G!MME A WR!STBAND readers were asked to describe John Taylor – 52 years young today – in just one word. Of course, it’s impossible to distill our feelings for such a multi-talented and complex human being, especially one that we all so deeply adore.  John is a brilliant musician, actor, husband, idol, father, friend and author, and we look forward to many more performances, experiences and milestones yet to come.

These are all of the words that sprang to your minds first, showing that it’s always more than just the music between us. Happy birthday, JT… thank you for sharing your daily celebration of life with us .

A short video surfaced yesterday of John Taylor recording the audio version of his upcoming book, “In The Pleasure Groove: Love, Death and Duran Duran.” I should warn you that the video is painfully cute, as he describes the scene of an early Duran Duran gig. “Seats are smashed, clothes torn, stretcher cases, breakdowns… it’s like a scene out of Bosch. Every female teenager in Britain is having her own teenage crisis, simultaneously, as one, right now…. vaguely in time with the music.” The clip ends with a deadly combination of the signature JT eyebrow raise and laughter at his own words as he narrates, “We had become idols. Icons. Subjects of worship.” The vid was yanked from YouTube in a matter of hours, but you can still see it here.
 

 
Recently, Duran Duran hyped a contest for fan club members to gain access to a secret gig in New York City on June 20. Pretty much everyone who entered the contest won invitation, and speculation on the details has been rampant. Will it be the fabled “all-request” show? A video shoot? An intimate, acoustic show? A special birthday party for John Taylor? The only details given to the winners are that Duran Duran will perform approximately 4-5 songs and the gig will be at an indoor venue in Manhattan.

Well, the cat finally came out of the bag today when Trident — yeah, like the gum — spilled the beans that Duran Duran will be the “surprise, special guest” for their “spontaneous concert event” at Terminal 5 starring DJ Steve Aoki. I can’t find any winners of this contest (many of whom spent quite a bit of money on flights, hotels and days off work to get there) who were happy to read this on Facebook:

“See what unfolds – Live” is a spontaneous concert event brought to you by Trident gum starring DJ Steve Aoki and a surprise, special guest. What unfolds is an immersive participatory concert where 3,000 lucky fans get to share the spotlight as the surprise artist joins Aoki to create a remixed original track. The track along with a documentary concert video will premiere post event for all those who didn’t get to see what unfolded live.”

The show will be general admission. As of yet, the Duran Duran Fan Community winners have received no word of any perks, such as early entry. It seems that what could have been something special for Fan Club members is actually just a way to get bodies into a marketing event for chewing gum. However, DDHQ did not actually misrepresent the event (they merely omitted the major details) and fans did make their own choice to make expensive arrangements to see just 4-5 songs. Maybe Duran Duran can turn this around in the next few days and find some way to make their fans feel special… or at least not totally duped.

If you’re not quite sure what to expect from the gig, check out Aoki’s remix of Skin Divers at the end of this post. And if you’re still hot to go, Trident will be offering more passes via their Facebook page on Monday.

Now… let’s all try to cheer up with video from earlier this week of Simon Le Bon on a very silly UK TV show called “Loose Women.” Simon is, of course, charming as always when in the presence of ample breasts. At the end, he throws bananas at the audience. So there ya go.

Oh, and it seems that Duran Duran are in fact doing something kinda cool for the release of the upcoming “A Diamond In The Mind concert video. It will be premiered via Facebook on July 8th at 2pm EST with with exclusive audio commentary and a live Q&A. Nice! Now we know when to plan our viewing parties, right? It’ll cost ya $4.99 to watch, but hey, should be fun.
 

Nick Rhodes has graced Planet Earth with his presence for 18,262 days now, and for this we are grateful. I could go on about how he’s “aged like a fine wine” or hypothesize about his personal skin care regime or wonder about the exact velocity of which he is able to throw a pork pie. Instead, I will share a few of my favorite photos of the man we know as The Controller.

Love ya, Nick… happy birthday!

What is this strange orb you hold, Simon?

Is it wrong that I want them to kiss?

Ok so I really just chose this one because of JT in the hat.

Nick Rhodes wearing the freaky hat-veil-whatever thingy.

Nick Rhodes, always sweet to fans.

The one and only.

Are we all atwitter for A Diamond in the Mind? The “All You Need Is Now” live extravaganza being released on Blu-ray, DVD and CD that we can actually hold in our hot little hands and play over and over and over on our TVs, constantly hitting pause to mimic and memorize each and every little nuance? Oh hell yes we are.

As you know, I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about Duran Duran. These thoughts usually come in two categories: “Things That Duran Duran Do” and “Things That I Wish Duran Duran Would Do.” There are also “Things I Wish Duran Duran Would Not Have Done,” but I’ve been told it’s not healthy to dwell. In anticipation of this new video release, I have been fantasizing about the actual moment that I shall insert the precious disc into my DVD player. I imagine the frenzy of unbridled joy, the exquisite rush of endorphins that will overtake me as what will surely be the ultimate conduit for world peace bursts forth from my television screen, covering my entire body with a glittering, dewy sheen. And in this little scenario, I am not alone. My friends and loved ones are there with me, and we are all experiencing this blessed Duranirvana as one.

So hey, Duran Duran… if you guys are “the band designed to make you party,” how about helping us to throw one? That’s right — I’m suggesting A Diamond in the Mind viewing parties. You cold put together official ADITM Viewing Party Packs. You know… maybe some posters, invitations, popcorn bags, hats, masks, tiaras… hell, I don’t know. You could sell these packs to us, you could award them as prizes, whatever you want to do. Just make it… you know… fun. We could have parties at home, at our favorite bars, in old movie theaters, in our minivans… anywhere a DVD can be played. Pick one special date and make this release a really superbig totally awesome event to which fans can drag – err, I mean invite – their whole families and communities to participate in. I think this is what they call “buzz.”

ADITM has a maddeningly staggered release worldwide (Japan gets it as early as June 20, UK on July 2, North America on July 10, while the Philippines won’t get theirs until July 17 and theres a jillion other dates and places in between) and darn it… International Duran Duran Appreciation Day isn’t until August 10. This kinda makes it hard to designate one single “ADITM Day,” but you could always just spread out the parties worldwide and keep the party going.

In the video below, Simon Le Bon describes the show recorded last December in Manchester, England, as “incredible” and “one of the best shows that we’ve ever played in our lives.” A Diamond in the Mind will be released on standard DVD, Blu-ray, and a Triple-pack Deluxe Edition containing all three formats (Blu-ray, DVD & CD) in an 8 panel digipack with bonus features and an expanded 20 page booklet, all inside a foil blocked slip-case. Say that three times fast and click here to see the track list in all its glory. Then click click here to find out where you can buy it. And if you’re having a party, let us know!

Duranies will surely look forward to downloading a new e-book coming out next week, Careless Memories of Strange Behavior: My Notorious Life as a Duran Duran Fan by Yahoo! Music managing editor Lyndsey Parker. According to the press release, the book “chronicles her hilarious and often embarrassing journey from a childhood spent in her Duran-postered bedroom, watching MTV and penning hate mail to crotchety anti-Duran music critics, to her own adulthood as one of Duran Duran’s most outspoken professional champions.”

The book is part of Warner Music’s new “Single Notes” line of short form, digital-only books about music and pop culture. The line will launch with four additional titles on the Rhino imprint and will be released on June 12. The books are available now for pre-order on the iBookstore and Amazon’s Kindle store. A new ebook will be released every week following launch, each available as a digital download starting at $1.99.

Lyndsey Parker describes herself as a “recovering Duranie.” Is that even possible? Check back soon for our review of Careless Memories of Strange Behavior: My Notorious Life as a Duran Duran Fan. Perhaps there’s something we should know…

Lyndsey put together a Duran-themed Spotify playlist which you can listen to here, and below is a video of her talking about the book. The author has also promised “to make a very strong case for the beloved but misunderstood Boys On Film’s place in rock history.” From the sound of things so far, this just might turn out to be pretty Durantastic!