Do you collect bootlegs? I’m pretty sure I don’t.
If you read this last sentence, and are asking, “Pretty sure?”, read on.
I saw Duran Duran at the House of Blues in Anaheim – the one that closed in Downtown Disney. I can remember how wide-eyed I was when the realization hit that Simon was actually standing in the same room as I was. I mean, the place wasn’t huge, and up until that point, it was the closest I’d ever been to any of the band. I still laugh when I think about how I went to that show thinking that it was no big deal. I wasn’t “that big” of a Duran Duran fan anymore. I’d go, enjoy the show and then probably never think about it again, right? Ha. I think we all know something different happened that night!
At some point that night, and I want to say Simon had just introduced a song off of Pop Trash and then talked about their website when I snapped out of my reverie. “Wait. A website?!?” (I honestly don’t know what I thought they’d been doing since 1985 but a site never really crossed my mind.) I knew when I got home, I’d need to check that out. Imagine my surprise when I found not only a website, but a message board. A board filled with fans who spent incalculable sums of time composing or answering post after post about Duran Duran….amazing.
It wasn’t long after that I found my way to another message board, and another, eventually finding a home of sorts for myself. Then I found regular posters who became friends, and we told each other as much as we possibly could about ourselves, our lives, our likes, dislikes, hopes, dreams, and what we did or did not have in our Duran Duran collections. It was when I admitted that beyond the basics—the albums the band had done during their career—I didn’t have much. It was true. I sat in shock many, many days when other fans would discuss songs I’d never heard of, much less knew where they fit in the discography or Duran Duran timeline. Demos, unreleased treasure troves of songs, all bootlegged and traded (or otherwise) as commodity in the Duran Duran community. Thanks to good friends, I was supplied with my own copies of much that was available at the time.
I spent many an hour listening to what was out there, feeling as thought I was catching up on all of the Duran Duran history I’d missed out on along the way. Rather than shrinking back into the shadows when the topic of “lost” demos would come up, I was able to participate in the conversation. I loved feeling as though I knew the whole story, without chapters missing. As time went on, I packed those CDs away, not really thinking about them again until we moved. Currently I’ve got them in a drawer, thinking I’d listen to them again.(never mind that the only CD player I own these days is in my car!) I still haven’t.
So do I collect them? I am pretty sure I don’t, for the most part. Once in a while I’ll run across something I’ve never heard and will listen – but my idea of being a completist is simply having all of their released albums. As you all know by now, I’m just not very good at this collecting gig!
However lately, I have been on a bit of a search to find the second CD from The Liberty Sessions. I have a copy of the first CD, but the second seems to have vanished from my collection. I want to send both on to a friend that would appreciate them.
