The only book I'd be interested in at this point would be one that focused soley on the last 16 years- F the 80s purple rain blah blah, F the 90s name change & label war we've heard it all before.

LuxLove said:

The only book I'd be interested in at this point would be one that focused soley on the last 16 years- F the 80s purple rain blah blah, F the 90s name change & label war we've heard it all before.

I don't think any of us have heard it all before because a lot of people who never spoke publicly about this era are speaking now.

Trust me on this one. You haven't heard it all and there are some incredible stories about his creativity and the relationships he had with those closest to him that are well worth reading about.

bluegangsta said:

Bighead said:

bluegangsta said:

Have Prince's ashes even cooled down yet?

They're in Minnesota. Of course they have.

Bighead said:

bluegangsta said:

Have Prince's ashes even cooled down yet?

They're in Minnesota. Of course they have.

madhouseman said:

LuxLove said:

The only book I'd be interested in at this point would be one that focused soley on the last 16 years- F the 80s purple rain blah blah, F the 90s name change & label war we've heard it all before.

I don't think any of us have heard it all before because a lot of people who never spoke publicly about this era are speaking now.

Trust me on this one. You haven't heard it all and there are some incredible stories about his creativity and the relationships he had with those closest to him that are well worth reading about.

I personally have no interest in hearing anymore about those eras, particularly the 80s (there are too many people around who only focus on that period) so whatever else there is to know from back then I wouldn't pay money to hear it.

Maybe a limited print version can be done?

laurarichardson said:

2freaky4church1 said:

Let's be nice. Alex knows his shit.

-/-- No he does not. His book was negative and now we know about all the good stuff his did.

.

Oh please. A couple of charitable donations don't wipe out his holier-than-thou act or his nonsensical chemtrails talks or him ripping off fans.

BartVanHemelen said:

BartVanHemelen said:

williamb610 said:

I just did a 180 and bought a Prince book on a whim. I had Per Nielson's book on Prince, previously, but it's lost at my parent's house. I'll probably get it again because it had so much info on Prince tracks, heard and unheard.

I got Matt Thorne's book on Prince(the Man and his Music) after getting excited about reading about some of the unheard tracks that he mentions; the previously unheard tracks are the things the get me riled up.

We'll see, if this new book, can hold a candle to either of them.

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Matt Thorne's is mediocre at best.

in your opinion... Matt is a huge fan & produced someting that was easily accessible for the mainstream...like the many other artists who have had books written about them. They always vary from snapshot career profiles through to in depth analysis.

BartVanHemelen said:

laurarichardson said:

2freaky4church1 said: -/-- No he does not. His book was negative and now we know about all the good stuff his did.

.

Oh please. A couple of charitable donations don't wipe out his holier-than-thou act or his nonsensical chemtrails talks or him ripping off fans.

a couple of charitable acts?...oh come on that's low even for you. We are talking about funding his staff through personal crisis, donations up to millions, personal phone calls of encouragement, he was a good man..FACT! Let's not forget the fact that he worked his ass off trhoughout years of chronic pain...you going to slay him for that too? BVH why do you make such comments & damage your credibility?

BartVanHemelen said:

AlexHahn said:

The kickstarter option definitely interests me. As far as Matt Thorne and Ronin Ro go, they seem reasonably well researched, but don't have enough narrative flow for my liking.

[Edited 7/20/16 17:30pm]

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Ronin's was hor-ri-ble. Dude just didn't seem to have any interest in the subject. He claimed Prince was working on TBA in December 1987 -- and no, that wasn't a typo.

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WRT the Kickstarter: don't get your hopes up. The Prince community is cheap as fuck, and despite so many of them bitching about the price of Prince bios, very few of them actually buy and read any of them. Hell, even pointing them to PrinceVault seems to be insulting for a lot of them. I mean, there recently was a thread in which someone complained about Per Nilsen being too negative. Per Nilsen!

Hey MODS..can I ask how this is not classed as worthy of snip..surely it's bait?

AlexHahn said:

BartVanHemelen said:

.

Ronin's was hor-ri-ble. Dude just didn't seem to have any interest in the subject. He claimed Prince was working on TBA in December 1987 -- and no, that wasn't a typo.

.

WRT the Kickstarter: don't get your hopes up. The Prince community is cheap as fuck, and despite so many of them bitching about the price of Prince bios, very few of them actually buy and read any of them. Hell, even pointing them to PrinceVault seems to be insulting for a lot of them. I mean, there recently was a thread in which someone complained about Per Nilsen being too negative. Per Nilsen!

I agree, I felt that both both Thorne and Ro seemed pretty uninterested in the subject. What I would ilke to bring is the passion of a fan, a measure of journalistic focus, and an approach to writing that will make this a story, rather than just a collection of facts.

Alex I bought your book when it was released. I am of a similar age & have a very balanced view on Prince as a human..like all of us he had good points & bad points. Your book had some incredible detail but I found the overall tone to be hugely negative & firmly in tabloid territory.i.e. looking at a negative angle with the concluding message that he was a washed up has been...the book saddened me greatly. The irony of course is that he came back on a huge scale which kind of shot the credibility of your book down...the fatal mistake being that you should never doubt anyone with that much ability, energy & charisma.

Many, including myself are viewing this pending book as opportunistic given the speed of the projected turnaround. Therefore this time around I truly hope you will focus on the incredible good he has done on a human level & at least show some empathy with battle to keep working against a back drop of pain & in latter years addiction. He gave so much to so many...yes he made mistakes BUT who doesn't?! The endless love & tributes from artists young & old even months down the line speaks volumes & that is one hell of a legacy...hell monuments around the world were lit up in his honour...his imapct was huge & has left a huge void. From the heart I wish you & the book good luck...I will of course be buying it & truly hope that this time around there is a fair balance & reflection on what he achieved. Sorry for waffling on!

PURPLEIZED3121 said:

BartVanHemelen said:

.

Ronin's was hor-ri-ble. Dude just didn't seem to have any interest in the subject. He claimed Prince was working on TBA in December 1987 -- and no, that wasn't a typo.

.

WRT the Kickstarter: don't get your hopes up. The Prince community is cheap as fuck, and despite so many of them bitching about the price of Prince bios, very few of them actually buy and read any of them. Hell, even pointing them to PrinceVault seems to be insulting for a lot of them. I mean, there recently was a thread in which someone complained about Per Nilsen being too negative. Per Nilsen!

Hey MODS..can I ask how this is not classed as worthy of snip..surely it's bait?

This is not bait, this is just Bart. Close, but one letter off...

Seriously though, Bart is not wrong on this. Look back at any of the threads about Prince books and you'll find limited interest here on the org. And it's also true many here would rather ask a question in a thread and wait for an answer than to click on PrinceVault and get the answer themselves faster than they could post the question. Many even consider it rude to point them to PrinceVault instead of answering their questions.

As far as the comment about a thread calling Per Nilsen negative, I missed that one. If true, that would be the thread that was bait. No?

AlexHahn said:

I agree, I felt that both both Thorne and Ro seemed pretty uninterested in the subject. What I would ilke to bring is the passion of a fan, a measure of journalistic focus, and an approach to writing that will make this a story, rather than just a collection of facts.

Gotta disagree about Thorne. Uninterested? That guy's is obviously a fan and if anything it's his fandom and interest in the subject that hurt the book, not a lack therof. In my not-so-humble opinion, of course...

djThunderfunk said:

PURPLEIZED3121 said:

months down the line speaks volumes & that is one hell of a legacy...hell monuments around the world were lit up in his honour...his imapct was huge & has left a huge void. From the heart I wish you & the book good luck...I will of course be buying it & truly hope that this time around there is a fair balance & reflection on what he achieved. Sorry for waffling on!

Thanks very much for taking the time to write. I'm sorry that the book saddened you, and I'm conscious that it has received a range of responses. And I greatly appreciate that even though you were troubled by the book in some measure you are willing to have a friendly exchange.

To address a couple of questions that have been raised, firstly, I am finding it fascinating to research the very early years of Prince's life. There is a lot of complicated history and prehistory. There are a lot of clues there for what happened later. I'm researching the entire history of the family. It's incredibly challenging research and writing, but very interesting. I'm very surprised at how fruitful it's been to revisit the very early years.

I view this book has some combination of history and narrative storytelling. Not to say that it will be perfect, but it will be different than the first one to be sure.

Thank you again for the comments and to the moderators of this awesome site for allowing us a forum to discuss the book.

Do Not feel the need to rush your writing efforts or exchages with your collaborators. This is a very challenging undertaking and will take time to continue to flush out and vet for the best quality outcome. Sorry for your family losses; cheers on allowing those to motivate your evolving works.

AlexHahn said:

PURPLEIZED3121 said:

months down the line speaks volumes & that is one hell of a legacy...hell monuments around the world were lit up in his honour...his imapct was huge & has left a huge void. From the heart I wish you & the book good luck...I will of course be buying it & truly hope that this time around there is a fair balance & reflection on what he achieved. Sorry for waffling on!

Thanks very much for taking the time to write. I'm sorry that the book saddened you, and I'm conscious that it has received a range of responses. And I greatly appreciate that even though you were troubled by the book in some measure you are willing to have a friendly exchange.

To address a couple of questions that have been raised, firstly, I am finding it fascinating to research the very early years of Prince's life. There is a lot of complicated history and prehistory. There are a lot of clues there for what happened later. I'm researching the entire history of the family. It's incredibly challenging research and writing, but very interesting. I'm very surprised at how fruitful it's been to revisit the very early years.

I view this book has some combination of history and narrative storytelling. Not to say that it will be perfect, but it will be different than the first one to be sure.

Thank you again for the comments and to the moderators of this awesome site for allowing us a forum to discuss the book.

Thanks for the encouragement, excellent point. it is indeed challenging. My brain is almost frying in toggling back and forth between working on this book and legal work.

I have started a Facebook group where I will be posting regular updates updates about the book is going, including ongoing research, for those that would like to join.

Have a good weekend, everybody.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/309126952765104/

StopIt said:

Do Not feel the need to rush your writing efforts or exchages with your collaborators. This is a very challenging undertaking and will take time to continue to flush out and vet for the best quality outcome. Sorry for your family losses; cheers on allowing those to motivate your evolving works.

=

AlexHahn said:

PURPLEIZED3121 said:

months down the line speaks volumes & that is one hell of a legacy...hell monuments around the world were lit up in his honour...his imapct was huge & has left a huge void. From the heart I wish you & the book good luck...I will of course be buying it & truly hope that this time around there is a fair balance & reflection on what he achieved. Sorry for waffling on!

Thanks very much for taking the time to write. I'm sorry that the book saddened you, and I'm conscious that it has received a range of responses. And I greatly appreciate that even though you were troubled by the book in some measure you are willing to have a friendly exchange.

To address a couple of questions that have been raised, firstly, I am finding it fascinating to research the very early years of Prince's life. There is a lot of complicated history and prehistory. There are a lot of clues there for what happened later. I'm researching the entire history of the family. It's incredibly challenging research and writing, but very interesting. I'm very surprised at how fruitful it's been to revisit the very early years.

I view this book has some combination of history and narrative storytelling. Not to say that it will be perfect, but it will be different than the first one to be sure.

Thank you again for the comments and to the moderators of this awesome site for allowing us a forum to discuss the book.

appreciate the reply. I think his relationship with his father was critical [Dad seemed to resent his success? & perhaps wnated to share the credit?] Must admit I thought the book was going to carry on from the last one left off?..i'm now intrigued as it sounds like a rewite of the original + bringing right up to date?..if i am correct that would seem like too big a project to complete in such a short time? Good luck with it.

i would like a proper look/dissection of his latter day work, 2000-2016. it wouldn't be as interesting but nevertheless. there are at least 8 albums of material worth mentioning. we are fundementally diffrent people in the first half of our lives compared to the second half, so we should keep our expectations realistic. none of his collaborators were that interesting and none of them had the kind of impact on his work that the earlier associates did. but i bet there is a small treasure of information there to be mined. at any rate, if i have to read about L&W, 'mountains' and 'the dream factory' again i'm gonna fight someone !!!

=====

i'd love to hear about the various incarnations of his touring band and more of the specifics about his "special event" shows and residencies. i got the feeling that ida felt the same way about andy that wendy felt about the expanded revolution and micheal b felt about mayte(what does she do?) prince seemed compelled to repeat issues/dynamics(for better or worse) and it would make some sense if it turned out to be true. i would love to hear his band memebers take on him. he appeared to have learned his lesson with the revolution mess(business not personal) and didn't want to repeat it until andy showed up and sorta blurred the lines a bit.

====

and what about the other 3rdeye girls?

====

i'd like to know the real deal with PP,the management, master tapes etc. as well as any future plans he had apart from the autobiography.

====

and if anything new comes to light on the personal side of it so much the better.

wavesofbliss said:

i would like a proper look/dissection of his latter day work, 2000-2016. it wouldn't be as interesting but nevertheless. there are at least 8 albums of material worth mentioning.

.

And yet Prince wasn't interested in promoting them, playing the songs in concert or even keeping the albums in print.

.

at any rate, if i have to read about L&W, 'mountains' and 'the dream factory' again i'm gonna fight someone !!!

.

And yet I bet we still don't know the whole picture about that period, e.g. that there were plans for a musical and that some of it was reused as the segues in later tours. In the end it's that 1980s period that is the most interesting.

djThunderfunk said:

As far as the comment about a thread calling Per Nilsen negative, I missed that one. If true, that would be the thread that was bait. No?

.

http://prince.org/msg/7/428860

.

Why are so many books on Prince so negative?

.
I'm yet to find a book on Prince that feels like it was written by someone who appreciates his work. Matt Thorne, Ronin Ro and Per Nielsen's books all are constantly critical of him to the point where I found myself wondering, why would you even bother writing a book about someone you have this much hostility towards? Ronin Ro's one is particularly bad. Parade through Lovesexy is portrayed as one disappointing flop after another. Really???

.

I mean... seriously. Hell, if it wasn't for Nilsen's work, what would all those other biographers have copied?

The irony of Bart complaining about negativity...

BartVanHemelen said:

I want to hear about ALL of it - as much detail on as much as possible, please! The music, the other ventures / projects, the personal life, the business dealings - I'm a voracious reader, and P is a fascinating subject!

.

My main concern is, if the above is to be the case, as it really must - how on Earth will you fit it into one volume???

.

Have you considered doing a multi-volume set, with each volume focusing on, say, a decade of his life? Yes, it would be an enormous undertaking - but it could be your opus, something never to be replicated by others...

BartVanHemelen said:

.

Why are so many books on Prince so negative?

.
I'm yet to find a book on Prince that feels like it was written by someone who appreciates his work. Matt Thorne, Ronin Ro and Per Nielsen's books all are constantly critical of him to the point where I found myself wondering, why would you even bother writing a book about someone you have this much hostility towards?

.

I mean... seriously. Hell, if it wasn't for Nilsen's work, what would all those other biographers have copied?

Yeah, anybody that has a problem with Per Nielsen should just stop reading about Prince.

jjam said:

The irony of Bart complaining about negativity...

Except he's not. He's pointing out another thread where another poster was complaining about the negativity in books about Prince and commenting on the fact that said poster thinks Per Nielsen is too negative.

LuxLove said:

The only book I'd be interested in at this point would be one that focused soley on the last 16 years- F the 80s purple rain blah blah, F the 90s name change & label war we've heard it all before.

Agreed. I´d like more focus from 2000 on... he always said in interviews that he didn´t looked back, so why keep him stuck in Purple Rain and label war again?

I also hope that this will be a quality book as Jason Draper´s life & time, which I finally manage to buy last week and must say I´m absolutely in love with it !!!