Dreamtime- January 18, 2006- Revenge Demon and Duran Duran

Duran Duran was doing a concert in my town. I had been the grand prize winner in a contest. I would also get to hang out with them beforehand. As if such a thing could ever happen in the real world.

   This would be taking place in the field across from my old apartment which I still lived in. The DD guys were already in the living room. I was not even feeling that nervous.

   When I went into the kitchen to get a couple of them something to drink, I overheard Simon saying something mean about me “She is both ugly and stupid”.  I was upset that this version of him had been such a jerk and that the others had laughed. I still wanted to hang out with them despite this.

   After that incident, very bizarre and scary things began happening. Simon was acting so strangely for a bit; he sprayed some hair spray around the room and was laughing. A couple of minutes later, the six of us were teleported into my neighbor’s 1970s white car.

   Andy was under a spell that had him driving fast and crazily. We hit a couple of parked cars. We were then sent to another location, the part of the field near the community center. An invisible force lifted up John, dropped him to the ground, and slid him through a big puddle of mud there.

   The guys were seriously freaked out and also mad. They even wanted to leave town then. A loud, deep voice said “You will not be allowed to go until after the show”.

   They did try driving out of here shortly after this but it was as if an invisible force field was preventing them from leaving my small town.

   We went back to my place. Nick actually asked me if I was a witch who was causing all of these horrible things to happen. Why would I do that? I was guessing that maybe some sort of demon was responsible for it all.

   They changed into their concert outfits and we went across to the stage area for a sound check. About an hour later, the crowd started arriving. There would be around 300 people at this event, including a few of my former classmates- Laurie, Michelle J, and Janet.

   Even more odd stuff occurred during the concert. Simon forgot most of the words to “Hungry Like the Wolf”, the sound system was majorly acting up during “Notorious”, and a herd of bulls was coming towards us then disappeared during “My Own Way”.

   The crowd would totally forget each of these weird episodes almost immediately afterwards. Only the DD guys and I would have the memory of them.

   As they performed “Hold Back the Rain”, it began raining heavily for about 45 seconds .Everything was totally dry afterwards.

   During “Save a Prayer”, a TV appeared near some of the crowd near the stage which is where I was. A Bon Jovi video, “Livin’ on a Prayer” was on it. I heard a girl saying “We would rather see Bon Jovi than you guys!” That vanished a minute later.

   Irene Cara magically materialized and performed her hit “Fame”. No one seemed to think that this was peculiar. She was gone right after that.

   I noticed that a giant zit was now on John’s chin during “Planet Earth”. Would such bad things ever stop happening? Laurie, who was standing next to me, told me that she suddenly recalled all of the concert fiascos.

   She said that she believes in the supernatural. She had heard of a revenge demon and believed that it must be responsible for everything. I told her about Simon’s mean words about me. She said that the demon would go away if I get him to apologize.

   I went up close to the stage and motioned for him to come over to me. I told him what Laurie had said. They all did apologize. Roger did say that he hadn’t laughed and even tried defending me which I hadn’t recalled but believed.

   The rest of the show-only 3 more songs-went smoothly.They did not stick around my town for much longer following this. I am sure that they were glad to be out of there.

   Before the demon departed, he telepathically told me that I would be the only one who remember that this concert had happened. I wrote a short fiction story based on this strange experience that was published in a magazine.

Mr. K's car

Our Town Field

Note- The last 2 photos are from the internet

April 14- More DD in Brooklyn

 I can’t remember much about that concert except that I wish that I hadn’t made a total dance party out of it. My moves should have been kept to a minimum. I am really upset that my memories of their performance at the Sands show are even less. I must have had a good time at both of them.

   My head is spinning from the what- ifs of this event and some others. I should just let it go. Even Mike said “What’s done is done”. Gosh, it is so hard to forgive my stupidity in these type of matters.

   I have been attempting to give myself a positive message of “How was I to know that they were going to upgrade Mike’s ticket?” so I can just focus on the fact that I did have a great time during the show despite not being as near to the stage as we had hoped. My jealousy of Mike getting that opportunity is clouding over this though.

   Jenny told Mike how many DD shows that she has been to- 37 since 1987. He later told me that she is just too into this group which made me defend her. If he knew that I have been to 16 since 2000, I would hear the obsessed word about this.

  Looking back, I would have been like Jenny and just stuck mainly with going to DD concerts. I would rather have seen them more instead of many of the other performers, including Bon Jovi. She said that she would like to go to the Cure one that her parents are attending but DD is a priority. I am totally understanding of this.

   I was surprised that my brother said that he enjoyed Chic’s performance. He was also going around trying to sing “Wild Boys” off and on throughout the day. This isn’t really a DD song that I am fond of but when I see it done in person it is quiet exciting.

   A small part of me would have liked to seen and /or heard my brother’s reaction to the concert during it. We always have a good time at these events.

   I sort of would like to write more about this concert and about the Duran Duran topic but I am getting frustrated from having problems expressing myself in my journal.

   Lately, I haven’t had the creativity and desire to work on my dream project either, not even my DD related ones. I did write a bit about the one that I had a couple of weeks ago. I would love to be able to add to this. The details and ideas are stuck in my head though.

   I was at 3 concerts- 2 Duran Duran and 1 Sting and Peter Gabriel (who are actually touring together this year). They all were taking place in churches. These music artists talked to some of the fans in the audience beforehand.

   At one, I was watching Simon speak with a pretty blonde girl. I heard someone talking next to me. I looked over and saw John. I wasn’t even that nervous. I told him that I had been too anxious to talk to him at the album signing. I thanked him for signing my CD. If only I could’ve done so in reality.

   My brother was listening to the first 4 songs on that CD today. If Jenny knew that he has listened to it more than I have, she might not consider me to be a truly devoted fan. I like Paper Gods, I just haven’t been in the mood for it lately.

   I wonder if my brother noticed that I had the binoculars in a small tote bag instead of the case that it came with. I still haven’t told him that I accidentally left it behind in PA last August yet. It was damaged anyhow so I need to buy a new one. He will mostly be mad about the fact that the lens covers were still in it.

   I didn’t even use them at the CT show. They might have zoomed the DD guys in too much. I could have brought my digital camera with me to use as binoculars since the zoom isn’t as good. But then I might have been tempted to take photos and gone overboard with this again causing even more self-criticism in my mind.

 

Note- these photos are from the internet.

 

April 13, 2016- Duran Duran in Brooklyn-Part 2

  

The show was absolutely wonderful. It was the same set list as Mohegan Sun. I am pretty sure that the order of the songs were the same. We did get a couple of special guests- Lindsay Lohan during “Danceophobia” and Kiesza during “Last Night in the City”. Naturally, Nile Rodgers was with them during “Pressure Off” and “Notorious”.

   Mike seemed disappointed that Janelle Monae wasn’t there during “Pressure Off”. I didn’t think that she would be but that would have been nice too. I know that he must have been going gaga over Anna. I teased him about this later. He said that he was, by the way.

   We didn’t get “The Reflex” which I was thinking that they might treat the NY audience to. I forget which shows did get to experience this super hit of theirs. I am okay with not hearing it, I suppose. I would much rather hear “Careless Memories”.

   We didn’t get home until around 12:45 a.m. I felt worried about Jenny having to drive back to PA so late at night. I did invite her to stay at our place but she said that she couldn’t. I told her to send me a message that she arrived there safely; thank goodness that she did.

   The train was packed during the ride home. Lots of DD and also David Gilmour (Mike forgot that he did a second show) people. There must have been some Mets fans too. We found out that they lost again.

   Mike and I stayed up until 2 a.m. eating our snack and watching “The Rockford Files.” It was a 2 part episode so I have to DVR the other one tonight. I thought that he had jury duty today so I tried waking him up at 6 a.m. but he told me that he didn’t have to go to this.

   Now, July 21 seems even further away to me because of the fact that I am eager to be close to DD again like I was fortunate enough to be 5 other times. It won’t be as near as any of those, especially because of that pit area, but row F is damn good.

   I just hope that Jenny is able to go. Her friend has the row D seats. Gosh, it is so pathetic that I am even jealous of her being just 2 rows ahead of me. Well, I don’t want to get too excited about it because I am already worrying that something might happen to prevent me from attending this concert or that it could be cancelled. I am praying that everything works out for the both of us.

 

Note- These 3 photos are from the internet

Dreamtime-October 19, 2015- Time Travel

I had the ability to travel through time and space by just using my thoughts. My appearance had been made younger, early 20s- for this storyline. I teleported to NYC in 1984.

 I was in a music store when I saw Simon Le Bon and John Taylor. I overheard them talking about dogs. Simon was asking John a question about a certain breed but he didn’t know the answer. I was brave enough to go over to them to reply to this. Part of me was worried that they would be annoyed at me, however.

   They didn’t seem bothered by this. In fact, I was even showing them photos of my dog. I accidentally touched Simon’s hand then. Suddenly, we were in his future- 2008. That had been the year on the calendar in the last photo that we had been looking at.

   We were in the same store. It was different now, obviously. There were mostly CDs and a smaller section that still had albums. Simon wasn’t even freaked out about this. We just happened to be in the section where the Duran Duran CDs were. He saw the Astronaut one there.

   Before we had a chance to look around, we were transported to a different location. I was definitely not responsible for this. We were near the woods that are close to my current apartment.

  I was assuming that my past self and family would not be there as we walked to it. Simon commented on some of the automobiles along that way.

   When we went inside my apartment, Buffy was there enthusiastically greeting me. I was so happy to see her. She got a little skittish when she saw Simon but was calmer after I told her that he was harmless.

   Simon liked my brother’s computer. I didn’t tell him about how advanced that these machines presently were though. He was checking out some of the other electronics in my living room too.

   After having lunch, Simon asked me if I could take him back to his own time which I did. When we arrived there, it was as if no time had passed. John had this look of disbelief on his face when Simon told him that he had been to the future.

   He finally convinced John that this was true and asked him if he would like to go there too. John was totally uninterested in doing so though. I didn’t get a chance to hear the rest of what he was saying because my time in this holodeck program was over then.

 

Note- The photo of Simon and John is from the internet

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.

 

 

 

 

July 21, 2016- Duran Duran at the Apollo- July 19

I was so lucky that I got a seat in the 3^rd row orchestra section. I didn’t even have to pay that extra fan club fee. The price was high enough as is without it. My seat was the furthest one to the left though. My view of Roger’s drum kit was partially blocked.

   John must have been on that mini keyboard thing during “Last Night in the City” as he’s been at the other shows but I couldn’t even see that at all. Kiesza was performing with them during this song.

   A girl who had been at the album signing recognized me. I thought that she did look familiar. We were talking to each other outside of theater, mostly about music and concerts. She mentioned that she had been to the Def Leppard concert at the PNC Center this summer. I told her that my brother and I saw them in 2005.

   It turns out that she was in the row behind me, two seat over. I was a little jealous that she had a better view than me. I should have asked what her name is and found out if she’s on Facebook. It would have been nice to keep in touch with her that way. Not that I have really contact my Duran Duran buddies on there, except for Jenny around certain concert times.

   I was also talking to a very nice employee. I had thought that Chic was going to be the opening act but he told me that they weren’t. He likes them too.

  Tokimonsta, a girl DJ, was the opener. She mistakenly said that Chic would be there. The show had started at 8 p.m. so there couldn’t be 2 opening acts.

   The theater is beautiful and also small. I am pretty sure that Simon said that 1,800 people were there. I don’t recall exactly what John said about this place; it might have been something like they were happy and honored to be performing there.

   Unfortunately, I don’t remember much about the show.  I read other fans’ posts about their concert experiences and they always include lots of details- usually good- about them. I wish that my brain could hold onto such things too. 

   I do recall some insignificant stuff like John shaking a few girl’s hands. He also handing a couple of them his water bottles, I think. The front row fans ran right up to the stage shortly before the show began.

   I am almost certain that the two people who had been in the seats in front of me did so too. That wasn’t right. Well, this gave me a clear view of John so I won’t complaining that much about this.

   I had arrived in the city earlier than I originally had planned on. I looked around Macy’s. I bought a Kiehl’s facial cleanser there. It is expensive. This better work for that price. I am getting so tired of wasting money on ineffective beauty products.

   I looked around some other stores in the Herald Square area too- H&M, Old Navy, and Urban Outfitters. The latter has records and portable turntables. I ate in McDonald’s inside of Macy’s and sat outside of that store for a little while too.

   I should have stayed in that part of town for longer. I got to Harlem way too soon. I did look around some stores to kill time but this was so boring. I got unsweetened iced tea at Barnes and Noble.

   My cab driver, Quinn, remember me from a previous time. That was probably after another Duran Duran show. I mentioned that I had been at the Apollo to see them. He seemed shocked and impressed that I had gone there alone. We talked about music. Did he say that Duran Duran is cool (or something like that) this time or the last? Perhaps both.

Confetti

Note- all of the concert photos are from the internet.

April 9, 2016- Duran Duran Casino Shows- Part 3

    It is so bad that I couldn’t even remember if Nile was on stage with them during “Pressure Off”. I read the review of this show today and it mentioned that he was. Of course he would be- he did this song with them.

   He performed with them during “Notorious” also. I wish that I hadn’t been afraid to go out in the aisle during that one, if only for a little while.

   I had to look in between the two people in front of me off and on during the show. It was so annoying when they got closer to one another to talk for a bit during songs. I had either go out into the aisle or get closer to Carrie then.

   Carrie had tried going up to the stage to take a photo of her Nick 3 times but was stopped by a security guard. The first time she had said that I should go with her to try to get closer to John. I was too afraid and embarrassed to even make such an attempt.

   After the show, she bought me water, soda, and a yogurt. That was very kind of her. The yogurt really didn’t agree with my stomach, unfortunately.

  I don’t really remember what Simon was wearing at this concert. Or what type of button down shirt that John had on with the smile t-shirt. Was he wearing the same pants as at the PA show? Sure, I can look at photos of both events online, but it is upsetting that these images are not in my memory.

   Carrie had wished that they would perform “Careless Memories” or “Friends of Mine”. I told her about the Port Chester encore incident and how I had missed out on the former song and “Girls on Film”. She and the 1^st time DD concert guy agreed that they would have thought that the show was over like I had then.

   We heard “The Reflex” when we were on the elevator going up to her room. While I was waiting in the bus lobby area in the morning, I heard “Rio” and Hungry Like the Wolf”.

   Throughout that day, I had been worrying that I might find a ticket on my car when I got back to Linden station. I left a note on the dashboard explaining that I had tried paying the full meter amount but it didn’t accept my second $5.00 bill. Luckily, they didn’t ticket me.

   If I had just not been afraid to call for a cab to take me to the station, I wouldn’t have even had such a worry on my mind.

 

 

Both photos are from the internet

 

April 9, 2016- 2 Duran Duran Casino Shows-Part 2

    Despite being tired the next morning, I took my brother to the bank. He found out that I had been at the Bethlehem show because Jenny tagged me in a Facebook photo of her ticket from it. I made up a cover story that her mother had to cancel out so she said that I could use her ticket.

   My story for Thursday was that I had won tickets to an Alan Jackson concert at the Mohegan Sun. He would be very critical of me if he knew that I went to 2 DD shows in one week. The obsessed word would definitely be used. I really don’t need to hear such negative comments.

   That casino is huge; it’s a real gambler’s paradise. It seemed almost maze-like to me. I mostly sat around journaling and doing a couple of circle-a-word puzzles. I daydreamed and observed people. I did some DD fan spotting too.

   I overheard the salesperson in the Farmer’s Almanac Store asking a couple of them what their favorite DD song is but I couldn’t hear their responses. I saw 4 people with DD t-shirts on before 4:00.

   My seat turned out to be even better than I imagined. I was on the floor level, second section. The row was E and the seat #1. I eventually moved up to the one in front of me to be next to Carrie, the girl who started talking to me. Luckily, I was able to stay there during the show.

   She mentioned that she had just gotten the ticket for this show four hours earlier at the box office. I had thought about going there to see if I could do an upgrade if they had a seat in that front section. They probably didn’t.

    If I had been able to get such a ticket, I would have never met Carrie. Part of me is thinking this would not have mattered for being closer to the stage is much more important. That is so mean.

   She was so nice. When I told her that my bus wasn’t until like 9 a.m. she actually invited me to stay in her hotel room. I gladly accepted.  Prior to this day, I had had this hope that something like this would happen so it was pretty strange that it did.

   This was her 14^th DD concert. I have lost track of my number but I think that it is the same. Hopefully I will be able to add 2 more to that by the end of July. The guy next to her was at his first ever show of theirs. He’s been a fan since the early 80s. I was so pleased to see that he was enjoying himself thoroughly.

   Carrie seemed a bit surprised that I only got into DD in 1992. She has been a fan since the beginning. I forget what her response to my revelation was. I cringed on the inside when she asked me who my favorite is. After saying John, I mentioned my shame about this. Her guy is Nick.

   Once again, my bossy idiot side took control and made me dance around even more than I did at the PA show. I look like such a silly fool doing so, almost as bad as Elaine on “Seinfeld”.  I was singing a bit too.

   I had wanted to move out into the aisle to get a better view during parts of the first 3 songs but fear and shame kept me from doing so. I was afraid that I might get in trouble with the security guard if I did this. I did notice that other people were there and weren’t being told not to be but was still afraid that this might happen.

    Shamir, who had been the opening act at the PA show, was for this one too. We got Chic featuring Nile Rodgers also. This was so cool. I totally enjoyed their performance. It brought me back to my childhood and disco dancing in the basement with my brother and friends Cindy and Jessica.

   They did cover versions of 2 songs each of Diana Ross and Sister Sledge; Nile was the producer of these like he was for Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” which they also performed.

   DD did a Bowie song too- “Space Oddity”- right after “Planet Earth”. They did 3 more songs than at the PA show- “Too Much Information”, “Danceophobia”, and “Girls on Film”.

   Carrie didn’t like “Danceophobia”. I am not really that crazy about it either. Not too many people in the crowd seemed enthused about it. John was doing some dorky dance moves during it.

   She doesn’t know any of the songs off of the new album. I don’t think that she is familiar with their last 3 albums.

 

 

Note- The 3 concert photos are from the internet,

Dreamtime

January 5, 2012- A Nightmare Vacation                                                                                             

 I was sitting on a lounge chair by a pool at a hotel. I looked over at the one next to me and saw John Taylor there. He was in the middle of talking about Donna Summer’s song “I Feel Love” with me. I had been in my living room watching TV just seconds before being teleported to this setting.

   I could hear “Escape- The Pina Colada Song” on the stereo system. I mentioned to John that this song was on one of my K-Tel compilation albums. It was nice but also odd that the two of us were having such a conversation in this environment. I discovered that we were in Panama City Beach, Florida.

   Only 15 minutes later, however, some strange and scary things began happening. I saw a man turn into a cartoon character, The Pink Panther. He was still drinking a beer afterwards. He must have also lost his human personality because he didn’t seem to be upset about this.

    A woman changed into The Creature from the Black Lagoon. She chased after a few people but then just sat down on a chair. A girl screamed out that her boyfriend Bob had transformed into a Smurf. I saw him hiding behind a potted plant.

    Everyone was very frightened that something horrible would eventually happen to them too. John was worried about Simon who was at the nearby beach. I went with him to see if Simon was alright.

   We saw that he had just turned into the early 20s version of himself both in appearance and personality. He wasn’t aware that he was married. He was checking out the 2 beautiful girls who were playing Frisbee.

   A man had transformed into a 6 foot Godzilla. He was chasing after people and breathing fire. People were freaking out and running. John tried getting Simon to come with him but he would not leave the beach.

   We ran back to the hotel. I saw a teenage girl in the lobby change into a 65 year old woman. She was crying. Her mother was trying to comfort her. I also noticed a few more Smurfs running around.

   I was feeling so upset that this program had turned into such a nightmare. The mean aliens must have hacked into it. I saw a big foot type monster coming towards us. John grabbed my hand- this sort of surprised me- and we escaped to an area near the restaurant.

   He was no longer holding my hand now. In fact, when I looked next to me, he wasn’t even there. I heard a faint voice saying “I am down here”.  I looked down and saw that John had become Papa Smurf.

   About 7 Smurfs came over to him. They were fully the cartoon characters by now. One of them asked Papa Smurf what they should do. He said “I don’t fucking know!” That sounded so wrong. But then approximately 12 seconds later, he told them that they should all run away from the humans and creatures.

   I watched them following him. I felt even more frightened and alone. The situation got worse when I suddenly felt a strong craving to eat lots of sweets. I went into the restaurant’s kitchen where a few other people were pigging out on all sorts of foods. I could not control myself either.

   I was so relieved that I wasn’t in this frightening storyline for much longer. Is it weird that I was thinking that I would have rather been turned into Smurfette and escaped with Papa John Smurf?

 

 

Note- Godzilla photo is from the internet