Party Like Wild Boys in Rio

By Joey Salgado

I have one Duran Duran album, “Seven and the Ragged Tiger,” and that’s all the Duran Duran I can accommodate. 

The band’s music has always been associated with dance parties in the 80s, and as anyone who knows me can attest, I don’t dance. Table shimmy, sure. But on the dance floor with disco lights? Nah. Perhaps in the dark, imagining myself as the Boss with Courteney Cox as dance partner. 

Give me some gritty, messy post-punk from that decade, or gloomy and depressing dark wave, or even some sappy love ballad. My guilty pleasure from the 80s? Fra Lippo Lippi, undanceable and often morose Norwegian pop/new wave. Factoid: the late Walter Becker, the other half of Steeely Dan, produced their album Light and Shade.   

The President, it turns out, is a big Duran Duran fan. No doubt, a party guy. He turned 67 last September 13, which means he was in his late 20s when the band peaked from 1983 to 1986. Those years were not really kind to the Marcoses. Think Aquino assassination, street protests, a snap election, the EDSA Revolution, and exile to Hawaii, all in a span of three years. 

But music triggers nostalgia, and who knows, Duran Duran’s music probably triggers feel-good memories in the President, of fun Palace dance parties where euphoric guests bounced around like Simon Le Bon in a blender while the rest of us were stuck in 8-5 jobs, trying to feed our young families, or conspiring to topple the regime. What’s a restless young man in the Palace supposed to do? Get a job like the rest of us unfortunates?

Why the Duran Duran-Marcos connection? Duran Duran were the guest performers in a private birthday party for the President at a posh hotel. Netizens were scandalized. 

They howled at the sky-high price tag for a private show from a band that stopped touring a long time ago and now accepts bookings for private parties, weddings, and corporate affairs. No one knows how much was actually paid but a screen grab from the website of Celebrity Talent International went viral after the Palace confirmed the private gig.

Celebrity Talent International describes itself as “a premiere ‘buyer oriented’ booking agency and major celebrity event consultant, assisting its buyers for over 25 years.”

‘"How much does it cost to book Duran Duran for an event?”' is a frequent question we get,” says the site.  “The final Duran Duran booking price is contingent on many variables and the booking fee we may show is based on a range derived from our past experience with what will Duran Duran charge for an event. An example fee to book Duran Duran is in the starting range of $750,000-$999,998.”

The online chismis is that the big-sister senator, not invited to the private and hush-hush affair, was so miffed that she gatecrashed the party, took photos, and leaked them to a notorious DDS vlogger. 

The leak prompted the Palace to do a quick damage control. 

“After a tiring day with official engagements, he attended a party thrown by his old friends at a hotel in Pasay, and to his surprise and appreciation, music was provided by Duran Duran,” said a Palace statement.

This is the Palace reminding us that, like everyone else, the President deserves to celebrate his birthday. Tama naman. Just not like ordinary folks whose idea of a party is a rented videoke machine, bottles of Empe or gin, and putok-batok pulutan with old friends. Beer is a luxury in these times.

To recap: the President had a long and tiring day on his birthday. Yes, Duran Duran were flown in. No, the government did not pay for the show. The President’s old friends paid for the party and the band. 

The takeaway: It really pays to have generous old friends who may or may not have transactions with government or subject to government regulation. So yeah, bros, party on like wild boys in Rio.