For those of you who are interested in the German Interview; here is the 1st part. But I'm warning you - this is a drawn out article and I'm not an expert but I translated the text to the best of my ability.

So be gentle if some things get lost in translation.

Hot-Sacred-And On A Higher Plane

How Prince the lonely King of Minneapolis wants to save the world with the power of music.

We take the Minnesota Highway # 5 from Minneapolis to Chanhassen a small town outside of the city where Prince owns 12 estates nestled between parks and lakes and sometimes Prince forgets to pay the taxes for those estates on time.

"In the 7o's when we moved here from Egypt, everything around here was farmland", says Mohammed on the phone. "And soon everyone around here seemed to love my Gyros - sandwiches. If you start with nothing and then you make it, you can be proud of yourself. Just like Prince...he used to be a nobody and then...boom!" Mohammed tells me to ask Prince to come and visit his restaurant again. "He ows me that!" Mohammed says.

"First of all: Everyone claims to be my cousin,"says Prince when I give him Mohammed's message in the atrium of PP. "And second: I don't even drink coffee!"

The 3 backgound singers Shelby J., Liv Warfield and Elisa Fiorillo start to laugh and giggle whenever Prince says something remotely funny and then they carry on their conversation.

Around the corner in Studio B sits a journalist from Belgium who is listening to the new Album. No one else is there! No staff in sight, no body guard, no personal assistant. PP seems big, empty, and quiet; even with the purple carpets the sun pattern, the seat-cushions that are shaped like lotus flowers, the tables with golden legs and the accessories that remind me of a girl's room from the 80s.

PP is bright and well lit but still seems somewhat creepy.

"Where are you from?" asks Prince. "From Berlin", I say. He replies:" I love to go to Berlin to buy clothes and furniture" "Soon you will be there for a concert", I mention. "Well...who knows..." Prince says with a grin on his face. I don't get it and tell him that many tickets have already been sold. All of a sudden he stares at me and the non-chalant tone in his voice is gone. "How fast did the tickets sell?" Look out! You're dealing with Prince the business man now, who doesn't seem to be purple behind his ears. Those who praise Prince usually focus on his extraordinary musical talent. But when you meet him in person you realize: Of course this man is so very successful because he is also very smart and unbelievably good looking! One might be distracted from those facts by his blazing guitar solos, the excellent Jazz-Funk- harmonies and the brilliant lyrics. Even though he is only about 5'3" he doesn't really seem short because he appears to be perfectly proportioned. He is wearing a turquiose shirt, a whitle sleeveless jacket, white pants, white linen shoes and a butterscotch face. He looks like he just stepped out of a fairy-tale where he was just lying down with his harem of oh so very young and beautiful latin girls.

He is drinking out of a plastic cup one of those 'strawberry-watchamacallits" of course without alcohol. And then he smoothly gestures that he is ready for the interview! And we all know that an interview with Prince doesn't happen very often.

Here we go: "Mr. Prince how are you doing this? Or better: How do you meet people with the wrong expectations?" "I have no idea, only very seldom do I allow strangers into my circle of friends."

"How does it feel when someone with your artistic perfection only seems to get praise from the critics if you sound like you sounded back in the day?" "Is that so?" he asks while raising his eyebrows in an almost lascivious way. "Doesn't matter. Other people's expectations are not relevant to me in any way! For the simple fact that I am not a part of the music industry anymore. My world doesn't work like this. I have different standards. Only recently a man from the music business asked me: 'Why don't you let someone else produce your album?' and I say:'Good idea! And who might this someone else possibly be?' I don't need things like that just for publicity."

"Maybe Andre 300 from Outkast," I suggest. Prince looks amused. "Nothing against Andre, he's a good rapper. But the question is: Is he also a musician?"

Prince gets up and walks us to a different room with garden-vies. There is a big picture of the 'Rainbow Children' cover on the wall, then there is a big black custom-made piano.

"Whenever I listen to todays music", he starts preaching after he sits himself in front of the piano (which by the way seems to be the only kind of chair that keeps him actually sitting down for longer than 5 minutes) "...all this popular 80's dance-stuff-revival...everything is so flat, so simple, so predictable. The same old synthexizers, the same old arrangements."

He starts to improvise, it sounds like afternoon/night club music. "You have to create your own harmonies! Wendy and Lisa taught me that." The 2 used to be the most citical and crucial center of his 80's band 'The Revolution'. Even though Prince is known as somewhat of a control freak, he allowed Wendy and Lisa to contribute to the band with their creativity.

"There are only a few musicians that are really open-minded. I work with musicians only by the way: Do you know how to play the congas? Do you know Esperanza Spalding. Write down her name, she is brilliant!"

He continues to play a medley of defferent songs while he talks. I'm trying to balance myself on a lotus flower shaped seat -cushion right next to the piano. I am watching Prince lose himself in his music.

"You see, this is sacred to me!" he shouts "Music is supposed to free the spirit and bring you to a higher level. Trying to get higher and staying there. If music starts to lose its drive, if its sound flat and prdictable" - he moves his hand in a downward gesture - "...then I lose interest immediately. Without music the world would be a stagnant place!"

To be continued...

Not apart of the music industry anymore?

thank you very much GiGi

robinhood said:

thank you very much GiGi

No problem

GiGi319 said:

For those of you who are interested in the German Interview; here is the 1st part. But I'm warning you - this is a drawn out article and I'm not an expert but I translated the text to the best of my ability.

So be gentle if some things get lost in translation.

Hot-Sacred-And On A Higher Plane

How Prince the lonely King of Minneapolis wants to save the world with the power of music.

We take the Minnesota Highway # 5 from Minneapolis to Chanhassen a small town outside of the city where Prince owns 12 estates nestled between parks and lakes and sometimes Prince forgets to pay the taxes for those estates on time.

"In the 7o's when we moved here from Egypt, everything around here was farmland", says Mohammed on the phone. "And soon everyone around here seemed to love my Gyros - sandwiches. If you start with nothing and then you make it, you can be proud of yourself. Just like Prince...he used to be a nobody and then...boom!" Mohammed tells me to ask Prince to come and visit his restaurant again. "He ows me that!" Mohammed says.

"First of all: Everyone claims to be my cousin,"says Prince when I give him Mohammed's message in the atrium of PP. "And second: I don't even drink coffee!"

The 3 backgound singers Shelby J., Liv Warfield and Elisa Fiorillo start to laugh and giggle whenever Prince says something remotely funny and then they carry on their conversation.

Around the corner in Studio B sits a journalist from Belgium who is listening to the new Album. No one else is there! No staff in sight, no body guard, no personal assistant. PP seems big, empty, and quiet; even with the purple carpets the sun pattern, the seat-cushions that are shaped like lotus flowers, the tables with golden legs and the accessories that remind me of a girl's room from the 80s.

PP is bright and well lit but still seems somewhat creepy.

"Where are you from?" asks Prince. "From Berlin", I say. He replies:" I love to go to Berlin to buy clothes and furniture" "Soon you will be there for a concert", I mention. "Well...who knows..." Prince says with a grin on his face. I don't get it and tell him that many tickets have already been sold. All of a sudden he stares at me and the non-chalant tone in his voice is gone. "How fast did the tickets sell?" Look out! You're dealing with Prince the business man now, who doesn't seem to be purple behind his ears. Those who praise Prince usually focus on his extraordinary musical talent. But when you meet him in person you realize: Of course this man is so very successful because he is also very smart and unbelievably good looking! One might be distracted from those facts by his blazing guitar solos, the excellent Jazz-Funk- harmonies and the brilliant lyrics. Even though he is only about 5'3" he doesn't really seem short because he appears to be perfectly proportioned. He is wearing a turquiose shirt, a whitle sleeveless jacket, white pants, white linen shoes and a butterscotch face. He looks like he just stepped out of a fairy-tale where he was just lying down with his harem of oh so very young and beautiful latin girls.

He is drinking out of a plastic cup one of those 'strawberry-watchamacallits" of course without alcohol. And then he smoothly gestures that he is ready for the interview! And we all know that an interview with Prince doesn't happen very often.

Here we go: "Mr. Prince how are you doing this? Or better: How do you meet people with the wrong expectations?" "I have no idea, only very seldom do I allow strangers into my circle of friends."

"How does it feel when someone with your artistic perfection only seems to get praise from the critics if you sound like you sounded back in the day?" "Is that so?" he asks while raising his eyebrows in an almost lascivious way. "Doesn't matter. Other people's expectations are not relevant to me in any way! For the simple fact that I am not a part of the music industry anymore. My world doesn't work like this. I have different standards. Only recently a man from the music business asked me: 'Why don't you let someone else produce your album?' and I say:'Good idea! And who might this someone else possibly be?' I don't need things like that just for publicity."

"Maybe Andre 300 from Outkast," I suggest. Prince looks amused. "Nothing against Andre, he's a good rapper. But the question is: Is he also a musician?"

Prince gets up and walks us to a different room with garden-vies. There is a big picture of the 'Rainbow Children' cover on the wall, then there is a big black custom-made piano.

"Whenever I listen to todays music", he starts preaching after he sits himself in front of the piano (which by the way seems to be the only kind of chair that keeps him actually sitting down for longer than 5 minutes) "...all this popular 80's dance-stuff-revival...everything is so flat, so simple, so predictable. The same old synthexizers, the same old arrangements."

He starts to improvise, it sounds like afternoon/night club music. "You have to create your own harmonies! Wendy and Lisa taught me that." The 2 used to be the most citical and crucial center of his 80's band 'The Revolution'. Even though Prince is known as somewhat of a control freak, he allowed Wendy and Lisa to contribute to the band with their creativity.

"There are only a few musicians that are really open-minded. I work with musicians only by the way: Do you know how to play the congas? Do you know Esperanza Spalding. Write down her name, she is brilliant!"

He continues to play a medley of defferent songs while he talks. I'm trying to balance myself on a lotus flower shaped seat -cushion right next to the piano. I am watching Prince lose himself in his music.

"You see, this is sacred to me!" he shouts "Music is supposed to free the spirit and bring you to a higher level. Trying to get higher and staying there. If music starts to lose its drive, if its sound flat and prdictable" - he moves his hand in a downward gesture - "...then I lose interest immediately. Without music the world would be a stagnant place!"

To be continued...

Thanks...you should somehow link the two translations/threads/parts together...

He's right about most of these 80s-influenced synthpop acts, they are predictible.

ThanX for the translation !

Danke schoen.

NouveauDance said:

He's right about most of these 80s-influenced synthpop acts, they are predictible.

once the mainstream gets hold of underground ideas they're usually pretty watered down and sound cloned. the original idea still rocks tho, imo.

skywalker said:

GiGi319 said:

For those of you who are interested in the German Interview; here is the 1st part. But I'm warning you - this is a drawn out article and I'm not an expert but I translated the text to the best of my ability.

So be gentle if some things get lost in translation.

Hot-Sacred-And On A Higher Plane

How Prince the lonely King of Minneapolis wants to save the world with the power of music.

We take the Minnesota Highway # 5 from Minneapolis to Chanhassen a small town outside of the city where Prince owns 12 estates nestled between parks and lakes and sometimes Prince forgets to pay the taxes for those estates on time.

"In the 7o's when we moved here from Egypt, everything around here was farmland", says Mohammed on the phone. "And soon everyone around here seemed to love my Gyros - sandwiches. If you start with nothing and then you make it, you can be proud of yourself. Just like Prince...he used to be a nobody and then...boom!" Mohammed tells me to ask Prince to come and visit his restaurant again. "He ows me that!" Mohammed says.

"First of all: Everyone claims to be my cousin,"says Prince when I give him Mohammed's message in the atrium of PP. "And second: I don't even drink coffee!"

The 3 backgound singers Shelby J., Liv Warfield and Elisa Fiorillo start to laugh and giggle whenever Prince says something remotely funny and then they carry on their conversation.

Around the corner in Studio B sits a journalist from Belgium who is listening to the new Album. No one else is there! No staff in sight, no body guard, no personal assistant. PP seems big, empty, and quiet; even with the purple carpets the sun pattern, the seat-cushions that are shaped like lotus flowers, the tables with golden legs and the accessories that remind me of a girl's room from the 80s.

PP is bright and well lit but still seems somewhat creepy.

"Where are you from?" asks Prince. "From Berlin", I say. He replies:" I love to go to Berlin to buy clothes and furniture" "Soon you will be there for a concert", I mention. "Well...who knows..." Prince says with a grin on his face. I don't get it and tell him that many tickets have already been sold. All of a sudden he stares at me and the non-chalant tone in his voice is gone. "How fast did the tickets sell?" Look out! You're dealing with Prince the business man now, who doesn't seem to be purple behind his ears. Those who praise Prince usually focus on his extraordinary musical talent. But when you meet him in person you realize: Of course this man is so very successful because he is also very smart and unbelievably good looking! One might be distracted from those facts by his blazing guitar solos, the excellent Jazz-Funk- harmonies and the brilliant lyrics. Even though he is only about 5'3" he doesn't really seem short because he appears to be perfectly proportioned. He is wearing a turquiose shirt, a whitle sleeveless jacket, white pants, white linen shoes and a butterscotch face. He looks like he just stepped out of a fairy-tale where he was just lying down with his harem of oh so very young and beautiful latin girls.

He is drinking out of a plastic cup one of those 'strawberry-watchamacallits" of course without alcohol. And then he smoothly gestures that he is ready for the interview! And we all know that an interview with Prince doesn't happen very often.

Here we go: "Mr. Prince how are you doing this? Or better: How do you meet people with the wrong expectations?" "I have no idea, only very seldom do I allow strangers into my circle of friends."

"How does it feel when someone with your artistic perfection only seems to get praise from the critics if you sound like you sounded back in the day?" "Is that so?" he asks while raising his eyebrows in an almost lascivious way. "Doesn't matter. Other people's expectations are not relevant to me in any way! For the simple fact that I am not a part of the music industry anymore. My world doesn't work like this. I have different standards. Only recently a man from the music business asked me: 'Why don't you let someone else produce your album?' and I say:'Good idea! And who might this someone else possibly be?' I don't need things like that just for publicity."

"Maybe Andre 300 from Outkast," I suggest. Prince looks amused. "Nothing against Andre, he's a good rapper. But the question is: Is he also a musician?"

Prince gets up and walks us to a different room with garden-vies. There is a big picture of the 'Rainbow Children' cover on the wall, then there is a big black custom-made piano.

"Whenever I listen to todays music", he starts preaching after he sits himself in front of the piano (which by the way seems to be the only kind of chair that keeps him actually sitting down for longer than 5 minutes) "...all this popular 80's dance-stuff-revival...everything is so flat, so simple, so predictable. The same old synthexizers, the same old arrangements."

He starts to improvise, it sounds like afternoon/night club music. "You have to create your own harmonies! Wendy and Lisa taught me that." The 2 used to be the most citical and crucial center of his 80's band 'The Revolution'. Even though Prince is known as somewhat of a control freak, he allowed Wendy and Lisa to contribute to the band with their creativity.

"There are only a few musicians that are really open-minded. I work with musicians only by the way: Do you know how to play the congas? Do you know Esperanza Spalding. Write down her name, she is brilliant!"

He continues to play a medley of defferent songs while he talks. I'm trying to balance myself on a lotus flower shaped seat -cushion right next to the piano. I am watching Prince lose himself in his music.

"You see, this is sacred to me!" he shouts "Music is supposed to free the spirit and bring you to a higher level. Trying to get higher and staying there. If music starts to lose its drive, if its sound flat and prdictable" - he moves his hand in a downward gesture - "...then I lose interest immediately. Without music the world would be a stagnant place!"

To be continued...

Thanks...you should somehow link the two translations/threads/parts together...

If you tell me how...

expectations is what Prince needs imo

GiGi319 said:

skywalker said:

Thanks...you should somehow link the two translations/threads/parts together...

If you tell me how...

Go to your original part one thread. Hit the "edit" button under your original post. Copy and paste part 2/3 etc under part 1.

TrueFunkSoldier2 said:

expectations is what Prince needs imo

he's a dodger, answering everything in such a way as to maintain a dominant position whether he really believes in what he's saying or not.

deep down inside he's just a little bit of sugar too self-conscious and guarded to center up and straight shoot.

maybe the world cant handle that kind of sweetness.

At least he gave Wendy and Lisa some props....That's something.

Thanks again. Sounds like he's saying he's not part of the mainstream record industry anymore (in other words, he ain't releasing "20Ten" on a major label lol).