Straight For This Precious Shining

In the mid 80s, the members of Duran Duran split off into different music projects for a while.

Simon, Nick, and Roger formed a band called Arcadia, which had a strange mixture of new age, Goth, and experimental.

One video they made was quite a treat. I love satires, and this particular video, "The Flame," parodies all the clichés that are found in many murder mysteries. What is even more fun is that Simon takes on a striking resemblance to the nerdy Brad Majors from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Nick, who had black hair during most of the Arcadia project, sported striking blond hair for "The Flame." I think he looks a bit like the character, Draco Malfoy, from the Harry Potter films. I like this look a lot. I think it gives him a more mysterious look than he believed his black hair did.

Another tasty tidbit is that John makes a cameo appearance. He's holding a contract. Many people speculate that this was a little jab at Andy, who planned on leaving Duran after the music projects were finished but that there were still some Duran contracts to fulfill.

Roger, sadly, is missing from the Arcadia videos. He became ill from stress and fell away from the whole Duran scene for many years after recording the Arcadia music, but his presence is felt in the obscure shadows of the album.

Gem in the Form of Tears

Somewhere in the midst of Michael Jackson still basking in the glow of his Thriller career, there came a competitor for the soul charts.

Prince came on the scene and wowed young listeners with the Purple Rain soundtrack.

Although I was hardly impressed with his frilly suits and his nasally squeaks that, I suppose, were supposed to be sexy, I was very impressed that he had so many people who liked that crap.

My attitude for him softened a bit when I learned that he contributed a song for the USA for Africa album. I don't have to like a person's singing to appreciate him working for a good cause.

The song he contributed, I was humbled to discover, was sweet and heartfelt. It was the essence of what the whole album was about. To me, it was the only gem in his career but it was such a notable gem that I have since learned to instead of dismissing an artist because of some songs I don't like, I look deeper into the works of the artist before drawing an opinion.

Vampire Enchantment

It has finally happened. My book is finished and published. It's a vampire story set in modern time.

Mist in Power

And what better way to promote it than Sting's haunting Vampire song from his famous album, "Dream of the Blue Turtles"?