Donald Fagan, co-founder of Steely Dan, has a great article in Slate about Jean Shepherd,  the author and narrator of the Christmas movie classic "A Christmas Story."

Fagan reminisces about growing up in central New Jersey listening to "Shep" on WOR 710 on your am dial in the sixties. (Sounds familiar.)

He reflects on his parents not thinking much of that weirdo Shepherd, despite Shepherd and the parents probably being about the same age. (Check.)

He describes the difference between the 5 night a week studio Shepherd– intimate, personal, one-to-one) with the live performer– bombastic, a bit too loud, a bit too desperate for approval. (Yup. Listen to any of Sheherd's "live shows" from night clubs or college campuses.)

And he contrasts thye almost treacly sentiment of "A Christmas Story" with Shepherd's other works…his radio narratives, his PBS films on which "A Christmas Story" was modeled, even his "short story" collections based primarily on his radio stories. Unlike "Christmas Story", these had an "edge."

Deep down, the real Jean Shepherd was far more complex, his story far more bittersweet, and he perhaps far more bitter than he let on.

The internet is a wonderful thing. By its very existance, I know now that some of the longing and loss so appealling to me in Fagan's music (New Frontier, anyone? Deacon Blues?) comes from a source of my own view on life. Central Jersey in the early sixties, Jean Shepherd, cold war paranoia….

I wonder if he watched Soupy Sales.

For more on Jean Shepherd, go to the comprehensive Jean Shepherd tribute site, "Flick Lives."

Also, grab a copy of Eugene Bergmann's incredible analysis of Shepherd and his works,"Excelsior, You Fatheads." 
Yup, that's the title. It's a quote from the enigma himself.