HELP THE NEWBIES: The FAQ Revamping Project (pt. 1)

as i promised on this thread, this sticky thread is solely dedicated to answering the oft-asked questions that keep getting asked day after day by newbies and, sometimes, non-newbies. seeing as the FAQ section hasn't been updated ever since the org 2.0 started up and the site's search function is always in the state of bein totally shot and therefore useless, we knowledgeable orgers can help folks out with their questions so we won't have to smack folks around (a lot ) anymore.

first part of this project is as follows: what are the questions that are asked here often? remember to phrase the questions and answers, FAQ style. if you don't know what i mean, check the FAQs and how everything's set up.


all the compiled FAQs will be put into a new sticky thread that i'll keep at the top of the forum; if the sticky 'drops' into forum oblivion, i will add the link to the thread at the header of the forum as a permanent link. please note that this is a serious thread and all bullshittery will be deleted straightaway, so please don't jack it/troll on it/flame people on it.

now unless you want someone asking "what's '3121' mean?" for the 14485443687774216897844th time, you'll help me and everyone else here in the m & m forum, wont'cha? do it for the good of the site! do it for the good of your nerves!!!

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

(from the orgs FAQ)

1.1 What is Prince's real name and date of birth?

Prince Rogers Nelson was born on June 7, 1958.

1.2 How tall is Prince?

It is believed that he is 5'2" (157cm) tall, but it's kind of hard to know for sure since he's always wearing those heels!

1.3 What's with the name changes?

On June 7th, 1993 (his 35th birthday), Prince announced that he would change his name to an unpronounceable symbol. The glyph incorporates the male and female signs along with the alchemy symbol for soapstone.

The usual ASCII representation of the symbol is:

O ( + >

That's a capital "o," open parenthesis, plus sign, and greater-than sign.

However, on May 16th, 2000 Prince announced that he would resume using his former name, because his final contract with Time Warner (i.e., his publishing contract with Warner-Chappel) had expired. It seems that he will continue to use the symbol as a logo, however.

2. Personal Life

2.1 Is Prince married?

On February 14th, 1996, Prince married Mayte Garcia. It was a small ceremony in Minneapolis, attended by family and friends.

He subsequently announced in December 1998 that he intended to annul his present marriage and become reunited with Mayte on February 14, 1999 in a manner more compatible with their current beliefs. As of June 2000, it was believed that their marriage has been legally annulled, and that the two are no longer a couple.

At some time after June 2000, the couple was legally divorced. Currently, Mayte is either engaged or has just remarried, to Tommy Lee of Motley Crue fame.

As of December 31st, 2001, the rumors are that Prince remarried, to a Paisley Park Employee, Manuela Testolini; she is believed to be about 18 years younger than Prince.

2.2 Is Prince gay/bisexual?

Whenever this question comes up, a common answer is "Who cares?" Most Prince fans are entranced by the music, not the sexual orientation.

If one gives the matter some serious thought, though, the vast majority of his work is unmistakably about heterosexual relationships (except where he plays with double meaning), and there have been no sightings of him with another man. His women, on the other hand, are known to be world-class beauties.

The man obviously doesn't mind in general if people think he's bisexual, and it's possible he is or was, but he's very much in the closet about it if so. Even if he's perfectly straight, his lyrics indicate that he would welcome any sexual orientation into the utopian "Uptown." Most fans tend to believe he's simply androgynous: displaying characteristics of both genders.

The following vaguely relevant passage exists in a Rolling Stone article dated Feb 19, 1981: "Appearances to the contrary, though, he says he's not gay, and he has a standard rebuff for overenthusiastic male fans: ''I'm not about that; we can be friends, but that's as far as it goes. My sexual preferences really aren't any of their business.'' A Penthouse "Pet of the Month" centerfold laid out on a nearby table silently underscores his point." Make whatever you will, of this comment from early in his career.

3. Miscellaneous

3.1 I want to write/send a demo tape/send a gift to Prince. What's his address?

Contact Prince via Paisley Park. The address is:

Paisley Park Studios
7801 Audubon Road
Chanhassen, MN USA
55317-8201

3.2 What about e-mail?

He almost certainly has an email address; however, he apparently prefers to keep it private. (We don't know it either!)

3.3 Does Prince have an official Website?

Yes, http://www.npgmusicclub.com/ is his official site.

3.4 Where can I buy Prince-related merchandise?

Check out his official site, above. Also, you can try eBay for out-of-print items, etc.

3.5 Is there a Prince fan club?

Currently, there is no offical "fan club", although membership in the npgmusicclub is pretty close to the same thing. There are lots of UNofficial fan clubs around the world. Check out the "clubs" section of prince.org for more information, and to find one near you.

(Of historical interest:)
Paisley Park officially recognized the UK-based "Controversy" fan club and fanzine, founded in 1986. Members received benefits such as bimonthly magazine issues, priority concert seating and the opportunity to attend fan conventions in Minneapolis (1991 and 1992). Additionally, a system of area "organizers" allowed fans to contact a nearby representative for information and assistance in hooking up with other enthusiasts.
(thanks to Tim Andrassy, Dennis Roszkowski)

3.6 Was Prince in the movie Fargo?

Short answer: no.

A modified version of the symbol does appear in the credits, though. Here is an excerpt from an interview with the Coen brothers in Premiere magazine, explaining it:

Premiere: A question for all the Coenheads on the Internet: What is that Prince-like symbol, the smiley face on its side, in the end credits?

Ethan Coen: That was our storyboard artist, who played the guy who drives by in the car with the red parka. He asked us if he could have that credit. We also use a lot of names of people we grew up with, scattered throughout the movie, being paged on telephones. But that's mostly because we couldn't think of names that would be appropriate.

3.7 Why can't I operate the safe in the Interactive CD-ROM game?

For whatever reason, the safe doesn't work unless you set your display resolution to 640 x 480.

4. Music and video

4.1 Why is track four on Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic silent?

The track is a moment of silence in honor of the late jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. Prince worked with Miles on multiple occasions before his death.

4.2 What is the hidden message in the "Alphabet St" video?

After the first verse ("...from my head to my feet"), and before the first chorus, the following message, printed vertically in small purple letters, appears on the screen for a split second:

"Don't buy the Black Album. I'm sorry."

4.3 So what's the deal with the Black Album?

In late 1987, Prince planned to release an album popularly known as the Black Album. The actual album had an all-black cover with only a catalog number, and no artist information or title. The Black Album contains eight tracks, most of which are "funk" songs.

The album was canceled mere days before its scheduled release, after hundreds of thousands of copies were pressed. A few escaped destruction, and rank among the most coveted Prince collectables. In addition, the Black Album became the most bootlegged record of all time.

At the time, a rumor circulated that Warner Bros. canceled the album due to concerns about explicit lyrics. Prince, on the other hand, has said that he canceled the project after having a religious experience involving a vision. What really happened? Per Nilsen, respected author of several books on Prince, claims that Prince decided to scrap the album after an experiment with the drug MDMA (aka ecstasy) that resulted in a bad trip. Former Prince associates have confirmed the ecstasy story.

The Black Album was replaced with Lovesexy, an album that contained one track ("When 2 R in Love") from the Black Album. In 1994, Warner Bros. officially released the Black Album as a limited edition.

4.4 Can my band rent one of the studios at Paisley Park?

Paisley Park ceased renting the studios in 1996, when the complex was renovated. The studios are slated to reopen for outside bookings in August 2000.

An archived version of Paisley Park Studios' pre-1996 Website, with detailed information on the facilities, is available at:

http://www.bitstream.net/...isleypark/
for more info, see http://www.paisleyparkstudios.com.

This is the question that was asked most recently when the thread was locked,
along with an answer :

Does Prince have any children? or Did Prince's child die ?

In October 1996, Prince's 1st wife Mayte gave birth to a baby boy, but he died within a week . Reports have said that the baby was born with brain damage and died from complications of Pfeiffer's Syndrome. Prince and Mayte refused to publicly discuss what was wrong with the child after it was born. Mayte was the only parent identified on the birth certificate. Two of Prince's former employees later came forward and said that the baby had been kept on life support and Prince had decided he could no longer endure the agony of seeing his child in pain and decided to turn off the life support. For the record, on the baby's death certificate,the cause of death is listed as "natural causes."

Is Prince black?

can this include associated artist?

Cause, What ever happened to Cat comes up alot.....(but i sorta like that it does.....so nevermind)

sosgemini said:

can this include associated artist?

Cause, What ever happened to Cat comes up alot.....(but i sorta like that it does.....so nevermind)

sosgemini said:

1984

2004

No plastic surgery

How many of his "associate" artist has Prince had a *confirmed* and/or *rumored* intimate relationship with?

you look better on your myspace page than you do in person

meltwithu said:

sitruk7 said:

sosgemini said:

Is Prince black?

meltwithu said:

NadiaAdare said:

meltwithu said:

How many of his "associate" artist has Prince had a *confirmed* and/or *rumored* intimate relationship with?

The shorter questin is probably: "How many of his 'associate' artists has Prince NOT had a *confirmed* and/or *rumored* intimate relationship with?" Otherwise, we'll be here all week!
[Edited 4/18/05 19:50pm]

What does '3121' mean???

From what I understand, it's the street address of his Mulholland Drive party pad in Los Angeles, where he's been throwing all his '3121' parties this year.

And for whatever it's worth, add all the numbers together, and you have what's been reported to be his favorite number.

I've heard that, also that it is a Bible Verse, and last, that it is his
latest Night Club.

Who knows? lol

Anxiety said:

What does '3121' mean???

From what I understand, it's the street address of his Mulholland Drive party pad in Los Angeles, where he's been throwing all his '3121' parties this year.

And for whatever it's worth, add all the numbers together, and you have what's been reported to be his favorite number.

mymocha said:

I've heard that, also that it is a Bible Verse, and last, that it is his
latest Night Club.

Who knows? lol

Anxiety said:

What does '3121' mean???

From what I understand, it's the street address of his Mulholland Drive party pad in Los Angeles, where he's been throwing all his '3121' parties this year.

And for whatever it's worth, add all the numbers together, and you have what's been reported to be his favorite number.

It comes up soo often that I think it is true too, but then I heard that there
isn't actually a Street Number: 3121 on Mullholand(SP?, I know I spelled it
wrong). That's the main reason why I brought it up.


the street address explanation i've heard from reliable sources time and time again - to the extent that i don't know why folks are still asking what '3121' means.[/quote]

Q: If I am asking a question about Prince which isn't on the FAQ, and it isn't on this thread, but I think the question might have been asked before on this site, how can I search the site whilst the Search Function is not working?

A. You can undertake a Google search on the prince.org site

Simply click on this link and then save it as a Favoourite or Bookmark for future use:

http://www.google.com/adv...=&safe=off

.

Q. Where can I find out more about the alternate versions of album configurations

A. There is a thread about alternate and Work In Progress configurations of Prince's work here:

http://www.prince.org/msg/7/116565


.

Q. Where can I get a tracked CD version of 'Lovesexy'?

A. Although originally released on CD as one continuous track, this album has long been available in tracked format in UK retail outlets - including UK-based online music stores e.g. www.amazon.co.uk and www.hmv.co.uk

.

An often asked one is "Is Prince touring this year?" which is an ongoing answer so I'm not sure how to answer that.

Also, "Is there a DVD of the Musicology tour?"

langebleu said:

langebleu said:

A discography of sorts would be nice. At least listing his albums.

Q: Is it okay to talk about unreleased songs or albums here?
A: Yes, just as long as you do not ask or tell how or where to get them.

I have an FAQ: Why is the Sign "O" Times DVD only available in Canada?

fyi: you guys throw out google as if its the gospel but the fact of the matter is, it doesnt find everything. i'd say it finds 10% of whats actually on the org....so please stop telling people, "use google".

cause its not a good alterntative to our actual search engine working.

sosgemini said:

fyi: you guys throw out google as if its the gospel but the fact of the matter is, it doesnt find everything. i'd say it finds 10% of whats actually on the org....so please stop telling people, "use google".

cause its not a good alterntative to our actual search engine working.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

sosgemini said:

fyi: you guys throw out google as if its the gospel but the fact of the matter is, it doesnt find everything. i'd say it finds 10% of whats actually on the org....so please stop telling people, "use google".

cause its not a good alterntative to our actual search engine working.

but it's the only alternative right now unfortunately, unless ben hurries up and fixes the site's search engine. anyways, this is an entire separate thread in itself.

sosgemini said:

fyi: you guys throw out google as if its the gospel but the fact of the matter is, it doesnt find everything. i'd say it finds 10% of whats actually on the org....so please stop telling people, "use google".

cause its not a good alterntative to our actual search engine working.