Still sipping on the high of desperation!!

I really don’t know what I was thinking, but I thought I could wait. I figured that it wouldn’t bother me, and that I would simply sit back and wait until it was our turn. Then I got busy with my family vacation, going on a road trip to the southeast, and getting ready to homeschool. Then at some point last week, I realized I was missing out. I’m not sure if the moment hit me when I saw friends headed to London, or when I saw pictures of the signed books….or maybe it was on Saturday morning when I realized that even a lot of my US friends had a copy and were ravenously pouring through the book as though it was their last meal. No matter to me, right? I could simply wait.

Nope.

By Saturday afternoon I was climbing the walls. It didn’t help that every time I went onto Twitter OR Facebook my senses were being assaulted with images of signings, of John himself standing and speaking, or even better – interviews explaining in the vaguest of terms what I was already missing. My curiosity was strangling me, and I knew of only one thing: I wanted that book.

I’m not even a huge John Taylor fan. (OK, that is such a lie. I really am, but I’m not one of the millions of “John-girls” out there. I could probably have a reasonably intelligent conversation with the man and not even swoon slightly. Well, at least that’s what I tell myself. Listen, we ALL have fantasies!!) I think that’s why I didn’t just go ahead and buy a UK hardcover version of the book to begin with – I figured I’d just wait it out. I mean, I already sort of know the Duran story, don’t I? What could possibly be in there?! If we’re going to really get to the nitty-gritty here, I don’t even think I realized that the US release was going to be a month later until last week. Yeah, that’s how much I was paying attention. All I really allowed myself to think about was that I had something I was working on for late Septemberish, and John’s book was coming out for the UK, but then the US release would be in mid-October, and that there might be signings. I figured I’d wing it when the time arrived. I love all of the band members without question, but I just didn’t think a book was going to make me as crazy as an album release.

Clearly, I was very, very wrong. By Saturday afternoon I was starting to twitch wildly as I sat at the computer. I wanted a copy, and I thought of my options. I could order one and have it shipped quickly – which might end up costing as much as a ticket to a gig…or I could do what others suggested and simply order off of Amazon.uk and get it for the Kindle app on my iPad.    That’s when a light bulb went off. I saw a bright flash and I don’t remember much after that, until last night when I finished the book.

Now I know what some of you are saying right now. After you finish begging me for no spoilers (There will be none. We’re waiting until the US release to do any sort of book club), many of you are saying I cheated. You’re right, I totally did! Still others are wondering if I still have the US book on order (I do. I have the normal hardcover copy as well as the audiobook, thankyouverymuch.)…and then there are those of you who want to know how I downloaded it because they want to do it themselves. Of course you do. (email me)

To begin with, as I said above, I did cheat. I also think it’s completely lame that the US release is a full month later than the UK. I am not a book publisher, and so I don’t really know why this is the case, but I still think it’s silly in this day and age. Normally I pay about zero attention to release dates for books; but, since it’s THIS book that THIS community will want to read, it is of paramount interest and speculation. Isn’t that typical? Regardless, I did feel somewhat pathetic (OK, very pathetic!), sad and dirty going to the trouble to change my amazon account to a UK account for one simple order, but that certainly didn’t stop me. I did think about the fact that I already have two books coming, but now I’ve got all types of media covered, just like I would have done for an album. This reminds me of the day All You Need is Now came out and I went on an all-out search to nearly every Best Buy in the area trying to find a single copy. I don’t know why I didn’t order it beforehand (Personally, I think it had something to do with post-traumatic stress from Red Carpet Massacre…that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!), but Amanda and I decided that I needed the copy so that we could do a review.  She of course had responsibly ordered hers ahead of time and had it in time for release day. It was ridiculous: I had people crawling on their hands and knees looking through their shipments to find the SINGLE COPY that the store had been allocated.  That’s no joke.  Anyway, you are right and I own up – I cheated. Proudly.

About the other books I have on order though: I am a collector. I like having several versions of whatever it is that I want. I think I’ve got about 3 or 4 different versions (not actual copies…those number at about 10 now.) of All You Need is Now…and many of them remain unopened, preserved for all eternity. I have vinyl in our garage that is still in shrink wrap, along with the same exact copy that HAS been opened and played. I’m funny that way…and not funny ha-ha. Funny as in, “You are mental, Rhonda.” Do I have a problem? Um, YES.  Yes I do and OCD is likely only the first minute issue – according to my husband, anyway. Admitting it is the first step, but the reality is – I’m perfectly happy right here. Someday one or more of my children is going to have one hell of a collection to enjoy. (They’d better keep it all or I will definitely haunt them.) I do want to make one note though, and that’s of the “Catholic guilt” I felt while I was downloading the UK copy. (My grandmother would be so proud…) I did think more than twice before I did it, and not just because I couldn’t quite figure out how to change my Amazon account properly. I thought about whether or not I’d somehow be hurting John’s book sales, but I’ve still got those same US copies on order, and all I did in downloading this Kindle version was give John and his publishing company another sale.  Even so, I did feel deliciously devious….

What I will say today, since I finished the book (and so did Amanda) last night, is that I am even more of a fan now than I was before, and that’s of both John Taylor as a person AND of Duran Duran. Talk about feeling connected, I certainly do. It almost makes up for the decades prior where I felt as though the band was this sort of enigmatic vision or mirage that was completely untouchable aside from the posters on my bedroom walls (closet!). They put out the music, we bought the music, attended shows and nary between the two shall meet…am I right? Keep in mind that I didn’t grow up in the UK, nor did I have any possibility of ever seeing/writing/connecting with the band until Twitter or Facebook came along. There was no waiting outside of a band members home or going to the studio…I grew up in Glendora, California and trust me – no rock bands hung out in my little town or did studio time nearby. (Well, except for Motley Crue. Then again, those guys went to my high school and graduated well before I got there. That’s not really the same thing.)  It’s a completely different world in which to be a fan these days.

There will be no spoilers in this blog because that really would be unfair and unkind, but I’m very proud to call John Taylor one of my idols.

-R