I didn’t realize till now that my 40th birthday celebrations had kind of a British theme going on haha. Duran Duran and Gordon Ramsay? Ironically, near my birthday I got another update to my heritage on Ancestry DNA that I got a few years ago. I think it’s cool that they update their info as more technology and data become available. So since most of my DNA is in fact British, it’s not really too unusual for me to be into British bands and chefs to commemorate my birthday right?
But first, I went out to a nice dinner in my hometown with my
family to celebrate the night before my actual birthday. I chose one of our local
favorites, Ristorante Renato. We’ve been patrons of that restaurant for over 20
years because I know we went when I was in high school, and maybe even before
that. They have delicious food, excellent service, and I really like their
makeshift outdoor patio seating that they started since the pandemic in part of
their parking lot. I had oysters on the half shell, filet mignon, and sangria. I
had a great evening with my awesome family and my mom also got me a birthday
cake from another local favorite, Paul’s Bakery.
Now in the late 90s, John Taylor actually broke off from Duran Duran for a few years and pursued a solo project. It was either my freshman or sophomore year of high school, so I was 14 or 15, when John Taylor actually played a solo show at Jaxx, this hole in the wall club in Springfield, Virginia. I begged my parents to take me to that show and it was 21 and over. So bless my parents for taking me to that show and convincing the door guy to let me in. That’s actually the closest I’ve gotten to JT and it was awesome. It was also Halloween night and he was wearing werewolf contacts. I can’t remember if I put this in my blog before, but there was a moment when JT was actually on social media several years ago and I posted a comment about that show and he actually replied and remembered that show. I thought that was so amazing. So funny thing about all of these things reconnect and come full circle… Nile Rodgers and Chic opened for Duran Duran at this show I just saw for my 40th birthday. Well Bernard Edwards, the original bassist for Chic, was one of John Taylor’s main influences. JT actually performed a cover of Chic’s song, “Good Times” when I saw him at Jaxx all those years ago. And now I got to hear Chic perform that song before Duran Duran took the stage in 2022. I just thought that was really cool.
Something else that’s cool is I found out from
a friend in the Incubus fan group I’m in on Facebook, that Ben Kenney, the
bassist for Incubus, is also a fan of John Taylor. He told me about this
interview with the two of them from several years ago so I found it on youtube and
watched it and the way Ben talks about listening to John’s bass playing on the “Rio”
album and how it drew him into bass was exactly how I felt. So I just thought
it was really neat how two of my favorite bands are also connected in that way
and it just proves to me even more how music connects the universe and all of
us. I also made a little comment about it on Ben’s Instagram and then the official
Duran Duran Instagram account liked my comment. I don’t even know how they saw
that but I was like, well ok then haha.
So back to a little of my Duran Duran history,
after that solo JT show, I did get to see Duran Duran in concert in 1999 and my
memory must be going with age because I can’t honestly remember now if JT was
with them at that show, but I’m thinking he was not. I know for sure he was not
at the next show I went to which was after the “Pop Trash” album and it was a
bit of a smaller venue and my friend and I got like 3rd row I think.
So that’s the closest I’ve been to Simon, Nick, and Warren, who was still the
guitarist at that time. Roger Taylor wasn’t back with them on drums yet. It was
several years later when I saw them again and that was for the reunion tour
they did with the original lineup, so John and Roger were back with them then
and Warren was not. Andy didn’t stay for the whole reunion tour and they
replaced him with Dom, who’s been their guitarist since. Then I saw them again
in 2012 and on New Year’s Day in 2017 I think. So this show was my 6th
time seeing the band overall I believe. I was actually supposed to see them one
other time between 2012 and 2017 too but I didn’t make it that show unfortunately.
That’s another story…tied into that 7-year gap in my blog that included my bad
marriage, so put together what you will with that little hint.
Anyway, back to this show. So we got there
earlier than the Incubus show I went to so we had to stand in line waiting
outside the gate for awhile. There was a guy in line with a funny shirt on that said, "My aunt made me come to this." And then when we did get in, the concession counter had a
funny sign on their tip jar that made me laugh too. It was good that we got
there early so I could get in the merch line for a tshirt because later that
line got crazy. There were a few shirt designs I liked, but only one had big
enough sizes for me. And funny thing is, when it was hanging up on the display
it looked like it was black with red but it’s actually navy blue with orange. I
was kind of happy it was different because I wear a lot of black and I like
orange a lot. I tried Merriweather’s burger this time, which was quite good and
my mom got the chicken tenders. I ate one of those leftover around 1 a.m. when
we got home cuz I was suddenly hungry again and it was good too haha. And later
we split some of their frozen chocolate and vanilla swirled custard and that
was good too.
As for the show, I was looking forward to Nile
Rodgers & Chic opening because I knew Nile Rodgers was a music legend and I
knew he produced Duran Duran’s album “Notorious.” But I did not know he wrote
and/or produced songs for Diana Ross, Sister Sledge, Madonna and David Bowie. So
it was a real treat to hear all these famous songs live and somehow I totally
forgot about the “Get Lucky” song he did with Daft Punk. I felt guilty about
that because I love that song haha. I’ll blame it on turning 40. He also told a
touching story about his inspiration for doing that song after he beat cancer
for the second time. I got clips of several songs on video and their
performance was a real treat.
I got 2/3 of Duran Duran's set on video: Velvet
Newton/Wild Boys, Hungry like the Wolf, Notorious, A View to a Kill, Come
Undone, Friends of Mine, Careless Memories, Ordinary World, Planet Earth, Hold
Back the Rain, clip of White Lines, Girls on Film/Acceptable in the 80's, Save
a Prayer and Rio. I pretty much got all of the hits and older songs, but didn’t
get the ones they played from their newest album, Future Past. I do like some
of the songs on the new album though so don’t knock the newer stuff! I was a
little surprised at “Wild Boys” for an opener because they usually use that as
a song more toward the end of the show so that was a switch up. I’m also a James
Bond fan, so “A View to a Kill” is always a fave. I liked that they did “Friends
of Mine” which is a darker more obscure song for them. And “Hold Back the Rain”
is a fun one I don’t think I’ve heard in person live from them before. I did
have the pleasure of hearing “Careless Memories” before and I was happy to hear
it again. For some reason this time many of those lyrics stirred up some
thoughts of my ex and I was into it ha. As for all the other songs, every word
and note of every song from every album is practically engrained in my brain
permanently. I don’t even have to consciously think about singing along with
them, it just happens instinctually. Dancing to their music also happens kind
of the same way for me haha. There are few things in life that are more fun
than a Duran Duran concert for me. They had cool special effects on the video
screens during the show on the live video footage. I personally have not seen
that done before so I’m not sure if they’re the first to do that but they are
always on the edge of innovation. I did not get any pics that turned out because
they always have these super bright stage lights during their shows. So the
visual quality is bad in my videos, but the sound is great which is the most
important to me. And contrary to the video quality, I was actually able to see
them on the stage during the show, it’s just not in focus in the videos. I
thought it was funny how Simon pronounced "Mary"land, not how the
locals say it. We kinda say, "Muraland" haha. He said a little
heartfelt speech about supporting Ukraine and dedicated "Ordinary World"
to them. So the combination of that emotional moment and then my theme song to
my life, my anthem, my favorite song ever, and singing the lyrics, "...but
I won't cry for yesterday..." I cried y'all. I actually choked up and
could barely sing along. But that's the power of music. A funny thing I
remember him saying near the beginning of the show was that we had people in
the roof! Haha, it is kinda like that since they redid Merriweather. Oh and the
beginning of the show felt like we were going on a spaceship haha, you can see
it in the first video. But that is kind of what it's like at a Duran Duran
concert, it's an otherworldly experience. Oh and let me just say, the lyrics,
"Happy birthday to you..." in Come Undone and "...it means so
much to me, like a birthday or a pretty view" in Rio, definitely stood out
for me since I was celebrating my 40th haha. Also, shout out to JT for wearing
a women’s rights shirt toward the end of the show.
The Saturday after that, exactly a week from my actual birthday, I had made plans for the finale to my 40th birthday celebrations, which was dining at Gordon Ramsay Steak and going on a sailboat ride in Baltimore. Was the food expensive? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely. Seriously, I have never had food that tasted so good in my 40 years of living. It was so amazing… I was impressed with every little detail like even down to the table settings and the fact that my dessert fork was warmed. Our server was so awesome. She was so much fun and informative. I loved how she described all the food in detail when we were ordering and asking questions. They also refold your napkin every time you lay it on the table haha. I went to the bathroom and it was like it hadn’t been touched before. And there were at least 5 other people who brought out things or cleaned up things from our table or just asked how everything was. Everyone was great. The atmosphere was so fancy and I liked how even the music they were playing tied into the British theme. I heard Depeche Mode, Tears for Fears and The Eurythmics to name a few. I had two glasses of the cheaper Moscato and that was delicious. My friends had different cocktails. Now for the food… the bread was served with salted butter and Old Bay butter, to fit in Maryland. I really liked the Old Bay butter, very different. I was debating between the lobster risotto and the Maryland crabcake for my appetizer but I went with the crabcake because I wanted to see his take on a local dish too. Despite being called “Maryland” crabcakes, the Chesapeake Bay is very much in Virginia as well. So we Virginians eat our fair share of blue crabs too, even though Maryland gets most of the credit. This was an amazing crabcake, mostly pure crabmeat with just seasoning. And the Asian pear slaw with it was a great accompaniment. I mean, when even just the slaw is amazing quality, you know it’s good. There was so much crabmeat that could have been an entrée, which explains why I couldn’t hold all of my entrée and dessert haha. But don’t worry, we took home the leftovers. I actually enjoyed the rest of my dessert for breakfast the next morning and it was still amazing reheated. For my entrée I got the Beef Wellington. I wanted to try it because it’s one of Gordon’s specialties and I normally like my meat a little more cooked, but in this Beef Wellington it was perfect. The pastry was crisp on the outside but also soft and buttery underneath and the meat just like melted in your mouth. The potato puree with a little bit of carrot and turnip and the red wine demi-glace tasted amazing with it. Even that little bite of turnip was the best turnip I’ve ever eaten. I also tasted a bite of the smoked beef tartare appetizer one of my friend’s got and a bite of the biggest shrimp we have ever seen, that another friend got with his prime filet. It was almost more like eating lobster than shrimp. We got four sides to share: green beans, brussel sprouts, fingerling potatoes and truffle mac n cheese. The fingerling potatoes seemed so simple but those were my favorite of the four sides. The green beans were good with the walnuts and while it was good, we were not expecting the romesco sauce with them to be so spicy. It burned my tongue for like five minutes haha. I actually like spicy food but my sensitive digestive system can’t tolerate it so I didn’t have anymore of that. I’m not huge on truffle mac n cheese, but it was very good if you like truffle mac n cheese. And I don’t care for brussel sprouts so I didn’t try those, but my friends liked them. And those even had pomegranate in them. Even the sides had these special little enhancements of flavor. I got the Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert since that is another of Gordon Ramsay’s signature dishes and I do not regret it. I still wonder how they made that cake so fluffy. The cake was fluffy and warm and they actually pour the sticky toffee on top when they bring it to the table so it was like a little show too. And the little brown butter ice cream was in the shape of a little stick of butter! It was decadent heaven… And they told me happy birthday when they brought out my dessert but I didn’t even notice at first that there was a little piece of dark chocolate on the plate with “Happy Birthday” painted on it. Even that little bite of chocolate was delicious! Then a little after that they surprised us by bringing out four glasses of champagne for us for my birthday. I thought that was a really cool touch. By the way, I had put on the reservation that I was celebrating my birthday so make sure you do that if you want a few extras! The bag to carry our leftover food was even a cool souvenir and they even gave me a little birthday card. I had a wonderful, decadent time with great friends and I highly recommend this place!
So after that we had made reservations for a sailboat ride in the Inner Harbor. I originally had looked at trying to get the Sunset one but that was booked so I got the Moonlight Sail. That actually worked out better with our dinner time and being at night I think it made it more peaceful in the harbor too. The authentic sailboat was called "Summer Wind," which also fit with my summer birthday. It was my first time on a real sailboat. The owners/captain (and skipper?) were very chill and it was such a peaceful, relaxing sailboat ride around the Inner Harbor. We passed a few other bigger more commercialized boat tours and I was like, our boat's better than yours haha. I love the water, especially at night. And they also have water and sodas for you and cups if you bring your own drinks. I had brought a bottle of champagne from my friend’s winery to have a champagne toast. I didn’t know the restaurant was also going to give us a complimentary one haha. So I had quite a bit of champagne on the sailboat and I was feeling pretty good. They also played nice music on the boat. I particularly liked the Hawaiian style songs in their mix. The city lights reflecting in the water were nice and you could see a few stars but it was a little cloudy so we couldn’t see the moon. There was also this cool building that looked styled kind of like a big lighthouse with changing lights at the top but it looked like a hotel or something. We were talking about it and then the captain told us it was apartments or condos and the top penthouse belonged to Jada and Will Smith. He also told us Jada Pinkett Smith was from Baltimore, which we did not know. You can see the Baltimore Aquarium and the Domino Sugar plant in my pics and I also spotted a mini Statue of Liberty on a dock, which I thought was cool and also kinda funny. We were like, did we go to New York? So I also highly recommend these guys at American Sailing Tours too! I had a wonderful night with friends! And I'm grateful for my friends who celebrated with me and made the ending to my 40th birthday so special.
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