I'da posted this earlier, but, I have only just joined prince.org ... My report from Tuesday's show here :

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welp!
I guess I should tell this tale before I float into work...



So, we got down to the bar to setup stuff for the evening's show. Again, a show at Voda, which is in the lobby of the Westin Grand. I was in a definite rush as I had to walk two blocks up the street to the Orpheum to see Prince play, but, as I finished up, the bar manager walks up.

"so, whats the deal with the DJ tonight? He needs to play a lot of funk and r&b, we have a big guest coming"

"exsqueeze me? who might THAT be?"

"I can't say"

But, by this point, I had guessed and nearly fainted, and immediately thought, "yeah right"

Off I ambled to the show, making it with minutes to spare. And, holy shit, what a show it was! Two and a half hours of smoking grooves! prince has a pretty small band on this tour, much of the show was him, a bass player, drummer and keyboard player. A review is here and from MY perspective, it was the perfect Prince show. Huge gobs of guitar playing by him and stunning improv by the entire band. The place went nuts for lots of what he did and I truly felt the massive ticket price was -well- worth the money. I happily bounced back to Voda to catch the last few minutes of Dubfreque without me and indeed, there was a definite buzz going around the club and one section was roped off. Could it be? really?

And sure enough, about an hour later, guess who walks in? You got it, Prince himself. A very small entourage was with him, really, it was not much more than the band and a couple of very large guys in suits that just kinda hung around. Greg and I chatted to the bass player, one Rhonda Smith who is terribly charming. I think Greg had a thing for her...I know I did!

Much waiting around ensued, nobody was quite sure what was up, did Prince want to play himself? (there was a small van with gear pulled up) Did he want to chill and listen to the DJ? Or... A video from the show was playing, and the sound was incredible, much clearer than where I had sat! WHAT a tight band! I said to greg at one point, "damn, and I paid to see the show, I coulda just watched from here!"

Well, what he WANTED, was to hear the band play. You could have knocked me over with a feather, but, we sure didn't have to be told twice, we got up and did our business. It was a shortish set, but, we played very well and had the packed club rocking! And, Prince was still there, we didn't chase him away with our brutish ways! As a matter of fact, once I had packed up, I even managed to sit across the table from him while he chatted with some fans about religion. I even shyly thanked him for 25 years of smiles from his music. He's gracious and charming in person, a mere couple of feet away.

That was easily my biggest brush with fame, by a long way and I'm still ecstatic about it this morning. Its kinda nice to be able to put "played for prince and he didn't leave" on one's professional resume...

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I'm still on a buzz about it days later, it was truly an honor to play in his presence, one I'll never forget. 8)

Good 4 u!
It seems he has a thing 4 us Canadians...



Good Luck!