How does it happen, does it fly through the air?

Sometimes it becomes very, very clear just how little I understand of my peers (that is all of you out there), and how this community really works.

I was just about to lay my head down on my kitchen table and wave the white flag of “I have no idea what to blog about today”, when I glanced at Facebook. Several things caught my attention. There was an ultrasound photo with the caption that Andy Taylor is going to be a grandfather. According to what I read from a fan, his daughter Georgie is expecting.

First of all – I have no idea how this information got out there. I don’t know Georgie personally, nor do I know if it’s really even true. I think we all are well-aware of just how often  things get posted online that aren’t factual. I don’t know if Daily Duranie actually follows Georgie either on Twitter (if she’s there) or on Facebook because I don’t pay attention to that sort of thing. If we do, I completely missed the news if it was made public. I know we do follow Andy but he’s been pretty darn silent for quite a while now.  I’m fascinated that I read about such news through a fan before I saw it being made “news” through any sort of actual media or management.  I guess I hesitate a little longer than most to post things like that even if I know it’s true, and that’s on me. Daily Duranie is usually late to break news like this, and to be completely honest – that’s fine with me. I’d rather not post about their personal lives unless I know for sure it’s out there for the world to read. I’m sure that whomever began this posting knew it was fine – I’m not finding fault with anyone on that.

So as I was pondering the idea of the band becoming grandfathers… I glanced a little farther down my newsfeed to see that someone has apparently gotten direct information from Nick Rhodes that they want to share with the rest of the Duranie world on the progress of the album. They say that Nick said they’ve got 9 songs, 2 have lyrics. Good news, certainly.

Once again, I have no idea how this information is out and about. I miss news items sometimes, mainly because I don’t go searching for them. I’m probably one of the very few Duranies out there that does not have a Google alert set up for Duran Duran. I don’t know if Nick made a public statement, contacted a fan directly because they’re buddies, or maybe spoke to someone outside of the studio. Is it even factual and was it even said?? I don’t know, but I have to assume that this fan has her facts straight. All of those things are plausible, and I’m not too shy or embarrassed to admit that we don’t have contacts like that.  It’s true, we don’t. Maybe we should by now, I really don’t know – but we don’t.

My point with this blog isn’t to find fault with those who have gotten these types of information. Please read that carefully – in fact the newsbytes I saw today on Facebook only spurred me to consider how news unfolds in the community, not really so much about whether it all should be posted, because as I mentioned – I don’t know how this information gets out and it’s not really for me to decide what is right or wrong anyway. So the following is more about how I see what Daily Duranie does and where our comfort level lies – it is not a commentary on what I think the rest of the world should be doing, just so we are clear.

What confounds me many, many times in this fandom is how some people seem to know everything that is going on. True – I don’t live in the UK, I’m not friendly with any of the band to just send them an email to find out how their lives are going, and even if that were the case, I guess I figure if they want me (or anyone) to know about the album, they’ll post something themselves?? That’s probably very naive of me. Let’s be honest, investigative journalism is obviously not my career of choice. The whole thing feels very uncomfortable to me, and maybe it’s because I’m not understanding the process.

I don’t become friends with someone simply so that they’ll supply me with information about the band, and I’m the last person that will ask someone direct, pointed questions. When I say to someone that I won’t ask them questions about something, I genuinely mean it. If I am friends with someone “on the inside”, I’m friends with them because for whatever reason – we get along, we have something in common, and it’s genuine. It’s not because I want band information, and it’s not because I want something for “free”. If I started using those contacts as sources for secret insider information, I’d lose friends rather quickly, and that’s just not my grand plan. I guess that for me personally it’s more important for my friends and people that I’ve met along the way that I am friendly with to know that I am a person of my word. I have much respect for them, and I would appreciate the same in return. Daily Duranie will never be the best source for “inside info” from the band, but you know what? That doesn’t really matter to me as much as some might assume.

I don’t think Amanda and I ever considered that we’d be the place people would come for band information or “leaks”. That wasn’t the reason we began the blog, even though we both know that sort of thing is highly respected within the community. We see it. We know that we don’t rate highly in that area. The trouble is, those leaks are not very highly respected from the band or from their management, and to us – that matters just as much as being respected by our people (fellow fans). This blog is not going to be the place fans are going to want to come in order to hear leaked snippets from albums unless the band has already made them public, or to get a file of the new album a few days ahead of everyone else. Why? That’s simple: RESPECT.

We respect the band. We also respect their management, even when we might not agree with their methods. I think that’s a very rare thing in this fan community which is unfortunate.  Let me be honest – it’s easy to be on this side of the fence and find fault. Amanda and I know that, and we recognize that neither of us have built careers in the music business. No thank you. So sure, I can sit on my high horse and call foul, but all the while I’m thinking that it’s a good thing I’m not in charge. I couldn’t do what they do. We built this blog to be a place where things can be discussed, where fans can come and say whatever they want with some decorum of mutual respect for one another, and for the most part, we continue to achieve that. News-wise? Hell no. I still don’t get the system or the rules. Maybe there really aren’t rules for engagement. Anything goes – you find the information however you find it, you post it, the fans praise you for it, and the band ignores the whole thing….except I don’t think they really ignore it. I know it ticks management off when things get out before they’re ready, and you know – I can’t blame them. Bottom line: I don’t know why or how some people seem to know everything, but I think we’ve got some incredibly talented sleuths in our midst.

Amanda and I don’t have “spies” in every corner of the world and many, many times we’re reading something online and scratching our heads trying to figure out how the system of disseminating information really works. Is it really acceptable to ask around? Is it really OK for someone to use the contacts they have within the band’s organization to find out what they know and then immediately share it with the world? I’ve even interviewed someone from the band before – and I wouldn’t dream of bothering that person to find out information. That’s rude! It isn’t cool, and it’s not what I’m about. Respect matters. My word matters – I want people to know when I say something, I mean it and I won’t go back. I realize that’s a very overrated thing in the music industry, but it’s how I operate. No, I probably won’t ever be a CEO of much. Those are the breaks, my friends.

Somebody said something to me just last week that has stuck with me. They said, “Rhonda, you’re too honest.” I kind of chuckled and they continued, “When you don’t know something, you say so. Rather than give the image that you know people and that you’ve got an ‘in’…whether or not you really have one, you are honest about it and say it just like it is, or just like you see it. That’s why you don’t have over a million hits on the blog, and that’s why you feel as though the blog has very little respect. It’s too honest and too real. You could pretend to know far more than you do, and yet you choose to not go that route.”

I suppose that’s true. I understand all about how PR works, and how image is important. Believe it or not, I have done PR in my past. I know the importance of smoke and mirrors. Perhaps the image we’re going for with Daily Duranie is that of accepted honesty. I don’t think I need to make the blog appear as though we know everything that is going on, or that we get things that very few others in the community really get. We are fans, just like you. We love the band, just like you. We give and expect honesty, and we’ll accept that we won’t always agree. It’s pretty much what I expect out of my own friends and family in real life.  A little truth without ego goes a long, long way with me. Maybe it doesn’t make me popular or very professional (which is really kind of screwed up), but like I said – I can look myself in the mirror and know I’m exactly who I say I am. I’m not busy or working hard trying to keep up a facade.

It’s very easy in this fandom to start feeling bad about myself because I don’t have friends on the inside or because I don’t have information before it breaks, or because the people I *am* buddies with don’t supply me with a constant stream of information…and trust me…I’ve had more than my fair share of moments lately where I’ve felt completely out of my element and I’ve wondered what I did wrong. The truth is that I’ve done nothing. Amanda and I have all sorts of euphemisms for the sort of game playing that takes place in this fan community – and by game playing I mean the sort of scramble that goes on so that one person feels like they are on the very top of the anthill. While the blog might not be at the top of the anthill, we are absolutely a part of the foundation that keeps this community running. For me personally, that is more than enough.

-R