Ankle Deep in "The Red Carpet Massacre"

My childhood friend, Mary, has been a die-hard Duran Duran fan for almost as long as she has had double digits in her age. I, too, have been a fan over the years...I still go see them when they come to town, have upgraded my scratchy vinyl LPs and battered cassette tapes for CDs of their albums and secretly wish I had kept my "7 and the Ragged Tiger" tour t-shirt.

But...Mary is a FAN (note the all-capital letters). So when we found out two of the band members, lead singer Simon LeBon and keyboardist Nick Rhodes (Mary's all-time favorite) were going ot be a local radio station doing promo for their new album, The Red Carpet Massacre, as well as a meet and greet, Mary knew she had to be there.

And we were! Turns out her next door neighbor and friend works at the station. She got us on the list for the meet and greet. When we got there, we were herded into a little conference room at the tiny station offices with about 10 other people...various contest winners and their friends. We were the outcasts in the waiting area, as we KNEW someone at the station and obviously used this connection for our own greater good.

As we waited, Mary got increasingly nervous. Her neighbor came in and asked her if she wanted to go into the live studio with them, and panicking, she said no. The meet and greet would be enough for her to handle. Mono y mono was far too intimidating.

After the better part of 90 minutes, a promotions guy comes in and says, it's time. Simon LeBon bursts through the door and says, "Well, hellooooooo...what can I do for you?" Very charming guy, by the way. Anyhow, Mary immediately comes out of her stunned coma, leaps out of her chair and says, quite boldy, to the envy of all the other aging fans there, "Well, you can start by giving me a big hug."



So he did. And here's what she looked like afterwards... classic. Completely stunned. Completely starstruck. And believe me...she has dreamed about this moment since we were in junior high school together. "He hugged me," she said. "He hugged me." I couldn't stop laughing because I was still seeing her leaping out of her chair when he walked in.


Patiently, we waited our turn in line to have our one item signed. I had my Rio CD in hand (long since upgraded from my scratchy vinyl album, which has gone MIA at some point over the years) and Mary had the new CD. We also got to have a snuggly (and believe me, Simon was a little too snuggly for his own good) photo opp...but again, oh-so-charming. My brush with teenage fantasy come to life, 20+ years too late!

We were only allowed one photo each, so I am breaking my camera phone-only rules here so I can post the group shot, which was taken on my much-higher-quality 7 megapixel digital camera.

Simon, me, Mary and Nick. We've come a long way from Hudson High and our DD pictures in our lockers, baby!