Interview with the Fabulous Morgan Richter
Forward/Bio
written by Josie Beaudoin, Interview by Kirk Harrington
Note from
Editor: After reading this interview for
editing purposes (I had very little to edit!), Kirk asked me if I would be
interested in writing this introduction for it. I have to admit, I squeed a bit
– I am fangirling over Morgan Richter. What an amazing individual! And you know
she’s super-smart, because she is a Duran Duran fan.
She is also
the founder of Luft Books, an independent publishing company. In 2011, she
began occasionally posting irreverent yet affectionate in-depth analyses of
classic Duran Duran videos on her blog. These analyses quickly amassed a cult
following; seven years later, Morgan’s Duranalysis column is admired both
inside and outside of the Duran Duran fandom. Her book Duranalysis: Essays on
the Duran Duran Experience was published in 2017. Duran Duran Worldwide’s own Kirk Harrington
interviews her just for you. (K: Kirk, M:
Morgan)
K: Hi, Morgan.
Thanks so much for interviewing with Duran Duran Worldwide. If you don't know, I created Duran Duran
Worldwide to raise awareness to how Duran Duran has influenced popular culture
and music history. We used to have an
effort where we promoted them to the Rock Hall, but that is a low-level project
now.
To prepare
for the interview, I read two blogs of yours analyzing the AYNIN and Femme
Fatale videos. Is this the kind of
writing I would expect in the Duranalysis book?
I love your writing by the way.
M: Thank you for this interview! I know some
about Duran Duran Worldwide.
K: Yeah. To be frank, I got away from the sole
Rock Hall focus mostly because it became too toxic with some fans. Duran Duran Worldwide I created to take the
focus off that and more of what I mentioned, which is the most important thing
anyways.
M: Yes, my Duranalysis (website) essays are pretty
much the same type of writing you’ll find in the Duranalysis book, though
instead of tackling specific videos or documentaries, the book is a series of
essays which are pretty much on slightly broader topics about Duran Duran --
their origins and influences, their rise to fame, and so on. But the style is
much the same. I'm glad you liked the essays.
K: Yes, I really liked the essays. I can't wait to read more.
M: Thank you!
K: On a side note, you mention the vampire in
the Femme Fatale video. What did you think about the vampire mention in the
song Only in Dreams on the Paper Gods album? It caught my ears when I heard it
and kind of excited me.
M: You know what, I've never caught the vampire
reference in Only in Dreams! It's a lovely song. Let me take a fast look at the
lyrics and check it out. One moment...
‘Vampire in
the limousine!’ Ah, for some reason, my brain never paid attention to that
line. That's really lovely, though. Simon has always had a knack for picking
very evocative images.
K: It's the only song of theirs I know that has
a vampire riding in a car.
M: Very probably! It's a nice image, the vampire
in the limousine, her fingernails wet, as the sun goes down. It paints a very
sharp and specific picture.
K: In looking at your blog, and all that you've
written about the band, you seem very knowledgeable about them. I am in awe and learned so much just reading
what I did.
I read that
your Duranalysis blog has a ‘cult following’. How long have you been doing it?
Please tell us how you came up with the idea and its reception since inception.
How do you manage to garner support inside and outside the fanbase? Do you have
any interesting stories about it you wouldn’t mind sharing?
M: Sure. I've been doing the Duranalysis posts
since 2011; before that I was mostly analyzing TV shows and films at my
website. This was at my old and now-defunct blog Preppies of the Apocalypse; I
moved the Duranalysis posts and a bit of other content over to the
MorganRichter.net domain a couple years ago.
Morgan Richter -
We Can’t Rewind, We’ve Gone Too Far
When MTV debuted on August 1, 1981, it
staked out its territory in epic style with a stylized rocket launch, a moon
landing, and a flag emblazoned with the network logo thrust by an astronaut
into the lunar surface. The first music video to air on the shiny...
morganrichter.net
K: Yes! I
saw that 🙂
M: I started Duranalysis out of a sharp feeling
of nostalgia at that particular time -- my mother had recently died, my father
was diagnosed with a terminal illness, I was unemployed and living in Los
Angeles and finally coming to terms with the idea that the screenwriting
career, which I'd gone to USC's film school specifically to pursue, wasn't
going to come to anything. So I was taking refuge in something from my
childhood and teen years that I dearly loved: Duran Duran.
I started by
doing a detailed review of the Wild Boys video, which is and always will be my
favorite Duran song and video, and I got a good reaction. So I kept going,
working through videos in no particular order, and branching off into
occasional reviews of Duran-centric books (Andy's memoir, John's memoir, the
book on Duran that Neil Gaiman wrote), plus documentaries and concert videos
and so on.
K: I read that one you did too...of Andy's and
John's memoirs. Very well done.
M: At that time -- this might be early 2012 --
Andy Taylor had his own website, and his webmaster had approached me about the
possibility of reposting my reviews on his site. So that brought my reviews to
a bigger audience. At some point it started becoming obvious that a nice crowd
of people were aware of them. For instance, I'd spotted Rolling Stone
journalist Rob Sheffield, who wrote the memoir Talking to Girls About Duran
Duran, at a Duran concert in New York. I didn't say anything to him, but
afterward I'd tweeted at him, saying that I'd seen him and felt a stab of envy
for his writing ability and wit. (If you haven't read Sheffield's writing,
you're missing out; he's brilliant.) And he tweeted back that he'd been a fan
of my writing for years.
K: That is AWESOME, I bet that gave you tingles!
M: Yes, absolutely, Sheffield's response just
made my week/month/year. That was incredible.
And the
concept of Rob Sheffield knowing who I was and reading my Duranalysis posts
really floored me. In the Duranalysis posts, I try to strike a balance between
being irreverent and (hopefully) funny, while still making it clear that I have
a tremendous deal of admiration for the band members. I think people respond to
that.
K: Speaking about humor and the band, I was
pleasantly surprised to see comics of the band on your Twitter page. I don’t know if you knew, but we did a prank
on Simon and the fans in regards to Simon’s Moustache. We basically said we had a special interview
planned and had Katy Krassner announce it to the fans. Many people came, but it wound up being an
interview with Simon’s moustache. I will
say there was a mixed reaction to humor around the band. Many found it quite humorous and innocent
(which is how it was meant), while others seemed quite turned off by it. I’m sure you must experience the same with
your humor. Why do you think there is a
bit of a stigma around playfulness and humor with the band? Should this change?
And I'm not
saying all are like this, but some are very protective of the band, as if they
want them to be so sacred, you know? And theirs, and only theirs.
M: That's funny about Simon's mustache. 🙂
Humor is such a wildly individual thing, and I've definitely run into Duran
fans who do not care for the idea of anyone making fun of the band in any way,
no matter how gentle. I think that's fine. Those people aren't a good audience
for my writing, and that makes them neither right nor wrong; my writing is just
not a good fit for them. I don't know if it's just my little corner of fandom
-- I mostly communicate with Duran fans on Twitter -- but for the most part,
the fans I chat with are laid-back and funny and are more or less on my
wavelength when it comes to joking about Duran. We all adore Duran, but we
don't mind poking a bit of occasional gentle fun.
K: I have a question from someone who helps us
out occasionally, also a writer, Martin McGregor. He has done some interviews for us and he
writes Horror novels that have Duran themes in them...
“If you had
the opportunity to go back and relive one whole year with the band as an
advisor, which year would she choose and what is the one piece of advice that
you think they need to hear. Such as <in> 85, ‘don't split up’?”
M: Oh, wow. Tell Martin that's a great question!
Let me think...
My answer is
a bit selfish and, I suspect, futile: I'd go back to 2006 and see if there was
some way I could get Andy and the other band members all on the same page again
so that Andy wouldn't leave the band for a second time (I think that was 2006,
right? Somewhere around there). To be clear, I like Dom Brown as guitarist a
lot, and I'm not such a Duran purist that I can't handle anything other than
the original lineup. I also fully understand that there were deep and very real
problems among the various band members that led to Andy's second departure,
and I think Duran is probably much more emotionally stable with him gone; I
also think, just from reading Andy's memoir, that it's much better for Andy's
emotional health if he's not a part of the band. So that's why I say my answer
is both selfish and futile. Still, deep inside myself, I keep finding myself
wishing they'd been able to make it all work out.
K: Did you buy Andy's Funko Pop figure? I totally did.
And yes, it
was 2006...I just checked.
M: I didn't buy any Pop figures! I've had the
occasional urge, especially with seeing all the fun everyone else has been having
with theirs. There's a very cool Duranie on Twitter, Erin McGee, who has spent
her lockdown time going quite mad and posing all her Duran Funko Pop figures in
various hilarious vignettes. But I don't have any of the figures; if I were to
get the Durans, I'd have to get Andy as well. It just seems right.
K: I agree with you. Andy's guitar playing was so unique and added
a lot to the band when he was with them.
It is a shame they couldn't work things out.
M: It is. I do appreciate, though, that what
fans want and what is best for the band might not always be the same thing, and
in the case of Andy, I think that certainly applies. He's a crazily talented
guy who added a lot to the band's sound, but I think it's best for Andy and
best for the rest of the Durans if they take separate paths.
K: Indeed.
I read about some of the fights between Andy and Nick - not good. No one (regardless of the side) should have
to work in a toxic work environment.
I saw that
Ernest Cline (Writer of Ready Player One) gave you a good comment on the
book. Do you know him? I was excited when I read that book and found
the Duran references. They had a couple
references in the movie too. What did
you think of Ready Player One?
M: I do know Ernie Cline, pretty well! He and my
sister are old friends -- she's thanked on the Acknowledgements page of Ready
Player One, because she read an early draft and gave him feedback. They met way
back in the early days of the internet because they both had websites about Max
Headroom and thus struck up an email correspondence. Anyway, apart from being a
ferociously talented writer, he's one of the coolest and most reflexively
generous guys you could ever meet, and when I told him about the Duranalysis
book, he immediately offered to: a) send a copy to his agent (who passed on it,
which was no surprise, but it was incredible that Ernie did that), and b) write
a blurb to promote it. I loved the Duran references in Ready Player One, both
in the book and the film. The film turned out to be a pretty good
interpretation of his work! He's leading a charmed life right now, but he's one
of these people who just deserves his incredible good fortune, because of all
the kindness he puts out in the world.
As to Nick
and Andy, I honestly think they generally get along better than Andy's book,
written in the aftermath of an epic falling-out, would indicate. I'll elaborate on that in just a second...
I think Andy
and Nick are both very smart, very creative, very strong-willed and very independent,
and that's going to create friction when working closely together, either with
recording or touring. But in general, my feeling is that they probably don't
despise each other. I'm always fascinated by the Sing Blue Silver tour
documentary when we see the band members hanging out together on tour, and sure
they're aware of cameras on them, but it's clear that, at least back in 1984,
Andy and Nick would voluntarily spend time together. Nick's ex-wife has a
tremendously entertaining blog (if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it),
which combines great recipes, because she's now a professional chef, with
anecdotes about Nick. It's great. Anyway, at one point she discusses Andy's
book, because she takes a great deal of knocks in it, and it's clear she's cool
with it and genuinely likes Andy. So, I could be wrong of course, I don't know
any of the band members, but my sense with the book is that Andy was mostly
blowing off steam with regard to his relationship with Nick.
K: Have you personally met any of the band
members? I think I remember reading that
you met John. What was that like?
Tracey
Elena, who is also our publicist asked this question by the way 🙂
M: I haven't met any of them! I went to a
discussion about John's book in New York, and afterward there was a line for
autographs, but I skipped it. I've never met a Duran, and I don't imagine I
ever will. I always hear anecdotes from other fans about hanging out with the
band members backstage or meeting them in a bar, and the idea always seems
incredible and unreal to me. The Durans are in that class of celebrity where,
even though I've seen them onstage during concerts, I still am not quite
convinced they actually exist. 🙂
K: They could be vampires! Lol
People have also
asked me if I've met them, and I have not.
To me it doesn't matter if I meet them.
I do what I do because they have given me so much, and I like to give
back in small ways.
M: I would not be surprised if they turned out
to be vampires! Certainly Nick has more than a trace of a vampire about him.
(Did you ever read that anecdote by his ex-girlfriend Madeleine Farley about
how she had his dentist secretly make Nick a pair of vampire fangs, which Nick
would wear in bed? I love that very much.)
K: I did not...but I will find that and let you
know.
M: That's how I feel. Apart from Andy, who
reprinted some of my essays on his site and who, I heard from his websmaster,
got a kick out them, I don't image any of the Durans know I exist. And I don't
need them to -- I'm not doing this to attract their attention, and I don't feel
they owe me anything for all the time I've spent writing about them. I just
like writing about them, because they're my favorite band and always have been.
🙂
K: It seems we share kindred feelings about
this.
You had
mentioned Julie Ann Rhodes. We actually
had some contact with her and she was going to sign our Rock Hall
petition. But a toxic fan ruined that
for us. She did express support in a
private email though.
M: Oh, no. I've encountered toxic Duran fans
only very peripherally, but I know they exist. That's a shame. Julie Anne
Rhodes seems very cool, especially considering the crap she had to put up with
from fans who were mad she married Nick. I remember several years ago coming
across a random blog post where someone mentioned that their finest moment in
life was meeting Julie Anne in a ladies’ room in the eighties and telling her
how much she hated her. Wow. I can't imagine anyone being proud of that.
K: I'm actually glad that I created Duran Duran
Worldwide...to get the attention off of me and the Rock Hall and now just onto
the band.
M: And I can understand you wanting the fan
scrutiny off of you!
The
Madeleine Farley quote is in Steve Malins's book Duran Duran Notorious. Full
quote: "He taught me how to wear make-up, how to dress. He's the closest
link between gay men and straight women. He was the woman in our relationship.
I had a pair of couture fangs surreptitiously made for him - the dentist and I
were in cahoots. He'd always wear them in bed, and I'd have on my six-inch
Manolos.” So I find the idea of Nick
being a vampire very plausible. 🙂
K: That is a great quote!
M: Isn't it? Madeleine seems like she'd be a lot
of fun to grab drinks with.
K: Totally.
It's fun to learn about the band.
I am finding that the more I learn about the band, I just love them
more.
M: I love finding out strange things about the
band. I'm well aware that the mental picture I've built up about the band over
the years might not be a reflection of reality. I don't know them, and their
private lives may be very different from their public images. But I still like
learning what I can about them.
K: You mentioned that you have found refuge in
your life from the band. How would you
say that Duran Duran has influenced you in your work and as a person?
M: I've always loved Duran's approach to
visuals, and how they've always been very smart about paying close attention to
the visual side of things -- music videos, album design, fashion -- to augment
their wonderful music. They are very artistic and experimental, and that's
something I greatly respect. So there are small things in my life that I can
point to as having been directly influenced by Duran.
This is a
silly example, but my tendency is to revert into a very narrow comfort zone
with fashion -- black or navy-blue shirts, paired with jeans and loafers. Maybe
a particularly daring shade of charcoal grey. Duran has helped me realize that
color is not my enemy. I don’t know if you know, but I do a lot of YouTube
videos on various 1980s nostalgic topics, and while I'm still a very boring
dresser in real life, in my videos I tend to wear a lot of sequins and bright
colors. And that's directly a Duran influence, silly as it might be.
Art, too --
there's a terribly talented Canadian essayist named Sarah Kurchak who wrote a
great piece about how Duran Duran inspired a lot of young girls to be
interested in art and things that are a little avant-garde, and I fall into
that category. I'll find her essay for you; it's worth reading.
K: Please, I'd enjoy that.
M: Here's Sarah's essay, which I love for many
reasons, not least of which is that she calls me "the Duranie's answer to
Roger Ebert" in it: https://ontheaside.com/music/duran-duran-fandom/
Duran Duran
predicted the power of fans | A.Side
The only
thing weirder than Duran Duran's 1984 concert film is how important it still is
33 years later
ontheaside.com
K: I didn't know about your Youtube videos. I will definitely check those out. Thank you.
M: I did one recently on Arena, if you're
interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aDzXn2U1vI When Gen-X
Ruled the Multiplex Ep.09: Duran Duran's Arena (An Absurd Notion) An analysis
of Duran Duran's sci-fi-themed concert film "Arena (An Absurd
Notion)", which was directed by Russell Mulcahy.
K: You've written quite a lot.
Of the
various books you’ve written, which has been your favorite? Do any of your other books have any Duran
Duran references in them?
M: I tend to sneak Duran references into my
fiction. 🙂 One of my novels is titled Lonely Satellite,
which is a direct New Moon on Monday reference, and honestly, I think my
starting-off point for the plot of that one was the Union of the Snake video.
I'm joking, but there's a grain of truth to that; the book is set in a
post-apocalyptic world where people live in strange and sinister underground
bunkers.
K: I have been gathering a database of references
of the band in books, TV, and movies of Duran Duran since 2000. I will add yours to the list. It's pretty
extensive how much they've been mentioned or talked about.
M: Oh, good! There are a lot of references out
there; it's always fun when I run across one when I'm not expecting it.
K: Well if you find one, please send it my way!
I am always collecting them.
M: I will!
K: Which
book was your favorite to write?
M: The Duranalysis one. It's my only nonfiction
book, and I'm proud of how it turned out, even though it sold very poorly! It's
self-published, so I can see all the sales data in real-time, and... yeah. It
was a little bleak, particularly when it was first released, and I'd given out
more free copies in advance than I had total sales. But it doesn't really
matter; it's a labor of love, not profit.
K: In looking at the synopses of the other books
you have written (by the way, the average score of your books on Amazon is
about 4.4/5, which is awesome), there seems to be a couple common themes…Hollywood
and the appeal and dangers of it, and sort of a tearing down of a façade and
trying to find a meaning or purpose in life (like in Lonely Satellite and The
Changeling). What kind of experiences
have you had that lean towards themes like this?
K: Would you say you are bitter towards Hollywood,
or more disillusioned? Or some other
feeling? I know I've experienced failing at certain things and finding a new
direction, so I can relate to the pain somewhat.
M: Not bitter at all -- I think disappointed and
confused. I feel toward Hollywood (and toward Los Angeles, which is a city I
love very much) like I would toward an ex-boyfriend who meant more to me than I did to him, where
there's no resentment on either end, but I'm left still secretly wishing it had
worked out whereas he is perfectly happy that it's all over. That's kind of a
tortured metaphor, but it's how I always think of my twenty years in Los
Angeles: a long-term relationship that sputtered out.
K: I want to ask about the Gyro pizza recipe,
Demon City, and the Changeling. How good is the Gyro pizza? Because it looks
amazing. I am interested in the supernatural - please tell us what inspired you
to write into the supernatural themes with Demon City and the Changeling.
Also, do you
have favorite horror/sci fi/supernatural writers?
M: Trader Joe's gyro meat is one of their
greatest products, and it makes a fabulous pizza topping, along with goat
cheese or feta, plus pickled onions. It's perfect -- it recreates those
glorious gyro flavors effortlessly. One thing I miss from moving to Seattle
from New York: the gyros sold in carts.
K: Awesome...I'll have to try it.
M: I always like books with faint supernatural
elements in an otherwise everyday setting. Los Angeles in particular is a city
where surreal things happen on a daily basis, so drifting into the supernatural
and having a book where, say, demons control the film industry isn't a huge
stretch. My all-time favorite sci-fi author is William Gibson, but I read all
kinds of things. Right now, I've been reading a mystery novelist, Sara Gran,
who writes a series of mysteries that aren't quite supernatural, but are so
surreal that they drift into that general realm -- she's been compared to David
Lynch, which is about right.
K: Oh man.
David Lynch. I still have images of the bouncing hot dogs on the grill
that annoyed me so much during Duran Duran Unstaged, lol. I don't want to say
anything else on that one. Hahaha!
M: I love Lynch. Twin Peaks was very important
to me when I was in high school! But yes, the Lynch elements during the
Unstaged concert were hilariously random!
K: I'm sure he is very talented. I just couldn't
get into some of that. Just personal
taste.
M: I fully understand!
K: Thanks so much, Morgan. I look forward to introducing you to our small
band of merry fans!
M: Thank you, Kirk! This was fun!
K: It was very nice of you to take the time to
speak with me.
M: No problem. Thank you for thinking of me. I'm
glad we got the chance to do this.
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