okay i came across a discussion elsewhere and thought you all might be interested since Prince is mentioned. could be a bunch of BS, might not be, i dunno since i've never worked for the guy.

relevent excerpts taken from messages from alt.audio.pro.live-sound (6/11/04)



"Saw the Prince Musicology show the other night in San Jose. Pretty impressive
sound and lights. Anybody know anything about the audio system they`re using -
mains, gold plated mic, etc. Thanks in advance."
<<<<

"I don't know anything about it but I pity the poor sods working on it. Prick
is one of the worst artists to work for or at least he used to be. Whether
he's mellowed or not I don't know but I have some real horror stories about
him."
<<<<

"His concert here sounded like poo. Very tough room but that's no excuse,
just one of the worst I've heard in there. Maybe it just didn't live up to
my expectations knowing his reputation for wanting perfection"
<<<<

"At least he's not trying to mix the shows from his on-stage dressing room
any more with engineers walking round the room with walkie-talkies in
contact with other engineers on the stage then had to "advise" Prick he may
want to change certain aspects of his mix."
<<<<<

"Please go on, Phil!

That's going to be fun! ))"
<<<<<

"No, that's what he used to do. Seriously.

There was also the poor monitor engineer whose desk Prick pissed all over
before firing him.

The guy is a fruitcake."
<<<<

"I believe at 1 show he went through 3 monitor Engineers.
during sound check.
NEXT....."
<<<<

"He gets off/on the bus, and rides to and from the stage, in a road case with
a small window, stool and light. Then his production manager screams at the
hands to not look at the *star*."
<<<<<

"When I worked for Sennheiser they presented him with a gold-plated
MD431 as a gift - whether that's what he's still using (I imagine he's
probably had others made), I'm not sure. he was pretty arrogant at the
show he got it at, as if he simply "deserved" it."
<<<<<

"Prince rides a bus? I figured he flew to the gigs and then got
helicoptered in to the venue.

I mean riding a bus is so "regular rock star"...I thought Prince would
ride in a Gulfstream or something...hell if I had his cash I would."
<<<<

"I'm a monitor engineer, I would have LOVED for him to piss on my desk, Right
on the PSU input. I'd have grabbed his little pecker with a leatherman and
seen how high he can sing. Make him dance like James Brown. HEY, JUMP BACK!"
<<<<<

"A mate of mine was brought in to take over monitors when the last guy got
fired buy Prince, he lasted about 2 weeks, and he credits that length only
to the fact that he is a short ass and that made Prince feel better. They
had 2 XL3's one just for prince's vocals, each song had a seperate ch
(nightmare), and the other desk for the band. What Prince did was to walk
up to the desk mid show and demand to be shown the strip he was on, he then
boosted the hi-mid while being told that that would cause problems, he
ignored the engineer and went back to his mic. The only thing my mate could
do was to bring it back down to a safer level that wasn't on the verge of
feeding, Prince went back to the desk and told him not to "touch my desk" so
he had to stand away from the desk and let Prince shag his monitor mix up.
If you arnt able to do your job then there aint alot of point in staying, so
he picked up his bag took his kit and actually waved at prince from the side
of the side and walked off and out of a job. Right or wrong I would have
loved to have seen Princes face. My mate got paid for the gig and was paid a
bonus as well."

Sounds like a bunch of chicks gossiping about an old boyfriend they never dated.

"A mate of mine was brought in to take over monitors when the last guy got
fired buy Prince, he lasted about 2 weeks, and he credits that length only
to the fact that he is a short ass and that made Prince feel better."

OdysseyMiles said:

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

"And girrrl, he dated my sisters' best friends's cousin's former roomate! Yeah, let me tell you girl he beat her a$$!! He owed her all kinda chile support, wrecked her car, screwed up her credit....

OdysseyMiles said:

...put a cell phone account in they baby's name and never paid for it...i heard he owe like about 5 grand in child support...

That's pretty damn funny, sounds accurate though. Hey, do you think Prince got to where he is by not being demanding? Most people are so incompetent that they shouldn't even be in their line of work. Music is a pirate industry with lots of phonies and wannabees and big shots. You can't deal with them by being nice, just can't, I've tried believe me. The story of him traveling in a case to and from stage is true. My best friend spotted a luggage compartment surrounded by security being surreptitiously rolled from the stage here in seattle. Only this little nut came in a freight truck not a bus or a limo. He came lo-pro and with as little contact from anyone as possible.

It's funny that this was posted. I have a friend who is a soundboard engineer in D.C., and he has these EXACT kinds of stories to tell about engineers working for Prince and at PP (he's done some work there himself). I hadn't heard the one about peeing on the desk, but I did hear a rather interesting one about a visiting engineer who brought a Big Mac into Paisley Park. Big no-no apparently. He also said that sometimes Prince refuses to speak with the engineers himself, even if they are standing right in front of him (you know, kinda like the Tora Tora interview). It could just be idle gossip, but I have heard this before.

S

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

TimCalhoun said:

you know what? i'm thinkin that that cat wished that p pulled an r. kelly on his desk...

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I want to pee on you....drip,drip,drip....

OdysseyMiles said:

the only way to make my life complete is to turn yo desk into a toilet seat...

"I'm a monitor engineer, I would have LOVED for him to piss on my desk, Right
on the PSU input. I'd have grabbed his little pecker with a leatherman and
seen how high he can sing. Make him dance like James Brown. HEY, JUMP BACK!"
that's gotta hurt!!

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I drink Crys....you drink piss...

OdysseyMiles said:

gonna do a lil' tin-kle, gonna do a lil' pee-pee...gonna clean yo desk off...wash it down with some wee-wee...

...aw man, i need to quit

I love the part about him pissing on the desk! That is hilarious!

I can believe these stories. I have some friends that are stage hands and they said that on the "Jam Of The Year" tour, Prince had a tunnel set up from his dressing room to the stage so he wouldn't have to see anyone.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Yes, ya do. I need to leave work. I've been here an extra 30 minutes.

That stuff is hellafunny! Dude kept callin' him "Prick".

That's Too Funny! It is no surprise to me & i do not believe it is gossip either. I also have heard the same stories about him from friends who knew someone who had the pleasure to work one of his shows also. Most Fans do not want to believe that Prince is arrogant & can be an asshole to work for. I wonder now, since he is Jehova has it changed his attitude. He probably is not as bad. Meaning he'll wait longer like 3 days to fire someone instead of 1 day.

Working for him in Paisley park I heard is very difficult.

He's forbidden any type of lunch meat in the caffeteria, and ordered all the toilet paper in the restrooms be removed.

but shouldn't these people KNOW their job? i wouldn't want any fakes running my soundboard either. you think you know? then do it! can't do it? then what you doing here?! Prince probably did a lot of other performers a big favor by weeding out the lesser engineers.

Snap said:

why do you assume these engineers DON'T/DIDN'T "know their job"?

i'm not saying what these engineers claim about Prince's behavior to be true (or not true) because i don't claim to know about incidents i wasn't there to witness, but i wanted to point out to you that even HIGHLY SKILLED, QUALIFIED and CAPABLE individuals can get the boot from an employer who possesses an extremely picky or tempermental nature. just because someone gets fired by or walks out on Prince does not necessarily indicate incompetence on that particular employeee's part. if Prince asks someone to do something that technically isn't possible nor advisable, does that mean that person doesn't "know their job"? maybe it shows that Prince doesn't always know as much as he thinks he does (another example to support this argument: Prince & the movie Grafitti Bridge. get my drift?) if that story about Prince demanding a camel at 3 a.m. in Minnesota in winter has any grain of truth to it, does that mean the employees who couldn't produce said animal couldn't do *their* job and should've been let go?

Prince is known to be difficult to work for, in case you've never heard that, and it IS very true that he hires and fires with lightening speed, and not always based on the employee's skill level or ability.
[Edited 10/19/04 21:03pm]

mozfonky said:

thats no excuse for being a jackass.


now THAT would be some funny shit 2 see!

Yes, but is this story really true?

TimCalhoun said:

You make good points but I have to go with personal experience. Music is so full of flakey people that it's impossible to be patient with them. I've solved the problem by working alone as much as possible. I can't tell you how many people who thought they had something to contribute have wasted my time and money, mainly they don't want to work as much as pose. Music is a business of posers. I can't say that Prince is wrong in being impatient. However, there is a right and wrong way to deal with people, pissing on people desks and such, which rings true to me, is obviously not a mature way to deal with employees. But hey, let me tell you, when you put your heart and soul into something and see a bunch of spastics fucking around it's enough to make you sick. As an artist, I understand it totally. Sick of them.

You think Prince is the only one mistreating engineers? Please...

Novabreaker said:

I dont see anyone having any illusions about that

Novabreaker said:

Prince is just a man, nothing more or less. He's not even close to being an evil person. Most people who get any kind of power aren't very nice to the people under them. I remember working in a steel mill and how power would turn one of the guys into one of the assholes, people always complain about their bosses, authority figures, when given the oppurtunity they are always just as bad. Power corrupts, however, lots of people need to have that stick over them because they have no internal discipline.

mozfonky said:

-----
You make good points. P may be a butthead but there are always to sides to every story. People on this board has complained about bad sound at some of the shows. The public will not blame the engineer the public will blame Prince.
----
Maybe he does not want workers looking at him because he is in the zone for the concert or maybe he still can't handle the looks after all these years.