I know that Prince is gone now, but his death has kind of ignited an interest in the city of Minneapolis for re-location for me. The Mary Tyler Moore Show reruns always made it seem like a blissful tundra to me as a kid. Also, currently attempting to transition into Tech from Finance and Minneapolis has been cited as a growing tech hub in several articles as well. I think that the climate change may be the most intimidating factor to me currently in considering this.

ya man, when i was a crazy kid, i thought I'd go there and try to get a record deal from PP. I was broke in a week and came right back to seattle. god, i'm so glad that i'm not young and stupid anymore. Before he died, i had a dream of opening a studio near PP, but it'll probably never happen especially now that he's gone. he was my musical leader, he really was.

I was friends with a man that just up and moved from Fargo, ND. to Mpls. after he say Purple Rain. He said he wanted to be near Prince.

.

He was a artist and thought he would be able to work with Prince. 10 years later, he ended up driving truck for a flower wholesaler in Mpls., but loved the area and stayed. He's since been fired, so I don't know what became of him....

i've tried to explain to people who are fellow fans, how different it is when you were a musician who started because of him. It's akin to him being a religious leader, though, of course I know how that makes me sound. I have many heroes, i wanted to accomplish great things, I never did, but i had great role models and I tried when anyone else would have quit a long time ago.

PeteSilas said:

ya man, when i was a crazy kid, i thought I'd go there and try to get a record deal from PP. I was broke in a week and came right back to seattle. god, i'm so glad that i'm not young and stupid anymore. Before he died, i had a dream of opening a studio near PP, but it'll probably never happen especially now that he's gone. he was my musical leader, he really was.

Oh, wow. Are you a vocalist, instrumentalist, or both?

yup, singer, keyboardist, writer.

jumanji2016 said:

Yes. I moved here from Illinois in 91 for that reason. Within 4 months I was at my first private party at Paisley Park and had seen 3 concerts, so I knew it was worth it. I met many people who moved here for the same reason. Still not used to the long ass winters though.

sonshine said:

motherfunka said:

Yes. I moved here from Illinois in 91 for that reason. Within 4 months I was at my first private party at Paisley Park and had seen 3 concerts, so I knew it was worth it. I met many people who moved here for the same reason. Still not used to the long ass winters though.

did your family call you crazy too? It was a dumb idea on my part with not enough planning and at a pretty bad time in my life when stress like that wasn't needed. I'd never really been anyplace on my own, being in a strange city, knowing no one. I did get to see first avenue but never even made it close to PP. Like I say, pretty dumb idea, but we're all young once.

PeteSilas said:

motherfunka said:

Yes. I moved here from Illinois in 91 for that reason. Within 4 months I was at my first private party at Paisley Park and had seen 3 concerts, so I knew it was worth it. I met many people who moved here for the same reason. Still not used to the long ass winters though.

did your family call you crazy too? It was a dumb idea on my part with not enough planning and at a pretty bad time in my life when stress like that wasn't needed. I'd never really been anyplace on my own, being in a strange city, knowing no one. I did get to see first avenue but never even made it close to PP. Like I say, pretty dumb idea, but we're all young once.

Yes they though I was nuts and I suppose I was. They thought I would never see Prince, so needless to say I was gloating after I went to Paisley Park the first time. I'll never forget it!

motherfunka said:

PeteSilas said:

did your family call you crazy too? It was a dumb idea on my part with not enough planning and at a pretty bad time in my life when stress like that wasn't needed. I'd never really been anyplace on my own, being in a strange city, knowing no one. I did get to see first avenue but never even made it close to PP. Like I say, pretty dumb idea, but we're all young once.

Yes they though I was nuts and I suppose I was. They thought I would never see Prince, so needless to say I was gloating after I went to Paisley Park the first time. I'll never forget it!

ever get to talk to him?

I moved there in 1997, for a short while. Worked at Calhoun Square in Uptown, lived off East Lake (which eventually turned into West Lake where the NPG store was - also across from Calhoun Square). The residence was circumstance. Glam Slam was The Quest by then, and I saw Morris Day & The Time. Terry Lewis sat in on bass that night. I was in the balcony watching the show, and it was amazing. I also saw Tommy Barbarella's band Greazy Spoon at First Avenue.

I had previously been to Glam Slam in 1993 or so.

I went to Planet Hollywood for lunch in the Mall of America one day. In it, was Prince's outfit from the Lake Minnetonka scene. (Also was Arnold's silver jumpsuit from The Running Man.) I had a gal friend who knew Michael B., but I never got to meet him.

My time was short there, but quite fun. I've found the places I've lived for a very short amount of time have always held the most memories for me, Los Angeles being another.

I live in the New York now.

RJOrion said:

the cold weather is so overstated...20 above zero and 20 below zero feel the same to me...once its below freezing, cold is cold, cant tell the difference in degrees ...i love it...it takes a full year of all 4 seasons to get adjusted if youre not from here...summers and springs and fall, the weather is beautifully mild...the extreme cold only lasts about a month...from mid january through february...but, sometimes it snows in april....

if you dress and get used to the cold, it really isn't that bad. but if you ain't used to it, it'll wipe you out. My people are alaskan, I spent a winter up there when i was 20, it really wasn't that bad when i was inside most of the time and was used to it. I went during a family emergency about 8 years ago and i didn't really have a place to relax so i was walking around in that 50 below shit and i turned purple, shit wiped me out.

PeteSilas said:

No

luvgirl said:

PeteSilas said:

ya man, when i was a crazy kid, i thought I'd go there and try to get a record deal from PP. I was broke in a week and came right back to seattle. god, i'm so glad that i'm not young and stupid anymore. Before he died, i had a dream of opening a studio near PP, but it'll probably never happen especially now that he's gone. he was my musical leader, he really was.

No way! Too funny! Sometimes At my craziest moments, I think crazy like that. I'm like "damn if Prince was alive I'd move to Minneapolis... Mind u, not sure how my husband would take the news, lol. [Edited 7/28/16 22:20pm]

ya, it's crazy but as I've gotten older, I realize anything new or anything outside the rigid norm is crazy, without fail. In retrospect however, I was too dumb to know at the time that Prince wasn't working with males anymore, this was in 89, he never took on adult males to my knowledge. Anyway, lots of people have to relocate to get something going, but in my case, that was a dumb fucking idea, mainly because I wasn't even a good musician yet.

I moved here (Minneapolis) November 2015 bc of Prince. Got to spend the last six months of his life living here. Worth every second.

[Edited 7/28/16 23:40pm]

givegoodlove said:

It takes a lot of dedication and resources to move just to be near your favorite artist, but part of me has always wished I was in Minneapolis. Hearing about the shows he did at Paisley Park always made me jealous of the people who went. If I had the opportunity and resources I would have strongly considered it.

September 1990. Moved here with my friends who were in a rap group that i managed, with hoopty trunk distribution. We were hit with the biggest snowstorm ever by Halloween!. By December we'd already played Glam Slam and First Ave. and we showed up for sound check at 3pm and just laid on the stage looking up at the ceiling like the hicks we were.

dreamshaman32 said:

September 1990. Moved here with my friends who were in a rap group that i managed, with hoopty trunk distribution. We were hit with the biggest snowstorm ever by Halloween!. By December we'd already played Glam Slam and First Ave. and we showed up for sound check at 3pm and just laid on the stage looking up at the ceiling like the hicks we were.

a hick rap group, that's a novelty.

PurpleColossus said:

It takes a lot of dedication and resources to move just to be near your favorite artist, but part of me has always wished I was in Minneapolis. Hearing about the shows he did at Paisley Park always made me jealous of the people who went. If I had the opportunity and resources I would have strongly considered it.

ya, it boggles my mind how some of these fans had the money to globetrot with prince wherever he went, hell, even if i had that kind of money, it would probably be better spent trying to build a business. I mean, i'm sure Prince would be the first to tell me that.

When I was a teenager I dreamt of living in Minnesota, especially after watching Purple Rain (I used to love that bit when he's driving through the countryside on his motorbike). Also I always loved the image inside the album Around the World in A Day and for some reason I always associated it with my imaginary version of Minnesota. Since then I have been to the States many times but never went to Minneapolis. Still on my to do list.

jumanji2016 said:

givegoodlove said:

jumanji2016 said:

Do you still plan to remain there for while now that he's gone?

Yeah outside of Prince-topia, Minneapolis is a cool city. I'm from NYC and have lived all over the world but I like it here. The summers are beautiful (a bit too hot/humid but I'm one of those weirdos that love winter), the winters aren't too terrible, there is just snow and the state has their shit together in terms of weather preparation as compared to the states on the east coast. In the east we would get tons of freezing rain on top of the snow making it impossible to remove and I haven't seen it here so that's cool. There's tons of opportunities in careers here with little competition and its affordable to live well. The only cons I really have are the passive aggressiveness compared to the bluntness of my native Brooklyn and the almost some of dumbest drivers here. That being said, it is probably the only city other than London I've been in and felt completely embraced for my love for Prince. Everybody in Minneapolis has a soft spot in their heart for him, the radio stations always have his music in regular rotation and it's the only place you won't hear "what's he done since purple rain?" 😏 I think I'll stay awhile, besides I just received my Minnesota drivers license in the mail today so I think I don't have a choice in the matter. Although... Depending on this election, I may become a Canadian 😂

minneapolis sounds like seattle, seattle has a much worse passive aggressive issue, it's called the 'seattle freeze" no coincidence, i believe both cities were homes to huge scandinavian populations, that is the most popular theory as to why seattlites are so socially retarded. the other theory is that seattle has such poor weather that it effects people's outlook. people from other places do notice how wierd the people are here.