D2K Road Trip Diary

If you are easily offended/do not have a sense of humor, then please do yourself a favor and don't read on.

Special thanks to certain friends of mine who made sure my 18 year dream came true this year (You know who you are!) and to Laurel and SuSaN for helping me fill in the blanks from the Orlando shows while driving home.

The unofficial portion of the road trip started the day before the Orlando HOB tickets went on sale. SuSaN drove to my place from South Carolina and then we drove through early rush hour traffic through downtown Atlanta en route to Orlando. After fighting our way through traffic, passing what looked like a huge forest fire, and a little difficulty with directions in Orlando, and grabbing some dinner we got checked into the hotel around 2 am. After a little bit of sleep we got up early to arrive at the HOB an hour before tickets were to go on sale. We were the first to line up, though minutes after we got there a guy arrived, and then awhile later, a lady named Andi. He wasn't real talkative (initially), though she was, so soon we were all chatting. A bit later a guy arrived that looked very familiar to me. It took me a little while to place him and I confirmed it with him later. (His name is Sean and I had met him in October 1999 when he was a waiter at the Orlando HOB. I was wearing my John Taylor t-shirt and Duran Duran hat, Sean was also a Duran fan, so we chatted about them for awhile and he gave me his e-mail address.) Anyways, the tickets finally went on sale and we got reserved seats in the center. It was a happy moment. SuSaN went to the HOB store to shop and I ran over to Virgin Atlantic to buy some CDs. We didn't have long because we had plans to meet up with Laurel that night and attend the Tender Idols show at the new Cotton Club.

Next, in May, was my first Duran fan party. SuSaN, Laurel and I drove together to meet a group of other women at Maribeth's house near the Alabama border. We had met Maribeth last year before the Atlanta show, and as it turned out quite a few of us were on a video tape made by a guy named Anthony whom we had also met last year before the Atlanta show. We spent Friday night and early Saturday watching Duran Duran videos, swapping stories, and showing off pictures and rare items in our collections. Also, we had the opportunity to hear a sneak preview of DD's new album Pop Trash. Couldn't resist the opportunity--it was terrific! I had to leave Saturday afternoon to fly to Michigan as I was becoming a godmother the next day. Before that, though, we all had a lovely lunch at Chili's and tried to kindle our waitress's interest (and her boyfriend who acknowledged liking them in the past) in Duran Duran's new album. It was wild, silly, and fun!

The next unofficial portion was the weekend before the Atlanta show. SuSaN, her son, Brandon, his friend Ghassan, and I drove to Orlando in order to purchase the Pop Trash CD at Virgin Atlantic. Why would we do this when we already owned several copies of the CD (U.S. and Japanese edition)? Because we had to buy a copy from that store in order to receive a wristband for the record signing in Orlando on Saturday, 7/22. Unfortunately, SuSaN was running late and we didn't get to Orlando until lunch time. I was freaking out because I thought all the wristbands would be gone. Luckily, they weren't. When it was all said and done I had purchased 4 more copies of the CD. Instead of returning them later, I gave a copy to Ghassan, got one for my friend Laurie, one for my sister, and another for my friend Danny. We took the boys to the beach the next day and on the way home ran into a fierce rainstorm while driving through a forest. It was quite scary. I was glad to get home in one piece.

Now for the official road trip, click on each of these links:

The year 2000 has been a year of incredible highs (and terrible lows, though I won't go into that here). Getting to meet Joe, Nick, Simon, and Warren (Wes was good at hiding and is apparently terribly shy) several times over was incredible! I can't believe it took 18 years for this to happen. Joe and Nick are very sweet and generous. I enjoyed my 5 minutes with Warren (he gives great handshakes). Simon graciously returning my postcard, agreeing to sign the Pop Trash cover of Laurie's CD, his interaction with my friend Lisa at MGM on 7/21, and allowing me to have a picture with him in Vegas has given me a new respect for him. I miss John, though feel Wes is an excellent bass guitarist. Joe is a genius and should be made a permanent addition to the band. He is the most energetic drummer I have ever seen and good PR for the band. Even better, I like him as a person and enjoy receiving e-mails from him. I hope it will continue for a long time to come.

I was able to make it to the UK in December. There were many reasons why this trip was important to me the primary being there for 12/7/00, which would have been Liz's 29th birthday--she was born in Ruislip while my father was in the Air Force, the secondary being job hunting until I found out you need to have a work permit in hand (major bummer) or forget it. Other important reasons for going were to celebrate filing for divorce and graduating from graduate school, not to mention the icing on the cake--Duran Duran shows. It started out as two, grew to three, and then four, bringing the total shows for 2000 up to 10. I was able to meet my e-mail pal, Sandy Johnstone, for the first time, as well as some of the members of the Plastic Girl posse: VelveteenX (very sweet young lady), Aub (he was also very kind--I remember that he sends out the MP3 of the week e-mails from the UK club Red Instead), Sarah (the one that drove us), another Sarah (or RedSexy), Darrin (nice JT hairdo) and his fiancee, Luke (cute young man with a slight resemblance to Prince William and Peter, as well as Snakey and his brother (they were very entertaining and a bit cheeky). I also had an opportunity to meet Astrid for the 2nd time, as well as some other ladies from Holland and one from Belgium. For the first time I was able to truly understand what the word 'Roundabout' from "The Reflex" meant.

It is hard for me to write about my trip to England, because I am still very much grieving the loss of my sister on Thanksgiving 2000 to cancer. After her memorial her husband, Ric, brought me some of her ashes to take with me to scatter in her birthplace. I am very touched and honored that he was willing to allow me this opportunity. It was interesting and quite humorous to see the reactions of the Air Canada steward I asked about how to declare them for customs (He hadn't been asked that before, so I told him "Now you've heard everything") as well as going through customs itself (they were a bit surprised in Toronto's customs, though didn't bat an eyelash in London's customs). Duran Duran What made my pilgrimmage bittersweet instead of throughougly sad. I was able to go to Liverpool (though due to the horrid train delays it took 5 hours instead of 2 1/2, and called my mum from there. I was compelled to go there on my sister's birthday because she was so fond of the Beatles), Bedford (where we lived when Liz was born) to see our old home, what is left of the Chicksands Air Force Base (the main gate and the priory), S. Ruislip where another Air Force base is located and my best guess as to where the hospital in which she was born might be, Salisbury to go see Stonehenge--very peaceful and mystical there, and surprisingly located near a sheep farm and you can clearly see the roadways. I was even able to view some of Princess Diana's clothing at Kensington Palace, watch the pigeons in Trafalgar Square, visit the church where the then Lady Diana and Prince Charles got married, Tower of London, Madame Tussaud's (where Diana is conspicuously set aside from the royal family), watched the changing of the guard, out to Nottingham to see what I could about the Robin Hood legend (The adventures of Sherwood Forest was a tourist trap and quite disappointing), and over to Bath and Glastonbury for additional sightseeing. I really enjoyed drinking lots of tea and surfing the 'net at several Internet Cafes. I was quite obviously American in my dress and mannerisms. I loved hearing all of the accents and getting to see Prince William's adventures in Chile on the telly. I was amused at what a big deal Madonna is over there, I suppose since she was marrying one of their own. Glad I made it out of town before the wedding, of course, it was in Scotland.

Without further ado, here are some of my adventures in England:

They are doing an Up Close & Personal Tour beginning the end of February and all through March 2001.