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DURANTIME 6.15.12
13June 15th, 2012
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.
Tags: A Diamond In the Mind, Duran Duran, In the Pleasure Groove, John Taylor, Loose Women, Simon Le Bon, Steve Aoki, Trident
13 responses to “DURANTIME 6.15.12” 
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No surprise mw from DD.com as pretty much all they do seems to blow these days gone are the VIP days of yesteryear , like the ticket nightmares with artist area!!
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Well, I feel less bad now that I can’t go. I actually “won” the opportunity to go, but ultimately the finances weren’t going to work out.
And Terminal 5 isn’t my favorite place to go for anything, so that’s kind of a relief.
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Kitty Amsbry June 15th, 2012 at 15:12
I don’t know why the video was pulled from YouTube. I don’t expect it to last long here, either.
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Kitty Amsbry June 15th, 2012 at 15:12
Here’s a link to the press release with more details on the price: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/duran-duran-announces-their-first-ever-digital-premiere-on-facebook-158853185.html
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meowmix June 15th, 2012 at 14:53
Thanks for the info. Akoi isn’t great. Is he (did he?) Remix any DD songs? 4 or 5 songs is like a rehearsal, or like an acoustic radio performance. I would only think it worth it if you just happen to be in the area. Trident… nice. The JT vid is awesome!
Juan / meowmix-
Kitty Amsbry June 15th, 2012 at 15:13
Great question, Juan –
Aoki did remix Skin Diver http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ad8Ruo3F5g
(adding it to the post — thanks!) x
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I saw that whole thing about Steve Aoki earlier today and realized that this “special performance” wasn’t going to be quite the mindblowing affair that people were hoping for.
It’s a shame for the people who are traveling from across country or across the pond that were hoping for more. Perhaps though, this will still be fun for those who attend.
Curious about that whole Diamond in the Mind thing and how the online viewing will work…I’ll be seeing the rest of you on the 8th I’m sure!
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Kitty Amsbry June 15th, 2012 at 15:15
I bet it will be a super fun time in NYC anyway — there’s always a party when Duranies get together!
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Kitty Amsbry June 15th, 2012 at 17:17
I wasn’t going to say a WORD, Suzanne… (and trust me, it was hard).
Heehee
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Suzanne June 15th, 2012 at 22:18
Be careful about saying “trust me, it was hard” in a conversation about bananas!
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Josie June 15th, 2012 at 14:29