two taylors

anyone who knows me well at all knows i'm a lifelong, die-hard fan of duran duran. and even after all these years, sometimes i see pictures i've never seen before. it probably goes without saying that The Internet Age has dumped probably hundreds of rare shots into my lap since i got my first machine. this shot is a prime example. it shows the lovely square-chinned john taylor in the background, looking all sensuous... lurking behind those dark magenta bangs. and in the foreground is roger... who always rocked the same kind of bangs, regardless of what era was going on. yes, two taylors... the ones that provided the thumping backbone to that 'gotta dance' duran duran sound. and they both still look great. but without the internet, i wonder if i ever would've seen a shot like this.

the eyes of jean-lucien godet

here's tonight's offering from the genius hands of jean-lucien godet. i love the way he can make decor and jewelry out of assorted clippings... i love the open book in the background. and i love the blue of the eyes and the early john taylor.

dig it.

alma

i christened a new book tonight, lovers. i was working with limited supplies, all the same, i think i came up with a great-looking cover. the star is none other than mr. alain whyte. he was morrissey's guitarist and close collaborator for a long time. if my recollection is correct, i think this picture was taken backstage, sometime in the mid-90's. that's as close as i can get right now, as a time frame. i love alain whyte. according to the ghostly computer sources, he was born alain gordon whyte on july 3rd, 1967. he was not a performer on morrissey's latest tour, but is apparently still a collaborator. sort of like the 'mccartney' to morrissey's 'lennon.' i don't mean to imply anything, but the two men have been very close. it is even rumored by some that hot alain was 'the one' who broke morrissey out of his spell of long-suffering self-induced celibacy. but that's just a rumor. but hey, morrissey could do a lot worse, don't you think? alain is a brilliant songwriter and instrumentalist. he's a dreamy singer with an exquisite vocal range. and he looks great. he can be seen, prominently featured in the must-have dvd of morrissey's live show 'who put the M in Manchester?' (if you haven't seen it, then you haven't seen 'recent morrissey.') he's done a few rockabilly-flavored solo projects, but to me he'll always be one of morrissey's band. he's just marvelous. oh, and i almost forgot... the book title, 'alma,' comes from my own name, almadora. (mmm, no kidding.) and lets see who else is featured in the little medallions. okay, from left to right, we have: a young miss jane fonda, just starting out in new york, then we've got the one and only mr. neil innes in drag, then the one and only miss georgina hale, then mr. john (duran) taylor, getting his makeup on, in a still-frame from the 'girls on film' video, then just an aqua star, and last but never, never least, we've got a shot of davy jones from the monkees' classic 'fair tale' episode. so that's it. a brand new book with all those clean pages. wish me luck. (and click to enlarge)

john taylor...

... for those of you who don't know john taylor. okay, i'm posting this shot because, according to me, it falls into that all-important category of 'unintentionally hilarious.' sure yeah, he looks handsome enough, he looks cute enough... i mean he's smiling and he's got that vital, healthy 'tan-that-money-can-buy,'... but i'm actually posting it for a reason beyond mere 'cuteness.' yeah, i know its a smallish picture, but if you're able to enlarge and look real close, you'll see the patch on his right-hand side, just above his pocket... like, where a soldier's name should be, it reads... i'm almost positive it reads: 'stay rude.' huh? i mean, what the hell...? his 'goal' or rather his 'mission' is to 'stay rude?' well, good luck with all that... i guess. how exactly do you do that? i mean, do you just go out and make a point of causing trouble and...like, being really free with the insults and the breaking in line and stuff? do you make sure you curse a lot and 'talk shit' about people's mothers and sisters and stuff? do you leave crappy tips and frequently use the following phrase with indignation: '...hey, do you know who i am??? does 'hungry like the wolf ' mean anything to you??' do you cuss out desk clerks and let the 'eff word' slip out during important interviews? well, whatever it means, something tells me john taylor would have very little difficulty living up to his daily quota of 'rude.' (click to enlarge)

new old duran duran horserace

hey, here we go again... once again, you must choose! but choose wisely. (mmm, who am i...? the old knight at the end of 'last crusade?' all of the sudden?) okay, so we're not picking out a holy grail, but we are trying to decide who has the most 'righteous' good looks in this mid-80's pin up of simon and the rest of the duran lads. first of all, let me say that this particular photo shoot was very familiar to me. like, it is distinctive because of that tacky-ass red white and blue smeared paint background. i know i must have encountered at least a dozen slightly different shots from different publications, but all with the same ugly wall, the same clothes, and the same 'standing order.' i'm sure this happened with other bands. like, i'm sure lucynell could tell me the same kind of thing about sting and the police boys in almost-identical poses on the same like, military airstrip or something. but, all that aside... we need to choose a winner here. so um, let's see... as usual, can we eliminate vom-faces andy and roger? umm, yes. yes we can. andy looks hung over, and roger looks cold. so that leaves the middle three once again. simon loses some points right away because he looks like he's in the middle of saying something, which is almost never a good look on anyone. and i have to dock nick some points, because he can't even be bothered to look at the camera. (actually, maybe we should give him some credit for that... like, for being 'too cool' for the photoshoot.) and so that leaves john. you know its sad when john can look like a dykey high school girl named melissa who wants to kick your ass after gym class, and still beat out his buddies for the 'best looking' crown. so its nigel john taylor once again. congratulations john. you made it. (click to enlarge)

duran glam

here's a duran horserace-made-a-bit-easier... that's because uggos andy and roger aren't even in the picture. so, from left to right, we have, of course; mr. nicholas james bates-rhodes, mr. simon john charles le bon, and mr. nigel john taylor. so, who wins? unfortunately, i think we can dismiss nick right away. he looks like falling asleep is 'job one.' and simon, well... i never did care for that spiky-on-purpose bleach-tipped haystack look. i mean, he looks happy and all, but still. so, facially, i guess the honors go to sleek and lanky john-john. at least he's like, fully awake, you know? and he's also not trying too hard to be hot; like he's just letting his popstar good looks speak for themselves. so, john wins... but before i move on, i've got to say one thing: what is UP with the 'theme' of their stage clothing? its like, ill-hewn band uniforms meet 'club clothes.' not their best look, if you want my opinion. and the togs don't even look like, particularly well-made, sewing-wise. so yeah, john wins. and you can expect yet another tiger race here on the planet sometime soon. (click to enlarge, somewhat)

sketchy

fan art, ladies and gentlemen, fan art!! hey, actually this one isn't that bad. i mean, anyone can clearly see its duran's john taylor. yeah, really its not so bad. i know i probably drew some stuff that was worse. i had no information as to like, who the artist is. it didn't look like they had to erase a whole lot. i'd bet some bucks a girl did it, though. and she probably did a 'nick' at roughly the same time. so, whoever you are, miss duran artist, i gotta say, not bad.

j.t. in a vest

yes, you know what this country needs now-more-than-ever? yes, more high quality shots of john taylor back in 'the day.' yeah, it seems you can find a lot of old duran shots, but rarely is the quality any good. i'm not sure if they were all just scanned in on substandard equipment, or if the original 'source' mags are too old and worn. but i do know all of you out there love a hot shot of JT. i know i do. and here he is at his bleached-bang ill-fitting-clothing best! man, he looks so young here, doesn't he? and what about those cheap 'pleather' mall pants? man, he looks like he just lifted most of the inventory from 'merchants' and 'contempo casuals.' ( a 'four seasons mall' joke, ladies and gentlemen! NC in tha hay-ouuuse!) (...i don't talk like that. where the hell did that come from?) i'm not gonna lie. there was a time when i would've loved to dress exactly like this. and one summer i did try to do that exact thing to my hair.

hot john

man, what a day. i'm wiped out, even though i didn't really do anything. i can't explain it, but i'm exhausted. and then my cat took off for three hours and scared me to death. she finally came back, though. i wanted to give her a piece of my mind, but she really didn't do anything wrong... just cat stuff. (cut to a shot of my cat 'milkyboots' at the foxwood's casino, playing slots with a cig hanging out of her mouth.) and so, i might not get much posted. so i figured nobody would complain if i slid you guys a cool shot of duran duran's john taylor onstage in 1984. i took this freeze frame from the 'sing blue silver' documentary. i don't really have anything witty or cool to say about it, so just consider it a place-marker with frosted bangs.

n is for new wave

again, i think this one speaks for itself. i wish people out there would make quality scans of all their old duran-era 'star hits,' 'smash hits,' 'tiger beat,' and like, i think there was one called 'no.1' in the UK. not only is the big headshot of john taylor really cute, but even more interesting if you 'click to enlarge,' are all the other features mentioned. for instance, i think i can read something about an 'a-ha contest,' AND a 'depeche mode contest.' what kind of contests could these have been? i mean, i guess you'd get records, posters, pins, and other junk. i'm quite sure i never entered one. i think, even at 14 years old i was like, '...hey, unless i get to meet-and-hang-out-with the band,' then i'm not going to bother.' oh, and by the way, the caption about: 'notice, no spandau' was added by me. ahhh, i wish i had been rich enough at the time to always buy two copies of 'star hits,' one to cut the pin-ups out of, and one to keep intact for posterity. actually, in retrospect, it was a high quality fan magazine, i mean, they really put a lot of work into each issue. (sorry the color is a little garish, i did the best i could.)

j is for john...

nigel john taylor, to be exact. hey lucy, i went shopping for this one specifically with you in mind. i tried to find one of him in 'the' fedora, but i was unable to locate a good one. but the one i DID find epitomizes his best Duran era, if you ask me. i'm still such a fool for it all... the craftily frosted bang-whisps, the bone structure, that dead-on, dreamy, 'ragged' sex-ssual eye-contact. man, i've seen studio photographs of ingrid bergman from the 40's that aren't as pretty and glamourous as this shot of the duran duran bass god. i wish i could post that clip from the 'blue silver' documentary, where he and the rest of the duran lads have to meet with the big-wig Coca-Cola executives to schmooze, on account of Coke was promoting their tour, and some American dimwit who looks like Danny Breen elects a 'morning after' john taylor to step up to the mike on behalf of 'the lads,' and john, (drink in hand) drops the 'PR' bomb, before dozens of popping press flashbulbs, when he says, '...i mean, i prefer Pepsi myself...' so they cut to Simon and Nick, to the sound of the 'ooooohs!' in the crowd. nicely played, john. good job. he is cute, though. look at those eyes. he wants you... he wants you to 'trust him,' so he can snag your teenage panties. i say we 'let him.'

duran duran - friends of mine : video

here is some magnificent live footage of duran duran in 1982 at the hammersmith odeon. the sound and film quality are exceptional. all the boys look great. its just the sort of video that i knew was floating around out there somewhere way back when i first fell in love with them, back when i was only afforded scattered pictures and video due to living overseas in a time of rare and very limited media. even if i had been a rich girl back then, i still might not have been able to 'get my hands' on such footage... but now, i have almost no cash to my name, and i can sink my teeth into it along all the rest of elite and common alike. really, exceptional film and sound. great stuff.

boys on film

wow... isn't that like, THE single most predictable headline for a shot of duran duran's hot young john taylor taken from the classic 'girls on film' video? yes, it is. but its been so hot... so i suppose i can blame my lack of wit on the steamy temperatures. there's a cool breeze now, so i finally feel like playing around. and you couldn't ask for cuter playmates than john taylor, nick rhodes, and simon le bon. anyone who's familiar with this video knows how fast this shot of john goes by... its like, 'blink-and-miss-it,' but even before there was such a thing as a pause button, my keen eyes caught it every time. (remember the 'good-old days' when we used to have to sit by the tv and wait around for a video to come on? kids these days, they don't know how easy they have it.) so dig on this hot shot of john taylor. he was, at that time, as cool as they came.