raze?

mrdespues said:

2 destroy 2 the ground 4ever.

i think he put in the order in jan 2003, and it actually happened in march or april of last year.

if i'm wrong, i'm sure i'll be corrected soon. it's in "the vault", that's how i remember.

ThePurplePeopleEater said:

Bye bye Purple House...

have found somethin'

C.J.: The Prince 'Purple House' in Chanhassen is leveled
C.J., Star Tribune
April 2, 2003

Prince has razed a piece of purple real estate history.

The "Purple House" on Lake Riley, where his father, John L. Nelson, spent his final years, is gone. It was bulldozed about two weeks ago, according to neighbors.

Chanhassen building official Steve Torell reviewed the paperwork Monday: "It says the owner is Paisley Park Enterprises. A demolition permit was issued on January 14th."

Those are the just facts, said Torell, who's heard what neighbors told me about who formerly lived at the now-razed residence. "I think everyone thought his father lived there," said Torell.

The demo permit is good for six months. "To my knowledge, they haven't done anything yet," Torell said.

Au contraire.

Monday afternoon I viewed the back part of the property as the guest of a neighbor.

Gate outside Prince property.C.j.Star TribuneThere is no longer a house there, only a basketball backboard and one of those older, gigantic satellite dishes. The remote-control privacy gate, with a metal heart and Mercedes logo on it, is chained and padlocked.

The demolition of this piece of Prince's legacy leaves some wondering whether this has anything to do with a court battle initiated by a sibling seeking to share in John Nelson's estate. Prince seemed to think he alone had claim on his father's estates, which included musical instruments, etc., until his sister Lorna Nelson went to court with her claim that John Nelson had promised her financial help.

Lorna's attorney Mike Padden said, "The estate issues are finally wrapped. It got pretty ugly. I'm not on the short holiday greeting card list of either Prince or his attorneys, so I don't know what this is all about. This is really something. He's probably going to build a nicer house there."

The destruction may be a tangible sign that Prince is indeed cutting ties with his home state and perhaps, as rumored in the local music world, relocating to Toronto, home of his "wife" Manuela Testolini, who may be pregnant. He owns a second residence in Chanhassen as well as residences in Toronto and places elsewhere around the world.

The August 2001 death of his father and the February 2002 death of his mother, Mattie Baker, may be causing Prince to feel less connected to the Twin Cities; he did not attend his mom's funeral. There was lots of sibling wrangling over what Prince wanted to do with his father's remains.

The Lake Riley neighbor who invited me out, asking to be identified only as Janet K., said her family has lived there 10 years and "Dad has lived there for as long as we've lived here. I should thank [Prince] because now we have a really, really nice view of the lake."

While that was a joke, Janet also had the same sickened reaction as another neighbor who gave the name Jackie. "It's gone!" said Jackie. "What a waste. A perfectly good house. Nothing wrong with it."

Janet K. said there were signs of life at the Tudor-style house made of stucco and painted Prince's signature color. "We saw lights this past fall, like somebody was staying there," Janet K. said. "Nothing beyond that. There haven't been any lights all winter long. Nobody's talked to him. Nobody really has a clue why he did it. I figured if anybody could find out you could."

Ha. Jerry Blackwell, of Prince's law firm du jour, Blackwell Igbanugo, said, "I don't like gossiping, discussing what's going on with somebody's house. That's not news.''

Guess we'll have to wait until Prince deigns to explain himself to his PP buddy or on a national interview, if ever. Knowing Prince's manner, he probably thought it's HIStory so he can do with it what he likes. He's right, although historically speaking, capricious as always.

Just to be sure, I also checked to see whether Paisley Park was still standing Monday. It was, although it looked very deserted, only two cars in the lot closest to a side entrance. Instead of a moving van, perhaps neighbors should be on the lookout for a bulldozer at the other piece of Chanhassen lake property where Prince has lived.

Janet now wishes she'd taken a photo of the Purple House. "You know, when I saw the bulldozer pull in over there I thought, "What's he doing!' But by the time I got home that night it was dark and I couldn't see anything. In the morning the house was just in shambles. Wasn't no point in taking a picture."

Neighbor Jackie said that after all of the resentment she engendered for Prince fans who clogged the street by pulling into the drive of the property and generally milling about whenever Prince was in town, she would've been the last to take a photo.

Janet has been mulling over several theories for why Prince razed the house. Maybe he's actually moving, "but you know you pay less taxes if there's no house there," she said.

Perhaps Symbolina just didn't want anybody else living there?

"It was our understanding that 'Purple Rain" was filmed there; portions of it," Janet said.

A 1984 Star Tribune series on Prince mentions First Avenue as a movie scene, reporting: "Our Royal Rocker lives in a bright purple house on the shores of a lake west of the Twin Cities. Not too long ago a black fence, the gate to which is operated electronically from the house, went up around the property. Because of his diminutive physical stature and huge artistic stature, Prince has been accompanied by a bodyguard . . . "

While the article doesn't mention the Purple House's role in the 1984 movie, Prince-a-philes will recall one memorable "Purple Rain" scene with Apollonia, obviously shot on a lake.

Prince's high-heel-wearing-motorcycle-riding autobiographical character was taunting Apollonia with threats of desertion; she takes an ill-advised dip in the lake, and he doesn't. Someone who was on the movie set tells me that that was not Lake Riley, but a body of water farther out. This source also does not believe any of "Purple Rain" was shot at the Purple House.

This year is the 20th anniversary of the filming of "Purple Rain." In a way it's the anniversary of Prince begging us to notice him, only later coming to detest the attention.

Like me, Janet imagines that Prince will not appreciate anyone noticing that he bulldozed the Purple House. My take is that Symbolina tries too hard to be weird, when he's plenty strange without much effort. "That's a very good take," Janet said. "You don't have to try that hard when you're weird." And since we've repeatedly noticed the weirdness, mission is accomplished, and he can stop any minute now.

Symbolina's rumored departure from the Minneapolis area, which is a quick flight from Toronto, would mean his oddness perhaps would be of even less interest to most of us. Then again, maybe not, for he'll always be a Minnesotan.

Stan Lucas, who describes himself as a concierge for Clear Channel, is a regular at Bunkers. A week ago at the nightclub "I was just talking to some of the musicians and [was told] Prince has moved to Toronto. A lot of people he used to connect with feel alienated because he doesn't talk to anybody any longer. I guess he's just kind of disassociating himself with Minneapolis right now," said Lucas. "My take on it is that since his parents died that he doesn't have a reason to be here anymore."

If that's the case, Prince we'll miss ya'.

When cockatiels fly

John L. Nelson once had a bird companion, but it wasn't a dove. Neighbor Janet K. told a sweet story about the cockatiel that got away. Nelson's health care workers drove around looking for the bird and knocking on doors asking neighbors whether they had seen it. They said, We're taking care of the guy who lives there; we brought this bird over. We don't want to give his name. Wise, as that assured their continued employment. "They wouldn't tell who, but we knew," said Janet K. There are lots of hawks in the area, so the cockatiel's fate may not have been pleasant.

this reminds me of i think he was a baseball player and the kids had went to court trynna decide if he really wanted 2 b frozen or not.