Still looking good and going strong, '80s rockers Duran Duran bounded into the Memorial area swankienda with a bolt of energy the day before their Houston concert. That would be the home of Becca Cason Thrash and husband John Thrash, who welcomed their long-time rock star friends to Houston with a TexMex feast (John Taylor's favorite) and a meet-and-greet with several dozen from Becca's coterie of beautiful people.

The dashing Simon Le Bon was the show-stealer, striding through the hall of Andy Warhol Marilyn Monroe portrait wearing a black suit with tuxedo shirt and bow tie. "I thought if I'm ever going to dress on this tour," he said, "tonight is the night. I'm comfortable in a tux . . . This is actually a one-button black suit, but who knows?"

For die-hard Duran Duran fan Rosemarie Johnson, traveling on the arm of husband Matt Johnson, it was a knock-out moment.

"I couldn't be more excited if George Clooney walked in right now. In fact, I wouldn't be as excited at all." The Johnsons and most of the other guests at the small dinner (small in comparison to the mega parties that Becca typically throws) had tickets for the Warehouse Live concert.

The guys had been on the road for two weeks touring for their new album "All You Need Is Now." So as a surprise, John Taylor's wife, Gela Nash Taylor of Juicy Couture fame, flew in from home base in LA for a little squeeze time in Houston

The couple calls California home though they own a 14th-century country estate in John's native England, where Gela has modernized and decorated. While devouring the dinner, John allowed that his real name was Nigel Taylor. "Nigel the nerd," he quipped. "Every nerdy character in Monty Python pieces was named Nigel. I had to change it." John is his middle name.

Roger Taylor (no relation to John) and Nick Rhodes rounded out the guest of honor list with all four sitting down to dinner at the vast candlelit table that easily seated 50 for dinner. Lindsey Love, who had met Nick on a previous Houston visit, sat tete-a-tete with the keyboardist throughout dinner and beyond.

Among those getting a major charge out of having dinner with Duran Duran were Greggory and Pat Burk, Sarah and Ron Simon, Meg Goodman and Mike Bonini, Diane Lokey Farb, Karen Pulaski Tyrell, Elena and Greg Davis and Valerie Sarofim with Andrew Echols.

No ordinary TexMex dinner would do for this group, Becca had her troops scouring the town for just the right dishes — guacamole and refried beans from Armandos, chips and chili con queso from RDG, fish tacos from Berryhill, beef and shrimp fajitas from Ninfa's and cheese enchiladas, Spanish rice and sauces from El Tiempo.

Cheeky Vintage gets Lucky

Cheeky Vintage owners Tina Davis and Denise Hazen are over the moon with the upcoming release of the May issue of Lucky magazine. Their vintage styling boutique has been named as one of the country's best vintage stores by Lucky and is featured in a layout that includes selected items from the Greenway Plaza boutique's collection of international finds.

All those years of hunting and gathering have paid off for the duo that still collects merchandise for their popular shop. Tommy Hilfiger's team recently dropped in and picked up several items for that retailer's New York City store.

The gals are so excited about the Lucky splash that they are planning a "Color is Key" spring fling at the store on April 28. The 6 to 9 p.m. party will benefit the Children's Assessment Center.

Man's best friend

It was official this week, the Harris County Sheriff's Department was given four new dogs for its K-9 operation by the newly-established K9s4COPS. The official presentation was made by non-profit founder and board chair Kristi Schiller and executive director Liz Lara Carreno. This was the first of 14 dogs that the organization has in the pipeline for law enforcement agencies. K9s4COPS just received its non-profit status last month.

The sheriff's department was selected to receive the German Shepherd, Giant Schnauzer and two Belgian Malinois because there are K9 officers who have no dogs and there is no budget to purchase them.

Kristi was inspired to create the non-profit when she learned of a young Texas border town police officer whose life was saved by his K9 partner during an attack by drug smugglers. The dog with hours of special training at high expense was killed. Kristi's goal is to provide federal, state and local law enforcement organizations with specially-trained canine units.