We lost the Purple Rocker today. Pretty sad. This isn’t a bandwagon post; I didn’t just become a fan following his death. Though I currently live in Seattle, I spent the last 13 years in Minneapolis, and it’s hard not to be influenced by Prince and the impact he had on the music scene of the Twin Cities.
I won’t lie; I was a fan, but hardly obsessed. I never went to a party at Paisley Park, nor did I attend one of his concerts. But man, he was a talent. My appreciation for him started with the 1989 soundtrack to Tim Burton’s Batman movie. I had the cassette, and I listened to that thing endlessly. It was my favorite tape. Whenever the Batdance video came on MTV (back when they still played a thing called “music videos”) I would stop what I was doing and watch. I’ve seen the future and it will be…
That was some good sh!t.
As a tribute, I decided to put together this poster graphic.
Lots of purple there. A bit of First Avenue‘s star wall in the background. They’re doing an All Night Dance Party this Saturday, April 23rd (NO COVER!) to honor him. That’s frickin’ awesome–wish I could be there for that. But damn, this is so sad.
A friend of mine, angvogt, once told me a story about driving past Prince’s mansion with a friend, and there appeared to be an open house going on. They proceeded to park their car and enter his home to see what was going on. Security stopped them at the front door (it wasn’t an open house). They were politely turned away, but apparently even the entryway to his home was every bit as purple as you’d assume.
My cousin Brad once managed a Subway restaurant–I believe in Edina–and he recounted a time when Prince and his entourage arrived just after closing one night (1 or 2 in the morning). A gentleman–presumably a body guard–knocked on the door and informed them that Prince had a craving for a sub. My cousin, not the type to be starstruck by anyone, assessed the situation and decided to let him in. Afterall, they hadn’t yet broken down their equipment (I really don’t know if he would have allowed Prince in had they already put things away). Of course, I was fascinated by his story, so I asked him what Prince was like. His response? “Short.” He’s a man of few words, my cousin. 🙂
And finally, here’s a great video of him jumping on stage for a guitar solo. Dude could rock. RIP, Prince. You’re already missed. UPDATE: I had to change the previous video I posted after seeing this one. Much better representation of the Purple One’s skill. Credit to Jamie Penick for posting this on his own Facebook page.
The Well of Mike 