June 18, 2012- Duran Duran Day

I arrived at the “GMA” studios in Times Square really early. It was still dark. No one else was even standing outside of it yet. I sat at a table nearby it for a while until a few other people turned up.

   We watched DD doing their sound check. Nick and Simon had waved at us. I wasn’t even afraid to wave back. Roger was smiling at us. I can’t remember if he waved or not. He probably did.

   Our view was of the back of them. Nick was basically blocking Simon. Roger was facing towards the side so we saw him the best.

   It felt kind of strange looking at them through the window like this. It was as if I were observing the animals at an exhibit in a zoo.

   Hopefully, my brother and I will be going to the Turtleback Zoo this summer. I am really looking forward to seeing the otter there. Otters are so adorable.

   One of the studio employees had come outside at one point and was asking if anyone was in the fan club then writing their names down. How did these girls prove that they were in it? Did they have a special pass or ticket?

    They were allowed in the studio to see DD’s performance. I was wishing that I had rejoined that fan club. I had only been in it for two years starting at the end of 2008.

   I saw the girl who I had hung out with during the Central Park show in 2008. I had seen her at the Wellmont Theatre too. She had mistakenly gone to that park thinking that they were performing there.

   A girl had a Nick doll. It was handmade and she paid a lot for it. She told me that she has been to 110 concerts. Damn, that is a lot.

   She showed me photos of her dressed up as River Song from “Doctor Who’” at Comic Con.

   They did the interview outside in the area that I had originally been standing in. I was sort of wishing that I had stayed there but then maybe I wouldn’t have been able to see them when they were performing.

   I am not sure if you could see them from there. I had noticed that the screen that Sam does the weather at was blocking my view of the inside when I did look in from that angle but maybe they moved it when DD did their songs.

   I better not think that much about this; I don’t need another thing to beat myself up about. I was already mad at myself for not looking at the TV screen inside sometimes to get a front view of DD during their performance.

   I did briefly try to get closer to them when they were outside so that I could take photos. These came out pretty shitty. I did get some okay shots of them through the window.

   They did “Sunrise” and “Girl Panic”. After the show, they did “All You Need is Now”. They must have been filming this for something else- maybe the internet.

   I was hanging out with a nice girl, Tammy. She lives in CA now but is originally from NJ. We waited outside of the studio afterwards with hopes of catching a glimpse of the DD guys.

   Our view wasn’t great. Pro photographers were doing a lot of the blocking. Dom and Anna came out first but we didn’t really see them that clearly.

   Tammy went across the street so I followed her. I am so glad that we did this. We got to see John, Nick, Roger, and Simon pretty well from there.

   I took photos then as well but the one of Simon wasn’t that great. He was getting into a vehicle so it is more like a side angle.

    I also took photos of the show’s hosts. Sam walked by us when we were waiting for DD. I had seen him in person like in 1986 when he was weather guy at “Eyewitness News”. That was when we were waiting to get in the studio to see Regis and Kathie Lee.

    Tammy and I were both going to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. We ate at a place there. We were talking about DD a lot, of course. She mentioned that she had seen them in 2004 (or was it 2005?) when they performed in Times Square. She was in the second row; lucky her.

   I hadn’t been totally into them as of then. That didn’t happen until after my first concert at MSG in April of 2005. I am sure that if I had been, I would have tried to attend that event.

   Even though I was feeling a bit anxious about socializing with her and others at this event too, it felt sort of nice being around other people who have the same interest as me  

   My tickets for their Atlantic City concert came in the mail today. I was pretty happy to see this. I can’t wait until this event. I haven’t been there in 20 years.