Great article, with 40 pictures, from Prince's six-show run in Houston in 1985. To this day, all the music reviewers in Houston agree that was the greatest run any performer ever had in Houston.

Not to mention that Prince played a 7th show for handicapped children. He brought the whole show to the TSU auditorium and played a free concert for hundreds of kids. This, as much as anything, endeared Prince to Houstonians. Whenever Prince's "Purple Rain" tour is brought up, that free concert for those kids ALWAYS is referenced.

And there was NO publicity for it. Unless you were with TSU or the group that put the kids together, no one knew anything about it. It was only reported on after it happened, and I don't think Prince expected or wanted any media coverage at all.

I don't know why he did this in Houston, and to my knowledge it's the only time he ever did it. But again, it sure made Prince a King in Houston!

Here's the link to the article. It contains an anecdote about a possible video for Apollonia 6 that I'd never heard before.

Also, about half the 40 pictures are of Sheila E, taken during her opening act.

http://www.houstonchronic...id=hcec#/0

Seems to require that you sign up for an online subscription which is not free

RodeoSchro said:

Not to mention that Prince played a 7th show for handicapped children. He brought the whole show to the TSU auditorium and played a free concert for hundreds of kids. This, as much as anything, endeared Prince to Houstonians. Whenever Prince's "Purple Rain" tour is brought up, that free concert for those kids ALWAYS is referenced.

And there was NO publicity for it. Unless you were with TSU or the group that put the kids together, no one knew anything about it. It was only reported on after it happened, and I don't think Prince expected or wanted any media coverage at all.

I don't know why he did this in Houston, and to my knowledge it's the only time he ever did it.[/url]

In terms of special 'benefit' concerts of this nature (free, with little or no publicity, supporting young people with disabilities), there were several on the tour.

In addition to the TSU show that you have described, 'The Vault' reports that he performed a surprise matinee concert on 29 November 1984, at Gallaudet College for the Deaf, with 2,000 young people bussed in from across Washington D.C., and sign language interpreters providing lyrics:

http://www.princevault.co...er,_1984-m

The book also reports a concert held in Santa Monica at midday on 25 February 1985 of a similar nature to the TSU concert:

http://www.princevault.co...ry,_1985-m

And a similar show to the 29 November 1984 was held at the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in New York on 20 March 1985.

http://www.princevault.co...ch,_1985-m

langebleu said:

In addition to the TSU show that you have described, 'The Vault' reports that he performed a surprise matinee concert on 29 November 1984, at Gallaudet College for the Deaf, with 2,000 young people bussed in from across Washington D.C., and sign language interpreters providing lyrics:

HAHA Blimey.

That's back when he was cool. [Snip - Unnecessary flaming - M]

therat said:

That's back when he was cool. [snipped]

That is why he sold out the Superdome back in July which is much bigger than a Circus tent.

Try making a comment when you know what you are talking about.

[Edited 1/11/15 12:29pm]

I noticed there are many celebrities that get into trouble privately yet when it's leaked to the public, they will display "good works" publically - it's all to clean up or repair their damaged reputation. Prince doesn't call the media every time he does something like this because he's humble and he's not trying to build himself up by displaying those that may be considered down. In other words, he doesn't exploit others for fame or popularity. Yet another HUGE reason I love him so

[Edited 1/11/15 15:04pm]

langebleu said:

RodeoSchro said:

Not to mention that Prince played a 7th show for handicapped children. He brought the whole show to the TSU auditorium and played a free concert for hundreds of kids. This, as much as anything, endeared Prince to Houstonians. Whenever Prince's "Purple Rain" tour is brought up, that free concert for those kids ALWAYS is referenced.

And there was NO publicity for it. Unless you were with TSU or the group that put the kids together, no one knew anything about it. It was only reported on after it happened, and I don't think Prince expected or wanted any media coverage at all.

I don't know why he did this in Houston, and to my knowledge it's the only time he ever did it.[/url]

In terms of special 'benefit' concerts of this nature (free, with little or no publicity, supporting young people with disabilities), there were several on the tour.

In addition to the TSU show that you have described, 'The Vault' reports that he performed a surprise matinee concert on 29 November 1984, at Gallaudet College for the Deaf, with 2,000 young people bussed in from across Washington D.C., and sign language interpreters providing lyrics:

http://www.princevault.co...er,_1984-m

The book also reports a concert held in Santa Monica at midday on 25 February 1985 of a similar nature to the TSU concert:

http://www.princevault.co...ry,_1985-m

And a similar show to the 29 November 1984 was held at the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in New York on 20 March 1985.

http://www.princevault.co...ch,_1985-m

Awesome! Thank you for posting that!

Averett said:

Seems to require that you sign up for an online subscription which is not free

Bummer! I can copy the article, but I know it's the pictures everyone would want to see.

They're all black and white, but are very good. Half are of Prince (mostly playing the guitar) and half are of Sheila E.

Here is the anecdote about the Apollonia 6 video (BTW, Rockefeller's was a local live music venue that had once been a bank):

Plans were afoot for Prince and crew to turn Rockefeller's into a purple paradise for an Apollonia 6 video.

"They were going to paint the place all-purple, put in carpets, and the even wanted to paint the Rockefeller's limo purple," Collen Fisher, Rockefeller's general manager, told Claypool. "They were going to put a bathtub upstairs and make some purple bubbles."

For the trouble, Rockefeller's would have received $3,000 as Prince and crew covered the renovation costs.

In the end, alleged disputes within the Prince camp nixed those plans.

.

[Edited 1/11/15 15:51pm]

This pretty funny about using Rockefeller's Hall as a video set for Apollonia 6.

I live fairly close. It's rumored that Bonnie and Clyde actually robbed it back in the day when it was a bank.

Ken Hoffman wrote a really cool article about this time when Prince was in "residency" in Houston published in The Chronicle in 1993, if I remember correctly.

[Edited 1/12/15 10:15am]

Noodled24 said:

langebleu said:

In addition to the TSU show that you have described, 'The Vault' reports that he performed a surprise matinee concert on 29 November 1984, at Gallaudet College for the Deaf, with 2,000 young people bussed in from across Washington D.C., and sign language interpreters providing lyrics:

HAHA Blimey.

I wonder what "Darling Nikki" in sign language would look like. I also wonder if these special gigs were a bit "toned down" as they were primarily for children and younger people.

I grew up on the east coast but spent some summers in the Twin Cities...

About 1984/85 he also did a show for deaf children in MN with interpreters. Looking back I don't recall seeing any media covering the event(I used to collect articles) - but heard about it from my dad's friend who was a fan, too.

This also endeared me to Prince - not because I was born mostly deaf but that he would do this for disadvantaged children without taking credit for it.

"Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them, otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synogogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full..." Mathew 6: 1-4

"But Prince didn't attend the We Are The World sessions. He is the cruelest man on the planet, buhu. He hates the children"

Shove that song up your ass. It sucked back then and to this date it still sucks (except mj's verse. He did a solid job, nothing more nothing less). Nice move on those handicaped children Prince, I adore you

[Edited 1/12/15 14:39pm]

Has now started, the first stages, of the remastered Purple Rain publicity campaign....