Nick and Julie Anne: Surrealism that must be shared.

I don't quite know what to say about these Nick and Julie Anne slideshows (other than the fact they certainly convey more drama than Susan Lucci at a masquerade ball), so I'm just going to post them.

Long before Paris, Lindsay, and Miley Cyrus...

...we had JT's ex, Amanda DeCadenet. I don't think Americans (who weren't in Duran circles) knew much about her until...did we ever? She was probably best known as Courtney Love's friend for a few minutes in the early '90's, and has done some really great photography in recent years.

Here's a little more about her, from esteemed New Age composer John Tesh (in his former life on Entertainment Tonight:



Not the best footage, but they look pretty cute here despite it:

Grey Lady of the Sunday

How about a little DRUM flashback to go with your Sunday morning tea (I'm doing tea to feel more British, shut it). No yachting for me today, but maybe I'll get bold and rent a paddle boat on the local lake.

Pay close attention a little under a minute in--there's an uber cute Si-Yas moment.



Now let's hear the song...

Friday with Renee!

How about a little JT ex-girlfriend to start the weekend? I found these two Renee Simonsen clips that work surprisingly well together.

from 1987:



from 1999:

Eight Days a Week - Part III

The end of another series, boo! This last installment doesn't disappoint. Lot's o' Bruce Springsteen talk, JT forgetting the editor from Smash Hits' name, and that mighty, mighty mullet. Enjoy!

Eight Days a Week-Part Deux

Here's the next continuation of yesterday's program. I have a hard time being snarky about anything other than the award winning calico kitty on JT's head, because the concept of this show is just so great. Can you imagine a show like this now? Would one of the popular artists today take the time to really analyze one of their contemporary's works...in public??

Happy Tuesday! Eight Days a Week!

Here's a little series called Eight Days A Week featuring JT and his lovely mullet, waxing philosophical on why Howard Jones would be a nice guy to pet like a kitty but not to watch for an hour!



It cuts off, but don't worry--I'll bring you more tomorrow!

And here's a redo of The Big Breakfast with Andy that I posted last week, only a little higher fidelity:

Sex, Drugs, Rock-n-roll, and the Jonas Brothers?

Here's a meaty second clip from Andy's appearance on The Wright Stuff to promote Wild Boy this past week. It's a really great debate about these new 'purity' acts like the Jonas Brothers vs. rockers with more critical appeal/longevity, and what role their excesses play in their creativity. Good points made all around!

One more thing...

We very quietly launched the new seriousvanity.com this morning, and we'd love for you to be one of the first to check it out! It's still a work in progress, but for those wondering, "What else do you do all day besides watch Duran Duran on YouTube?"--wonder no more. And get on our mailing list! Lots of music news ("Glue" included), fun opportunities, and FREE stuff awaits you!

Poll Results! Dana is late to the game!

Thanks to all who voted in the last poll! A whopping 100% feel that Juicy Couture should sponsor the next Duran tour (more on that in a second). 20% liked the idea of an iDuran tour sponsored by Apple, and no love was given to Botox (ha!) or Michael Kors (boo!).

Now, if you've read Andy's book, OR you're just more aware than me, you probably already know that Juicy in fact did play a sponsorship role around the time of the fab five reunion. So I have been schooled. And here I thought I'd really come up with a great idea!

Our next poll...What kind of Duran Duran sites do YOU visit most? Are they blogs, networks (either official networks OR stuff like MySpace or Ning), good ol' fanzine-styled sites, forums, shops (Duran-specific or bigger merchants like Amazon), or some other kind of site that I'm just not thinking of at the moment. Let your voice be heard and tell us what you do!

Gotta pen?

Honestly, I'm not TRYING to make it Andy week, but it seems to be kind of working out that way. Here he is, along with the whole crew in '83 alongside a thoroughly surreal interviewer of unknown name.

Ooh, here's a bonus!

I promised we'd stalk follow Andy through his book promo, so here we are again! This one is thanks to Duraffinity!

Pre-Power Station JT and AT

Here's a long one from '83 that would be a pretty good interview if it didn't sound like fans were being slaughtered backstage. Ok, it survives anyway, and focuses on a lot of the excesses (and music, too). After reading Andy's book, it's weird to imagine what was probably going on behind the scenes here!

Andy's Book--starting to hit the media!

Andy's starting to make the talk show rounds for Wild Boy, so we're going to try to stalk him keep up with him on his trek!

Here he is on The Big Breakfast last week. There's a few tech issues with the footage, but it's still very worth it to hear his perspective on the look and the excesses.



And if you haven't gotten a copy yet, what are you waiting for?! Click below and get one!

Sunday Potpourri

Here are some completely random clips to wrap up the week!

"New Moon On Monday"--Vh1 promo clip that doesn't make much sense:



The Devils (Nick and Stephen Duffy, as if you don't already know that) doing a snip of "Big Store":



Andy Taylor ignored? Here's some Andy video facetime:



I include the last one because I just started Andy's book, Wild Boy, yesterday. Ironically, I also finished it yesterday! Talk about a captivating read. I'll be posting a review very soon, but i the meantime, let's give the boy a shout out!

It's Caturday!

If cuteoverload can have Caturday, so can we!

First, actual cats!



Now, Cat People! Doing "Come Undone" on TV (pretty straight forward cover, too!)!



C'mon, Cat Power, give us a Duran cover!!

It's Friday...Stay UP ALL NIGHT with Daniel Abraham's mix.

Big Thing and other bits producer Daniel Abraham is our producer du jour. Did you know that his mix of "Drug (It's Just a State of Mind)" almost split Duran up? Apparently JT was so unhappy that DA's mix didn't make the record, that he threatened to leave. Luckily it ended up on the "Do You Believe in Shame?" 12", or we all would have been crying in our root beers a lot earlier.

Enjoy the mix!

Producer of the day - Jonathan Elias!

Forgot about him, didn't you?! Jonathan first came into the Duran realm when he worked with JT on "I Do What I Do" for the Adrian Lyne film 9 1/2 Weeks, and later produced one of my favorite Duran albums, Big Thing. A film composer and conceptual genius, he was an unlikely producer of what would be Duran's most house music influenced album, but somehow it worked. Little known factoid you'll learn in a minute: he wrote the original MTV theme song (so we've all been deeply influenced by his work and didn't even know it!). Duran members and friends were later featured on Jonathan's grand album showcased here, Requiem for the Americas.

Let the record show that this might be my most journalism-worthy post yet! I get a gold star today!

The Ultimate Duran Producer - Nile Rodgers.

Besides being one of my favorite producers on the planet just in general, it doesn't hurt that Nile Rodgers worked with Duran off and on throughout their entire career (and one would anticipate that we haven't seen the last of their collaborations). Back in the heyday when I was in junior high, my school library had a copy of, of all things, Popular Mechanics magazine that featured an article on music production (?? I know, why?) where they interviewed Nile. After about 6 months of reading it every time I was in the library, I think the librarians finally stopped rolling their eyes at me (but hey--at least it gave me a break from searching Vogue for pictures of Renee Simonsen or Yasmin (at the time) Parvenah...).

So geek out with me at some cool Nile interviews!

New poll AND new feature!

New poll is up! Now that Duran has owned being a brand, let's find them the perfect tour sponsor. Up for grabs are American designer and I'm sure Duran-influenced-at-some-point Michael Kors, hip electronics icon Apple, Juicy Couture (no explanation necessary), and, not my doing, Botox. :::throws a dirty look to my partner in Duran crime:::

PLUS, you can now let your voice be heard in a NEW way. Scan your eyes down below my 'Girl on Film' explanation of myself, and you'll see that you can now become a 'Bunnychucker'! In case you may suspect that you're the only person who reads this blog (and I can guarantee to you that you're not. There's quite a few of you out there now!), this will be a fun way to get to know each other a little more.

Producer week!

Thank you to everyone who succumbed to my subliminal messages voted in our last poll for Duran Duran's next producer. The results were:

Dana Detrick - 85% (w00t!)
Mark Ronson - 28%
Linda Perry, Diddy, an Jonathan from Korn - big fat zeroes

So YAY! Now we just need to convince DURAN of this!! Time to break out my subliminal gear persuasive skills again!

In honor of our poll, this week we're going to spotlight other Duran producers. Today we've got a little Red Carpet Massacre info, which looks like it came from A&E. It doesn't really hit the "producer" info until Part II (but it's not like I wasn't going to include Part I, too!). They discuss Timbaland giving them an enema (or making them more enigmatic, you pick the visual you prefer), and comment on Reportáge, the album that would have been had Andy stayed, produced by Michael Patterson.

Business and marketing geeks (like me) will also love their discourse on being a brand. THIS ONE IS FULL OF WIN! Enjoy!

Nite running in Smallville.

I in no way expected to find about a million Smallville clips featuring Duran songs, but boy did I! "Nite Runner" hasn't gotten enough love yet, so I this one stood out. Happy Friday!

La la la Lost.

"Save a Prayer" might not be a big stretch of the imagination, but it works...

Heroes, just for one day...

Man, "Falling Down" is really popular for these fan videos, apparently. Here's a tribute to Heroes with a little help from Duran.

2 more days!

I'll admit, 'pick Duran's next producer' is not the sexiest poll ever, but I promise, it's fun to vote anyway (*subliminalmessage* plus, you'll want to pick ME! *subliminalmessage*)! Make sure your voice is heard over in the side panel!

House Music.

Well kids, we have a theme this week! Fandom crossovers! Our next installment celebrates the ever-popular series House, with the appropriate "Notorious" as the soundtrack.

Your chocolate is in my peanut butter...

...and YOUR Duran Duran song is in my 21 Jump Street clip! I have no idea why this works, but it does. You can never have too much Johnny Depp nostalgia.



My own funny Jump Street story: awhile back, a few friends said, "We know where there's a great party tonight where our friends' band is playing!". We carpooled down the highway to said party which was...a college party. The kind with 18 year olds. I've never so much felt like a narc police officer. At least they liked my shoes...