June 28: source guardian.co.uk | Bob Geldof to re-record Beds are Burning for climate change campaign | Geldof pays tribute to We Are the World co-writer Michael Jackson as he unveils Band Aid-style musical coalition | Bob Geldof, who collaborated with Michael Jackson on the 1985 Live Aid song We Are The World, paid tribute to the deceased pop star today as he unveiled a musical coalition that will record a new version of Midnight Oil's Beds are Burning as part of a global campaign to tackle climate change.
Geldof will work with artists including Duran Duran on the initiative, unveiled at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. The plan to record a new version of Beds are Burning marks the launch of former UN secretary general Kofi Annan's Campaign for Climate Justice to raise awareness of the disproportionate affect of global warming on the world's poorest communities. The campaign's aim is to galvanise the global public to put pressure on world leaders to take stringent climate change measures at the critical United Nations summit in Copenhagen in December to secure a new treaty to replace the Kyoto protocol. [in the above pic Kofi Annan and Bob Geldof at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival].
One feature of the campaign will be a We Are The World-style collaborative single, featuring artists including Geldof, Duran Duran and actress Milla Jovovich, recording a reworded version of Midnight Oil's 1987 protest song Beds are Burning. The Australian band has reworked some of the lyrics to make it directly relevant to the climate change issue. The single will be released as a free music download from September both to raise awareness and act as a "giant digital petition" by those who download it. Geldof identified the similarities between Annan's cause and the Live Aid initiative to help tackle African famine and poverty that he masterminded in the 1980s. African nations will be disproportionately affected by climate change. He began his comments today by paying tribute to Jackson, co-writer of We Are The World, who died of a suspected heart attack in Los Angeles late yesterday. "Firstly, my condolences and sympathy go to Michael Jackson's family," Geldof said. "Twenty five years ago I asked Michael to write a song – We are the World along with Lionel [Ritchie] and Quincy [Jones] – and [today] reminds me what he achieved for poor people of the world and what he achieved musically." Annan added: "The poorer and least developed nations will be hit hardest by the impact of climate change. [The Copenhagen deal] must be based on climate justice… polluters must pay."
June 28: According to Enviedlady, a member of the unofficial Duran Duran board, John Taylor with his family and the Le Bon girls will feature soon on the American Vogue magazine. The poster says: "My best friend has just sent me a few candid pix of JT and Gela, taken at a photo shoot for an upcoming Vogue. Her good friend's brother is a photographer and he went to JT and Gela's countryside home in England and took photos of them for Vogue. Simon apparently rolled up in his Audi, but was not part of the shoot. There are pix of John with 2 horses, pix of the family. Very cool!"
As you can see from the above pictures Atlanta Taylor is now modeling for Dna Model Management. Check it out at dnamodels.com. Thanks to M. for passing the news along.
While the Le Bon and Taylor girls were smiling for Vogue's cameras Tatjana Rhodes was busy preparing her exhibition at the Central Saint Martins degree show at the Barge House in Oxo Tower Wharf, South Bank in London.
More information and pics about the talented girl courtesy of jewelsfromtherovingstove.blogspot.com | Tatjana will be graduating next month with a graphic design degree in moving image from the University of the Arts London at Central Saint Martins. Julie Anne says "Needless to say I am an exceedingly proud mother!"
Congratulations to Tatjana Rhodes and her proud parents!
June 22: Julie Anne Rhodes, has now got her own blog: jewelsfromtherovingstove.blogspot.com. She regularly posts some exclusive cool old pics of her and Nick and some great stories. I guess many of you will find it interesting so check it out! [Many thanks to Beckielou Brown for passing the news along]
Julie says:
"I’m not going to lie. Going from hiring the staff to being the staff has not always been easy. When you've been married to a member of Princess Diana's favorite Band, had Andy Warhol on speed-dial, and Mick Jagger happened to be the bartender at your baby shower [Jerry Hall threw the shower for me]...it can be difficult to keep that professional smile on your face when addressed disrespectfully simply because you entered through the kitchen rather than the red carpet. It has been a huge lesson in humility."
[...]"Fortunately my culinary talents became more refined as I was exposed to a multitude of international cuisines while modeling, touring with Duran Duran, and eating in many of the world's top restaurants...but I couldn't wait to get home to my own kitchen and recreate some of my favorites. Believe me, as a foodie with a career that depended upon keeping my weight rediculously low, every meal (few and far between) was savored. Lets face it...models have a limited shelf life. After moving back to the United Sates in 1998, a chronic illness left me housebound for several years. With little else to occupy my time, I watched Food Network nonstop, and invited friends over for dinner often. Cooking was once again at the forefront of my creative passions, and that is how The Roving Stove was born in 2002. Gone were the days of 3 lettuce leaves. Instead I am whipping up 5 square meals a day for my time-starved clients to enjoy during the week. I found a career that truly satiates me."
and the next quote is lovely!
"Mommy, Mommy...you'll never guess what color Daddy's hair is now!" my 7 year old daughter excitedly reported over the telephone one day [while she was on tour with Duran Duran.] "What color Tatjana?" I replied a bit blase...after all, how many wives can say their husband wore the same shade of pink Yves St. Laurent lipstick as they did at their wedding? Nick changed his hair color so often during the years we spent together it was hardly front page news... "It's purple!" she shouted, and then I heard Nick in the background correcting her "it's lilac Tatjana, lilac!" ...A great example of one of the qualities I loved most about Nick...his tendency towards eccentricity."
June 22: From The Press Association | Duran Duran: Why should we retire? | Duran Duran have revealed they dream of never retiring and take inspiration from the Rolling Stones' age-defying antics. The Stones, who have a combined age of 265, have been performing since 1963 and Duran Duran say they want to wow the crowds for as long as thier idols have. Nick Rhodes said: "We're all big music fans and a few years ago we went to see the Rolling Stones and the show was so amazing, 50,000 people were going crazy in the audience, and that's inspirational because they are definitely the generation above us."
All pics in this news are taken by Sergey in St Petersburg early this month. source of the news.
June 20: John Taylor today celebrates his 49th birthday! Happy Birthday to to The Bass God from duranasty.com!
June 17: Full credit for this news goes to Natty at All for Simon Le Bon | There's a new movie in the works about our favourite band, it's called Stalking Simon Le Bon. The project has the band's support and is currently in preproduction. The girls of the Simon Le Bon board did their little inquiry and got the following info from the producer's assistant Kat Lankford:
The movie is currently in the casting stage and pre production stage. The director is Jim Fall [the Lizzie Mc Guire movie with Hilary Duff]. The casting director is Valerie Massalas [who cast all the Indiana Jones movie]. The producers are Alexia Melocchi and Alexandra Yacovlef. Wendy Laister, the Manager of Duran Duran, is the Music Supervisor. The writer is Amy Cabranes and used to be writing for the Showtime series The Botherhood. In the vein of the film Almost Famous, the story line is about a young teenage girl, one Simon Le Bon's biggest fans, who with the help of her high school friends, embarks on a road trip filled with adventure, laughter, joy and sorrow to get to a Duran Duran concert in the late 1980s in New Jersey, USA hoping she will get the chance to meet her Idol.
June 11: Dom [with his band Blue to Brown] is playing a special one-off gig at The Bedford in Balham, London this Monday! [77 Bedford Hill - 1 min walk from Balham North Line/BR Admission £5 Doors open 8pm]. There will be also a live web-cast. This is definitely one you won't want to miss. The Legendary Rhythm Methodists will be doing a one-off short set from 8.15pm, and rather then having a Dom Brown solo set followed by Blue To Brown, the two acts will join together for an amazing mixed set. [thanks to kitty at Remedy Records for the info]. If you haven't joined the Dom Brown Street Team yet, what are you waiting for? Go to reverbnation.com and sign up today! Here you can watch Live at The Bedford - 2008 [Voodoo Chile].
June 8: Happy birthday from duranasty.com to the keeper of Duran Duran's flame. Today is Nick Rhodes's 47th birthday. Congratulations and keep up the great work!
June 8: Revealing article about Duran Duran's new album: Mark Ronson speaks out on bbc.co.uk's 6music.
Duran near finish | Mark Ronson says new Duran Duran album is their best for 20 years |
05 June 2009 - Super producer Mark Ronson has taken on desk duties for 80s icons Duran Duran and has revealed they've recorded 14 songs for the new album. “I think it's their best record - I don't mean to offend anybody - but their best in maybe 20 years,” Ronson said to 6 Music about the material. The influential pop band started out in the late 70s and their back catalogue includes hits Rio, Girls On Film and Wild Boys. It’s their first album since Red Carpet Massacre in 2007 and could be with us before 2009’s end, according to Ronson. “We've just been recording in the studio and we've got about 14 great songs and I'm really excited about it,” he explained. “There's parts of it that's so 80s…it's like Miami Vice, but in a good way.” Ronson previously wrote in his Myspace blog that the new material sounds like, “Rio and Planet Earth all over again”."Simon's voice still sounds as good as it did when he was 21."
“Obviously Rio's a great record and you're never going to recreate that but I think if you love those records and the spirit of Duran then you'll dig this record,” he explained. The Kaiser Chiefs producer admitted he’s been a long-time fan of Duran Duran: “They were my favourite band when I was a kid from about the age of 9 to 15 and I still listen to that stuff and go back to it because it's great music. “It [the album] does have a lot of the energy of those recordings and they're great songs and Simon's voice still sounds as good as it did when he was 21.” The producer reckons Le Bon and co will preview new material at their shows at Lovebox festival and Edinburgh Castle in July and failing an album release this year, he thinks they’ll put out a single at least. source
check out also this article: Duran Duran Re-Record "Rio" For Ronson chartattack.com
June 8: On june 6th Simon and Yasmin Le Bon and Nick Rhodes and guest [a nice brunette] attended the Fourth Annual Fundraising Gala Dinner for the Raisa Gorbachev Foundation at the Stud House Hampton Court Palace. Nice pics in the usual photo-agencies websites. Check them out!
June 8: On June 4th Duran Duran played a free show in Saint Petersburg over the palace area within the framework of Petersburg International Economic Forum. The appearance, planned as main gift to guests and to the inhabitants of Saint Petersburg took place in spite of rainy weather.
From my local correspondent Svetlana. "The concert was alongside the World Economy Forum held in St. Petersburg these days. But the day of the concert it was raining like hell! And almost all the Square where Duran played, was empty. There was not a huge crowd at all as expected because of huge rain.
About one-and-a-half thousand spectators maintained a three-hour marathon with cold, rain and wind for our Duran Duran! The show was attended by the governor of Saint Petersburg Valentina Matvienko, the President of the corporation of " PMI" Eugene Finkelshteynand, the vice-premier of the Russian government Alexander Zhukov. It was a free concert but there was also a special VIP area close to the scene. The cost of tickets to get in the Vip area was 2,5 to 8 thousand rubles. Those VIP were also located in a in a tent on the left of the stage. The show was guarded by militiamen. Some were concealed in the back streets, others covered the scene, the third stood in the framework with the metal detectors. They were all around the entire perimeter of the area. The were also three large screens to cover the show placed on the opposite side of the Alexandrine column. It was also arranged a seating area under the open sky with approximately a thousand of seats. Simon said thanks in russian at the end of each song without any accent reports says. He learned some russian in 2001, when the band came to Russia for a show. Rain and wind forced some of the specators to leave toward the end of the concert. It seems that British musicians bring to St. Petersburg rainy weather, Elton John, Rolling Stones… and Duran Duran were not an exception.
Before the show Duran Duran went seesighting in St. Petersburg. They visited the Hermitage and the wonderful church of Saviour on the Spilled Blood. They had time to meet the worshippers and to recall some Russian words.
Watch a video from the local news vesti.ru from 5 june 2009 and download it here [it's a .flv file so you need a flv player]
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June
8:
Thanks to my very good contact in Antigua, Neil Forrester,
I managed to get three exclusive photos of Simon Le Bon at the prize
giving ceremony [Rio won the Regatta as reported below - may 1st news].
Click on each of the push-buttons on the left to get the 3 pics. Thanks
a lot Neil! |
Talking about Simon's adventures on board of Rio, this is the right place to post a couple of great photos of Simon at the Miami, Acura, Regatta. the pics have been taken from march 5 to 7 by professional photographer Rick Tomlinson. You can get more and even buy them on his website
June 8: Who's Subodh Gupta?! it's a Celebrity Yoga, Stress Counselling & Weight Loss Program in London and of course Simon Le Bon personal trainer. He wrote a book titled: "7 Food Habits for Weight Loss Forever" [ISBN 9780955688201 £6.95 "For anybody who wants to lose weight and gain health forever”]. All Books written by Subodh Gupta are available at Amazon.com, Amazon UK , Barnes and Nobles, Borders,etc. [thanks to Christian for passing along the news]
Simon says:
"I
am extremely happy with every aspect of the program
& would recommend it to anyone who wants a sensible
approach to lifestyle change."