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Endoraa's Milwaukee Afterparty Report The price was $20. The club was about two-thirds full, and the layout of the club has it divided in half -- separated by a ramp and double opening where two security guys stand guard.
There is one side with a dance floor, a bar, dancing girls in cages, and the DJ booth. DVS was the DJ. Prince was on the other side in a VIP area with a pool table and comfy benches and tables. That side also had a bar. The security guards were letting people into that side -- the side where the VIP area was, in groups of about 2-3 people at a time. Prince did not do his "walk-through" of the side where the DJ booth is located until 1:45 a.m. -- 15 minutes before closing time. He was surrounded by bodyguards and I did not see anyone try to grab him or touch him in any way. He stayed in the DJ booth for about 10 minutes, playing his new jams -- none of which I have heard before because I haven't been able to get the CD singles yet. He stood up a couple of times so that people who had been waiting could see him, but he spent most of the time sitting down behind the high booth -- and he couldn't be seen that way. I could not see what the experience was on the other side where Prince spent most of the evening because the security guards were only letting a few people at a time go to the other side of the club. When I first arrived at the club, I went to that doorway and I was told at that time that I needed some type of pass or wristband to get in. I didn't have one so I waited on the other side with about 200 other people. Morris Hayes and members of Millenia were very nice and chatted with people. One of the members of Millenia that I spoke with is a lovely person. I don't know her name, but she is quite tall. I shook hands with her and congratulated her on Millenia's nice performance singing backing vox for Prince and she was very nice and friendly:) Shortly after Prince made his walk-through of the area where DJ booth is located, security announced that it was closing time and everyone had to leave. I could hear some people grumbling and saying they didn't get to see Prince and they wanted their $20 back. Most people left, but some stayed around outside for awhile. I decided to stay around for a while, too. At that time, shortly after 2 a.m., there were about 200 people outside the club. The guards kept telling people to leave. Some of Prince's entourage got on a tour bus. Morris Hayes and a couple of other NPG people flagged down a taxi. That surprised me that they would need to flag down a taxi to get a ride, probably back to their hotel. Anyway, the number of people hanging outside the club kept getting smaller and smaller as time went on. Prince was still inside the club. The windows of the club are tinted very dark, but you can see a little bit inside the club through the windows, and Prince was clearly visible. He was playing pool with his bodyguard. Eventually, a few people were let back in the club. Unfortunately I was not chosen to be allowed in. About 8 women were allowed back into the club on the side where the DJ booth and dance floor is. They were dancing and Prince went over to that side and danced with them. One blonde woman was dancing really wildly -- throwing her body all over the place -- so Prince's bodyguard stepped up and made her back off a bit, so she wouldn't be too close to Prince while she was dancing. A black woman who was standing outside the club looked in the windows and started to loudly complain that all of the women allowed back in to dance with Prince were all white women. I looked into the window again and told the woman that I believe one of the women allowed back in the club was black. It was hard to tell for sure because the club windows were tinted so dark, plus the interior of the club was dark, too and the dance floor was toward the back of the club -- away from the windows. Prince danced with the women for a while, then he sat up on the bar and talked to the female bartender for a while. Meanwhile, the crowd outside the club had gotten really small, there were only about a dozen people left outside. We started to wonder why they wouldn't let us back in -- there were fewer than 10 people in the club at that time, and there was only a dozen or so people outside -- so why couldn't we come in and dance, too? If they had allowed the people left outside to come in, that would have brought the number of people inside to about 20. I don't think that 20 people comprising a big crowd and there wouldn't have been any threat to Prince's safety. Most of the people left outside where just out there quietly sitting and waiting on the curb and sidewalk... I actually spoke to the doorman a few times, each time I politely asked to come in. The first time I spoke to the doorman he told me to wait a few minutes and he would let me in. So I waited. The second time I asked him he said he couldn't let anyone else in. I waited until 3:45 a.m. and then I gave up and left. Before I left I saw a police officer handcuffing one of the women who had been waiting outside the club. I think she may have had a little too much to drink. She had become upset and was screaming and crying about waiting for 3 hours to see Prince and not being let in. She wouldn't move off the sidewalk when the officer told her move. So I don't know if she was arrested, but she certainly was handcuffed. I know that some people have good experiences after waiting. You wait long enough and eventually you will be allowed in. I know that happened for people who waited in the cold for the Rave taping at Paisley. Of course the women who were selected to go in the club and hang with Prince, dance with him and chat, are happy with their special experience. But I am not one of those who was selected. The bright spot for me was that the security guards were much better behaved this time than they were at the last Milwaukee afterparty. The guards were not pushing, shoving, or yelling at anyone as if we were cattle the way they did at a previous afterparty I attended -- and for that I am grateful. | |
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