See photos from Steely Dan's show at the Durham Performing Arts Center.

Steely Dan opened its "Rent Party" tour Tuesday night in Durham, and it
was every bit as exacting as you would expect. Click through to see
the review -- and check the photo gallery.

Oh yes, we're gonna get some California love at the Condition.

This week, I'll be talking to two cats straight from the City of Angels. For today's edition, I talk with Glendale resident Dennis Cozzalio, keeper of the Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule blog. During this podcast, he learns the quickest way to my heart: start talking about movies from the '70s.

What was initially supposed to be a podcast about the cinematic storytelling of Steely Dan (I figured it would be appropriate since they'll be performing tomorrow and Cozzalio wrote a recent blog post about them) turned into Dennis and I rapping about the underrated film work of Don Siegel and Peter Yates, gushing about the genius of "Freebie and the Bean" and basically saying that the '70s was the grest movie decade EVER!!

Eventually, we do talk about Steely Dan, and we also have some final thoughts on the passing of David Carradine. I had too much fun doing this podcast. Hope you have as much fun listening to it.

Coming Friday: straight talk about the summer movie season from an L.A. insider, who talks me down off the ledge when we discuss a remake that shouldn't have happened. You can also download it here.

It's going to do me no good at all with the cool kids out there, but I've always loved Steely Dan (yes, I'm old). And they're coming to Durham in June. Click through for details, plus the inevitable back verbiage.

To most Americans nowadays, it's the biggest shopping day of the year. To real old-timers, it was the stock-market crash that brought on the Great Depression. But to those of us of a certain age, it means Steely Dan.