My sister and I have never been particularly competitive, or if we have, I’ve never known about it. She did her thing, and I did my thing, and those things didn’t often intersect, so that was good. But she did one thing in her teens that I never did, and I always wished I had, but by the time I was interested in it, I didn’t much have the chance.

Well, roughly 22 years after she did it, I’m doing it. I’m going to see Duran Duran!  I have tickets with friends on May 21.

Word of my joy spread quickly through the Twitterverse (since I twittered it) and soon, the messages and Facebook wall posts were streaming in, my favorite from Amy Minton, who said:

Please. If you love me. Bring me the autograph of John Taylor. It must read: “Amy, I have always loved you, too. -John Taylor.”

This is what the band looked like when they released Astronaut a few years ago.  (”Reach Up for the Sunrise,” the first single from that album, was the song Ladybug and I woke up to for almost a year.  We were, in fact, reaching up for the sunrise.  Or the snooze bar.) So I guess I can see why Amy’s still in love with John Taylor, though I have to admit that Andy Taylor looks shockingly like the woman who taught my fifth grade class.

Here’s a link to one of the songs on their new album, a collaboration with Timbaland, who would collaborate with a horny toad if they paid him enough.  (And he’d probably make the toad sound good.)

Duran Duran - “Skin Divers” (mp3)