Okay, I'm just about recovered from a long and amazing week, so it's time to tell the story of how I ended up seeing Prince play for a audience of 4 on Tuesday night.

Tuesday morning, I woke up and had a message from my co-worker Maury asking if I was going to see P at the Dakota ... QUICKLY, TO THE INTERNETS!

Like many of you, I spent my morning waiting, refreshing, looking for more info and deciding what I could afford to see. I really wanted to go to Friday's show (my normal evening off), but the tickets were a bit steep for my bank account. So, after consulting with the wife, we decided on Thursday's late show (hoping that there would be no news that would keep me out too late to get there).

I got our tickets and went to work. Maury and I were assigned to do a story on Prince's gigs at the Dakota. Maury set up an interview with Lowell Pickett of The Dakota, but he was flying back to Minneapolis that afternoon and couldn't meet us until 5:30.

Since we knew there'd be a line in the story about Fun renting out PP, we headed over to Chanhassen to grab a few shots. When we got there, the gate was open. As we left, I asked Maury if maybe we should go and see if anyone would answer the door if we knocked. When we walked up to the front door, Prince's assistant Julia was there. Maury told her that we were doing a story about P's upcoming shows and were wondering if anyone in his camp or Prince himself would be up for chatting with us (You never know if you don't ask, right?).

She told us that Prince probably wouldn't want to do an interview, but Ida, Donna, and Hannah had been talking about possibly doing an interview. She said that they would talk it over and get in contact with us if they decided to do it.

We spent the rest of our day around Minneapolis, talking to fans, shooting video of the Dakota and interviewing Mr. Pickett. We were heading back to the television studio in Eden Prairie around 7pm when we got a call from Julia saying that the band had decided to do the interview and were wondering if we could come over.

We were on a 9pm deadline, so we set up the interview for after the news with the idea that it would air the following night (Wednesday). I rounded up two more photographers to help with the shoot and we headed over to Paisley a little after 10.

We ended up setting up for the interview in a sitting room to the side of the larger soundstage. The room has that amazing Schimmel piano and the painting from the cover of The Rainbow Children. The interview ended up going about 20 minutes. The full interview is up in several parts at myfoxtwincities.com. The ladies were all very nice and seemed truly excited about what might be coming in 2013.

After the interview ended, Julia told us that (after we put our cameras away) the girls would play for us. It took us a while to put away our gear, but as we walked out to throw it in our cars, I could see Prince up on stage with Ida, Donna, and Hannah.

We came back in and Julia told us that Prince was playing and that we could come into the soundstage. At first, we came in and stood about 20 feet back from the stage. I think we were afraid of interrupting anything. Julia waved us up to the stage. The four of us walked up to the front of the stage. Then PRINCE WAVED US UP ON STAGE!

Because I know some of you will be interested in this: Prince was wearing one of those winter caps shaped like an animal (I believe it was a lion), gold/yellow pants, a brown vest, and light up shoes (which I didn't notice until he started pounding out some beats while playing his guitar).

They continued the jam that they'd been playing. When they finished this song, Prince handed me a sheet off of his music stand and said, "These are the lyrics. Let me know if you come up with a tune." One of my fellow photographers (Eric) said, "Do we have to sing it?" Prince thought for a second and replied, "Maybe to yourself"

The lyrics he handed me were to a song called, "Pulla Wagon". I assume this was the song they were jamming on. He didn't sing the lyrics. It's a song about gun violence. I wish I could remember some lines (sorry). Wagon=ambulance.

As I stood there, partly reading the lyric sheet, partly in disbelief this was happening, Prince leaned back to the band and simply said, "Endorphine". It was hard not to lose my s---! Sure enough, They launched into a rockin' version of "Endorphinemachine." No vocals, just four musicians playing off of each other. Some really great guitar stuff here and a bit of a jam at the end.

Then they played "Screwdriver". Most of you have heard the clip that was posted on YouTube. It sounds so freakin' good live. I hope the released version has this same sound (or that a live version will be released as well). After they finished, Prince put down his guitar, said "I'm so bad, I can't even sleep with myself", and ran down the steps of the stage and out of the room.

I think we all just stood there with our jaws dropped for a moment before thanking the band for their time and for playing for us. Julia showed us out and we talked about when the story would air. As we walked out of the soundstage, I told her that I still had the lyric sheet and that I was pretty sure that Prince didn't want it out there. She took a look at it and agreed. All week, my co-workers have been giving me s--- about giving it back. I tell everyone that, to me, it was like the end of the movie "Willy Wonka". Sometimes you just have to give back the Gobstopper.

I cannot tell you how gracious everyone at Paisley were to us. Truly wonderful. I hope we get the chance to do something with them again. If not, this was such an amazing night that I couldn't really hope for more. I bumped into Julia at Thursday night's Dakota show. I told her that I really hoped that everyone at PP was happy with how the story turned out. She said that she thought it was great. Hopefully that bodes well for us being invited back in the future.

If you haven't seen it yet, you can find the interview here:

http://www.myfoxtwincitie...ith-prince

I hope you all enjoyed the story (and my story about the story).

Stay Posi,

Tim

wow... what a story..... CONGRATS!!!!

i would have grabbed that mike and been like.. if you aint gonna sing endorphinemachine.. then let ME!

very cool!!

Blimey. Sounds like a good week to me. Not sure I wouldn't have kept that gobstopper. Good one for the memory banks though.

Nice story, thanks for sharing.

And Charlie got the pot of gold in the end because he was good to Mr. Wonka, right?

Good that you weren't pulling his leg by walking out with the lyrics. (is that the right expression?)

TwiliteKid said:

Amazing. What's "Pulla Wagon" like?

I really wish my memory was better on this. I think I was overstimulated. They were kinda working on a groove for a while. Sorry.

Great story. You made the right call in giving the lyrics back. Shows he can trust ya.

OldFriends4Sale said:

nice story, Thank u 4 sharinghmmmm so no other instruments with this crew?

Nope. Prince on lead guitar, Donna on guitar, Ida on bass, and Hannah on drums.

thank u Tim

love your story

maja2405 said:

I said I wasn't sure that I wouldn't have kept it. Woulda been so tempting to keep it for yourself. After all, he gave it to ya didn't he. You did the right thing but you know that already. What a buzz though. A private gig with the umpa lumpa.

[Edited By the Grammar Police 51/20/13 42:01pm]

[Edited 1/20/13 15:04pm]

When Prince trust U...He will always call U back....Gr8 story!!!!!

maja2405 said:

thank u Tim

love your story

Thx 4 sharing the experience Tim...it was fun reading it!

love5oneanother said:

Because I know some of you will be interested in this: Prince was wearing one of those winter caps shaped like an animal (I believe it was a lion), gold/yellow pants, a brown vest, and light up shoes (which I didn't notice until he started pounding out some beats while playing his guitar).

serpan99 said:

maja2405 said:

thank u Tim

love your story

Thx 4 sharing the experience Tim...it was fun reading it!

I'm with Serpan.

As for the lyric sheet, you did the right thing it's called respect.

Something which is no longer taught in our microwave world.

teiemka said:

serpan99 said:

Thx 4 sharing the experience Tim...it was fun reading it!

I'm with Serpan.

As for the lyric sheet, you did the right thing it's called respect.

Something which is no longer taught in our microwave world.

Cool! Here's a thread with some other links 2 the story:

http://prince.org/msg/5/392255

Interesting that they were rehearsing in the soundstage, considering fun. had rented it out, supposedly. I though it was kind of odd that their website had their first show as Jan. 17 on the east coast.

Did Jon Bream and Prince make up?

So, did anybody check http://20pr1nc3.com/ lately?

Happy girrrrrrrrrrl!!!!

Nice.