Is There Something I Should Know? pt1

*Please, please, tell me now...*

It's been an interesting time being a Duran Duran fan these past few weeks & months. They have released their 13th studio album(see: All You Need Is Now), received good album reviews from the press(that's a shocking surprise!) & played some important gigs as of late(see: SXSW, Coachella, David Lynch-directed concert "Unstaged", etc...).

Having finished up a "mini-tour" of the States, they were getting prepared to launch a world tour. To kick it off, a string of dates in the UK.  That is until "Lady Destiny" decided to change up the game and throw the "Let's let Simon's voice go kaput" card out on the table to be played. Apparently, he has ended up with an acute case of laryngitis. DD shows have been dropping like flies, one-by-one & at the last minute(in some cases). Now, the news seems to be (it's been kinda hard keeping track ;)) the UK dates have been postponed/canceled & are in the process of being rescheduled for later.

*No-no-Notorious*

When the news was breaking across the DD fan community, it seemed at first, that there was nothing but confusion about what exactly was going on. One minute... it seemed the show was on, the next it was off. With that the fan's started getting restless and when that happens in this fan-dom...  y'all better Watch Out!! ... because it then becomes: cue-up the speculation bombs & run for shelter. To me, this fan community seems to thrive on nothing but drama(but I'll get to that later...).

Now, I know... the band are not always great at getting us information when we need it but I think they DO try their best (or at least I'd hope so... ;)). Perhaps they need to work on having better organizational skills. *don't look to hire me just yet cause I can't find anything at the present time... LOL! ;)*  

note: here comes the fun stuff... y'all might wanna take cover now ;)

Do You Believe in Shame?

I debated somewhat on writin' this topic. There's already been quite a bit of discussion on various DD boards/Twitter/Facebook etc... but I thought, "what the hell, why not throw my 2 cents into the ring?" . Everyone else & their brother has... guess I might as well too(besides Duran Duran ain't gonna read it anyway so I'm safe, I think).

Now what I'm about to say, some ain't going to like... but I need to say it.  *rant time*

There are some DD fans that NEED to have their dog-gone fan card revoked or at least suspended for a time being.

Of what I've read/seen: Anger, blame, frustration, sadness, love, sympathy & understanding -- are the emotions that have been expressed so far. Now ALL of those feelings are justifiable to a certain degree but THERE are those(ya know who you are too) that have went too far. 

Ok, I think this is a good breaking point & I'm gonna stop right there cause it's 4am. I still have quite a bit left to say about the situation, fan's/band's reaction, etc.... anyhow I'll get to those things in pt 2 later on this mornin' / today.

peace out,

Merc 

ps : to simon, john, nick & roger - howdy!! (ya know just in case... ;))

Memorial Day 2011

This Memorial Day has a different feel for me than in times past.

For some, this day/long week-end is a day to just get away. To go out on the lake(if weather permits).... have some friends/family over & crank-up the barbeque grill for a cook-out... maybe hit some shopping sales... But for many others, it is a more somber occasion. A time of remembrance and reflection.

In times past, I just thought of Memorial Day as the "long-weekend" type holiday. Although, I did take note to remember those that served their country... it never seemed that important to me.

I mentioned that today feels different to me... First off - because yesterday(May 29) was my father's birthday... not an easy day. For those unaware, my dad recently passed away suddenly without much warning almost a year ago. So it has become a somber day of remembrance for me... and  secondly located about 30-35 miles just north of me is Joplin, Missouri. If you haven't heard by now (what rock have you been hiding under) an F5 tornado hit downtown Joplin, Mo., a place I'm quite familiar with. It's been hard to see the news/pics & barely recognize places I know so well. My prayers have been many for Joplin & it will be back stronger than before.

So, today we honor those who have passed on, those who were taken so abruptly without much warning and especially those who have made the greatest sacrifices.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends -- John 15:13

Much love, Merc

Today's day

It was not a good day for me.

I missed church on account that I slept in late and my broken ankle was hurtin' like fire. So I skipped church and just rested for the day.

I did go to the movies on Saturday night, down to The Flick to see "Rango". It was a cute movie... kind of a take-off of them old spaghetti westerns.

I also finally received my deluxe edition of  Duran Duran's - All You Need Is Now cd/dvd (took them long enough to ship it ;)) and I plan on writing up a review sometime this week hopefully...

Well, tomorrow is another day....

Merc

a few things...

I didn't have much to say today but I thought I should write something anyways...

some random thoughts:

- watched Duran Duran on Ellen this afternoon... killer performance of AYNIN by my boys

- can John Taylor get any damn hotter?  :)

- I need to mow my yard.... ugh...

- It's suppose to rain tomorrow...


the end

merc

Late Night Blog

Seeing as how this should have been up yesterday(on Tuesday), I was distracted by the official Duran Duran's AYNIN cd release day and various other things. I'm still up so I'll just do this now. ;)

If you were not aware, Duran Duran, the British new-wave/pop group has record a brand new album called -- All You Need is Now.  It was produced by Mark Ronson and it's the follow-up to 2007's Red Carpet Massacre album(I officially hate RCM for the record!!). All You Need is Now  was first put out as a 9-track digital release on Itunes last December and was just released on CD(a standard edition or deluxe edition w/dvd) on Tuesday, March 22, 2011.

I am waiting as I write this for my copy. I ordered the deluxe version w/ dvd from Amazon and am blasted impatient for it's arrival. :)  I did buy the digital release(my first ever ITunes purchase, in fact) when it came out so I have heard 9 out of the 15 tracks. sidenote - the deluxe has 15 tracks as oppose to the standard edition that only has 14.  I have loved every track on the digital release(so far) with my favorite track being a song entitled - "The Man Whole Stole a Leopard"  (just that title alone is genius).  I do believe that TMWSAL has knocked Come Undone out as my absolute favorite DD track that has ever been made.So today, I have been rockin' out to my digital copy and trying to learn tweeting to boot while I wait for my cd/dvd.

Duran Duran also had a performance on The Tonight Show w/ Jay Leno last night(Tues. night). I have a few thoughts on that. oh lord have mercy on me ;)  DD's performance was brilliant, very energetic, perfect....  In other words, they freakin' rocked it!! I did have one small issue with the "musical" performance before them.... coughRebeccaBlackcough   I don't think I'll go there.... I'll be nice...

Anyways, back to DD... they are going to be doing some more tv appearances(Ellen,Kimmel,Jimmy Fallon) & my only hope/wish is that their new album gets the attention it damn well deserves. AYNIN is a brilliant album(what I've heard of it so far anyway) that sounds like the Duran Duran I know & love. Plus, I can hear JT's bass playing which makes me ecstatic. :) I plan on doing a full album/dvd review just as soon as I get my hands on it (DD better watch out ;)) ... They also have the Wednesday show with David Lynch that's being broadcast on Vevo/Youtube that I think is going to be really interesting & cool.

Other things...

- I'm still trying to learn twitter

- Don't forget to watch the DD's Unstaged concert directed by David Lynch streaming live on Youtube Wed. night at 10pm est

- Catch Duran Duran performing on the following:
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on March 22nd at 11:35pm
The Ellen DeGeneres Show on March 25 (check local listings)
Jimmy Kimmel Live on March 30th at 12:05am
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on March 31 at 12:35am

- If ya ain't got it, pick yourself up a copy of All You Need is Now

I'm out...  MercB

To Twitter or Not to Twitter

That was my conundrum for today...

It seems like practically the whole world is on Twitter so why shouldn't I be?
I weighed all the pros & cons of the situation like.... Do people really care what I had for breakfast? , I want everybody & their brother to see this youtube clip... , and the ever-so-important...  Does my hair look ok today?

So I decided, "what the hell?" .... I'll jump on board the twitter train & see how much trouble I can get into. Of course the idea that my favorite celebrity(John Taylor,can you hear me?) might tweet me was a good incentive as well.

I'm just gonna blame Duran Duran for this....  ;)

peace,
Merc

My Latest Creation

Every third Sunday, my church has a fellowship dinner for it's congregation.

Various church members bring basically enough food to feed a small army. You name it, it's probably served... Meatloaf, Home-made Chicken & Noodles(yum), all types of salads from green ones to potato salad,vegetables, plus any sort of desserts from pies to brownies and really anything else anybody cares to bring.

Where am I going with this you ask?

Well, me being in rather a creative mood and wanting to bring a dish that hopefully  noone else was bringing decided that I would make a cake. And not just any old sheetcake would do... I had to go an attempt to make a butterfly cake. told ya i was in a creative mood ;)

I found an old cardboard recipe,several in fact, which were basic sheetcakes that were cut and decorated into things. One was a swan, another was a rockinghorse and then there was a butterfly. So I decided that the butterfly looked to be the easiest to make and I was off. I didn't have too hard of a time but I had to improvise a little as my recipe didn't mention specific dimensions. I discovered my cake was a little too big so I only used about half of it instead. It still turned out o.k. so it wasn't a complete disaster. :)

The final result :

It's suppose to be a monarch butterfly.... I suppose it's not too bad for someone who has never really decorated a cake before.

Merc

Kickin' things off again

Here I am back to writing once more...

Had me another blog but it was lost(read: neglected + lost my freakin' password) to space travel in another galaxy. Since my journey last, some things have stayed the same, quite a few events have been re-arranged, alot has also changed but I keep traveling on down my beaten path. It shall be interesting to see just what avenues,shortcuts and grooves cross my journey's way. Better charge my Ipod... wait I don't even have an Ipod... can somebody buy me one? ;)

I re-read one of my absolute favorite(I have 2 actually) poems earlier. It's "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost. In particular, the last 2 lines of the poem really struck me. When I look back on various past things in my life, I seemed to choose such different thoroughfares then those around me did. Now, I'm not sure whether my choices have "made all the difference" but I reckon quite a few did keep me out of trouble from time to time.

And for those amongst you that have never read the poem, I hereby present it to ya :

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden back.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


I'll wrap this by saying that I'm glad to be back on this railline... I hope to keep up with things(plus this time i have my password where i can find it...ha! ) this go around. Don't know where I'm headed for but I plan on taking as many pictures, seeking as much wisdom, gaining lots of advice and having as much damn fun as possible while I'm at it. :)

Oh, and I'm in charge of the veggie garden from now on.... *watch this space & lord have mercy*

Peace out...
MercBlues

Ps - a MB secret revealed : Now y'all know where I got my blog name from... :)