Here are a few bits of info (and some personal opinions)that I wanted to share about the Celebration.



1. According to a friend of mine who said he directly asked Morris Hayes at one of the parties: Prince *TELEPHONED* Wendy and Lisa -- more than once -- to get them to come. Plus, Morris said that Bobby Z called them the week before, as well. Apparently, they told Bobby that they both wanted to come, but simply couldn't get out of their commitment to Neil Finn in New Zealand.



2. I thought Prince was a little cold for dissing Bobby Z at the concert, but I saw Bobby after the show and he was telling someone, "...Well, I haven't played in five years." I walked up and shook his hand and said, "Great to see you up there tonight." He thanked me and seemed okay about the way things had gone. If the Revolution never has a reunion, I don't think it's going to be because of Bobby's feelings.



3. The last tally I saw regarding the "Vote On The Next Release" had the "Rock Guitar Record" (featuring "Solos 4 dayz") leading by twice as many votes over the second place "Roadhouse Garden" (featuring "Splash," "Roadhouse Garden," "Wonderful Ass," and "All My Dreams") -- which was just barely beating "Crystal Ball 2" (a 1-disc release).



4. When the tour stopped in Studio A, I asked Hans Martin-Buff which project he had most enjoyed working on and he answered "Crystal Ball." A lady asked him which projects he did NOT like working on and he said it was actually two individual tracks. He said that both "Sleep Around" and "Everyday Is A Winding Road" took forever because Prince kept reworking them until he was sick of each. When my friend Danny (what's up England!) took the tour, he asked Hans how long was the longest recording session he had ever worked with Prince. Hans said it was a *32-Hour* session. (Unfortunately, Danny didn't ask what they were working on.)



5. Hearing the new songs Sunday night was one of the highlights of the week for me. In succession (but probably not in this order), we heard "Hit U In The Socket (Rosie Gaines)," "Man O' War Remix," "Y Should Eye Do That When Eye Can Do This?" "Peace," "Cybersingle," and "Splash." I think the new version of "MoW" is classic...just wait till you hear the whole thing!!! "Y Should Eye" is also another new favorite of mine...this was boomin' through Paisley and people were dancing like fools. "Splash" certainly lived up to its promise as a Revolution track...it goes through several stylistic changes and sounds like another Prince/Wendy/Lisa epic. But, I'm not stuck in the past. After hearing the new dance version of "Rave Un(In)2 The Joy Fantastic," the "MoW" remix, "Hot Wit U (Nasty Girl Remix)" and snippet from "Undisputed (Moneyapolis Mix" on npgonline, I have a feeling that the Rave Special Edition is going to REALLY make me happy.



6. Prince's fans are the straight up BOMB!!! I met some incredibly cool people this past week and made a lot of new friends (including a few from my area with whom I'll be forming a fan group here in NC -- so hit me up on email if you're interested). Everybody was so friendly and cool...Love4oneanother was definitely the vibe! (The locals in Chanhassen were great, too!)



I have plenty more to say about the Celebration, but I'll share those thoughts in others' posts. I'm tired after this long-ass week.