Published Jan. 25, 2003
Pepe Willie tells me he got an earful from his former protegé Prince. That must have made for interesting conversation when the BBC was in town last week for a story exploring the business side of Prince.

The Pepe Music Inc. exec and members of the group 94 East, Kristie Lazenberry and Marcy Ingvoldstad, have just released a CD featuring Prince playing a long time ago.

The name of the CD is "94 East featuring 10:15 & Fortune Teller Remix with Prince on guitar."

"I told [the BBC] I started his first publishing company for him and I paid to get him into the union for his first recordings," said Willie. "I told them Prince called me a couple months ago."

Although Willie first got an e-mail from a Prince lawyer saying that Symbolina wished to speak, the actual phone call caught him off guard. "It took me a while to be convinced it was him on the line," said Willie. They haven't spoken in nearly seven years -- their paths last crossed at a nightclub.

"The conversation was kind of weird to me. First, I appreciated the fact that he called me because he was showing some respect. He said his name was becoming a trademark now and that he didn't want people out there using his name or his picture or his likeness illegally. I was thinking, 'Well, why is he saying this to me?' "

Something tells me this was a warning to Willie that he didn't have the right to use Prince's name.

"No, but I do," Willie said. "When I did those recordings with him, there was no other legality I had to go through to use his name."

Don't those arrangements have expiration dates? "No, it gives me the right to update phonograph recording contracts for as long as I want to. We've got [Faegre & Benson] trademark attorneys, and they assured us that we have the right to use his name, promote it."

Prince seems unconvinced. "When I told him I had the right to use his name, he didn't really answer. He was just saying, My attorneys are going to come after everybody who's using his name, likeness, symbol and all that stuff illegally."

Translation: Pepe, you've been warned.

"I'm like, OK, fine. I still don't know why he called me."

Willie's been putting out music with old Prince licks "since 1985. Now it's 2003 and he decides to call me?"

Prince's music-producing cousin Charles Smith, better known as Chazz, confirmed that he was also interviewed: "I told the BBC everything."
http://www.startribune.co...12030.html

There r 2 sides 2 every story.

Oh lawd Prince...

CHILL brutha, CHIIIiiilll!!
Live & let live?

TheLodger said:

Yeah but can Pepe chill and move on too? How many times is Pepe going to re-release the same damn recordings. Now he's dressin shit up and callin it a remix? Good lawd.

You know what? I think Prince never talked shit about anyone to the press.

Prince has most definitely talked shit about numerous people,regarding both former band members and otherwise, its just that his comments are usually short but biting. We all know he's not the nicest person when it comes to money. That's why its best to just enjoy the music and leave the man behind the curtain to himself.

Billy Jack Bitch

i have an unauthorised VHS video with a 1hour doco' on Prince . . . .with interviews of Chris Moon,Chazz & a couple of other people . . ..really interesting,mainly delves in2 the beginning of his career,how Prince got started & signed.
very very good if u can find it.
i snagged it 4 only $5 at a Sanity sale . . .its hella easy 2 find here in Adelaide.

Chazz mentions ho he changed with fame,how he didnt really change himself,but people around him just made everything weird & how they hadnt seen each other in years.
that was done in the early 90s this doco'.

hell im'a watch it now!

Joshy84au said:

not that "prince unauthorized" thing where they talk 2 bobo from the liquor store... LOL

I have this CD - actually paid for it over Pepe's website. It took for ever to come. I also got the Mpls Genius album on vinyl. It came with something called a Letter of Endorsement. It is a one page write up of the Pepe Willie/94 East story which ties them to Prince. It refers the same old ass tracks that Pepe has been pimping since 1985. It is actually signed by Pepe, Kristie Lazenberry, and Marcy Ingvoldstad. It even suggests that the record will be a collector's item and thus you should keep it in the shrink wrap. How much of a collector's item can it be if I bought one back in 1985 and they still have brand new copies to sell? It is so sad that they obviously have no careers and have been trying to cash in on their old association with Prince for almost 20 years now.

Those 94 East tracks have been repackaged and rereleased by different labels in different packaging and the unenlightened Prince fan might fall for them. The name Prince is in large type on the cover and if you look at it to quickly, it looks like a Prince album.

The Fortune Teller and 10:15 tracks are the lamest thing from Pepe yet. You can barely hear a very basic backing guitar track that they say is Prince on 10:15. I dont even hear a guitar on Fortune Teller. Prince has every right to protest. The quality of these cuts alone are embarrassing enough to make someone of his caliber not want to be associated with them.

No self respecting artist would try to hang their hat on some old friend who made it for so many years. Dez Dickerson left Prince and started his own label and released his own CD independently without splashing the Prince name all over his work. Andre Cymone even made an effort in the 80s to go it on his own merits and name. Including 2 ridiculously lame tracks that may have had Prince involvment almost 30 years ago is simply a quetionable tactic draw attention to the project.

Shame on that parasite Pepe...

Some of Prince's GOOD stuff doesn't sell particularly well these days. I doubt a cd with him playing guitar 20 years ago is going to make much impact on the charts, or for that matter, Prince's earnings!

the BBC was in town last week for a story exploring the business side of Prince.

Is the BBC making a new program or is this connected to the radio 2 thing? I've heard the first part and there wasn't any mention of Pepe or his earliest work that I can recall.. Perhaps it will be in the second part? Or maybe they just didn't use it.

metalorange said:

The impact on sales is not the issue. Sales stopped being an issue for Prince years ago. The artistic representation and integrity of what is out there with his name on it has to be the real concern. THere are records are very questionable production original out there with his name on them that are obviously engineered to make the general public believe that Prince actually had something to do with tthem.

I say leave these guys alone. At least their not bootleggers. It's an official release. Pepé has a point, he did release those tracks way back in the 80's under the original 94 East Minneapolis Genius and nothing was done.

It's a great source of historical music that fans/fams are interested in.

If anything, go after the bootleggers and put out a line of old Vault tracks that run alongside the new stuff...for your fams.

Release The Rebels songs...release the piano demos...you know.

And also, these people, Pepé and Chazz, I mean c'mon, they people from way back, old friends are more special than any legal lawyer buddy who's steering you to do this. These guys are from the hood, the roots of your history.

Unless they did something really that would make anyone go, "sheesh, what's up with those dudes", then yeah, warn them. But, they's people who were there in the beginning.

Chill Prince.






ooo
[This message was edited Sat Jan 25 14:48:26 PST 2003 by FlyingCloudPassenger]

FlyingCloudPassenger said:

co-sign!

Finess said:

hahah no there isnt a bobo in this one.
watched it last nite & Pepe &Chazz r in it . . . .& yeah pep talkin about how ppl around him changed & became all awe struck & looked at him as a star instead of just a friend.

Chazz wears a tank top & Pepe is wearing shades if that helps jog ur memory.

Joshy84au said:

not even worth a smug retort

I agree that it is time to move on from the Prince connection as the marketing plan. Let your own music stand on its own.Especially when your current new music is so great. We have been playing songs from 94 East's new CD for the past few weeks and they are really stellar.

C.J. offers more super fun extremely exciting funky Prince and Pepe Willie conversation.

"No address, no phone"

http://www.startribune.co...12806.html

After Prince ended the business portion of his phone call to Pepe Willie, the conversation took a couple more interesting turns. "I said, "Well, Prince, what's going on? Can we hang out? Can we do lunch? We miss you, we love you,' " Willie said. "He said, I don't live here anymore." The recollection of this line made Willie laugh. "That's what he told me. Why is he telling me that when I know he lives here? He LIVES here. He's got a house here. He's got houses everywhere. So I said, 'Prince, we'll come to where you are.' And he says, I don't talk to people." Again Willie had to chuckle. "How do you talk to somebody like that? I didn't know what to say. I said OK, and the conversation ended." When Willie heard Prince's voice on the phone, he knew it was going to be entertaining, didn't he? "Absolutely," Willie said. Prince probably considered this talking AT Pepe. "And that's how I felt," Willie said. At any rate, Willie said now he wants to telephone Prince. Chances of that happening are not really good -- and I'm not just saying that because I still haven't heard back from Prince's lawyers.

metalorange said:

it's a new program. i was also contacted & interviewed for the piece before prince lawyers settled their case with me.

doesn't matter around here though. there will always be fanatics/sheep that will always question the bbc piece, kevin smith's tell all on the 'an evening with kevin smith' dvd, and http://princetext.tripod...._1995.html

their loss.

some folks just can't take the fact that while prince is likely the most talented musician of his generation, he has no clue on how to treat other human beings. (both personal, and business relationships...)

suomynona said:

I sympathise with your situation...however maybe this is the trade off for who Prince is. To have a democracy/free state you also have to put up with violence on the street. Maybe Prince cannot function without complete anal control..I can live with that but then again I haven't been in contact with it. I would imagine all people who are famous suffer this level of paranoia, however other stars need a certain amount of bootlegging around them as promotion, prince is so in control of everything he creates I would imagine he would see it as a distortion. It appears he has to exist in isolation to be in a position to give anything of himself. Prince though as far as I can see has been enormously generous in the past...maybe he wants to choose when trhen generosity is given. I wonder even if his wife knows him.
This BBC thing..when is this meant to be happening? They seem to be spending some time analysing this bloke, Radio 2 and now this. Prince really does on the whole seem to be getting a lot of interest--his name is popping up everywhere and non of it seems critical, which is quite unusual

justin10 said:

bloody hell justin!! . . .. an intelligent post

ppl soak this up while it lasts

I think actually we should really, really leave this personal, how Prince treats people around him thing alone.
None of our business and you very often get a false picture by just looking at this from the outside.

metalorange said:

This is for television (will be on the new BBC3 channel later this year) and is exploring the business side of Prince rather than the musical side.

Several UK fans have already been interviewed and the team are currently in the US asking opinions of former colleagues and people such as Alex Hahn (who has the new (controversially titled) book coming out soon)

Gav

By the way, the Radio 2 thing was by an independent producer, the TV one is produced by the BBC themselves.

Just coincidence on the timing.

suomynona said:

---
Shut the hell up you loser!!! For all who do not know this idiot was sued but, given plenty of advance warning that a suit would be filed but preceded to put up bootleg material on his website. I do not feel sorry for your stupid ass and think that Prince should have continued with the suit just to teach your stupid ass a lesson.

Prince is within his right to be upset with Pepe. This guy just keeps on putting out the same old crappy ass music that was recorded when Prince was 17 or 18 years old. I do not think there is anything he can do about the music but, there should be a way to stop Pepe from using his name or likeness. By putting out this CD over and over again it makes people think it may be an official Prince CD.

I think it is obvious that Prince does not want anyone thinking this shit is being put out by him.

In addtion, Pepe was married to Prince's cousin. Therefore, this guy is a relative who is now going to make money off of his association with Prince for the rest of his life.

Pepe is a loser and no talent bum who is trying to ride off of Prince's fame. Suomynona is a loser and no talent bum who is trying to ride off of Prince' fame. No wonder you are defending this creep and constantly complaining about fans who actually have a life and can make living without exploiting someone else's talent.

Prince may be a asshole. None of us know him on a personal level to really say. However, people like C.J., Alex Hahn and Pepe are bottom fedders in the entertainment industry who could spend their time going after a lot of other jackasses in the industry. I could name a dozen other people in the industry who are lot worst then Prince but, no one is making a industry out of ripping them a new asshole.

maybe it is like that famous Elvis Presley Hayride concert & interview . .. . .it has been released SOOO many times by different lil labels . . . .
dad & have about 10 diff' copies (we know its not a real product,but dad collects picture discs regardless) . . . . .& its kind of a joke.

maybe this is the same thing . .. .is there a copyright on it & if so who owns it?

MYNAMEISFACE said:

i found it at a newsagency up at Jamestown of all places! . .. .purple cover with a symbol & :
The artist formerly known as
PRINCE
94
EAST


on the cover .. . . had no idea if it was a cover band,but when i saw the songs on the back,i thought it must have been early demo's that didnt have copyright on them,thus being on some lil british label.
may be th eone that 1st released those Shania Twain demos from 89,Dressed To Kill is the label.

i just grabbed it,thought i heard him on backing vox,but i dunno.
just 1cd version mine is . . . .

i never play it.

I bought that Cd at Christmas. It's boring. Just a picture of Prince on the front- very deceptive in my opinion.

Pepe Willie REALLY needs to get a life! He just keeps on releasing these same songs over and over,with Prince's name splashed across the CD cover.He's just trying to fool the fans into buying this CD again and again,thinking they're getting something "new".The truth is,these songs aren't even that great,and Prince's involvement is minimal.

It may appear like Prince is over-reacting,but this time,I think he has a point.If Pepe is smart,he will pursue other musical interests and stop releasing these crap 94 East compilations.