That's an amazingly uniquely textured sound, and it just happens to be his. Sweet show. The point worth remembering, though, is it's never, or rarely, truly sold out in Atlantic City. They save so many seats to comp to VIPs that occasionally the VUP's like myself luck out. It's usually worth playing those last minute odds.

Previously on Downashore...