I hadn't realized how much stuff was on the stage during the concert, and that everything had to be stowed away for the next concert. There had to have been at least 20 people milling about the stage, putting away the amps, the speakers, the mikes, Nick's keyboards, etc. They were pretty efficient too. I watched them with interest as we walked back into the audience area of the club. I tried to think of charming things to say to the security if they noticed I didn't have a pass like the others. I sideways met Chaz, one of the sound engineers for the band. A guy with a beard and a British accent was pulling along a red vacuum cleaner with stamps and stickers all over it. (I couldn't tell if he was putting us on but he kept referring to it as his pet and he later "introduced" it to Simon and got a picture with Si.) In addition, there were a bunch of people from Toshiba/EMI there, as well as some people from Simon's Syn Productions. I was disappointed to hear that the guys weren't going to be hanging around at the club very long, because they had some important dinner to go to.
Joe and Wes were supernice. Wes was sporting nail polish in this metallic purplish sort of color, and if I was not mistaken, he had a similarly colored highlight in his hair. Joe was wearing a Iggy Pop and the Stooges t-shirt, and a diamond bracelet that a girl I just met that night, Christy, had given to him. (She had a matching one on her wrist.) Didn't get pictures with either of them, apparently they are good friends with some of the gals from the States so I didn't want to interrupt anything by asking for a picture.
Simon came in first, wearing a red shirt from Russia (? it was in Cyrillic or Czech or something Slavic I'm guessing), holding a glass of white wine, and being all charming. He insisted that he didn't want to sign anything that night, so I missed getting anything signed in Japan unfortunately. There were a lot of people from the UK going over to say hi to Simon. Most people were just happy enough to say hello to Simon. Tina, who Simon recognizes on sight, was able to introduce me to Simon personally. Oh my god. Simon is *so* tall! I usually feel short around tall people but Simon just takes the cake. As the reports indicate, Simon's cologne is heavenly. Still can't believe I have first hand knowledge of this!
|
I told him who I was, that I was representing
the second-generation Duranies, and of our club. It's really too bad but I don't remember *exactly* what
Nick and Simon said about STR but both of them
grinned about the fact that there were so many young Duranies, and I think Simon was shocked that
I'd come from D.C. for the Japan concerts. Simon did say that he was glad that I had come to the Shibuya-AX concert,
because he said it was much better than the Forum one. The guy with the vacuum cleaner decided to interrupt
us, butting in and getting a picture with Simon before I did. I puttered around, although Tina said I should stay put and insist on getting photographed with Simon, which I eventually did. Tina helped me take the picture. As you can tell, Simon is acting like a real ham in this one. After Tina took the picture, I shouted good-naturely to Simon, "Simon! You're just too tall!" He laughed then walked off to talk with someone else. Tina told Simon that her young daughter wants to marry him - no matter the age difference. He replied that he'd wait. LOL I had a good laugh about that. I got a hug from Simon and then went off to have a brief chat with Nick. |
��� |
| Nick came in a bit later, golden hair perfect, army camouflage shirt, leather jacket, leather pants. Before I could freak out though, various people went up to him to talk to him. A representative of Toshiba/EMI gave Nick a sealed copy of the remastered "Rio" available in Japan, which he was very excited about. She also gave him a plastic bag with some other DD stuff in it. He spoke with a couple of the foreign Duranies, and Tina kept nudging me to go talk to him. | ��� |  |
 | ��� | I'll say it once and I'll say it again, Nick Rhodes has the ability
to turn brains into unintelligible mush. When I finally approached him (and when the crowd had
somewhat dissipated around him), he gave me this drop-dead smile. Kind of like a secret smile that
was meant only for me. Of course, I could have been hallucinating but it was like everything
around me was moving in slow motion and the way he grinned at me - it was making me weak in the knees.
It was like
for a moment he had this incredible power over me. That probably sounds crazy but that's the way
I felt. I started to get this great feeling over me that he'd seen me at the concert at the Forum on Sunday
night, and again that night, as I'd been in virtually in the same exact place for both concerts
and had tried all night to get his attention by winking at him and singing along to all the songs. You know how some people say, "Nick Rhodes is God" ? I'm starting to believe it. I had all these things on my mind that I wanted to tell him but then when push came to shove, I suffered short-term amnesia. At least I didn't 1) faint or 2) cry. I have to admit that I almost cried during both of the concerts because of what Duran Duran has meant to me and I guess the excitement of finally seeing them in concert had me reeling. |
Unfortunately I don't remember what I said exactly, but I basically shook his hand, gave my second-generation fan speech, how I was 21 (probably the youngest person at both concerts, LOL), and how I'm from the States - Washington D.C. more specifically. I hope I didn't sound too much like a moron. When people spoke to him, he had this way of looking at him/her with this searching glance. When I talked to him, I started to feel a little self-conscious because he *was* looking at me with those wonderfully gorgeous eyes of his. Within my psyche, I was thinking, "glahhhhhhh!" Forget the speech I'd be practicing to myself about "Mars Meets Venus" and the fact that I wanted to talk to Nick about it. Oops. My brain had a momentary lapse and I forgot everything slightly amusing I planned to bring up with him. So at the moment I am kicking myself about it because I wanted to sound intelligent around him and I think I only succeeded in sounding pretty dumb. I guess there's always next time, hopefully the next time I run into him, he's still single and still interested in the intelligent ladies! (*grin*) I still can't believe not only did I get to touch those hands, I got a Nick Rhodes hug too.
I did remember to ask him about all the stuff I'd given Tina. On Sunday night it seemed that I was probably not going to get the chance to meet the band and so instead of risking NOT getting the STR book we'd made to the band, I'd handed it over to Tina. I'd also given her my mini birthday present to Nick. So when I finally got to talk to Nick, I asked him about it. "Did you get my birthday present I sent you?" I asked. "Birthday present? Wot birthday present? Refresh my memory." "The one with the *tiger* birthday card." "No..." Then in the background, Tina said, "oh oops! I haven't given it to him yet!" So I don't know what he thought of the present I'd gotten on campus for him, but if you see Nick with a teddy bear with a red t-shirt that says "University of Maryland" on it, that's from me!
I think I was particularly impressed with the fact that both of them seemed very interested in hearing what I had to say, and how down-to-earth both of them were. They really made the effort to make me feel comfortable, when I'm sure it was obvious that I was shaking in my boots. I mean, come on! Here I was, standing there talking to NICK RHODES and SIMON LeBON! I've never really met anyone that famous before in my life, and it's an experience I'll remember all my life. I am so glad I got to thank them for the two amazing shows in Tokyo that I was lucky enough to attend, and I'm definitely glad I got to tell them about us second-gens.
Just go to my albums here to see more pics from the concert at the AX, or you can see my friend Tina's albums right here from Japan as well.
The next day at breakfast, I was surprised at how non-chalant I was about the whole meeting experience. Honestly, I was relieved that I had gotten along so well with them in person, because I would have been heartbroken if my "images" of them in my mind were completely wrong. As I sipped my cup of English breakfast tea and gazed out the window into the hustle and bustle of the early morning in Shinagawa, I sighed deeply. I met Duran Duran!
back to the wind
this page posted 07/12/01 and fixed 07/25/01 and 04/17/02 with 
visitors so far.
questions? e-mail me at [email protected]
this is an original work - please do not reproduce the contents or the pictures.
thanks very much.