Day 15 — My Celebrity Crush

I'm not the sort of person to really crush on anyone. I could never see myself as one of those people who would camp out somewhere to get tickets or the best seats in the house for ANYONE. With the advent of online ticket purchases, there's no need for it anymore...but back in the day, it was pretty common practice for zealous, hysterical fanatics of the artist/band of the moment. And if there's extreme weather to deal with, heck...if it's a slight sprinkle, I couldn't be that invested.

So, I'll have to go waaaaaaaaaaayyyy back to when I had posters on my bedroom walls and I was gaga before GaGa was cool. I would have to say my all-time crush was on (Nigel) John Taylor of Duran Duran. Here's a photo for reference:

I KNOW I had this black-and-white on my wall.






He's the second on the left. The bassist. I guess I've always had a thing for British guys. Ha!

Ah, the 80's. Circa 1983 actually. Culture Club, Prince, Michael Jackson, Pat Benatar, Van Halen, The Pointer Sisters. Is it coming back to you now??

We were stationed in Maine. The girls that I hung out with daily all had a favorite. Girl A liked Simon Lebon (lead vocals), B liked Roger Taylor (drums) and C liked Nick Rhodes (keyboards). I LOVED John (bassist). No one really crushed on Andy Taylor (guitar) in our group. We knew all the words to all the songs. We camped out in front of our TVs praying that Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, Martha Quinn and/or J.J. Jackson would play one of their videos on MTV. We called each other excitedly when they did.

Why Duran Duran added Portland, ME to their concert schedule remains a mystery, but we took it as a sign from God. Our prayers had been answered. We WOULD see them during their "Seven and the Ragged Tiger" tour. God bless the parents of one of my friends for driving EIGHT hours down to the opposite tip of the state from where we lived to take four screaming teenage girls to a concert filled with thousands more screaming teenage girls to see "The Fab Five" for a couple of hours, sleep for about six hours only to make the eight hour journey home so we could be at school on the following Monday. Not to mention the non-stop singing and gushing over said band. For SIXTEEN plus hours.

So fun!

And to think, 28 years (OMG!!) later I got to see them again is pretty surreal. They played at SXSW this year and I had an in!

I NEVER have an in!!

Friends of ours that own a video production company (shout out to XI Media Productions!) were filming several gigs during the festival. Even though they didn't shoot Duran Duran, they were scheduled to be at Stubb's that evening for earlier sets hosted by NPR. They were generous enough to hand over one of their allotted day wristbands to me so that I could drool once more over my teenage crush.

He totally sang to ME. He jammed on that bass for MY entertainment.

I know this is not a great photo, but it is a reminder to me that I saw him just a couple of months ago.

Oh, how I wished to be that bass guitar!

Yes, I did beg and plead for that wristband. I even offered to lug equipment that's how badly I wanted it!

Yes, I immediately transformed into the fourteen-year-old girl I once was as soon as I saw John walk on stage.

Yes, I still think he's f*@%-able after all these years. He's only ten years older than me. Two years older than K.

No, my husband didn't give me a "hall pass" because he SO knew I would cash in if I had even sniffed an off-chance of an opportunity with said bassist. Although, I would have been totally giddy like an aforementioned fourteen-year-old and not in the least the confident, strong, sexpot of a forty-year-old that I really am. (Again, I say ha! Especially at the "sexpot" comment!)

Oh well. I'll keep my crush at a distance. It's just safer for EVERYONE involved. ;o)