Update: it's on their site now: http://www.arktimes.com/e...1enta.html



This is an article from the "Arkansas Times" I read and thought it might interest some other people. It's not on the website last look (www.arktimes.com) so I typed it for you all. It's written by Jim Harris. [And (C) The Arkansas Times]



OLD HOME WEEK FOR PRINCE BANDMATES




If Prince decides to have one of those infamous "aftershow" parties in the Little Rock area after his concert Saturday, Morris Hayes and Kip Blackshire probably can point him to the right club.



Hayes and Blackshire are Jefferson County natives living the musician's dream: Not only are they touring the world and playing before thousands of screaming fans, they are backing up on of the more talented and popular artists of the rock era. Hayes and Blackshire are keyboardists with Prince's band, and the New Power Generation. Blackshire is also a vocalist. There's a 13 year age gap between Hayes and Blacksire, and they both took circuitous routes via Texas to Minneapolis to land with Prince's show. Hayes played with several groups before getting on Prince's record label, Paisley, and eventually meeting Prince. Blackshire, whose roots are in gospel, says he was "always looking to do something different." It goes without saying, as Prince fans know, that this artist offers something different. Talented enough to play every instrument. A composer seemingly always in touch with contemporary changes in music. A true showman, both on stage and on screen. To the outsider, working with Prince might not seem so easy. Hayes admits that Prince is a perfectionist, but that's what Hayes enjoys and expects. Blackshire thinks of Prince as a regular, normal guy, not the contorversial artist trying something new to keep his fans guessing: changing his name to a symbol, using numerals in place of words "to" and "for" and so forth, spicing up tunes with lyrics full of sexual innuendo.
Hayes says, "Whatever it is, from the small club we're playing {last Tuesday night in Norfolk, VA} to playing Wembley stadium, he just wants the show to be consistent, to be tight. He wants us to do the best we can. He strives very hard for that and pushes us to deliver a good show." But even the band on stage, doesnt know what's coming next. "The other night, he was calling out the songs as it went along....We went close to three hours or better, a very long show. It's very cool, it's all very spontaneous. We practice a show and a set but it doesn't neccesarily follow what's planned." Hayes says. Hayes grew up in Jefferson and graduated from nearby White Hall high school in 1981. After moving to Chicago, he returned south and played with a Memphis cover band, Fingerprint, which decide it made more sense to move to Texas where most of its gigs were and where it was easier to get around in a van whose transmission invariably went out. They opened for a Prince-sponsered band, Mazzarati, in Texas and Hayes and another band member ended up as replacement musicians in that group and moved to Minneapolis.
When record label owners changed, that band gig ended, but Hayes hung around Paisley Park studio, he says, doing odd jobs, running errands, picking up recording stars and actors, and even landing a small part in the movie "Graffiti Bridge" as a musician in George Clinton's band. Eventially Prince noticed Hayes around the studio and wondered what he did musically. He directed Hayes to The Time when a keboard spot opened, and when a simialar role came open in his band, he tapped Hayes to fill it. He joined the "Diamonds and Pearls" tour with Prince and Carmen Electra in 1992, and he's been with NPG since.
Blackshire, a 1994 Pine Bluff High graduate, grew up around relatives who performed as the Beard Family, well known in gospel circles in the region. He moved to Texas with a pop band; knowing Hayes, he and other artists went to Minneapolis to work on a project at Paisley Park two years ago.



In a story only Hollywood could have scripted, Blackshire was in a Paisley Park restroom singing to himself. Prince happened by, heard Blackshire and invited him on the spot to sit in on a jam across the hall with Carlos Santana. Then he asked him to be a vocalist and a keyboardist in the band. "Man, I mean that's probably one of the biggest rewards for me, to sit there and watch hundereds of thousands of people in a stadium, like field of wheat. You see the field and it's moving, people as far as you can see," Blackshire marverls. "This job is like a doctor, you're always on call doing studio time or traveling. I rarely get home."

Prince has arranged a homecoming of sorts.

"We played Barton a few years ago, and when I saw Alltel being built I said we had to play there soon," Hayes said. "My whole family- my mom, my dad, my brother- everyone will be there. This leg of the tour, I'm going to go home real quick. I missed Christmas and I still have presents to bring. They're getting a late and early Christmas visit."