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"Jeff, it took me forever, but I finally added some comments to your article, which I loved. Feel free to use, edit, or discard as you wish."
Okay.
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Jefferson's Duran Duran Confession ...
I am the Anti-Jason (or, How did I get here?): The Duran Duran Reunion Tour 2005 (March 9, 2005)
I feel like I need to confess it like a testimonial at an AA meeting.
My name is Jefferson, and I listen to the music of Duran Duran.
That's nothing. My name is Jason, and I own Go West's Greatest Hits CD. "We close our eyes..."
I do not believe that my selection as the Anti-Jason was entirely random. See, I have always believed that Jason hated me in high school. (I have in fact spoken to Jason about this and we did in fact dislike each other very much. Now we party together and he manages to get photos and videos of me singing karaoke online. Come to think of it, this is his way of showing that he still holds a grudge ...)
And you have fallen into my trap ONCE AGAIN!
Amongst other things, what really stands out is an incident during rehearsals for the Mountlake Terrace High School production of Ten Little Indians. I was bored, tired, going through the motions at rehearsal one day and our director was getting frustrated. I was sitting in a chair and having a hard time staying awake, which even though I was playing an old fart was not method acting. Jason got upset with me and decided to show me how my part should be done. He was right, but it was clearly obvious after that in A.P.E.S. class that Jason no like Jefferson. It wasn't anything either of us spent a lot of time contemplating and is more obvious in retrospect, but I am pretty certain that it was so.
I absolutely do not remember this. What I DO remember is whispering something in Matt Hughes' ear, offstage during a dress rehearsal, after which he recoiled in mock horror and shouted, "No, I will NOT suck your c***!" That episode, I will always remember, each time with a sharp, sick feeling of shame. But this alleged incident where I made someone ELSE feel like a fool...? Nope. Doesn't ring a bell.
Years passed. I bumped into Jason on occasion at A.P.E.S. and MTHS reunions and the occasional other occasion like a Paul's Basement event. We even had coffee once a few years ago. Times change and it appears that whatever was there had passed with time.
Honestly, what was that about? I have no idea why I decided I didn't like you. You even sold me a Toto LP once, at a reasonable price; a thing that normally counts for much in my book. Such are the vagaries of youth, or whatever. I have a sneaking suspicion that my dislike of you was in direct proportion to your sports proficiency. Damn jocks. Wait, now I hate you again.
Two years ago after and A.P.E.S. reunion several of us decided to go and see another reunion, Duran Duran.
Unlike the Summer 04 reunion of Judas Priest, this tour would not be a part of Ozzfest.
See, this is where the confessional part comes in ... I wanted to go and see Duran Duran in high school in 1984 but, wouldn't and couldn't admit it, so I did not go and quietly endured the stories of how "amazing" it was the next day from people I was not going to admit I was jealous of.
Thank God I was already firmly ensconced in the "Drama Fag" role, so I had no such qualms. Otherwise, I would likely have missed the Thompson Twins, with opening act Re-Flex! "The politics of dancing... The politics of mmm mmm feelin' good..."
I guess I was just not strong enough in 84 to admit I wanted to go ... There was apprehension about seeing a band that was so image oriented 20 years after their popular peak ... they had a new album that was not too bad, but they could never really expect to be relevant the way they were in 1983 ever again ... pop music will allow for the comeback and the retro nostalgia thing, but getting back to being actually influential just does not seem to happen ...
Yeah, you rarely hear the hipsters at local music stores saying, "hey, dude, have you heard that new Wang Chung album?" these days. Sad, really. They don't know what they're missing.
My tastes have always been varied; but high school, especially our high school, was clearly cut into groups defined by our respective tastes ... 20 years later I wish I had told people to piss off and had gone, but I cannot change the past ...
Well, I wish I had gone to see that legendary Ted Nugent show back in 1980 or so where he swung down from the balcony wearing only a loincloth, and one of my Auto Shop compatriots came to school the next day in a vomit-stained XXL Nugent t-shirt and claimed he couldn't remember a thing but that he had woken up naked in bed with his older brother's girlfriend. Sadly, that was not to be, and I had to content myself with the slightly-less-debauched antics of Bryan Adams.
So, we had dinner as a group, caught up on what our kids are up to, and got ready to go ... But, the girls tix were across the EEC from ours so we were not all sitting together ... although we could see them when we gave the place a good once over ...
If the ladies had sat with us, the people in the row behind probably would have been less convinced you and I were partners. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, just noticing. Gosh, we've come a long way, haven't we? First you sold me a Toto LP, then we hated each other, then we were life partners at a Duran Duran concert. Who could have foreseen that?
To review the show ... I think I was more impressed with them as a band than Jason was. to tell you the truth I had not really thought about them musically and artistically until then so maybe the bar was not real high ... It was a first class production and they were still obviously used to being "stars". Simon had a very good rapport with the audience ... I was expecting to enjoy it, just not as much as I did ... they played a much longer set than I had anticipated, mixing in new songs with the old ... I left very glad I had gone ...
Nick Rhodes is just as cool as ever. Didja ever see his coffee table book of photos? 200 pages of Polaroids of hotel room television sets.
Duran Duran is many things ... and one of them was always that they were a marketing machine ... their use of elaborate videos and sense of style propelled them past musically more gifted acts and gave them a cultural staying power beyond the one hit wonders and clones that their success spawned ... For instance, the tour program went way beyond cool with pop ups and cards and photos, and they had concert tees that were actually worth getting ... hardly something common any more ...
I remember their concert video "Sing Blue Silver," in which it seemed they were aghast at their rabid Japanese fans' behavior, mobbing the stage and crushing children in their desperation to touch John Taylor's stylish shoes. There was a whole sequence devoted to the emergency room where mascara'd, dehydrated Duran Duran fans gasped for air and wept, clutching their autographed tour books.
The crowd was a diverse mix of young and old ... the ladies in our row thought we were "together" and we kind of milked that, or at least Jason did when he kept bellowing "Simon! ... Simon!" over and over ... We missed the opening act (apparently to Max's dismay). I tend to see at least a part of most opening acts, just on General Principle, but in this instance the people watching and merchandise lines were more interesting to me ...
I have relayed this lesson to my kids, hoping to show them that their own tastes matter more than any perceptions others have about those tastes ... That way they won't miss out on something and have to wait for the reunion tour in 2028 ...
We can all learn something from Simon LeBon: "Fear hangs a plane of gunsmoke / Drifting in our room / So easy to disturb / With a thought / With a whisper / With a CARELESS MEMORY"
In case you haven't figured it out and still managed to read this far ... Jason's notes are in italics ... Thanks man.
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