>>Continued

Call me homophobic but that first night when Prince came over to the area I was working in and shook his little hot pants put me closer to another mans genital area than I ever hoped to be. I threw my wire cutters down and scampered off the stage as fast as I could scurry. Some of the crew guy's who had seen what happened were cracking up but I was not laughing.
I went to the production office and found both the production manager and Victor Reed the stage manager there. I told them I was not going anywhere near the stage as long as "he" was out there. I felt like I needed a long hot shower with lots and lots of soap. The production manager said that we were running late and that set change was going to be as fast as possible and he really needed me to finish up everything I could right now.
I said "You want me to go out there while he is out there?"
Victor said "Yes I do."
Up until now I had been noshing but cooperative and helpful. They had never seen this side of my personality before. I said "Try and make me," and stood my ground. I could tell by the look on their faces that this was probably the last thing in the world they needed to deal with right then but that was their problem. Victor said that he was certain I was exaggerating and things certainly could not be that bad. I asked him if he even knew what the guy was wearing and he admitted he did not.
When I described the hot pants and little boots I finally got his complete and undivided attention. He looked at me and simply said "Bullshit."
"No" I protested "But if you don't want to take my word for it go out there and see for yourself"
The production manager said "Go take a look and see what's going on"
Victor got up saying something about how I better be telling the truth and time was short and blah blah blah. He followed me out of the office, down the hallway and into the darkened arena where he stood frozen as he stared open mouthed at the stage.
"I told you so" I said.
"Oh my God" was all he said. He stared a moment longer as if to see if maybe it was just a dream and it would all go away. It couldn't really be that the opening act was doing some live gay porn sex show and yet it didn't disappear or go away so maybe it might really be happening after all. Mouthing one last "Oh my God" he turned and almost ran back to the production office.
I was right behind him but at the door he suddenly ordered me to wait outside. All I heard as the door swung shut was "we have a problem." It was pretty interesting for the next few minutes watching different people running in and out of the office. I am not sure what was going on in there but there sure was a lot of commotion.
It is important to understand this was not the MTV Prince. This was not the Purple Rain Prince. This was not the fashion icon Prince with the fluffy shirts and the matador/ice skater looking velvet outfits. This was a young Prince just starting to find his way as a live act. He had just released the album "Dirty Mind" and was being hyped by Warner Brothers as this super genius kid but he was still prancing around in the tiniest, tightest hot pants you could possibly imagine and as one crew guy so aptly described him "That boy looks queerer than a football bat!"
Finally I was told to come inside the production office.
Victor said "We need you to go out there and finish setting up your stuff."
I told him I wasn't' going anywhere near that stage. I said that I had to be bent over to do my work and that's when he snuck up on me last time.
He insisted it was no big deal.
I said fine, then he should go out there and bend over and after I see that it is safe I will think about it. The situation was resolved when they pulled one of Rick's personal security guards off of dressing room duty and assigned him to stand behind me and guard my flank.
That is exactly how I finished wiring and loading my effects for that opening show, down on my hands and knees working with a big, mean looking body guard standing right at my feet facing Prince. his arms folded across his chest and a nasty expression on his face.
I saw Prince do a double take when he first saw us but for the rest of his performance he managed to stay pretty much away from us.
The general vibe was that this was going to cool down and that maybe the guy was not as weird as he appeared to be on stage...wrong. The hot pants and booties stayed and Prince himself did nothing to endear himself to anyone.
He would whisk in without a word, sound check only speaking to his band, play his set and vanish into the night without so much as a "goodnight" or a "Kiss my ass".
If you were to see him backstage he was standing by himself in a corner or behind a plant just staring and staring and staring. It was enough to give you the creeps.
One thing was certain, the record company believed in this guy and were supporting him big time. I remember walking through towns on days off and walking past record stores to see their windows filled with Prince displays. Once in a while there would be a Rick James album in the window but if there was it was off to the side. I found this very curious because this was supposed to be a Rick James tour so one day I went into one of these stores and asked the manager what was up with the window.
It was explained to me that Warner Brothers had a whole advance team that was hitting each city about a week before we were to play there. They had promotion materials for the record stores and give a ways for the radio stations and by all appearances were a very organized, professional, and well financed operation. I know when Prince became the artist formally known as Prince he claimed he was a "slave" to the record company. I do not know if he was or was not but what I do know is when he was a struggling new artist the record company spent a ton of money and effort to promote him.
You may ask yourself, as I asked myself, if this advance promotion was so effective why didn't Rick James do the same thing. The answer I was told is that Prince was on Warner Brothers Records where Rick was on Gordy Records and Gordy Records wasn't in the business of spending. They had no problem if Rick wanted to do this on his own and out of his own pocket but they were only interested in money coming in and had no interest in money going out.
It is hard to say for sure if the extra promotion was responsible for ticket sales but the rumor was started that Prince was selling as many or more tickets than Rick. Word was that the people were really coming to see Prince and just staying for Rick James. This seemed exaggerated but either way the people were getting a great show. It seemed like the competition between the two pushed them both into trying to outdo the other.
When Prince did talk to anyone he was demanding little dude. He wanted more lights, more stage time, longer sound checks and when he did not get them he would just take them and the tension between the two acts began to increase as a result.
We were in some city and Warner Brothers was throwing a party for Prince. Some of us that got along with their crew guys were invited by their crew to attend. We were not having any parties thrown for us so we decided to go. The deal was their crew would not tell their boss that they invited us and we would not tell our boss we went.
It was a very strange party in deed. There was food and drinks and music and girls and stuff but something was missing. It was a Prince party but there was no Prince. The record company was in full hype and you could hear people talking about the boy genius and how he played every instrument on his album but still there was no Prince.
Finally he arrived but he came in and just went into his staring thing. He stood off by himself against a wall looking out into the room and in the dim light all you could see were these two big white eyes that were surrounded by black mascara in their zombie like trance. If anyone tried to go near him his bodyguards kept them away.
After he had stood there about a half an hour Prince reached into his pocket and took something out. It looked like he was unfolding a little pocket knife. I tapped one of their crew guys on the shoulder and asked him "Hey, am I seeing right...does Prince have a knife." The guy squinted over in Prince's direction and nonchalantly said "Yeah, you better watch out, it must have a two inch blade on it."
I asked if he was putting me on
"No" the guy said "He makes us sharpen it for him"
I said that now I knew he was putting me on but he swore he wasn't. I continued to watch Prince trying to figure out what he was up to. There were some decorations next to where he was standing. Mostly pictures of him or replicas of his new album cover. Prince turned on these decorations in a few swift movements sliced several of them with his little knife. Then, as he maintained that creepy stare he folded up the knife and put it in his pocket and with that he left the party surrounded by his security. I do not think he spoke a single word the entire time he was there but he sure did teach those decorations a lesson the hard way. It would take at least two or three pieces of tape to repair the damage he had inflicted. I guess they found out who was not to be fooled with that night!

To be continued

and that's the way it really happened

Copyright 2005
John Sherman Watkins

interesting story.Was there a Part One that I missed?

i was wondering if this dude could do us all a big favor and maybe be a little bit MORE of a homophobic prick?

Anxiety said:

I think in some cases, people as homophobic as this guy, are reminded of something about themselves that they don't want to come clean with. He's totally creeped out by Prince, afraid Prince is going to fondle him while he's working, but yet, he decides to go to Prince's party? Hmmmmm. Do you all smell what I'm walkin' in?

Everywhere said:

i'll have an order of the "methinks the lady doth protest too much" special with a side of ham, please.

Everywhere said:

The guy needs a bodyguard to protect his ass when he bends over. It certainly qualifies as ultradefensive behavior. This bit :


[Edited 9/20/05 12:01pm]

No doubt, Anxiety.


Aerogram said:[quote]

Everywhere said:

Yes! LOL! I noticed this too, and laughed at the ironic visual. He wanted his flank guarded alright. "Excuse me!...Yeah you, the giant body guard with the large bulge in your pants. Yes, I was wondering if you could guard my flank with your beans, and frank. You will? Oh boy, that's great! I'm the winner of the dangling dinner! Flank steak anyone?"
[Edited 9/20/05 12:23pm]

who the hell refers to his ass as a "flank", anyway? does he consider himself to be a fine cocksman, too?

y'know, just becuse he insults gay men doesn't invalidate his point entirely.

true he's obnoxious but that doesn't mean what he wrote wasn't what happened

XxAxX said:

but he's not really writing a whole lot that's all that surprising or shocking...he just keeps going on about how much of a homo he thought prince was.

personally i think the bit about the knife is the freakiest bit.

Anxiety said:

People were so much more ignorant back then. The concept of the "gay man" itself was still new and people were learning to be tolerant but still had silly fears. I remember some of the men in my family, especially the young ones, had some paranoid attitudes. They literally thought a gay man would have difficulty controlling his urges in their presence. It was like "They're welcome but if any of them tries anything funny I'll punch him in the face!"

Asking for an Ass Guard takes the cake though!

XxAxX said:

I can't make that determination, but I'll tell you that having such an attitude toward the subject of the story does taint it to an extent, sometime totally. We don't perceive the same way when we like or dislike. We notice different things, often perceive different motivations. It does not totally discredit the story on its own but it's important to know. At least, he didn't make a secret of the fact Prince freaked him out initially. But I'm also a little puzzled about that Desert Storm/draft reference. The story (which I've read before) sounds credible as a whole but the person observing it obviously has some memory problems. I wouldn't put much trust in his recollection of words or how some of the events went down.

I liked this story a lot. Keep going. I'd love to read more. I used to be an editor back in the day and I couldn't resist. Here is my five minute editing job. I saw more things that I could suggest, but choose to leave it, as my time is limited and since u didn't ask for suggestions, I didn't know if you'd get pissed.



Call me homophobic but that first night when Prince came over to the area I was working in and shook his little hot pants, put me closer to another man’s genital area than I hoped to be. I threw my wire cutters down and scampered off the stage fast. Some of the crew guy's who saw what happened were cracking up. I was not laughing.
I went to the production office, found both the production manager and Victor Reed the stage manager. I told them I was not going anywhere near the stage as long as "he" was out there. I felt like I needed a hot shower with lots of soap. The production manager said we were running late, that set change was going to be fast as possible and he really needed me to finish everything I could right now.

I said "You want me to go while he is out there?"
Victor said "Yes I do."
I had been noshing but cooperative and helpful. They had never seen this side of my personality before. "Try and make me," I said and stood my ground. I could tell by the look on their faces this was the last thing in the world they needed to deal with, but that was their problem. Victor said I was exaggerating and things could not be that bad. I asked him if he knew what the guy was wearing and he admitted he did not.
When I described the hot pants and little boots, I got his complete attention. He looked at me and said "Bullshit."
"No!" I protested "don't take my word for it, go see yourself"
The production manager said "Go take a look and see what's going on"
Victor got up saying something about how I better be telling the truth and time was short and blah blah blah. He followed me out of the office, down the hallway and into the darkened arena where he stood frozen as he stared open mouthed at the stage.
"I told you" I said.
"Oh my God" was all he said. He stared a moment longer as if to see if it was a dream. It couldn't be that the opening act was doing some live gay porn sex show and yet it didn't go away so maybe it might really be happening. Mouthing one last "Oh my God" he turned and ran back to the production office. I was behind him but at the door he ordered me to wait outside. I heard "we have a problem." It was interesting watching different people running in and out of the office. I am not sure what was going on in there but there was commotion.

This was not the MTV Prince. This was not the Purple Rain Prince. This was not the fashion icon Prince with fluffy shirts and matador/ice skater velvet outfits. This was a young Prince just starting to find his way as a live act. He had just released the album "Dirty Mind" and was being hyped by Warner Brothers as super genius kid but he was still prancing around in the tiniest, tightest hot pants you could imagine and as one crew guy so aptly described him "That boy looks queerer than a football bat!"
Finally inside the production office, Victor said "We need you to go out there and finish setting up your stuff." I told him I wasn't' going anywhere near that stage. I said that I had to be bent over to do my work and that's when he snuck up on me last time.
He insisted it was no big deal.
I said fine, then he should go out there and bend over and after I see that it is safe I will think about it. The situation was resolved when they pulled one of Rick's personal security guards off of dressing room duty and assigned him to stand behind me and guard my flank.
I finished wiring and loading my effects for that opening show, down on my hands and knees working with a big, mean looking body guard standing at my feet facing Prince. his arms folded across his chest and a nasty expression on his face.
I saw Prince do a double take when he first saw us but for the rest of his performance he managed to stay pretty much away from us.
The vibe was that this was going to cool down and that maybe the guy was not as weird as he appeared to be on stage...wrong. The hot pants and booties stayed and Prince did nothing to endear himself to anyone.
He would whisk in without a word, sound check only speaking to his band, play his set and vanish into the night without so much as a "goodnight" or a "Kiss my ass".
If you saw him backstage he was standing by himself in a corner or behind a plant just staring and staring and staring. It was enough to give you the creeps.
One thing was certain, the record company believed in this guy and were supporting him. I remember walking through towns on days off and walking past record stores to see their windows filled with Prince displays. Once in a while there would be a Rick James album in the window off to the side. I found this very curious because this was supposed to be a Rick James tour, so one day I went into a store and asked the manager what was up with the window. It was explained to me that Warner Brothers had a whole advance team that was hitting each city about a week before we were to play there. They had promotion materials for the record stores and give a ways for the radio stations and by all appearances were a very organized, professional, and well financed operation.

When Prince became the artist formally known as Prince he claimed he was a "slave" to the record company. I do not know if he was or not, but I do know that when he was a struggling new artist the record company spent a ton of money and effort to promote him.
You may ask if this advance promotion was so effective why didn't Rick James do the same thing. The answer I was told is that Prince was on Warner Brothers Records where Rick was on Gordy Records and Gordy Records wasn't in the business of spending. They had no problem if Rick wanted to do this on his own and out of his own pocket but they were only interested in money coming in and had no interest in money going out.
It is hard to say for sure if the extra promotion was responsible for ticket sales but the rumor was started that Prince was selling as many or more tickets than Rick. Word was that the people were really coming to see Prince and just staying for Rick James. This seemed exaggerated but either way people were getting a great show. Competition between the two pushed them both into trying to outdo the other.
When Prince did talk he was demanding little dude. He wanted more lights, more stage time, longer sound checks and when he did not get them he would take them and the tension between the two acts began to increase.

In some city Warner Brothers was throwing a party for Prince. Those of us that got along with their crew were invited to attend. We decided to go. The deal was their crew would not tell their boss that they invited us and we would not tell our boss we went.
It was a very strange party. There was food, drink, music and girls but something was missing. It was a Prince party but no Prince. The record company was in full hype and you could hear people talking about the boy genius and how he played every instrument on his album but there was no Prince.

Finally he arrived, stood off by himself and went into his staring thing. Against a wall looking out into the room and in the dim light all you could see were these two big white eyes that were surrounded by black mascara in their zombie like trance. If anyone tried to go near him his bodyguards kept them away.
After he stood there about a half an hour Prince reached into his pocket and took something out. It looked like he was unfolding a little pocket knife. I tapped one of their crew guys on the shoulder and asked him "Hey, am I seeing right...does Prince have a knife." The guy squinted over in Prince's direction and nonchalantly said "Yeah, you better watch out, it must have a two inch blade on it."
I asked if he was putting me on
"No" the guy said "He makes us sharpen it for him"
I said I knew he was putting me on but he swore he wasn't. I continued to watch Prince trying to figure out what he was up to. There were some decorations next to where he was standing. Mostly pictures of him or replicas of his new album cover. Prince turned on these decorations in a few swift movements sliced several of them with his little knife. Then, as he maintained that creepy stare he folded up the knife and put it in his pocket and with that he left the party surrounded by his security. I do not think he spoke a single word the entire time he was there but he taught those decorations a lesson the hard way. It would take at least two or three pieces of tape to repair the damage he inflicted. I guess they found out who was not to be fooled with that night!

To be continued

and that's the way it really happened

Copyright 2005
John Sherman Watkins
[Edited 9/20/05 13:40pm]

And on to part three...