This night me and my girls from Chicago (April Reigns and Philly Phil) arrive at the Rio around 7:30 p.m. Georgiapeach (GP) is already in the VIP line waiting on us. Tonight is much different than Friday because it took FOREVER to get into the club. Turns out this performance will be filmed, so it’s taking the camera crew awhile to get ready before the public can be admitted. While waiting, the usual suspects are present including CJBabyDaddy (I see you checking out my shoes to see if I’ll be leaning on you, AGAIN ) I think it was 10-10:30 p.m. before we got into the club.

This time I chose to get a VIP table (thanks again, SexyLisa, you were so sweet and was looking sexy in your purple halter dress. Go on, girl!) to save my feet pre-show (I really must give up 4-inch heels ) and we were lucky to share the table with my girls Kim and Jen whom I’d met last year at the Time show (it was great seeing ya’ll again ).

While in VIP, we notice that Larry Graham is sitting at a table with his wife. This gets my girl Jen to cussin’ Needless to say, she’s not a Larry fan. He was at the Rio the night we met last year, he was there a few weeks ago when she came, and he’s there again tonight. (I told her on Friday, that she’s a Larry magnet cuz every time she comes to see Prince, there’s Larry. Then lo and behold. . . tonight. . . here’s Larry. . . again.)

While we’re waiting for the show to start, I go down to the floor, stage left, where GP, April, and Philly are stationed. CJBabyDaddy is next to them, as well as DarkLotus (who was also at the Time and Empire Ballroom show last year), then I feel someone tap me on the shoulder and ask, “Weren’t you at the Empire Ballroom shows last year?” Yes, turns out it’s ChuckeCheese aka Pkidwell aka 3121Addict (Are you in a witness protection program or something, hence all the aliases???? ) While I’m chatting with him a beautiful Asian lady says “Hey, you! Weren’t you here on New Year’s Eve???” Uh, yeah, that’s me. (I’m starting to think maybe I came to too many shows at 3121. . . . . NAHHHHH no such thing.)

Of course I remember her, but not her name. She and her husband are from SF and stood behind me on New Year’s Eve. She’s a trip, really funny! She had my back that night when we were gonna have to whup some ass in front of that stage when some crazy, rude people came up out of nowhere pushing and shoving us during the show. That’s my girl! Whereas, last night was filled with Newbies I immediately get the feeling tonight is going to be totally different. I ran into so many oldheads it felt like high school reunion at 3121!

So I start to realize that it was absolutely pointless to get a VIP table as I fully intend to be posted up in front of the stage gazing at Prince. The one good thing about VIP was the bottle service. Since most of us at the table weren’t drinking, I became hostess and waitress to my purple peeps on the floor and started bringing them Grey Goose cocktails from the table. (I hate to see a cocktail go to waste )

Right before the show started I returned to claim my spot near the front, just in time to hear the bass line intro to 3121. Awwwww it’s bout to be KRUNK up in there and it was. Next, comes Larry to do his thing. I’m not the biggest Larry fan but he did just enough without completely overpowering Prince. And they were funky and Prince was obviously enjoying sharing the stage with his mentor that it was written all over his face. Alphabet St. was a funky fresh surprise haven’t heard this one before at the club. Sheila comes out and does Glamorous Life, the crowd is feeling it and she’s looking gorgeous as always.

The band starts playing the churchy/bluesy intro to Satisfied. Prince is on stage and picks up two pink roses. My girl GP is standing right in front of the riser on the left side. Prince makes a beeline directly for her and hands her a rose. (Girl, you better be glad I love ya cuz I might have had to hit you over the head and steal that rose. . . j/k ) During the song, Prince throws a chair across the stage. He was definitely playing it up for the cameras and I’m not complaining cuz he was showing out.

He spent most of the night standing over our heads on that riser and I must say, there’s nothing better on Earth than listening to Prince belt out a song while looking directly up his pants OOOOOWWWWWEEEEE!!!!! That’s some good living right there!!!

So of course there’s the requisite Musicology spectacle aka Rhythmless Drunk Nation as I like to call it. But to our happy surprise a baby-faced guy gets up there and starts poplocking and dancing his ass off. I now know his name is Chivas (yes as in Regal, he later tells me )The audience goes off and Prince turns around to see what we’re screaming about. He watches for a few seconds, nodding his approval at Chivas’ skills then at some point they decide to have breaks in the music to which Chivas pauses in time as if it was rehearsed. That shit was off tha hook!!!! Then Dark Lotus gets on the mic to do Play That Funky Music and the crowd is too hyped. It was crazy. That was definitely a highlight, and would come across great on a DVD or film. All in all a great show, but for me, the REAL show is still to come. As Prince is wrapping it up, I’m screaming, “PLEASE DON’T GOOOOO!!!!”

Now on to the BEST part of the night and my entire adventure at 3121. April Reigns, Philly Phil, GP, Keiko, and myself head over to the Jazz Cuisine for the aftershow. The hostess takes us right into the back room and shows us where we are to be seated. I KNOW my mouth dropped open because we are actually going to be sitting directly behind Prince to his right facing the rest of the audience in the Jazz Room. We actually have to move the table in front of the French doors that separate the Jazz Room from the outer room to make room for our 5 chairs. Huh???? What????? I’m sitting where????? Impossible! And all I can say is, “God, is good!!!!”

We take our seats and I’m dead in the center of our group. I keep turning to GP for confirmation that we are where we are (am I hallucinating????) and Prince will be 5 feet in front of us. And I’m looking at her and she’s looking at me and we’re just shaking our heads

Mike Phillips comes to the mic and kicks off the show. He and the rest of the band are doing their jazz thing and sound AMAZING. I still can’t believe how close we are and how good they sound. I love when they do People Make the World Go Round. Prince comes out and I hear him tell them to go into No Diggity so that Chance can do his thing as he has to leave early. Which they do and Chance gets off on this.

Prince motions to us (me and my four girls) to get up and dance. Mind you, we are at the front of the room so everybody can see us and I’m a little embarrassed. But what are you gonna do, if Prince says get up and dance, you get yo ass up and dance! I get over my shyness and we start dancing while the band is jamming, okay, I’m feeling kinda high right now. Then they go into California Love which is too funky. And I’m like it can’t get no better, uh but it can.

While Shelby is doing her blazing renditions of Sweet Thing (to which we all sing along) and Baby Love, some techs bring out Sheila’s timbales and where do they set them up????? Directly in front of my chair!!!! Be cool, be cool, girl. A few minutes pass and they go into that Santana-like instrumental. Sheila comes out dressed in some pants, a kimono, and flip flops, wearing her eyeglasses. (She's giving us the sexy librarian look. ) When she came to play, the chair next to me was empty cuz my homegirl had gone to the ladies' room so Sheila put her bag of sticks in the chair next to mine. I picked them up and held them in my lap when Philly came back to sit down.

So Sheila is playing her booty off right in front of me then drops one of her sticks, but she's too close to us to bend over and get it herself. So she looks at me like, "Uh, can you get that for me????" She didn't even have to say a word cuz in no time I was scurrying under her timbales getting her stick and handing it back to her. Sheila keeps killing it and I’m yelling, “Timbalera! Timbalera!” behind her, which basically means drummer girl in Spanish. When she's done she turns to me and I hand her the bag and she says thanks. I can die NOW! It can’t get no better, but alas, yes, it can.

The band performs a few songs without Prince then he and Shelby return to do Love Changes and invite Marva King to join in. In the middle of their searing vocal performance Prince starts doing his guitar solo and is killing it. He walks toward us and I’m thinking he’s sidestepping the timbales and will go to the outer room to play like he did earlier. But no, Prince stands directly in front of me instead

I can’t scoot my chair back because there’s a table behind me. He’s playing in front of me so the people in the outer room can see him through the open French doors behind me. He’s really feeling this solo and keeps inching closer and closer to me in my chair and there’s nowhere for me to go. (Looking back on it now, I don’t know why I was trying to get away from him ) He leans in so close that I have to arch my head back to avoid getting hit in the head by his guitar and he actually steps on my toe. Whatever! I’m too scared to look directly at him as he’s basically leaning over me (I'm scared of what I might do to him in that position ), so I look over to my left at GP like, “Do you believe what is happening right here????? WTF????? Am I dreaming?????” He walks away and I realize that I was actually holding my breath the whole time so I let out one long ass exhale. Now, for real this time, NOTHING will happen to top that right thurr. It’s impossible, right? No, it’s not cuz although nothing matches Prince leaning over me it DOES get better.

The band goes into I’ll Take You There and me and the girls are on our feet shaking our tail feathers going to church. Prince tells us to sing, “I’ll Take You There!” and the audience joins in. Most of the crowd was still in their seats except for us getting our groove ON, and Prince hollas “Party over there!” pointing at us. Shelby comes over to April on the end and shows her some dance steps for the rest of us to do and we get on it without skipping a beat. We were like Prince’s Pips up there. Amazing! Can it get any better? Yes, grasshopper, it certainly can.

Sheila returns to play again and the band is jamming, and me and my girls are standing behind her dancing. I'm so close to her that I decide to sit down before I lose an eye or sumthin cuz girlfriend is going OFF!!! So she drops her stick again and we BOTH reach for the stick, almost bumping heads, but this time she doesn't need my assistance and just looks at me and laughs. When she finished playing, she turned to me and said thanks again, so I ask her if I could possibly have a stick and she places both sticks in my hands and grabs me and gives me the biggest bear hug ever. I can REALLLY die now.
Prince ends the show and thanks us for coming and leaves. He and all of us rocked it til the wheels fell off and the sun came up!!!! The girls and I can’t get up as we’re still basking in the afterglow of what just transpired. Several people come up to us afterwards to say that we kept in “KRUNK” up in there and I’m all While we’re sitting there Otis, comes over to pack up the equipment and the floor is littered with Prince’s guitar picks. Without our even asking, he picks them up and places one in each of our little hands. Then he tells us we can have Sheila’s extra sticks left on the floor. But their’s were new, mine have all the dent marks from her playing the side of the timbales.

After this night and experience I sit in my chair physically and emotionally spent. I feel tears burning my eyes because I can’t believe it’s over. But my girl April reminds me, “It Ain’t Over!” So I guess we’ll have to see where the next incarnation of 3121 lands and get ready to take our show on the road. . . again. I’m starting to feel like a Dead Head, but with cuter shoes.

I want to take this opportunity to say thanks to all the wonderful true funk soldiers that I met along the way, including: April Reigns, Philly Phil, 2Elijah, JerseyGirl, Georgiapeach, Spontane, Tine, kmrtnz, Jen, Robin, CJBabyDaddy, SexyLisa, Ellie, Keiko, Rita, Lori, Rev, Chucke, Rick. And so many others whose names I didn’t get or can’t recall (please forgive the lazy brain). I must say that seeing Prince was great but the experience was exponentially better because I got to share it with fellow fans who were genuinely great people to meet and know. It felt very much like a close knit community and family and I sincerely thank you for the pleasure of your company and camaraderie on this most unforgettable Ryde Divine.

In addition, I also want to thank all the people at 3121 the club and Jazz Cuisine for working under what must have been stressful conditions but always showing us fans grace and consideration even when they had to turn folks away or didn’t have complete information. These people personified grace under pressure at all times, especially, Lena, Gina, Saundra, Jordan, Cajun, all the waitresses and security guys, Jay and Seven in particular. You guys were awesome and always recognized most of us when we returned and welcomed us like friends visiting your home. All of you contributed to the amazingly special vibe at 3121 almost as much as Prince did. I’ll never forget this experience or the folks behind the scenes that made it work. Thank you.

Most of all, I want to thank you, Prince, for having the vision to bring this concept to us and share so much of yourself and your art in such an intimate setting for so long. I’m ready whenever you are for the next adventure, bags packed, passport ready, just say the word, and the Purple Hippies will report for duty! IT AIN’T OVER!!!!!


Inside the Jazz Room after the aftershow


The view from our seats


DAMN! WE WERE UP CLOSE!!!!


I just realized that our chairs were purple while the other chairs in the room were turquoise. And that's Prince's mic right there.
[Edited 5/2/07 8:32am]
[Edited 5/2/07 10:35am]

WOW!!! That's a complete review. I love it. You talk about many different aspects here. THANK YOU for sharing!!!

malbena said:

Thanks, you're welcome.

Girl.....you did it again. AWESOME REVIEW!!! Go ahead and get ya bags packed for LA.....cause IT AIN'T OVER!!!

georgiapeach said:

SCNDLS said:


SCNDLS said:


^^Awwwww.....thank you chica!!...It was nice meeting you during the March 30th-31st shows as well! It was a blast! Glad you had great fun this past weekend;loved your report, it had me laughing like this-->
[Edited 5/2/07 7:58am]

2elijah said:

Don't forget that I met you, JerseyGirl, and her sister in line at Empire Ballroom, so for me, that's were the 3121 adventure began.

SCNDLS said:

Oh yes...I do remember that....I have to agree with you..the whole 3121 experience has definitely been an awesome adventure and great memories!!..
..and thanks for sharing your experience of this past weekend with us!!...you made us feel like we were right there with you.
[Edited 5/3/07 6:19am]

Thanks for the review and visuals.
I'm happy you heard the sounds of perfection
And nice of you to share details like the purple and turquoise chairs, and pictures of the rose petal covered table tops

[Edited 5/2/07 4:26am]

2elijah said:

2Elijah, you're absolutely right it started for me too at the first Tamar show in Houston 2/06. . . Prince pointed at me and waved. The last time I'd seen him live had been in Houston 8/04. How sweet of him to remember! It's been a GREAT 15 months of Prince!

THAT WAS A GREAT REVIEW....THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR EXPERIENCE, I ALMOST FEEL LIKE I WAS THERE!!!!

oh my lawd *faints* u just took me on a ride.Girl you are so blessed...I mean WOW...what can I say.You had the time of ur life and it aint even over.You can add me 2 ur list of new 3121 pals when the continuation comes.You bring the party with u wherever u go.Im so excited and happy 4 u.Your reviews will 4ever be the best.And Georgia...girl Prince was feelin you!He knew exactly who he wanted 2 give that rose 2!!!

PleasurePrinciple said:

Oh my.....this girl is still on cloud 9!

Oh, I forgot to mention that in the aftershow he wore the outfit on the 3121 posters and from the Brit awards. That was a fitting end to the 3121 run.

SCNDLS said:

Are u effin serious *faints again* I love how he looks in that outfit!!!

PleasurePrinciple said:

georgiapeach said:

u should be!I smelled his cologne 1 time and Im still all up in heaven...Im sucha weirdo anyway yay 4 GP ...yall crew must got the look...gettin compliments and flowers from Prince up in 3121.

PleasurePrinciple said:

I'm not sure what his cologne is....but I can tell you that at the aftershow, the room was lit up by Trish McEvoy Wild Blueberry Vanilla Candles.....very sexy!

Being that I could live by candlelight....I went yesterday to buy a few of the TM candles....yummy!!

Gurlllll I feel like I was right there with you. I wish I was able to make it to that show but you made feel like I was there. Thank you for taking the time let us know what a FUNKY good time you had.

I am so jealous!!! Prince gave Georgia Peach a rose! He just touched my hands, but unfortunately I had to wash them, for, you know, sanitary reasons and what not. But a rose...that's something you can hold on to for a lifetime.
Lucky girl.

Man I gotta try to scope you guys out if I head to LA cause ya'll be where the party's at!!! Thanks for the great review!
[Edited 5/2/07 21:43pm]

bwahahahahahaaa!!!!

great review. glsd you had a good time!

Great review what an amazing experience!!!!

The end of march was great meeting everyone. I shared the same feeling of community and looking out for each other. You could almost sense who the long time/ orgers were, 'cause they "chill like that"
Ofcourse until the man takes the stage

Thanks for sharing you're aftershow story
Meeting you and hearing you tell it, brings it to life.

Peace all

LA or bust!

Nice pics thanks for sharing them, is there any of you guys that you can share?

Sexy Lisa was very nice to include you at her VIP table. The least you could have done was included her in your group at the after show. She did you a favor by letting you and your friend join you at her table, but when it came time for you to do the same you all bailed on her. It's called courtesy. I waited with her in line for over an hour after the concert, and saw the disappointment on her face while all of you were living it up on the inside. Your actions were very selfish.

robertes71 said:

Excuse me, but I paid for the priveledge of using two seats at the table and I thanked her in person AND in my post (twice). Now THAT's called courtesy. And me and a friend paid $190 for a VIP table we didn't even sit at. Besides, I can't tell the Jazz Cuisine who to let into the aftershow and they had a predetermined number of wristbands available BEFORE the concert even started. When I last saw her that night she was speaking to Mr. Hayes and I thought he was gonna let her in. There's nothing I could do about that.

You're REALLY tripping trying to call me out in public. I don't even KNOW your ass and you SURE as hell don't know me. Besides, if she has a problem I'd appreciate if she expressed it herself instead of you when you're not even involved. It's shit like this that will make me keep my experiences to myself from here on out cuz I don't need some jerk that doesn't even know me trying to talk shit especially since this coulda been done offline in a PM, but you wanted your little moment and now you've got it.

Regardless, your rudeness will not diminish the AWESOME time I had but it has taught me to keep it among my friends and not offer it for public consumption. Thanks for the lesson learned.
[Edited 5/4/07 10:23am]

SCNDLS said:

There's always going to be that ONE person (robertes71) trying to rain on our parade.

SCNDLS said:

Don't be hard on Robert, he's sweet and emotional...especially when it comes to friends. It seems he meant that Lisa included you (even though you paid) when so many others wanted to pay for that same privilege. I even considered it, at the last minute.

It may have appeared that you could have included her but your explanation clears that up.

No reason to call him a jerk for being compassionate...even if he read the situation wrong. He would have done the same for you. He's a Diva like that.

Now everyone be friends, this is a party thread!

Nice review, BTW

anon said:

It's nice of you to try and be a peacekeeper but he put ME on blast about a situation that didn't even involve him. Since he didn't know the situation he shoulda kept his mouth shut or sent me a PM. I've NEVER met him and don't know who he is. So for him to try to clown me in a public forum when I don't owe him, or anyone else for that matter an explanation, is out of order. And HE called me ungrateful and selfish in his original post which warrants me cussin his ass out hence the jerk remark. And now I feel much better. . . LOL! Thanks.

SCNDLS said:

Robert is the first to apologize if he's wrong about something (He's Always apologizing to me). Still, you have every reason to be upset, given the circumstance, but you can't deny that his Diva heart was in the right place.