I know a gentleman here in Austin, a well-known addiction specialist and therapist, who used to work at The Lighthouse, a center for the visually impaired in Houston, Texas back in the late 80s.

One day, the director, notifies the staff in a quickly arranged meeting, that a very well known musician was going to be visiting the center that afternoon and that 1) no one can mention anything to the press, and 2) no one can make any big deal about it once the musician arrives - no requests for photos, autographs, etc.

The musician was supposed to quickly arrive via a backdoor to the main dining area around 1PM. My friend, who was a junior staffer at the time at The Lighhouse, was the guy to wait near the back door for a double-knock, then let the musician in. What was weird was he STILL didn't know who was coming - for all he knew it could have been John Cougar Mellencamp.

Approaching one o'clock, the large room was full of largely blind folks eagerly waiting who their guest was going to be. At exactly one o'clock my friend hears a sharp double knock from the outside of the door and opens it - nervous. He was greeted by a HUGE black man, obviously a bodyguard type. The bodygaurd pushed his way in and behind him was another huge man and also a super tiny little man...dressed very eccentrically. My friend realized after a few seconds that it WAS PRINCE!!

Prince was carrying a blue acoustic guitar and walked up to a pre-arranged simple microphone and speaker and in a soft, deep voice said something like, "Thank you so much for having me..." then launched into around "5 or six songs", a mix of older hit songs and newer songs from the Lovesexy album.

The audience ATE IT UP and couldn't believe they were in the presence of such a well-known musical superstar. Between songs Prince loosened up and started to joke with various members of the audience, mostly the blind kids who were present.

When he was done, just as quickly as when he arrived, after saying one last goodbye he excited out of the back and was gone.

My friend kept his promise for close to 30 years, only telling his wife. After Prince's passing he leanred that I was a huge fan and told me the story. He said that all these past years whenever he heard Prince's name in the news he'd smile to himself and remember that afternoon day long ago...

Love this! It is so awesome that he loves surprising folks like that! I would smile too years later as well.

love stories like this. Heart of gold.

Wow, I'm a Houstonian and I never knew this. Cool story!

I thought this was common knowledge? Maybe not.

Here's a pic from it:

TrivialPursuit said:

I thought this was common knowledge? Maybe not.

Here's a pic from it:

.

That photo isn't from 88.

.

That's from a different private concert for Washington’s Gallaudet University on Nov 29, 1984.

.

https://www.washingtonpos...-students/

Doozer said:

TrivialPursuit said:

I thought this was common knowledge? Maybe not.

Here's a pic from it:

.

That photo isn't from 88.

.

That's from a different private concert for Washington’s Gallaudet University on Nov 29, 1984.

.

https://www.washingtonpos...-students/

SHIT! I knew that. I had the deaf concert in my head for some reason. My bad.