murph said:

-----
Cool seems like we are on the same page but some Rick fans have total hatered for P to the point of being fanatical (LOL).

We're talkin' Jackson, Mississippi here, not Los Angeles, California. It was also March of 1980. All we had in Mississippi at the time was whites, blacks, and very few other races at all. It was also directly after the death of disco and whites down here considered anything black as disco and they hated it (just another one of their excuses for hate though). It's only been in the last 10 years that we've started getting a Mexican population.

I've had friends and co-workers who either attended or worked at that show. They said it was 99% black, which I myself would have loved. But looking back and knowing what I know now, I'm glad I didn't get to go because it was going to be my grandmother taking me. She's the one that kept me every weekend and summer and bought me all my records. Had she been in attendance, first of all, she would have been scared to death since she was one of the white ladies born in 1913 that grew up in the country that was deathly scared of black men because of the things the racist white media in the South taught them such as "black men will rape you" (as if they really want a 70 year old white woman). If she had even got past that, then she would have seen Prince stripped to a G-string doing sexual gestures and Rick James firing up a joint on the stage and encouraging the audience to do the same. I would have loved it but she would have never bought me another record again.

vainandy said:

I understand your characterization of the racial climate in the deep South (Jackson, MS) at that time (...Hell, even today...), but it was only 626 miles away, still in the South, when I saw him weeks later of that same year in Charlotte, NC - and I'm only reporting the racial make-up of the show I attended. Though I realize there's a world of difference between Jackson & Charlotte. Either way, I'm sorry you didn't get to attend the show. You would have had a blast! But yeah, Grandma would have been scandalized!!!

I notice that Prince kept coming back to other places in the South such as Arkansas or even the Carolinas, and we never could understand why Prince never came back to Jackson again until 1997, especially since Rick came back every single year up through his "Cold Blooded" album.

I know two people who worked backstage at the Coliseum during that time. Both of them have said that when Prince came the first time in 1980, he basically came in, was quiet the entire time, didn't really speak to hardly anyone, did his show, and got the hell out. One of them said when he returned in 1997, it was an entirely different scene. He came with an entourage so large and no one could get anywhere near him, let alone speak to him. She said she had never seen something like that since Elvis had come in the 70s.

Rick, on the other hand, was entirely different. Both of them had said that Rick walked around backstage smoking a joint as casually as someone smoking a cigarette.
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[Edited 6/8/09 14:41pm]

vainandy said:

Prince caught a lot of Hell in those days for his appearance & demeanor. I can imagine he probably didn't feel too comfortable in Jackson, MS at that time, particularly as he was just getting started out.

Rick James was a master at pushing people's buttons. He was encouraging fans to throw joints up on stage, when he bent down & picked one up he asked the crowd "...if I fire this joint up, are y'all gonna let the cops get me?" at which point 20,000 screaming fans replied..."HELL NO!!!", lol. Rick fired the joint up, took a long drag, then asked "...y'all want the band to have some?", and everybody went "HELL YEAH!!!", then they started passing joints around, blowing each other shotguns and shit, lol. Ahh, the memories!

PDogz said:

PDogz said:

Damn...I remember that in Greenville. I was scared they were going to arrest him, it being SC and all. There were two or three cops right next to the stage and when folks started throwing joints up there I was mad because I thought they'd shut down the show and I wouldn't get to see Rick. But the cops just stood there. Probably scared out of their damned minds.

I remember being in Savannah too and Rick was at the coliseum. I didn't get to go because I was at the JW convention.

noimageatall said:

...let's see: Two or three cops -vs- 20,000 screaming Rick James fans, lol. Uh, I don't think so!

PDogz said:

That was just near the stage silly! There were lots more walking around. But one of the cops nearest the stage started to walk up...he got to step 2 and retreated. They just looked confused. Maybe they caught a contact.

This is great stuff in this thread ya'll, thanks

Request:

Can all those people that actually attended a show during this tour please "check in"?
Say what city you saw it in also.
Thanks

BlackAdder7 said:

I thought the Mary Jane Girls came 1st and Prince got the idea from Rick (Mary Jane's were more successful that Vanity 6/Apollonia 6) wasn't Eddie Murphy a Rick James protege in the mid late 80's?

OldFriends4Sale said:

Actually, from what I have always heard... Rick James TALKED/planned about starting a girls group called Valley Dolls or something like that. And Prince heard Rick talk about it, and beat Rick to the punchwith V6. Also, Vanity was originally hooked up iwth Rick, so for Prince to get Vanity away from Rick and start up a girls group (Rick's idea) with Vanity (Rick's girl the center attraction), must have really pissed Rick off.

prodigalfan said:

yeah...stealing yer woman, as well as yer idea = ultimate burn.

From the late 70's to early 80's, Rick had The Colored Girls as back-up singers :


Together with Rick & the sprayed Mary Jane-backdrop, you see (L 2 R) : Lisa Sarna, JoJo McDuffie & Tori Ruffin. JoJo continued later with 3 other MJG-ladies, who's image-concept was somewhat different than the main burlesque concept of V6/A6.
In the MJG's you had the classy lady (Candi), the wild leatherchick (Maxi), the valleydoll (Cheri), and the leading streetlady of the group (JoJo). Lisa Sarna sang a line in Rick's "69 Times" in which he refers that specific line to Grace Slick, who somewhat resembles Lisa. Tori Ruffin is the partner of Levi Ruffin, keyboard-cat in the Stone City Band. You can spot the Colored Girls in action on Rick's European live-dvd from 1982.


Rick, Tori & Levi on stage, from the European live-dvd.
[Edited 6/9/09 12:19pm]

But.... back up girl singers is DIFFERENT than a girls protoge group.

Rick had told people his plans... probably while high or intoxicated... not realizing someone was watching and taking notes.

I believe that the girls group was Rick's idea... just Prince beat him to it and "one-up" using sex fantasy to sell his non singers girls group.

Prince has done this again with Jesse Johnson and Shockadelica.

The Colored Girls were indeed no proteges, but i wouldn't be surprised that after their years of performing with him, that might've eventually given him the idea for the MJG-concept,
especially after his big hit-charted succes when budget-wise those concept-ideas became more possible to realise.

prodigalfan said:

I was going to mention that.. it couldn't have helped the rivalry betweeen them that Vanity hopped off Rick's tour bus onto Prince's tour bus and never left.. This is a BRILLIANT thread though, really informative for those of us who weren't around to witness any of the pre 1999 Prince I had a friend at school who was CRAZY, mad about Rick James, she would play the 12" of Superfreak and I would play my 12" Purple Rain/God... although I did love Rick James too! We used to dance around to it when we were getting ready to go out. Fantastic posts / interviews / witness accounts / background info..PDogz, Murph, BGZ and others....LOVE it, thanks

Just found this on Youtube, he talks about Prince at around 2.50 mins interesting...




[Edited 6/13/09 10:10am]

mostbeautifulboy said:

Love that!

"Alice In Ghettoland" with Teena Marie? Now that would have been great. Rick's other semi-autobio flick "A Slice Of Life" probably would have been killer too.
Rick supposedly wanted to kill his character off at the end of the movie so there wouldn't be any sequels.

I guess between the disagreements with Rick and the producers, his repuatation and the drugs wiped all the movie projects out.

http://www.doctorfink.com/

Saturday, September 23, 2006
Exclusive new interview with Dr. Fink

..

In Dez Dickerson's book "My Time With Prince" he mentioned a story about you and Prince being arrested for some mischief on an airplane. What all do you remember about that event?

Prince and I were sitting together on a plane bound for Huntsville Alabama from Memphis Tennessee on the Rick James "Fire it Up" tour 1980. I noticed an emergency bullhorn in the overhead compartment above us and told Prince I thought it would make a great stage prop.
Prince liked my idea and we tried to stash it in one of our carry on bags but we didn't have enough room so we asked Dez to hide it in his bag. Before the plane left the gate someone on the plane told one of the flight attendants that we had stolen the bullhorn. Dez had to give it back and as he was being arrested by airport police Prince and I admitted we had taken it and made Dez put it in his bag. Prince and I were handcuffed and taken to the Memphis City jail while the rest of the group went on to Huntsville. They slapped us on the wrist and let us go after about an hour and we had to charter a twin engine Beech craft in order to make the show in Huntsville because the airline banned us from flying on their airline for a while after that.

SPYZFAN1 said:

Definately a lot of similarities, Rick James(Prince), Mary Jane Girls(Vanity 6), Tina Marie(Sheila E.) Eddie Murphy(Carmen Electra)

blackguitaristz said:

While we're on that particular subject, I could distinctively remember when Madonna first came out big. All she did was take P's Dirty Mind-Controversy concept and integrated it to her dance music. Remember, she hit it big with the R&B/Dance crowd first before tackling the mainstream. Just my two cents.

Smittyrock70 said:

how so did she take from that era, those albums came out around the same time hers came out right?

..So P actually WAS arrested?..lol.

OldFriends4Sale said:

No. Dirty Mind came out in October 1980 and Controversy in Oct 1981. Her debut album came out in 1983. Although, she did have some dance tracks that I believe came out in late 1982. But no doubt P was a heavy inluence on her. Of couse she in turn took it to another level towards the mainstream by the mid'80's.
[Edited 7/5/09 13:40pm]

^^^^

thats whats up...

StarMon said:

The tix price.