{{{Here is the story from our daily newspaper, The Oregonian. The show is being sponsored by Mix 107.5 FM, the "80's" radio station. They have a contest to give away a spot at the soundcheck. I've been out here for a year and a half and haven't found any Portland NPG-life. Is there such a thing as a Portland NPG organization?

http://www.oregonlive.com...999676.xml Music News
No jesting: Prince shows are concerts fit for a king
04/26/02
MARTY HUGHLEY

You might say he's been through the desert as the star with no name. But once again the artist known as one of the most prodigiously talented musicians of our time can officially and respectfully be called Prince.

So when he comes to town Tuesday for only the second Portland performance of his career, we won't have to mess about with euphemisms and graphics. We can just shout out the name his parents gave him and then proceed straight to the dancing.

And, of course, the marveling. }}}

Because, frankly, it's hard to imagine a Prince show that isn't dazzling. He doesn't have to rely on the elaborate sets, pyrotechnics and video flash that typify most superstar stage shows. He's simply an electrifying performer, and seeing him in the relatively close quarters of the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (his previous show here in 1997 played to 11,000 fans at the Rose Garden) should add to the excitement. Whether he's tearing off a torrid guitar solo, caressing the ivories in a churchy ballad, singing in a seductive falsetto croon or a passionate wail, dancing like James Brown out to prove something, or performing some improbable combination thereof, he pulls it off with remarkable aplomb. Not for nothing did he get the nickname "His Royal Badness."

George Clinton once remarked that it was unnerving to collaborate with Prince because you could play the funkiest thing you'd ever imagined and Prince would barely respond, just look at you like it was expected of you. He does so many things so well, he seems to take it for granted.

It's almost tempting to suggest that Prince has too much talent. But that's really more a wish that he could trade some of his notorious eccentricity for greater interest and acumen in editing his own work.

His albums sometimes are too sprawling and bizarre, with arcane conceits and ill-advised elements such as the distorted ultra-bass voice that recites faux-biblical segues between the tracks of his latest, otherwise excellent disc, "The Rainbow Children."

In concert, he's tended toward the opposite problem, eschewing conceptual threads for splashy shows that put a premium on his boundless skills as an entertainer but give short shrift to the deep (if often convoluted) themes at the heart of his best songs -- resonant ideas about sex and love, faith and redemption, physical release and spiritual rapture, the value of individuality and the dangers of conformity. He often crams too many songs -- or rather, fractions of them -- into long medleys, as if trying to remind us of how many great tunes he's written.

He could stand to take a lesson from Bruce Springsteen, who mastered the difficult art of putting all his skills as songwriter and performer in the service of a thoughtfully conceived stage presentation that heightens the thematic power of the repertoire. In such a model, the concert experience is still about sensation, but it's about meaning, too. You'd still walk out of a Prince show babbling disbelievingly about how he did spins and splits in those high heels and what a crushing groove the band put on "Jam of the Year." But later on you might also find yourself pondering the connections between, for instance, the religious testimony of "The Cross" and the party-hearty exhortations of "1999."

Of course, it's worth noting that we wouldn't want all this from Prince if he wasn't already giving us so much and showing us tantalizing glimpses of how much more he could do if he chose.

After all, his name is Prince. And that counts for plenty.

Outside of Minneapolis, Portland probably has the highest per-capita
former employees of Prince. (Several Sound engineers, Paisley Park employees etc...) There are a lot of talented people in P-Town.

Although fragmented, there are several hardcore underground Prince groups in Portland. There have been many events over the years: Underground Purple Parties featuring only rare prince music and videos, Purple rain Fridays, etc..

I'm sorry, but the writer on this article seems to be trying to kiss ass. Here is my rationale: (s)he referances all P's '80s stuff and then jumps right to TRC. No referances of the music between, definitly not much research, (or evidance of follwing the music along the years).

I know that writer and he has NEVER been one to kiss ass.
He has attend pretty much attended EVERY major artist's concert tour in the county for the past 10 + years.
Last time Prince was in Portland (1997), he was the only local media person who was invited to chill with Prince after the show. I just think he has been so busy listening and seeing others since then, so that is why he talks of the differnt peroids of time as he does.

In Southern Oregon now, but lived in Portland 4 many years. It's on and crackin in Portland on Tuesday!! Worked in radio up there 4 a couple of years at Jammin 95.5, and let me tell U EVERYBODY is talkin about this show even if they don't play his music. They know what kind of performer he is. "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night"!!!!

GeminEye

Its all about counting down the hours now until Prince rips through Ripcity yet again....