Aftershow in NighTTowN, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. And a couple of One Night Alone soundchecks. Up close and personal.

[Edited 4/25/16 11:27am]

1999 the new master.

2freaky4church1 said:

1999 the new master.

the Y2K bug struck early

For me, to name a favorite moment from him is almost impossible. Seeing him in concert, listening to his music, watching his vids – they all brought me to such high levels – I used "brought" - because right now, the pain is still too heavy, so my highs are met with a lot of sadness right now....but I'll say this....three of my top highlights out of all my years loving him??

1) 2002 – Xenophobia Celebration – Fate had it so I was alone in the guitar room for maybe just 1 second – he walks in – to go through to the door that leads to his private quarters – I see him – Literally stop breathing – our eyes lock – he keeps walking by and I say "Hey" – how I managed to speak, I don't even know – and he smiled and nodded – and was gone as quickly as he was there. So no, he didn't even speak to me – but he saw me!!!! – and we shared a milimeter of the same second in the same room just a mere 2 feet apart. HE WAS SO COOL AND HIS SMILE WAS SOOOO BEAUTIFUL!! My heart was crazy racing. I kept my cool but I was DYING inside. That memory makes me smile so much. My very own moment with him.

2) Saenger Theatre – New Orleans – early 2000's – was it One Night Alone tour?? Can't remember name of tour or exact year – this is not necessarily a GREAT memory (the show was fabulous of course), but it's a funny one and I love to tell it – I went with my ex – we were just split up so we weren't really talking – we arrive late to the soundcheck – he had to go to the bathroom and he was the reason we were late so I was already annoyed – but I told him I'd save him a seat – I was going in – we had 10th row seats – it was "first come first seat" so I was aggravated we were late and couldn't get closer - my ex as usual takes forever to come sit – I think he went get a drink or something – ANYWAY, after Prince finished the song he was playing, he says "Check out this pimp walking in late" ...we all turn, and it's my ex who has on a black cowboy type hat – everyone kind of laughs – (it's just those few rows of soundcheck fam that's inside right now) – and Prince walks to edge of stage and says "I like your hat - you want to trade?" and he literally takes his hat off – a fedora type but bigger – between cowboy and fedora type maybe – my ex STUPIDLY says "nah, that's okay" and proceeds to walk into the row to sit next to me – Prince says AGAIN "no, I'm serious – you want to trade?" ....my ex just kinda smiles and says something like "no, that's okay" .....and Prince just put his hat back on and shrugs and goes on to play some more...EVERYONE around us kind of looked at my ex like "WHY NOT!?!?" ....he just smiled and dismissed everyone – again, we were just split so I didn't want to fight with him but I just kind of whispered to him "WHY in the world did you not?? He would've traded and we could've brought a Prince hat home to the kids!" My ex had long braids at the time – all the way down his back – and he was balding on top – always kept hats on to cover the bald – he whispered back "I didn't want him to see my bald spot" ....I just sat there and I'm sure my eyes were glazed with "SERIOUSLY!?!?!?" but I said nothing.....if you knew my ex – you wouldn't be surprised he said that!! LOL Gosh – so not a GREAT memory – but a very funny and highlight one indeed!

3) Attending Essence with my 2 kids in 2013. Sharing that night with them. Prince isn't necessarily their type of music, but they love music and they appreciated his performance and appreciated the level of artistry he offered. And they got to see firsthand the way the audience responded. The applause – the loud cheers – the entire Superbowl was blowing up that night. I wanted them to experience him – he was amazing that night and I had my son and daughter with me. That might be the best memory. Sharing him with my children. And since Thursday, they have BOTH told me that they are happy they got the chance to see him in person.

I have a lifetime of Prince memories - discovering my brothers' vinyl copy of Sign on (literally) a lonely Friday night, scaring other drivers on the 401 because I was air drumming to Housequake, seeing him for the first time in concert, duetting on "Dirty Mind" with my ex - but for me the unforgettable moment now is Prince, five weeks from death's door, dropping his sunglasses at Club Muzique in Montreal to cast a Prince glance at the tiny makeshift stage, like, "yeah, I can rock 'em from there, I can rock these motherfuckers from anywhere, just watch me." And then taking his sunglasses off to sing "Forver in My Life." Wells me up to think about it. Unforgettable.

He was one of my mom's favorite artists ever and she was the one to introduce him and his music to me and we share a lot of cool moments

in which he's envolved and I really cherish those, because I never was that close to my mom and he helped us in some way, whenever I could

spend a couple of hours blasting his music with her and we both knew the lyrics and we could sing our guts out, that was time well spent.

When I found out I had the talent to draw and illustrate, I took a course and the teacher happened to be a lowkey Prince fan.

Over 3 months we both worked on a portrait that turned out amazingly and by the end of the course my teacher gave a huge picture of Prince as a present. here's the drawing:

And I saved my favorite one for last... The first time I heard Starfish and Coffee, I had this very weird, nostalgic feeling, as if I have heard the song before.

I knew it was impossible, but I kept getting that familiar feeling each time I heard it and I grew very fond of it. Turns out my mom recorded that Muppets Tonight Show episode on VHS

in which Prince appeared and played it for me constantly, according to my mom I knew the whole song and it was the only way to keep me quiet for a while

Those are great memories, GIOShokadelica. In another era, you could have wound up doing Prince cover art.