SexLovely said:

AH: The "smeg"? I'll "side-step" that one...

Why? I think that people want to know about the "Fall of Prince". You'll have to read the rest.

I'll always have a fondness for Wendy, Lisa, Doctor, Bobby and David, Sussanah, Eric and Alan.

He was at his "pinnacle" with these people. They are his true collaborators and inspiration. You'll read my reasons and motivations for this statement in the book. So.. Go get it!

I'm so tired of detractors of Wendy and Lisa saying that "he recorded most of his material alone in his basement and at Paisley"..

Is it that important that Wendy and Lisa actually be in Minneapolis to affect his recording?

Question 1: Chapter Eight: Factory (page 103)

U2's long and fruitful career is attributed (at least partly) to Bono's 'adventurous guitar work'.

Can you give us some good examples of this musical revelation, and warn The Edge, U2's (apparently much less-adventurous but better known) guitarist, of this secret weapon in the group?

-----

Question 2: Chapter Eight: Factory (page 103 - not a glowing example of accuracy, in my opinion)

'And Madonna - while she had yet to convincingly remake herself into the more serious artist she would be recognized as following 1987's Like A Prayer ...'

That's the song / album which was actually released in 1989, no doubt?
-----

Question 3: Chapter 12: Hit (page 177) '"Cream", which borrows heavily from the classic rock hit "Bang A Gong" (by T Rex) ....'

That wouldn't be the classic rock hit really called "Get It On", would it????

-----

Question 4: Chapter Thirteen: Games (page 181) " .... Alexandar O'Neal (Hearsay in 1994), ..."

The same album produced by Jam and Lewis and actually released back in 1987?

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Question 5: Chapter 19: Xenophobia (page 246) 'And in June [2002], Prince held his second annual "Celebration",'

That would be 'second' as in 'third', the first having been held in June, 2000???

-----

Question 6: At the beginning of the book you carefully cite the key protagonists whom you and / or Per Nilsen interviewed. You also carefully detail who were asked to be involved but declined or did not respond.

However, there are at least two key players from the New Power Generation who feature in neither list .... any comments?
[This message was edited Fri Apr 25 9:11:52 PDT 2003 by langebleu]

BartVanHemelen said:

couldn't have put it better myself...

letsgocrazy said:

AH: Correction: he "fell" before Lovesexy...

Even new artists won't sell as much because people who can afford music Cds are actually stealing new releases from the Internet.

There will never be another seller like "Like A Virgin", "Thriller", or "Purple Rain" because of the file-sharing networks.
[This message was edited Fri Apr 25 15:12:08 PDT 2003 by Vindicator]

One question.

Has Prince ever been in therapy?

BartVanHemelen said:[quote]

CherrieMoonKisses said:

Get over it: Prince has fallen. In the early 1990s, some 5 million people were interested in him. These days it's a miracle if he sells 100,000 copies of an album.

(And don't even get me started on the quality ofd those records -- do you really think it is a coincidence that Prince has barely played anything released post-1995 on his tours? He knows damn well himself that most of it is crap.)

***

Incorrect. The vast majority of the US and European 'ONA' tour and the box-set comprised post-95 material. The focus was 'The Rainbow Children' album. Other rarities from 'The Truth' (98) and 'The Vault (99) were also performed.

I have a question for Alex;

You have claimed that your publication is a serious attempt to analyse and study Prince in a professional context. Why therefore, does the majority of your book focus on rumours regarding Prince and his private-life, which would not be out of place in a low-market tabloid?

You may dispute this, but one of the stories you have featured in your book has the UK newspaper 'The News of the World' as its source material. This newspaper has a well-kinown reputation for fabrication, exaggeration and distortion. What would make a credible writer use such a source?

More importantly, what is the level of crediblilty with stories of this nature?

If someone took you to court and then wrote a book about you, do you think he would be biased?

I eagerly await your answers, Alex.

Hello Alex,

First, as a side bar, I'd like to thank you on behalf of the entire fan community for defending UPTOWN magazine against Prince's lawsuit and, in effect, protecting our free speech rights. You done good.

I bought your book and just finished reading it this very week. While I understood that much of the book's content was gathered from research used for previous book releases, I still found some interesting new details that further completes the picture of the mysterious life of the artist famously known as Prince.

I do however have some criticisms regarding your book's editing. There are several corrections to be made just in typos alone and the book could stand to be proofread once more before and if it's going to paperback format. Besides this, the 'extensive discography' suffers from incomplete and in some cases just plain incorrect information. For instance, the song "Murph Drag" (inexplicably listed twice) is listed as one of the monthly download releases, however this was not the case. Neither was "Goldie's Parade" a monthly download. These WERE included in the monthly Ahdio shows which for some reason or another were not addressed at all. With all the access to UPTOWN and Per Nilsen's research I would think this part of your book would be the most thoroughly researched and complete. I was dissappointed by the many errors in that section.

One last item I'd like to address is your contention of Prince's cocaine use. You said that this information came from a source that had spoken to Miko Weaver, who admitted to sharing cocaine with Prince during the Diamonds and Pearls tour. However, Miko Weaver had long been out of the picture by the time this tour happened (I believe UPTOWN reported that he left the fold after the Nude tour) which clearly casts a serious doubt about the veracity of that claim.

I would appreciate it if you could address these issues during your chat with Prince.org and hope that a future update of the book would contain corrections.

Thank you,
Jesse

langebleu said:

I'll add to that.

The Police cannot be considered a groundbreaking group throughout the 80s, they split up in 83!

You make a point that Kiss was left of the Hits/B-sides. Which version of the album have you got!? Kiss is on all the ones I have seen!

Last point, where is the country of Britain? Anywhere near the country of North America?

Cocaine?

"What u putting in your nose
is that where all your money goes
The river of addiction flows
u think it´s hot, but there won´t be no water
when the fire blows
Dig it
Pop Life..."

"The reason why my voice is so clear is
there´s no smack in my brain
I no..."

"People without... spend money on things they can´t afford. People without do ecstacy..." (19th August 1988 at Het Paard van Troje, The Hague aka Small Club)

"Pop guns & weed, brother please..."

"In september my cousin tried reefer for the very first, now he´s doing horse, it´s june"

Alex,
just wanted to point out the following: on page 192, you suggest that "Kiss" was missing from the hits/b-sides. On my disc 2, it's track 11.

bzzz said:

Plus in the book's own discography it lists "Kiss" on The Hits/B-Sides tracklisting.

Was sign of the times movie a flop--I dont agree,please shed some light

I finished reading the book. While it has some unique quotes from Prince associates, I find it very hard to believe some of the stories. There are many mistakes such as the ones mentioned already above. This book is clearly one person's view, and I don't recall Mr. Hahn being an important music critic. He slams the Black Album, which I thought was great. He loves Emancipation, which I didn't care for as a whole. This book should be titled "Prince From the Perspective of a Lawyer That Once Went to Court Against Him." The pictures were cool though. I noticed a lot of Prince quotes missing. While Mr. Hahn goes on and on about the firing of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, nowhere does he mention Prince's position on the firing. Prince said "I didn't fire Jimmy and Terry, Morris did. You've got to remember it was HIS band (the Time)." The last half of the book seemed dark and angry, and left me feeling angry as well. Whoever said Prince wanted another 1984??? Prince never did. I sure don't.

Peace

Uptown-Set Your Mind Free

Annemarie said:

BS. The first half of the US concerts was mainly TRC material, but the second part was the nostalgia trip -- and it's THAT part which was extended throughout the tour. And by the time the tour hit Europe, the TRC contributions were again reduced to fit in more hits and fan favorites. OCCASIONALLY he'd play a single song from The Truth or One Nite Alone or other post-1995 releases, but they were the EXCEPTION, not the rule. Now compare to the tours from the 1980s: the focus of those tours was on the CURRENT material, even if those songs were only released mere weeks earlier.

Mr7 said:

The fact that those stories have only anonymous sources has more to do with fear of litigation (gag orders and the likes) plus the hope of the interviewee ever working with Prince again, than with fabrication. Plus these stories are often consistent despite them being told by people from all over prince's career. One story might be a lie, two a coincidence, but when just about everyone is saying the same thing...

Oh, and you might be interested to know that those evil tabloids have often broken stories that were denied at first and then later on admitted as truth. Of course the tabloids sensationalise them, but look at it this way: if only half of the story as presented in the paper is true, is that really so much better?

sovembol said:

AGREED.


My question--Alex--does your homosexuality
have an affect on your opinion of Prince etc?

Alex,
I realize that this topic has already been brought to light, but it bears additional review. Bono's adventurous guitar work? What were you thinking writing anything to that effect? Frankly, unless you had chosen to say "Bono's 'EDGy' guitar work" (pun intended) you risked losing any hint of credibility as a music critic you may have thought you had. With this reader, you did lose that credibility. I don't even think I've ever seen Bono with a guitar. Goofy blue glasses, perhaps, but not a guitar.
In addition, comments by other readers in reference to poor editing and lack of proofreading are right on. How could anyone miss your overuse of the word "boondoggle?" Frankly, using it once is overuse, but you actually managed to eclipse that number. I paid $25 for your book. I think my $ would have been better spent on 2 VHS copies of the boondoggle 'Graffiti Bridge.'

bzzz said:

Hilarious. So Bono has never touched a guitar? Then how come I saw him playing one in a live video on MTV a couple of weeks ago? Before you judge, make sure you get the facts straight. The man writes a 300 page book and then loses all his credibility with you (oh wow, he'll really care about that) because there is a mistake (an annoying one, but still...), while you make one yourself?
[This message was edited Fri Apr 25 3:00:14 PDT 2003 by BartVanHemelen]

Uptown said:

Read the Emancipation-era interviews. Read the Rave-era interviews (remember that RS-interview before the release of rave where Prince had the reporter listen to some tracks and then said "isn't this a hit?"). Post-1995 Prince has DESPERATELY wanted a big hit, because hits = album sales = big tours = lotsa money.

sovembol said:

And he had before? Pur-lease.

sovembol said:

You are mistaking your own obviously limited brain with someone else's.

sovembol said:

So that's why he's actively promoting it everywhere. At least give the man props for bringing up the subject of Prince in places where they haven't talked about him in years. If you're an artist or a celebrity, you shouldn't worry when they're talking crap about you, but when they stop talking about you.

sovembol said:

How naive can you be?

sovembol said:

That might not be the book's fault, you know.

sovembol said:

And he's gonna be RICH from that, right? Get a clue: researching a book and writing one takes time and money, lots of it. It's far more a labor of love than anything else, with the odd exception.

We should be grateful that someone has bothered to write a book about Prince, and got a publisher interested in actually publishing it, and that he's promoting it. I wouldn't be surprised if this book generated far more interest in Prince than most of what Prince has done in the past five years.

Vindicator said:

What utter BS. There's plenty of records right now that sell millions of copies despite being widely available, even before their release, on filesharing networks.

Oh, and Prince's sales were in decline long before mp3 and the internet started to kill the music industry. People stopped buying his records because they were fed up spending good money on crap that was obviously contract filler or pathetic attempts at having a hit by emulating other people.

Bart?

Why are you slamming everybody? It's all opionated. Additionally, if Hahn spent all this money on research etc. then he should have gotten the FACTS right. There are way too many mistakes to make any of the conjectures he brings up believable. This book is very opinionated, just like you are and just like I am. Hell, any one of us could've taken the time to write a similar book based on our views. I would rather see a "noteable critic" write a good book on Prince. Maybe someone like Kurt Loder etc.

Another thing burning my ass, Hahn claims that 1+1+1=3 uses the same bass line as Erotic City. Please! They're both cool funk lines, and the speeded up effects are similar, but these are two different songs. This is my opinion, and if someone doesn't agree, then don't buy a book about Prince that I'm trying to sell.

One more. Hahn thinks Gett Off was far less interesting than Schoolyard. I love Gett Off! Schoolyard was cool too, but Gett Off was a new and interesting song. (again MY Opinion). Also note the lyrics to Schoolyard "first lets smoke this weed, damn my cologne aint sayin shit this what she needs". Speaking of drugs...

Anyway, Bart, I hope you're right that this book helps bring some popularity to Prince. Either way though, I know he'll keep making music, and I'll keep listening.

Peace brother,

Uptown

Uptown said:

Thank You Uptown...it's all opinionated, Bart, so correcting everyone with your answers which you may think are indefinetly 'right'...no, because it's all about what people think. So Im sticking to what I said earlier "Prince hasnt fell, tripped nor fallen"

Hi...thanks for the very interesting questions and to the org. moderators for giving me the opportunity to speak directly with folks here...Feel free to keep posting questions...Sometime late this afternoon, prior to the chat, I'll be posting answers on this thread to some of the questions posed, which will give people opportunities to ask follow ups during the chat...Talk to you soon -- Alex

Bart- OK, we get it. Can the rest of us have our own opinions too?

Uptown said:

Hahn's words are: '"1+1+1=3" recycles nearly all of its ["Erotic City"] elements (right down to the bass line.'

Like yourself, and Hahn, I agree that it uses many of the elements from "Erotic City." But if Alex Hahn is suggesting, as he appears to be, that the bass line is the same, then he is simply incorrect.

"...because hits = album sales = big tours = lotsa money."

Now that´s news to me, Bart aka The Teacher.

BartVanHemelen said:

Bart van norton:
Don't confuse "facts" with personal observations. As you would have seen if you read my comments SLOWLY (which you obviously need to do), I did not say Bono never touched a guitar, but rather, I hadn't seen him with one, merely satyrically pointing out that he wasn't much of a guitarist. I understand your childish need to be abrasive, but try to do so more accurately.