Unseen | The two pics above are from the yet unknown Roger Deckker photo session.

May 8, 2011: On the eve of the second leg, the european one, of the 'All You Need Is Now World Tour', John speaks to journalist Gordon Barr about the upcoming Uk tour which opens in Newcastle at the Metro Radio Arena, on May 18. John says:

"I am so excited about that. It makes me cry just thinking about it,”
“There is something really special about getting down and doing a British tour. That is something when you are an up-and-comer you take for granted, all you are doing is touring Britain when you start out, if you are a British band, and then the world gets bigger and bigger and bigger and it can be years before you get to tour Britain again. It is such an honour to get to bring it home again, it is enormous, very emotional.”

This new duranasty.com installment is all about the memorable american tour, for everyone who wants to relive almost two months of work that the band has done in Usa [including Canada till the last date in in the Dominican Republic].

This post is filled with lots of great pics, galleries, magazines and newspaper scans so there's a lot to watch, read and save for your Duran Duran collection. 'Big' is the only way to celebrate the great Us promotion, which included many acoustic gigs [Simon, John, Dom and Ana], radio some tv and of course the concerts. Big is also going to be this installment that will focus on the major Duran Duran events and the most interesting news and pics.

At the end of the page you'll find also some cool info and tidbits including also a Tv Mania, a SYN and Reportage upadte and some very interesting news about the european tour. Enjoy it all! Till the next time.

Above pictures are from the new Paper magazine issue out now with Duran Duran on the front cover.

Tour-Recap

Duran Duran in America

March - April 2011

All You Need To Now

Since mid march Duran Duran have been in Usa to massivelly the new album, connecting with all the local media and playing both live shows and radio-acoustic gigs. Let's just say that quantity of media interest produced over this period is huge and I hope with this new post to make a point on the most interesting stuff that the band has been up to. Check it out!

Below is a list of the Duran Duran busy schedule of march and april 2011.

below: Guys on tour: pics by @thisistherealJT

Duran Duran's tour manifesto

"Touring is very different now," says Le Bon. "Firstly, the venues are bigger - these 10,000-capacity places just didn't exist when we were first around. I remember playing at a bus depot in Leeds. It was all car parks and town halls then, and we'd only do three shows a week, max.

"Now we'll be doing five. In the old days we did so few because it was hard to stop us partying," Simon adds, with a glint in his eye.

"We're grateful for that every day and it's remained constant. Touching on new musical terrain is still amazing, as amazing as it always was."

Simon quotes from 'Duran Duran dig deep' article from Halesowen News

"We've had a lot of time to ponder the question of what our job is, what we do in the world," Le Bon says. "I feel that we do something which brings people together, makes people feel good about themselves, makes people feel that they're not alone. Making people feel not alone, I feel we're providing a very useful service."

Los Angeles Times

Roger: 'It's more about the show now than the afterparty. We're very responsible now, the show is the big thing for us, all our energy goes into that. We usually turn up in a decent condition to play the show nowadays!'

Duran in America: highlights

Unstaged concert at the Mayan in Los Angeles

[attended by celebs like Moby, Marilyn Manson, and Mark's DJ sister Samantha Ronson].

The band celebrated the release of 'All You Need Is Now' with an allstar concert directed by, of all people, avant garde filmmaker David Lynch.

"He's kind of getting into doing remixes, and he did a remix of 'Girl Panic' which is the new single from the album," said John about this unexpected artistic friendship. "Which was great, we loved it; it was totally different to anything any remixer would do traditionally."

This led to the Lynch-directed Unstaged concert, where guest stars Mark Ronson, Kelis on "The Man Who Stole A Leopard" and "Come Undone", My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way on "Planet Earth", and the Gossip's Beth Ditto on "Notorious" joined Duran Duran onstage for a one-of-a-kind livestreamed event.

"[Lynch] just dived in...and it's so deep and unusual and unsettling...not like anything any of us have seen before," raved John.

In the pic John backstage at Mayan theatre

* Click on the banner below to get lots of great pics from this event!

"I feel like there’s always been a techno-electronica aspect to this band."

Miami’s Ultra Music Festival has added to its already massive 2011 bill as it has unveiled the second of its three lineup phases. Duran Duran, Underworld, Moby, and The Disco Biscuits are now set to join the already confirmed Chemical Brothers, deadmau5, and Tiësto at Bicentennial Park in Miami from March 25-27.

Speaking before Duran Duran played Friday's Main Stage, John Taylor said "It’s an interesting gig for us to perform, because it's an electronica festival, essentially. So anything we do is gonna be a surprise. We don’t know exactly what we’re gonna play yet. But I think people go to the Ultra Festival to party, and we’re a party band, so I think we’re gonna have a good time. I feel like there’s always been a techno-electronica aspect to this band."

"We supply the music, you supply the action"

"We supply the music, you supply the action", was the way Simon Le Bon began Duran Duran's set. "A View To A Kill" and "All You Need Is Now" got things up and running, on a stage featuring a giant video screen as the backdrop. "Being Followed" was next, performed with an accompanying video that projected images replicating driving at night through a city. A lengthy version of "Girls on Film" closed the show.

• Click on the above banner/visual to get lots of great pics from this show!

The show was part of a three-day annual music and arts festival held at the Inland Empire's Coachella Valley. The event features many genres of music including alternative rock, indie, and electronic music as well as large sculptural art. The festival enjoys little cloud cover or shade and has a desert setting [the city of Indio is a part of the California Desert], with daytime temperatures frequently rising to over 100 °F [38 °C].

Duran Duran took to the stage on the last night of the event in Indio and kicked off with "Planet Earth". "We have been looking forward to this moment for weeks and weeks, and now we're here it's going to go off!" Simon Le Bon said. "Hungry Like The Wolf" was next and "Safe" soon followed, performed with Ana Matronic of the Scissor Sisters.

After they finished the set, Duran Duran returned for an encore and dedicated the first track to late composer John Barry, who co-wrote their hit song "A View To A Kill for the Roger Moore movie of the same name. Le Bon told the crowd, "We lost a dear friend of ours this year - English composer John Barry. This for him." Frontman Le Bon dressed in a white tuxedo reminiscent of the suave superspy and they were backed by an orchestra as they played a pared down version of the song, before launching into the full, upbeat track.

The band ended the encore with "Girls on Film" with a snipet of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face", as keyboardist Nick Rhodes took photographs of the crowd. Duran Duran continued the tour three days later, playing the Ogen Theatre show in Denver, CO, USA on 20 April 2011.

Headnine from Los Angeles Times: "Coachella 2011: Duran Duran turns the cool kids into a bunch of giggling grade schoolers".

Duran Duran's performance at The Fillmore in San Francisco, CA on 16 April 2011, has been another memorable moment of the Us tour.

This was the third show performed by the band in the state of California in 2011, held at a 1,199 capacity venue located at the intersection of Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard in San Francisco.

Just over 24-hours after the Alice 97.3 acoustic show, Duran Duran took the stage to a rapturous crowd. In a theatre featuring chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, the band opened the show with their debut single "Planet Earth".

"San Francisco, we are at the fabulous, the legendary Fillmore. We're proud to be here" shouted Simon Le Bon, before Duran Duran launched into their second song "Hungry Like the Wolf".

Crowd-pleasing classics like "Notorious" and "Hungry Like The Wolf" were matched by new All You Need Is Now material including "Safe [In the Heat of the Moment]".

Before performing "Ordinary World", Le Bon said "I would like to dedicate this song to the people who are struggling for the cause of peace."

The show finished with "Girls on Film", that began with Nick Rhodes taking photos of the audience and John Taylor encouraging them all to put their hands in the air, as white strobe lighting started to flash.

Fan Eloiseredux reports: "it was more than a thrill, it was insane seeing them in an intimate venue like this! They were so tight and the energy in the room was a-ma-zing....the floor was literally shaking people were jumping and dancing and it was awesome.

Below Simon hugs Dom Brown at the Fillmore

Duran Duran: Paper Magazine Beautiful People Party, Good Units at Hudson Hotel, New York, NY

“This is what we play when we want to get paid"

It was such a fun night! Guests included cover boy Aziz Ansari - as well as 2011 Beautiful People Siggi Hilmarsson, Ovenly, Chris Taylor and Ethan Silverman of Terrible Records, Paul Iacono, Mandy Coon, Rachel Chandler, Stalley, and Claiborne Swanson Frank - who mingled among lovelies including Erin Fetherson, Will Cotton, Moby, Samantha Mathis, MNDR, Sally Singer, Cushine et Ochs, Gabe Saporta and Cobra Starship .

Excerpt from sociallysuperlative.com | “This is what we play when we want to get paid,” was all the intro to “Hungry Like A Wolf” Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran needed before the crowd exploded into song right along with the band.

It was a performance of epic proportions to accompany Paper Magazine’s 14th Annual Beautiful People Issue event taking place at Good Units on the lower level of the stylish Hudson Hotel of Morgans Hotel Group.

There was a constant air of, “Who is that?” at the party because if you were not someone who was famous, you sure looked like you were.

The Absolut Wild Tea Gimlets and White & Wild Boys cocktails were flowing in the upstairs VIP section as Micah Jesse and Adrienne Ballon air kissed, Cobra Starship answered questions for the media line and Duran Duran posed for pictures looking as if they never aged a day from when they graced MTV in the ‘80s.

People descended down the stairs to get closer for the performance aspect of the evening and Duran Duran hit the stage at precisely 10pm on the dot.

It was a sea of dancing bodies, sequins, and sing-a-longs. Duran Duran showed the crowd just what some of the acts today are lacking and that’s a dynamic live stage show.

The band sang some new songs mixed with old favorites like “Notorious,” and finished the set with, “Girls on Film.”

Sxsw Plays Host To Duran Duran At Stubbs | contactmusic

Sxsw, the music festival in Austin, Texas, was the scene for Duran Duran's first gig of their current world tour when the band played Stubb's Bar-B-Q on the 16th March 2011.

Kicking off their tour in support of the Mark Ronson produced album 'All You Need Is Now', the band played a crowd-pleasing set which included renditions of 'Safe In The Heat of the Moment', 'Hungry Like the Wolf', 'Ordinary World' and 'Wild Boys'.

The group also played the 30-year-old rarity 'Friends of Mine', which frontman Simon Le Bon claimed was "dug out from the very back of the closet".

The band wrapped up their 80 minute set with an extended version of their biggest hit 'Girls on Film', which included a brief snippet of The Temptations 'Papa Was a Rolling Stone.

• Duran Duran were also interviewed by MTV's John Norris at the South by Southwest music festival on March 17, 2011 [pics on the left].
• Click on the John banner below to get pics of the SXSW panel
• Duran Duran - Interview - SXSW 2011, watch the interview here

DD in the news, both online and printed: full press review

Duran Duran survived the '70s and mastered the new millenium.
There are several parts to the Duran Duran saga. The first found the Brit New Wave band conquering America, providing fodder for MTV, and turning songs such as "Hungry Like The Wolf," "Save A Prayer," "Union of the Snake," "The Reflex" and "Wild Boys" into rallying cries for a new generation of teens.

Yours truly had the opportunity to experience this phenomenon first hand while working as a promotion rep for Simon LeBon and company's label, Capitol Records. Given the reaction I witnessed, I can honestly say I've never seen another band whose charisma even came close.

Unfortunately, the later chapters of the Duran Duran story weren't nearly so glorious. "We were messed up emotionally," bassist John Taylor told this reporter in 2006. "Things were moving so quickly. We did a lot of drugs, got laid a lot, and got caught up in an immense amount of touring. It created a bad dynamic within the band and an incredible amount of competitiveness... The ego is a very fragile thing and it's often bigger than it's meant to be."

A final stab at the charts with the theme song for the James Bond film A View To A Kill, led to a prolonged hiatus and short-lived side projects like Power Station and Arcadia. Despite the occasional hit -- "Come Undone" and "Ordinary World" chief among them -- intermittent attempts to regroup failed to lift Duran Duran to its earlier heights and the band became something of a revolving door with old members and new recruits drifting in and out of the ranks.

By the mid '90s, LeBon, Taylor, and the others were grasping for anything that would put them back on course. And yet, subsequent albums like the covers collection Thank You, Mezzaland suggested the band's glory days were clearly in the rearview mirror.

"We had a lot of luggage in our suitcases," Taylor said. "It had gotten pretty stinky. It was like a dysfunctional family in a way [with] all this locked-up resentment. We felt we had to work. But it started to [seem] like Spinal Tap after awhile."

Fortunately, the tale has a happy ending. Duran Duran found its footing with the dawn of a new millennium and a pair of critically lauded albums, 2004's Astronaut and Red Carpet Massacre, released in 2007.

And a new album, aptly dubbed All You Need Is Now, reaffirms the group's slick, sophisticated, hook-heavy sound. Having proved sufficiently savvy to transition through rock, funk, and dance without loss of either cool or credibility, these New Wave legends are no longer attempting to reinvent themselves.

It's finally enough to just be Duran Duran.

Quotes from the Halesowen News, Saturday 26th march 2011 | "Our first two albums were considered cutting edge, futuristic and very modern," Simon explains. "Mark brought that element of danger and risk back to our music this time around, rather than it sounding like it was designed for the charts beforehand.

"There's no point in us trying to write a 'Duran Duran' song. With me singing, and the guys' playing, it's going to sound like Duran Duran, you know what I mean?

"That's what I say anyway - they'll never kick me out because it won't sound like Duran Duran without me!" he jokes.

"As a result we're experimenting more. I certainly became less flexible with people's ideas, and we got very safe, musically. We thought being a great group meant you had to settle on a certain sound, and since Is There Something I Should Know? was a massive hit for us in 1983, I think we'd been chasing that. We'd sub-consciously decided that was 'our' sound.

"The hits we had before that had more funk and punk in them, very New Wave.

"I love this new album because we're edgy again. We're in a very enjoyable place."

On the right Simon at Alice radio

Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, and John and Roger Taylor have finally come out of the Red Carpet Massacre closet - in an interview with The Quietus, the original Duran Duran members admitted that their work with rap/pop producer Timbaland on their largely lambasted 2007 album was imposed upon them by Sony/Epic Records.

Says John Taylor:
"That whole project was a f-cking nightmare. We delivered an album to Sony that was a natural-sounding, almost rock album and they were like, 'We need something a bit pop, do you fancy doing a couple of track with Timbaland?'… Around the same time we fell out with [original guitarist] Andy [Taylor] so the Timbaland stuff sounded hugely different from what we'd done before."

Nick Rhodes added:

"The thing was, we got an opportunity to work with Timbaland, so we thought 'Great, let's go for it'. We knew it was a risk in terms of what the fans would like, if you're working with someone who is ostensibly an electro/hip hop producer. When Timbaland saw the guitar and the bass and the drums come in to the studio, I think he was mortified, because everything's in a box for those guys. But I'm really glad we made that album, because in time I think it will stand up.

"We thought we could make an urban album and our fans would like it… but our fans left us in noooo doubt about their response to that album." Simon Le Bon

Simon, the journalist that interviewed the band for The Quietus

John: It was the most electro, sample-based album of our lives. It could have been a Simon Le Bon solo album in parts. You weren't hearing Roger and I, you weren't really hearing Nick, and there wasn't a lot of guitar on it.

Simon Le Bon: When you compare it to where we're at now, I do think Red Carpet Massacre was a bit of a personality issue. We thought we could make an urban album and our fans would like it… but our fans left us in noooo doubt about their response to that album.

Full interview here

The Wall Street Journal about the Lynch collaboration and other interesting stuff [full article here], below an excerpt.

You’ve done a tour film before [1984's “Sing Blue Silver”]. Were there lessons that were helpful from that experience that you brought into your collaboration with David Lynch?

Simon Le Bon: No, to be honest with you. David [Lynch] was very clear, when he agreed to do the project, that he would do it on one condition. And that is, that it doesn’t look like any other filmed concerts that you’ve ever seen. In a funny sort of way, we knew that we just had to drop everything. All we did was perform our show, the way we did it.

John Taylor: We’re so controlling, usually, in getting everything just right. This time, we just knew there was nothing we could possibly give him. All we had to do was show up and do our bit and make it as a good a show as possible. He got into it in such depth that it was really surprising, actually, how much he grabbed it.

Simon Le Bon: He’s such a lovely guy. And the humor that he brought into it. That’s the most amazing thing. That’s what I forget about a lot of his films. You always think of the darkness of ‘Blue Velvet’ and ‘Twin Peaks.’ But when you think about the small details, you remember how funny it is.

The public image of Duran Duran is very glamorous, while Lynch’s work often deals with a deconstruction of stardom. Were there conversations about how the Duran Duran image would be portrayed?

Taylor: We knew quite early on that it was going to be multi-textural and that it wasn’t all about ‘you had to get the band.’ We were just one piece, one element. We were just one dimension that he was planning this multifaceted presentation to be orchestrated around. Which was… Whew! Ok, we don’t have to worry about the lighting. It wasn’t a beauty contest. Often, videos are.

Duran Duran has enjoyed tremendous longevity. As you survey the pop landscape, which bands do you think we’ll still be listening to in 20 years?

Le Bon: Not many bands. I don’t think there’s many bands who you’ll be listening to in 20 years. Not new ones. There are a few great bands around. I’m a big fan of the Arctic Monkeys. They are fantastic. They have to have good drums, a good rhythm section to be any good. That’s the only new band that really does it for me musically. Arcade Fire will also be around.

Taylor: I like The Strokes. I mean, you have to want to stay together because it’s a hell of an ego trip. Especially when you get some success. Success tends to get between the cracks between the band members and before you know it…I mean, God bless that Simon has never laid that on us, but, say, the singer wants to do a solo album and la la la.

Le Bon: I was thinking today about what works and what you tend to base your relationships on. I think I tend to base my relationships on common traits. [Turns to John Taylor] You and I have really positive traits. We’re really enthusiastic and positive. I think my relationship with Roger [Taylor] is more based on calmness. My relationship with Nick [Rhodes] is based on a sense of humor. And respect. Real respect.

The band has split up before into side projects like Arcadia and Power Station. Is there interest now in pursuing side projects or would that cause friction for the current lineup?

Taylor: All my mojo is caught up in this right now. I don’t have anything to say outside of this. Certainly we’re so committed to this. We love our new album and it’s always great to finish a new album anyway. It’s super great to finish an album that you feel super good about. We’re on the road as long as we can. If this record is a success, we’ll know because we’ll still be playing at Christmas.

The early imagery of Duran Duran was very sexy, with lots of models and wildness. This isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison but after the decadence of Duran Duran, a lot of the boy bands that followed were very wholesome by comparison. Why do you think we saw a retreat to such squeaky-clean imagery?

Excerpt | Duran Duran's nod to the past | Quotes by John Taylor

Dailymail.co.uk | Still Hungry Like The Wolf:

Excerpt | Duran Duran's Roger Taylor says retiring is not an option as he talks about working with Mark Ronson on new album All You Need Is Now

'For him, it was almost like a scientific experiment, how to get that sound again.' And most importantly for the band, they are now doing it all themselves, having released the album on their own label.

Latest hit: The band's current album All You Need Is Now
Roger expanded: 'It was like being back to where we started - back in Birmingham. We financed this album ourselves and wrote and recorded it in a tiny little room in south London, so it really was back to our roots. 'I think it's the way forward actually [to release material yourself]. The last release was with a major national corporation and it was kind of like being on the Titanic, with it sinking beneath our feet. 'People were leaving, people were getting fired, whole departments were getting the chop, labels within the label were falling apart, so it wasn't really a great environment in which to be releasing your record. So we thought we'd do it ourselves.'

And despite the band all now being resolutely middle-aged and all in their late 40s and early 50s, Roger said Duran Duran were all still looking to the future - and feeling stronger than ever.

He insisted: 'We've got a great relationship at the moment actually, we're very strong as a unit, I think we've ironed out all our differences, we really understand each other now.'We feel very strong. No-one's thinking about retiring, that's for sure. We want to be doing this for a while yet. Who knows how long? We bumped into Elton John the other night and he's still doing it. 'It's amazing, people just seem to go on and on these days and you don't have to retire when you're 40 or 50 or even 60 or maybe even 70 with the Stones, they've changed all that for ever. 'It's great to know that you don't have to retire on a certain date, you just retire when it feels right.'
We have a feeling they'll still be Notorious for a good while yet...

Co-founder and bassist John Taylor spoke about the new album, still playing together after all of these years, and looking back on the journey.

Question: How does it feel to release a brand new album and simultaneously celebrate 30 years since the first one?

Answer: Wow. I just don't know how to correlate that information. I mean, where were you at thirty years ago? But I think that what it means is that I've finally come to terms with what it is we do. And we're certainly having a fun ride right now. We're really enjoying the work. And I think part of that is that we're feeling kind of cool in a desperate, hungry scene. We've got each other and our relationships have been through the mill. We've come out of it stronger and more loving and we're much better friends and workmates.

Q: Has it all really sunk in yet?

A: We were playing "Friends of Mine" the other night in London - which is a song from our first album that we've been putting into the set – and we were playing it back to back with one of the new numbers and I'm thinking to myself, "Man, there's 30 years difference between these two songs." It's all kind of interesting.

Q: How has getting back on tour been?

A: It helps to have an album that you feel pretty strongly about. But you get so that you analyze the journey all the time. Especially when you're doing interviews and people are taking you back, asking you to consider 30 years ago. We're like a living Wikipedia that's constantly updating our own history and how we feel about it. It's actually great, because you're only as good as you feel. And it doesn't mean that every day has to be a blessing. To be able to be honest, and understanding, and to be compassionate about your own story, it's important.

Q: And it has to make you feel good that "All You Need Is Now" is getting such good reviews.

A: It does. But we've been able to feed on crumbs in that department. We've never been a critics' band. We've always been a people's band. And we've ridden out horrendous critical times. Always better to get four stars, but we've learned not to look there for validation. Once you've been around a while and you've had your initial splurge, you ask, "What are we doing here?" It's like a party - everyone's happy to welcome you through the door, but as the night wears on it's like, "What are you bringing to this?" And I think your responsibility becomes greater as you become older. I never questioned our validity in '81 or '82 - I thought we were an essential part of the zeitgeist. But by the end of the '80s I wasn't sure if we should really still be doing it, I just didn't know what else to do. I remember (producer) Don Was saying it was heroic. I loved that he said that. I had never once thought there was something heroic about sticking it out. But there is something to be said for that.

Q: So, Mark Ronson produced the new record.

A: Yes. He's very seductive and very challenging. He kind of lulls you into a sense of security, and then he makes you jump through the rings. He's very vigorous and doesn't settle for second best. We've done this for a long time. We can tie most producers or engineers around our fingers. But Mark wouldn't take that.

Q: Future plans?

A: Right now, it's all about the band and it's all about the music. We're loving it. But I have no idea what I'll be thinking at this time next year. We'll probably be sick of each other and need some time away. But we'll also be asking when we're going to do the next one.

Ax Facts & Stats with Duran Duran’s Dom Brown
www.extremeguitars.com

My current album or project is:
All You Need Is Now, Duran's new, Mark Ronson produced, album. I have co-written 13 of the 15 songs.

Favorite song by our band:
At the moment it's “Girl Panic!” from the new album.

Favorite song to perform in front of a live audience:
”Voodoo Chile”

My Career highlight thus far is:
Playing at Wembley Stadium twice in a week with Duran for the Princess Diana Concert and Live Earth.

My most embarrassing moment on stage:
Recently we were sound checking for a show that David Lynch was directing for a special one off web broadcast. The sample sound to the intro of Planet Earth had some how transposed up a semi tone and no one realized until I played the first note of the riff. It was like the sound and moment in 127 Hours when he cuts through the nerve. It was the worst combination of notes, shocking and horrendous. We started again and the same thing happened. Of course everyone looked at me to blame. We rebooted the sampler and 3rd time lucky it was all fine. Gerard Way, the singer from My Chemical Romance, who was doing guest vocals on that track, said if that had happened to him he would have thrown up. That is kind of how I felt too!!

Read it all at extremeguitars.com

Excerpt from casadecampoliving.com | Duran Duran arrived into Casa de Campo on Thursday the 28th of April and during their time here, they stirred up quiet a frenzy of adoration, which culminating in his impressive partying during and after their concert ‘All You Need Is Now’ on the Saturday evening.

The group arrived into Casa de Campo in the early hours of Thursday morning and went off to their accommodations for a few hours rest, before making their first public appearance in Altos de Chavón.

In Altos de Chavón they took a short stroll through the artist village’s beautiful cobbled streets and enjoyed a folkloric dance show before they met the Dominican Republic’s press for a round of questions, an impromptu photo shoot and a dancing lesson!

Having just arrived from the United States, the band told us how thrilled they are to be in Casa de Campo and the Dominican Republic, a country they describe as ‘incredibly beautiful.'

Before coming inside, the band were treated to a little bit of a dance and music show from Altos de Chavóns dancing girls and a traditional Perico Ripao band, which was enjoyed especially by band member Simon Le Bon, who later commented on it, saying this country has ‘wonderful dancing and wonderful music and we would like to contribute to the music.’

On their second day in Casa de Campo, Duran Duran rented a boat and set sail for local beauty spot and natural swimming pool [sand bar], Palmilla, where they spent the day enjoying the sun, the cool crystal blue waters and no doubt a few drinks.

Later that same they have been spotted on their way back to their accommodation in Altos de Chavón travelling in a convoy of Jaguars [good British automobiles], when they nearly caused a golf-cart collision as a group of girls [on said golf cart]. Being big boat lovers, Duran Duran then showed up at ‘The Francine’, Parnes’ 151 foot yacht for a tour

After the concert they went to Marina Casa de Campo, at Pepperoni, for dinner.

The band were first here in Casa de Campo 10 years ago, when they performed with Santana, as a slightly diminished version of Duran Duran – with just Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes, this time the band are thrilled to be back as a more complete version of themselves, with the 2 other original band members: Roger Taylor and John Taylor.

Check out these links for more pics: laromanabayahibenews.com and here

Main pic in this article by Vittoria Bellia

On the left from top: the band claps during the folkloric dance show, Simon's impromptu dancing lesson and again Simon at Pepperoni restaurant.

To read the complete articles from casadecampoliving.com and for more photos of Duran Duran during their time in Casa de Campo check these out:

The Chronicles of Duran Duran in Casa de Campo!

Dancing back to the 80's with Duran Duran in Altos de Chavón!

Duran Duran are here! Press conference in Altos!

Collateral events

Simon and Houston socialite and couture collector Becca Cason Trash

• Wendy Laister is the founder of Magus Entertainment, which has served as the management team for Duran Duran since 2001.

houston.culturemap.com | Still looking good and going strong, '80s rockers Duran Duran bounded into the Memorial area swankienda with a bolt of energy the day before their Houston concert. That would be the home of Becca Cason Thrash and husband John Thrash, who welcomed their long-time rock star friends to Houston with a TexMex feast [John Taylor's favorite] and a meet-and-greet with several dozen from Becca's coterie of beautiful people.
The dashing Simon Le Bon was the show-stealer, striding through the hall of Andy Warhol Marilyn Monroe portrait wearing a black suit with tuxedo shirt and bow tie. "I thought if I'm ever going to dress on this tour," he said, "tonight is the night. I'm comfortable in a tux... This is actually a one-button black suit, but who knows?"
For die-hard Duran Duran fan Rosemarie Johnson, traveling on the arm of husband Matt Johnson, it was a knock-out moment.
"I couldn't be more excited if George Clooney walked in right now. In fact, I wouldn't be as excited at all." The Johnsons and most of the other guests at the small dinner [small in comparison to the mega parties that Becca typically throws] had tickets for the Warehouse Live concert.
The guys had been on the road for two weeks touring for their new album "All You Need Is Now." So as a surprise, John Taylor's wife, Gela Nash Taylor of Juicy Couture fame, flew in from home base in LA for a little squeeze time in Houston
The couple calls California home though they own a 14th-century country estate in John's native England, where Gela has modernized and decorated. While devouring the dinner, John allowed that his real name was Nigel Taylor. "Nigel the nerd," he quipped. "Every nerdy character in Monty Python pieces was named Nigel. I had to change it." John is his middle name.
Roger Taylor and Nick Rhodes rounded out the guest of honor list with all four sitting down to dinner at the vast candlelit table that easily seated 50 for dinner. Lindsey Love, who had met Nick on a previous Houston visit, sat tete-a-tete with the keyboardist throughout dinner and beyond.
Among those getting a major charge out of having dinner with Duran Duran were Greggory and Pat Burk, Sarah and Ron Simon, Meg Goodman and Mike Bonini, Diane Lokey Farb, Karen Pulaski Tyrell, Elena and Greg Davis and Valerie Sarofim with Andrew Echols.
No ordinary TexMex dinner would do for this group, Becca had her troops scouring the town for just the right dishes — guacamole and refried beans from Armandos, chips and chili con queso from RDG, fish tacos from Berryhill, beef and shrimp fajitas from Ninfa's and cheese enchiladas, Spanish rice and sauces. Additional source of news El Tiempo.

Duran Duran & Gray Area Foundation For The Arts have just launched a new collaboration on an online data visualization that seeks to reflect public opinion on what is needed in the world right now, inspired by Duran Duran's new single and album 'All You Need Is Now'.

Gray Area Foundation for the Arts [GAFFTA] brings together the best creative coders, data artists, designers, and makers to create experiments that build social consciousness through digital culture.

They fund programs aimed at the production, research, and dissemination of digital culture where art, science, technology, and society intersect.

• "We bring diverse communities together to incubate ideas, and we support and showcase the projects they create. We host classes, workshops, seminars, and symposia taught and attended by the very people that are transforming today’s digital age."

• Vision
  "Make digital culture [data, social tools, open source codes] accessible, substantive, and inspiring by humanizing technology through creative and social digital experiments."

The author of these pics is Shanna Doherty. Pics were taken on April 15 at the cocktail party in San Francisco.

On september 26 2010 Andrew Day has posted in his blog some news about the artwork he has been commissioned by Nick Rhodes and Warren Cuccurullo for their TVMania project. Andrew says:

"One of Nick Rhodes’ side projects with ex-Frank Zappa guitarist, Warren Cuccurullo. I’m working with The Vinyl Factory on producing what promises to be quite an opulent and intriguing boxset. I’ve comissioned Vania Zouravliov and artist Stephen Cornell to provide some of the exquisite content. A work in progress cover is below. Due to be released later this year."

Vania Zouravliov Biography
Russian-born Vania Zouravliov was inspired from an early age by influences as diverse as The Bible, Dante’s Divine Comedy, early Disney animation and North American Indians. Something of a child prodigy in his homeland, he was championed by many influential classical musicians including Ashkenazi, Spivakov and Menuhin. He even had television programs made about him and was introduced to famous communist artists, godfathers of social realism, who told him that his work was from the Devil.

By the age of 13, Vania Zouravliov was exhibiting internationally, visited Canterbury several times as well as Paris, Colmar and Berlin. He subsequently studied in the UK, and during this time began creating illustrations for The Scotsman and comics for Fantagraphics and Dark Horse in the US. His most recent projects have been for Beck's The Information and National Geographic.

In this interview from italian music magazine XL there are some cool comments about Reportage.

Q: Is it true that Reportage was a political album?
Nick: It had some political elements. We also talked about war in it.
Simon: One of the tracks was titled 'Criminals In The Capital'. I really hope we’ll finsish it.
John: I relistened 'Transcendal Mental' some days ago.
Nick: that one sucks!
John: I like it! There was much experimentation on that one.

Downlaod this interview [in italian] XL

Special Collector's Edition for the italian market

Italian fans and collectors have been delighted with this new reissue package which include standard jewel case cd of Rio, Arena and Notorious.

The very commercial initiative has been promoted by italian popular tv magazine 'TV Sorrisi e Canzoni' and its sister mag 'TuStyle'. Over the last weeks both mags had full page adverts for this great offer which has brought these album to the mass for a very small price, all of them for just Eur 14,90.

It was cool to see posters of this great promotion in the streets outside all the typical italian newstand. On the left the huge poster that has accompanied the promo campaign.

I asked Denis O'Regan what's the status of the Careless Memories visual book he has been working on since last year... here his quick answer:

"Thank you for your interest in my 'Careless Memories' book! It actually looks as though it's going to happen ... Stay in touch!"

Well, at least we know that the project is still going on!

Nick Wood of SYN informs through his blog that he's working on some new project with Simon. Nick says:

"I’m recording bass today on the song “Eiffel Tower” that I wrote with Simon last February when he was in Japan. We’ve since recorded his vocals in London, I recorded drums in LA and the rest in Tokyo, I still have strings, guitars and other sounds to add."

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• Check out This very cool interview [in english and italian] to Nick Egan on 'Rocket Surgery Fanzine' from Italy. Egan discusses about his art and he also mention Duran Duran. Check it out! [Thanks to Donata]