Cori Lannam

Okay, I know it's not even 9 a.m. yet, but the day needs to go faster. FASTER!

Because at the end of the day, I will be in New York, and I will be at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway, and I will be in Row C, and I will be watching DURAN DURAN perform their entire new album track by track LIVE plus an amazing electro set and a bunch of old songs including some they haven't played since the FUCKING 80s like Last Chance on the Stairway and Do You Believe in Shame and All She Wants Is and DID I MENTION THE ENTIRE NEW ALBUM???

*pant pant*

I've had some caffeine this morning, too, maybe just a little. And I've read an awful lot about last night's show (and heard and seen).

I CANNOT DEAL WITH WORK RIGHT NOW OMG.


P.S. hey, chelseafrew, I found my squee. *g*

From the serious to the absurd to the absurder....


As some of you know, a wonderful friend passed away from cancer, leaving behind her small daughter. She was a longtime fan, and her fannish things are finally being sold and/or given away, with all money going to her daughter. Fandoms include Quantum Leap, Beauty and the Beast, Star Trek, comics, and Smallville.

chelseafrew has a more detailed post about it here.

The first round of ebay auctions can be found here, with a lot more stuff to come. I'll be posting again at some point with info on zines and tapes that will be disposed of not-on-ebay.


***

On a more cheerful note, Happy National Duran Duran Appreciation Day! Yes, it's an actual holiday. Yes, I know. Hush.

I would normally picspam you all in celebration, but I'm a tad busy today. Plus, I think I wore out my welcome with my last picspam efforts. Those are here, here, here and here, should you wish to revisit them in honor of this most special occasion. Mmmmm, pretty. It's not all hair and lipstick, I promise.

Myself, well, I'll probably be writing some smut in observance.

Oh, and if you're interested, Entertainment Weekly chose today to put up the first song from Duran Duran's new album for listening -- Night Runner

Of the five songs I've heard from the new album, "Night Runner" (or Nite Runner, as Simon Le Bon insists on spelling it, even though we know he's literate) is not my favorite, but it's nifty and I've been listening to it all day. And it's one of the two that Justin Timberlake sings on and Timbaland co-wrote, for those of you who might be interested in such matters.


***

Hey, y'all know that Neil Gaiman's Stardust movie comes out tonight, right? And you're all buying tickets, right? I am completely atwitter to go see it. Rush Hour 3 can wait a few days.


***

Ah, another year, another VividCon I'm not attending. Sigh.

I was in a bookstore last weekend, and saw georgiednyc pick up a book called the Llama Sutra. For obvious reasons, I immediately had the urge to buy copies and send them to everyone at VVC.

That proved to be financially and logistically unwieldy, but for all my lucky (bitches) VVC-attending friends, I hope all the llamas are ecstatic this weekend nonetheless.


***

Unlike many of you, I am not planning on leaving LJ, nor am I setting up escape routes on other journaling sites. I barely post here as it is, despite my best intentions.

LJ's customer service sucks, no doubt about it. Do I feel "safe" here? No, of course not, but then, I never did. Nowhere is truly safe for fandom, and never has been, and I don't see that the other services have reached the point of offering a better solution for the long term. I've backed up my journal, and if I get TOS'd, so be it.

It does seem like we're due for another Great Fannish Migration, though, doesn't it? It's just one of those things that happens every several years. We've gone from bbs to usenet to listservs to yahoo groups to livejournal, and I'm sure we'll end up somewhere else at some point. The thing is, these migrations are usually prompted by the offer of better technology and potential for greater ease of use. Going from one journal site to another is a sideways step that doesn't seem to have lasting potential for fandom as a whole.

I'll miss any of you who leave, and I'm sure I'll catch up with you at the next great fannish nesting ground, wherever that turns out to be. I'll still be using the same pseud, though hopefully next time I'll have the sense to pick a better userid.


***
In conclusion: go buy some stuff, listen to some Duran Duran, go see Stardust (preferably tonight), and have a great weekend wherever you are (but if you're watching vids somewhere where there happen to be a lot of vids, I'm bitter and I don't want to hear about it except maybe a little about the vids.)

Here's the Fourth Day of JoSi, my final post (for now) of Duran Duran slashy picspamation.  Earlier posts were:
Part 1 - Early Eighties
Part 2 - Late Eighties
Part 3 - The Nineties

When we last left the boys, John was wasting away in LA, and Simon was pining for him.  In August 2000, Simon went to visit John when DD was playing in LA.  They sat by John's pool and Simon "poured out his heart" to John about his unhappiness and how he wanted to leave the band.  John, who was playing tiny gigs and acting bit parts in horrible movies, suggested an alternative -- bringing back all the Taylors, reuniting the original Fab Five.  The next day, Simon brought Nick to John's house, they called Andy and Roger, and the reunion was set in motion.

Fast forward a few years, they had a new album, a new tour, and a much happier John and Simon.  They have a few extra pounds and a few wrinkles between them, but they still can't keep their hands off each other.  Or their mouths. Or their... well, let's just get on with it, shall we?



( OMG TOO MANY PICTURES )

So... any questions?

Ah, we're almost to The Fourth Day of JoSi, arriving now at the present day of Duran Duran.  But before we get to the reunion era, I want to share some other slashy bits that I shamefully neglected to put in earlier posts.

For example: In 1986, John and Simon were guests on Howard Stern's radio show.  Of course they talked about sex, with John prompting Simon to talk about his first erection (John seems to remember more about it than Simon), and after an extended conversation about sperm and wanking and how irresistably attractive Howard finds them, they got to this little section--

HS:  Ever have two women at the same time, you guys?  Both you guys, I mean look at you.
JT: Both of us.
SLB: It's not like that, the only way we used to, is if a bird could get both of us to--
JT: Yeah.  They only would do it if we did it together.
HS: You're kidding.  You guys would be with the same--
SLB: It's terrible.
JT: And they're always only 16, you know.
SLB: I always fancy John more than them.
HS: Really? I like you guys.
JT: Yeah.  We've become so dissatisfied with all of our groupies that we just sleep with each other.

Next, an item from the Q&A section on John's personal website (sadly about to become defunct)--
Dear John, I went to London one week ago and there I met Simon. I asked him how you were and he said you were fine. Then he started to talk about you and in the end he told that you are "his soulmate" touching his hands. What you you think about that? I mean do you consider Simon your soulmate too? a big Kiss, Lidia

Well that's lovely isn't it. In a way all the Durans are connected spiritually. Simon and I are close, no doubt. Maybe it's our height! J

( Also from John's site, )

Hello again! It's time for the Third Day of JoSi in our ongoing Duran Duran picspam effort. Day One and Day Two can be relived at any time.

So now it's on to the 1990s, which were a tumultuous decade for Duran Duran. They began with a decent album that completely tanked, went on to a glorious but all too brief revival with The Wedding Album, then stalled out for ages until the inglorious release of their album of covers which did them no good at all. After that it was all downhill until they came perilously close to rock bottom.

In some ways, though, they were never hotter.


( More with the pretty )

Welcome to the second Day of JoSi as I continue my picspamming efforts!

Yesterday we had Duran Duran's rise to fame in the first half of the eighties. Today I'll cover the second half of the decade, which saw a very different band on the scene.

1985 saw the beginning of the end for the boys of Rio. John and Andy had gone off to the US to dabble with The Power Station, while Simon and Nick and (sometimes) Roger stayed back in England to form their own side project, Arcadia. Extremely good hair resulted for everyone, and some good music, too.

The intent was to regroup at Live Aid that summer and then get back together in the studio as Duran Duran. They hadn't had an album in a year and a half, but their James Bond theme song was at the top of the charts and they were still on the top of the world. But Live Aid didn't go so well for Duran, and afterwards, Roger had a nervous breakdown and went to live on a farm. Andy then went off to LA to do his own thing, leaving the rest of the band in the studio waiting for him. It soon became clear he had no intention of showing up, despite Simon's best efforts at diplomacy and their lawyer's best efforts at lawsuits. John was already chomping at the bit himself, and he came close to following Andy's lead, only to be persuaded to stay by the other two, desperate to keep their last Taylor.

So Duran Duran became the trio of Le Bon, Taylor, and Rhodes, and decided to do something completely different with their look and sound for the next couple albums with some excellent results (Notorious) and not so excellent (Big Thing).

But wait, I'm sorry, you're here for the pictures, not the history. So let me lead off with one of my very favorites.




( More delicious boys this way )

And them there were the 80's, folks.

Tomorrow, the 90's, which got worse before they got better, then got worse again, then got a LOT worse, then finally got better at the last minute.

Now, I don't usually talk much about my current fandom on this journal, even though it's been two years of all-consuming obsession and counting. But I've come to realize that I am doing a disservice to you, my wonderful flist. I had originally thought to spare you the RPF, but really, RPF is actually the less squeamish alternative in certain fandoms these days, and musician slash is everywhere, so what am I being so coy about?

So I am going to share the pretty men that I'm slashing. Okay, so these posts are mostly for me. I had a crappy weekend, my mother is coming to visit for an indeterminate length of time, and I'm going to need the simplistic joy of having a lot of pretty things to look at. For those of you who would like to look at the pretty with me, I present to you my current OTP: John Taylor and Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran.

In DD fandom (by which I mean actual Duranies who hang out on the official boards, not fanfic writers), this pairing is known as JoSi. Women who have never heard of slash and never realized that two hot men getting intimate would be... well, hot, have glommed onto the JoSi, drooling over the many, many pictures, videos and other tidbits. During the Astronaut tour a couple years ago, people held up signs that said: "Kiss the fucking bass player, Simon!" And at some of the shows, he obliged.

But we'll get to that.

Since I have an overwhelming number of pretty things to look at, I'm dividing this picspam into four eras: the early to mid eighties, the mid to late eighties, the nineties, and the reunion era. I'm calling it the Four Days of JoSi picspam, because I'm twee exactly like that.

So I'll start off today with the earliest days, from the beginning of Duran Duran through the height of their fame when they were young, giddy, out of control superstars. Simon later reflected on meeting a young Nigel John Taylor: "The first time I saw him he was this speccy geek with nicotine-stained fingers, trembling with fear at the prospect of having to meet people. And his name wasn’t even John. It was Nigel. He was a Nigel with glasses, poor sod. I remember staring at his face and slowly realising that he was rather beautiful, exquisite in fact. I mean, this was the best looking guy I’d seen in years, maybe my whole life. Losing his glasses and changing his name to John was the best thing he ever did. He was a man transformed.To see him in action was incredible. He could charm the knickers off anyone."

As we can see, he was doing a pretty good job with Simon's--



( More slashy goodness behind the cut )

Exactly a year ago today, I was burbling in this journal about how I was about to go see this washed-up 80s band called Duran Duran. I didn't really know or care who they were, but chelseafrew and ndannais used to be obsessed with them, so I figured I'd go and have a laugh at their expense.

Exactly a year ago at the time I started typing this entry, I was standing at a merchandise stand at the Patriot Center, flipping through the tour book and having chelseafrew and ndannais explain to me which Taylor was which.

Exactly a year ago at this exact time, I was in a dark arena with music rising and cameras flashing while chelseafrew and ndannais did their best not to collapse in fits of pure glee next to me.

Tonight, I am sitting here and organizing the 90G of Duran Duran videos and bootlegs that have somehow taken up residence on my hard drive.

Life likes to mock me like that sometimes.

***
On a not-entirely-unrelated note, I was on the bus yesterday as it passed this guy jogging on the sidewalk. The back of his t-shirt caught my eye as he went by. In gigantic letters, it said "RPS".

I didn't catch the smaller lettering underneath which said what the RPS actually stood for. I was too busy giggling and thinking, "Boy, it really is out in the open these days, isn't it?"