ItsOnlyMountains said:

xenophobia2002 said:

Ok, but "T shirt ??? most of us are in their 40's and have kids ... look mom, dad is wearing his Prince shirt again ..... " doesn't say anything about the membership issue.

Plus, considering I paid $70(?) for a t-shirt in Vegas, getting a membership too will be a treat for me!

(It's the t-shirt that has the woman on the back with the 3121 lyrics. It's a really cool design and I figured not many people would pay that much for a shirt, so it'll be worth more someday!)

cosmoplastic said:

Back atcha. I mostly lurk here and there, but I'm noticing several former HQ members that posted there a lot making all kinds of sarcastic comments about it's closing here. What's that saying...if you can't say anything nice... Makes me wonder why they even posted at HQ when they don't seem to like it much.

ItsOnlyMountains said:

I wouldn't say you hit the nail on the head...your thumb must surely hurt...

cosmoplastic said:

Yours too.

Serena said:

Well, it's not surprising really, seeing that the first sentence of Aaron's statement said that he had been "asked" (made) to change the banner and that he couldn't afford to play any more games. Of course there's stuff going on behind the scenes, and Gav hinted as much, but if the official line from the beginning kept returning to that 'banner', you can't really blame people for talking about the banner and making assumptions about its impact. Who in their right mind want to start making assumptions about what 'happens behind the scenes' when all they're told is that it's the banner that was the final straw?

In any case...wishing Aaron and the crew the best. Thanks for a couple of wonderful years.

I really wish we could at least access our PM's. There were about 30 I had saved that I'd really like to email to myself.

ItsOnlyMountains said:

So what is your name on HQ? I like to know who is asking. Are you an HQ moderator too?

Gav said:

::mouth drops open::
DER FUCK??

Gav said:

This is hilarious. What a paranoid, pathetic, has-been Prince has become. I take it the album in question was from twenty years ago as he hasn't had four hits all totaled since the early 90's.

If this genuinely occurred, Housequake should have alerted every celebrity and music blog on the internet with the news and a copy of the email. Show the world how deluded Prince really is.

And I'd venture to guess his music wouldn't be such trite blather for the last decade plus if he spent a little more time in the studio composing as opposed to launching Flash-laden websites that were hip for all of three minutes in 2001 or policing and attempting to stop not just free speech but casual discussion of his long since past ability to compose a hit single.

ItsOnlyMountains said:

And we got the right to have those comments BECAUSE we were on it all the time. What's it to you anyway? Mmmm, this enquiring mind wants to know.

Wall said:

I've long wondered why this never happened!!

for your post.

for the entire ridiculous P vs HQ saga.

JMHO.

Guess it is gone for good, this is all that's left, and it's named 'website closure'.

http : //www.housequake.com/ housequake_ website_ closure.jpg

I'm glad HQ closed down, maybe Aron was right and has a right to be fed up.
The org rocks! I was never for that place even though i was there. And thats hypacritical, its just for me it took hq to shut down completly before i really new what the real site really is. Im not taking sides, but both sites has it's pro's and con's. But I'm with Aron Im sick of the bullshit between the site and prince. whenever someone get mad the sites are shut down and its crap cuz the fans have no say what so over. With the last lawsuit I'm unsure how HQ was able to stay afloat.hahahaaaaa.


[Edited 2/4/09 4:21am]
[Edited 2/4/09 13:54pm]

Sorry if my english is bad but...

I love the one way thinking that is going on with Aaron/Housequake.
Are you people forgetting all the things that was illegals over the years ?
Do you wish a reminder ? Well... I remember that in the beginning, circa 1996/7, there was some direct links to unreleased songs on the Housequake's front page... like Starfish & Coffee (Jazz version), I'm a DJ, etc.
No forums at that time.
Some years later... it was not difficult at all for anybody to have access to the "underground".
Which underground ? you know them well. TRH, usenet, links to others sites etc. It was clearly on a sticky in the forums...
"how to have access". Fast forward and you have some videos, pictures... all with copyrights.
Imagine Prince/NPG surfing on the net and finding all about that...
You know very well how he react over bootleggers... and now bootleggers are his fans/fams ?
Who's right here ? Tell me how will you react to this kind of stuff ?
Maybe I'm wrong but I think Prince give a lot of freedom to Housequake and others sites over the years...
But in the end, it was enough. And then you have "his staff" rolling the drums of war.
Personnaly. I would do the same.
I'm sad that some people are forgetting all the stuffs against P that was going on since 1986 with boots and 1996 with the web.
Please reread your HQ Weekly Bulletin with threads like this :
- Kazaa file shares... ?
- New Lib files uploaded on abmp
- Vhs/cd trade
- Trade vcd's
etc.

So again I would do the same as Prince/NPG/Paisley... No respect for me ? No respect for you.

I will make an analogy with this : Apple & Steve Jobs.
You need to imagine Prince as a product and I think the man is seeing "Prince/The Symbol" as a product too.
Apple is a company like NPG/Paisley/PRN are.
Steve Jobs is CEO like Prince is CEO
Apple have products like : Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, iTunes, Mac OS X, etc.
NPG/Paisley/PRN have products like : Prince, Prince's productions, CD's, DVD's, Concerts, Books, Perfumes, etc.
Can Apple survive without Steve ? Well Wallstreet will put AAPL down to the ground but yes, if the Mac's ecosystem is perfectly protected.
Can NPG/Paisley/PRN can survive without Prince ? Well fans/fams will be really sad but yes, if the Prince's ecosystem is perfectly protected.
How does Apple react when people are using Mac OS X on standard PC or Jailbreaking iPhone ? Badly.
How NPG/Paisley/PRN react when people are using Prince materials with © ? Badly.
How do Apple react when somedoby use an element of the interface of Mac OS X ? Very badly...
The same with NPG/Paisley/PRN/Prince. There is no difference. It's a business.

Flame On.

PS: and don't tell me that the solution of all of this is open 'the vault". This is HIS call after all, HIS work.
If he has the idea to have his old work going out after his dead, well so be it.

PS2 : And you know what... You see that over the year Aaron doesn't have any respect for Prince... And then you see that he's got no respect for the community either, no respect for me or you. Just thinking about his ego too.
Is it difficult to "give" Housequake to somebody else ? Or to create another site with the same community (but without him) before shutting down like that ?

PS3 : Also... Is Prince/NPG overreacting ? Well I wish I've got the patience they've got since more than 25 years with © materials.

Thnx for reminding me once again why HQ was the bomb all these years Jeromba!
Those sure were the days. I applaud Aaron for the guts he had for all the things he's done. Those who dare have all the fun....and boy did we have fun at HQ all those years.

IMO, Aaron made the right decision to close Housequake, and the issue with the web banner was the 'icing on the cake' as HQ dealt with alot of issues over graphics and such like over the years. It's unfortunate though as along with the org, Housequake did a great job in bringing Prince's fans together, promoting his music & projects etc. IIRC, there was an amicable relationship between Prince & his team and Housequake towards the end, with HQ promoting P's new website, so it's still kinda a surprise for HQ to be closed.

Hq was a great site, easy to navigate and an incredible source for all sorts of info on P, which he never bothered to put online or publish in any shape or form himself. So, to me, I truly find it a damn shame that Aaron has shut the place. But I do understand; at some point in life, sustaining a fansite for an artist that lives like a primadonna and pisses on every fan made attempt to celebrate his talent just gets to be too tiresome.

Unfortunately, Prince realizes he can pretty much get away with it because once you get hooked on someone's music, it's hard not to go out and buy it, even though the artist seems to act like a spoiled brat.

The only way to keep your head sane amidst so much diva behaviour, is creating some distance, and maybe that's just what Aaron is doing.

The press release last year in the name of al three major fansites was great but I guess the site managers are now contemplating whether to take that option again or not.

CandaceS said:

The email demands probably came with some kind of confidentiality clause that reprinted them or sharing them would be a violation of privacy or something. (You know the kind of language that a lot of companies use at the bottom...)

purplecam said:

Just as I have the right to comment on what I noticed. It's nothing to me other than an observation.

jeromba said:

I've been a member of HQ for years and ALL of "the things that was illegals" that you mentioned were policed very well. It's been years since they allowed any of this, the mods were very much on top of keeping the place legal. If you want to go way back then I believe back in the day this site also had "the things that was illegals", and yes, this site is also now "clean". My point: let's not go back to before the days of compliance for examples. Let's stick to the environment we're all dealing with in the here and now, ok?

ItsOnlyMountains said:

If any such language appeared then they should have sent a concise version of the story to every blog and news outlet imaginable with a small recap of Prince's online tantrums. I don't think it would hurt to still do such. A little blurb on why Houequake closed down mentioning the absurd three or four hit email and all that's taken place in the past. Don't let someone who is far outside their legal rights bully you.

And unless the album was Purple Rain, Prince hasn't had four hits from an album in 25 years, or his career for that matter. I think it's safe to qualify a hit as something that was in the top ten.

Wall said:

I hate to disagree, but a hit is generally qualified as anything Top 40 (in the US, anyway). By that qualification, Diamonds And Pearls would be the only LP with 4 "hits", beaten of course by Purple Rain which had 5.
PURPLE RAIN:
When Doves Cry #1
Let's Go Crazy #1
Purple Rain #2
I Would Die 4 U #8
Take Me With U #25
DIAMONDS AND PEARLS:
Gett Off #21
Cream #1
Diamonds And Pearls #3
Money Don't Matter 2 Night #23
Source: The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Hits (7th Edition)

You can certainly argue top 40 is a hit but good luck finding anyone but a Prince fan that's familiar with Money Don't Matter Tonight. I'd guess even Diamonds and Pearls, Gett Off and Cream aren't exactly getting a whole lot of popular jukebox play. The only Prince songs the general public knows are 1999, Little Red Corvette, his Purple Rain songs and Kiss. But this is getting off topic.

ItsOnlyMountains said:

Makes you wonder also why people call themselves Prince fans, and run web sites devoted to him, when they don't seem to like him much?

funkteer said:

No... you confuse liking HIM with liking the MUSIC. They are, unfortunately, two completely different beasts. I am a fan of the music he used to make, but haven't been of HIM for a long time. I don't know him, very few of the people posting here or on HQ do, but from all appearances he's a right ass. You don't have to like HIM though, not to run a website about the music. The rest is what comes with the music, not the other way around.

Wall said:

I disagree i was watching Dancing on Ice on TV on Sunday and they played Kiss the same with last year when they played Diamonds & Pearls loads of people i know, know prince songs but aint fans of his music.

cream72 said:

He's still a well known persona and I won't argue his big hits are still in the collective conscious of a lot of people but those people are all growing older. Outside of the song Purple Rain I don't think younger people are at all familiar with Prince's music. He's a has been which is evidenced by the constant greatest hits tour revues. When all else fails, break out Purple Rain, and for the past 10 years he's done precious else.

But again, I don't mean to get this topic with a discussion of how many people are familiar with his hit songs.

Teacher said:

That was my point too.

Teacher said:

I see where you are coming from with that and I used to think like that but for me, I can't separate the man from the music and that's with any artist out there. They are their music. As you said, we don't know the man personally to really know how much of an ass he may or may not be but I like Prince because I like his music & his style. All of his other stuff doesn't make me dislike him so much that I can't deal with his current or older music. If I didn't like the man, I would not be on prince.org or HQ talking about the man and his music. Trust.

Plus, I'm not at a fansite to make friends, I'm here to talk about my favorite artist. If I make friends, then that's is icing on the cake. Thing is I won't like everything that people will say on here for whatever reasons and vice versa but it won't make me stop posting here or whereever else talk of Prince is. It's just the way it is.
[Edited 2/4/09 12:27pm]