So got to check out Morris Day & The Time last night in San Antonio...there was a SPURS viewing party at the AT&T Center and when I heard Morris was hired as a pre game concert I was like . Had to go! Also it was absolutely FREE!! And general admission.. Not a spurs fan, but went just for the show.

Sat as close to stage as I could and damn I hadnt seen him since 1996 and I must say they really put on a great show. Even did a few songs I wasnt xpecting.. like Pandemonium /Chocolate.

I even got to get up on stage and do the Bird l!! lol

Highlight was when I shared a 'fistbump' with Morris up on stage. Awesome.

Setlist that I remember:

The Stick

Get it Up

7779311

Chocolate

Pandemonium

The Bird

Jungle Love

Gigolos get lonely too

Wild & Loose

Oak Tree

Fishnet

THe Walk

[Edited 6/10/13 14:20pm]

Cool, thanks for sharing!

they really should take some Prince (covers) Party Up, Uptown, Erotic City, Baby I'm A Star, Sexy MF, Get Off, Movie Star, High Fashion

Nothing from the O7 record, huh? Oh, well...one can dream.

March 20, 2013 9:58 am • David Burke

Morris Day doesn’t have the time for drum loops or computerized sampling.

.

“It’s all about the music first. Our music was made to be re-created because it was put down with all the real instruments. That’s our forte, being able to re-create the music,” the leader of Morris Day and The Time said. “The grooves are going to be there — live, no samples — and me and the fellas are gonna be in the pimp suits, so it’ll look good and sound good.”

.

Likewise, he said, there aren’t any covers of other artists’ music. “We basically play our stuff. We’ve never been able to venture into other peoples’,” he said. “Other people have been able to do covers in their concerts, but I just don’t really care to do so.”

.

Day, Monte Moir and Jellybean Johnson are the three original members of The Time represented on the seven-man band’s concerts, including a Saturday night show at the Quad-Cities Waterfront Convention Center in Bettendorf.

.

Morris Day was one of the staples of the Minneapolis music scene, which reached its zenith in 1984 with the release of the Prince movie “Purple Rain,” featuring Day as a co-star and notching one of The Time’s biggest hits, “Jungle Love.”

.

“My stock went up. It quadrupled,” the 55-year-old said from his home in Las Vegas.

Day said he realized the movie’s impact when he took his family to Disneyland and the crowds that followed him forced them to leave.

.

Getting screen time — Day also appeared in the Prince film “Graffiti Bridge” — made him think he could jump full-force into movies.

.

“The results, in a perfect world, could have been better. They were good. Hollywood came right after me, but it was never pulled off,” he said. “I tried to do the acting thing, but I learned pretty quickly that I’m really a musician. I’m not good at working and taking orders. You think the Hollywood life means you’re your own boss, but never have you been told to do so much.”

.

Prince and Day go back to their hometown of Minneapolis, where they were students at rival high schools and introduced by mutual friend Andre Cymone.

.

“We hung out, and I found out (Cymone) was in a band and I went to watch them. The band was just crazy. These guys were 13, 14 years old — Andre on bass, Prince on guitar and sometimes keyboard. The band was playing Santana, and Prince was doing these solos like he was 20 years old,” he recalled. “It was just crazy.”

.

After hearing Day play the drums, Cymone thought he’d found a replacement for the band’s percussionist.

.

“Back then he was quiet, he really didn’t talk much,” Day recalled. “So after he heard me play a little bit, he just stared at me like I was crazy.”

.

Being asked to join the band was encouraging, Day said.

.

“That’s when I got serious about music. I was casual about it, but these guys were so serious and all they talked about was ‘making it,’ ” Day said. “I kind of got on that bandwagon and that’s what I started talking about, thinking about and dreaming about.”

.

Day said he tried to echo his friends’ confidence.

.

“I kind of always walked around with this feeling like something special was going to happen, like I had something going on,” he said. “But I wasn’t sure. I was confident that something good was going to come my way.”

.

Prince is still counted as a close friend, Day said.

.

“We’re all good when we see each other, but it’s not like back in the day where we hang out and keep up with each other on a day-to-day basis,” Day said. “Life has a way of changing on you, and you grow separate from people just because of circumstance. Just different things that happen, you know?”

.

qctimes

2012 Jesse Johnson interview

This is over 2 hours long

[Edited 6/22/13 15:46pm]

Legendary Music Producer Jimmy Jam Discusses The Original 7ven - aka The Time

By Chaz Lipp, Sunday, March 24, 2013

.

Late 2011 saw the release of a very special album that most longtime fans of The Time never expected. Condensate was a full-fledged reunion, with all seven original members—lead singer Morris Day, his right-hand man Jerome Benton, keyboardists Jimmy Jam & Monte Moir, guitarist Jesse Johnson, bassist Terry Lewis, and drummer Jellybean Johnson—together for their first new recordings since 1990.

In 2012, I had the opportunity to discuss the album (credited to The Original 7ven) one-on-one with Jimmy Jam. The resulting interview ran on The Morton Report, split into parts one and two. Beyond the reunion, we discussed the history of The Time and their association with Prince. In addition, we touched on the numerous achievements of Flyte Tyme Productions. Together with partner Terry Lewis, Jam produced a staggering 16 Billboard number one singles (including nine with Janet Jackson).

Hearing these stories directly from Jimmy Jam was an incredible experience. Whatever has or has not transpired with The Original 7ven since the album’s release, the fact remains that Condensate is a great funk record and fans are lucky to have it. Whether or not the band (under any name) works together again, the reunion is worth celebrating.

What follows are a few extra bits and pieces from my talk with Jam that weren’t used in the previous interviews (linked above).

CINEMA LOWDOWN: The Time first reunited onstage in 2008 for a performance on the Grammy Awards telecast. Was that difficult to organize?

JIMMY JAM: My analogy has always been, when you see a friend and say, “Oh, we need to get together sometime.” And “sometime” never happens if you don’t schedule something. “Okay, here’s the date. Are we going to get back together for this?” Eventually everyone came around.

CL: Since it was all seven original members, did that one-off performance plant the seed for what became Condensate?

JJ: I just didn’t really want to do it if it was only four of us, or five of us, or whatever. So when we were able to accomplish that [full reunion], it was the first step.

CL: Later that same year, you guys did a string of shows at the Flamingo in Las Vegas.

JJ: That was fun, the perfect place. Plus Morris lives in Vegas. We brought our families together and did the whole thing.

CL: And sessions for the new album followed?

JJ: We said, “If we’re going to do this, let’s do this.” We couldn’t walk through an airport without someone coming up to us saying, “When are you guys getting back together?” So I’ve got to say, the fans had a lot to do with it too.

CL: With you all living in different parts of the country, how hard was it to coordinate recording sessions?

JJ: We were able to get stuff done. Me and Terry would go—or Jerome would join us—we’d go to Vegas sometimes and catch up with Morris out there to do vocals. Sometimes if we came up with a track, we’d send it over to Jesse so he would do his guitar stuff. Sometimes Jesse would come over to our studio. So it was really whatever combination worked on any given song. That’s the way we would do it.

CL: Playing those 15 shows in Vegas must’ve really helped you all get your sound together again.

JJ: Yeah, we [also] did a gig in Detroit. We played a gig in Minneapolis. I think we played a couple more gigs in Vegas.

CL: Condensate is the first Time album without any participation by Prince, which I understand was not by design, but rather a matter of circumstances.

JJ: When we were making the record, we were actually thinking that he’s going to like the record, and you know, [say] “You guys did good.” I think he’s sent out messages, as he does sometimes, that he enjoyed seeing—or I don’t know how he saw it, because I don’t think he was at our shows—but that he enjoyed some of the shows we did.

CL: Yet he didn’t let you guys call it The Time?

JJ: Like, that’s his thing. So since he built it, or he feels he built it, then it’s his to say whether it can be the same name or whether it should die. Maybe he’ll one day [say], “You guys put 30 years into this. You should have the name.”

CL: In addition to the name issue, Jesse Johnson’s departure shortly after the album’s release seems like another roadblock.

JJ: Jesse will always be a member of the family. Somebody decides to leave and do different things and go a different way. We support him. We’ve had a long enough history together to realize, at least on our side we realize never say never.

CL: Looking back to the 1990 film that Prince directed and The Time co-starred in, Graffiti Bridge, you’ve said the music is great, but the movie not so much.

JJ: Because that’s what Prince does so well. I think he could edit a movie great, because I think he’s got the right sensibility to do that. But to actually tell a cinematographer or art director what to do, I didn’t think he really had the communication skills to do it and I think the proof was in the pudding.

CL: Can we hope to someday hear more Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis collaborations with Janet Jackson?

JJ: I think we have the right idea for her at this stage and I think the time away from her—being away from Discipline [2008 album]—that is probably good. Because as producers me and Terry, whenever we work with somebody established, we kind of look at them as fans [of theirs]. That was the approach with the Original 7ven: “This is what I’d like to hear if I could hear the first Time record in 20 years.” And then create that record. So I think we’d like the opportunity to do that with Janet, and I think we have some great ideas. So we’ll see. We’ll see what happens.

For more information about Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, visit the official Flyte Tyme Productions website. For more on The Original 7ven, visit their official site and their official Facebook page.

MickyDolenz said:

March 20, 2013 9:58 am • David Burke

Morris Day doesn’t have the time for drum loops or computerized sampling.

.

“It’s all about the music first. Our music was made to be re-created because it was put down with all the real instruments. That’s our forte, being able to re-create the music,” the leader of Morris Day and The Time said. “The grooves are going to be there — live, no samples — and me and the fellas are gonna be in the pimp suits, so it’ll look good and sound good.”

.

Likewise, he said, there aren’t any covers of other artists’ music. “We basically play our stuff. We’ve never been able to venture into other peoples’,” he said. “Other people have been able to do covers in their concerts, but I just don’t really care to do so.”

.

Day, Monte Moir and Jellybean Johnson are the three original members of The Time represented on the seven-man band’s concerts, including a Saturday night show at the Quad-Cities Waterfront Convention Center in Bettendorf.

.

Morris Day was one of the staples of the Minneapolis music scene, which reached its zenith in 1984 with the release of the Prince movie “Purple Rain,” featuring Day as a co-star and notching one of The Time’s biggest hits, “Jungle Love.”

.

“My stock went up. It quadrupled,” the 55-year-old said from his home in Las Vegas.

Day said he realized the movie’s impact when he took his family to Disneyland and the crowds that followed him forced them to leave.

.

Getting screen time — Day also appeared in the Prince film “Graffiti Bridge” — made him think he could jump full-force into movies.

.

“The results, in a perfect world, could have been better. They were good. Hollywood came right after me, but it was never pulled off,” he said. “I tried to do the acting thing, but I learned pretty quickly that I’m really a musician. I’m not good at working and taking orders. You think the Hollywood life means you’re your own boss, but never have you been told to do so much.”

.

Prince and Day go back to their hometown of Minneapolis, where they were students at rival high schools and introduced by mutual friend Andre Cymone.

.

“We hung out, and I found out (Cymone) was in a band and I went to watch them. The band was just crazy. These guys were 13, 14 years old — Andre on bass, Prince on guitar and sometimes keyboard. The band was playing Santana, and Prince was doing these solos like he was 20 years old,” he recalled. “It was just crazy.”

.

After hearing Day play the drums, Cymone thought he’d found a replacement for the band’s percussionist.

.

“Back then he was quiet, he really didn’t talk much,” Day recalled. “So after he heard me play a little bit, he just stared at me like I was crazy.”

.

Being asked to join the band was encouraging, Day said.

.

“That’s when I got serious about music. I was casual about it, but these guys were so serious and all they talked about was ‘making it,’ ” Day said. “I kind of got on that bandwagon and that’s what I started talking about, thinking about and dreaming about.”

.

Day said he tried to echo his friends’ confidence.

.

“I kind of always walked around with this feeling like something special was going to happen, like I had something going on,” he said. “But I wasn’t sure. I was confident that something good was going to come my way.”

.

Prince is still counted as a close friend, Day said.

.

“We’re all good when we see each other, but it’s not like back in the day where we hang out and keep up with each other on a day-to-day basis,” Day said. “Life has a way of changing on you, and you grow separate from people just because of circumstance. Just different things that happen, you know?”

.

qctimes

Thanks for the article. As far as acting, I read one of his old interviews Morris refused to audition parts because he felt he didn't need to since I guess Purple Rain was his acting reel. Nevertheless I am glad he continues to what he loves the most.... music.

BlaqueKnight said:

Nothing from the O7 record, huh? Oh, well...one can dream.

No songs, but he did do the little bit from the intro of Condensate (song).

"I dont sweat I Condensate"...the crowd loved it...