Simon and John in the studio last week

Nick Rhodes Takes a Stand

Nick stepping out at Nobu

Nick Rhodes attended the widely-protested BP sponsored art exhibit at the Tate last night, and was quoted in Bloomberg Businessweek, saying “I’d much rather the money be in the hands of the arts than a petroleum company, I can tell you that. So anything they want to give, let’s take it.” I’d love to hear more of Nick’s thoughts on what are surely a couple of his favorite topics: art and commerce. (Gracias to Denisse Le Bon Taylor Brown for the photo)

Duran Duran In the Running at WFNX

Vote for Duran Duran in the Top 101 WFNX Artists of All Time! Duran Duran is locked in the running at number 50, but your votes can move them up. Click on Duran Duran here, then choose the slightly hilarious “rad” option.

Roger and Jake at A'RENILE

New Pics of Roger Taylor in Italy

Duranasty has some stellar recent photos of Roger looking quite fit in Pietrasanta, Italy. Roger has been spending a lot of time in Italy lately. I’d like to see more Jake and Roger DJ dates this summer… how ’bout a few in the States?

Rock Hall of Fame Petition

Don’t forget to sign the petition to get Duran Duran to the Rock Hall of Fame! It only takes a minute to click here and show your support. The staff at DDTRH has been working overtime to gain recognition for the cause with interesting interviews and fun contests, so be sure to check give their Facebook a like.

Duran Duran Suggested for 2012 Olympics

Entertainment Weekly has a great idea for Duran Duran at the 2012 Olympics,  saying “I think you’ve got to celebrate the Brits’ love of pop with a medley of artists popular from the ’50s (the last time London hosted an Olympics was 1948) through today. And that line-up must include Duran Duran. What? They could do an ’80 hit, then “(Reach Up for The) Sunrise.” (The lyrics are inspiring, and 80,000 people raising their hands for the chorus = good TV.)”  Take a moment to leave a comment on the article and let them know what you think.

John Taylor’s New Roads School Project

JT at New Roads School 15th Anniversary

John wrote one of his signature fantastic blogs on the New Roads School project. The  Limited Edition DC/DVD is still available and features John performing with student musicians, Stewart Copeland of the Police, John Densmore  of the Doors, and Raul Pacheco of Ozomatli. As John says, “It’s a limited edition, and comes dressed in a beautiful sleeve designed by the great Nick Egan, who designed ‘The Wedding Album’ and directed ‘Ordinary World’. The songs are intercut with playground chit-chat, which gives the listener an idea about what it is that makes the school click and why it is so unusual. I’m quite proud of the CD, and you can order it by going to the school website: New Roads School.” (Thanks to MissNovemberTuesday for the photo)

Mick Karn Update

Thankfully, Mick Karn (former bassist of Japan who is suffering from cancer) has obtained a medical card  In Cyprus, so the state will now take care of his basic medical costs. You can read Mick’s grateful message to all who continue to donate at MickKarn.net, as these funds help to care for his family and fund alternative treatment methods. Also, Midge Ure is planning a benefit concert scheduled for August 31… more details to come.

Mark Ronson and the Business Tour?

A little bird told me that Mark Ronson wants to do a tour in support of his upcoming album, most likely in the October time-frame. The thing is, he wants to take all of the performers on his album with him — there are many, including Boy George, Nick Hodgson, Wiley, and of course Simon Le Bon. I can only imagine how expensive and such a tour would be (not to mention nearly impossible to schedule). Perhaps the talented Mr. Ronson can pull it off… I’ll keep you posted.

DuranDuranMusic recently posted a video shot in March, in which Katy has a chat with John about making the upcoming album and a bit about John’s involvement in the New Roads School project. There’s a lot of background noise, most notably Simon performing his vocal warm-up. Also, the video inexplicably ends in mid-conversation. Distractions aside, I found several points to be very interesting:

• John speaks favorably about Mark Ronson, describing him as a “sweet guy” and a “musicians producer” saying that Mark takes more care to get the instruments sounding right, compared to the production of Red Carpet Massacre.

• It was May 2009 when John, Nick, and Roger recorded their part of the new tracks. John says that he does not listen to the unfinished music over and over, rather waiting for Simon to go through his “process” in order to preserve the power of the music that he will have to remain excited about for the next two years.

• John describes the last couple of albums made since they got back together as just “ok… so this one really needs to be a cracker.”

• Speaking about the time it’s taking to put this album together, John says, “It’s the real world. We’re not a young band. It’s not the Rio era when all we did was play with each other, so you can’t expect that kind of schedule.”

In part two of the video, JT talks a bit about Danimals and also says he is not interested in continuing his acting career.

One of my favorite rock photographers, Carsten Windhorst of Front Rows, Pits & Pavements, has embarked upon an ambitious new project called For the Record. Carsten plans to create intimate portraits of some of today’s most popular musicians with their favorite vinyl, then auction the photographs on eBay to support Amnesty International. Carsten is planning to launch the sale in December 2010 to coincide with Human Rights Day.

Windhorst has been creating some of our favorite live shots of Duran Duran for several years now and lucky for us, he chose John Taylor as his first subject. Click below for a scan of an article from the July issue of Photo Pro magazine in which he shares an overview of the project and details of his shoot with John Taylor. Keep an eye on the project at www.for-the-record.org as Carsten also plans to photograph Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes among many others.

Full-size scan of “For the Record” by Carsten Windhorst, Photo Pro magazine

There’s been so much news about Duran Duran lately that it’s getting hard to keep up. I’d like to introduce a new feature to Gimme a Wristband, a daily wrap-up of Duran news. After dozens of excellent submissions on Facebook for a suggested title, I chose DURANTIME (thanks, Tin!)  because, well… I might not do an update every day. You’re Duranies… you know how it goes.

Mark Ronson Video Premiere

Yeah, yeah… I know I post a lot about Ronson, but it’s my fookin’ web site innit and I can’t get enough of the guy. Tune into BBC 4 tomorrow (11th June) at 7pm for the premiere of Mark Ronson’s video for ‘Bang Bang Bang’… you gotta check out this teaser:

Nick Rhodes Peeping Some Art

Yesterday, Nick attended the Royal Academy’s annual Summer Exhibition, which is the world’s largest open submission contemporary art exhibition. Some folks may be interested to know that Yasmin Le Bon and Meredith Ostrom were in attendance as well. I’m not sure if Simon was there or not. Holler if you know..

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New Roger & Jake DJ Dates

These guys are gonna totally burn Italy the fuck down if they keep this up. The unstoppable DJ duo of Roger Taylor and Jake Phonique will be spinning at the L’Altro Uomo Party in Milan and the Arenile Club near Naples, Italy on June 27th. If you haven’t checked out their music yet, click HERE to stream some Roger & Jake hotness.

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Nick Takes Us For a Spin

In honor of his 48th birthday this week, the Controller made a mad good playlist on Second Life, which you can stream HERE. It’s absolutely worth a listen, with meticulously selected tunes from artists including The Velvet Underground, Duran Duran, Kraftwerk, Gary Numan, David Bowie, Devils and JT solo.

Video Updates on Lucky 13

The boys check in with some very welcome and encouraging words from Sphere Studios in London: