Brothers and sisters of the purple underground ...




There was a short performance inter-twined with the weekly late Friday
night dance party early this morning (Oct 21). I was very fortunate to
be in attendance, as this was my very first visit to the Park since I
starting digging Prince back in the 7th grade (1982 for you inquisitive
types). Details, details are as follows (including some tour date
news). ...




I flew in from Detroit and got to MPLS-St. Paul International Airport
about 10:20 pm CDT. After getting the rental car it was an easy drive
for me to Paisley. I had a cassette of Prince music to keep me in the
mood. I finally located Audobon Road, and turned into the open gates
and into the partially-walled inside parking lot. There were two other
cars at the end of the building. I arrived at The Park by 11pm, and I
was the first one there. No other cars were in the parking lot, but I
didn't care because I made it to The Park. So, I took a little tour of
the grounds, walking past the front entrance and taking at look at a
HUGE mound of earth on the far side of the building (the construction
site). Can't really tell what is taking place, although there is a
construction boxcar on the other side of the property and some slats and
some hitches at the far end of the parking lot. ...




I made my way through the inner parking lot where my rental was and
walked near the STUDIO door. I noticed two guys hanging out in the
hallway. I noticed the door was unlocked and walked in. I motioned for
the two men to see me at the other door and I ended up talking with
Kirky J for about five minutes. Really nice guy. He told me a line
starts to form after 12:30 am. I asked Kirk if Prince was in town.
Kirk said he could be at the VH1 Fashion Awards (taped earlier in the
week). I chirped in saying since I was from Detroit (Ann Arbor) and
Prince could be at the Mike Tyson/Andrew Golota fight. I heard music
coming from the studio and he was working on tracks for Mellinia. I
also asked Kirk about the tour and he said he will not be with Prince on
this one. In addition to working with the girl group, he is still
working on the Funky Baldheads project. So, I said goodbye and got back
in the car to go and get some food up the street at Perkins. While I
was getting into my rental a limousine went to the MN-5 / Audobon Road
stop and made a left hand turn. Later, after getting a bite to eat, I
noticed the same white limo coming back to The Park. ...




There was already a line when I got back to Paisley around 12:30am.
Doors finally opened at 1:10am and pre-recorded music was blasting from
the Love4OneAnother room. I just took it all in since it was my first
time and all. The only Prince song mixed into the mainly house/rap mix
was the old version of 1999. Morris Hayes and John Blackwell arrived
about 15 minutes before the doors opened to the public ($7 entry) ...




Prince was no where in sight. But Aaron and Takomi were walking around
and there were some other sound staff scurrying about. The stage was
set up at the far end of the Love4OneAnother room. I was told the stage
had been set near a corner section, near the stairs leading to the
"projection" room. There were two movie projections airing various
background images and the red neon heart was hung up on another wall.
In talking, someone told me there was a post on NPGOnLineLTD about a gig
with special guest Najee. There were not a lot of people to start off,
maybe 50, but the crowd grew to about 300-350 or so, I guess. ...




It was nearing 2am and I noticed Najee walking up the stage with a case.
He had brought a flute, and an alto and tenor sax. About 15 minutes
later people started getting close to the stage as Rhonda, Kip, John,
and Morris took their places. There was a huge white backdrop and the
projection aired various enhanced computer animation and graphics. Then
the dance music stopped, blue lights lighted up the stage and Prince
appeared from a white door and slung his purple symbol guitar over his
neck. Prince started what it seemed like a smoothed out version of THE
RIDE, but it quickly grew into a huge acid jazz beast of a freeform jam.
The NPG (Morris on organ/keys, Kip on fuzzy keys, John on drums, Rhonda
on fretless bass, and Najee on sax/flute). all took their licks and
bounced off each other. All this in blue light. ...




The first joint was played out in 11 measures and it lasted for 40
MINUTES. Yeah, really. It just kept on going and going. It built and
dropped off, built up again and dropped off, and so on. Prince started
off with Habibi, but early on he stopped playing the purple guitar,
walked over off stage (to Takomi, I guess), and came back with the blue
cloud guitar. After 15 minutes or so of the blue guitar, Prince took it
off, walked off stage and plugged in the leopard-patterned guitar and
created another sound and fed off the vibe. At one point as Prince
wailed on the guitar, fireworks were exploding on the screen. Very
trippy. ...




Oh, and what did Prince wear? He had shoulder-length hair, curled a
bit, with a small part down the middle. I think he had some facial hair
(small beard and moustache). He was wearing a tan/white striped waist
coat and black flared pants. No shirt. And he was making some faces
while ripping up the guitars staring out into nowhere. ...




Near the end of this acid jazz explosion Kip doodled on the fuzzy
keyboard. Then John took his turn and slammed on the drum kit, with
Prince cheering John on. Then as the groove simmered down, Prince asked
Kip to move aside from the fuzzy keyboard and the groove stopped.
Prince stayed in the jazz-flavored groove and sung The Ballad of Dorothy
Parker, which later segued into Four. Prince got off the fuzzy keys and
walked off stage while the NPG cooked the Four groove. Rhonda took off
her fretless bass and moved over to a new instrument - a three-stringed
viola, complete with bow. It creates a weird sound. Rhonda did not use
the bow, but plucked on the strings a bit, then moved back to the
fretless bass. ...




John then kicked this funky snare beat and Prince joined in with his
one-eyed bass. Massive thumping groove. DVS appeared on stage with an
associate and did two freeform raps. In talking to DVS afterwards,
there were no song titles, but of what I made out of them were THE
HEARTBREAKER and THINGS THAT ARE HUSH. Prince exited stage right with
DVS and his associate, and Morris and Najee followed. Kip started
playing and did a tune called KEEP RUNNING BACK TO YOU. Then he just
quit and the only one left on the stage was John on the drum kit. Then
he got off the stage and left. And that was it. Most in attendance
thought there was a break in the action, but a DJ up in the rafters
started mixing music and the blue lights turned off. Total time of the
performance - 1 hour, 15 minutes. ...




SETLIST - The Ride-inspired freeform acid jazz joint / The Ballad of
Dorothy Parker / 4 / The Heartbreaker / Things That Are Hush / Keep
Running Back To You



The DJ mixed in the new techno house version of Rave Un2, two versions
of the HotWitU nasty girl mix, Billy Jack Bitch, and a new joint, with
has to do something with "creaming in my jeans" - a funky smoothed out
beat - after the performance. Then the music stopped and the house
lights came on at 4:25am. End of party. ...




Okay guys, if you are still with me, I learned that the ORIGINAL
kickoff date for the North American Tour was supposed to be Sunday, 1
October, 2000, but according to some of the Paisley staff, the kickoff
date keeps on being pushed back for whatever reason. And although
Cleveland is the first date mentioned so far (with Charlotte a few weeks
later), it is NOT THE FIRST DATE OF THE TOUR. Cleveland is tour stop
No. 3 or No. 4, with Detroit, Chicago and another city as possible start
dates. ...




For what it was worth - I will never forget this night. End of
transmission. . ...




Timmy

Uncle jam's grafix funkateer