Michelle Basart
Famname Vashtidmsr
vashtidmsr@aol.com

Wednesday, May 08, 2002
ONA REVIEW
NPGMC
http://www.NPGMUSICCLUB.COM

GREAT GOSH ALMIGHTY!

Boy did Prince Treat us to the BIG ONE or What?!?! and In Portland, Oregon of all places.....First, I want to let you all know that I am not very good at taking note of set lists. I’d rather clap my hands and stomp my feet, dance, make some noise for our man, and have a FUNKY GOOD TIME when I’m at his show. My memory tends to suck whether it be short or long too. So I’m going to fill y’all in on more of what I just experienced overall at the 2 Shows, 2 Soundchecks, Afterparty and Aftershow, in Seattle (Paramount Theatre) and Portland (Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall) April 29th and 30th, 2002. I am from Troutdale, Oregon near Portland and I am a member of the Washington (NW) Positivity Prince Fam Group and of the NPGMC. I will start off by saying that the most amazing thing about these shows, Particularly the Portland one is that I could feel that the audience of fams around me were truely and deeply feeling the same thing I was; Love, Unity, and Divinity. I mean this more than any other concert with Prince before. I’ve seen the Love4OneAnother show in Birmingham, Alabama in January 1997(Yes, I flew all the way down south and across country to see him. Duh, I did not know he would end up coming up to the NW later that year! But, by then I was desperate to see him live!), The Jam Of the Year shows at the GORGE, Washington and the Rosegarden in Portland, Oregon in September 1997 (woohoo, he gave me back the GETT OFF smile w/tongue peace sign at the Portland Warehouse nite club afterparty! I Will never forget that one!), The 2 New Years ‘1999’ New Master Release Party shows at Studio 54 (MGM Grand) in Las Vegas, Nevada, and of course the Last 2 Celebrations in MPLS! But this Tour I bet is similar 2 what I missed out on the LOVESEXY Tour. I missed out on so much stuck here in Boring Portland, Oregon. This Tour really captures our Prince in his finest light of Great Talent as an EXTRAORDINARY musician. These ONA Shows truely showcased our Prince’s TREASURED music, Soul Spirited Powerful vocals, Inside out Funky to the Soul Guitar playing, melodic keyboards, and the message he has always brought 2 his fams the last almost 25 years of his music career; To Love and Respect oneanother, Our fellow men and women. “Love is God/ God is Love/ Girls and Boys Love God Above!” Prince and his music has always brought us to our light. I’m very thankful to have had his songs, lyrics, and music in my life for so long. It is such a powerful tool inspiring us with strength even when Humanity seems to have lost all hope of loving oneanother; Especially lately. I know very well that we will never see such a more magnificent musician, composer, songwriter, performer, or angel in our lives or in this life. In my opinion, 2 B such a Beautiful One Humanitarian goes hand in hand with love 4 God. He has so much Belief in himself, Strength within his soul, it seems to come out through his music and grab a strong hold around us like it’s his arms of comfort. Prince is just one soulfully powerful instrument of music that reaches us in our hearts where he is treasured each day of our everyday lives. Even if it means we can only get the High from CD’s now and not RADIO! The two shows Prince and the NPG(John Blackwell((Drink that water bottle!)), Candy Dulfer((So Beautiful)), Rhonda Smith, Greg Boyer,Renato NETO! ((COOL NAME!)) crazy dude on keyboards, and the man Maceo Parker!) gave us last Tuesday night in Portland as well as Monday night in Seattle will remain in my heart as the most amazing experience this side of Xanadu in my life thus far. I think he heard me say something like this when it got quiet towards the end of the show in Portland cause’ he looked my way. I wasn’t lying, it was the truth. Only he could top this feeling he left me, but it’s so hard to imagine cause’ I have not been able to think about anything else since then. This show goes straight for your heart and keeps u there in the moment Reeling! I feel Prince really captured the smoothness and finess of Jazz and Funk, and the sense of Spiritual freedom in the program he used. I’ve never felt so much presence of light in one place before. Honestly, he had us all making love to oneanother mentally and emotionally. We should have all been in a recording studio, Cause’ we NPGMC members were sounding so sweet. So in tune, I felt like we were his instruments too and were being played so wonderfully. I’m so glad I did not miss out on this tour for it was truely LIVE MUSIC! I feel sorry for the ones that did miss out on this experience cause’ it is pure magic. It is so hard for our youth now to hear real music for it is not played on the Radio or ?TV(Tell me now, what does the M stand for again... hmmm?). They are missing out on the heart and soul of Rock music that Prince has so wonderfully given to us NPG Member Royalty and that we have had the luxury of hearing all of over 20 years now. I tend to wonder why, with the crossover in 1982/1983 and many years of his inspiration on the music world since then, how the industry ended up so corrupted and controlled. There is no room to breath and grow creativity. I know that I will do everything in my power to help support a WNPG radio station of FREE and REAL music, whether it be old school or new school bringing true musicianship to our youth’s ears instead of the digital pop crap that is suffocating(brainwashing) them now. I’m not saying it is all crap!....Just that it is what it leaves me feeling like....Like Crap! (It all comes out in the wash, in time....)
I left Portland Sunday April 28th around 1:30pm to head up to Olympia, Washington to my friend Jennifer Espada’s house. She is the President of the Positivity Washington Prince Fam Group. We met through Diana Dawkins, Editor of the former Prince Family newsletter back in 1996 and have been doing Prince stuff 2gether ever since; Thanks Diana!. I had got some white stick ‘Just Married’ paint at the craft store and put Prince in Purple Rain Style lettering on the back window of my car with the o(+> and NPG logo on each of the back side windows so that other fams could see us coming. That was much fun! It was a beautiful sunny spring day and a wonderful drive. It was perfect. I have to tell you though that my mind was still on Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes o f TLC. It was a real blow and my heart fell when I heard of her passing on Friday 04/26/02 two days prior. It seems that a lot of talent has been taken lately, 2 young and 2 soon. I love TLC’s music and love all three of the girl’s talents. They brought so much fun, joy, and laughter with their music to the music world. I hope they have the strength to go on and continue their journey 2gether, T-Boz & Chilli. It just doesn’t seem fair after all the group had been through with Bankruptcy and the record companies screwing them over so many times. I wish I could kick their asses! But they probably have none from sitting on them all day while the artists create the music. I loved TLC’s covers of “If I was your Girlfriend” on CrazySexyCool and “ Get it Up” from the Poetic Justic soundtrack. I felt that they really captured Prince’s influence. I adored Lisa’s impulsive spirit, Bravado, humor, & Spunk. I will miss Lisa very much and her contribution to the group and the music world. I felt that she had a lot to say and really inspired a lot of people in her life even in the short time she had with us. I’m so glad now that I saw them on their last “Fan Mail” Tour here at the Rosegarden in Portland in 1999. I was in the 3rd row and I will never forget it.
Jennifer, My “Madonna” Friend Mariam(I bought Mariam a ticket to the Prince ONA Seattle and Portland shows for(($250)) 2 make up for the one floor seat she bought me in Oakland ((September 5th, just a few days before 911)) for the same price(($250)) at the Drowned World Madonna Tour last year. 2 4 the price of 1 u might say! ), and I got to the Paramount Downtown Seattle around 2pm. We met some nice fams up in Seattle and their are by the way, 3 times more NPGMC members than in Portland as far as I could see by the line. A nice Blond girl named Kim or Lori? was the first one to arrive at the Paramount Box Office in Seattle at 6am. She had been traveling around seeing the tour in numerous places. (Lucky Roadie) I think she said she had seen 9 of the shows already. She beat us back down to Portland too at the Schnitzer at 11am. We got back down there in Portland at 12:15 noon with only 3 hours of sleep. So I was happy that she at least got to go up on stage with Prince with the Guitar solo at the Portland Show during the name switch segment(Better to GIVE than receive) with the song ‘‘Family Name’. I think?. In Seattle, Kim or Lori? (I’m so bad with remembering names) had taken the initiative to take down names and start a list to organize who got their first and to get in lineup in order before 5pm so that everything was organized at the venu. She was a big help with that in Portland too and I would like to give props to her now!! Thanks! and by way, how did u come to afford to travel all around and see all these $125 ticket ONA Prince shows? HELLO? I need to win the LOTTO so I can even go to the Celebration this year! I’m gonna be missing out! Sheila E and everything! In Seattle, I was the one in the black fedora hat and that went first on the KUBE Radio station Karioke of “Raspberry Beret”. I’m so glad I got an easy song. Thank god they brought along the WB Hits CD instead of the HITS/BSIDES after all, cause’ it could have been a more rare song and I would have gone BLANK....I started losing my breath halfway through the song(dancing too much) and now have an even greater appreciation for Prince and his craft! I’d Never done Karioke in my life before except last September 6th at the Madonna ICON PreParty at the Ruby Sky Nite Club in SanFrancisco to ‘Into The Groove’ cause’ Mariam and I were dressed all up in our Material Girl/Desperately Seeking Susan Garb. I must have been running on the HIGH of the anticipation of seeing PRINCE live.
It only took a good 5 to 10 minutes for Prince to come out from the left side of the stage after we all were seated quietly inside the Paramount for the Soundcheck at 5pm. Jennifer, Mariam, and I were seated in the 4th row middle towards the right side of the stage. We saw Prince walk out quietly to the Microphone at the center of the stage dressed all in white like a dove. Truely beautiful with these very FUNKY long white tassled boots. OOH and the pants were slim fitting! It was too fine! He looked very much the angel. My favorite outfit of both days. At the microphone he started out by starting to say a joke. “ So a man walks into a bar?”...We all Laughed. It kind of broke the ice and made us all feel more comfortable in his angelic presence. Laughter it seemed to be present throughout the soundcheck Q&A Discussion and throughout the 2 shows in Seattle and Portland. He truely was able to get comfortable with us for it seemed like 20 to 30 minutes. Do U ever feel like sometimes your surroundings are Running in slow motion, a kind of Euphoria. Well that was the case 4 me. A humorous vibe seemed to flow with talks of Barbecues (Prince mentioned something about eating hamburgers again. I could not tell if he was joking or not?) and Drunk Uncles and the Drunk Uncle Dance. It Reminded me of Eddie Murphy and the Aunt Betty skit where shes fallin’ down the steps again.....my shoe! Or of the Bernie Mac show. Too funny! Most of the Discussion revolved around him asking us information about the EMP(Experience Music Project) Building built by Paul Allen. Paul Allen owns the Portland basketball Trail Blazer’s Team. By the way, Paul Allen or Bill Gates are rich enough to buy us a WNPG Radio Station yo! Many of us were yelling out answers to his questions, many of us guessing. The EMP museum was built originally in tribute to Jimi Hendrix and of course we don’t know how much of the EMP’s funds go to the families of the artists whose which memorabelia is inside it. The building has a lot of technology themed events inside to educate youth on the arts, Rock and Roll history, and events to support local music and artists. This Discussion led to questions relating to artists compensation and such. Of course, I took my moment and yelled out TLC and Bankruptcy and he heard me. Prince then asked everyone if they had seen the VH1 Documentory special on TLC? I just wanted to give props to TLC and my condolences of the passing of Lisa ‘ Left Eye’ Lopes. I forgot to wear a black mark under my left eye...Oh well, in the past. It’s funny, I expected Prince to be a little somber, but he seemed in good spirits to me. He is a Survivor, I should know better than to think he would let the elevator bring him down. He mentioned that maybe Bill Gates or Paul Allen should fund something for new artists and musicians jokingly or something related to that. He also asked the audience if anyone played an instrument or were musicians and many did raise their hands. A few did stand up and I met one of these very nice guys named Ron in Portland. The dude with the long hair in Seattle in the Front row I think is where he was sitting. Ron plays the drums and does vocals for a local band here in Portland called LOLIGO. He sat with us in the 2nd row in Portland. That would be a cool idea for the Celebration, by the way. To let Musician fams come up and jam one day and play their instrument. Would be a good way to just let them express their love for the man through music. Share the music... Who Knows, maybe u would end up on a CD with him..oh lord what a thought! Or maybe even just a fun Karioki event. The most special moment of the Soundcheck Discussion came later though. This was when one guy in the back got to stand up and express himself to Prince what all of us were feeling sitting there and listening....“This is Beautiful Man...You helped me through a difficult time in my life”. I can’t remember the rest of what all he said, but you could tell that both he and Prince were truely touched. All of us were touched, just chillin’ and chattin’ with our PRINCE. It was truely special to all of us present.
At the actual Soundcheck performance He started off by playing “Money Don’t Matter 2Nite” practically in its entirety. That song just means so much to me and all of us there were singing it live along with him. We can’t take $ with us, only love. He then went into “Peach” and a funk jam of ‘Billie Jean” by MJJ. Now how did he know to play this one? Does he investigate his fams or have ESP or something? How did he know I was a THRILLER FREAK as well as a PURPLE FREAK back in 1983/1984! Prince commented towards the end that “It is a Funky groove tho aint it?”. Many of us agreed and cheered him on. My Friend Mariam and I high fived each other a lot during this segment for at the end he asked us “So Shall I start singing Like A Virgin now too?”. We were like yeah, go on do your thing! This was kind of surreal 4 us cause’ the Paramont Theatre in Seattle is the first venu Madonna ever did a concert at and on her first “Virgin” Tour back in 1985. What made it even more strange was that during her song “Like A Virgin” on that tour she would go into “Billie Jean” towards the end like a Funk Jam. Kind of spooky dontcha think? It’s was kinda trippy, but a real Treat!! So can he really read our minds or something? ooweoooo.....He then played a long funk jam of Xenophobia which we were all really funkin’into! This whole experience made up totally for the no aftershow later that night at the EMP. I can’t imagine a better time than we all had at the soundcheck just groovin and chillen with our Gracious host. Thank U, Prince...
The concert in Seattle pretty much followed what was done previously on the tour as far as I know. This One Night Alone with Prince show as a whole really captures the essence of his music more than I have seen before. He came out in a very sharp looking classy dark silver grey suit, tye, and hat of which he threw out to someone in the audience later that night. (In Portland we talked to a sweetheart of a guy named Joe at a JOHN HELMER Hat store down the block from the Schnitzer. We chatted and flirted with him for a while. U could tell that he even he was excited that Prince was in town to play with us.) Prince started us off with ‘ The Rainbow Children’. We could do nothing else but ‘RISE’ for the man. The deep voice spoken words inbetween are tremendously AWSOME live! It may have been kinda annoying at first on the CD, but live it totally ROCKS! It’s very cool with the deep powerful voice coming through the music, kind of layered on top. Too Funky! It was very moving. The song performances that stand out for me in rememberance are “Muse 2 the pharoh”, “A Case of U”so special, “Extraordinary” His vocals were so heavenly beautiful,”La La La La La Means I love U” was the ultimate 4 we were al2gether with that one at both shows!,I really dug “Mellow” and totally got lost!, I cant say anything to describe “Avalanche”, U will have to experience that song for yourself. It was beyond this worlds brilliance. All I can do is Recite Dr.Martin Luther King’s very words....Free at Last, Free at Last, Thank God Almighty We R Free At Last! During the performance of “Family Name” in Portland Our friend Dorothy Anthony from Tacoma, Washington was named “Ms. Rosenbloom” by Prince. She was on the right end seat in the front row. U GO GIRL! So happy 4 ya! I’d be glad to give up my name 4 u sweetie! We Got our Funk on for “1+1+1 is 3” and he took us on a ride called “Love Rollercoaster”. The best ride I’ve ever had. I have to say now that the list of songs performed aren’t as important as what they inspired. But I will also say that the songs are in our blood and bring on the feelings of Brother and Sisterhood. They go hand in hand in the importance of what they create among us at his show and after in the real world. The Love and Unity of people in harmony 2gether. He captured us in that moment of La La La La La Means I Love U & AnnaStesia, Especially in Portland. He had us snapping our fingers 2gether and singing so sweetly high pitched. I could not believe how on key we were 2gether. It was pure poetry in motion. A grand union. I guess u just should have been there to know what Imtalking about. I’m so happy 2hearMani was there and videotaping us cause’ I would love to hear us being played by our Prince again! I’m dying for a copy of that directly from him. We finally got to see Prince in his truest form. The musician Genius he is and has been all these years....
For me, The highlights of the Seattle show came with the performance of the song ‘Free’. That song is just so sentimental to me for some reason. I love the music to that one and the ‘1999’ lp was my first introduction to Prince. I love what the song stands for. “Dont cry unlessyour happy, Dont smile unless your blue. Never let that lonely monster take control of u” For some reason I can relate to these lyrics deep down in my soul. These Beautiful lyrics truely touched me along with so many other songs he has written over the years. StarFish and Coffee is another example of a song’s lyrics that immediatly take hold of everyone in the audience and gets them to effectively participate! U cant help but take part in the joy of that song! I think everyone knows how precious “Sometimes it Snows in April” is. There is nothing more emotionally gripping. The Beautiful Ones, Baby...Baby...Baby.....Just Nothing Compares to this show! He ended both shows with AnnaStesia. There are no words for this song, but to just sing it. For those who were at the Portland show too. U know....That we got the tip of the iceberg of this tour! We got the blowout, slap happy, Funkdelicious of shows! Complete Euphoria! I just still cantbelieve how sweet we sounded 2gether. Prince got emotional with us after “How Come U Don’t Call me Anymore”. He shared his emotional side and pretended he just could not take it anymore. But we were there for him and so he kept on. He added a special encore of so much I cant pretend to remember it all. But what he said to us that night was so beautiful even if half the stuff I was raised 2 believe otherwise. But a lot of what he says rings truth. So my heart & mind is always open!...
At the soundcheck in Portland he did not talk as much as play for us. He wore mostly red, white, and black outfits that night and a red hat during the show....He was on the keyboards and we heard ‘Condition of the Heart’. God I love that song. And another beautiful one “The Question of U”. We got to sing along to “Money Dont Matter 2Night” again and”Peach”. He did remind us that we got creamed by the Lakers tho! No big surprise to us Portlanders tho! We used 2 that by now! He did use Scotty Pippen in one of his jokes at one point during the show. Wonder if he was backstage ? hmmmm...I guess it would be ok to be creamed by the Lakers then! That would be what I call a very LUCKY loser!
By the way, Does anyone remember what “Novus Ordo Seclorum” means? I believe its latin. I used to know what the translation was, but now I cant remember. Duh....It’s funny, I made the ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’ Jacket for my friend Mariam and I last year for the shows in Oakland and LA. The Jacket has the Pyramid on the back of the one dollar bill. I’m just curious cause of the video screen image of the back of the one dollar bill that seemed to be focused on during the show. hmmm...another Madonna related theme or reference, inadvertently I’m sure.....
In Portland, The Best part of the day’s experience was meeting up with other Fams and NPGMC members and to come and find that we actually have a fam base here. Where have y’all been?. I Been looking all over for you?! Y’all in the closet or something? It was a joy to meet Star and Zinj who was the tall guy in the red hat like Prince who danced up on stage with Prince not only at the Schnitzer show, but at the Roseland Aftershow too. The nice blond girl from Eastern Oregon that was pulled up on stage by Prince knows how to Shake that ass pretty good. I could not have done better. Props to u girl! Her and her very tall boyfriend stood in front of us in line outside before 5pm. They were a very sweet couple. My friend Jennifer got to talk mostly with Star when we were just hangin’ around out front before the lineup at 5pm. I swear I have seen her before somewhere. Probably at some sort of Prince function. I really dug her plum highlights in her dark hair. It was just so much fun to meet up with all of us Freaks. To the guy in the Purple Rain white Tee-shirt u may contact me and we can trade for that Prince patch if u still want it. I just knew that I dont have many left and I am wary of giving them all away. (vashtidmsr@aol.com) The nice blond girl, kim or lori? helped us to get our stub number ticket for our place in line when we got down to the portland box office at 12:15 and Jennifer got #6 and I got #7 place in line. “All Seven and we will watch them fall! They Stand in the way of love and we will smoke them all” Anyway, We thought that we would therefore end up in the front row. No problem right? WRONG! NOT A CHANCE! LORD, I cant even get in the front row in my hometown as an NPGMC member! AAGGHHHHH!!!! Ok, Where is Securety when u need them. When they let us in at the Schnitzer at around 5pm. 2 Skanky hoes that were at the end of the line and around the corner of the building cut in front of everyone there and somehow ended up in the front row inside. One of these hoes was wearing a blue sequened tank and making loud obnoxious noize during the soundcheck with Prince. It was kind of embarrassing. It’s a good thing that they went to go leave for a drink in the lobby right afterwards cause’ they would have been sho nuf told off by many there. My friend Jennifer mentioned that she was thinking of moving our stuff with there’s and doing a switch. We were sitting right behind them and could have done it. A very sweet guy we met named Aron mentioned that he did not see them wearing a laminent either. So I guess that this system that Prince has still cant keep the Skanky hoes from getting our NPGMC seats. They even got to high 5 Prince on the stage when we should have been the ones sitting in those seats in the front row. Oh well, They will get theirs some day. It’s not worth being SKANKY just to touch his hand. One of the reasons we did not make it to the front row though was cause of the witch at the door that took 5 minutes to check our tiny purse and pad our jackets down. While the door guy at the left next to her let the people run past us. Thank u very much woman! She must be the queen of the skanks or something?.....Well, It figures. No matter how hard u try to make things go right at these shows, something always goes wrong. I just hope I remember to tell myself next time to not wear hardly anything at all (no jacket) and NO PURSE!!!!! I guess we just have to constantly learn the hard way. Who am I to complain though. The seats we got are the best seats I have ever had. 2nd row center in front of the microphone wont get us up on stage, but it sure ROCKS! These were the best seats in the house and I am very greatful. This is the best $500 I have ever spent on myself and my friend Mariam. And believe me I went broke over this one. I’ve always wanted to be able to dance up on stage with Prince, but maybe it is just not 2 B. Sometimes I think I have a guardian angel and he keeps me from embarrassing myself or something. Maybe I would just look 2 funny up there! I just hope that I will be able to keep in touch with the fams I met at the shows cause’ we feed off of eachother this light and inspiration from his music.
At the end of the portland show at the Schnitzer Concert Hall the tall very sweet guy I mentioned before named Aron was given the assortment of white with Purple lettering Prince Guitar Picks that had fallen and were used by Prince during the show from his long time Guitar Tech “Takumi”. My Special Heartfelt thank u’s go out to both Aron and Takumi! Aron distributed fairly amongst all of us in the front rows the picks to all those who love and respect our PRINCE and were not obnoxious skanky hoes! I heard from my friend Jennifer that Aron later got a thanku from Takumi for doing this 4 him with a percussion Shaker gift from the band. Awsome, cause’ he so derserved it! Right on! Aron helped us out throughout that night at the Roseland Aftershow entrance VIP NPGMC complication too. I am forever greatful 2 him! Thanks fam buddy!
The Roseland aftershow in Portland was totally THE BOMB! Ok, come on. An aftershow in Portland?!?!? This ain’t Chicago, NYC, Miami, or LA!!!!! Not in a million years would I have guessed this! or bet money on it! Good God! If I can remember correctly, he started off with “Talkin’ Loud and Sayin’ Nothin”. He had us Risin’ more than at the Schnitzer show earlier. The most amazing and overwhelming performances were of the slow, bluesy flow of “Calhoun Square” and “Joy In Repitition”. But it was also “PAISLEY PARK” that just ment so much to hear live. For it was in all of our hearts that night and forever more! 2 the fam that snapped the picture flash that night. 2 funny! I just want to know where your membership is at though!!!??? It was cool though that he just laughed it off and let u take a picture of him onstage with his guitar too! C, Prince is a really nice guy after all! Very Cool! I just want a copy of that, pretty please! We can trade or somethin’ hmmm.....
Anyway, I’m sure this review does not do the experience we all had from Prince live justice. 4 what he gave 2 us I could only ponder over the last almost 2 weeks now. But this Review in rememberance is the least I could do 4 him 2 give thanks in return. MERCI BEAUCOUP and TOUJOUR AMOUR! All my love and respect to Prince and the NPGMC FAMS! I thank u so much for the most blessed 2 days of my life so far. DMSR and PEACENBWILD! So glad that we have made it 2gether this far 2 C the dawn!
Michelle Basart from Portland, Oregon. vashtidmsr@aol.com

glad you had such a great time.