[Another good one. Thanks! -Ben]

XCEL CONCERTS and THE RAINBOW CHILDREN LISTENING.. w/Prince!

(Trying to keep it succint so as not to bore you w/dumb details)

FRIDAY NITE SHOW: was basically a hit and run show. the standard medley's etc. they allowed NPGMC members in early for soundcheck.. of course we didnt go cuz we didnt know... (dumbasses we are!) anyway... the sound wasnt all that great and we "heard" that the XCEL sound ppl quit... could be P's demanding persona? not sure. anyway the show was great (as always) but it was the same meal and no real variety. There was the after party @ Paisley which was boring til they started playing Prince music (new and newer) but too tired to get down. I heard it ended at 5am. and Yes, Prince was in the house w/his new GF (sorry ladies)..

SATURDAY RAINBOW LISTENING PARTY: so we go in thinking we'd be out of Paisley in 2 hours and get some shut-eye time.. oh no. 70 min after listening to a very eclectic mix of music (along with highy spiritual lyrics in our own personal lyric book) i liked the most of the music... iwasnt too down with the weird Charlie Brown's teacher narration (MWAH MWAH MWHA)... but you know, at first listen you cant always form an opinion. I had to listen to Nikka Costa 4 times before I could get into it... so i WILL NOT BASH THE MAN's music no matter what... I can only be thankful that someone exists in this world that can play and orchestrate the way he does. Anyway. we finish listening and we go down to a small soundstage and Kevin Smith intro's hisself and the discussion begins. Because we we're being filmed, I felt like many ppl in the room said things that were "favorable" and were not true in their opinions ... at first. then things started to get heated.. religions, opnions, radio, commerciality of TRC, can we change the world... then "SIR, WHAT DO YOU THINK?" Then a perfectly coifed PRINCE joined the conversation- sat betwixt us all, very jovial, human, hugged a guy next to him, joking... and honey! STRIKING! for the ladies: THE MAN IS BEAUTIFUL... and he began to talk about spirituality, his lyrics, took questions and then played a game which i will call "BANISHMENT" and it was prolly not a good choice... i woulda preferred "TWISTER" but thats just me. Anyway, i dont really want to elaborate on this cuz i thought it was poor choice -- and I respect P and the point he was trying to make but i couldnt really hang w/this one. Anyway, it did get "spritual" and there were girls in the room trying to get face time... crud! i couldnt even ask a question and its obvious i had so much to say! matter of fact let me voice a coupla thangs i wanted to say here and its directed to everyone in that room but you can apply to ya own selves if ya like...

1) i dont pretend to know prince, know what he's trying to say, know what he means, etc. i enjoy his music, but i am not trying to read into and pretend to know HIM! its a flippin' EXPERIENCE.. you take from it what applies... like when you just broke up with your man, a love song hits just right and you are FEELIN' it... thats what its all about. on this new album he's definetly feelin lotsa thangs.. but its a matter of what applies to you.

2) i like pop radio. and this is not a commercial album but i would still buy it, cuz i like to support artists who consisently put out for their fans (whether the fans like it or not, the music is as much for him as it is for us)

3) folks need to stop idolizing him, its not healthy and its weird.

just my thoughts , whew! there's more but im only subjecting you to 3. well as the discussion evolved to more "spiritual" themes an obvious JW girl who was extremely RUDE! (and i'm not saying that cuz she was JW - she was just rude and ignorant) tried to extract a confirmation of JW allegiance from P but it didnt happen.. my opinion - he aint yet, he did discuss going to the hall for mtgs and such and has definite views about many things.. but the one topic that did permeate the discussion was the place of a woman in his view and i agree... its not "submissive" the way you think --- emale me if you want to get into it, dont wanna start a women's lib thread here if ya get my gist. anyway, 2 girls had issues and he took them up for a private session -- found out later he spoke to them one on one for 2 whole hours! impressed. my ass is impressed along with the rest of me. i am not into the JW religion growing up a born again myself, but if it means that he is a better person, that he is at Peace, that he is a better man to his woman, to himself... let THE MAN BE! thats all i gotta say on this topic.. (ps. one of the first thangs he admitted to when he walked in was that he had a big EGO!... props to a man to admit his faults in front of strangers).

SAT NITE SHOW: being a fairly new fan, dont know all that was played (someone else can elaborate) but it was 2 hours of fantastic-long piano session playing in the middle of da flo'- (sometime it snows in april, i love you but i dont trust you, etc etc) major long sets and medleys guitar playing, riffing AMAZING SHOW! the arena was half full so only the Prince fans were in the house... he was phenomenal... and he will no longer play darling nikki cuz he doesnt want to contribute to the hoochiness of the females jockeying him at the show ... he did nt say that at the show but it was said in one of the discussions he attended. I could go on but I'm afraid I've already bored you enough.

THIS WAS AN EXPERIENCE AND I WOULD ADVISE EVERYONE TO SAVE UP FOR NEXT YEAR... just in case!