First let me say that December 8th and 9th proved to be the best weekend of my life! Me and my twin sister, (mandrill on the board!) headed out to Las Vegas to see Prince in four of the most electric performances (aftershow included) ever, met some fellow orgers and quakers, (What's up Randee & Kelly? We had a GREAT time with you guys!) and MET PRINCE.

If Friday's show was AMAZING, Saturday's was INCREDIBLY AMAZING. I can't remember all of the songs he played because I'm still on cloud 9 after meeting him, but the list from both nights included jams like 3121, Lolita, Pass the Peas, Joy N Repetition, A Case of You, If I was Your Girlfriend, Sexuality (Sprituality), Nothing Compares to You, Purple Rain, Pink Cashmere, Black Sweat, Elephants & Flowers, Forever in My Life, Play that Funky Music, Johnny Be Good (RIPPED IT!) and Shh.

Okay, how did we meet him? Well we had gone to the after party at the 3121 restaurant. The food is tasty especially the mochachino twist dessert! After giving an awesome show, the restaurant started clearing out. Me and my sister were waiting for the waiter to fix our check because he had mistakenly added the orders of two ladies who were not with us but had asked to sit at our table to our bill. It was one of the ladies who had been sitting at our table's birthday. She said she was going to try and meet Prince. I thought wow, well I'm going to go and see if I can meet him too. Me and my sister who are both musicians - I play guitar and she plays bass- made our way to Mike Phillips to talk about jazz music. While she was still talking to him, the lady whose birthday it was, was talking to Prince, who was sitting at a table with the Twinz having dinner. He told her that he liked her bag (it had an image of him from Rolling Stone magazine on it). Once she began walking away, I slid in and told them all how great the show was. Prince, I don't think was looking up at first or heard me. So I said, "And Prince your guitar playing is phenomenal!" My sister told him how amazing his finger work was and he blushed. I went on to tell him how I played guitar also and had been watching his fingers all night. He replied, "Well don't steal my licks!" LOL I told him I wasn't good enough to do this! We thanked them all for a wonderful show and told them we'd see them again on Saturday. Me and my sister proceeded to look at his Hohner guitar and effects pedals. My sister was looking at Josh's bass and one of the Twinz jokingly asked what we were doing. We started talking to her and she was as beautiful as she was cool. We told her how we were twins also and danced salsa. We had a nice long chat. She told us that they were fraternal twins like us - well they definitely look identical to me. Anyway we finally finished our conversation and went on about our way - on a serious cloud. But wait it gets better.

Saturday night we were waiting for the after show to begin. Prince walks in looking beautiful of course dressed in red. He's passing out Watchtowers. We were sitting with the orgers/quakers Kelly & Randee. Prince starts walking off and Randee asks if he has any extras. He says sure. My sister says, "Yeah, don't forget about us." So he gives us all Watchtowers but before giving me mine, he says, "And this is better than guitars." Not knowing what it was, I said, "It is?" I COULD HAVE DIED. He actually remembered me and my passion for guitar from Friday night. Another sign of this is that he COMPLETELY ROCKED on guitar in Saturday's show - I was wondering if he had taken my compliments of his playing to heart and set out to really show me what he was capable of doing on Saturday. Well in my mind it sounds good! LOL Wait it gets better.

Due to some VERY good Karma, the table that we were seated at became the first table. See, Prince wanted the space around the musicians cleared out so people could dance. That meant that a table that was first had to be moved to the side, leaving ours as the first one. During the show Prince and the musicians were in plain view. On one song we took out our tambourines that we had purchased from the 3121 gift shop. Prince walks over to me, grabs mine from my hand and plays a funky rhythm on it while he stands close to me. He also stood in front of my sister playing guitar at another point. The show was bursting with energy and the music was orgasmic. The whole house was jumping and people were dancing like they were under a voodoo curse. It was AMAZING. At the end of the night, we were waiting for our check to be fixed again and we spoke with the bassist and drummer about music of course! They were REALLY kind as well. It was a WONDERFUL footnote to a WONDERFUL weekend with Prince and his band.

The concerts were AWESOME. Prince's drummer told us that they practice like 8 hours a day and it truly shows as the band is TIGHT. If you all can make it out, please do so as it's WELL WORTH it to witness some of the best musicians playing their hearts out for hours. PRINCE really cares about his fans - the first night he wasn't going to do an aftershow but did so when he heard that it was the anniversary of two fans! He's a great, great spirit and we should do all we can to make sure this venture is a success. Although from what I've heard and seen, it already is! The whole scene complete with historical images of dance that play on the screens of the club, the smoke and incense and DJ mixing a musical cocktail of Prince jams like Lady Cab Driver and Strange Relationship with rap, rock and funk adds to the vibe. The food is DELICIOUS at 3121 Jazz Cuisine and the band members are as talented as they are all VERY nice people. It is truly the stuff that dreams are made of. I hope to make it back again before this dream ends 6 months from now. Well it's time for me to start practicing my guitar more!

It was me with the Prince bag! And I had gotten it for my birthday earlier in the year!


Were you standing by the door of the concert room for awhile when we first spoke?

What a great story, thanx for sharing.

I am aibak's sister - mandrill75 is actually my quake name. We did indeed have an AMAZING weekend. Randee and Kelly - you ladies rock!! We had a ball and look forward to doing it again!

Just to piggyback on some of what airbak said:

Entering the 3121 club is like crossing the threshold of a sublime reality. The smell is intoxicating. I am an incense connoisseur, and I have to say that the ones burning in 3121 were absolutely exquisite. The sound system is fantastic and Rashida did a great job of spinning. All the Rashida haters need to stop! She played a nice mix of new music, old school, and Prince along with some of my obscure favs like Tow Tei's "Technova." She also played a nice cover of Joni's "Help Me." Does anyone know who sings that?

As my sister said, the concert was phenomenal. Prince epitomizes what a concert experience should be like. These were my 12th and 13th times seeing him and each time feels as good as the first time. His guitar playing was in another stratosphere. The band was tight. They are all extremely talented. It was definitely all about REAL music by REAL musicians!

The after show experience was unbelievably superb. It was so intimate. I am still having visions of it. Meeting Prince was FANTASTIC. He is so cool, so humble, and so witty. He is also insanely handsome in person. The man is breathtaking - plain and simple. He was so laid back and comfortable in that setting. He walked around a bit, played a bit and sat at his table at bit. Like so many people have said, it was really like being in Prince's living room. It just felt like a house party, like you were among friends who were having a jam session in their living room.

At one point during the Saturday after show the band started to play "Down by the Riverside." I took out my tambourine and started to play and Prince looked at me, pointed and with that beautiful smile said, "Yeah that's it." Later during another song he came and stood directly in front of me as he wailed on his guitar. I was in heaven! And he does smell incredible!

After the Saturday show I talked to Josh. He was super cool. He even let me hold his Zamar bass. I told him how I played bass and was studying him all night. He is a very talented bassist. He has great tone and the brotha is FUNKY!! He inspired me to come home and take out my P-Bass. He and Cora can hold down a rhythm section. Anyone who doubts whether they are up to snuff for the tour needs to check out the 3121 concerts AND the after shows. They are the real deal! Cora is equally as gracious and cool as her husband. As the restaurant was closing, she sat down at our table and we talked for about 10 minutes or so about music. She is as beautiful as she is talented. I really enjoyed talking to her. It was like talking to an old friend.

On Friday I talked to Mike Philips for about 10 minutes about music as well. Mike is also mad cool. He is immensely talented and a great showman in his own right. I really enjoyed talking to him.

After meeting Prince, we talked with Maya of the Twinz. As my sister said, she was very sweet and engaging. So again, all the Twinz haters need to stop. Those girls were working their butts off on stage both nights, and they are very pretty and approachable. Maya actually initiated the conversation with us.

Of course, the highlight of the weekend was meeting Prince - an artist whom I’ve loved and supported for more than 20 years. I will never forget how cool he was. His cool puts you at ease. I thought I would be nervous if I ever met him, but it felt like I was talking to a buddy.

Thank you to Prince and your band for making this a weekend to remember. I don't think anything will ever top this 3121 experience.

If you can make it to one of these concerts - do it!!