Kalamazoo Central Band Camp Rocks Out
Kalamazoo Central Band Camp Rocks Out
By Cait O’Leary
Kalamazoo Central High School has a rich history of music.
From being the first traveling public high school band in the state of Michigan in 1906, to the personal direction of John Philip Sousa in the 1930’s, K Central’s fairly new inclusion, the marching band, is out to prove that the music has changed, but the talent continues.
This year the K Central marching band will be performing the music of 1980’s new-wave rock phenomenon Duran Duran. The marching band is working hard during summer band camp to perfect their show, hoping the community will come to watch what they’ve worked so hard to achieve.
Daniel Stout, the band director at K Central for 7 years, feels at home from the top of his wooden watchtower, getting an eagle-eye-view of the band during the summer mornings of camp. Hyped up on coffee and excited about seeing the band progress, he says, “I think of the movie Remember the Titans, when Denzel Washington walks out on the field, sniffs the air and says ‘Ah, this is my place.’ I feel like that every year we come out here. I get up on that tower for the first time and I look around, and I love this side of it so much.”
Unlike the movies, not everything is perfect at the end of two hours. In fact, the students are up every weekday to be on the practice field by 8 in the morning, many of who practice with their sections well into the evening.
Not only do they have to memorize the music for all of the songs, they have to learn to work as a team and perfect marching formations.
The marching band plays at festivals/competitions and during halftime of home football games throughout the fall semester. Bringing home medals, and putting on a good show is a great motivation to the students.
Just like in sports, K Central band members have a school that they’re out to beat. Stout says, “Competitively, I would say most of the kids are gunning for Mattawan. Mattawan has such an outstanding tradition for so many years, and they march at such a high level, and play at such a high level.”
Though Stout and his band would like to sweep the competition, he adds “You do your best job, and let the scores fall where they may. If we happen to score well and bring home some hardware then it’s just an added bonus.”
Whether playing the melody, harmonizing with other instruments, keeping rhythm, or adding visual flare to a show each section faces its own challenges.
Tory Johnson plays the tenor drums in the battery percussion section. As a percussionist, he says, “It’s something that I’ve always had a passion for. It’s something that has always made me feel good about myself.
Being the backbone of the band you really have to have rhythm and keep tempo well. There’s often times a drum major will get offbeat a little bit and drum line has to pick them back up into it.”
Johnson also says, “It’s always a challenge having someone bossing you around when you know you’re doing the right thing.”
Katelyn Sutton, a trombone player of the senior class, has seen it all when it comes to band camp, and agrees with Johnson adding, “You have to be able to listen very well. Especially as a freshmen, you need to learn to take direction and to stand up for yourself if you know you’re right and someone is telling you different.”
Lindsey Ritchie, a color guard member of the senior class enjoys her position, “We get to look cute and everyone sees us more than they can find individual people in the band” but adds that color guard is more than just cute, saying, “It’s really hard to twirl and march at the same time. It takes co-ordination and a lot of patience.”
Even though band members have a somber demeanor, sincere focus, and blend in with the other hundred-plus students in uniform when taking the field, they still get stage fright.
Sutton says, “My freshmen year before our first football game I was nervous. My section leader told me ‘You think this is bad, wait for festival.’ It’s always nice seeing the freshmen freak out at festival because you remember it so well yourself.”
Though Sutton’s nerves have calmed through the years, Johnson says he always gets nervous before a performance, “I’m kind of known for having to pee as we’re walking out on the field.”
Sometimes the nerves show up the night before, as Ritchie explains her pre-show bobbles, “During practice, the night before festival, I tripped over my flag and landed on my butt on the ground, and just sat there for 20 counts.”
Band camp is not all work and nerves, however, it’s also a time to bond with peers. Johnson says, “It’s a great time to hang just hang out and get to know your friends a little more and get to know new people. You haven’t seen your friends all summer and you get to see them for two weeks a good eight hours a day.”
Sutton describes some of the traditions that keep band camp a fun summer activity, “We have Crazy Olympics which is random events like egg toss, tug of war, cupcake eating contest. Next week we have spirit week which has anything from 80’s day to opposite sex day, to every section has a color.”
Ritchie says that the color guard has a tradition of its own, “We have guard sisters, and we each have a sister who before certain games or certain competitions we bring them a gift.”
Stout tries to keep the kids in good spirits too, “I make occasional jokes, make fun of myself, throw the occasional jab out to a kid as well and they’ll return the favor. I have no problem with that as long as they don’t cross the line.”
Band members agree that being with friends is wonderful, and so is competing when the show just comes together. Stout’s favorite competition is in Otsego, “I like Otsego, because it’s local. There are always great bands that compete there and the stadium is always packed.”
Stout adds that people might be surprised to see how marching bands have changed, “I think more than anything else we’d like to get people out to see what bands are doing these days. Marching band is a lot different then it was in the 60’s and 70’s. People would really love what’s happening if they went out to see it.”
Good luck with your performances K Central marching band, and remember the lyrics of Duran Duran as you take the field, “You know you’re something special and you look like you’re the best.”
Courtesy Kalamazoo Weekly
Filming Working for the Skin Trade
Hi Katy,I have a question with regards to the concert release of “Working for the Skintrade”. The one that has 9 songs. Could you tell me where it was recorded? From looking at the audience, it looks like it was some where in South America i.e. Brazil but I wasn’t sure. Plus Simon saying “Adios Amigos!” at the end so perhaps it’s some place that speaks Spanish. Any info you have would greatly be appreciated. Thank you, Quynh
“We believe it was in San Diego; however, don’t be mislead by Simon speaking in Spanish or Portugese - he tends to do it every 7th day of the month! The Band”
New Blog from JT….
A Blog from JT (Breathless)
Wednesday June 12. Gela and I are driving north on the M5, bound for the Midlands. We take the Birmingham/Redditch road exit off the M42, and work our way south through Alvechurch. I know my way around these parts of the country like I know the lines on my face, or the groove to ‘Rio’. Directions are etched inside me, like I could never forget them. Turning off the Redditch road we head up a hill towards the village of Beoley. I tell Gela, this is the route my school bus took, every day. How pretty it is. It’s gloomy, and wet, of course (this is the English summer after all), but there’s a vivaciousness, a power in the nature of things here that the weather feeds. We slow down at the apex of the hill, and seeing a number of cars parked on the roadside, take a slow left turn onto the driveway of St Leonard’s church.
We are the last to arrive, and the service has already begun. The church is packed full. We find a pew next to Roger and Gisella. In the front row pew to our right sits Nick, with his Mom Sylvia, his daughter Taj and girlfriend Meredith. To Nick’s right I see Simon and Yasmin.
We have arrived at the funeral for Nick’s father, Roger, who died two weeks earlier, the day we were due to play the first of two concerts in New York’s Central Park. I had gotten a call from Davey at around four in the afternoon. It was the most upsetting news I had received in quite some time. Roger had been a Dad to me in my teenage years, the ‘anti-Dad’ if you like. Compared to the old stick in the mud I had to live with, Roger was lively, interesting, and had a hilarious sense of humour. I could hang with Roger for hours. While my own dad was (seemingly) emotionally AWOL, Roger was easier to communicate with. He was very encouraging of Nick’s and my enterprise and had continued to be a pal for many years of the band’s early life. When I came back to the band for the reunion I felt that something had changed with Roger and I, that he didn’t trust me the way he had once done, which is understandable I suppose. It wasn’t a big thing, but it was something I sensed anyway. It didn’t matter when I got the news of his death. All I felt was a massive tear rip through my guts, that something had been torn out from inside me, something I did not even know was there.
Of course for Nick I felt so upset. The news was completely out of the blue. He was in a state of shock, and to a certain degree, I think, still is. You never really come fully to terms with a parent’s death do you? How can you? All you can hope for is for them to have lived a lengthy, fulfilling lifetime, which for Roger, was certainly the case.
I sat with Nick as he gave the news to his daughter Taj, who had a wonderful relationship with her Grandpa, and my respect for him doubled, tripled, as I watched him navigate such difficult waters with love, and utmost care, like a jeweler making a clean cut through a diamond, most careful not to do any damage than what was unavoidable.
Nick played on that night, like I knew he would. There was never any question that he would, and that he would do it as the consummate professional that he is. His only reference was to Simon, before the show, asking that Simon make no mention of it during the show. He was not ready for that. Weeks later at Birmingham’s NIA we would dedicate our performance that night to the memory of Roger. By that time a certain amount of dust had settled, and we were able to touch the wound without causing too much pain, and talk about it.
Two days earlier, June 10 we were in Paris, to play a short set at The Louvre, underneath the glass pyramid (as seen in ‘The Da-Vinci Code’).
It was a fund-raiser for the ‘American Friends Of The Louvre’, a fellowship of wealthy Americans (mostly Texans, it seemed to me) that party like no one else I know, then spent amazing amounts of tax-free dollars on auction items such as ‘ a week at David Copperfield’s (the magician) Bahamian getaway’. Raising money for The Louvre, perhaps the most spectacular public collection of Western art anywhere. I don’t mean to sound cynical, I believe in this sort of fundraising. Museums like The Louvre and the National in London, the MOMA in New York have to have awfully deep pockets to compete with the Abramovitches of this world. I mean, who wouldn’t hang the ‘Mona Lisa’ on their own wall if they could afford it? All of us. So it’s super important that no one is able to buy it. Which means the Louvre has to stay super-fluid, in the home economics department.
We have done a lot of work for the rich and famous this year. Whether playing a corporate gig for Deutsche Bank or playing at the wedding of some super-rich Italian playboy, we seem to be one of the ‘go-to’ bands to bop to, whilst shaking your diamond earrings. After we had finished playing ‘Hungry Like The Wolf’ at The Louvre a sprightly Dame Peggy Ashcroft lookalike in the pit in front of Dom called out, ‘Stop the show, stop the show! Someone has lost a diamond!’
A far cry from the Rum Runner. Thinking this over in bed last night I was worrying myself, that we might be losing credibility with ‘the people’. I have always considered Duran a people’s band, despite what the press has made of us over the years as Thatcherite, Conservative, elitist etc…
I don’t think we are. I know that I’m not. I’m a working class kid that has made a career for myself out of music, without any formal music education. Eat that!
Here’s what I came up with in bed last night; Would a plumber turn down work in a wealthy house? Not unless he was a fool. If anything, the corporate work we have done this year has helped make us a better band. We are never far from a stage these days, even when we are not in a ‘touring cycle’. Which means that each of us, individually and as a group, keep our edge, or at least our edges don’t get to become quite so fuzzy as they do when we don’t do any live work for a year. For a musician work is good, period.
That same night in New York that Nick had to contend with his dad’s death we all spent some time with Mark Ronson. Smirnoff the vodka people had come to us in March with a proposal to play a concert in Paris. A one-off concert collaboration with Mark. Would we be interested? Well of course we would! Would Mark be interested we all wondered. Well yes, as it happened, he would too! And so began an interesting project quite unlike anything we had done before. Mark would basically create a DJ mix of his favourite Duran moments, and then we would play it, LIVE.
We had one or two phone conversations, Mark telling us ideas he had, how he felt ‘The Chauffeur’ and Blur’s ‘Song 2’ were so similar he envisaged the two mashed up, played simultaneously. ‘Crikey!’ we thought, ‘that sounds like fun!’ But will it stand up in court?
Willingness and Open-mindedness are the keystones of working a successful twelve step step program, and it turned out to be the best way to approach this Ronson gig. After a week off in LA following the New York shows, the band convened in Europe for a short week of shows, then rehearsals in London with Mark’s band. Did I mention that? We would augment the Duran live sound with Mark’s horn section, his string section, his percussionist and singers. Even his bass player would have something to say. How cool is that? You know me, I love having players on stage. I’ve never liked using programmed sounds or sequences where it’s possible to have breathing blood-pumping musos to boss around. The more the better. What was tricky was to forget the song arrangements that we have been playing night after night around the world on the RCM tour, and put in mind these new arrangements of Mark’s- where ‘Is There Something I Should Know’ would be interrupted by ‘The Valley’, where ‘A View To A Kill’s outro would stretch out for miles (about thirty two bars) and medley into the ‘Planet Earth’ groove.
What had been planned for thirty minutes of music ran into just over an hour. ‘I just can’t do it in half an hour’ bemoaned Mark, ‘it has to be at least an hour. There’s too much good stuff’. ‘Don’t you worry Mark’ said we, ‘The more’s the better!’ Until it came to D-Day of course, and learning all the frigging stuff. And you guys know just how much we love rehearsing…
I’m having a little joke. In actual fact I enjoy rehearsals. It’s the second most fun thing to do (having an audience to play to being the first) that I know. There was some concern in the ranks, getting Dom and Simon to relax and not worry, that it would all work itself out required some doing. In point of fact, when it came to the day, the one solitary day that we spent at our Hammersmith rehearsal location with Mark and his cohorts, it turned out to be one of the most fun days I have spent with my bass strapped to my skinny ass ever. Mark was just so pleasant to be around, and his ideas all held water. There wasn’t anything we had to drop, or alter in any major way.
I was most impressed with his guitar playing, which he played carefully, and thoughtfully, like the great producer he is. Everything he did was well considered. I seriously dug having second guitar chugging along on ‘Notorious’ and ‘Planet Earth’. He was nervous at first but we made him right at home. The ‘Bond Medley’ section he had built out of parts of ‘Goldfinger’, ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ and ‘You Only Live Twice’, before Simon was to enter singing the first verse and chorus of ‘A View To A Kill’ alone, with orchestra, was fantastico. And he played guitar along with his string medley like the brazen hussy he is. John Barry would have been proud, and I told him so.
It was our second visit to Paris in three weeks, and the performance at La Cigalle just blew by. After all the work that was involved, the time spent on stage seemed negligible. What counted was getting it right, for ourselves, for the crowd, and for the cameras from TV’s Channel 4. I think, looking back, we got it as right as it could be gotten. My favourite moment was playing Charlotte Gainsbourg’s ‘5.55’, the biggest French hit of the year, which I wanted to play for Gela, and medleying that into ‘Ordinary World’, then the final sequence of ‘The Chauffeur’, ‘Song 2’ and ‘Rio’.
When I take the time to read back these entries I write for DD.com I always think they should be subtitled ‘Breathless’. That is my writing style, if I have any, ‘Breathless’. Always running short of breath. Or so it seems to me when I read it. The 48 hours around the Cigalle gig with Mark, next night our biggest European show that summer at London’s O2 Arena were the busiest of our often hectic 2008 schedule. Everyone had been freaking out, saying ‘How are we going to remember the old arrangements, without some kind of ….rehearsal?’ ‘Don’t worry my sons’, I would tell them, ‘It shall be like slipping on a very familiar, favourite item of clothing’. And so it was. (I’m not always quite so right, but this time I was).
The O2 was a DREAM gig. The audience raised us up from bar 1, and carried us through to the end. It was by far and away our best gig of the year, and when we came off stage that night I allowed myself some pride at pulling off these two radically different yet both important performances, back to back, and doing it as well as we did. By the time I got to my bed that night I was ready for a day off.
ROCK BAND™ TAKES ON NEW WAVE WITH DEVO AND DURAN DURAN
ROCK BAND™ TAKES ON NEW WAVE WITH DEVO AND DURAN DURAN
Harmonix and MTV Games announced today the addition of tracks from New Wave pioneers Devo and Duran Duran to the Rock Band™ Music Store catalog of downloadable content. On August 19, Devo’s “Girl U Want” and “Through Being Cool,” and Duran Duran’s “Rio” and “Girls on Film” will make their music gaming debut.
Considered to be one of the most influential acts in pop music history, Devo originally formed in 1973 but didn’t find commercial success until the 80s with the help of their colorful music videos. Devo re-recorded exclusively for Rock Band, “Girl U Want” from their third studio album, the 1980 release, Freedom of Choice, and the synthpop hit “Through Being Cool” from their fourth studio album, New Traditionalists, released in 1981. These tracks join “Uncontrollable Urge”, from Q: Are We Not Men, A: We Are Devo!,which is featured on Rock Band 2’s disc.
Two-time Grammy® winning, New Romantic act Duran Duran joins the Rock Band DLC catalog with original master recordings of “Girls on Film” and “Rio.” “Girls on Film” is from their 1981 eponymously titled, multi-platinum album debut and most notably was one of the most banned music videos of its time. With “Rio” from their 1982 release Rio, Duran Duran found success in the music video age and their second hit in the U.S. One of the most commercially successful bands of the New Wave movement, Duran Duran have had 21 singles in the Billboard Hot 100 and have sold more than 100 million records worldwide. Duran Duran are also among the classic tracks on Rock Band 2’s set list, with their smash hit “Hungry Like the Wolf” standing out from a strong set of 80s songs.
Each track will be available for $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points) per track.
Rounding out the August 19th Rock Band DLC release schedule is the track “Get Your Rock On” from MTV’s The American Mall, an original made-for-TV musical airing this month. “Get Your Rock On” will be available for .99¢ (80 Microsoft Points).
Release date: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 (Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for Xbox 360)
Thursday, August 21, 2008 (PLAYSTATION®Store)
Tracks: Duran Duran* “Girls on Film”
Duran Duran* “Rio”
Devo** “Girl U Want”
Devo** “Through Being Cool”
Price: $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) per track
*(Both Duran Duran tracks utilize the original master recordings)
**(Devo re-recorded both tracks exclusively for Rock Band)
Tracks: The American Mall “Get Your Rock On”
Price: .99¢ (80 Microsoft Points)
(track utilizes original master recordings)
Locations: Xbox LIVE Marketplace and PLAYSTATION®Network
** Dates for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change **
Celebrity travel: Go away with Simon Lebon
With their telegenic good looks and lush music videos, which were filmed in such exotic locations as Sri Lanka, Antigua and France, Duran Duran helped put MTV on the map in the ’80s. More than two decades after the success of “Hungry Like the Wolf,” the British quartet is back with its new album “Red Carpet Massacre.”
“We were in a bit of a strange situation because our guitarist Andy Taylor kind of disappeared at the beginning of the recording session,” says singer Simon LeBon, 49. “But we regrouped and made a record that we’re very proud of.” Collaborating with Justin Timberlake on two tracks was a lot of fun, he says. “Justin came up with some incredible melodies and it was inspiring.”
LeBon says most of 2008 will be spent touring, but he looks forward to taking a vacation with his wife of 22 years, supermodel Yasmin, and their three daughters. Their destination: the Caribbean island of St. Lucia.
COME SAIL AWAY: I like to be on sailing boats and there’s something very special about sailing in the Caribbean. I’ve been to many islands, but St. Lucia has to be one of my favorite places in the world.
Related links
Celebrity travel: Go away with…
Famous South Floridians: Is there a celebrity in your neighborhood? Photos
Celebrity! Today’s hot celebrity shots Photos
WATER BABY: I’ve always loved the water. I used to do handstands in shallow water and walk on my hands. I learned to sail actually before I learned to swim at 11 or 12 years old. I’m not sure that’s the safest way to do things, but it worked out OK for me.
THE FULL MONTY: Yasmin and I had a great holiday sailing on Drum, which is the boat I have had a long history with, in the Caribbean. We pulled up to sunbathe in St. Lucia and were enjoying the day. The water was incredibly clear and blue and the sky was perfect. We’re lounging around and one of us is naked and the other is sort of naked and we were just having a great time immersing ourselves in paradise. Then it occurred to us that this enormous cruise liner had literally parked next to our boat and there were all these American tourists videotaping us. They didn’t know who I was. I think we just made quite the sight. And there I was just trying to get my bum brown…
WORKING ON VACATION: That’s not for me. I’ve never been one who thought that an album would be better if I jump-started it by working on songs while I’m with family on holiday. When I work, I work very hard. But family time is also very important to me.
ODD HOLIDAY HABITS: For some reason, I always go to the movies when I’m in Chicago. It’s just something that always happens. I’ll go visit the Water Tower, check out the shopping (on Michigan Avenue) and go to a movie!
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ST. LUCIA:
HISTORY: Once occupied by both the French and English, St. Lucia was ceded to the British in 1814. In 1979, it became an independent democracy within the British Commonwealth.
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: English, but many of the island’s inhabitants also speak French patois.
DRIVING: They drive on the left, just as Brits do in the United Kingdom. So look left, then right, and left again before crossing the street.
CELEBRITIES WHO VACATION IN ST. LUCIA: Robert De Niro, Oprah Winfrey, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, Nicolas Cage, Jimmy Page, Tyra Banks, Raquel Welch, Martha Stewart and Sylvester Stallone. Simon LeBon’s friend — the late Princess Diana — also loved this Caribbean gem.
CURRENCY: East Caribbean Dollar (EC$) ($1US = $2.69ECS).
TIME ZONE: St. Lucia is one hour ahead of Chicago.
To read more about St. Lucia, check out www.stlucia.org. For information about Duran Duran and their world tour, visit www.duranduran.com.
Courtesy Sun Sentinel
DJ RT
If you’re going to be in Ibiza at the end of August, check out Roger Taylor doing a DJ set at Pacha on August 24th, 2008. It is going to be a not-to-be-missed event!
The Girl in The Flame
The music video “The Flame” by Arcadia, is an all time favorite of mine, But Im so curious about the main female in the video, the one that slaps Nick and Simon in the end. She looks very familiar. Or was she just some random model? My best to you and thanks for any info you have!!!
“You are talking about the delectable Denise Lewis, who was there by design not accident. An American model, living in London at the time we shot the video, and with a little help from Antony Price, perfect casting for the role. NR”
Duran Duran Appreciation Day
According to quite a few reports in the press and on various myspace, facebook, bebo and fan sites, today is Duran Duran Appreciation Day. Every year this fact makes us smile. Thank you very much for “our” day.
We don’t know many other bands who actually have a National Holiday in their honour, and for this we are very grateful.
For those of you who came to a show, it was great seeing you - and for those of you that didn’t (or couldn’t), we hope to see you soon!
DD, 10 August, 2008
JT’s Whammy
I’ve a question for John that I’ve been meaning to ask … I noticed recently that he has a digitech whammy pedal in his rig. This is quite an unusual pedal for a bass player to use, being more often found in the arsenal of a guitarist. So, I was wondering which songs John uses it on. Thanks!
“Not often does I use it - the outro of “Notorious, ” sometimes jamming away on “Girls On Film”.. oh yeah.. second verse of “Come Undone” too. JT”
A Blog from Roger
I’m writing this from my home in London surrounded by half packed boxes …I’m moving house later this month but we have to get packed this week as the rest of August is earmarked for travel…some dj’ing and some holiday’ing …but alas we have finished the main legs of the RCM world tour and there is always a bitter/sweet feeling at the end of a long period of touring. On the one hand, you do want to be home with friends and family, but there is a sense of loss too, a moment in time has gone forever and the feeling of being a team on the road has gone for a while, along with that nightly connectionwiththe audience and the instant gratification that brings. They say that the need to become a performer is born in a feeling of insecurity and the complex of inferiority, so the need for that gratification is much higher. I think it’s true and definitely something Freud would have agreed
with completely!
There is talk of more dates later this year, so maybe we will be out there again before we know it.
I think it has been logged on these pages before, but one of the greatest things about the tour has been the record player in our dressing room, its created such a great vibe before and after the show, and has brought out the ‘vinyl trainspotter’ in us all. It can be a surprisingly muted atmosphere backstage, but this has really been a change for the better.
As you know, the low point of the tour was hearing that Nick’s father had passed away only hours before our first show in Central Park. The news really shook us all to the core as Roger had always been such an important influence and supporter of the band since day one. And absolute respect to Nick for being able to go ahead and perform those shows under such duress, I’m not sure if I could have done the same.
Despite the set back, the tour really did finish with a bang in Malta and Italy never ever disappoints…Viva Italia!
There is also already talk of new material in the air…so watch this space while I go back to my
packing!
Rt x
TV Alert (UK)
Tune on for repeat airings of Duran Duran vs Mark Ronson!
Tune in at 00:50 on Sunday 3rd August, repeating an hour later on Channel 4 + 1.
Maltese bread and jellyfish leave their mark on Duran Duran
“If you could judge a country’s wealth from its bread, Malta would have to be the richest,” says Duran Duran’s bass guitarist John Taylor, just after the band’s concert, which surpassed two hours and had the crowd going wild at the Luxol Ground on Saturday.
Backstage after the show - the last leg of their Red Carpet Massacre European Tour that kicked off in March - the four original members, who have withstood the test of time, were unwinding and enjoying the satisfaction of the feedback they received from their audience.
The English pop rock band, which had made it biggest in the 1980s, attracted a crowd of about 8,500 - not quite what Bryan Adams had seen last year when he performed to the largest-ever rock audience. But numbers are not the issue and the group was impressed by the response and energy of the tight audience, which they wished they could “wrap up and take with them wherever we go”.
Discussing the show between them, band and crew said the Malta crowd had outdone their open-air Italy shows, including their penultimate performance in Calabria to 50,000.
It was their older and more familiar tracks that had the audience in a state of euphoria, belting them out at throat-harming pitches and sweating it out to the beat.
Seductive Come Undone - according to Simon Le Bon appropriate for the venue, Malta having struck him as an island of holiday romance - Planet Earth and The Reflex were among the first of the golden oldies to be played, transporting the audience back in time to relive their teenage crushes when Duran Duran reigned supreme.
A carpet of mobile phones, lit simultaneously, enhanced the atmosphere created by the popular Save A Prayer, while the anticipated Wild Boys had the expected effect on the crowd, and the band, despite their age, gave it all they had.
Malta provided a relaxing setting for Duran Duran, which can now enjoy a hard-earned, two-month break, barring a couple of corporate gigs. It was the ideal spot to close off the tour after months of travelling, and Simon Le Bon said on stage that it was hard to drag Nick Rhodes out of the bar to the concert that evening.
The band dined in restaurants in the St Julians area and spent the day on a boat in Blue Lagoon on Friday, where they managed to find a secluded spot away from the crowds - an outing that was only slightly marred when John Taylor was stung by a jellyfish.
Standing stiff after a full-on show that saw Simon Le Bon being what he was when the 1980s afforded him teen-idol status, the singer admitted he was in agony from back pain and had had to lie down, call a doctor and get a Voltaren injection just before hitting the stage.
But hit it he did, and running, looking on form and showing the Wild Boys to be wild as ever and still able to whip up the wildness of the crowd.
He emerged for the Rio encore draped in a Maltese flag that organisers said was requested and had to be procured at the 11th hour.
“Pain is like that,” Simon Le Bon, accompanied by his stunning, supermodel wife Yasmin, explained. “It is very much in the mind… You just get overcome by other distractions like being on stage and you forget about it,” he said, back in discomfort, the adrenaline rush being over.
Thinking about having to pack his bags the following morning - “I don’t travel light and I don’t have anyone to do it for me” - John Taylor said he believed Duran Duran was here to stay. “When we turn 60, we’ll get a bunch of 20-year-olds to replace us!”
Meanwhile, they have continued to move with the times - their electronic set, with its DJ vide, in the second half of the concert showing their innovative approach, although John Taylor candidly maintained that it should be more interactive and sought feedback on how it went down.
Introspectively stepping back in time, he tries to figure out how and why he got into music and, more specifically, the bass guitar.
“I picked up my guitar to warm up before the concert and I wondered how long I would continue playing it for,” he remarked out of the blue on the lonely instrument that is more of an accompaniment, modestly saying that he also dabbles in keyboards and piano and probably gets more pleasure out of those.
“I have a piano with headphones at home so I can play and no one hears me,” he said, speaking like an amateur and not the veteran that he is, having been in the music scene since 1978 and tasted years of fame and success.
Courtesy Tims of Malta
Sweet…
Hello DD, I wonder if you can remember anything about, sharing the bill with Sweet in 1981. It was the 4th of january at the Lyceum.They were now a three piece, without Brian. But, what I really wanted to know, why the hell did Slade have more no.1’s and more LP’s in the charts than Sweet in the UK? Everywhere else like Germany, Scandinavia and the US, Sweet rightfully did better. best wishes, Poppa Joe
“Remarkably, I do remember being on a bill with The Sweet, tho I didn’t see them perform that evening. Both of the Glam Rock combos were extremely successful in the UK during the 70s, but I couldn’t possible explain to you who had more hits or why that was the case, but Steve Priest did wear a rather fetching cape and Noddy Holder sported a resplendent top hat adorned with mirrored discs. I believe these were the defining factors between the two groups. NR”
New Wave’s ‘wild boys’ now middle-aged men and wilder
New Wave’s ‘wild boys’ now middle-aged men and wilder
By Neil Ray Ramos
Duran Duran returned to Manila recently and proved to fans that they still got what it takes to stir everyone up on their feet and dance.
A major player in what was then known as new wave in the ’80s along with other groups from the United Kingdom like The Culture Club and Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran spawned hits that topped the charts not only in London but in New York, Los Angeles, and other cities across the globe.
It was also about the time that MTV was fast gaining popularity among teenagers whose taste for music had considerably defined the kind of rhythm and beat that became hits on the radio.
The rapidly advancing technology on all fronts, and the globalization of music and fashion had contributed to Duran Duran’s popularity.
The recent visit, which was the second time for the band, was highlighted with what many fans had been waiting for all these years—a concert.
Held at the Araneta Coliseum, the MTV sponsored event, which was also part of the groups’ Red Carpet Massacre World Tour, was a remarkably enjoyable, as the group did everything possible to relive their glory days as rock stars.
From the first number, the crowd saw what they had anticipated as Simon le Bon did the “wild boy” thing on stage that got everyone screaming in delight.
“I heard you really know how to have fun… you wanna have fun?” he shouted as the crowd replied in the affirmative.
Le Bon seemed physically fit to keep his heart beating okay with all the jumping and dancing and singing he was doing all throughout the show. The rest of the group had the same level of energy, playing like the screams were giving them some kind of a natural high.
Performing old and new hits, the crowd nearly went wild, including those that were noticeably a generation or two younger than the band.
Among the more popular songs the band played were “Hungry Like the Wolf” (opening it with the question, “Are you feeling hungry?”), “The Reflex,” “Planet Earth,” “New Religion,” “A View To A Kill” and “Notorious.”
The auditorium reverberated with a mass chorale of sorts as the audience sang along with the band in each of the song performed.
There were a couple of memorable moments. One was when the band was playing “Save A Prayer” during which time Le Bon tried to fool the audience by strumming a guitar—but he was obviously out of sync and the chords he was doing were impossible to make out.
Another was when Le Bon asked the crowd to “smile” saying that, “Nick [Rhodes, keyboardist] was going to take your picture.” Successive bright flashes of light accompanied by continuous clicks like cameras clicking simultaneously introed the groups hit, “Girls on Film.”
Each member also did a spot including the guitarist, the sax player and the sexy black back-up singer. The crowd was somehow a bit quiet when the band played the newer songs, content on giving the group a polite applause. Among the new stuff the band played was “Red Carpet Massacre,” “The Valley,” “Nite Runner” and “Falling Down” (which Le Bon proudly announced as the band’s collaborative effort with their new friend, Justin Timberlake).
Naturally, there was the expected encore. Wisely choosing to end on a high note, the group did “Rio,” an older song from their past album.
When the band finally did their final bow, bassist John Taylor was obviously touched with the continued applause, commenting, “we should come back more often.”
(Enough already!…IVRed)
Durable Duran Duran
Durable Duran Duran
The four remaining members of the original fantastic five are showing that they and their music have stood the test of time admirably. Justin Camilleri discovers that they also have an intrinsic film connection.
Indeed these Brummie lads have certainly come a long way from playing in their hometown of Birmingham, to touring the world in sold- out concerts.
A film student would argue that the band has an inbred disposition to motion pictures that falls either in the category of the cult or adventure genre. Not many know this but the band’s name is derived from villain Dr Durand Durand in the cult science-fiction film Barbarella starring Jane Fonda. The part is played by Irish actor Milo O’Shea in the title role (who also played Friar Laurence in Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet). Not to mention that some of the band’s early gigs were staged at a nightclub called Barbarella’s, in Birmingham.
In fact, back in 1984, the band collaborated with Highlander director Russell Mulcahy on Arena, a concept concert video that spoofs the origins of the band name with Milo O’Shea reprising his role as Dr Durand Durand in a sequence of events that sees the evil doctor wanting to play havoc on the band that stole his name.
The influences of Barbarella are inherent all throughout Duran Duran’s career as the band has continually used film and sound clips from Barbarella interspersed throughout their videos, most notably in Wild Boys (1984), Burning The Ground (1989) and the re-mixes for Violence Of Summer (1990) and Electric Barbarella (1997).
From then on the band’s collaboration with Russell Mulcahy was strengthened as they worked together on a string of videos that defined the 1980s; from 1981’s Planet Earth to My Own Way and Lonely In Your Nightmare. 1982’s Hungry Like the Wolf, in particular, evokes the atmosphere of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) with lead singer Simon Le Bon donning the quintessential Indiana Jones fedora while pursuing a jungle-like woman from the Sri Lankan city marketplaces, through battling wild beasts and escaping booby traps in the jungle, culminating into an almighty chase.
During the same period, director Russell Mulcahy and the band also filmed the Save A Prayer music video against a backdrop of Sri Lankan temples, beaches and jungles.
The Rio music video set the blueprint for things to come, thus moulding the band’s image as it merged fast-paced camera shots, around a yacht speeding over the Caribbean Sea, showing off the latest haute couture as the band members wore Antony Price suits.
With a budget of $1 million, the music video’s set design filled one entire end of the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios. Due to the immense popularity of George Miller’s Mad Max series starring Mel Gibson, it’s hard to deny the film’s influence on this music video. From the opening post-apocalyptic setting of school desks, with youngsters breathing fire, this evokes Tina Turner’s colony of children from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. At the end of the video, Barbarella buffs will be quick to spot none other than Dr Durand Durand (O’Shea), himself laughing as if he is taking over the world.
Literary enthusiasts will cite another influence, namely American novelist William S. Burroughs The Wild Boys: A Book Of The Dead. At the time Mulcahy, who was interested on making a film adaptation of the novel, suggested that the band might compose a modern soundtrack for the film in the same way that Queen would helm the immortal rock soundtrack for Mulcahy’s Highlander (1986). So in a way The Wild Boys music video was Mulcahy’s precursor, demonstrating to the studio bigwigs his vision to adapt Burrough’s novel for a film that eventually was never made.
At its time The Wild Boys music video made the headlines for Simon Le Bon’s near death experience as he was strapped to the spinning windmill which immersed his head beneath the water with each rotation. He supposedly found himself in real difficulty when the windmill stopped with his head underwater. Subsequently, the band went on to scoop the award for Best British Video at the 1985 Brit Awards.
Back in 1985, the band would also lend their talents to a James Bond film. If 13 is an unlucky number for some it proved very effective for the band as their 13th single, A View to a Kill, reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100; and till this day it is the only James Bond theme to have achieved such a high spot on the charts.
The music video directed by the duo Godley & Creme (who also directed their 1981 video Girls on Film) utterly spoofs the Eiffel Tower chase sequence in a tongue-in-cheek manner, where the band members, who play the role of spies who came in from the cold, find themselves on top of the Tower while Roger Moore is pursuing Grace Jones. While the band members shoot at and spy upon the events taking place Simon Le Bon uses a portable cassette player to set off a series of explosions in different locations around the world. Parodying James Bond, Le Bon ends the video introducing himself as “Bon. Simon Le Bon”.
The 1986 Notorious album period was a very difficult time for Duran Duran as their success had started to wane, with band members citing creative differences taking their toll. The band would refer to Notorious as their Alfred Hitchcock-inspired album because the compilation contained a number of tracks titled after Hitchcock classic movies. In addition to the album and lead single named for the picture Notorious, there was also Vertigo and Rope, the original title for Hold Me. The Notorious single was a massive hit when it was first released and was also used in the cult film Donnie Darko (2001).
German expressionistic films play an important key influence in Duran Duran’s videos, quite notably in Out of My Mind, which features in The Saint motion picture soundtrack. If one looks attentively at the characters, on display the video seems like a more distorted psychedelic version of the original version of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari with Le Bon in full prosthetic make-up as a cross between Werner Krauss’s Dr Caligari and Conrad Veidt’s Cesare.
Despite Le Bon not having starred in any motion pictures or TV series, his colleagues have acted out in numerous TV series and independent films. For instance John Taylor made his first film appearance as The Hacker in the pilot episode of Timeslip, a 1985 TV programme that did not manage to spawn a series.
Taylor would also lend his talents into writing singles for motion picture soundtracks. Do What I Do… was a 1986 single written for the erotic drama 9½ Weeks.
In contrast with Taylor, Nick Rhodes has only one small guest appearance (in voice only) as a Canadian bomber pilot in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.
Back in their heyday, Duran Duran were also a fashion statement. The Fab Five at the time oozed coolness, performing on stage and dressing up in bright stylish fashions that reflected the more glitzy feel of 1980s’ pop culture. In fact, the band had such a tremendous effect on men’s fashion at the time that they brought to life the “T-shirt under pastel coloured suit” style which became the fashion statement with young men.
There is no denying that the 1980s’ boy band are back with a vengeance, making us take heed as well as taking us on a final trip down memory lane.
Courtesy Times of Malta
The Wild Boys are here
English pop rock band Duran Duran landed in Malta yesterday, a few wrinkles and kilos more than when they first met fame three decades ago but still the Wild Boys are out for a laugh and “excited” to perform at what they described as the “big outdoor event” at Luxol Grounds tomorrow.
But clichés apart, Simon Le Bon, John Taylor, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor, the near-complete, original line-up, who had teenage girls crying and screaming at their feet in the 1980s, had journalists in fits as they shunned any element of seriousness, passed hilarious comments that diverted questions and took the mickey out of each other at Malta International Airport.
Simon Le Bon, in shorts and barefoot - a far cry from the ruffles and sashes of the band’s initial New Romantic look - hides his feet when asked about the style aspect of the band, which has been part of the package throughout their career. But John Taylor is quick to put his white, comfortable Crocs on display, dispelling any notion of style.
A quarter of a century has passed since they graced the cover of every teenage magazine, but they reckon they can rekindle the former crushes of today’s 30-somethings: “Just give us half a chance, baby,” says John Taylor in a humorously seductive voice, standing up and stepping over the table in slow motion towards the cameras.
On a serious note, Roger Taylor explains that Duran Duran appeals to a cross-generational audience. “We have people who were into the band when they were teenagers and come back to relive their youth, but we have also picked up fans along the way from the 1990s, and working with Justin Timberlake (on their latest album Red Carpet Massacre) has attracted the younger generations.”
The appeal of songs like Wild Boys, View to a Kill, Save a Prayer, Reflex, Notorious and New Moon on Monday somehow spans the generations, appealing to youths and their parents alike.
Categorically denying any nostalgia for the good old days, when they were mobbed by hysterical female fans, Simon Le Bon says: “No, we’re just forward-looking, determined and concentrated,” with a hint of sarcasm.
Duran Duran formed in 1978 and began to achieve worldwide recognition in 1982, with over 70 million records sold throughout their career, 18 US hit singles and 30 UK top 30 tunes. The reunion of the original five members in the early 2000s created a stir among the band’s fans and music media.
As regards plans to retire, having moved in and out of the music scene for the last couple of decades - with breaks, experiments and changes in the members along the way - they seem to like the sound of the word and mull the thought over. “I tell you what: We could all do with a good holiday!”
But the reality is: “You would think it was harder, after a quarter of a century, to find new ideas, but it isn’t,” says Nick Rhodes.
“What keeps us to together is the fact that we’ve made good music together and we’ve had a lot of fun together,” chips in Simon Le Bon.
Their 2008 Red Carpet Massacre European Tour, which began in February, ends in Malta tomorrow, their last performance in Calabria on Wednesday being a “spectacular” show for some 50,000 people.
But they want the Luxol concert, organised by NnG Promotions, to live up to and “exceed” their Italy experience, hoping it would be as memorable.
Following five months of touring, their set has been fine-tuned. “We feel it is the best possible overview of our career; of our favourite songs. It is important that everyone leaves kind of satisfied; it’s hard to please everyone. But we’ll be playing songs from the new album and plenty of older ones, so I think everyone is going to be happy,” says John Taylor.
Part of their popularity was also based on their pretty-boy looks… “Was?”, Simon Le Bon questions.
“I resent that,” John Taylor retorts, standing up. But Roger Taylor brings in the serious element once again, agreeing that they have proven the critics wrong. “Our songs have withstood the test of time.”
John Taylor carries on: “I still think Roger’s very handsome… from a distance.”
He gets the opportunity to drive his feigned sore point home at the end of the press conference when asked what it takes to outlive early contemporaries and remain around for such a long time.
“Not just a pretty face!”
Courtesy Times of Malta
Duran Duran ‘excited’ to be in Malta
The ever popular band Duran Duran arrived in Malta this afternoon for their first ever concert in Malta on Saturday.
The members of the group - the original line-up of Simon Le Bon, John Taylor, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor - were given an enthusiastic welcome by a small roup of fans and paused to sign autographs.
The ‘boys’ said they were excited to be performing in Malta for the first time, seeing it as a fitting follow-up to their successful concerts in Italy. Their last concert, in Calabria, drew 50,000. While in Malta they also intend to take a short break.
The concert, at the Luxol Grounds, forms part of the band’s successful Red Carpet Massacre tour
Ira Losco and Tony Moore will provide the backing acts.
Duran Duran have been brought to Malta by NnG Promotions Ltd.
Courtesy Times of Malta
Distinctive “Union of the Snake”
Hi Katy
I’ve always loved this song, especially the intro & middle 8 section. Can you ask Nick how it came about because it’s very distinctive & complicated sounding. What inspired it / was any of it a lucky accident & was it easy to make those sounds? Regards, Kevin
“The creation of “Union of the Snake” coincided with my discovery of the Fairlight synthesizer, and that song probably illustrates the initial experimentation as the new toy was taken out of its box. I spent many hours creating new tones and trying to comprehend the outer limits of the sound spectrum the Fairlight provided. The Intro and the Middle 8 of “Union of the Snake” is the sound canvas painted in several layers by that instrument. NR”
A Blog From John
We had a day off in Atlanta that Friday, and when I opened the curtains I knew two things. One, that I had to take it slow and easy if I didn’t want this sore throat to turn into something ugly, and two, I just had to get outside into that beautiful Georgia day, with its sullen warmth, and do something. I couldn’t stay in my room all day, but I stay away from too much excitement, for want of a better word. Perhaps the one does contradict the other in hindsight, but there you go.
Did I tell you that we have all become vinyl obsessed since Nick suggested getting ourselves a record player for the dressing room? I know that I have mentioned it and I am pretty sure that Nick has written something about it that appears on the site somewhere else.
Atlanta has to be a great place to find old soul albums, and second-hand classics generally, so I Google up a couple of places that are a taxi ride away, and take Craig and Davey with me off on an oldies hunt. To say that it was a success would be an understatement. To say that the day’s purchases helped change the course of my listening habits would not be. I pulled out a lot of great shit, as did they both. From Isaac Hayes to the Village People, from Cheech and Chong to David Essex, our vinyl procurements knew no bounds, ‘And look, it’s only a dollar!’ was Craig’s catchphrase of the day.
That night, with one eye on The Lakers, I was talking to wifey back home. We had been obsessing over what we should get Jef Levy for his fiftieth birthday. Jef is the husband of Pam, Gela’s partner in Juicy, and he is perhaps the most generous person I know. One of those people who will never let you pay the cheque (my favourite kind of person), he is also an extremely creative gift buyer. For my last birthday he bought me a made-to- measure three-piece suit!
So here we are mulling it over, ‘got to get him something special… etc…meanwhile sitting in the corner is a large cardboard box containing maybe a hundred vinyl platters, some kitsch, some important, and some hilarious, and I get to thinking…
I decide to start researching albums that were released in1958, the year of Jef’s birth, and on right up until the present year, with the purpose of choosing something that has some significance for me, and hopefully for Jeffrey too. I spend the next few early hours of that Saturday morning getting a first draft rough list together. Elvis for ’58, Miles Davis’ ‘Kind Of Blue’ for ’59 and on through The Beatles, The Stones and Motown, Led Zep and Prince, right up to Nirvana, Lauryn Hill, The Strokes and Radiohead. And yes, I did place ‘Rio’ for 1982…
I whisk off an email to my old chums Mike and Gareth at Swordfish in Birmingham. They were the fuckers who introduced me to ‘premium vinyl’ in the first place. I would leave the nuts and bolts of the procuring to Mike, that was the least he could do! Wherever available I should get a new copy of the album. If it was a crucial release that had not yet been reprinted I would have to find a second-hand copy somehow.
I awoke next morning to several return emails from him, in varying degrees of excitement and frustration. I could tell he was into it though, despite how much work would be involved. He was all of a flutter.
He came back to me right away with some revisions, based in part on what Swordfish had in stock, and also albums he felt were necessary. He had a mint second hand copy of ‘Fly Me To The Moon’ by Frank Sinatra he suggested for ’58, which I would never have considered, but which would make a terrific opening year, and he insisted that John Coltrane’s ‘Love Supreme’ must be in at ’64. Had it been up to him he would have had two Coltrane offerings but I felt that one was enough. You may discuss that amongst yourselves. He also suggested James Brown’s ‘Live at The Apollo’ and the Lou Reed/John Cale ‘Songs For Drella’ tribute for Andy Warhol to close the ‘80’s out at 1990, a rather tender and inspired choice I thought. He suggested ‘Brothers in Arms’ (Dire Straits album with the MTV ‘micro-wave oven’ song on it) for ’85, reluctantly I acknowledged the significance of that. Already we had problems however; Alannis Morissette and Lauryn Hill were ‘impossible to find’ according to Mike, ‘Out of print for years,’ he said.
“We’ll see about that, “ I thought to myself. It was time to draft in the e-bay secret agent Patty Palazzo.
Needless to say this one would run and run, at least for the next two weeks, which is how long I had to Jef’s birthday. If I could have I would probably have dedicated my every waking breath to this project from this point on had I not had a day job, but there was a show to play that night. Hair had to be washed, fingers to be warmed up, children had to be called, I could not disregard the world around me just because this silly idea had got me by the throat. Also a special case would have to be found. I wonder… would Louis Vuitton have a record carrying case? Another task for agent Palazzo…
From Georgia we ran down to Florida for a few days, based out of Palm Beach. This is where I have to get a Doctor in. He prescribes me some meds and tells me that whilst I continue to smoke (any amount, even the two or three I have most evenings) I am going to keep getting recurring bouts of throat ailments, which I do. So for now, NO SMOKING.
From Florida we head up to Raleigh where we get to watch Man Utd beat Chelsea in the European Champions League final. The sporty members of the party (read: all except Nick) descend on a sports bar in a local mall to watch it. It’s not the greatest game of the season but it’s a fun outing for us all. Le Bon well chuffed when his mighty United haul off another massive win.
From Raleigh to Philly and my old mate Jimmy Pop who comes to see the show. Jimmy is one funny motherfucker. He’s deceptively smart too, with his greasy fingers in many greasy pies. Not just a master poet (‘The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire) or social commentator (‘the drummer from Def Leppard’s only got one arm’) he’s an all rounder. And it was good to see his skinny ass.
We fly out from Philly after the show down to Nassau Island, in the Bahamas. It’s been a long time since I had last been there, visiting Robert Palmer, who made the island his home for many years, during the making of ‘The Power Station’. When I last saw Robert he told me a funny story about myself that had always stuck with him. We had been driving the coast road from the airport to his house, and suddenly I had screamed, ‘Stop the car!’ and made the driver pull over onto the roadside. I had gotten out and ran towards what was, in essence, a tire store, called ‘The Wheel World’. “Here it is!’ I had exclaimed, excitedly,‘Every day someone says to me something like, ‘you don’t live in the real world,’ and I’m thinking, ‘what’s the real world?’ Well, now I know, here it is!…”
It was pretty funny at the time, and sweet that it had stuck with the old crooner. I miss that bastard. Thank god we had a moment in Tokyo, weeks before he died. He knew how important he was to me, and I to him. I miss him constantly.
The gig is on Paradise island and as part of our fee we get to spend several days R & R-ing at the hotel, enjoying the beach and the vibe. I’m still not feeling great and wake up late after getting to bed around 5am. I take a walk outside and the whole place is like being in an episode of MTV’s ‘Punk’d’ or something. Let me put it this way, my daughters would love it. Acres of tattoos, it was where I first heard the term ‘tramp stamp’ to describe those tattoos girls get at the bass of their spines (top of their ass…) I walk as far away from the festivities as I can get, onto a rock promontory that sticks out into the water, trying for some peace, some spiritual exchange with nature, and what happens? I get attacked by a gull. I’m serious, and so was the gull. That bird chased me down the beach like she was auditioning for a part in ‘The Birds; The Musical’. For a few moments it was downright scary. That was the last time I went looking for a little P & Q on Paradise Island. Davey was probably right, he said I must have gotten really close to its nest, and its eggs. Hell hath no fury like a woman whose eggs are in danger.
The gig is on the Saturday and quite honestly it felt like a blood bath. Meaning: we kill ‘em. STONE DEAD. The audience just isn’t expecting the full on DD live experience. I think they are more used to… what? I don’t know… playback appearances? Twenty minute sets by one hit wonders? That show was good to perform and I was glad to have it done with. Some of us were enjoying ourselves at the resort, and some of us were counting the minutes to departure time. Have I made clear which side of the bed I am sleeping on? Sunday was another day off and I drive up to Compass Point, where Chris Blackwell had his fabulous studio, and where Robert had lived. Much had changed. The studio, smashed in a storm. The apartment Robert had lived in now part of a small hotel and restaurant complex. The other significance Nassau holds for Duran is that of Alex Sadkin, producer of ‘Seven And The Ragged Tiger’, who died in a car accident on the coast road driving back to the studio one night. At one point in the road we took a sharp left bend, with the ocean to our right and I see a large wooden hand-made cross that has been erected. I don’t know where Alex had his accident, but seeing that cross took me by surprise and put a chill in me. I felt for certain that this was the place.
The next day rolls creakily into place and it’s time to get back to the mainland. We fly into Baltimore where we are met by our friend and colleague, Sony’s own ‘Leapy’ Lee Leipsner. The drive to our hotel seems to take forever, rattling around in some grotty van built for airport transfers. It’s enough to make you travel weary. My friend Bret from Studio City is in town with his family and he visits me in my room later that evening. It’s good to see someone from home. At this point on the tour I am getting somewhat in my head and need help getting out. I also get on the phone to my brother-in-law (and family physician) Steve Weiss, telling him my woes, that basically the antibiotic I got in Florida has done bugger-all, that I’m not sleeping, that I’m coughing up foul green stuff all day long and have a throat that feels like a pyre from ‘Burning Man’. Steve prescribes another, different antibiotic. Maybe that will work.
I meet Bret and his lovely family for breakfast on the morning of the show. I like Georgetown and take a walk with them up Main Street, buying a few books and the new Portishead CD, one for myself and one for Mr. Rhodes.
Have I mentioned that I dislike the word’ blog’? I guess one of the reasons I am sitting here, weeks after the D.C. Show day, in a hotel room a dozen miles from Venice, Italy, set to continue my reports of touring derring-do and double talk, is that I have some sort of belief that there is a central purpose to it, ideally one of enlightenment for both you and I. It might just be sheer vanity however, brought forth from many compliments I’ve received from those of you who have read what I have written so far. I don’t know, but whatever it is, ‘blog’ doesn’t make me want to rush to the page and share my feelings and experiences with anyone. Your thoughts, please?
Having gotten that out of the way, let us proceed. You were in Washington D.C., Georgetown precisely, and about to join Dom and Craig and myself for a drive south to the Merriweather Post venue. A famous venue in the neighbourhood, I’m glad it still survives, as it’s one of the few ‘indoor-outdoor’ venues that has real character. I first went there with Power Station in ’84 and I’ve been back several times since with Duran. Today we are hoping to beat the traffic out of town and it’s a miserly, sultry sort of early summer day, and I’m just glad it’s not August.
I have been wearing a t-shirt with Barack Obama’s face on it for our encores on this tour since Davey gave it to me in Illinois. It’s a cool design, by Shepard Fairey. I have a lot of love and respect for Obama and have sang his praises elsewhere on this site. As Nick said recently, getting him the presidency would be the best thing that could happen to America in a long time.
I had put it to the rest of the boys, in the van that night of the Chicago show, on our way to the venue,‘Would anyone mind if I wore an Obama shirt for the encore tonight?’ Nick had replied, ‘Not if you don’t mind potentially alienating 50% of the audience!’, he then went on to say, ‘Well, at least you’re letting people know what side of the fence you’re on’. In this case, there is only one right side of the fence, and that’s a left turn for my beloved adopted country, which has to have a change of leadership as soon as election day rolls around, and I truly believe we all should be grateful that a man as dedicated, idealistic and heartfelt as this one should make himself available and up to the task.
Stepping onstage in Illinois with a political statement on my chest felt a little weird as I had never done it before, and it didn’t seem too, well… rock n’roll… but it seemed right, particularly to be doing it in Obama’s backyard, and I haven’t looked back. At the Merriweather Post the audience went nuts!
I felt an extraordinary connectedness, almost a sense of relief from the people out there that I had made that choice. There was a palpable sense of love that went beyond the usual.
The D.C. gig was the highpoint, for me, of the US tour. From there we flew to Boston and then on to New York where we were to receive some news that was to rip the guts out of us all.
Powered by WordPress
