Every once in a while you are able to be in a place where afterwards you gotta kinda pause for a moment and then think to yourself, "hey, that was pretty cool!".

Now, at this site, we should all know who Ben & Val are, right? They are the very reason all of us exist here. Oh, you may say, "But, we're all here because of our mutual love, respect and admiration of Prince, who we also hate and can't stand!!" Then, I might say - wha?!? Huh?! Then I may state, "perhaps you need to reconsider how you spend your free time." To which one of you would say, "Hey, go fuck yourself!" ... which would lead into this great "shouting match" on this site, where I wouljd suddenly realize, "Hey, fuck this shit, I'm a moderator! Fuck, I mean, I'm the fucken ModGod!!" (trust me - this is not a self-proclaimed title, apparently i earned it!!) to which I'd ban half of you and suspend the other half and wait for the explosion of complaints and requests to be unbanned to which ... wait a minute .... this is NOT even what the hell this post is about!!

Kinda got carried away there.

Now, where was I. Oh, yeah. Ben & Val created prince.org. But, they didn't create Prince. Prince did that. And on the trail to doing that, allowed a certain person to enter and be a part of his life, music, and world from before he was the superstar he would become - hell, even before he was a regular star!

Now, i must confess something. I missed the opportunity to go to this person's conccert the night prior to meeting her. And get this, in doing so, I missed the opportunity to actually chill with and hang out with Jill Jones herself, and later (at karaoke, no less) Andre Cymone!!

Yeah, I was all prepared to go and enjoy this one-in-a-lifetime experieice at the invitaion of Ben & Val. I was in class earlier that day and was going to go home, shower and change and meet them somewhere preplanned ... only, that didn't quite happen. I went home and changed, all right, but after doing so, I thought, well, I'll just sit here and wait for the call to meet and greet and pick up the tickets. I leaned back on the couch in my living room and closed my eyes.

When I woke up it was 9:45 PM!

The concert, having started at around 8:00 PM, was most likely over. If there were an afterparty or gathering, I just might be able to go to that and blurt out my stupidity all night to everyone involved in the evening - alas, Val (relieved that I was okay) said, that they hung out with Jill and Andre, and were pretty much heading back to their condo. Sad, I thought, "well, Tomás, you really fucked that opportunity up!" Prior to hanging up she said, "Oh, were going to meet Maneca tomorrow for breakfast, maybe we can meet you there - we want to give you something too!" I told her to not worry, I will not screw this up a second time!!

I woke up to my cell phone ringing very loudly - it was Val - calling for what reads on the screen, a third time! I answer. "We're going to meet at a place called the "Figaro Bistro" in Los Angeles. Are you up?" Reassuring her that I was and that I'll be right there, I hung up the phone, showered, put on casual jeans and a shirt and sped off to meet them (and Maneca?) at the bistro.

When I got there I met Ben, then Val, and was introduced to this pretty lady with light/dark hair, a pretty face and (from what I could tell) very nice disposition. I didn't want to 'geek out' but, I wasn't quite sure - I thought to myself, I know this is NOT Maneca ... I THINK THIS IS JILL JONES! ... I think I'm having breakfast with Jill Jones, whose concert you slept through the night before!

I didn't want to seem uncool or that I never meet celebrities, so I said nothing. Just the standard, "Oh, hi, so nice to meet you". Shook hands, and sat at the table where I ordered coffee and an ommelette. During the conversation at the table it became more and more clear that it was, in fact, Jill Jones! Not only that, but, that it was really fun to sit there and talk all the shit we were talking about EVERYBODY!!

We laughed so much and enjoyed everyones company that two little old ladies who were seated after us a the the next table had to ask us 'young people' if we could possibly contain ourselves!! Ha ha ha ha! Fighting the urge to tell these old bags (who were obviously stealing oxegen from others who deserve it more) to go fuck themselves (we actually kinda toyed with the idea!) we respectfully apologized and took the volume down a notch until they ate and left. Then we talked about them, too!

What can I say? Jill Jones is a wonderful, witty and balls in your face (or strap on - "inside joke" ha ha) kinda gal that I had the pleasure of hanging out with that morning! It was also very wonderful for me to ask her queastions about Prince that she didnt mind answering and it was really cool - because, she actually knew him, loved him, fought with him, chilled with him and considered him a personal friend. I was impressed with her ability to separate the man from the myth, and keep it real. After all, when she met him, he was just starting to get some attention and was waaaaaay far away from reaching his pinnacle.

She told us later that after her show the night before, her and Andre (and company) ended up at a karaoke bar singing songs until closing!! SON OF A BITCH!!!! I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!!

Ben and Val presented me with the 'Celebration" book that was being sold at Paisley Park for the 1 year anniversary. It was so nice of them to think of me and my fellow moderators (they bought us all one!!) and just to let you guys know, it's one thing out of the many, many things they've done for us over the years! So, yeah - got the book, met a new friend and had a good meal with three very cool and very good people.

Every once in a while you are able to be in a place where afterwards you gotta kinda pause for a moment and then think to yourself, "hey, that was pretty cool!".

---------- ---------------- PRINCE4EVER! ---------------------------- ----------------------

To see a few photos of us at the Figaro Cafe,

https://www.facebook.com/...mp;theater

[icky edit snip - luv4u]

what a cool story! Thanks for posting it.

Well you certainly lucked out after all!

Thank U June7 for posting that amazing journey. Thanks to Ben, Val, Jill and U for the years of sharing, caring and making a Prince community that does not compare to any other. All Ur effort, time and amazing, up to date Prince information is eternally appreciated

That is an amazing story

Great story, man sorry you missed the show you must have been dog-tired! But you still hung out with Jill Jones! OMG!!! And Ben and Val sound so great. Thanx to them for this awesome and unique site and for all the mods!

I need to see Jill Jones in concert I missed it and I live in the L.A. area! Man! Next time, Jill play another gig in L.A. or better yet, tour!

[Edited 5/22/17 20:14pm]