Day 51/365: Clueless.

Today's piece came to me randomly. Originally, I thought of perhaps taking a picture outside of a bunch of sticks, leaves, and the like, arranged to make a question mark. It was while sitting at the computer brainstorming that the Duran Duran song "What happens tomorrow" came up. I got a mental image and from that first moment I knew it was the perfect drawing for today.


While I don't quite feel like my art block is fully gone, it certainly is letting up a bit.

Now this requires a bit of a story.

The lyrics are from "What Happens Tomorrow" by Duran Duran, as I said before.

It's off the album "Astronaut" which I praised yesterday. It came out in like... 2005 I believe.

I graduated high school in 2005. That summer, I was struck by a really huge Duran Duran obsession. That summer, I used money that I'd gotten at my graduation reception to get a Duran Duran tattoo. 

This is what my tattoo looks like.

Now, admittedly, I was pretty obsessed back then (Hello, I have Simon Le Bon's initials tattooed to my shoulderblade) but overall I'm really glad I got this tattoo. I can't remember where I found the design, but it was supposed to be a symbol of the five original Duran Duran members getting back together. Of course, Andy's left again, but the reminder is still there. And the symbol is rather fetching.

It needs to be retouched because it healed a little too well, but it doesn't look too shabby. The initials, because I was stupid and chose a shadow font, are a little hard to see but it's really not a big deal. 

It was only about three days between the initial thought of getting a DD tattoo and actually getting it, and I can't say I condone that kind of decision making haste.

Still. During that three days or so, I thought long and hard about the permanence of getting a tattoo. Even though I was deep in the throes of an obsession, I did consider that.

I am just glad I picked a band like Duran Duran, that I knew were really amazing and would stand the test of time with me I could have picked some shitty flavor of the week band whose tattoo I'd be embarrassed about a year later.

Nope. Despite the fact that I love them, I played Duran Duran's music so much to death then that I basically had to go a year without listening to them at all, and then basically another year of not listening to them very much. Experiences like mine with Duran Duran and Queen have taught me that no matter how much you love a band and want to listen to them 24/7, make an effort to listen to something that isn't that band one in a while if you want to be able to listen to them continuously.

I know it sounds a little contradictory, but... all I know is this. For that year, or longer, it will be blissful and amazing listening to so much of your current favorite band, but after the obsession dies down, you will be so utterly sick of them it will be kind of sad.

During my couple years of non obsession, I didn't regret getting my tattoo, but, I thought about how I really shouldn't have gotten it. Yeah, I got it as a way of furthering my obsession, but sometimes I thought about how else I could have done continued with my obsession. I could have ordered Duran Duran merchandise from eBay. I could have bought more of their albums, and so on.

When I finally started to be able to listen to some of their music, I was once again glad that I got the tattoo. Right now, at the beginning of what is going to be a Duran Duran filled summer, I am again proud that I've gotten the tattoo.  I just have to say this: If I ever get to meet Simon Le Bon, I am going to ask him to autograph my tattoo, and I'll get his autograph tattooed over (One of the people I ran across during my first Duran obsession had done the very same thing). Hell. If I get to meet them all I might ask them ALL to autograph it.

Stop laughing at me. Let me have my silly, far fetched daydreams.