just wondering what it was like for past members as i left prince for a few years during this phase..what was the site like? the content? did u feel u got ure moneys worth? is he generous as 2 keeping the good stuff comin'?

well - I think we have to wait and see ... npgmc had more "static" content - no videos, a few songs (that were changing from now and than).

The "killing"-argument was the tickets for the soundcheck and the aftershows and the preferred seatings at the concerts (which seems is now the same) - but back than he was on tour - now he only plays in LA - so let's hope for a tour!!!

greets
nV

There were 3 eras of NPGMC

2001 was amazing, a whole album's worth of material was released every month, it was too cool. God do i miss these days!
2002 was kinda static, nothing new xcept 4 a few live tracks here & there & the promised albums (ONA Live, Xpectation & ONA).
2003-2005 was also static even though more often we had the possibility 2 buy new songs. By then the site was totally redesigned 2 look like the inside of a house in which u couls travel. But as 4 the 1994 CD-rom & the current site, there wasn't much 2 do inside...

.
[Edited 3/28/09 3:36am]

madcapxtc said:

In addition, 2001 members got the Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic (remix) album mailed to them as a joining bonus.

2002 members got C-Note downloads, although not "officially" - every region was given a link for 1 track, and word-of-mouth spread and people shared the other links.

2003-2005 - the Reflection Room was cool, they played old stuff that (using your cache) you could download and keep. The Musicology Store was - in my opinion - Prince's step in the right direction for online sales.

for all those that never saw npgmusicclub.com, check out this site:

http://www.npg-net.com/pr...Guide.html

gives you an idea of how it was

or check out waybackmachine:

http://web.archive.org/we.../home.html

and

http://web.archive.org/we...icclub.com

[Edited 3/28/09 4:49am]
[Edited 3/28/09 4:51am]

Duccer said:

It's official - I miss the NPGMC.

The first NPG AHDIO show was great; the other shows were slightly disappointing - well, that's how it felt after that first one

mazze said:

Yeah, they got less and less interesting over time. The September 2001 ahdio show was a 9/11 tribute, and there was no October 2001 adhio show (we got The Rainbow Children instead).

Duccer said:

Thanks for those. That brought back many memories.

Ahhh...the old days....

Soundchecks
Choice of premium seats
Entrance to aftershows

mchotsie said:

Yes, those were the days! Plus, the site was much easier to navigate. I never had a problem there. I miss it, too...

It was wonderful, most of the time

It looked great, worked great. I loved it when they added:
a) the videos section (favorite: that long azz version of "America" with P on drums) and
b) the Musicology Download Store (I bought *everything* in there but the larry graham music; his guitar stuff just doesn't move me like Prince's talent) - only problem is I lost most of the stuff I paid for and downloaded when they shut the site down ; I didn't have time to burn to CD, so ... I never could bring myself to add up how much $$ I lost..

but even when there wasn't stuff for them to add to the site, the community of NPGMC kept the site goin' 24/7/365 -- in the message board Forums and in Chat (in the forums, there was a group of nerdy members from the US and Australia who were called the Funky Geeks; they helped other members with technical stuff when the PPs couldn't be reached.. and often fought over which was better; Star Trek or Star Wars).

I really applaud Prince (and Sam) for that little "xperiment".... it helped bring people all around the world together in a positive way
Some really great friendships were forged -- so much that one of the Forums 'regulars' created a site, The Underground, with a message board and chat the same day NPGMC shut down (4th of July, 2006) just so they could keep in touch; http://www.npgunderground.org (get it ~ people had to go 'underground' to stay connected, haha). I have met so many caring, wonderful (and talented! artists, designers, musicians, actors [and a few lawyers who actually 'let their hair down' when it comes to Prince, lol]) people because of Prince and NPGMC, I'm really thankful for its place in my personal history.

There was an NPGMC Discussion forum at the underground for a while but I think it closed last year (time to move on -?).
There are some good reviews of the 3 new CDs in their "Talk About the Music" forum, and there's always posts for Prince-related parties & such in the Gatherings forum. A lot of U.S. members from around the country are in Chicago now for the annual weekend get-together and LotusFlow3r release party @ Berlin (the club where Chad and Sam [NPGMC & 3121.com Webmaster] DJ'd the monthly "Prince Night" party for like 11 or 12 years).

Another cool thing about NPGMC days -- when he was doing those shows where we could attend the sound checks.. we'd post in the Forums what songs we wanted to hear, and he'd play 'em!
for one show at the Empire Ballroom (in Vegas, in 2005 I think), before the sound check, he (and Tamar) came back outside to talk to us at the front of the line and take our picture.. Everything was cool until this woman from the back of the line came up and started screaming about how she loved him
he literally made this face:
and went back inside
we sent her packin'

Some of the bizarre/funny/cool memories:
* presale days, the crazy high and anticipation, coupled with fear the site would crash by the bombardment of users trying to get tix first
* care packages sent to members who fell on hard times
* everybody working togther, in shifts, when forming lines for concerts; and locals helping the out-of-towners
* meeting people from other countries who'd fly in for shows
* people outside of the USA shocked to learn Prince is considered black in the US even though his skin color isn't brown or darker
* people outside of the USA basically protesting (America's) Black History Month
* the crazy chick who'd rant on and on about Bono/U2 being the devil
* the other crazy chick who posted a raging rant because Mariah Carey dared to attend one of Prince's parties
* the fanatics who said Prince was the best singer/composer/song writer in the history of the world; completely dismissing all other great artists like Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Stevie Wonder, etc., etc. -- even though Prince himself recognizes other talent....
* the fanatics who, after seeing Prince wear a white hood at an award show, just couldn't get over how much he looked like Jesus....
* the disrespectful ones who said they didn't care if he was a Jehovah's Witness now; they were gonna wish him a happy birthday, merry Christmas, etc. as long as they liked.
* the crazy people who said Prince was a racist for "Black Sweat"
* the 2 "wars" with lunatics in the U Tell Us forum who joined NPGMC solely to complain about how unfair it was of Prince to go after people/web sites who promoted bootlegs -- actually saying they were ENTITLED to everything Prince records! (and the hilarious picture some terribly disgruntled person posted of Prince sitting on a chair Photoshopped into a field and surrounded by sheep ~ trying to insult us because we defended his right to defend his copyrights [that just made us laugh even harder ])
* the Willy Wonka-ish purple ticket insanity, and people buying the 3121 CD in bulk trying to get one
* 2 ys after I suggested to PP9 that they go for a Webby Award, they actually won one on the first try
* tickets to exclusive things like the BET after party in LA or the show at Butter in NYC the nite they won the Webby and peformed on Good Morning America (if they release THAT show as a CD/for download on LotusFlow3r.com I can die happy.. The version of Black Sweat they did that nite is LETHAL!!)

mchotsie said:

is this my npgmc hair twin?!

**hugs** hi honey!!
[Edited 3/28/09 12:30pm]

Duccer said: