Doozer encouraged me to post this where more will see it, so, here ya go:

Steven Parke was the special guest at a Prince fan gathering here in Kentucky Saturday night.

He gave a Q&A that was over 2 hours long. He talked about his experiences working with Prince for over a decade. He discussed the different album cover projects he did, as well as other art projects that he was in charge of at Paisley. He told stories about photo sessions and people he met and anecdotes about Prince the practical joker. He talked about what it was like for Prince to be his friend, his boss and PRINCE. He shared about some of the great music he got to witness Prince perform in the studio and elsewhere and about how hard the bands had to rehearse to take the music live to a level higher than the studio recording.

He is working on his Prince book which is due in the spring and will include photos and art as well as stories and anecdotes. You will probably be able to read much of what he talked about there. He also signed photos, one of which was exclusive to that event and has not / will not be available elsewhere. Unfortunately that wasn't in the budget for me at this time.

He also did a photo clinic earlier in the day which I missed and auctioned off some rare items.

Overall he was very nice, very entertaining and I enjoyed hearing him speak and getting to meet him way more than I expected. I'm one who is into the music first and much less interested in photo shoots and album covers but he surprised me and had way more to say than I expected. I will definitely be buying his book.

Interesting to note, with the controversy brewing among the fans in reference to DJ Brother Jules upcoming Remix Experience CDS, Steven said that the artist working on the covers has contacted him about the project and that as far as he knows it is indeed official and will be released by NPG Records. Not a definitive answer to the controversy of course, but, still interesting as many here are skeptical of the authenticity of that upcoming release.

Beyond that, fun get together with other hard core fans, sold, bought & traded a few records, heard some great music.... Good times.

[Edited 7/11/16 7:05am]

Being the one who encouraged you to post this, I feel a strong obligation to say this is extremely cool.

.

However, those graphics for the event are horrible and probably embarrassed the hell out of Parke.

[Edited 7/11/16 11:05am]

Doozer said:

Being the one who encouraged you to post this, I feel a strong obligation to say this is extremely cool.

.

However, those graphics for the event are horrible and probably embarrassed the hell out of Parke.

[Edited 7/11/16 11:05am]

[Edited 7/11/16 11:45am]