Day Two - The Lords of New Romance

Day Two - Duran Duran

I loved Duran Duran as a confused 12-year-old and I still love them today. I am not ashamed to admit that John Taylor is the reason I insisted on playing bass guitar as a pre-teen. He's no Geddy Lee, but I still dig his playing - and the ruffled shirts. The walls of my bedroom were covered with pictures ripped out of magazines and giant posters I bought at The Union Market. Sadly, I discovered during my last trip home to NJ that the Union Market is now a Home Depot. There was an Indian food stall that had some of the best samosas I've ever had. Anywho, remember when you actually stayed home so you didn't miss the World Premiere of a video on MTV? Ah, those were the days. I won't bore you with too many installments of early-Eighties romantic pop, but here's one of the songs that started it all for me:

Duran Duran - Girls On Film



The MTV version was always edited, as far as I recall, so I was SUPER excited when my cool aunt in Cali sent me a copy of the VHS tape with the original and uncut version of the video. Good thing my dad never saw it (he wasn't exactly pleased when I rented Monty Python's The Meaning of Life and walked in on the scene in the high school classroom...). I think I have a picture of me with a Duran Duran shirt and a perm somewhere...I'll have to find that.

One more D2 story: When I was in 7th grade, a classmate of mine, Samantha D., had tickets to see Duran Duran at Madison Square Garden (they might have been box seats - her dad got them through his office). Even though I wasn't good friends with Samantha, she asked me to go with her because she knew how much I loved this band. Because the show was on a school night, my mom wouldn't let me go. I have not forgiven her to this day, even though I got to see many other concerts later due to divorce guilt). I never got to see Duran Duran live. I had another opportunity in my twenties when I lived in Hollywood and they were scheduled to play the Hollywood Bowl. Simon LeBon had some throat issues and they had to cancel the show at the last minute. Damn you mom and Simon LeBon!!!!

Enjoy!