"a different kind of movie. It's not violent. Nobody gets laid."

Graffiti Bridge has always been a not so easy era to talk about, but I've always loved background information, it makes even a period that I didn't like so much, much more interesting. We've talked about Prince's Graffiti Bridge Music

how about the Time's music ONLY and all the other events behind the movie and era, after shows...Shadows of the Empire maybe?

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the evolution the Time music

Prince

Morris Day, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Jellybean Johnson, Monte Moir Jesse Johnson & Jerome Benton

Blondie

Chocolate

Cooking Class segue

Corporate World

Data Bank #2

Dreamland segue

Donald Trump (black version)

It's Your World
Jerk Out

Kansas City segue

Love Machine

Murph Drag

My Summertime Thang

9 Lives

Pandemonium

Pretty Little Women segue

Release It

Sexy Socialites segue ...performed by two Stellas

Shake

Skillett

Sometimes I Get Lonely

the Latest Fashion

7.10.1990

a very claustrophobic feel

the Time had a movie 2 film too

"...they're the only band I've ever been afraid of."

the really rough draft with Kim Bassinger

A sequel of sorts to Purple Rain

Ingrid Chavez as Aura Levi Seacer jr

Sexy Socialites including but not limited to Stella, Grace, Blondie, Karyn White, Margie Cox and Jill Jones.

Elisa Fiorillo (co-lead vocals) and Candy Dulfer (saxophone)Margie Cox

Jana Anderson • mix by Femi Jiya rap by Demetrius Ross Robin Power

-Sheila E. -Cat -Dr Fink -Eric Leeds -Boni Boyer -Atlanta Bliss

the last of the old guard

...new proteges in the shadows?

Music is the Power. Love is the message. Truth is the answer.

Nude Tour Band
Prince
Miko Weaver (g)
Levi Seacer Jr, (b)
Rosie Gaines (key)
Matt Fink (key)
Michael Bland (dr)
The Game Boyz
Kirk Johnson ( dancer, percussion)
Tony Mosley ( dancer, Rapper)
Damon Dickson ( dancer)

ROLLING STONE (1990)

BY NEAL KARLEN

THE PHONE RINGS at 4:48 in the morning.

"Hi, it's Prince," says the wide-awake voice calling from a room several yards down the hallway of this London hotel. "Did I wake you up?"

A COUPLE OF NIGHTS LATER

Originally, Graffiti Bridge was going to be a vehicle for the reborn Time, with Prince staying behind the camera. But Warner Bros. wouldn't go for it, so Prince wrote himself into a new movie. Later, visitors to Paisley Park saw a version of a script that was allegedly obtuse to the point of near gibberish. "That was just a real rough thirty-page treatment I wrote with Kim," Prince says. "Graffiti Bridge is an entirely different movie."

As in Purple Rain, the plot features Prince as a musician named the Kid. Willed half-ownership of a Seven Corners club named Glam Slam, the Kid must share control with Morris Day, once again playing a comic satyr combining Superfly smoothness and Buddy Love sincerity. It's a fight of good versus evil, and band versus band, for the soul of Glam Slam.

.

Then there's the unknown Ingrid Chavez, Prince's first female movie lead who doesn't look like she was ordered out of a catalog. Throw in the talents of Staples, the reborn Time, George Clinton, and the thirteen-year-old Quincy Jones protégé Tevin Campbell, and you've got, Prince says, "a different kind of movie. It's not violent. Nobody gets laid."

.

It's impossible to judge Graffiti Bridge from just a few selected scenes. Still, they were very good scenes. Prince fast-forwards to a sequence in which Day tries to seduce Chavez on the fairy-tale-looking Graffiti Bridge.

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When Prince is amused, which is almost every time Morris Day comes on the screen, he slaps his hands, shakes his head and throws himself back in his seat. "I hope Morris steals this movie," he says, recalling the charge made after Purple Rain. "The man still thinks he can whup me!"

.

Prince pushes rewind, searching for a scene with the Time. Waiting, he reminisces about the old days, when he oversaw the band. For a tutorial on the proper onstage attitude, Prince remembers, he showed the Time videos of Muhammed Ali trouncing, and then taunting, the old champ Sonny Liston. "To this day," he says, "they're the only band I've ever been afraid of."

At first it seems strange for to hear Prince talking in such fond and nostalgic terms about Day and the band. Day left the Minneapolis fold right after Purple Rain, with some nasty words about the boss's supposedly dictatorial ways. Now, Prince says, "I honestly don't remember how we got it together again."

Despite the rap, Prince says, he harbors no ill will toward the now-famous producers working across town from Paisley Park at their Flyte Time studios. "We're friends," he says. "We know each other like brothers. Jimmy always gave me a lot of credit for getting things going in Minneapolis, and I'm hip to that. Terry's more aloof, but I know that." And their music? "Terry and Jimmy aren't into the Minneapolis sound," Prince says. "They're into making every single one of their records a hit. Not that there's anything wrong with that, we're just different."

With this, Prince cues up the Graffiti Bridge movie to the sequence in which the Time performs "Shake!" The scene looks like something Busby Berkeley would have cooked up if he had choreographed funk.

The Time, Prince says, is proof of the good that can come from a group dissolving and eventually coming back together. "They broke up because they'd run out of ideas," he says. "They went off and did their own thing, and now they're terrifying."

I remember I saw G.B. the night it premiered at the local theater. Myself and about three other people were sitting in the rows. One person midway thru got up and walked out....Rewind back to the night that U.T.C.M premiered and the place was PACKED...I really enjoyed seeing The Time back together...even though it was short lived.

My favourite era of Prince! And in my top 3 albums of his. I love the movie too. Tbh I think my obession with this era is slightly problematic, I lit draw him in this era nearly everyday.

Heres a couple of my favourite pictures of him from that era~:

Angelsoncrack said:

What a great pic

http://www.themortonrepor...-part-two/

An Interview with Jimmy Jam of The Original 7ven, Part Two

Jimmy Jam discusses The Time, Prince, and working with Janet and Michael Jackson.

Let’s look back to 1990 and the Graffiti Bridge movie. How did the original seven members of The Time come to be involved with that project?

Let me try to clarify a little bit. There might be a misconception that we got back together to do the Graffiti Bridge movie. That’s absolutely not the case. What happened, Morris [Day] was working on a project with Prince. It was basically going to be more of a solo project. Prince was going to do the bulk of the writing and playing. I think it was going to be calledCorporate World, but there were a few different names floating around at that point. Around that same time period, we had also been working with Morris on different projects and things. We thought, let’s get The Time back together and just make a record. So we got back together and started making an album. This was with Prince’s blessing, by the way. And we had our own idea for a film.

What kind of film did you guys have in mind?

It was basically based on our own true story, rather than a fictional story. Purple Rain was a fictional story based in some truth, the whole backdrop of Minneapolis and the competition of the bands. The way that worked was very true and very well done in that movie. But we really wanted to make a film about our exploits on the road and some of the things that went on, because we had a great time on the road.

How far did you guys get with this project?

We actually brought in someone to write a screenplay. We sat and talked with a couple of screenwriters, telling them the stories we thought were funny, letting them weave a storyline around it. We were in talks with Warner Bros. to do it. The next thing you know, literally out of the blue, Prince called us for a meeting at Paisley Park. And I remember we walked in thinking it was going to be about the movie — the movie we thought we were going to do. All of sudden it turned into Graffiti Bridge, and we were like,“What’s Graffiti Bridge?” Prince was like, “This is my movie.” And it was, you know, this girl and a feather. [laughs] It was like, “No, no, no — we’ve got our own ideas for a movie.”

The Time still made a very successful album though, which includes some songs that were in the movie.

That’s the reason that, when everything was done, Pandemoniumcame out, which was basically our album. Then the Graffiti Bridge soundtrack came out, which had four of our songs on it. Just one soundtrack album probably would’ve made more sense. But it was because we were already doing our other things. We were like, “Okay, we’ll do your movie, Prince, but we’re still going to do our own album.” We were already on the path to do that.

How did the same basic track from “My Summertime Thang” onPandemonium end up being reused for “The Latest Fashion,” which was part ofGraffiti Bridge?

The origin of “My Summertime Thang” came about around Ice Cream Castle [1984], right around when me and Terry got fired from The Time. We always loved the song, so that was one of the ones we asked Prince for. We said, “Hey Prince, ‘My Summertime Thang,’ can we have that? That was our song from back in the day.” And he said, “Yeah, you can have it. But you know what, I changed the words. It’s called ‘The Latest Fashion’ now.” And we’re like,“No, no, no, no.” So that was sort of a compromise. He wanted it as “The Latest Fashion” because it worked in the movie for the scene. But we wanted it as “My Summertime Thang” because that’s what it was back when we had it. There was a lot of that kind of thing going on, which is why I make the distinction that we didn’t get back together specifically for Graffiti Bridge. We were already on our own path, doing our own thing. We kind of reached a compromise to do it.

What did you think of the finished movie?

I thought the music in Graffiti Bridge was great. I didn’t particularly like the movie. [laughs] But I thought the musical scenes were a lot of fun. We were sort of an afterthought anyway. Literally when we would shoot scenes, they would put makeup on us in the morning, and then we’d have to sit around all day in our suits. Then at the end of the day, after everything else was done, they’d go, “Oh, we have to shoot these other scenes.” There was no continuity, everybody looked different. There’s one scene, I swear to God, I have dark glasses on in one shot and regular glasses on in the next shot. There was absolutely no continuity in the movie whatsoever.

Do you think Prince was in over his head, wearing too many hats as writer, director, and star?

Well, I think the downfall of the movie was that it didn’t have a real director. I think that Prince was so accustomed to making music on his own, because he could be the engineer, the producer, the writer, the keyboard player, the guitar player. He could do it all himself without ever really having to communicate to anybody. And he’s a genius at doing that. Movie making is a whole different medium.

What was Prince’s directorial style like during production?

I remember the first day on the set, Prince walked out and said, “Okay, we’re going to shoot this scene.” And about five people standing around him start asking questions. The camera guy asked, “How do you want this shot framed?” And Prince goes, “What?”

He didn’t want to hear any of that stuff. It was more like,“Just shoot it.” He had in his head what it was supposed to be. But to make a movie, you have to communicate what’s in your head to other people. And that was not Prince’s strong suit. I think the movie suffered because of that. It didn’t allow everybody to do their best work. That’s why I say, to me, the best thing about the movie is the music.

The Time wasn’t involved in Under the Cherry Moon (1986), but of course Jerome Benton co-starred with Prince. That film, with Prince directing, was so much more technically accomplished.

That movie had a great look and was very creative. But that was shot on location in France and was a different kind of thing. Graffiti Bridge was all on a sound stage with sets and had a very claustrophobic feel. You weren’t filming at First Avenue, like in Purple Rain, which was already a real club with the vibe of a real club. You were shooting on a sound stage in a kind of fictitious set-up.

Graffiti Bridge almost has a fantasy look to it, like a slightly surreal fantasy.

You know, it’s interesting because now, with Glee and people being more used to seeing characters breaking into song, I think something likeGraffiti Bridge could work really well. I’d love to see Prince do that now. I know he could make a great musical and I think it would work better now because people are seeing it more often on television. Who knows, he probably is going to do something like that. The way he writes his songs I think lends itself to that type of treatment.

Blondie (6:29)
recorded October-December 1989 by THE TIME at Paisley Park [6] • performed by [Morris Day] (lead vocals), [Jesse Johnson] (guitar), [Terry Lewis] (bass), [Jellybean Johnson] (drums), [Jerome Benton] (percussion) and [Jimmy Jam] & [Monte Moir] (both keyboards)
written by [Jesse Johnson] with [Jimmy Jam] & [Terry Lewis] • registered to [Jesse Johnson], [Jimmy Jam] & [Terry Lewis]
finally released 1990 on the promo CD-Album [Pandemonium] • 1990 on the Album [Pandemonium]

Body of a superstar, the mind of a ten year old
She wants to take you for a ride, the stella has hair of gold
The lights are on upstairs, but is anybody home?
She's not lookin' for a man, the girly wants to be alone

She's the queen of glamorous, everything is right
All the fellas have a fit, anytime she walks by
This woman would be dangerous, if she had a mind
When Blondie tells you what you want to hear, don't waste your time

And her name is Blondie, sexy socialite
Diggin' out on the town any given night
And her name is Blondie, the queen of glamorous
And the game is money, the girl is dangerous

Blondie was a victim to everything she liked
She likes money, fine clothes and fancy cars
But her name she could not write
Blondie is a certain type, she's not yellow, black or white
But you can find her out diggin' in the finer spots on any given night

Her fatal beauty's blinding and her intentions not kind
She tried to take a part of me, but I caught on in time
She lives a life of make believe, takes what she wants and leaves
Blondes, they do have more fun, but how dumb is she?

And her name is Blondie, sexy socialite
Diggin' out on the town any given night
And her name is Blondie, the queen of glamorous
And the game is money, the girl is dangerous

Blondie, my glamorous superstar
You took it much too far and now you're look like, 'What happened?'
Blondie, a dangerous socialite
She hangs out every night and the neighborhood game
Is to dog you blind

Yeah, Blondie
Blondie is a dumb blonde
Hey, Blondie, ooh ooh

(Oh ooh ooh ooh, oh ooh ooh)
Yeah!
(Oh ooh ooh ooh, oh ooh ooh)
Everything is right
(Oh ooh ooh ooh, oh ooh ooh)
She's the queen of glamorous
(Oh ooh ooh ooh, oh ooh ooh)
Whoo

She's the queen of glamorous, everything is right
All the fellas have a fit, anytime she walks by
This woman would be dangerous, if she had a mind
When Blondie tells you what you want to hear
If you're smart, you won't waste your time

And her name is Blondie, sexy socialite
Diggin' out on the town any given night
And her name is Blondie, the queen of glamorous
And the game is money, the girl is dangerous

All the sexy socialites, sing, yeah
Fellas, the girl is dangerous, yes
Fellas, the girl is dangerous, that's right

Is it true that blondes have more fun?
Oh Lawd, the girl is dangerous
I think I need some horns
That's right, the girl is dangerous

Come on, Blondie
Wait a minute, where are we going Morris?
I don't understand
Some things just ain't meant to be understood
Like what?
I'm one of the eight wonders of the world
I thought there were only seven

Ain't nobody bad, but me
Ooh
Blondie?
That's not my name
That's right
You ain't got to go home, but you got to get the hell outta here

Wait, wait a minute
Uh, but you got to go
No
Uh, but you got to go
Ooh?
You got to go
No
I said, "You got to go"
But can't we talk?

The girl is dangerous
The girl is dangerous
Oh ooh ooh ooh

Playin' rock 'n' roll
Playin' rock 'n' roll
Morris is playin' rock 'n' roll
Playin' rock 'n' roll

New York Times
August 19, 1990

Recordings
Sonic And Sexual Updates From Prince

Prince delegates most of the come-ons to the Time, the seven-man Minneapolis band that he sponsored in the early 1980's and that recently reunited. The Time revs up its funk vamps on the conceited rap ''Release It,'' on the ''Wooly Bully'' tribute ''Shake!'' and on the computer-driven ''Love Machine'' (with Elisa Fiorillo answering the Time's Morris Day innuendo for innuendo). Prince and the Time share ''The Latest Fashion,'' about betrayal; over the Time's James Brown funk, Prince adds saxophones and vocals in a different key from the rest of the song, destabilizing it.

While the Time provides the sound of a working band for the album, Prince's solo efforts move into sonic abstraction. Parts of ''Graffiti Bridge'' recall earlier Prince songs, but he has once again revamped his arranging style. At first, hip-hop caught Prince off guard; now he has added rap's split-second electronic collages to his arsenal of techniques. The arrangements are more volatile and detailed, full of electronic zaps.

-- Jon Pareles

Chocolate" is a song from The Time's 1990 album Pandemonium. The song was originally recorded in mid-April, 1983 by Prince at Sunset Sound studios during sessions for Ice Cream Castle. Prince originally performed all instruments and vocals (instruments & backing vocals by Wendy & Lisa) and this recording remains unreleased, but circulates among collectors. The song was reworked in late 1989 for inclusion on Pandemonium and contains input by the band. Part of Prince's original vocals were edited and included to be a humorous account between Morris Day and a feisty waiter.

Chocolate #1 (lead vocals by [Prince]) (5:48) [lyrics]
originally recorded 14th-22th April 1983 by [Prince] at Sunset Sound [7] during the [Ice Cream Castle] Album sessions

Initial tracking took place on 17 April, 1983 at Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA, USA (the day after If The Kid Can't Make You Come, the day before Prince fired Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis from The Time, and two days before recording Velvet Kitty Cat). The track features Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman, but they are not credited on the released version, despite their contributions remaining intact.

It is uncertain when Morris Day's vocal overdubs were recorded, but these may have been recorded on the same day. Prince's original call-outs to Wendy Melvoin in the lyrics were changed to Morris Day calling out Jesse Johnson, although the guitar part is still Wendy Melvoin's solo; Jesse Johnson was heavily involved in choosing this track for Pandemonium, however, so it is surprising he did not re-record the guitar solo in 1989.

Chocolate - Melvoin, Melvoin, you gonna have two step on the gas

Chocolate - Melvoin, play your guitar. I'm gonna go tap on the cowbell

DF: Of the very, very few good things critics said about Prince’s last movie, Graffiti Bridge, the most common was that you and Jerome stole the movie. Why haven’t you acted more?

Morris Day: There was a time when I thought that might be attractive, and I was hanging out in Hollywood and doing that whole thing. I quickly found out that sort of thing doesn’t work well with my aura. Some people liked what I did in Purple Rain and Graffiti Bridge, and those are the people who call with acting offers, but to actively be on the block in Hollywood and go to readings is not my thing. I’m a musician and I can earn my keep very well. That’s not to say that if someone comes along and offers me $20 million to do a movie…

DF: Do you still talk to Prince?

Morris Day: Not as much as I used to. We pretty much grew up together from the time we were 13. We were always hanging out. But times have changed, and I’m here in Atlanta and he’s in Minneapolis. We talk every once in a while.

http://davidfarley.tumblr...time-is-it

Angelsoncrack said:

My favourite era of Prince! And in my top 3 albums of his. I love the movie too. Tbh I think my obession with this era is slightly problematic, I lit draw him in this era nearly everyday.

Heres a couple of my favourite pictures of him from that era~:

Corporate world (4:09)
recorded June-September 1989 by [Prince] with [Morris Day] at Paisley Park [6] during the [Corporate World] Album sessions • performed by [Prince] (all instruments & vocals) with [Morris Day] (lead vocals) and [Jerome Benton] & Jana Anderson (both background vocals)
written by [Prince] with [Morris Day]
previously unreleased (but circulating on bootlegs)

Listen world, I'm sick of not knowing the future.
I wanna know if there is gonna be a world left, In which my children can play.

We can do this, let's go. - Let's go!
Corporate world. Corporate world.
Let's do it. - Let's go!

World number three makin' mega money.
Sellin' dope to babies, now it ain't so funny.
James used to say we got to buy some land.
We got to get together, we got to have a plan.

(chorus)
Corporate world for all my sis' and my bro'.
A new soul nation, it is possible.
Corporate world for all my sis' and my bro'.
Let's build a foundation, let's do it. - Let's go!

Callin' on my brother, the one that's doin' good.
Let's put our bread together and buy a neighborhood.
We'll build a better school that teaches us how to make it.
And when the enemy offers dope, we don't take it.

(repeat chorus)

Corporate world.
Let's do it. - Let's go!

We're gettin' the grooves in order, 'cause everybody wants to dance.
If you wanna hear our music, then give an equal chance.
Everything has the radiant from now on, we got to get paid.
Don't you ever try to cross me, nobody knows what's in my briefcase.

Sing the chorus y'all.
Corporate world for all my sis' and my bro'.
A new soul nation, it is possible. - Think it ain't?

Oh yeah, Corporate world.
Let's do it - Yes!

Maybe, just maybe I'm sick of not knowin' the future.
If there's gonna be a world for my children to play?
If you wanna build a highway in my neighborhood.
Then guess what? - What?
I got to have some say. Think I don't?

Corporate world - A new soul nation.
Corporate world - It is possible, let's go.

OK boys, we got 17 days left.
12 of which are just played in stadiums outdoors.
How would you like to ride? Limousine or Cadillac?
Morris, the King of Arabia couldn't make it to our show Saturday.
But his daughter still wants to come.
Shall we set it up?

For you man, messin' right, we hittin'.
And while I gotcha, plans for the new club at the ...
With operations by my summertime thang.

I hope this all lives up to your satisfaction.
'cause it certainly does to mine.

Corporate world

On a purely shallow level I feel that this was his sexiest era ever. The long straight hair, glammed beard that showed off his jawline, the motorcycle/lace clothes. If I show non-Prince fans pics of him, I try to use Graffiti Bridge era pics because they always get a positive reaction (even with the occasional "he's so girly" comments... better than showing him a Lovesexy era pic )

But I also really like the album.. it took me a while to get into it and after watching the movie () I was totally turned off from the entire Graffiti Bridge project and it became pretty much the only 1978-1992 album I didn't dig. Because for real, that movie is so goddamn awful.. I thought it would be one of those cult films I'd be one of the few who'd like, but the org was NOT wrong on this one.. For most of the movie, I was either fidgeting at the sheer corniness and nonsensical "plot" or really bored/not paying a lot of attention and secretly wondering when it would end. By the end of the movie, I hated Ingrid Chavez with a passion. But since then I really do dig the album and nearly all the Prince tracks are great (except Tick Tick Bang.. he ruined it).. I wish we had his version of "Blondie"

Overall I dug the nightclub vibe of this album/era

Somebody posted some pictures from Paisley Park a while ago showing a wall decorated with grafitti that seemed to be related to the GB project (song titles, names of characters) Do you have those?

paulludvig said:

Somebody posted some pictures from Paisley Park a while ago showing a wall decorated with grafitti that seemed to be related to the GB project (song titles, names of characters) Do you have those?

I'm interested to see this! I hope someone has a picture. I have seen a poster of him during that era on the wall on some videos though, like a wall document of years with corresponding pictures of him in that year.

an actual wall or bridge in Minneapolis or the wall in the movie?

I think Prince had some idea of a movie with the GB direction for a while.

"I'm going to make a film about it -- not the next one, but the one after that. I've wanted to make it for three years now..." Prince 1985

Part of "Grafitti Bridge". Taken in the GLAM SLAM Nightclun, Minneapolis in 1991

Jill Jones' role in the Graffiti Bridge movie was originally much larger than what she ended up playing. Kim Basinger was intended as the original lead in the movie, but when she and Prince parted company shortly before filming began, Prince simply combined Kim's and Jill's parts together and gave them to Ingred Chavez. Jill was then given a much smaller role as Prince's girlfriend.

While flying to Minneapolis to film the movie, Jill read the revamped script and began to tear it up and started to throw pages all around the cabin. Jill retired to the bathroom while her PA had to walk around the plane asking fellow passengers for pages of the script back.

Jill later said that if she had not been on the plane already she would have turned right round and returned home.

Jill did turn up in Minneapolis but she refused to talk to Prince on the set of Graffiti Bridge. In fact she refused to communicate with anyone except in French. Prince got upset and told Jill "If you don't smile and act better round here, then this is your replacement," and then showed Jill a photograph. Jill replied "Oh, an old girlfriend?" She stayed to complete the film but her relationship with Prince was never the same.

Seriously though, his beard looks painted on. Such a ridiculous look.