{{{There is a brand new 2 disc dvd set that has just been released a few weeks ago entitled, " An Evening With Kevin Smith." This was basically a College campus tour that Smith did in a question and answer format. It is all very interesting and this dvd set will definitely give you an incredible insight to Kevin Smith's world! In case you are not familiar with whom he may be, he was the creator of such really cool films like, " Clerks, " " Mallrats," " Chasing Amy," " Dogma," and recently, " Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back." [I bought this set 2 weeks ago and haven't even had time to crack it open!! I love KS's work. I gotta watch this tonight!! -Ben]}}}
There just happened to be a fan at the Smith College Campus tour that asked him about his trip to Paisley Park recently. This discussion goes on for about a half hour. It is extremely informative on the, " 2002 Xenophobia Celebration." Smith first explains how he called Prince up at Paisley Park first to ask him if he could use his tune, " The Most Beautiful Girl In The World," ballad, in his new film. He then goes on about how had to call a few times to ask permission, but no one ever called back.
Then one day a representative from the Prince camp calls up Kevin Smith and tells him that Prince would like to talk to him and that he would be calling him up shortly to talk. Now on a really cool note, Kevin Smith is a really big Prince fan just like the rest of us. He buys all of his cd's, goes to the live gigs, etc. He even compares Prince now to the 1988 Lovesexy days, so you know that Smith knows what he is talking about!
Finally Prince calls him up and they have a 45 minute discussion about many different things. Prince tells him how much he loved, " Dogma." Prince did ask Kevin why he curses so much in his films and how wrong it is and that it does offend many people. Kevin did tell him why this kind of language is used in his films, but Prince was not thrilled with his response, but Prince loves his directing and film making so he asked Smith if he would come out to Paisley park to help with a project and Kevin jumped up with excitement and ran out to MPLS! This was a dream for Kevin being a fan so many years and really loving all of Prince's jams!
During the firat day of the, " Xenophobia Celebration," Smith gets to Paisley park and gets to meet with Prince face to face. They have a quick discussion and Kevin Smith now finds himself directing a full religious documentary that Prince hopes will change the world by the filmings end! Kevin goes on to explain how he does not find himself being an esablished director for this project. He feel's that he was not qualified for the job because he never shot a full documentary before, but Prince feel's that he will so well and explains to Smith how he has absolute faith in him. So Kevin goes on to tell his audience how difficult it was shooting something that he never directed before as well as not having enough information given to him by Prince to tell him what it is that Prince needs and wants for the project. Kevin really felt that he did not know what Prince wanted and was doing this on a prayer. Prince even ended up puting Smith right in the middle of one of the question and answer sessions and walked out of the room and left him up on the podium by himself to carry on a religious conversation about God and Prince becoming a Jahova Witness. Smith suddenly openes his eyes real wide and in utter shock says to himself, " Prince is a Jahova Witness? " He did not know, I guess because he has been so busy directing and writing new projects he just did not have the time to explore Prince's social life like the rest of us! The dvd is really great and there is a lot of discussion that goes on after that, but you need to see it because it will give you a view of what kind of went on with Kevin Smith in his version.
I will tell you that he was very upset with Prince at the Celebration's end. Right before Kevin left Paisley Park to go home he went to say goodbye to Prince and at this point during the day, Prince was working in his studio recording music and one of the representatives from Paisley Park told Smith that he should just leave and go home because he will not interrupt Prince during a session! Now at this point after all of the things that happened with the documentary and on how Prince did not explain what he wanted from him, Kevin was already annoyed with him and now he would not take the time to at the very least just come on out of his recording studio to just say thank's or a hug or I will talk to you, but nothing at all! Smith goes on to tell the question and answer session on his tour that he felt that it was wrong and unfair! He did not put Prince down nor speak horribly of him, but does say that he was very disappointed. I guess this was Kevin Smith's way of hoping that Prince would buy this dvd set, watch it and give him a call up! He end's the discussion though with, "as a die hard fan for so many years, it was really sad to see his idol be this way! You have a vision of some musical genious that you love for most of your life and then you get the chance to meet with them and find out that they are not what you hoped!"
Check out this dvd! It is cool and does have many easter eggs as well! The menu's are terrific and funny!!
Nicky Tuzio
e-mail : tuztones@peoplepc.com

I think there's an orger here that was the Fam that asked Kevin Smith the Prince question.

As for Kevin Smith being disappointed not seeing Prince by the end of Celebration, What happened back stage during Prince's performance on Jay Leno?? Kevin Smith was on that same night, they must have crossed paths (forgot 2 go to Kevin Smith website to see if anything did go down)

If I am not mistaken, I think this was about the 2001 Celebration, when Prince debuted the Rainbow Children.

I love Kevin Smith, & I have been watching this DVD for weeks! I am beginning to see Kevin Smith in a similar light to Prince; I think they are both amazing artists who both have some very good things to say about life & how they view it. I truly enjoy watching his movies with the commentary on, which is a big reason that I got An Evening with Kevin Smith; it is like one big commentary on his career to date. I recommend this DVD to anyone who has enjoyed Kevin's movies, & has an interest in hearing 'behind the scenes' type stories.

The comments Kevin had on John Peters, the producer, were hilarious. He tells a story like a Seinfeld episode - it all comes together at the end. Too funny!!!

Does this DVD take us inside Paisley Park??
I'm thinking about picking this DVD up..really... but I don't realy want to see Kevin-- with an audience, the whole time talking about Prince...thas real cute, but I never been to Paisley... and played in the park ya' know..

& Yeah I met prince... It is was so dope!! but also threw me waaay Off!! I know what Kevin is talking about...
hmmm... maybe I'll by the DVD just because of that!!

Prince is one weird motherfucker that's for sure.

Fancy not even bothering to tell Kevin what he wanted with that damn film.

Prince is fucked up in so many ways!

I think Kevin told the story in a very funny way! At the end of the day we have to accept the REAL reason Kevin didn't a thank you . . he took the p out of the guys heels to his face man!!! Not Chakamad anymore but Princemad me thinks!

It was the 2001: The Rainbow Children Celebration that Kevin was there. He was taping some discussion groups in Paisley Park discussing the new CD. I guess there was going to be some documentary about the Celebration *clips were shown at the weekend's shows.* Of course, as many plans Prince has, it never went through.

And Kevin is THE MAN.

Well I disagree that Kevin Smith didn't paint a bad picture of Prince, because he really did. When he was talking about how Prince was separating the crowd he was talking to, with those who didn't believe in God having to go on the other side of the room, and then saying he was going to take their women; he said it was "fucked up." That's a diss. And rightly so. Nobody wants to be toyed with, and that's what Prince likes to do to people. Face it. The man is brilliant, but he fucks people over big time.

Kevin Smith should have been upset. He spent a whole week at Paisley Park, he wasn't paid for it, and at the end of it, Prince couldn't even muster up a simple, "Hey thanks for all you did. I appreciate it." Nothing. And that's fucked up.



Riiight. You are joking, right? It was a 2 DVD set, over 3 and ½ hours long, with maybe 35 minutes devoted to Prince. I'm sure at this point, between making film and writing comics, that Kevin Smith doesn't really give a shit if Prince sees the set or not. After all, it full of "curse words," and Prince won't have any of that.

Cassandra said:

I love the part where Kevin realizes that all the work he did may never see the light of day. He's talking to one of Prince's assistants, and she's telling him how he has all these videos that he's shot that will never be released. And Kevin's saying, "You mean like videos, like him on stage just playing?" And the assistant says, "No full production videos. Money was spent. He makes them and puts them in the vault." And Kevin says, "For what? So when the fucking world blows up, we'll have entertainment?"

Funny stuff. I highly recommend the set, for the Prince stuff and for the other stuff as well.

I haven't seen this DVD yet, but just based on this discussion, I must be missing something

"Kevin left Paisley Park to go home he went to say goodbye to Prince and at this point during the day, Prince was working in his studio recording music and one of the representatives from Paisley Park told Smith that he should just leave and go home because he will not interrupt Prince during a session!"

Now wait just a minute... it was a STAFF MEMBER who told Kevin that he would not interrupt Prince during a session. I can understand why Kevin would be a little pissed by the Staff Members response, but it was the staff member's fault, NOT Prince's. It's not like Prince intentionally dissed Kevin Smith, it's just that Prince was working at the time. The Staff Member probably saw someone else interrupt Prince during session and get fired! To interrupt Prince during a recording session is probably the worst of all sins inside Paisly Park, this staff member knew that and basically said to Kevin Smith "sorry, too bad". But again, that's not Prince's fault. Kevin Smith just picked a bad time to say goodbye.

abucah said:

Ba-aa-aa-aa-aa ba-aa-aa-aa-aa!!

Do you think Prince picked up a phone in say, what, the last year and a half, and said, "Sorry I missed you when you left. I didn't get a chance to THANK YOU." Do you think he did that? That was Smith's whole point. He worked for free, never asked for pay, and Prince never said thanks for anything. The hours Smith spent filming, the actual hours and hours of film, that Prince kept. No thanks given. Nothing. Are you getting my point? Zippo Thanko.

Despot said:

Does Kevin Smith actually say what you're suggesting in the DVD? The way it is presented here, it says that Smith was upset that Prince didn't come out to say goodbye, not that Prince NEVER contacted him since then. Besides, if Kevin Smith was already annoyed with Prince, then what makes anyone think that Prince wasn't already annoyed with Kevin Smith??? Sometimes the feeling is mutual.

dnaplaya said:

I know 100% this answer because I know Kevin and emailed him..and asked this exact question

he said " no they didn't see each other,they didn't cross paths"
[This message was edited Mon Jan 13 19:15:45 PST 2003 by locoarts]

abucah said:

After the fact, when Prince didn't bother to come out and say goodbye, Smith said he was upset that he didn't at least get a thank you for his time. Something to that effect. I would think that if he was contacted at a later date, Smith would have told the audience. He didn't hide any other details, so why leave that one out? He told the audience in vivid detail about his first sexual encounter with his wife, so he's not one to leave out details. It's all made crystal clear once you watch the DVD. And why would Prince be annoyed with Kevin Smith?
[This message was edited Mon Jan 13 19:56:00 PST 2003 by Despot]

abucah said:
.Now wait just a minute... it was a STAFF MEMBER who told Kevin that he would not interrupt Prince during a session. I can understand why Kevin would be a little pissed by the Staff Members response, but it was the staff member's fault, NOT Prince's. It's not like Prince intentionally dissed Kevin Smith, it's just that Prince was working at the time. The Staff Member probably saw someone else interrupt Prince during session and get fired! To interrupt Prince during a recording session is probably the worst of all sins inside Paisly Park, this staff member knew that and basically said to Kevin Smith "sorry, too bad". But again, that's not Prince's fault. Kevin Smith just picked a bad time to say goodbye.
---

the way i understood it from watching it is the staff member did interupt prince to let him know kevin was leaving and came back with the 'he's too busy to say good bye" response so, yes, it was prince's fault, but it's worth watching 2 see 4 yourself either way

I haven't seen the Kevin Smith DVD yet, but a co-worker of mine watched it and told me Smith refers to me! He's talking about how in one of the "Rainbow Children" discussions, someone said Prince was calling the white man a devil. Smith says he asked Prince about whether he was referring to "Satan" or the white man as the devil. Prince's response was "If the bra fits."

Anyway, I was the guy who raised the question on whether or not Prince was calling white folks the devil. Actually what I said was misinterpreted...what I said was if Louis Farrakahn made some of the comments that Prince made on the album, people would be calling him racist. Of course, no one agreed with me.

Anyway...I just thought it was cool that my comments made it to Prince's ear.

gemini319 said:

Ok. Thanks. I'll look at the DVD for myself before I say anything else.

Despot said:

I have no idea why Prince would be annoyed by Kevin Smith. But haven't you ever met someone that just rubbed you the wrong way? All I'm saying is that we're hearing the story from one person's point of view (Kevin Smith's) and there are always two sides to every story. If Prince got into a candid discussion about his encounter with Kevin Smith, we might find out that Prince was annoyed with Kevin for any number of reasons.

Question: Does anyone now where this DVD can be ordered from, i live in europe? Thanks.

zawsze said:

check out his website: www.viewaskew.com

i asked the question.

abucah said:

Prince would have NO reason to be annoyed w/ Kevin, but even if by miracle he was, it really wouldn't matter. Kevin came out free of charge & tried to give the guy what he wanted - the LEAST Prince owed him was a simple "thank you". The world ain't Prince's ashtray - people have feelings up in here. Kevin showed kindness & got kicked in the head in return, NOT cool...

But lets also acknowledge Kevin's mistake - he shouldn't have taken on a gig that he didn't understand & wasn't particularly passionate about, I don't give a shit if it was for Prince. Kevin has a duty as a director to have some degree of command over what he was doing (not be Prince's puppet) but his curiousity got the best of him - he was starstruck, too agreeable & he played himself.

I wish he hadn't been burned in the experience since he went into it w/ nothing but hope & admiration, sucks that it turned out this way. Makes for a great story though but Prince ain't makin' no new fans from this one...