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7 degrees of Prince
Friday, June 11, 2004


By Christina Killion Valdez

The Post-Bulletin

Living in Minnesota, everyone knows someone who knows someone connected to Prince.

For Carmen Drinkall, 36, of Rochester, it's her hair dresser. Her hair dresser's friend, actually, dated him, she said.

"She said he was really cocky," Drinkall said. "Part of me can see that in him."

The fan side of her doesn't care.

That's why when Drinkall's friend lived behind Prince's old house in Chanhassen, she took the opportunity to check out the neighborhood. Looking up Prince's long driveway, she swears she saw a purple house. "It was fenced in, and there was lots of woods, but could tell it was huge back there," Drinkall said.

Sharon Burt, of Rochester, however, can claim graduating from the same high school as Prince.

Burt, who was then Sharon Blomberg, graduated in 1970 from Central High School in south Minneapolis. Prince, who was then Roger Nelson, graduated in 1976.

Because Central is no longer a high school, not too many people have the same claim to fame. And Burt sees Prince's time at Central as the heart of his style.

A book she has about Central lists Prince as being active in music, a member of the sophomore basketball team and participating in the many talent shows.

"We had the best bands," Burt remembered. "They had the horns, the sax, everything, not just the guitar."

"Back then, at Central High School, people were not afraid to brag or flaunt what music they liked," Burt added.

And like the music nights at Central, Prince's music "makes you want to jump, not want to sit," she said.

But unless you know someone who knows someone, you end up like most other Minnesotans, chasing a purple rainbow.

There's a scene in "Purple Rain" that Johnny Bee, program director for KROC-FM in Rochester, said he always heard was filmed in Henderson, not far from where he grew up.

"We always tried to find that," Bee said, "but I don't know if it's true or not."

Roger????


hmmmm.


ElectricPurple,
Prince


My Beloved
www.dreamfirstborn.tk


.
[This message was edited Sat Jun 12 14:11:15 2004 by ElectricPurple]

How do you know ? What is your degree?

My degree is:
My friend Carly was dancing at Glam Slam in Minnesota, and invited her in2 his limo and they went 2 Paisley Park because he liked the way she danced! She now sings backup 4 Tamyra Grey.
My Ex was in Purple Rain in the front Row crowd shots in 1st Ave.
My sister's ex was 1 of backup dancers during a tour in the 90's (I don't know which)
My sister was in the movie Drop Dead Fred which was filmed at Paisley Park and I was there during the filming and was playing with 's cat "Paisley".

My headshots when I was younger were taken by the photographer who shot the cover shot of
for Purple Rain!


I think that is my only degrees of separation!! LOL! Someday I will be able to report that I am zero degrees away from !!! LOL! keep on dreaming huh? *giggle*

hehe its true...and its funny....if your a prince fan living in minnesota....the minute someone finds out that you are a prince fan...its like "oh! i used to know a guy who....OR i worked with his step-sister....or whatever" everyone who lives there has some kind of princey story and i tell ya...i love hearing everyones prince stories

violett said:

Funny you mention it, but my aunt used to work at the MPLS/St. Paul airport for Western Airlines which later was bought out by Delta Airlines, and she worked with Prince's stepfather!

My father-in-law, a carpenter, worked on both Jimmy Jam's and Terry Lewis' houses in the Twin Cities. While he was working on Jimmy's house, Jimmy came out to the job site and rounded up all the contractors there and took them golfing, my father-in-law included. THAT would have been cool!

My dad set up a train set for Prince's birthday party

My boss's friend was a drum tech on one of Prince's tours.

I knew a girl who's mom worked at PP as his accountant.

and the list goes on and on..I've always said this about people in MN. Everybody has a Prince story or a connection.

MNlivingCA said:

So, you're saying you played with Prince's pussy???? Oh, and you do know he changed his name back to Prince like, oh, four years ago...right??

Its true!
I went to high school with one of the guys who does security at Paisley Park.
A woman I work with grew up across the street from Prince. She's told me a few stories about him.
I know a girl who used to date him a loooong time ago.
Prince hit on my best friends sister a couple of years ago. He went out on the dance floor and got down with her!
I've also seen Prince a few times driving around in St Paul. Not sure why he was in St Paul but I saw him!
I've met him a couple of times out at Paisley Park and I danced with him before. That was really cool!
Everyone who lives here has a story about Prince, I swear! Especially the ladies!

Mmmmm, I have a couple.

I know one of the dancers from the NPG Dance Company (Mayte Project). They all got to meet and be around Prince.

I know one of Sheryl Crow's ex-boyfriends.

Oh yeah. One of my brother's ex-girlfriends was supposedly in a video or two of his back in the mid 90s.

O.K. now here is my little claim to fame, one of my closest friends takes care of the fish aquarium at Paisley Park he was actually hired back in the Mayte years.

I live in Minneapolis and it IS true. Everybody here saw him once or knows somebody that dated a bodyguard or went to school with his sister. It's kind of cool actually becuase you say "Yeah, I like Prince" and they say "Oh, I had a girlfriend once..."

A guy who works in my building says he grew up with P. I had never met the guy and by chance, he asked if I was available on the 16th of April for a convention. I had my tickets to the Columbus, OH show that night and said nope, I'm going to see Prince in concert. That's when he told me he grew up with and knows P.
We are in the DC area, I haven't seen him to ask if he is going to the concert.

Also, a friend's wife worked at Glam Slam and said she would run into him on occasion.

Another friend worked on his legal team at one time.

How many degrees is that?

I have a good one.

I am from a suburb of Minneapolis and I lived next door to Bobby Z, Prince's drummer during the 1999 era. Actually Bobby Z rented the tiny house from my parents. He and Dr. Fink used to hang out all the time. That was pretty exciting for a high school kid, though I wasn't the P fan I am today. I even interviewed Bobby Z for Career Day!

THEN

My mom was the job counselor at Prince's high school WHILE Prince was going there! She swears he came in to her office asking for advice!