Touring Traditions

My email inbox has been a flurry of activity lately.  This is very common before a tour as Rhonda and I plot…I mean…plan things out.  I’m a planner.  I don’t need to have every last detail planned out but I want to have enough planned so that I don’t have to think much while I’m on tour.  I want to be able to just enjoy.  Anyway, you can imagine that this tour might be taking a bit more planning than normal since it is much longer than most and is overseas.  As Rhonda and I exchange emails, we can get silly and talk about other things besides an immediate travel detail.  Part of our silliness involves discussions and comments regarding some of our traditions.  Yes, we have traditions, customs.  I guess this is a sign that we have toured too much together or that we have a similar sense of humor and fun.  Now, that we are down to 2 weeks (14 days!!!!  EEK!!!), I have started to really look forward to some of those traditions.

I hope Rhonda isn’t too upset with my revealing of some of those traditions, but I thought it might be fun on a Friday.  The first tradition has been referenced on the blog before and that is the tour binder.  I have this blue binder that has accompanied me on every tour since the first year.  People often tease me about this and tell me that I’m a little obsessive-compulsive.  Well, I suspect that most people secretly appreciate it!  In this binder, I have our agenda, flight information, hotel confirmations, tickets, restaurant info, club info and anything else fun and needed.  The binder is filling up quickly and I still have a ton left to add, including those lovely tickets to 4 Duran Duran shows!  This tradition, obviously, begins for the tour even starts.  🙂  Besides this one, we have a ton that we do on the road.

One of my favorite traditions on the road is what we call the menu.  This started in Chicago in March of 2005 after the group of us had been up for a VERY long time.  We were at a restaurant trying to get some coffee when I picked up a take out menu.  I was looking for something to focus my attention on so that I didn’t fall asleep and had the idea of writing down memories and quotes from the weekend.  I did have a sharpie with me (you never know when you might need one on tour!) and went from there.  Since then, we always try to grab a menu to record our memorable moments in the same way.  I can only imagine how filled this one might be!  Another one of our customs is to do what I lovingly call the “press conference”.  This is done usually after a show or a meetup or some event.  We then discuss what was good, bad, fun, not-so-fun or whatever about the event that we went to.  In many cases, these are done while waiting for a ride or a plane or something.  They are also usually done when we are completely exhausted.  Rhonda and I joked that we could just video blog this time and realized that we wouldn’t want to scare anyone!!!  Part of the reason for these press conference is to remember the details and feelings.  It is another means to document!

Now, you can probably tell why we decided to write a book!  We like to discuss, to analyze, to document these important events in our fandom.  I think the fact that we have developed this traditions shows how fandom leads right into a culture.  For example, I suspect that we are like many Duranies in that we enjoy having a drink or two when we get together.  I would even argue that this type of activity is part of our Duranie culture.  I digress.  The last tradition is done afterwards and that is when I file everything in the tour binder, the menu and more in my Duranie scrapbook.  I want to make double and triple sure that I won’t forget one single moment of any tour!

Of course, we have a few other traditions that we shall keep to ourselves in order to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent!  I suspect that Rhonda and I are not unique with our development of traditions.  I bet lots of other groups of Duranies have their own!  Come and share!  What are your traditions and how did they start?

-A