Take Five with Karen Booth! (Contest inside!)

For today I’ve decided it is time to Take Five with another one of my favorite people in the Duran community, Karen Booth! Karen is the author of one of my favorite books (soon to be two!), Bring Me Back, and as I’ve mentioned – she’s a dear friend of mine as well. I treasure her friendship, insight and overall “smartness” – she has unknowingly hauled me back from the edge of insanity more than once with just a simple yet funny tweet. Sometimes I just need the reminder to lighten up!

Karen is also going to be one of the author panelists we feature on a Q&A panel at the Durandemonium 2013 convention in October, so do your homework – get yourself a copy of her book so that you can ask her all sorts of tough questions in October!

Not only is Karen doing Take Five for us, she has agreed to a fun little contest to celebrate that Bring Me Back is now available in PRINT!  This is a huge deal and we send her a hearty congratulations – I am sure Christopher Penman is proud even if he knew it would happen all along.

The contest is very simple:  in the book, there are many references to Duran Duran. Some are very obvious, others might not be.  What we want you to do is to pick out your favorite, explain why it is your favorite, and send it to us via our gmail.  Creativity counts!  This is not going to be a random drawing – the more creative the reference and most importantly, the explanation, the better chance you have of winning.  Karen, myself and Amanda will be reading your entries and we are ready for some thoughtful, creative and entertaining ideas!

What do you win, you ask?  A signed copy of her book along with a super special Banks Forest T-shirt, suitable for wearing to our DD convention in the fall!! (If you don’t know who Banks Forest is, you should probably click on the link along the right side of the blog and go grab yourself a copy right away!)

Contest entries are due April 25, and a winner will be chosen and announced back here on the blog on May 2nd.  Good luck!!

-R

WHO ARE YOU, AND WHAT DO YOU DO?  I’m Karen Booth, and I’m an author. The snappy part of my bio says that I was raised on 80s music, Judy Blume and the films of John Hughes. I’m also a mom, wife, Twitter addict and proud Duranie.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SONG AND WHY? This is so hard! I’m going to pick two old-school Duran songs and one new one. “Careless Memories” is the first of my old-school choices. Simon’s vocals are so great and it kicks ass live. I’m so glad they played it on the last tour. I have a soft spot for the video, too. Lots of adorable 80s-ness going on (puffy shirts galore!) and I nearly faint when JT unleashes the penetrating stare from beneath those burgundy bangs. The second would be “Save a Prayer”, which I realize is a pretty obvious favorite, but no other Duran song transports me to my adolescence like that one. I can feel what it was like to be sixteen and feel like Duran was my means of escape, hoping there were bigger and better things beyond the confines of my bedroom. As far as new songs go, I just love “Networker Nation”. The groove in that song is crazy.  My 11 year-old son groans when I put this on in the car. It was on extra-heavy non-stop rotation for a while.

TELL US ABOUT THE FIRST TIME YOU SAW THE BAND LIVE OR ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE DD GIG.  The first time I saw the band was in ’84. I don’t remember much about it other than what I wore (yes, a JT fedora was part of the ensemble) and what I did (Scream, dance, scream some more.) My favorite DD gig was actually the last time I saw them, August of 2012 in Durham, NC. First off, there was an amazing pre-party hosted by Daily Duranie. I got to meet and hang out with Rhonda and Amanda, as well as a bunch of lovely Duranie ladies I’d met on Twitter – Boston Michelle, TX Michelle, Angie, Anne, Jonee…I know I’m forgetting somebody and I will be horrified when I remember it later. We had cocktails called Stolen Leopards and enjoyed the pure fun of hanging out with other Duran fans. So much fun! I was then able to attend my second meet-and-greet, except this time it was free of traumatic incidents (it’s a long story, but my BFF fainted at the first m&g). Despite JT dressing more like The Man in the Yellow Hat than a rock star, it was a dream-come-true and I have the photos to prove it. Then there was the show, which was unreal. I’d seen them ten months before that in DC, so I knew they were firing on all cylinders, but the Durham show was off the charts. Amazing set list, incredible performance – perfect!

THE AGE OLD QUESTION: WHICH IS YOUR FAVORITE BAND MEMBER??…IF YOU DON’T HAVE ONE, TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE PIECE OF MEMORABILIA.  I do have a favorite member although I can say with all sincerity that I adore the entire band and my first love is their music. That being said, it’s absolutely no secret to anyone that John is my favorite. No other man on the planet has captured my imagination for as long as he has (not even my hubby, but that’s not really fair…I “knew” JT years earlier). I was a goner the first time I saw that knock-kneed, lanky frame slinging the bass and sporting that heavenly mop of hair in the “Planet Earth” video.
Now, I realize I have already answered this question, but I have to share a cool story about Duran memorabilia. I used to have a ton of Duran gear—rare singles, picture books, tons of buttons, magazines. Unfortunately, we had a house fire in 2008, and I lost it all. One of my most prized possessions was a Japanese DD picture book that was ridiculously expensive, especially considering that I couldn’t read a single word in it. What sold me? The picture of John in a swimming pool wearing an itty-bitty bathing suit (something I generally abhor, but he pulls it off), holding a camera. If you’ve seen the picture, you’ll know why, in the era of no Internet and at the age of fifteen, I cherished that photo. I shared the story of the Japanese picture book with my writing critique partner, Karen Stivali, the day before she left for a vacation on the Jersey shore two years ago. The very next day, she came across a bag of vintage Duran buttons at a record store on the boardwalk and bought it for me. In that bag, was a button of the infamous John photo!
HOW DO YOU FEEL THAT THE BAND HAS INFLUENCED YOUR CAREER? I can honestly say that I’m not sure I would be where I am today without Duran Duran. They were the first band I became truly obsessed with and that set me on a lifelong journey of music devotion. My obsession led me to land a DJ spot on the campus radio station when I went to college. The radio station led me to an internship at Twin/Tone Records in Minneapolis, which eventually became my first music industry job. If I hadn’t taken that job, I might never have met my husband at a music conference. Years later, my love for the band influenced a post-mommyhood career change when I decided to write ‘Bring Me Back’, which was inspired by a dream I had about John Taylor. 

Related posts:

  1. She’s an Author, She’s a Duranie…She’s Karen Booth!
  2. There’s Got to be a Message Here This Time-In the Pleasure Groove Book Discussion
  3. Flashback to High School

By Daily Duranie

Once upon a time, there were two Duran Duran fans. One named Amanda, the other named Rhonda. Over many vodka tonics, they would laugh about the idea of one day writing a book about their fan experiences. While that manuscript is still being composed...Rhonda thought they should write a blog. (What was she THINKING?!) Lo and behold: The Daily Duranie was born.

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