Prince RIP

the very real wickedness and excess that elvis and jerry lee lewis struggled to balance with their old, southern old testament christian upbringings....

Yeah, and I feel like the struggle might have been even greater for Prince considering how deep he travelled down the road to sin in his songs. I mean, Dirty Mind and Controversy (and maybe all his albums?) had thanks to God on the sleeve, and it's hard to see how that squares up with the, shall we say, "fruity" lyrical content. And that's before you even get to things like Vanity 6.

doesn't the voice of god at the beginning of 1999 say "i only want u 2 have some fun"?

thinking about the percocet and the overdose and him dying in an elevator and it all seems so tragic and preventable. anyone seen the van jones interview on cnn?

(even madonna's catholic stuff felt more like she was playing around with it as imagery than it was deeply felt)

― rockpalast '82 (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 22 April 2016 16:

not on Like a Prayer

I'm not saying his moral conflicts weren't deeply felt in some way, but he always wore them lightly. Everything always had that sly little grin behind it. He had too much fun to ever seem really burdened, at least in performance.

xposts well ok i guess i was overreaching a bit there.

feel like in all of this mourning stuff one thing I'm not seeing mentioned much is how *funny* Prince was. This was in evidence more in person (ie, live, onstage, on film, in interviews etc.) than on record but watching a bunch of random clips last night I was laughing my ass off - so much mugging, smirking, knowing glances, tossed off jokes, almost slapstick physical comedy.

― Οὖτις, Friday, April 22, 2016 5:14 PM (58 minutes ago)

Yes, that was one thing that really stood out when I was marathoning videos last night. Obviously he took himself seriously as an artist, overly so in many ways, but being able to do that while simultaneously not taking it seriously at all is so awesome. I find myself very drawn to that style of artist - there's hella pomp in there, but it's fun pomp.

Re: his later in life religious stuff, does anyone know the timing of his rebirth or embrace of JW, especially surrounding the death of his child and brief marriage to Mayte?

I recall that Larry Graham is to blame, but it was post-emancipation I think. Wasn't it around the time of Rave un2 the Joy Fantastic?

Anyway, my other thought was that in terms of cultural roles Bowie and Prince both occupied a similar space that was safe and inviting for freaks and weirdos. If you felt like an outcast for whatever reason - because of your race, sexuality, or just general interests - these were successful, huge artists that created a cultural space that welcomed you. Nowadays everyone is a "freak" - Miley Cyrus performs as a horny tree or whatever - and the straight-laced monoculture is less and less of a thing, so I'm not sure there's anyone playing a similar role today, the social climate is just different.

This morning's shuttle ride I considered the most incongruous fictional cover versions of Prince songs: Pearl Jam doing "Delirious," Eric Clapton's "Alphabet City," Jason Derulo's "Controversy."

Many xposts:

I don't think you really need to look any further than the Black Album versus Lovesexy for the perfect example of Prince's struggles between morality and hedonism.

Re: his later in life religious stuff, does anyone know the timing of his rebirth or embrace of JW, especially surrounding the death of his child and brief marriage to Mayte?

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, April 22, 2016 1:32 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I recall that Larry Graham is to blame, but it was post-emancipation I think. Wasn't it around the time of Rave un2 the Joy Fantastic?

― Οὖτις, Friday, April 22, 2016 1:34 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

After Rave Un2 and before Rainbow Children

As for incongruous actual Prince covers, most of these are shit, but Richard Thompson's "Kiss" is amusing:

http://coverlaydown.com/2016/04/rip-prince-june-7-1958-april-21-2016/

I like RTs kiss a lot. His hit me baby one more time is even better actually

xxxxxp I'm dreading the possibility that Gaga will do the same with Prince as she did with Bowie earlier this year.

my money is on them having alicia keys do it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEe-jTBwa1O/

I'm a little surprised to not hear sly stone as a reference. I associate the two for some reason

would rather the grammy-type tributes be handled by the likes of janelle monae / miguel. obvious choices but good ones.

xxp

i will only accept D'Angelo.

as long as we're posting ?uesto prince stories, this is my fave
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfhoI6iX5ng

I'm a little surprised to not hear sly stone as a reference. I associate the two for some reason

Prince's debt to Sly is blazingly clear, in the bands he formed to back him up, his vocal delivery, his keyboard playing, his general formal assimilation of multiple styles. I would think most fans are aware of this.

yeah, seems like if you're going to point to any precursor it'd be sly. did they ever meet? if they did it probably would've been awkward.

I don't think so, Sly was awol/coked out of his mind for most of Prince's career

found this funny story ...
One day Prince comes home [from the recording studio] all excited because he met Chaka Khan. She called up and asked, “Is Sly [Stone] there?” Prince happened to answer the phone and he said, “Yeah, baby, this is Sly. Do you want to come down?” About two hours later — this is like 2 in the morning — she opens the door and sees Prince. She says, “Where’s Sly?” He goes, “Ha, ha, ha. That was me.” I guess she cussed him out.

gave up and threw on the superlong version of I Would Die 4 U

halp i am drowning in str8 fire

i told a joke
about the woman who asked her lover
"why is your organ so small"
he replied
"i didn't know
i was playing
in a cathedral."
vicki didn't laugh at all...

oh man that 20+ minute i would die 4 u

Kind of quietly impressed with the number of folks I know who wore purple today without any kind of dumb groupthink mobfule organizing.

oh man that 20+ minute i would die 4 u

― tylerw, Friday, April 22, 2016 2:38 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

with friends like these who needs Space Ritual?

Back in 1997, my friend was playing in a cover band in Alabama. Prince and his band happened to be in the audience and joined them on stage to play Raspberry Beret. A huge star doesn't have to get on stage with a cheesy cover band, but Prince did. My buddy described him as very gracious and generous.

Here's a pic from that night with my friend standing next to him:

https://scontent-sjc2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/t31.0-8/13041408_10209433808020794_4206524429507391042_o.jpg

best copy i could find -- beautiful acoustic version of "Reflection"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz9sUt8V_yA

1997 was a terrible time for sideburns

another local Minneapolis legend (at least to the Takoma crowd), Peter Lang posted this:

My late friend and producer Jim (James Hauck) was a friend of Chris Moon, who was Princes first manager and recorder/engineer/producer. I met young Mr. Nelson at Moon's studio when Moon had teamed up with a gent whose name was Chase Walker, and together they started a booking/ production company called Moon Walker Productions with the idea of making others as well as me famous.

Prince was there almost every time I went over. He was a nice quiet respectable kid. I met him several times over the ensuing years, and he was incredibly stand-offish if he didn't know you, but he warmed up quickly when he figured out that he did know you.

My spin on Prince is that he could have gone coastal and left us all behind. But he didn't. He built here (Minneapolis). He lived here. He worked here. He recorded here, and he did his videos here. He broke a lot of Minnesota artists into the big time, and invested a huge amount of time and money in our local talent, and our service industries. I met him on a number of occasions in Video Post houses working on his stuff when I was producing animation. Although I am not a great fan of his genre, I respect it, and I respected him a great deal more for remaining both humble, and loyal to his friends, family, and community. He was a big shot who did not behave like a big shot. He has always had my great respect for that. It is a tragedy to be loosing so many luminaries in such a short amount of time. If you love their music, go see it,. Life is short, and death is but a breath away for us all.

“To die, to sleep -
To sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub,
For in this sleep of death what dreams may come...”
― William Shakespeare,

I'm a little surprised to not hear sly stone as a reference. I associate the two for some reason

Prince's debt to Sly is blazingly clear, in the bands he formed to back him up, his vocal delivery, his keyboard playing, his general formal assimilation of multiple styles. I would think most fans are aware of this.

― Οὖτις, Friday, April 22, 2016

Because Hendrix is still more a figure in rock mag mythos, Sly gets mentioned less as an influence. Besides, to my ears Santana was a bigger influence on Prince than Hendrix.

this won't probably mean much to the non-Minnesotans (if you don't know Sid Hartman*) but anyway this is fucking priceless

"Hey Prince! Prince! Hey Prince!"

"...Hello Mr. Hartman...how are you?"

http://espn.go.com/blog/minnesota-vikings/post/_/id/18664/that-day-when-prince-met-sid-hartman

*in short, legendarily cranky Minnesota sport columnist, still writing at age 96, literally covered the first Super Bowl, etc, actually has worked for the paper for 84 years because he was a newsie when he was a kid

The Muppets Tonight clip, before he goes into Starfish & Coffee, shows him
doing some Hee Haw schtick in a country-fried voice that is so funny, and he's obv having a ball

― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, April 22, 2016 12:57 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think it's safe to say this was the only time in his life when Prince wore overalls.

matos piece is up on mtv.com

Jesse Johnson recorded a song called "Crazaay" with Sly in like 85 or something. That's the closest association as such I know of.

ha -- I just mentioned "Crazay" on Facebook.

really love hearing all these minnesotan anecdotes but they're making me homesick

Big time

I hear Sly's influence all over "Lovesexy".

"Hey Prince! Prince! Hey Prince!"

"...Hello Mr. Hartman...how are you?"

― rockpalast '82 (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 22 April 2016 19:22 (12 minutes ago) Permalink

Prince was Sid's guy before he was your guy

Besides, to my ears Santana was a bigger influence on Prince than Hendrix.

nah, if we're talking about his electric guitar work, Prince's #1 ref point is Eddie Hazel

xp

Also I can't believe that when Prince & Sid met at the Super Bowl the whole thing didn't explode in a fiery cataclysm that wrote the word MINNEAPOLIS in a giant smoke cloud

for one moment prince was only the second biggest diva in the room

Candy Dulfer did "Purple Rain" last night at a show in Germany:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1Id0qmDYpg

/Besides, to my ears Santana was a bigger influence on Prince than Hendrix./

nah, if we're talking about his electric guitar work, Prince's #1 ref point is Eddie Hazel

xp

This thread is tl;dr until the weekend, so I want to ask if anyone posted that video interview of his friend talking about his charitable works upthread?