http://www.startribune.co...69614.html
NO PRINCE CELEBRATION?

Although there was never any official announcement of concerts around the time of Prince's birthday on June 7, fans on the Prince.org Web site are bemoaning news that the annual celebration has been "canceled."

The singer is not currently working with his usual publicity staff at New York's Susan Blond Inc., but a source there said that a couple months ago there had been talk of doing the celebrations. There's no word on what happened, or what Prince is planning for his birthday.

He's not in recluse mode, though. Ol' Purple got on stage last weekend sporting a new hairdo (a short afro) at Sheila E's all-star Cinco de Mayo benefit concert in Los Angeles.

Does anybody have a pic of Prince with his new 'do? I'd be curious to see what he looks like in his short afro.

There's NO Celebration? Why you don't say.

I WANT PRINCE TO GET A


JERI CURL !!!




JERI CURL !!!

where


is





the


pic ???

My wife luvy and I have never attended any of the celebrations and did not intend to attend this year. But if there is not a Celebration this year for the ones who have gone or were planning on going. It's probably because of the bootlegging of the entire Xenophobia shows last year... There were thieves amongst the crowd... Not good... for a supposedly trustworthy NPGMC fam event...

I wonder if ole Princey is doing the "get back to his roots thing", you know kinda like in the Malcolm X movie.

Don't know if I can imagine prince in a fro.
[This message was edited Fri May 9 14:39:35 PDT 2003 by righteous1]

The first year I was gonna be able 2 go & he cancels.
That Sucks!
Looks like its off 2 Vegas 4 Mariah!!

vegas what a joke back at the scene of the crime again why dont U get married a 3rd time!never trusted U I knew your inner thoughts

I hope there is a celebration. Friends are flying in 4 the shows. This is dissapointing and hopefully is not true.

Ol' Purple

july said:

I agree he won't do that again he will keep us at a good distance

It doesn't look like there will be a Celebration this year. Since there hasn't been any notice yet, I don't think it will happen. Last year and the year before, fans were given ample notice of the parties so they could make thier travel arrangements.
Maybe Prince isn't going to do the Celebrations anymore. It's too bad because the performances and workshops were really cool.
Maybe Prince is having a baby or he has other plans. I don't know.
Hopefully there will be some npgmusicclub parties this summer at least!

It also looks like John Blackwell is going to be out of town during the normal Celebration dates. It would be difficult for the NPG to play without a drummer.

Oh sh*t! Prince back in an Afro.I've got to see this.When I first heard Family Name, I was thinking that he'd eventually have to stop straigtening his hair or else risk being called a hyprocrite in his own crusade. But seriously, I liked his straight long Thieves in the Temple hair (his best do). But an Afro would be cool for a while.

well, i'm sorry, but i find that terribly silly. what does bootlegging have to do with anything? the boots from the celly are astounding quality for audience recordings, but if he recorded it himself he woulda BLOWN them outta the water, and some of these performances were amazing.

of course, some of them were putrid too (how he turned god into a yack-fest is beyond me).

i downloaded the whole xenophobia set...but even if i HAD bought it it would have only increased my desire to get my hands on a legitimate release.

funny, i feel prince has stolen from me and other fans many times over the last few years by forcing us to pay over and over for the same music in lesser and lesser audio quality over the years, so the thieves in the temple remark just irks me.

i wasn't able to go to the celebration last year. i would have LOVED to have gone. i was at a very...difficult crossroads, and it was absolutely not possible. not financially, not logistically (which of course as we all know really means not financially) - not even close.

i'm very glad that the bootleggers taped the show, because otherwise i would never have heard any of these amazing performances last fall...

and, like the best prince music always does, it uplifted my soul and gave me strength. so if that's what comes from the Evils of Bootlegging, then i say bring it on.

i'd still LOVE to buy the real deal from prince. as if THAT would ever happen.

my bitter $.02 and please nobody get offended

july said:

Wow. Very, very well put, theblueangel.
A post that was written smartly and succinctly.

I agree. I dont think half the artists out there realize just how much fans want to hear the artists music. If Prince would release some of those shows himself, we would totally buy it! Or alot of us would.

Like Bjork does! Or Pearl Jam.

Nice to hear a sane voice out there in the wilderness, blue.

Peace
-Josh

The Xenophobia Celebration was audio recorded as well as filmed... But you have to see... It not your house joshmos and it's not your house theblueangel. People were asked to do certain things at the event and were trusted to do so... Screw the I need a copy mentality... Yes I have heard the Xenophobia recordings but I do think it is wrong for someone to totally disregard the rights and wishes of the creator of the beautiful sounds... theblueangel. Your need and wanted to hear it claim, is just really self serving. Prince deserves the right to control his own product. Do you guys joshmos and theblueangel let your neighbors come over and visit and go in your kitchen and open your refrigerator to cut slices of your food, to give to their friends?!... Respect is a better word... It's Prince's event... It's Prince's house... Some people don't deserve another Celebration... 8)

gotta agree with july... mostly.

july said:

I completely see you point on this... BUT i think Prince can't have it both ways. if people are joining his NPGMC and they want a track from a live show he did last week - they shouldn't be denied that right because they don't have £1000 to shell out on travel to Minneapolis for the celebration, have a family therefore a week out of their annual holiday leave denies them a FAMILY holiday, etc. you get my point.

after all isn't music with Prince supposed to be 'FREE'.

If Mani is pregnant, it is understandable that Prince would want to focus the majority of his energy on that.
Just because there were Celebrations for the last 3 years doesn't mean they would go on indefinitely. I don't think Prince ever stated that.
Also, there is the possibility that it might be later in the year. Maybe during the fall when it's not too hot or cold.
I went last year and had a great time. Hopefully, last year wasn't the last Celebration, but remember, Prince doesn't owe us these fantastic get togethers.
If they happen, great. If they don't, be disappointed, but don't make a federal case out of it.

I guess the local hotels and restaurants will be deeply disappointed.

TongueBox said:

Hi TongueBox.

july said:

"disregard the rights and wishes"...hmm i think thats happened both ways over the course of his career.

Lets not forget that the people at these celebrations are hardcore prince fans, as are most of the people on this site. I would be willing to bet an incredibly high percentage of us on here have just about every commercial cd he has released, not to mention 1800newfunk merchandise, NPG Retail stuff, etc. We give Prince all that beautiful money he loves. Sharing some music from Xenophobia with other diehard fans who couldn't perhaps make it but support Prince in just about every other way, doesnt really seem like such a hideous thing.

I'm wondering why prince is so bothered by people sharing copies of his shows. There are plenty of musicians who encourage it, and it hasn't wrecked their careers, in fact they've probabbly benefitted more from it than anything.

If he gave his "blessing" so to speak for fans to share their own homemade copies of his concerts, could you imagine the collection of music we could compile and celebrate? It would be free publicity to him that wouldn't cost him a dime.
[This message was edited Sat May 10 7:58:49 PDT 2003 by Tom]

we down here in Florida(NPG) hope that this is NOT True but @ the same time we havne't heard anything from Prince yet

well...wait a minute, july...how can you call me self-serving for admitting to the fact that listening to the celly boot from last year lifted me up...but then go on to say that you've heard them yourself??

where did you hear them?

are you saying that you have NO bootlegs? b/c unless you're saying that, i don't really see how you can go around calling other people self-serving for explaining why they get joy out of hearing the music.

you know? if you have ONE bootleg, then you are "totally disregarding the rights and wishes of the creator of the beautiful sounds" - just listening to it is disregarding prince's wishes.

don't you see that? a lot of times people on here tend to adopt this morally superior attitude, and nothing applies to THEM anymore.

july, keep in mind that i respect your point of view, but i don't think you're being fair by both listening to the boot and then condemning others for listening to it.

july said:

theblueangel said:

I have to agree with your points here B.A. To those that consider owning boots to be one of the se7en deadly sins all I can say is, if you don`t like it don`t listen. PERIOD. I love my boots because they help me to expand my horizons on Prince. I didn`t get to attend last years celly, nor did I get to attend the Small Club show back in the late 80`s, nor did I get to attend a Controversy show. However the bootleg shows out there allow me to get a glimpse of Prince at some of his most creative peaks. Owning bootlegs doesn`t take bread out of Prince`s mouth or food off of his plate. Prince could deal a near fatal blow to the bootleggers by uploading some shows to the NPGMC site for download. Hell he could charge $9.99 a pop per download and rake in buku bucks. I know that I would pay for the superior sounding qualities, unfortunately since Prince will never consider doing such a thing I will have to resort to purchasing the boots when they become available to me. But on a final note; to the high and mighty NPGMC fams out there who are in Prince`s pocket, don't judge me just because I own bootlegs. Here is some food for thought: Owning them isn`t a sin nor is it illegal, Prince isn`t God (even though he considers himself one) so therefore his "word" isn't the law, and Prince isn`t being hurt spiritually nor financially because someone purchases a bootleg.

july said:

The first two celebrations were also booted including the stuff from within Paisley park so I feel that you are grasping at straws.

Almost the entire ONA Euro tour has been released - does that mean he'll never play in Europe again...ya right! That theory holds no water!

july said:

As tight as paisley park security is, how did anyone manage to sneak equipment in to to record the celebration?