Brought up in some topic. So what was it? Another alter ego of his?

doctamario said:

no it was an embarassing interview...according to other orgers, i wasnt as fortunate 2 see it yet
lol

Hmmm. He's had plenty of those, I hear. This one must have been aweful

yeah i hear its pretty bad, something many want 2 4get but who knows?
im still dying 2 see it (u can prolly find it on housequake.com)

Prince used the 'character' to hide behind during the period when he was in dispute with Warner Bros.

The 'character' was pretty much as appears on the front of the 'Exodus' album i.e. anonymous. Prince's contributions on the album are credited to Tora Tora.

On stage, he performed with a red 'mask'.

In interview with Veronica Webb he refused to speak audibly, whispering his answers to Mayte.

The voice used for the character during the 30 minute NPG radio showbroadcast on UK BBC Radio 1 was treated and sounded like the voice that can be heard on 'The Exodus Has Begun'.
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[Edited 1/30/05 23:45pm]

that's a pic of the TORA TORA get up.

and this one:

and this one:

MY FAVE INNERVIEW....its funny as.....!!!

I noticed that the single or video mix of Count the Days lowered the sound of Prince/Tora Tora in the mix. I wonder whether that was as a result of pressure from Warner Bros since it was a non-authorised "Prince" song that was getting high exposure.

Interesting. And is that Mayte to the left of him?

doctamario said:

Nope - Tommy B

SammiJ said:

An embarassing interview - and yet memorable, we're still talking about it today, and that's what promotion is all about.

Oh, and no one has mentioned that 'Tora Tora' was a Japanese war cry - so by using this as a name, Prince was implying a war with Warners.

metalorange said:

I have never heard that before but to continue it.....

It was more specifically a Japanese fighter pilot war cry as they used their planes as bombs, essentially committing suicide.

Maybe a reference to Prince's Career suicide?

Gav said:

Yes it is! Tommy's to HIS right!!!

PREDOMINANT said:

Actually, I just looked it up, and that's not true. It's not specifically a war cry for suicide bombers - Kamikaze pilots, it was used during the attack on Pearl Harbour but Kamikaze attacks didn't begin until near the end of the war.

Actually, it turns out it is might not be a warcry at all! See the following trivia:

"Most articles and books on the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941, note that the Japanese codeword for a successful surprise attack radioed back to their carrier was "TORA, TORA, TORA." However, on Dec. 7, 1991, the 50th anniversary of the event, Japanese historians at symposia being held both at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and at CAF Headquarters in Midland, Texas, revealed that the actual codes were individual syllables, not the word "TORA." The first code, "To," indicated that the attack had begun, and the second, "Ra," that success had been achieved."

When these transmissions were heard by the American radio operators in the heat of the attack, they were translated as a single word, the "To, To, To…Ra, Ra, Ra" becoming "TORA, TORA, TORA", the Japanese word for "Tiger."

You learn something new on the Org every day! Though I'm sure Prince like a lot of us got it from the old film about the Pearl Harbour attack, named 'Tora Tora Tora'!

IstenSzek said:

Actually that's Mayte - in quite a few of the Tora Tora pics it is her in the outfit. IIRC, the most widely used photo from the European promo tour is her too. Check the boots.

wasitgood4u said:

ahhhh, but they didn't say to HIS left now did they ?

Regards
Mr Pedantic

gsh said:

thats creepy lol

thats really creepy

SammiJ said:

Mayte wears a mask and you get creeped out? It must be hell for you on Halloween!

It's only creepy because you assumed it was Prince. A lot of people thought that it was Prince holding the heart on the inner cover of SOTT when it is clearly Cat.

gsh said:

The boots mean nothing as he's been known to where women's clothing sometimes. I like the outfit. Makes me wish I paid more attention in the 90's. And what's IIRC?

metalorange said:

oh lawd its hell on halloween ill say that much lol
but yeah thats why i thought it was creepy cuz i was convinced it was p...so i kinda got tripped out by it lol

doctamario said:

Trust me - he never wore that sort of boot. There are other pix of "Tora Tora" that with a little lightening up in PS you can clearly see that it is Mayte under the mask.
IIRC is If I Remember Correctly.

OK, I'll admit that this is pretty weird. Thanks for the IIRC.

Ok. i have to admitt that that's really kinda unnerving. It makes me really uncomfortable when i can't see ppls faces in pictures sometimes. And i really thought that the chain hat thing from was sexy. But that Tora Tora thing is really really creepy. i don't like that at all. It was another one of his weird phases from that era i guess. Wish i could see the interview. damn, that's too weird. I don't know why he would wanna hide his pretty face.... hmmmmm

gsh said:

damn, I never knew that. kind of like in the "Face Down" video you just
assume that the veiled figure in the church with the yorkshire on their
lap is Mayte. But then in the end it turns out to be Prince, attending
his own funeral.



it's stuff like that made it a lot of fun to be a Prince fan anyway. I
mean, if you're a bruce springsteen fan you never get goodies like the
ones you get with Prince.

that Tora is a creepy chick
I like Prince MUCH better

Probably the only time I was ashamed to be a Prince fan. I felt like giving him a good slap across the face and telling him to grow up

PREDOMINANT said:

-----
It might have been lawsuit city if he went around putting out records on his own while he was still under contract to WB. I also believed that was what this Tora Tora character was about.