The cashier at Target said "Prince is using his name now? Wasn't his name a squiggly line?"

Of course, I felt I had to educate her...

I realize people don't know or understand, but I thought a "squiggly line" was a very ignorant thing to say....

I guess I am too sensitive...

I respect Prince as an artist!

kristinakay said:

I reckon most hardcore Prince fans are so arrogant, that they dont even realise it, not just about music, but life in general.

I remember an incident at work last yr, where this guy became impatient over not getting something immediately, I walked over to him, in front of all his friends, and told him he should get an education before he makes any more judgements...needlesss to say this rant became legend

It is amazing when ignorance and arrogance collide

It's been nigh on a decade, but the name change stuff lingers like a bad smell.

NouveauDance said:

I dunno, the name change thing never bothered me that much, but some of the stupidty that prince was up to at the time did get on my nerves but it made for great entertainment, who cannot see the humour when the presenter of the white room raves on about his beekeepers hat, right as Prince walks past him to perform Get Wild

What bugs me most about his name change was the way the local radio stations handled it. I wasn't following the Prince scene very closely but driving to work that morning (Fairfield, CA ... Travis Air Force Base) the DJ's on the radio were playing only Prince songs and saying that Prince Rogers Nelson was found dead in his Minnesota home. My world was frickin rocked until I could get to a computer and figure out that it was a sick joke. I felt like part of me died that day. I will never forget it.

mritchey said:

Is the internet in existence since 94

kristinakay said:

if you thought that was ignorant, then yes.. you are very sensitive.

Sdldawn said:

Its not like the comment bothered me... It actually surprised me... Never thought of his name as a squiggly line...

kristinakay said:

i can see this as just a casual talk.. i mean, to be honest, most people don't keep up with hin.. and that was really the last newsworthy even that sparked alot of attention.. the "squiggly line" thing
[Edited 3/31/09 20:35pm]

Whitnail said:

i thought the name change was awesome when it first happened and he refused to explain it further.

then he started explaining. and kept explaining it. and kept on explaining it right into the ground.

it was significantly less awesome by the time 'emancipation' came out.

Whitnail said:

tcp/ip was pretty much finalized in 1984. the web was invented in 1990 but didn't gain traction until around '93. decent web browsers started to emerge in late '93/early '94.

arthur c. clarke and stanley kubrick peter hyams collaborated on the '2010' screenplay via e-mail. alan leeds talked about organizing prince tour stuff via e-mail in the late '80s. david bowie organized his 1990 tour via e-mail.

groups.google.com has usenet archives going back to at least 1981. you can read some great old reviews of prince albums and concerts.

kristinakay said:

stanleylieber said:[quote]

Whitnail said:

My friends were on Prodigy in the mid 80's, back when the "web" was a big ass message board at best.

I don't even speak to people about Prince that only know him from 20 years ago, I would not have said a word to her, I'm good at ignoring fools.

Dayclear said:

actually i'd be pretty much down with a big prince fan from twenty years ago. 'lovesexy'/'batman' era fans were hip to some awesome stuff.

I said 'Only' the ones that think that purple rain was his only song and doesn't know he's still around.

Dayclear said:

sorry, i didn't see that part.

stanleylieber said:

Great info, thanx !
I'm currently browsing through groups.google.com and saw some discussion-thread going back to 1996 and other years.
Is there still a specific link within groups-google where i can find those usenet archives with album/concert-reviews ?
I tried some searches without results so far. Thanks in adavnce !

Shango said:

just gotta search. try album titles in quotes.

it's cool though. i spent a whole afternoon once reading posts by people in 1983 arguing about the (then just released) 'return of the jedi.'
[Edited 4/1/09 8:40am]

Whitnail said:

Oh, I didn't mean it bothered me, just that to the general audience who don't nerdishly follow his career it's a lingering idea they still have about Prince. It's a big barrier for some people, I had friends at the time who were big into Prince and it really turned them off.

stanleylieber said:

Okay cool, thanx again for your help

stanleylieber said:

That is an ignorant way of describing a symbol that has Love as it's purpose.

Tame said:

is it ignorant to appropriate an occult symbol for christian purposes?

stanleylieber said:

I can say that a symbol of Prince's desire doesn't mean anything 2 U as a writer...(The person that started that) although...regardless of what it means to anybody...It is not a squiggly line...It has definite shape to it...

Tame said:

Whitnail said:

I was working in the Communications Squadron at Travis Air Force Base at the time. We had the only Internet access on the base and set it up for the rest over the next few years. Bulletin Boards existed years before that. I remember my grandfather (he got me into computers) showing me how to connect and stuff in the late 70's with his 300-baud acoustic modem (like on the movie War Games).

kristinakay said:

That's hilarious!!!

In some of my reviews, I've described the symbol as "that funny lookin thang."

Lord knows I'm a sensitive soul, but come on now....how ya gonna get upset over PRINCE?

It's a love symbol not a rick rack zig zag silly goose