just believe in me and trust this ride... -Here

LOtUSFLOW3R + MPLSoUND + Elixer

LotusFlow3r.com

everything about this era was just... meh...

10.23.08 Night Of Stars N.Y.
Donatella Versace Night Of Stars N.Y.

Prince Unveils Plan to Release Three LPs Via Lotusflow3r Website at Private Gig


The e-mail invitation was vague but intriguing: spend Saturday night at Prince’s mansion in Beverly Hills for “a journey through the galaxy” and a live performance by the man himself.

As the first to arrive, I’m greeted by Scott Addison Clay, the bearded young developer behind Prince’s new Website, lotusflow3r.com. He wears a tweed jacket and sits behind a widescreen computer monitor to show off a bit of the new site, launched just minutes earlier. Leaning against a nearby couch is a sparkling metal cane, with Prince’s “love symbol” etched into the handle.

Clay notes that 10 years before, Prince helped revolutionize the relationship between music and the Internet by being the first major artist to debut music exclusively on the Web. And lotusflow3r.com is where Prince will release three new albums in 2009, including MPLSound, Lotus Flow3r and the unveiling of his newest female protégé Bria Valente.

Then there is a voice behind us: “Can I use my computer?” It’s Prince, smiling in a blue shirt decorated with a stylized drawing of his own image, and shoes with heels that blink colored lights. “It’s OK, I just want to check my e-mail.”

This is his home office, just one corner on a large estate in the exclusive gated community of Beverly Park, in the hills above Los Angeles. In another room is a space-age grand piano with liquid curves and framed snapshots of Chris Rock, Spike Lee, Quincy Jones and other friends. Outside on a pedestal amid the reflecting pools, recording studio and a beach volleyball court is a metal sculpture of his symbol. This is could only be one man’s house.

Downstairs in the home theater, Clay gives a deeper glimpse of what’s coming on the site, set to slowly unfold in coming months. For now, it is limited to a home page with a barren cliff beneath a night sky and three new songs: “Another Boy,” “Colonized Mind” and “Discojellyfish,” which flow from a boombox that glows purple. Fans will eventually be asked to pay a subscription fee to open up other areas of the site, with music, lyrics, animation, photographs and video (including Prince’s cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” at Coachella last year).

Guests are led down the hall, past the pool table and a pair of motorcycles that look like they just rolled off the cover of Purple Rain, toward the sound of a band tuning up in a small room. It’s a crowd of barely 30 people: three invited fans, a few journalists, soul singer Anita Baker, DJ Kat Corbett from KROQ-FM and Miss Valente, tall and elegant in a low-cut dress.

Prince is in the corner with a guitar and the first song is a shimmering cover of the Cars’ “Let’s Go,” followed by “Crimson & Clover” (by Tommy James and the Shondells), before erupting into the Troggs’ “Wild Thing” as Prince raises his guitar, singing like Hendrix himself: “Baby, I think I love you . . . sock it to me!”

He calls harmonica player Frédéric Yonnet up to blow through the Rolling Stones’ “Miss You,” following a tough, sexy groove as Prince announces: “Come on out on the dance floor, come on!” It’s just the first of two sets he’ll lead tonight, and it’s a purely musical performance, without the big production of a tour date, playing vivid originals going all the way back to 1979’s “I Feel for You” and surprising cover tunes, including several Sly Stone hits (”Everyday People,” “Stand,” etc.).

You could see when Prince was especially moved by an emotional vocal from Baker or one of his three backup singers (Marva King, Shelby Johnson and Olivia Warfield), whose solos are epic performances unto themselves. Baker joins him for several duets, including “Guitar.”

“Real music by real musicians,” Prince announces, slipping into another funky psychedelic groove, leaving room for big solos from the band and his own guitar.

Near the end of the second set, it’s nearly 3 a.m. as Prince and bassist Josh Dunham jump into a sticky groove that’s instantly recognizable as a 1976 riff from Wild Cherry. Prince points directly at Clay, his Internet guru, by now pealed out of his tweed at the edge of the dance floor. He calls him over to the microphone, and Clay immediately begins singing, reading from an ovesized lyric sheet: “Play that funky music, white boy! Play that funky music right!”

Prince leans back against drummer Cora Dunham, still slashing at his guitar, eyebrows rising, as if he can’t believe what he is witnessing. But it’s a kind of unbelievable, brilliant moment, one of many during more than three hours of live music. Clay is still dancing behind the microphone, his dress shirt soaked, and for one moment the baddest white dude on the West Coast. “That’s pretty funky, right?” he asks. With Prince and the band behind him, it could hardly be anything else.

Prince @ Gansvoort Hotel NYC 10.10.2008
18 NINTH AVEUNE, NEW YORK, NY, United States 10014
w/ Cora Coleman-Dunham-drums Joshua Dunham-bass Morris Hayes-keyboards
Marva King & Shelby J on vocals

To celebrate the release of the Prince’s book, “21 Nights“, also by photographer Randee St. Nicholas , which has entered the New York Times top ten list at number 9, Prince gave a private intimate concert at The Hotel Ganvesoort last Friday. The concert, hosted by Atria publisher Judith Kurr, was attended by a number of VIPs.

Guest included Dave Chappelle, filmmaker Spike Lee and his wife Tonya Lewis Lee, Atria VP Malaika Adero, BET VP Stephen Hill, entertainment entreprenuer Kevin Harewood, financial expert and author Alvin Hall Jr and others who where treated to a high energy set of over two hours.




just had to throw a picture of the suites

Charity Concert
1.Colonized Mind
2.1999
3.I Feel For You
4.Controversy/Housequake
5.Sexy Dancer/Le Freak (Chic)
6.Miss You H-Frederic Yonnet
7.Satisfied H-Frederic Yonnet
8.Begging Woman Blues
/Cock Eyed Woman
10.Purple Rain
11.A Love Bizarre
12.What Is Hip? H-Frederic Yonnet
13.Stratus
14.Cream
15.U Got The Look
16.Angel (Sarah McLachlan ) Vo-Shelby
17.Nothing Compares 2 U

Aftershow
1.Crimson & Clover (Tommy James)
2.Let's Go (The Cars)
3.7
4.Come Together
5.1999
6.Controversy
7.Sexy Dancer/Le Freak
8.Long Train Running ( Doobie Brothers)
9.Shhh
10.Musicology/Prince & The Band
11.3121
12.Girls & Boys
13.Honky Tonk Woman
14.Stratus
15.Miss You
16.Red House ( Jimi Hendrix )
17.Purple Rain
18.Brown Skin (India.Arie) Vo-Shelby
19.SummerMadness (Kool & TheGang
/In The Morning Vo-Shelby
20.Can't Hide Love (Earth,Wind & Fire)
21.Love's Taken Over(Chante Moore)
22.I Want To Be Free (Ohio Player)
23.Cream
24.U Got The Look
25.What Have You Done To Me Lately?
25.Partyman
26.It's Alright
27.Alphabet St.
28.The Bird
29.Jungle Love
30.TheGlamorous LifeVo-Marva King
31.Love Bizarre/Housequake







0-+> That super-secret, impossible-to-get-into Prince show? It went down for four hours (two shows) on the rooftop loft at the Hotel Gansevoort on Friday night. The NY Times reports that audience members paid around $1,000 to get inside the intimate room, with proceeds going to charity (Love 4 One Another Charities and Urban Farming). The Purple One did give a nod to the tough times however, the paper notes that "moments into the early set he joked about the tough day, then he tweaked the lyrics of '1999' to reference the financial crisis." Howard Stern, Spike Lee and Dave Chappelle were all in attendance, and the latter even took over entertaining duties for a bit, saying, “I played tambourine tonight at a Prince show — that’s the good news. The bad news is, I flew coach.”

By Jen Carlson in Arts and Events on October 13, 2008 11:04 AM

rel 3. 25. 2009
LotusFlowe3r
1.From The Lotus....
2.Boom
3.The Morning After*
4.4ever
5.Colonized Mind
6.Feel Good, Feel Better, Feel Wonderful
7.Love Like Jazz
8.77 Beverly Park
9.Wall of Berlin
10.$
11.Dreamer
12....Back to The Lotus

Great album.

The Montreaux shows accompanying this were absolutely brilliant and his best there thus far, imo.

Prince on his Schimmel Colani Pegasus




A collaboration between Italian designer Luigi "Allergic to Straight Lines" Colani and German piano-makers Schimmel in the late 1990s, the Pegasus grand piano looks like something you'd see on a Star Trek set.
Updates to the classic form include a slightly curved, ergonomic keyboard (eliminating any need for the player to move their body), an electrically-controlled hydraulic lid (to control projection) and a fully adjustable integrated leather stool. With over 200 strings under a total tension of 176,520 newtons and a key assembly with over 100 pieces (both standard to Schimmels), it's clearly a world-class instrument. In fact, only 14 were ever made (the likes of Eddie Murphy, Lenny Kravitz and Prince are all owners) and this one is up for a cool $110,000. Alas, the provenance is from a music store owner and not a celebrity, but that shouldn't prevent you from bidding or appreciating it.

OperatingThetan said:

Great album.

The Montreaux shows accompanying this were absolutely brilliant and his best there thus far, imo.

July 18. 2009
Stravinski Auditorium Montreux
Montreux Jazz Festival
1st Show
1.When I Lay My Hands On U
2.Little Red Corvette
3.Somewhere Here On Earth
4.When The Lights Go Down
5.Willing & Able
6.I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore
7.She Spoke 2 Me
8.Love Like Jazz
9.All This Love
10.Empty Room
11.Elixer
12.In A Large Room With No Light
13.Insatiable
14.Scandalous
15.The Beatiful Ones
16.Nothing Compares 2 U

2nd Show
1.When I Lay My Hands On U
2.Stratus
3.That's It
4.All Shook Up
5.Peach
6.Spanish Casle Magic
7.When U Were Mine
8.Little Red Corvette
9.Somewhere Here On Earth
10.She Spoke 2 Me
11.I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore
12.Love Like Jazz
13.All The Critic Love U In Montreux
14.In A Large Room With No Light
15.Purple Rain

$1,000 I would have loved to spend.

OldFriends4Sale said:

Aftershow
1.Crimson & Clover (Tommy James)
2.Let's Go (The Cars)
3.7
4.Come Together
5.1999
6.Controversy
7.Sexy Dancer/Le Freak
8.Long Train Running ( Doobie Brothers)
9.Shhh
10.Musicology/Prince & The Band
11.3121
12.Girls & Boys
13.Honky Tonk Woman
14.Stratus
15.Miss You
16.Red House ( Jimi Hendrix )
17.Purple Rain
18.Brown Skin (India.Arie) Vo-Shelby
19.SummerMadness (Kool & TheGang
/In The Morning Vo-Shelby
20.Can't Hide Love (Earth,Wind & Fire)
21.Love's Taken Over(Chante Moore)
22.I Want To Be Free (Ohio Player)
23.Cream
24.U Got The Look
25.What Have You Done To Me Lately?
25.Partyman
26.It's Alright
27.Alphabet St.
28.The Bird
29.Jungle Love
30.TheGlamorous LifeVo-Marva King
31.Love Bizarre/Housequake







0-+> That super-secret, impossible-to-get-into Prince show? It went down for four hours (two shows) on the rooftop loft at the Hotel Gansevoort on Friday night. The NY Times reports that audience members paid around $1,000 to get inside the intimate room, with proceeds going to charity (Love 4 One Another Charities and Urban Farming). The Purple One did give a nod to the tough times however, the paper notes that "moments into the early set he joked about the tough day, then he tweaked the lyrics of '1999' to reference the financial crisis." Howard Stern, Spike Lee and Dave Chappelle were all in attendance, and the latter even took over entertaining duties for a bit, saying, “I played tambourine tonight at a Prince show — that’s the good news. The bad news is, I flew coach.”

By Jen Carlson in Arts and Events on October 13, 2008 11:04 AM

No matter what happened previously with his sites, I would love for Prince to start a new site and offer these items (on blu-ray). I would eagerly join - again. To be honest, I feel I've gotten all of my money's worth joining his sites...

OldFriends4Sale said:

OperatingThetan said:

Great album.

The Montreaux shows accompanying this were absolutely brilliant and his best there thus far, imo.

July 18. 2009
Stravinski Auditorium Montreux
Montreux Jazz Festival
1st Show
1.When I Lay My Hands On U
2.Little Red Corvette
3.Somewhere Here On Earth
4.When The Lights Go Down
5.Willing & Able
6.I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore
7.She Spoke 2 Me
8.Love Like Jazz
9.All This Love
10.Empty Room
11.Elixer
12.In A Large Room With No Light
13.Insatiable
14.Scandalous
15.The Beatiful Ones
16.Nothing Compares 2 U

2nd Show
1.When I Lay My Hands On U
2.Stratus
3.That's It
4.All Shook Up
5.Peach
6.Spanish Casle Magic
7.When U Were Mine
8.Little Red Corvette
9.Somewhere Here On Earth
10.She Spoke 2 Me
11.I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore
12.Love Like Jazz
13.All The Critic Love U In Montreux
14.In A Large Room With No Light
15.Purple Rain

pdiddy2011 said:

$1,000 I would have loved to spend.

OldFriends4Sale said:

Aftershow
1.Crimson & Clover (Tommy James)
2.Let's Go (The Cars)
3.7
4.Come Together
5.1999
6.Controversy
7.Sexy Dancer/Le Freak
8.Long Train Running ( Doobie Brothers)
9.Shhh
10.Musicology/Prince & The Band
11.3121
12.Girls & Boys
13.Honky Tonk Woman
14.Stratus
15.Miss You
16.Red House ( Jimi Hendrix )
17.Purple Rain
18.Brown Skin (India.Arie) Vo-Shelby
19.SummerMadness (Kool & TheGang
/In The Morning Vo-Shelby
20.Can't Hide Love (Earth,Wind & Fire)
21.Love's Taken Over(Chante Moore)
22.I Want To Be Free (Ohio Player)
23.Cream
24.U Got The Look
25.What Have You Done To Me Lately?
25.Partyman
26.It's Alright
27.Alphabet St.
28.The Bird
29.Jungle Love
30.TheGlamorous LifeVo-Marva King
31.Love Bizarre/Housequake

I think this is the first real stripped down band formation in a long time. It was nice to see him playing with smaller set

SanMartin said:

2009 was when I became a fan, although I didn't get Lotusflow3r and pals until 2011. Lotusflow3r is a brilliant album, up with the best of them. The other 2 made less of an impact on me; I don't think I even listened to Elixer more than once. Is it worth my going back to it?

Well it's Prince playing on the album, it's actually good music. I wish Bria did more during this period, I think her lack of participation made me turn away from it. I would of rather he did that album with Sheila E.

MPLSound
1.(There'll Never B) Another Like Me
2.Chocolate Box
3.Dance 4 Me
4.U're Gonna C Me
5.Here
6.Valentina
7.Better With Time
8.Ol' Skool Company
9.No More Candy 4 U

12.6.08 Viper Room Los Angeles

Every time another boy speaks
If they catchin' feelin's and they wanna get with me
I don't hear no evil or see it, don't matter anyway
'Cause they'll never be with me

I got what I want and he's home
Waitin' on me to call him on the phone
To ask him what he wants from the store
I give him what he needs and baby so much more

Ain't another man that can make me love him
'Cause I only place God and the sky above him
He's the one that brings me joy
As long as we're together there'll never be another boy

Everywhere we go people stare
They could be jealous but I just don't care
Perception ain't really the truth
They could never ever take me away from you

Every time another boy pass
Think about how sad I was in the past
Hopin' with a knife in my back
That everythin' was cool but he was makin' plans

Just another failed romance
'Cause a one trick pony ain't got no chance
Don't need any other toy 'cause baby you're my lover
There'll never be another boy

Sister and my mother, father and my brother
This is what the difference will be
The only one that lasts through all of history

Every time another boy speaks
Kind words of praise or fantasy
To me they're just another boy
And not the coolest boy who brings me joy

'Cause I got him
(There'll never be another boy)
Yes, it's you baby like water for chocolate
(There'll never be another boy)

I'll do anythin', anythin' to make you see
(There'll never be another boy)
That you're the only, only one for me
(There'll never be another boy)

I like the smell of your sweet cologne
The I don't care style of your hair
(There'll never be another boy)
Just ask and I'll cook the things you like
When them other girls cupboard's just bare
(There'll never be another boy)

Yes, it is, you see this, you got it
(There'll never be another boy)
I said it's you babe like water for chocolate
Forever baby
(There'll never be another boy)

Every time another boy speaks
If they catchin' feelin's and they wanna get with me
I don't hear no evil or see it, don't matter anyway

© Controversy Music





The song was written, produced and performed by Bria Valente and Prince.

Recording dates and studio are unknown. Prince started working with Bria Valente in late 2006, so the track may have been recorded anytime between late 2006 and Summer 2008 at either Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, MN, USA or Circle House, Miami, FL, USA, but no information has been verified. The track was premiered on Los Angeles radio station KJLH 102.3 FM on 17 September, 2008. (PrinceVault)

I really enjoyed this album. Some good songs there. It should have enjoyed greater commercial success, but yet again poor decisions kept that from happening. U're Gonna C Me should have been a single. It was very radio-friendly, not that that ever seems to matter. Also, selling the album via the website probably kept it from debuting at #1. Only one person to blame for that. Nevertheless, the album had a nice vibe that worked for me.

Ol' Skool Company is an absolute killer tune

"Dreamer"

From 'Rolling Stone' online:

Los Angeles’ rock radio station Indie 103 was “summoned” to go up to Prince’s home this past week to preview his new album. According to the station’s “Mr. Shovel,” Prince doesn’t have a record label and “wants nothing to do with record labels, so he’s meeting with people to figure out how to operate at his level without a record label.” Following a long conversation with the Purple Rain star, the radio reps were played the new album in Prince’s home entertainment theatre. “It’s heavy, rockin’, and our enthusiasm was immediate,” Mr. Shovel said. Prince then said the station could preview a few of the new songs on Indie 103, so that’s where were we today at 3 p.m.

The album kicks off with an explosive, four-minute instrumental before launching into the first song that was played on the radio… Prince covering Tommy James & the Shondells’ “Crimson & Clover,” with the Purple One altering the lyrics as he’s been known to do during his cover performances. Keeping with the original, the vocals sound like Prince is submerged under water. Things deviate at the chorus, however, as Prince belts out the “ooh baby, I think I love you” part of Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady.”

“Colonized Mind” was the second song played. Another laid-back guitar joint, it seems like Prince’s intention on this album is to make people stop dancing and just chill. More aquatic layering on Prince’s voice as he sings politicized lyrics with lyrics along the lines of “Did you know your record deal was another way for ‘The Man’ to steal.” Yeah, we don’t think Prince wants anything to do with record labels. The guitar solo is killer, out-guitaring the entirety of Planet Earth’s “Guitar,” before the chorus returns.

“Wall of Berlin” was the third song played. Again, more guitar virtuosity by Prince. If he’s aiming to make an album similar to Side C of Electric Ladyland, he’s off to a good start. The songs also sound more intimate, like the Artist recorded these songs without any Revolution and New Power Generation behind him. “4ever” is the ballad, with Prince busting out the piano before being joined by backup singers. It’s not “Free,” “Ballad of Dorothy Parker” or “Sometimes It Snows In April,” but it’s still a solid, latter-day Prince slow dance as he ruminates about marriage and being with someone, well, 4ever.

And that’s all we get. For now, at least. Again, according to the DJs, Prince’s new album is finished and he’s just looking for a non-record label vessel in which to release it. We’ll keep you posted in what promises to be a busy year for Prince.

March 26. 2009
NBC Studio Los Angeles
Night 2 of the Tonight Show
Dreamer

Prince (guitar)
Sonny Thompton (Bass)
Micheal Bland ( Drums)
Morris Hayes ( Keyboards)

January 25. 2009
Chateau Marmont in Beverly Hills
with Bria Valente

is there a good quality recording of that aftershow?

OperatingThetan said:

Great album.

The Montreaux shows accompanying this were absolutely brilliant and his best there thus far, imo.

OldFriends4Sale said:

OperatingThetan said:

Great album.

The Montreaux shows accompanying this were absolutely brilliant and his best there thus far, imo.

July 18. 2009
Stravinski Auditorium Montreux
Montreux Jazz Festival
1st Show
1.When I Lay My Hands On U
2.Little Red Corvette
3.Somewhere Here On Earth
4.When The Lights Go Down
5.Willing & Able
6.I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore
7.She Spoke 2 Me
8.Love Like Jazz
9.All This Love
10.Empty Room
11.Elixer
12.In A Large Room With No Light
13.Insatiable
14.Scandalous
15.The Beatiful Ones
16.Nothing Compares 2 U

2nd Show
1.When I Lay My Hands On U
2.Stratus
3.That's It
4.All Shook Up
5.Peach
6.Spanish Casle Magic
7.When U Were Mine
8.Little Red Corvette
9.Somewhere Here On Earth
10.She Spoke 2 Me
11.I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore
12.Love Like Jazz
13.All The Critic Love U In Montreux
14.In A Large Room With No Light
15.Purple Rain