Prince RIP

Prince circa 1977 in downtown Minneapolis 

A few personal memories.

Even though I am a Minneapolis guy, the first Prince album I ever owned was 1981’s Controversy.   The fact is, his hometown was pretty late to the party.  I bought it because he was starting to get a lot of buzz. It was the most unusual, yet catchy music I had ever heard. It was revolutionary.

I saw Prince live for the first time during the 1999 Tour at the old Met Center in Bloomington Mn (3/15/83). Prince was the headliner and The Time and Vanity 6 were the undercard.  It was mind-blowing. Prince is the greatest live performer I have ever seen.

Laura and I got married in 1984 and Prince’s Purple Rain LP was a massive hit. It had been released about 3 months before and I loved the first cut “Let’s Go Crazy.”  At our reception I did an air guitar solo standing on the head table and at the conclusion of the song I did a flip off the table. I was stone sober. It was an inspired song for an inspired day.

Prince’s guitar solo at the Rock and  Hall of Fame in 2004 is one of the most beautiful guitar solos I have ever heard. He blows the other rock stars of the stage.

My favorite Prince album is 1987’s Sign O’ The Times. He was a huge star at that point and chose art over commerce.

In 2004 we went as a family to see Prince. He was brilliant and created a great family memory.

Prince was the real deal: songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, guitar god, entertainer, mysterious weirdo and most of all a rock star. He will be missed.

Dearly beloved
We are gathered here today
To get through this thing called life

Electric word life
It means forever and that’s a mighty long time
But I’m here to tell you
There’s something else
The after world