GimmeThat said:

Chapter 7, right? Mayte's story of her first attempt at stage diving! I saw a video once where she was dancing too close to the edge of the stage and she fell off. She bounced right back up and climbed beack onto the stage and kept going. I cant even imagine!

NO, we are still on Chapter 6......I'm waiting for all this other hub-bub to work it's way out before I call for Chapter 7. And I wish everyone would stop saying we are on Chapter 7 because we aren't.

amethyst68 said:

NotACleverName said:

amethyst68 said: And he did change the lyrics from simply "baby" to "Puerto Rican beauty" (reply #606). Obviously, he was working thru something. Isn't that his standard?

Most definitely he (they) was/were working through something. She asked him for a divorce 3 months later. At the after party a month prior, he mentioned on stage, with Mayte in attendance, that Mayte wasn't happy. So, yes, they were working through something. Not to mention, as Mayte discusses in the book, we now know that Mayte was very upset with the "The Greatest Romance..." music video Prince released in November 1999, the month prior to the Rave 2000 concert.

[Edited 4/11/17 17:33pm]

What after party?

PennyPurple said:

I've had to take a break from the book for a bit. I did good with the first chapters, but it's getting too sad for me. This is why I hadn't planned to read the book. I knew how their story ended, and I hate sad endings. I have no ill feelings towards Mayte or Prince after reading what I have thus far - her for sharing her story, or him for the things he did. Well, maybe him a little bit But seriously, the man was broken so there's that. To be honest the thing that's helped me keep this in perspective and not get too judgmental are the interviews I've read with Mayte. She is so gracious especially after what she has gone through. If she can keep it classy I have no reason to not do the same. At the end of a recent interview she said something to the effect that despite everything he is/was family. She will always love him she said. Simple as that.

Also huge thanks for this thread. Its a relief to come here and read/share without things getting ugly/ nasty. It's refreshing. Honestly the folks who would feel offended by the book must have been living under a rock because I've yet to read anything that wasn't already more or less common knowledge. But I do live only 25 mi from PP so I suppose we heard it all, while some of the stories never made it out of the immediate area?

sonshine said:

I've had to take a break from the book for a bit. I did good with the first chapters, but it's getting too sad for me. This is why I hadn't planned to read the book. I knew how their story ended, and I hate sad endings. I have no ill feelings towards Mayte or Prince after reading what I have thus far - her for sharing her story, or him for the things he did. Well, maybe him a little bit But seriously, the man was broken so there's that. To be honest the thing that's helped me keep this in perspective and not get too judgmental are the interviews I've read with Mayte. She is so gracious especially after what she has gone through. If she can keep it classy I have no reason to not do the same. At the end of a recent interview she said something to the effect that despite everything he is/was family. She will always love him she said. Simple as that.

Also huge thanks for this thread. Its a relief to come here and read/share without things getting ugly/ nasty. It's refreshing. Honestly the folks who would feel offended by the book must have been living under a rock because I've yet to read anything that wasn't already more or less common knowledge. But I do live only 25 mi from PP so I suppose we heard it all, while some of the stories never made it out of the immediate area?

I finished up the book the other day. Still trying to wrap my head around it, and what I'm thinking is not nice.

.

I think what is helping me is that we are going thru this book chapter by chapter and that help breaks it down a little at a time....well we were going chapter by chapter until some got us completly off track.

.

I'm trying to get this thread back on track to Chapter 6, so we can move on...some aren't cooperating.

.

I would like all of the chapters discussed before the next 10 days, and after that people can discuss anything about the book, no matter what chapter. So we are needing to move forward to get thru to the end.

I am re-posting the timeline/summary for chapter six. I originally posted this yesterday in reply #478.

.

Chapter Six Timeline/Summary

.

Just to refresh everyone, when chapter five ends, Mayte has joined the NPG and is living in Minnesota. At the end of the chapter, Mayte discusses how Prince was always impeccably dressed and groomed, and notes the irony of him being found dead with his clothes on backwards and his socks inside-out.

.

Chapter six

1992 – Mayte is preparing for the Diamonds and Pearls Tour. She has a minor role on the tour. She did not have much of a social life outside of Prince, and would become lonely if he was out of town or too busy to hang out with her. Carmen Electra is working on an album at Paisley Park and was his girlfriend at the time. Carmen and Mayte hang out one time when Prince is out of town. Mayte notes here that Prince’s top girlfriend or woman was always in Minneapolis.

.

April 1992 – Mayte performs in her first show with Prince, which took place at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. Mayte, Prince, and the NPG pray before the show. Mayte notes that Prince and company always prayed before every show. Prince and company spend a week in Japan and while there, film the music video for “The Continental.” “The Continental” video also has footage from other sources, including concert footage and footage of Mayte in Cairo.

.

1992 – After going to Japan, the Diamonds and Pearls Tour goes to Australia for 20 days. After a two-week break, the tour continues to Europe. Mayte notes that the tour had three groups of people: the crew, the band, and Prince. While Mayte was formally a part of the band, she often travelled with Prince. Mayte’s role in Prince’s world is not clear, but she is close with Prince, and her closeness with him causes some tension due to other members of the band being jealous of her.

.

1992 – As the Diamonds and Pearls Tour heads across Europe, the record label where Mayte recorded briefly a few years previously finds out that she is on Prince’s tour and releases her record “Too Dramatic.”

.

1992 – One night while the tour is in Europe, Mayte visits Prince in his hotel and then returns to the hotel where she and other members of the band are staying. Some members of the NPG, including Diamond and Pearl, are gossiping about Mayte and her role in Prince’s world. Mayte comes to the realization that Prince is keeping her around so that she does not go to Cairo. She confides in Prince about the gossiping incident. Not long after this incident, Prince writes Mayte a letter to let her know that she is important to him and that other women are jealous of her.

.

1992 – Mayte notices changes in her body because she is not dancing as much as she has in the past. Prince criticizes Mayte for her weight and tells his accountant to dock her pay. Prince’s actions make Mayte angry. She starts dancing on the side stage at concerts when she is not performing onstage, and quickly works herself back into shape.

.

1992 – When the tour ends, Mayte goes to visit her parents and then returns to Minnesota. Someone from Paisley Park tells Mayte that she has to start paying for the rent of her apartment, even though her salary remains the same.

.

1992 – Mayte and Prince are not formally dating, but they are more than friends and he is also her employer. One day at a rehearsal, when Carmen Electra is present, Prince shakes hands with Mayte, indicating that she was more than just his friend, that she is his woman. Mayte also starts having a bodyguard, indicating that she is Prince’s woman. However, at this time, Prince and Mayte do not yet have a sexual relationship.

.

Around 1994 – During the time when “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” is popular, after Mayte and Prince have become sexually involved but prior to their engagement, Prince writes her a heartfelt letter. He writes that he has never been interested in talking with a woman about having children, but he wants to discuss having children with her. He ends the letter by writing “ will never leave u” 16 times. Mayte reflects on how she read this letter toward the end of their marriage because he was no longer speaking these kind of passionate, commitment-oriented words to her at that time. She also notes seeing him shake another woman’s hand. She discusses the relationships that he had with various women, and her relationships with a few of these women. She also states her significance as his wife and the mother of his child, and that their relationship was unique.

LBrent said:

purplerabbithole said:

I understand the idea of personal responsibilty. But to Prince in some ways, he probably felt he was taking personal responsibility by throwing himself at the mercy of GOD and pushing his wife into a religious life he thought would save them both (as well as future offspring.) Its delusional, yes. But the dude needed real help from real professionals. If he was too blind to see that he needed it or too fearful (paranoia and fear make it sometimes scary to get the help one needs), then his 'blindness' makes me sad as well. No one intentionally lives a lonely fearful life in which one deprives oneslef.. Its his fault but a messed up psyche is a messed up psyche. To me, Mayte's suffering felt more like collatoral damage than the result of malice. He should have broken up with her like a man but she might have been stronger than him.

I wholeheartedly agree.

He was obviously misguided in thinking that, but I do think that he thought that.

I'm also patiently waiting to comment more until Penny says we're up to Chapter 7 cuz I'm lost now.

Some of my thoughts on chapter six:

.

Mayte provides some really interesting information on how Prince and company travelled. The ABC system is interesting, to say the least. It created a totem pole or hierarchy or sorts.

.

Speaking of the gossip about Mayte, there clearly was a lot of drama going on during the Diamonds and Pearls tour. It's not really a surprise given that there's this really sexy, wealthy, talented man (Prince) and whole lot of women around him, vying for his attention and his affection. Plus, all of the people on the tour are spending all of this time together on the road, and they are bound to get on each other's nerves. I've never been on tour, but I've been on trips and people start to get on your nerves after a while.

.

I thought that the letter on p. 130 was really interesting. This is before Mayte is formally his girlfriend. She is at this time his muse/more-than-friend-but-not-quite-girlfriend. I feel like he's almost admitting that they are soulmates, but they weren't a couple yet at this point in time. I feel like he's also praising her for being patient and not trying to jump into bed with him. How did others interpret this letter?

On p. 124, she writes that she eventually learns the unwritten rule that Prince's top girl/woman is always in Minneapolis. It's not completely clear, but my take is that around 1992 (which is where the book is at this point) is when she figured out this unwritten rule. Or did she figure out this unwritten rule later on?

Thank you Michelle for posting the timelines for us, I know it's a lot of work.

.

If everyone is ready for Chapter 7 let's move on.

.

In April of 1992 she still had her money, by March of 93 she was broke, and taking food off of room service trays, drinking tea with lot's of honey, and taking food from the food from the crews craft service table.

.

She had enough and told Prince she was leaving. She told Prince why and he raised her salary.

206Michelle said:

On p. 124, she writes that she eventually learns the unwritten rule that Prince's top girl/woman is always in Minneapolis. It's not completely clear, but my take is that around 1992 (which is where the book is at this point) is when she figured out this unwritten rule. Or did she figure out this unwritten rule later on?

Exactly when is kinda murky for me. I'm just glad she got that info to put in her mental filing cabinet. It sure came into play later.

Originally posted in reply #609:

I have a hard time following the dates and chain of events in chapter seven. Mayte skips around and/or is incorrect about some of the dates.

.

I went to Prince Vault (princevault.org) to confirm the dates of some of the events that she references in this chapter. I hope it's okay for me to post this information. The dates will obviously give a general idea of what is in chapter seven, and that's it. I'm not including any spoilers!

.

"Sexy M. F." single:

USA release - June 30, 1992

UK release - July 6, 1992

.

"My Name is Prince" single:

UK released – September 28, 1992

USA release - September 29, 1992

USA maxi-single release - October 22, 1992

UK remix single release - November 2, 1992

.

Love Symbol album:

UK release - October 5, 1992

USA release - October 13, 1992

.

"7" single:

USA release of 7 inch single - November 17, 1992

UK release - November 23, 1992

USA maxi-single release - December 3, 1992

.

Diamonds and Pearls Tour (Japan, Australia, Europe)

April 3, 1992 – July 12, 1992

.

Act I Tour (USA):

March 8, 1993 – April 17, 1993

.

Act II Tour (Europe):

July 26, 1993 – September 7, 1993

.

3 Chains o’ Gold comic book was released in 1993.

.

3 Chains o’ Gold video compilation was released in 1994.

.

Prince Vault did not have specific dates of release for the 3 Chains o' Gold comic book and video compilation, just the years.

[Edited 4/11/17 20:48pm]

Chapte 6

- The letter he wrote to her during the "Most Beautiful Girl" days....so beautiful, so heartfelt. I truly believe that he wanted forever with her, not anticipating the bumpy road, the tragedy that awaited them. I feel like him writing "Eye will never leave you" over and over was some what of a plea to her to never leave him.

-She's had to deal with mean girls most of her life. She seems to be a magnet for them without even doing anything and minding her own business.

-She slyly addresses Apollonia for her antics on social media. I can't remember how it all started but it seems as if Apollonia felt she could be territorial of Prince for some strange reason and was probably angered that Apollonia 6 wasn't invited to perform at the tribute concert so she decided to take swipes at Sheila, Susannah and Mayte.

-Someone mentioned or asked earlier in this thread why didn't Prince make use of Mayte's ballerina skills. He did. I recall a video of her doing ballet to "Diamonds and Pearls" during the tour, then for "And God Created Women" in the next tour.

-I can imagine Prince laughing when Mayte told him the other band members were talking about her stuffing her bra. I laughed myself.

-Prince didn't like the idea of her having friendly relationships with male band members. Was he just being protective or was he projecting.

-I like her humor about her belly-dancing outfit being "ripe" and "walk out there on it's own while she took a nap".

Some thoughts on chapter seven:

.

I wonder if Prince was as all-over-the-place in 1992-1993 as this chapter is. I'm not trying to take a jab at Mayte because I don't know if the scatterbrained nature of this chapter is due to her or due to what was going on in her life and Prince's world at this time. She definitely has some dates wrong though.

.

He had a lot of disposable income to be able to send Mayte, Randee St. Nicholas, and a crew of almost a dozen to Egypt to just shoot footage. I've seen some individual videos from the 3 Chains o' Gold compilation, but I've never actually watched the whole thing from start to finish. (It's damn near impossible to find and I'm wary of buying a bootleg version.) I wonder if he had any kind of plan or structure for the filming, or if it was just spontaneous and based on whatever was inspiring Mayte, Randee, or Prince at the moment.

.

I thought it was funny how he just flies to Puerto Rico on a whim...and then he says he can't stay because the mosquitos are eating him alive.

206Michelle said:

amethyst68 said:

Most definitely he (they) was/were working through something. She asked him for a divorce 3 months later. At the after party a month prior, he mentioned on stage, with Mayte in attendance, that Mayte wasn't happy. So, yes, they were working through something. Not to mention, as Mayte discusses in the book, we now know that Mayte was very upset with the "The Greatest Romance..." music video Prince released in November 1999, the month prior to the Rave 2000 concert.

[Edited 4/11/17 17:33pm]

What after party?

An after party a few days following the Septimo performance in November 1999.

206Michelle said:

Some of my thoughts on chapter six:

.

Mayte provides some really interesting information on how Prince and company travelled. The ABC system is interesting, to say the least. It created a totem pole or hierarchy or sorts.

.

Speaking of the gossip about Mayte, there clearly was a lot of drama going on during the Diamonds and Pearls tour. It's not really a surprise given that there's this really sexy, wealthy, talented man (Prince) and whole lot of women around him, vying for his attention and his affection. Plus, all of the people on the tour are spending all of this time together on the road, and they are bound to get on each other's nerves. I've never been on tour, but I've been on trips and people start to get on your nerves after a while.

.

I thought that the letter on p. 130 was really interesting. This is before Mayte is formally his girlfriend. She is at this time his muse/more-than-friend-but-not-quite-girlfriend. I feel like he's almost admitting that they are soulmates, but they weren't a couple yet at this point in time. I feel like he's also praising her for being patient and not trying to jump into bed with him. How did others interpret this letter?

She says the letter was during the Most Beautiful era, after they were intimate but before they were engaged. Not sure why she threw that in there.

By the way, she mentions that sex was something Prince retreated to during painful moments in his life. The very thing he retreated to after the loss of their child and the miscarriage. Knowing that didn't seem to be a deal-breaker in their marriage. Having seen infidelity in her parent's marriage, she seemed better suited to deal with it in her own marriage. More understanding that it was more than a physical need although I would never excuse infidelity but it just goes to show how good of a partner she was for him.

amethyst68 said:

Chapte 6

- The letter he wrote to her during the "Most Beautiful Girl" days....so beautiful, so heartfelt. I truly believe that he wanted forever with her, not anticipating the bumpy road, the tragedy that awaited them. I feel like him writing "Eye will never leave you" over and over was some what of a plea to her to never leave him.

-She's had to deal with mean girls most of her life. She seems to be a magnet for them without even doing anything and minding her own business.

-She slyly addresses Apollonia for her antics on social media. I can't remember how it all started but it seems as if Apollonia felt she could be territorial of Prince for some strange reason and was probably angered that Apollonia 6 wasn't invited to perform at the tribute concert so she decided to take swipes at Sheila, Susannah and Mayte.

-Someone mentioned or asked earlier in this thread why didn't Prince make use of Mayte's ballerina skills. He did. I recall a video of her doing ballet to "Diamonds and Pearls" during the tour, then for "And God Created Women" in the next tour.

-I can imagine Prince laughing when Mayte told him the other band members were talking about her stuffing her bra. I laughed myself.

-Prince didn't like the idea of her having friendly relationships with male band members. Was he just being protective or was he projecting.

-I like her humor about her belly-dancing outfit being "ripe" and "walk out there on it's own while she took a nap".

I love the letter at the end of chapter six also. He is literally pouring his heart out to her. He wrote " will never leave u" 16 freaking times at the end of that letter...and then didn't keep his word. (Shaking my head.)

.

I thought it was interesting how he writes a sentence and then will insert a sentence with quotation marks. I'm not sure what this means, but my best guess is that what he puts in quotations are words he spoke aloud to her at some point? What did others think?

.

Based primarily on listening to his music (especially songs from Emancipation), I believe that he loved Mayte more deeply than any other woman with whom he had a relationship. My take is that this letter communicates that he's done with the revolving door of women he's had for the past 10+ years, and he's interested in settling down with Mayte. I also thought it was very interesting that he says he never wanted to talk about having babies until around this time when he was with her. (It kind of makes me laugh because there are some orgers who are convinced that Vanity/Denise is his true love, and I'm thinking, um, he never married her.)

amethyst68 said:

206Michelle said:

Some of my thoughts on chapter six:

.

Mayte provides some really interesting information on how Prince and company travelled. The ABC system is interesting, to say the least. It created a totem pole or hierarchy or sorts.

.

Speaking of the gossip about Mayte, there clearly was a lot of drama going on during the Diamonds and Pearls tour. It's not really a surprise given that there's this really sexy, wealthy, talented man (Prince) and whole lot of women around him, vying for his attention and his affection. Plus, all of the people on the tour are spending all of this time together on the road, and they are bound to get on each other's nerves. I've never been on tour, but I've been on trips and people start to get on your nerves after a while.

.

I thought that the letter on p. 130 was really interesting. This is before Mayte is formally his girlfriend. She is at this time his muse/more-than-friend-but-not-quite-girlfriend. I feel like he's almost admitting that they are soulmates, but they weren't a couple yet at this point in time. I feel like he's also praising her for being patient and not trying to jump into bed with him. How did others interpret this letter?

She says the letter was during the Most Beautiful era, after they were intimate but before they were engaged. Not sure why she threw that in there.

Agreed, I'm not sure why she includes the letter at that point in the book because she jumps ahead 1.5 to 2 years to include it and then jumps back 1 to 1.5 years at the beginning of chapter 7.

In response to the bolded question, I think it's becauise insecure men (or women) due to a fear of abandonment are unreasonably jealous.

amethyst68 said:

Chapte 6

- The letter he wrote to her during the "Most Beautiful Girl" days....so beautiful, so heartfelt. I truly believe that he wanted forever with her, not anticipating the bumpy road, the tragedy that awaited them. I feel like him writing "Eye will never leave you" over and over was some what of a plea to her to never leave him.

-She's had to deal with mean girls most of her life. She seems to be a magnet for them without even doing anything and minding her own business.

-She slyly addresses Apollonia for her antics on social media. I can't remember how it all started but it seems as if Apollonia felt she could be territorial of Prince for some strange reason and was probably angered that Apollonia 6 wasn't invited to perform at the tribute concert so she decided to take swipes at Sheila, Susannah and Mayte.

-Someone mentioned or asked earlier in this thread why didn't Prince make use of Mayte's ballerina skills. He did. I recall a video of her doing ballet to "Diamonds and Pearls" during the tour, then for "And God Created Women" in the next tour.

-I can imagine Prince laughing when Mayte told him the other band members were talking about her stuffing her bra. I laughed myself.

-Prince didn't like the idea of her having friendly relationships with male band members. Was he just being protective or was he projecting.

-I like her humor about her belly-dancing outfit being "ripe" and "walk out there on it's own while she took a nap".

amethyst68 said:

By the way, she mentions that sex was something Prince retreated to during painful moments in his life. The very thing he retreated to after the loss of their child and the miscarriage. Knowing that didn't seem to be a deal-breaker in their marriage. Having seen infidelity in her parent's marriage, she seemed better suited to deal with it in her own marriage. More understanding that it was more than a physical need although I would never excuse infidelity but it just goes to show how good of a partner she was for him.

I interpreted what she wrote on page 134 differently. For the record, I think that the paragraph on p. 134 where she talks about sexual chemistry and sexual history is very vague, leaving a lot of room for interpretation.

.

When she says that she wishes his sexual history had ended with her, I took that to mean one or both of two things---he was unfaithful at the end of their marriage (which she discusses in later chapters) and/or that she wished that they had remained married for the rest of their lives. When she says that "making peace with what did happen is an ongoing process," I took that to mean she's still coming to terms with her relationship, particularly her marriage, with him and everything that they experienced.

.

I think also that she knew what she was getting into when she was his girlfriend, as far as him having a lot of women. I'm sure she expected monogamy while they were married (as she should have).

.

I liked how at the end of chapter 6, she came out and said, look, I was his wife and mother of his child. She staked her claim...good for her. It was obviously a very important part of her life, the time she spent with him. And I believe that the time he was with her was also important. She was a major inspiration for the album and subsequent albums.

[Edited 4/11/17 23:10pm]

206Michelle said:

Some thoughts on chapter seven:

.

I wonder if Prince was as all-over-the-place in 1992-1993 as this chapter is. I'm not trying to take a jab at Mayte because I don't know if the scatterbrained nature of this chapter is due to her or due to what was going on in her life and Prince's world at this time. She definitely has some dates wrong though.

.

He had a lot of disposable income to be able to send Mayte, Randee St. Nicholas, and a crew of almost a dozen to Egypt to just shoot footage. I've seen some individual videos from the 3 Chains o' Gold compilation, but I've never actually watched the whole thing from start to finish. (It's damn near impossible to find and I'm wary of buying a bootleg version.) I wonder if he had any kind of plan or structure for the filming, or if it was just spontaneous and based on whatever was inspiring Mayte, Randee, or Prince at the moment.

.

I thought it was funny how he just flies to Puerto Rico on a whim...and then he says he can't stay because the mosquitos are eating him alive.

Remember in Chapter 5 she mentioned to Prince that she was going to Cairo to visit Madama Abla and he asked her if Randee and the film crew could tag along and randomly film stuff. So, most of the footage from Egypt was captured then. This was before she moved to MN. The footage on the bullet train was done during a tour stop in Japan. She mentioned that he didn't have a clear plan at that time how the footage would be used. All he knew was that he'd be telling a story about her.

[Edited 4/11/17 22:47pm]

206Michelle said:

amethyst68 said:

Chapte 6

- The letter he wrote to her during the "Most Beautiful Girl" days....so beautiful, so heartfelt. I truly believe that he wanted forever with her, not anticipating the bumpy road, the tragedy that awaited them. I feel like him writing "Eye will never leave you" over and over was some what of a plea to her to never leave him.

-She's had to deal with mean girls most of her life. She seems to be a magnet for them without even doing anything and minding her own business.

-She slyly addresses Apollonia for her antics on social media. I can't remember how it all started but it seems as if Apollonia felt she could be territorial of Prince for some strange reason and was probably angered that Apollonia 6 wasn't invited to perform at the tribute concert so she decided to take swipes at Sheila, Susannah and Mayte.

-Someone mentioned or asked earlier in this thread why didn't Prince make use of Mayte's ballerina skills. He did. I recall a video of her doing ballet to "Diamonds and Pearls" during the tour, then for "And God Created Women" in the next tour.

-I can imagine Prince laughing when Mayte told him the other band members were talking about her stuffing her bra. I laughed myself.

-Prince didn't like the idea of her having friendly relationships with male band members. Was he just being protective or was he projecting.

-I like her humor about her belly-dancing outfit being "ripe" and "walk out there on it's own while she took a nap".

I love the letter at the end of chapter six also. He is literally pouring his heart out to her. He wrote " will never leave u" 16 freaking times at the end of that letter...and then didn't keep his word. (Shaking my head.)

.

I thought it was interesting how he writes a sentence and then will insert a sentence with quotation marks. I'm not sure what this means, but my best guess is that what he puts in quotations are words he spoke aloud to her at some point? What did others think?

.

Based primarily on listening to his music (especially songs from Emancipation), I believe that he loved Mayte more deeply than any other woman with whom he had a relationship. My take is that this letter communicates that he's done with the revolving door of women he's had for the past 10+ years, and he's interested in settling down with Mayte. I also thought it was very interesting that he says he never wanted to talk about having babies until around this time when he was with her. (It kind of makes me laugh because there are some orgers who are convinced that Vanity/Denise is his true love, and I'm thinking, um, he never married her.)

I think he thought he was done with the revolving door as well...then life got real, tragedy struck and it was so easy to slip back into old habits.

Not to say he didn't love other women but I know there hasn't been another woman before or after Mayte that he loved more.

amethyst68 said:

206Michelle said:

Some thoughts on chapter seven:

.

I wonder if Prince was as all-over-the-place in 1992-1993 as this chapter is. I'm not trying to take a jab at Mayte because I don't know if the scatterbrained nature of this chapter is due to her or due to what was going on in her life and Prince's world at this time. She definitely has some dates wrong though.

.

He had a lot of disposable income to be able to send Mayte, Randee St. Nicholas, and a crew of almost a dozen to Egypt to just shoot footage. I've seen some individual videos from the 3 Chains o' Gold compilation, but I've never actually watched the whole thing from start to finish. (It's damn near impossible to find and I'm wary of buying a bootleg version.) I wonder if he had any kind of plan or structure for the filming, or if it was just spontaneous and based on whatever was inspiring Mayte, Randee, or Prince at the moment.

.

I thought it was funny how he just flies to Puerto Rico on a whim...and then he says he can't stay because the mosquitos are eating him alive.

Remember in Chapter 5 she mentioned to Prince that she was going to Cairo to visit Madama Abla and he asked her if Randee and the film crew could tag along and randomly film stuff. So, most of the footage from Egypt was captured then. This was before she moved to MN. The footage on the bullet train was done during a tour stop in Japan. She mentioned that he didn't have a clear plan at that time how the footage would be used. All he knew was that he'd be telling a story about her.

[Edited 4/11/17 22:47pm]

I stand corrected about why Mayte was in Egypt. Yes, she was there to visit Mme. Abla. So Prince paid for Randee and the rest of the crew to just tag along with Mayte. He had it like that...and he invested a lot of that money back into his art.

Listening to the song "Sweet Baby," my favourite on the album, and I always kind of figured that he wrote the song for or about Mayte because she's in the video. But it never totally made sense because in the first verse, he's talking about a man leaving a woman, and she had never experienced that. But then, later in the song, he sings:

.

Stand tall, (tall)
Sweet baby, (baby)
Don't u fall
U ain't the only one gettin' beat down
It happens 2 us all
The road u chose 2 walk in this life (the road u choose 2 walk in this life)
Is one that leads into the next
So sweet baby, stand tall (sweet baby, stand tall)
Stand tall (sweet baby)
Sweet baby, hold your tears back now
Better days gonna come your way soon, oh yeah sweet baby
Someway, somehow

.

After reading chapter 6, and also part of chapter 7, this song makes so much more sense. I wonder if when he's singing about some of the drama she was going through with the other members of the band that she discusses on pp. 129-130. Did anyone else pick up on this?

I've now read the whole book and intend to come in on the chapter-by-chapter discussion, if I may - but just a general observation:
.
Anyone avoiding this book for fear it demonises P should think again. It hasn't made me love him any less - not one bit - but it has made me respect Mayte and their relationship more.

.

In essence, what comes across is that, contrary to popular opinion, Prince wasn't some freak, ogre, or deity - he was just a man, a man muddling through life in his own way, as we all do.
.

Bless his heart - and thank you, Mayte, for sharing this incredibly moving account of your time together.

.

DD55 said:

Chapter 7

Mayte verifies there is a LOT of stuff in the vault!! Music, videos and more.

.

She was paid very little and when she decided she couldn’t live on that amount of money and was going to go home, P asked her how much she made. He didn’t know? This is a guy in control of everything and everyone, the ‘tour accountant’ was the one that told her her pay would be docked for eating whipped cream. If he had a tour accountant, you know he would be checking to make sure his accounts were in order. Who signed off on payroll checks being cut every week? I think she was very naive. And either is still naive or even today protecting him by trying to dispel rumors that were going around about him underpaying his employees.

.

She has high praise for Morris Hayes.

.

He tells her after shooting a video that it’s time for her to get birth control. She is now officially his girl friend.

.

She talks about the stage dive she did when no one caught her. Dancing was strenuous work with lots of injuries along the way.

.

She was the first one he told that he was going to change his name to the symbol. She said ‘ok'. He replies that he knows that she is the only one that won’t try to talk him out of it.

.

She validates his ‘spiritual’ awakening with regard to the name change.

.

I think someone else mentioned how this chapter is a bit scattered… I wonder if that is due to the fact that he was in the WB / symbol name change period and she doesn’t want to tell the story from his point of view. That period of time was probably ‘all about him’ and I’m sure it was intense. Specific personal events, WB fights/meetings and some of his actions she probably felt best to leave out of the book.

.

~~DD55

It is a good thing he believed in birth control and didnt let nature take its course as he seemed to want in other matters

NotACleverName said:

80tomato said:

There is a you tube video by bbrichter called Prince tribute-Blues guitar , and at 3:06 he sings"i got a bad bad feeling my Puerto Rican beauty don't live here no more...thats allright 'i still got her baby?etc" ...I can't make out the rest and it may not even be "baby"...could someone hear how he finishes that sentence?

Hmmmmm.....this is 1999 NYE ppv Rave Unto concert. The song is "Red House"/Jim Hendrix and these are the lyrics: have a bad bad feeling, that my baby don't live here no more. That's all right, I still got my guitar Look out now. He doesn't say "guitar" but, I hear more of an "e" sound as opposed to an "a"; such as, bebe as opposed to baby. Interesting choice of song, though. Because he did add "Puerto Rican beauty" as opposed to just "baby" like JH version. Obviously, something was on his mind. Don't ya think?

He says he still has Habibi.....which is the name of his brown stratocaster(sp?) guitar.

Chapter Seven Timeline/Summary

Just to refresh everyone, near the end of chapter six, it is 1992, and Mayte and Prince are not formally dating, but they are more than friends and he is her employer. Mayte also starts having a bodyguard, indicating that she is Prince’s woman. However, at this time, Prince and Mayte do not yet have a sexual relationship.

.

At the very end of chapter six, Mayte shares a heartfelt letter that wrote her during “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” era (1994 ish). He wrote her the letter after they had become sexually involved but prior to their engagement. In the letter, writes that he has never been interested in talking with a woman about having children, but he wants to discuss having children with her. He ends the letter by writing “ will never leave u” 16 times. Mayte reflects on how she read this letter toward the end of their marriage because was no longer saying these kind of passionate, commitment-oriented words to her at that time. She also notes seeing him shake another woman’s hand (toward the end of their marriage). She discusses the relationships that he had with various women, and her relationships with a few of these women. She also states her significance as his wife and the mother of his child, and asserts that their relationship was unique.

.

Chapter seven

Note: I have a hard time following the dates and chain of events in this chapter. She skips around and/or is incorrect about some of the dates. Nonetheless, I will use the dates that she uses in the book.

Estimated dates that I make are based on the dates she includes in this chapter.

.

Around 1992/1993 – Mayte talks about the last dress that Madame Abla made for her before Madame Abla died. The dress was black and had gold coins on it. Prince loved the dress so much that one of his wardrobe people called Madame Abla, she sent him some of the gold coins, and one of the wardrobe people made a jacket for him in the same style of Mayte’s outfit. The dress is in the 3 Chains o’ Gold video collection. At the end of the 3 Chains o’ Gold video collection, Prince announces that, going forward, he will be known as .

.

1991-1993 – Filming for 3 Chains o’ Gold takes place. Filming starts in 1991 in Egypt. Filming ends in 1993 with the filiming of the "7" music video in LA. Mayte describes the period of time during which Prince was making 3 Chains o’ Gold (approximately 2 years) as a hypercreative era for him, a period in which he was doing a great deal of soul searching and questioning the ways in which the music industry interacted with artists. She notes that a lot of material in his vault is from this era. She describes the decision to change his name to as the end result of a some difficult soul searching.

.

April 1992 – Diamonds and Pearls Tour starts. Mayte still has plenty of money that she earned from bellydancing.

.

March 1993 – The Act I Tour starts. She is broke and still paying the rent on the apartment in Minnesota. Any money she has goes toward her phone bill. She has so little money that she sneaks food from room service carts at hotels and the crew’s craft service tables after performances.

.

Summer of 1993 – Mayte, Prince, and company are in Minnesota shooting footage for a music video. He asks her to decorate a prop for the video, and she spends her own money buying materials from the Michaels craft store. Broke, she goes to Paisley Park to tell Prince that she is leaving to pursue bellydancing opportunities in Egypt. He claims that he doesn’t know how much she makes. The end result is that he triples her pay, and other members of his entourage also receive a pay increase.

.

Summer of 1993 – Prince asks Morris Hayes to join the NPG.

.

Late December 1993 – Prince visits Puerto Rico and meets Mayte’s extended family. He has a hard time dealing with the mosquitos. Prince tells Mayte that he’s going to change his name to the .

.

Note: This is where I become really confused with the dates because “7” was released in late 1992, but based on the other events in this chapter, such as the trip to Puerto Rico, it puts her life at early 1994.

.

Early 1994? – Mayte returns to Minnesota after the holidays. She and Prince spend the rest of the winter making music videos. On one day, Prince is experimenting with his wardrobe, a hydraulic lift with a glass chamber, and fog machines. She describes Prince and company filming the “7” music video in LA. She recalls the making of “7” with fondness. She describes how their relationship changed and they became closer during this video shoot.

.

January/February 1993 – After she, Prince, and company finish filming “7,” he tells her that it’s time for her to start taking birth control. She has her first visit to a gynecologist and receives a birth control prescription.

.

February 9, 1993 – A week or so after Prince tells her to start taking birth control, she writes in her diary that she is not a virgin.

.

Early 1993 – She buys a dog from a pet store and names her Hena. Prior to the start of the Act I Tour, Mayte takes Hena to Puerto Rico so that Mama can take care of Hena while Mayte is on tour.

.

March and April of 1993 – The Act I Tour starts in Florida and travels across the USA and Canada. Mayte has a larger role on the Act I Tour than she did on the Diamonds and Pearls Tour. She is officially Prince’s girlfriend. She stays with him in hotels and rides with him on the tour bus.

.

Sometime in 1993 – Prince writes the song “Courtin’ Time,” which eventually appears on the Emancipation album.

.

Mid-1993 – Prince, Mayte, and company return to Minnesota for the summer. She visits Puerto Rico. She intended to bring Hena back with her. However, her mother had grown attached to Hena, spoiling her, and Mayte decides to allow Mama to keep Hena.

.

Mid-1993 – Prince makes changes to the NPG, letting go of Tony, Damon, and Kirk. Prince helps TDK make an album called Goldnigga. Prince decides to make Mayte the primary dancer during his performances, and he has a series of choreographers work with her in preparation for the upcoming Act II Tour.

.

Mid-1993 – Prince decides that he wants Mayte to have bangs. At Prince’s request, Mayte flys from Minneapolis to LA to have a certain hairdresser style her bangs. When she returns to Minneapolis, he puts the finishing touches on the bangs by taking her to his personal hair salon and trimming her hangs into a V shape.

.

July 1993 – The Act II Tour starts in England. Mayte describes “Funk Nights” on the tour. On these nights, Prince would give a bonus to the member of the band who did the funkiest thing. One night in Berlin, Mayte makes her first stage dive, and she sustains some minor injuries. She learns to be more careful when stage diving, and continues to stage dive on the tour.

.

At the end of the chapter, Mayte talks about how she and Prince would take Vitamin B injections in order to help ease the rigors of touring. She writes that she never saw him take anything other than Vitamin B injections for managing pain.