_Web Savvy Mom_: Flashback Friday (part 5) - Hanging Out with Duran Duran

Have you ever wondered who wins those great prizes off the radio?

Well, it's me. I win them. Often.

It's the good stuff too like concert tickets, cash and a trip to NYC to be on VH1 Storytellers. I call in and hang up if the prize is something lame like movie tickets or a coffee mug. I just won Dave Matthews Band tickets for the third year in a row. No joke.

I listen to the radio about ten hours a day and I sit at a computer all day in the office. When you listen long enough, you get a feel for the times of days the prizes are given away and learn how to dial the number quickly.

My good friend Kim, in August 2005, was the big winner of a local radio contest. She along with five friends got VIP seats and backstage passes to meet Duran Duran.

Here we are with Duran Duran before the show. Simon Le Bon couldn't resist putting his arm around me. (ha!)

There were a lot of comical elements about this meet and greet encounter. It was August in Virginia which means it felt like it was over 100F with the heat index. To compensate, while we waited, we felt it was important to keep our fluid levels up, so we kept drinking beer.

When the members of Duran Duran entered the room, there was a level of excitement of seeing in the flesh the people responsible for Hungry Like the Wolf, Rio, The Reflex, Girls on Film, Ordinary World and A View To A Kill to name a few. I can honestly say that we weren't the crazy "Duran Fans" who had puffy painted tshirts and outfits from the 1980s on who were flipping out over the band.

To prove my point, Kim, properly hydrated on beer, told them they "looked tired." To which Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes responded by scratching their five o'clock shadows.

I didn't know what to expect when they hit the stage but with 20+ years of performing under their belts, they delivered. The show was wonderful, they sang all of their hits and we sang along with all the crazy "Duran Fans."