What on earth is the 'Chocolate Invasion'?

Here we go again, more vague and obscure ramblings about a brand new currency instead of coins and bills to buy into the ethos of NPGMC. Preaching about the price of joining being no more than a good meal out or new clothes. Personally, I am pretty offended as I chose to spend the miniscule amount of disposable income I have to join the club in the first place.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the final words of the post are a link to the registration page. Not particularly subtle over at NPGMC, are they.

And the advantages that NPGMC members already receive?

1. Opportunity 2 attend a soundcheck by Prince & The NPG and an interactive chat session with the artists

2. Opportunity 2 attend a week-long celebration in Prince’s own Paisley Park Studios

3. Opportunity 2 purchase front-row tickets 4 the next Prince & The NPG concert in ur town

4. The opportunity 2 own CDs and DVDs of such shows

Points 1-3 are fair enough if you fit the bill geographically but point 4 is absurd. We are about to receive ONA Live but DVD's? Did I miss something?

Finally, I would like to comment on the misconception that the NPGMC could be compared to "fair trade" coffee beans. A ridiculous claim when you consider the transparency of federations like Global Exchange and the positive impact they are making. I know Prince does hard work for good causes, but even these seem to be over-looked on the NPGMC site.

So, have a missed something, or can somoeone decipher what the 'Chocolate Invasion' is...please.

www.globalexchange.org

On the positive note this does strongly indicate there will be a NPGMC in 2003. What form it gives no clue to but it does seem to say it will be along the same basic lines.

EchoOfMySoul said:

I also get it. My biggest complaint about the club this year is the organization of it and the long intervals without anything new, nor any new information. I know that Prince is an artist, but no matter how he looks at it, he is a business man now with consumers. In order to maintain his clients, he should do more things to keep his consumers happy. Though, going to concerts, front row seats, soundchecks, etc. were nice, the number of people that actually have access to these (I'm pretty sure) are low. He could have done a few things to attempt to keep some happy by posting some videos, a few mp3s, or even a "hello" message mp3 every now and them to let the fams know that things are in the works. I

I hope people don't take this as a complaint, but as a suggestion.

daPrettyman said:

All i have to say is AMEN daPrettyman!

daPrettyman said:

Isn't that the risk you take as a consumer? He may not play a concert near you. Freedom of choice lets you decide if you should join or not. You can't blame Prince if you decided to join anyway and he never did a show clsoe to you. You could have waited until something close to home was announced.

I understand what Prince is getting at in his latest commentary. But the problem is that Prince's vision and the actual reality of the way things play out are often two completely different things.

As an artist/musician, Prince is a visonary who has a unique gift of bringing that vision to life - whether on stage or in the studio. But when it comes to anything business or consumer related, the vision and reality never seem to link up and is often a disaster for the most loyal fans.

In general, I think people will put up with a certain amount of mistakes and other problems. But when they determine you to be incompetent and unreliable, that's when they move on to someone else.

Like most fans, I will continue to buy Prince's music whenever it is available. But if he thinks people are going to continue to give him sums of money a year in advance and wait patiently while he decides what to do with that money throughout the year, he's got another thing coming. The Chocolate Invasion STOPS here.