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.
 

Simon Le Bon in India

• On Friday, Roger Taylor and Nick Rhodes gave an interview to Peter Martin, a journalist specializing in music and film in the 1980s with Smash Hits, The Face, and Rolling Stone who now runs his own production company, Surreal Films. Roger and Nick were filmed individually, each providing their take on the soon-to-be-released Duran Duran album, All You Need is Now. Updates coming  soon on where and when the interview will air.

• If I’m going to sit through anyone’s vacation slides, I’m glad it can at least be the Le Bon’s. Simon has completed his whirlwind journey through India, and it was very thoughtful of him to share such detailed coverage through the blogs, videos, and photos which can all be found here. I’ll send a Gimme a Wristband t-shirt hot off the press to the first person who tells me the correct number of times Simon says, “oh wow” in all of his India videos.

Roger Taylor and Jake Phonique to DJ at Subtone in Cheltenham

• DJs Roger Taylor and Jake Phoniqe will be tearing up Cheltenham, UK  at the Subtone nightclub on Saturday night. There’s a competition for tickets on DDM, or dial +44 1242 575925 for table reservations and ticket info. The duo performed at a venue in Red Square in Moscow last night.

• According to Duran Duran’s makeup artist, (yeah, yeah…) the new album will be available for download at the end of the year and in hard copy after the first of the year, which at first glance doesn’t make a lot of sense. Watch for a Gimme a Wristband article about possible release scenarios to post in the next day or so. By the way, we haven’t forgotten about the Notorious: Revisited series. I promise it will be worth the wait.

• Gimme a Wristband received word from Duran Duran’s PR folks that the new album All You Need is Now will be released in January, preceded by a single in December. We also have another song title to add to the list: Being Followed. It’s all starting to happen…

• Simon Le Bon has been busy with press for the upcoming South African dates. Listen to his interview with 2Oceansvibe Radio here: Simon on South African Radio
  

  Simon Le Bon at the Kerala Tourism movie premiere

• Duran Duran scored a big coup by securing Mark ‘Spike’ Stent, who music recording magazine Sound on Sound calls “the most successful British mixer of the last two decades” to mix the new album. Spike is hard at work on the new baby right now in Los Angeles. Read more about Spike here.

• As if all of this isn’t enough to get you whipped into a frenzy, check out this week’s blog post from Roger Taylor. He actually uses the word “awesome” and has some very nice things to say about his old friend Boy George.
  

  Boy George and Roger Taylor, March 2010

• Simon has been faithfully documenting his trip through India with a series of Simon Le Blogs. He’s been eating a lot, staying in fancy places and rubbing shoulders with royalty. It’s all just so wonderfully Simon.

• The Notorious reissue is finally out in the States, and seems to be well-received by fans. Click here to read a review from Rolling Stone.

• Nile Rodgers is made of awesome.

Gimme a Wristband is diving deeper than we ever imagined into Duran Duran’s Notorious album… and dishing the dirt with all these big names takes time.  Rest assured that the next installment in the series, focusing on the recording of Notorious will be posted soon. If you haven’t yet done so, please check out Notorious: Revisited Part 1 and Part 2.

• We’re closer to a date! Roger said in a radio interview that the new album will drop in January. Shall we start looking for a single in mid-December? Possibly…

• Simon Le Bon is taking a journey through India and will be making regular blog posts about the trip at duranduran.com. His next stop will be Jodphur, which, as Simon reminds us, is the “the place where the New Romantic trousers come from.” Namaste, Charlie.

• Coverage of the Fendi O’ event keeps pouring out, including this dazzling official video featuring Duran Duran. For those who gripe about the band doing corporate events, at least you’re getting some stunning videos and lots of photos from this one. Not a bad deal for anyone, I’d say.

click here for podcast

• Happy birthday to the Duran Duran Week In Review podcast, serving up entertaining and informative Duran news with a delightful Canadian accent for 5 years now! Thanks to Derek for his hard work and friendly support of Gimme a Wristband. Be sure to check out the two new episodes of this Durantastic gem, which you can download for free on iTunes.

• Nick Rhodes attended the Lanvin Ready to Wear Spring/Summer 2011 fashion show in Paris.

click to listen

• By the way, here’s a little taste of ‘The Sound of Plastic’ featuring Nick Rhodes — it’s the Mark Ronson & The Business INTL track that was only available at the record store takeovers this week. Luscious.

• EWN’s Nadia Neophytou spoke with Simon Le Bon via telephone about the group’s upcoming tour in South Africa, where they plan to run through some new material. Lucky ducks.