I haven't been this sad since the passing of my mother almost 2 years ago. Prince has been a MAJOR part of my life for over 30 years. I've lived by his "Uptown" philosophy ever since I heard the "Dirty Mind" album. I've been listening to his music with deep reflection over the last few days. The music has brought back old memories, smiles, LOTS OF TEARS, but mainly AWE. THIS MAN WAS BAD !! In a good way of course. The music was like him,it had lots & lots of layers. It could be funny, serious, complicated & straight up funky ! I'm not ashamed to say that I've cried on my wife's shoulder many times this weekend. I'm hoping I can start listening without sadness soon.

Thank You Prince, for all of the joy you brought into my life & the joy you brought to the world.

I wish U HEAVEN.

[Edited 4/24/16 13:21pm]

rapa said:

I am still beyond words. Much love to all the purple people here, it helps so many of us feel the same. Thank you Prince, forever in my life.

yeah.. i have posted a bunch about it but i can hardly speak about it. words are easy when i type not to speak. it takes by breath away. What was he said to Ophra? about not speaking about bad things? I do not really believe it. I also do not not believe in preminissions. But as i said on the topic about him canceling some shows (On April 7) that morning i was overwhelmed that something was very wrong with his health. i hate that. I am deeply sad. the loss is immesserable

Growing Up With Prince: Children of Star's Longtime Bodyguard Open Up About His Very Private Life

April 24, 2016
Link


The children of Prince's longtime bodyguard are opening up to PEOPLE about how the private star became part of their family.

After moving to Minnesota in 1982 so that Charles 'Big Chick' Huntsberry could be closer to Prince for work, Huntsberry's children (he and wife Linda had five daughters and a son) grew close to the 7-time Grammy winner.

"The fact that he died alone is horrible," daughter Brigitte Huntsberry tells PEOPLE. "We still can't believe it. It seems like a nightmare. It's heartbreaking and we are all so upset. He was and is a huge part of our lives, he was truly our brother."

As children, Prince spent a lot of time with the family and would come to Fourth of July cookouts at the Huntsberry's home, where he played volleyball in his signature high heels. "A lot of times at school [Prince and our dad] would pick us up in his tour bus or limo," recalls eldest daughter Tina Khan, who was one of Prince's personal assistant in the 80's.

"He would step out and be like 'I'm picking my girls up.' " For their birthdays, Prince would always get them a dozen roses and candy. "He had the biggest sweet tooth ever," recalls Huntsberry's son Chuck.

Chuck tells PEOPLE he still owns the singer's first motorcycle, "Dad taught him how to ride it." And Prince was a big fan of his bodyguard's wife's home cooking. "He loved mom's spaghetti and meatballs and the chocolate chip cake was a big one," says daughter Rebecca. "He'd call and say 'Linda can you make me a chocolate chip cake?' And she would say, 'Well sure, honey.'"

Huntsberry's children were also some of the very first to hear his greatest hits. "He would test out songs for us when we were teenagers and let us listen before they were released," says Rebecca.

"We listened to Purple Rain while it was still being worked on and written. We thought it was so magical. I still remember listening to it for the first time and just thinking that I was listening to a piece of art come to life."

Identity said:

Growing Up With Prince: Children of Star's Longtime Bodyguard Open Up About His Very Private Life

April 24, 2016
Link


The children of Prince's longtime bodyguard are opening up to PEOPLE about how the private star became part of their family.

After moving to Minnesota in 1982 so that Charles 'Big Chick' Huntsberry could be closer to Prince for work, Huntsberry's children (he and wife Linda had five daughters and a son) grew close to the 7-time Grammy winner.

"The fact that he died alone is horrible," daughter Brigitte Huntsberry tells PEOPLE. "We still can't believe it. It seems like a nightmare. It's heartbreaking and we are all so upset. He was and is a huge part of our lives, he was truly our brother."

As children, Prince spent a lot of time with the family and would come to Fourth of July cookouts at the Huntsberry's home, where he played volleyball in his signature high heels. "A lot of times at school [Prince and our dad] would pick us up in his tour bus or limo," recalls eldest daughter Tina Khan, who was one of Prince's personal assistant in the 80's.

"He would step out and be like 'I'm picking my girls up.' " For their birthdays, Prince would always get them a dozen roses and candy. "He had the biggest sweet tooth ever," recalls Huntsberry's son Chuck.

Chuck tells PEOPLE he still owns the singer's first motorcycle, "Dad taught him how to ride it." And Prince was a big fan of his bodyguard's wife's home cooking. "He loved mom's spaghetti and meatballs and the chocolate chip cake was a big one," says daughter Rebecca. "He'd call and say 'Linda can you make me a chocolate chip cake?' And she would say, 'Well sure, honey.'"

Huntsberry's children were also some of the very first to hear his greatest hits. "He would test out songs for us when we were teenagers and let us listen before they were released," says Rebecca.

"We listened to Purple Rain while it was still being worked on and written. We thought it was so magical. I still remember listening to it for the first time and just thinking that I was listening to a piece of art come to life."

adorable....love that these stories are coming out now.

I love the article with Big Chick's children. I havn't cried today, but I still havn't eaten in days. I feel like after some time has passed we should get together and have Prince party of some sort to celebrate his life, music, and the gift that he shared with us all.

I celebrate nothing Holy,

only a man

I celebrate something which gave me strength to be me,

only a man

I celebrate one whom I looked forward to,

only a man

I celebrate one taken away,

only a man

I know him though I never met him,

only a man

He was a mystery to me,

only a man

He was like me,

only a man

I am so different, and it was okay with him

only a man

He knew me, though he never met me,

only a man

I celebrate something Holy,

only a man

JoeBala said:

Nice! So any cool stories. agoose?

agoose said:

Cork Ireland Pairc ui Chaoimh (irish football stadium) Sat 7 July 1990 - a hot day. Nude Tour

Malahde Castle grounds, Dublin Ireland Sat 30 July 2011. Welcome 2 Europe Tour

(in between 1992 RDS Dublin and front row at 1995 Point Depot, Dublin)

hi,

well at the 95 gig, he drank a paper cup of water and threw the cup and there was a frenzy to catch it. I remember two girls from Belfast got it.

I remember making a face gesture at him during a song and he made one back.

There was an aftershow in the POD, which I did not get to go to.

As I was walking back from the Point Depot int the city, he passed me in a white stretch Limo ...

The 1990 gig was during the World cup and Ireland had done well reaching the quarter finals.

The crowd used to sing Ole Ole Ole and this was sung at the gig.

Prince stopped playing and shouted 'Bullshit louder sing it' - then listend to the chant and then retorted 'Whose stage is this anyway!!!?'

There was the canceled conceet at Croke Park, Dublin in 2008. The promoter was getting worried as the date was drawing nearer and Prince had not committed.

Prince famously said to his management to tell the promoter 'Tell that cat to chill'

This came out in the Dublin High Court and made the judge laugh.

Afterwards when the promoter was paid the promoter said: 'This cat has chilled'

RDS 92 was the first place Sexy MF was played

[Edited 4/24/16 15:13pm]

grantevans said:

incognito said:

We were so happy because we were inside before the general public. When this man and woman came in and said me and the person next to me were in their seats, I explained to them and the usher that Prince told us to sit in these seats and if they had an issue with it, take it up with Prince. Of course that night, Toto (Salvatore!), the girl in the white suit and I got pulled on the stage to dance to 'The Work' from The Rainbow Children album. I won the dance concert. But, when Prince asked me if it's better to be a leader or follower, I couldn't hear him and he put his hand on my shoulder and repeated it again in my ear. My mind disconnected from my body because Prince was touching me. All I could see was the audience and purple dancing lights, it was so hard to wrap my mind around what he was saying because Dude's aura took over my being. Luckily, something clicked in my brain and said to answer, "A follower." Now, that's just one story I have to tell.

Thanks, Prince. You just brought a smile to my face for the first time in two days.

Thanks Incognito!!

Yep, remember it well. It Toto still around?

I was on the stage the next night, lying on the pillow in front of Rhonda

Toto is still around. I emailed him to get on the Org and post. He is devasted like the rest of us.

I wasn't at the second show, because I was jetlegged like no tomorrow. When the concert on October 3, started I was already up for over 40 hours. And then it was that craxy after party where we followed Prince around London Soho because one club was still partying and we went to another club to chill. I didn't get back to the hotel until 7am and slept for 12 straight hours. I think I can claim the 51 Hours song as how long I was awake. But, I was at the concert on October 5 and the after show at the New Marquee. We were on stage with the Man! Thanks, Prince.

I have been reading posts on this site for years, but this is my first time writing anything. I discovered Prince when I saw "When Doves Cry" on Friday Night Videos in the summer of 1984. Since that moment I have been fascinated by the music of Prince. It is so very sad to think that he will no longer make music. But his death also makes me more grateful than ever to have received the gift of his amazing music. His music will live forever. Thank you Prince.

Today has been the day I have been thinking about his recent comments regaring lucid dreaming and having contact with his friends who have died. I really think he knew his time on Earth was coming to an end, and that is why he did this tour. My Prince travel buddy was convinced of this and that is why we both spent what we did to see him at Paisley Park and in Oakland earlier this year. My buddy believed this long before going to PP, but was more convinced of it than ever after the most recent PP shows. He was mad we didn't make it to PP to see the shows with Mono Neon in the fall because of this feeling.

I'm a lucid dreamer myself. The funny thing is that I wondered whether he would ever to come to me in my dreams. There is no reason he wouldn't, but there is no reason he would. Mostly I have come to believe he is in a better place. It's just my sense. Having been around people who were ready for their life to end, there are many signs that pointed to this being the case.

Having worked with people who have OD'd and woke up angry that they were still alive, I could imagine that that was Prince coming back from Atlanta. Then he takes a stand that he is alive and doing fine by having the event at PP, shows off new instruments ("I have something to live for, don't worry about me). Then he tells people to save their prayers for a couple days. No matter what he was showing on the outside, people tip their hand about their true intentions. Chronic pain is one of those things that can make life intolerable. Opiates and other medications can only do so much. Then you have to deal with tolerance, withdrawal and dependency in addition to whatever causes the underlying pain. Prince pacing outside the vehicle while his rep is in Walgreens in Chanhassen is a sign. Obviously he couldn't even wait for the person to drive the short distance from Walgreens to PP to take whatever medication it was....

I have no judgment of the man if any or all of this is true. In fact, I have a lot of compassion for people in chronic pain, whether it is physical and/or emotional. My only hope is that people explore all options in trying to make the intolerable more tolerable before they choose an option that isnt reversible.

People have said that they hoped he didn't die alone. The problem is that if he wanted to die, at this point in his life he probably had to die alone, because no one was going to let him die on their watch. No one was going to hold his hand and watch him slip away because he said it was time. Prince did things on his time. If what I am saying is true, this was done when he wanted it to happen. Perhaps a couple days later than he wanted it... But he was on a plane with people who didn't want it and saved him.

As a believer in a benevolent God, who loves all his children..... If there is a heaven, I am convinced Prince has joined the many others before him, and we will be there too.

I keep listening to the Lovesexy tour version of Anna Stesia and it is haunting me for some reason. It's an excellent rendition of the song, and it's all I can do to keep the tears from falling.

babynoz said:

Empress said:

SharonLA said: I had a similar experience when my mom died. She was ill for a few years, so although I cried and was heartbroken I think this has been as difficult to accept.

I hear you guys. We were somewhat prepared when mom died and I did not want my mom to suffer. Also with mom there was a sense of her having been able to enjoy some golden years before her passing. It was extremely hard but felt more of a natural progression.

Prince on the other hand feels somehow like a life interrupted abruptly and inexplicably. Even though he wasn't a blood relative he resonated sort of like a kindred spirit. I felt a deep and profound connection to him through his art.

"No" is still the thing that keeps coming to mind every time I tear up. It feels wrong.

Wow--exactly! I keep just saying NO!! And yes, definately a life interrupted! It seems like everyone on the org understands what everyone else is feelng and thinking--thank God we have each other for support.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3555292/Prince-s-former-drug-dealer-reveals-extent-addiction.html

SharonLA said:

babynoz said:

I hear you guys. We were somewhat prepared when mom died and I did not want my mom to suffer. Also with mom there was a sense of her having been able to enjoy some golden years before her passing. It was extremely hard but felt more of a natural progression.

Prince on the other hand feels somehow like a life interrupted abruptly and inexplicably. Even though he wasn't a blood relative he resonated sort of like a kindred spirit. I felt a deep and profound connection to him through his art.

"No" is still the thing that keeps coming to mind every time I tear up. It feels wrong.

Wow--exactly! I keep just saying NO!! And yes, definately a life interrupted! It seems like everyone on the org understands what everyone else is feelng and thinking--thank God we have each other for support.

So true. No one else gets it.

what is getting me more now is reading how others hurt too. It makes me ache to read how someone was crushed by the news.

JoeBala said:

Thanks for sharing, ficktyt. You got to see him nearly in the beginning. At least we got our fond memories...

ficktyt said:

1999 Tour (Triple Threat) Cleveland, OH April 9, 1983

Piano and a Microphone at Paisley Park, January 21, 2016

First... 1/23/85 Purple Rain tour , Cincinnati

Last ... 4/13/04 Musicology , Cincinnati

In between ..

9/22/88 Lovesexy , Cincinnati,

4/6/93 Act I , Chicago,

July 1995 - Paisley Park, MPLS, random late night show

7/22/97, Jam of the Year , Indainapolis

[img:$uid]http://tinyurl.com/jqzkgz8[/img:$uid]

[Edited 4/24/16 20:09pm]

Like many ... still processing this all in ...

I even saw Gene Simmons of Kiss talking about Prince today .... so surreal ....

I think the saddest I have felt in years .... was seeing Larry Graham and Sheila E ...

Inside Prince's Life in the Jehovah's Witness Congregation Where He Was Called Simply 'Brother Nelson'

April 24

Prince, the enigmatic and renowned rock star beloved by millions, was just another devoted member to the congregation of the St. Louis Park, Minnesota, Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall.

Known to member Anna Barry as simply "Brother Nelson," Prince (whose real name was Prince Rogers Nelson) was "in good standing," and would go door-to-door with the ministry, she tells PEOPLE.


"He [witnessed] in the beginning," Barry explains. "He had a very special territory. He was able to talk to those who the rest of us would never be able to talk to – celebrities, for example."

Prince regarded the Kingdom Hall as a "safe place" and a "haven," Barry says, and toned down his famously colorful style around the congregation.


"He would just have a suit and tie. You wouldn't have picked him out," Barry says, adding, "You wouldn't have picked him out [from the rest of the congregation]."

Prince converted to the Jehovah's Witness religion in 2003, and, with it, "found fulfillment," a church spokesperson said in a statement.

Barry says that she last saw Prince at a service on March 23 (looking "absolutely normal") for the Jehovah's Witnesses' Memorial of Christ's death – a sacred day in the church.

"I was standing in the back and facing the door and waiting for someone I'd invited, and I was standing there talking to a Brother, and Prince had been at meetings at a couple different locations," she shares. "I was just standing there and all of a sudden, in he walks. I thought, 'He just wants to be treated like an average person,' so I just kind of acknowledged him, and he came in and sat down."

She adds, "I think he wanted to be private, and my observation is: He had to have his creative outlet. Maybe he just needed it to survive."


Link

[Edited 4/24/16 19:39pm]

I haven't visited this site since I first saw Prince live in Toronto and London, Ontario back in 2011.

Utter shock... pain.... sadness....

I want to send the Prince community my condolences.

I dunnno.. but it really hit me when I watched Bruce Springsteen of all people cover "Purple Rain" on youtube....

I bawled like a baby watching this artist cover the man known as Prince.

There isn't much to say other than to treasure your love ones and to remember the gift the man shared with the world.

I have been reading most of the posts. The one that hit the hardest was something I read that basically said that within 72 hours Prince went from the greatest musician on earth who was full of life to a small box of pulverized-crushed bones. It really hit home. I began to think what will happen to all of us whom he brought together. Maybe the greatest thing he did, more than the music even, was his ability to draw people from all races, all backgrounds, all religions (or no religion) all political views and all ages and classes of society together. There are atheists and priests on this board. There are rich and poor. There are male and female. There are republicans and democrats and everything inbetween. There is every color and creed from every corner of the planet. We all meet here because of Prince. You could see it at his concerts and you can see it in the responses to the threads on this board. In "real" life, we would disagree and probably, in many cases, hate each other, but for one man-Prince Rogers Nelson. The music united us on this board and others, in our meet ups before and after concerts, in life and now in death. He provided us an "Uptown" when we would flock to see him play where we could all meet no matter what we are and what we believe. We left our jobs and families and politics and religious views everytime we entered the arena or Paisley Park or wherever he performed. We were transfigured, if only for a few hours, into his utopia "white, black, Puerto Rican-good times a rollin'". Yes it was probably unrealistic, but it was a great escape, if only for a night or two every now and then. I think that's what makes those of us, especially those of us who saw him multiple times over the years and followed every move he made through the years somehow his ambassadors to the rest of the world-most especially now.

It will be interesting to see what happens going forward. Inevidibly the news coverage will die down, the albums and downloads will return to their usual places in the charts, the tributes will end, and things will return to normal for everyone but all of us. Then what? Will Paisley Park or some other place give us a venue to honor him on a permanent basis like Graceland? What will become of his vast unreleased music? What will happen to all the musical insturments and props and outfits and, and, and . . . Will our "Uptown" cease to extist now that the "mayor" has died or will we keep it going? If there was no will and no estate plan, we are the ones who will carry that burden. Somehow, some way, we need to do it. Let's all stay on this board and not only keep the memories and music alive for ourselves, but try make sure his legacy and music are preserved for future generations.

--Ficktyt

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I told someone Friday night: "36 maybe 48 hours ago Prince was the most important living musical figure in the word... today who knows...."

And then last night at Purple Rain I said to the people "we should not be here...." some seemed to not even get it... some did. Really I should not be writing this. #NoPeer #NoEqual #ImmeasurableLoss

38 years and 14 days.... April 7 1978 - April 21 2016

Prince lived 21,138 Days

[img:$uid]http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn178/Oneworldutopia/Prince3121Twinz_zpsa0535f21.jpg[/img:$uid]

[img:$uid]http://tinyurl.com/jbov2w6[/img:$uid]