http://www.startribune.co...87639.html

More on Prince's move

"Now Prince is digging up the trees and
taking them, too. Bizarre," e-mailed my
tipster who lives near Paisley Park Studios.

Could the removal of trees be a harbinger of
a building demolition? Or has Symbolina
bought another piece of property that's
barren? Or is he selling his trees to make
money?

We wait, we watch, we wonder if these are
the last days of Paisley Park.

Musician and TV commercial producer Shaun
LaBelle said he had been asked whether
Prince was moving out of Paisley even before
I raised the question in Sunday's column --
although my buddy never mentioned that to
me!

"I'm surprised he didn't unload Paisley Park
10 years ago," LaBelle said. "When Pro-Tools
became the format of today, there's really no
necessity to have room studios. Half the big
rooms I used to mix at in LA have gone
under. To me it seems like a financial drain. If
you need a sound stage, you can just rent a
place in LA for two days rather than spend all
this money on studios, facilities and
buildings. That is probably just eating up all
his cash."

"When I did some recording there, it was the
groovy place to record. You had people flying
in because it was hip to be affiliated with
Prince and to come to Minnesota and get
away from LA," LaBelle added.

Now, "You'd be better off unloading it and
selling it to somebody who needs some
commercial property. The other thing: I can
maybe understand a house in Malibu
overlooking the ocean as a source of
inspiration, but I don't think looking [at all
the new neighboring businesses around
Paisley Park] would be very inspiring."

Paisley Park probably lost much of its appeal
to Prince when the neighborhood became a
lot less secluded as Chanhassen grew.

^^thanks for postin