Gay Talese: The shirt maker is called “Addison on Madison,” but they’re not on Madison; they used to be.
Donald Fagen: Wow. I remember, I used to go to that store, too.
Talese: There’s nothing like that today.
Fagen: Nothing can be done, although I do take an interesting anti-depressant that's helped a little bit.
Talese: I watched him taking walks in Las Vegas as he went to casino to casino – the scenes of his gambling, going to a prizefight in Las Vegas.
Fagen: It’s easier. You can’t even react to anything.
Talese: I never do any of that. There’s no freedom there.
Fagen: Yeah, for sure, for sure.
Talese: We had expense accounts.
Fagen: The ideal now is to become some kind of android or a robot, and if kids don't fit into a certain pattern, then they have to make all of these labels up and then try to correct them.
Talese: That’s a different set of rules.
Fagen: That’s very observant.
Talese: I mean, it’s like going to Kentucky Fried Chicken or having pizza sent in.
Fagen: Yeah, it's something in the air now.
Talese: I’m not making it up, but I sound like I’m making it up which is what I want to achieve the lack of believability initially on the part of the reader wondering how this guy knows this much; does he make it up.
Fagen: I guess with me, at this point, the style kind of takes care of itself.
Talese: I like the cut, very continental cut, very distinguished.
Fagen: Oh yeah, me too.
Talese: It’s all a matter of getting outside yourself.
Fagen: Right, I've been trying to figure that out for years.