6 May 2006

After a couple schedule changes, a chartered coach was scheduled to pick up the U.S. winners from the Hilton at 8:30pm Saturday night (the international winners stayed at another hotel), with hors d’oeuvres to be served and a tour of his home to be conducted upon our arrival. A letter we received on Friday stated dinner would be served at the party, but the Universal rep informed us while waiting to depart on the bus that trays of hors d’oeuvres, not a sit-down meal, would be served. The rep didn’t know what kind of contact we might have with Prince, but instructed us to be prepared to speak to him, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, or Prince’s own film crew, with the proper amount of enthusiasm for the event and the album.

The bus departed a little after 8:30pm, and we arrived at “3121” (actually 1235 Sierra Alta Way, West Hollywood) at about 9:10pm. The address (1235) was painted on the curb, but gold lettering for “3121” was placed on the entrance.

We exited the bus and waited at the gates, with the usual warnings against cell phones, cameras, and recording devices. Groups of six were searched and then escorted to a van for the 200 foot drive up the driveway to the door. With the U.S. and international winners, plus guests, approximately 50 people were assembled at the base of the stairs leading to the front door (see NPGMC pics) at about 10:10pm. While we waited for a moment, Prince’s film crew captured the arriving guests, and Kevin Frazier began interviewing winners for Entertainment Tonight.

A few moments later, a hostess (I did not catch her name) welcomed us to the party, and escorted us past the threshold into the entryway to Prince’s home. We were brought up the main staircase to the balcony and into the 3121 performance room. Unfortunately, Prince did not speak to the contest winners, and no tour was provided.

A large chandelier and table occupied the center of the entryway, with a staircase leading up to the second floor, where the 3121 parties take place. To the left was a bar and pool table, some bookshelves with a few decorative books and photos (Morris Day, Malcolm Jamal Warner, The Twinz with their mother). Down a hallway shooting off from that room, was the 3121 listening room pictured on the NPGMC (formerly the Glam Slam room where the weekend tracks are played).

Up the main staircase from the entryway are the split-level balcony, indoor and outdoor bars, and the performance room where the 3121 parties have been thrown. The concert area was all one level, no stage setup, with hardwood floors and a mirror across the entire length of one wall (picture a dance studio or workout room, with a large symbol made of inlaid wood on the floor). Circular tables were lined against the walls, three per side.

The main doors to the performance area are pictured in the 3121 booklet, with “3121” and the symbol of an eye painted in purple above the doors. Above there, a laser projector spread a white across the balcony floor. Another symbol was projected on the doors. To the right of the doors, a staircase led up to the second level of the balcony, with the 3121 fountain to the right (see NPGMC pics) and tennis court above the performance room.

Inside the performance room, a portion of the “Roots” television series was projected across the back wall. When we arrived, Housequake was spinning on the turntables, with a voiceover comprised of a mocked-up interview between DJ Rasheeda and Prince in his “old man” character (?). She asked Prince something about biscuits, and Prince replied something along the lines of ‘I like them crispy on the outside, but not too flaky…’. Later on in the evening, interspersed between cuts from various Prince-related records, DJ Rasheeda provided a “station announcement” for “3121 Radio on Sirius Satellite Radio”.

A catering staff wearing matching black robes with “3121” in gold lettering written on the collar made the rounds with trays of crab cakes, eel, sushi (California rolls, Philadelphia rolls), veggieburgers, quiche, spring rolls, and tuna. Late in the evening, strawberry sorbet was served with mint leaves and chocolate wafers. An open bar served a full stock of liquor, beer and wine all evening and no tips were accepted. There was no champagne served in a glass with chocolate handles, nor any Japanese robes or sandals. The servers outfits did, however, resemble a kung-fu outfit.

We were told Prince’s guests would arrive at ~11:00pm, and the first group (including no one I recognized) came up the staircase at 11:10pm.

At ~11:30pm She’s Always in My Hair slowed to a halt on the turntable, the Memoirs of a Geisha theme music (played at the recent Ta’mar shows) was queued up, and the relatively empty dance floor quickly became a packed crowd of bodies 10 rows deep. Many contest winners were up front in the first few rows, but the crowd at the front mixed throughout the night with celebs and other guests.

The band made its way through the crowd, with Prince, dressed in a mauve suit, in tow. (I frankly can’t say much about the look of the performers or the performance itself. While I was standing in the performance room when the record slowed and it was obvious the performance was about to begin, the crowd from outside on the balcony quickly bumrushed in as soon as they saw the band members coming up the stairs. Through the course of the evening, I never managed to catch more than a couple fleeting glimpses of Prince or the other band members. Like many gigs at Paisley Park, the crowd was packed tight against the performance area, and without a proper elevated stage, many people were unable to see much at all.)

The band consisted of the following members:

Prince (guitar)
Morris Hayes (keys)
Cora Coleman Dunham (skins)
John Dunham (bass)
Ta’mar (vocals)
The Twinz (background vocals, killer dance moves)

The first set was comprised of the first portion of the Ta’mar show (~11:30pm - 12:30am):

Every Little Step
All Night Long
Milk and Honey
I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)
Love Changes
When a Man Loves a Woman
To The Teeth (Ani DiFranco cover --- this has been reported as a new jam titled “Open Fire” --- it’s not)
Red-Headed Stepchild
The Cross (intro)
Rock Steady

The Ta’mar set concluded at 12:30am. With the temperature quickly rising in the performance room, the crowd piled out onto the balcony. After a short while, the crowd began to reform near the performance area, so that it was already packed before the next set began. At ~1:10am, the band reassembled and began the second set.

The second set was comprised of new 3121 album tracks, mixed with the second half of the Ta’mar show and other tracks (1:10am – 2:15:am):

3121
Lolita
Satisfied
Black Sweat
Kiss
Joy in Repetition
Fury
Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough
What Have You Done For Me Lately
Partyman
It’s Alright (intro)
Play That Funky Music
Love Rollercoaster
It’s Alright
I Want To Take You Higher (with guest Larry Graham)
Purple Rain
Let’s Go Crazy

The set concluded at 2:15am, and by this time, approximately 100 guests were in attendance, including many celebrities who were clearly enjoying the show (see the list below). Again, the crowd poured out of the steamy performance room onto the balcony. The contest winners mingled with the other guests for an hour, and then were gathered to depart, at 3:15am.

On the way out, the hostess and other staffers distributed gift packs for the contest winners. When queried, the hostess stated the gifts were furnished by Prince himself, not the record label. Each contest winner received a round, purple box, neatly ribboned shut with a bow and purple-frosted cookies on top. Inside were several gifts:

A purple t-shirt with orange lettering (front: the 3121 “eye” symbol; back: 3121 logo, “Purple Ticket Concert”, “MAY 6 2006”)

A 3121 tambourine (similar to the previous tambourine)

A candle with the fragrance “made popular” by the incense at Paisley Park, I believe

A promotional copy of the Te Amo Corazon CD single with the DVD-Video disc

A promotional copy of the Black Sweat CD single

The winners’ guests each received a black gift bag containing the t-shirt, the two CD singles, and cookies.

Celebrities in Attendance

Note: There may have been more, and others have been mentioned, but these were the ones I personally say, in the order I saw them. I was also told that the guest list looked like a “who’s who” of the rich and famous.

David Duchovny
Sharon Stone
Cicely Tyson
Angela Bassett
Jude Law
Bruce Willis
Mekhi Phifer
Jada Pinkett Smith
Natalie Cole
Trisha Yearwood
Maroon 5 (less Adam Levine)

i hope housequake is cool with this swipe.

laurarichardson said:

this is the part that I MUST know about!?!?!? I have to know if this is for real or what??? any one have ANY info on this?

let's start searching ebay for the free gifts, that these people are selling already.

Great detailed review.

Whens the boot coming out!?!

Just thinking out loud, but maybe the setlist hasn't varied much because the musicians are new to Prince?

Sounds like a swell time. Though besides it being a special deal at his home..nothing THAT special. Sounds like if you are a celeb you have nothing to worry about in terms of getting invited to these.

I dunno it would have seemed a lot more special if Celebs were not invited. Though that's all relative...I mean Natalie was there.

Anx said:

it would have also been nice to give credit to the quaker who wrote it.

Anx said:

-----
I am sure they are. We are all fans and it looks like something is going to be on Entertainment Tonight and now more fans know about it.

muirdo said:

That's what I was thinking. Good report though.

laurarichardson said:

It would have been more polite to just have posted the URL.

GangstaFam said:

i was thinking the same thing. before even readng this thread, i actually pm'd the poster (from HQ) asking if he minded if i quoted his post on npgmc, of course giving him credit for the great report.

y'all keep talking about crediting the person who posted it, but nobody's posted their name yet:

ExDeus

So I guess...

David Duchovny
Sharon Stone
Cicely Tyson
Angela Bassett
Jude Law
Bruce Willis
Mekhi Phifer
Jada Pinkett Smith
Natalie Cole
Trisha Yearwood
Maroon 5 (less Adam Levine)

...all "won" a purple ticket then?

GoldiesParade said:

and willing to be they dont have to pay 312.01 in vegas either . kinda on the fence on the celeb thing...some may have found it exciting to meet some celebs...but, dang, adding all the people to the mix changed the "intimacy" of the whole performance. from the actual "cd contest" people are led to believe there will be about 15-20 people in attendance...it is a bummer that so many were there, and there was no stage, so you couldn't even see the entire show....nothint intimate about that. but, i guess it is cool that they got to "experience" the LA life....got to see the house (on their own), and got a goodie bag....oh wait, you dont have to be a winner, only a celeb to get all that

now i dont feel so bad not having been one of the "lucky few"....

GoldiesParade said:

They bought thousands of copies of the album.

If I don't get purple frosted cookies when he tours I'll be so goddamned angry that I just might walk out of the show.

txladykat said:

ONLY the winners got gift or goody bags, no one else did

Did anyone at the party actually have any FUN!?! Everyone is just posting what it was like.. but was it FUN!?!

This report was written by Exdeus.
It would have been polite to get his approval before posting it.

gsh said:

-----
I am sure they don't mind but, feel free to continue to find something to complain about.

BobbyPin said:

-----
Why don't some of you go over to HQ and read a little on your own. None of the people who went are complaining. You guys are unreal somethings with the non-stop bitch fest.

Who wants to go to a concert with a total of six people? I think it is great they got to mingle with celebs.

txladykat said:

now i dont feel so bad not having been one of the "lucky few".... [/quote]

And how sad is that? This was to be a really specail outting. I don't even feel like I missed anything...just another exclusive 3121 party that fans normally don't get to go to.

I suppose that all of the NON NEWS coming out of his camp trumping up any excitement there may have been around this.

I dunno, but does anybody else think that the party should have been without celebs? Just an awesome gig for the "normal" fans who'd won a ticket and not just another show-off for celebrities.
Now, it seems as if many fans didn't even really see anything of Prince because of the huge crowd and he didn't talk to any of the winners.

laurarichardson said:

I'm not complaining, just pointing out your lack of courtesy.

laurarichardson said:

Sorry thats what I meant. it seems everyone that is complaing and bitching are the non-winners. From what I heard first hand was that it was a great time, it was great to be in the company of celebrities and not have a VIP section, they were allowed to talk to anyone they wanted to just respect as you would any other person you didnt know. they got gifts that were exclusive to them only. rumor is that they might be available online later,but thats besides the point.

They were allowed to roam the house and they were not given a guided tour but you got to see it in the cd so what the fuck?

The 2 ppl i spoke to said that they had a great time and theyhad special gifts made for them that they were surprised with.

I dont know why everyone here is such a downer. No wonder he doesnt let us get too close. We never seem to be SATISFIED.

I wouldnt be surprised if LOVE was about the fans.

Fuck.

BobbyPin said:

not EVERYONE here is a downer. don't exaggerate.

Anx said:

}


Anx, your my favorite person here because your a BALANCED individual. OK not everyone, but the mass majority!

is that better!?

But don't you find that : "I am dissapointed that the winners: didn't get one one one time, said hello, had a better setlist, didnt get a tour, didnt get to lick his guitar" etc etc

is just unrealistic? the prize says: win a chance to see prince perform at his home. it doesnt say win a chance to sit on his lap and discuss the 4th dimension does it?

they won a prize it was delivered that is that.

I think the winners were not disappointed. at least 2 people i knew said it was fantastic. good for them and to the rest....

save up 312 dollars and be disappointed in person!

BobbyPin said:

I don't understand it either.

Can you imagine being one of the winners and logging on to one of the fan sites so you can share your experience, only to read comments from bitter fans about how they are glad they didn't win and how lame the event was?

Some of these comments are from people that have paid money to see Prince at Paisley Park...yet they want to dog out an event that they didn't even go to, that was absolutely free.

Unbelievable.

BobbyPin said: