Hi all purple fam. I just finished visiting Minneapolis for the first time. Visited for about 3 days for the July 4th weekend. I planned the trip pretty extensively. I visited Paisley Park (VIP) for the the tour, Went to both Kiowa and Galpin home sites, Purple Rain house, Schmidt Music Mural, First Avenue, Bunkers Bar and Grill, Dakota Jazz Club, Andre Cymone's house where Prince lived as a teenager, went and visited the place where they filmed the Take Me With U portion for Purple Rain, went to Uptown and Calhoun Square, saw the local painted mural and dedications to Prince, went to the Hard Rock Cafe at Mall of America and saw the Prince exhibit, went to Electric Fetus-the Wreka Stow, the former Glam Slam, the church where Mayte and Prince got married and his favortie movie theatre where he rented it out with friends.

I think that's about it. That was all in 2-3 days. I don't want to bore anyone here. But I can share with anyone if anyone wants to know more about it all or anyone particular site. It just made me happy to know that Prince is still being honored in his hometown. I know people on this site know alot. So I will wait to see if there is any interest. If not I just want to say it's great to have this site still gong strong.

Hey, don't let any of us stop you from sharing what you experienced! Me personally, I haven't been out to MN yet, and am slowly planning a trip within the next 2 years (once the Graceland people I guess the estate hired to oversee the inventory of all the past relics P sat on gets a better grip on it. PP, as a true museum, has unlimited potential they havent even begun to tap into yet.).

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So yes, share away! It will go a long way for folks like myself to map out what we're gonna do once we hit Minny/Chanhassen.

Ok then, let me start with a few random thoughts. So much to share. Let's start with the Paisley Park VIP tour. My first thoughts when I got there was that it was so worth the expense of flying in from the east coast. To be physically where the epicenter of all that is talked about on this site was humbling. Second it was busier than I thought. I mean Paisley Park is in the middle of no where. It's very rural and suburban. When I walked it there was a Sunday there was a group of 30-40 people finishing up a tour and our group was about 12-15 in size and there was simultaneous tour of 20-30 people also setting up and behind us was another tour gathering in size. In other words I was impressed by the amount of interest and the amount of business that this place was generating.

What also helped is finally being in the place itself. I have read countless artlicles and watched videos about paisley park over the last 30 years but it was nice to finally be in it. The rooms are smaller than I envisioned but more dynamic in color and Prince gave alot of attention to details. Full of color and writings on the walls. Very warm in atmosphere. Btw they are working on a black albumn room now. The writing was on the wall but not open when I went. So that should be awesome to check out in the future. Right now they have dirty mind, sign of the times, lovesexy and diamonds and pearls and of course purlple rain up and running. But they are adding more.

Also they serve lunch at the end of the vip tour. It was actually very good. The menu was designed by his personal chefs with what he liked to have. French toast with smores, eggs with dhukka (egyptian seasoning) and roasted potato with red peppers. Very tasty. They served that in the NPG music club room the in back.

I also liked playing ping pong on his personal table in Studio b. That was a nice treat. They have put his paddle under lock down so no one touches it.

But his personal office was a very revealing moment. Very calm, very serene. Lots of candles, plush carpet. Purple phone with two pairs of sneakers sitting up against the floor. I guess in case of basketball or tennis.

The attention to details as far the studios were concerned were amazing. Just breath taking. Built to be like but better than the Sunset studios that he liked in LA. It just blew me away that his passion concerning music was so self evident when you see his studios in person.

Anyways I got plenty more to share but that's a start....

Thought his personal office was off limits? Great insight, thanks for posting.

vinaysfunk said:

Dimitri10 said:

Thought his personal office was off limits? Great insight, thanks for posting.

No actually his personal office is part of the actual tour. His personal space for living upstairs is off limits. They have it set up for the office is open via two doors (on the entrance wall). So the office is set up so you walk through like a U turn. His personal effects are roped off. As you walk in there is conferance table with 6 chairs to discuss things. In fact theres still a note pad on the table with writing talking about sound effects. As you walk in the u turn to the right there is a small fridge on the ground and on the shelves there are books as in dictionaries and mysticism and religion of course. As you get to the right side of the office of the office is his desk. Not cluttered and not large rather small. His personal bag sits to the right of the desk on the floor and his personal suit case is just next to it. Then as you about to leave there is a small sitting couch. Plush. Again the impressoin you get about Paisley Park in general. is that he was very clean, organized and meticulous in creating a very relaxing atmosphere. For example there are candles and spray lavender bottles all over the place. Hope that helps

What was the Lovesexy room like?

kygermo said:

What was the Lovesexy room like?

It was awesome, truly inspiring. This is my favortie era. So much passion. But getting to your answer, the room is about 10' X 15'. They have a tv in the room playing the germany concert from 88. They have all the walls covered in photography wallpaper, all from the lovesexy era. They have various props from this period on display. Shiela E's drum kit is there. A cloud guitar. A pic of the blue angel is on the wall. I think the actual guitar was white. There are 2-3 costumes on display. The lovesexy polka dot suite was there. Also the torquoise lavender suite was there as well. I will try to remember more

vinaysfunk said:

Dimitri10 said:

Thought his personal office was off limits? Great insight, thanks for posting.

No actually his personal office is part of the actual tour. His personal space for living upstairs is off limits. They have it set up for the office is open via two doors (on the entrance wall). So the office is set up so you walk through like a U turn. His personal effects are roped off. As you walk in there is conferance table with 6 chairs to discuss things. In fact theres still a note pad on the table with writing talking about sound effects. As you walk in the u turn to the right there is a small fridge on the ground and on the shelves there are books as in dictionaries and mysticism and religion of course. As you get to the right side of the office of the office is his desk. Not cluttered and not large rather small. His personal bag sits to the right of the desk on the floor and his personal suit case is just next to it. Then as you about to leave there is a small sitting couch. Plush. Again the impressoin you get about Paisley Park in general. is that he was very clean, organized and meticulous in creating a very relaxing atmosphere. For example there are candles and spray lavender bottles all over the place. Hope that helps

thanks for the info, seems like he was well organised running his business from there, now where's that will???

Great thread. Love your details. Was just about to post yesterday when it got moved.

Why thank you above. I'm trying to share as much as I can because I know what it's like to not be there. I went there as if I knew I was going to share with my felllow org peeps. One more detail. I will share more as I go. In the foyer right next to the check in reception desk on the wall was a very beautiful and framed letter from then President Obama and Michelle Obama. The letter is very well written. I wishe I could have taken a picture of it to share but of course no photos allowed. The gist of the letter was an inspiration Prince was to the Obama's and what a truly talented individual he was. In the end we all could take a lesson from Prince in how we push ourselves to be creative and productive in life and that he was a one of a kind. Was a great read. Just wanted to share

vinaysfunk said:

Why thank you above. I'm trying to share as much as I can because I know what it's like to not be there. I went there as if I knew I was going to share with my felllow org peeps. One more detail. I will share more as I go. In the foyer right next to the check in reception desk on the wall was a very beautiful and framed letter from then President Obama and Michelle Obama. The letter is very well written. I wishe I could have taken a picture of it to share but of course no photos allowed. The gist of the letter was an inspiration Prince was to the Obama's and what a truly talented individual he was. In the end we all could take a lesson from Prince in how we push ourselves to be creative and productive in life and that he was a one of a kind. Was a great read. Just wanted to share

Wow. He must have loved getting that letter. There's footage of him playing at the White House with Stevie Wonder for the Obamas. Prince tells Stevie that he was so proud of him growing up because he watched the music charts and Stevie, a black man, was always on top.

kanoohead said:

Just did the VIP tour. Mind mostly blown, but can someone tell me where the vault is located in relation to where one goes on the tour? I was too absorbed to remember to ask. I stared long and hard at the musicology ticket poster / the wall around it hiding the elevator entrance and gazed in awe at THAT Hohner guitar. Would have liked to have got a feel for what's upstairs apart from the obviously no-go private apartment (although that would have been creepily fascinating) but no stairs were climbed. Disappointed in the gift shop offerings. Cheesy tshirts don't appeal. If they'd had the white cloud at $2k or whatever it was going for, I was prepared to buy it. Anyway, about that confounded vault! Anyone? Thanks. [Edited 7/11/17 11:49am]

You would take that elevator down and there would be a room with the vault. So basically, you were standing over the room where the vault is.

motherfunka said:

kanoohead said:

Just did the VIP tour. Mind mostly blown, but can someone tell me where the vault is located in relation to where one goes on the tour? I was too absorbed to remember to ask. I stared long and hard at the musicology ticket poster / the wall around it hiding the elevator entrance and gazed in awe at THAT Hohner guitar. Would have liked to have got a feel for what's upstairs apart from the obviously no-go private apartment (although that would have been creepily fascinating) but no stairs were climbed. Disappointed in the gift shop offerings. Cheesy tshirts don't appeal. If they'd had the white cloud at $2k or whatever it was going for, I was prepared to buy it. Anyway, about that confounded vault! Anyone? Thanks. [Edited 7/11/17 11:49am]

You would take that elevator down and there would be a room with the vault. So basically, you were standing over the room where the vault is.

Thanks - and that's made evident in that 1992 tour with Ingrid Chavez, I realized just now. So much that you DON"T see on the tour, it appears. Still, totally worth the $100 for me.

Thank you for sharing !

Since I'm planning a trip to Minneapolis myself I was wondering if it was easy to visit all the Minneapolis sites you mention either on foot or by public transport. I would of course be renting a car to go to PP but since I'll most likely be staying in downtown MPLS I wonder if I'll need a car for my entire stay (which will probably be about 5-6 days). (I think it's amazing you did all of that in 2-3 days )