Why do I get the feeling the estate will be publishing something soon? I was reading back over his Twitter last night and I saw the article where he announced he was working on the book. He said something like "I'm going as quickly as possible from my first memory, hopefully we'll get all the way to the Super Bowl." This was in March. By this time he was confident enough in there being a book at all that he was prepared to announce the title and the publisher.

I feel like you wouldn't do that unless you had a good chunk of material already written? He said "Random House... Ain't nothin' random about this book." Like surely you wouldn't be announcing all of this if it was just a spur of the moment idea with nothing written. I would love to read whatever they have, even if it ends up edited together into something cohesive from scraps like Gil Scott-Heron's autobiography The Last Holiday which is actually one of my favourite books and I think his estate did a fabulous job on.

[Edited 8/28/16 18:37pm]

[Edited 8/28/16 18:38pm]

I don't expect anything to ever come out. I suspect there wasn't much done on it. The tour might have been in part a way of helping the process along (a sort of musical revisiting of the past, more itimately than previously), but if he was having the problems with drugs that most of us are beginning to accept that he was having, with the tour on top of it, I just have my doubts that he made a lot of progress on writing anything. Now, it's possible he got some sessions with his writing partner in along the way, and there was some stuff hashed out... but I doubt there's enough to work up into a book, at least not one that could be called "his".

I'd love to be wrong.

MrSquiggle said:

Why do I get the feeling the estate will be publishing something soon? I was reading back over his Twitter last night and I saw the article where he announced he was working on the book. He said something like "I'm going as quickly as possible from my first memory, hopefully we'll get all the way to the Super Bowl." This was in March. By this time he was confident enough in there being a book at all that he was prepared to announce the title and the publisher.

I feel like you wouldn't do that unless you had a good chunk of material already written? He said "Random House... Ain't nothin' random about this book." Like surely you wouldn't be announcing all of this if it was just a spur of the moment idea with nothing written. I would love to read whatever they have, even if it ends up edited together into something cohesive from scraps like Gil Scott-Heron's autobiography The Last Holiday which is actually one of my favourite books and I think his estate did a fabulous job on.

[Edited 8/28/16 18:37pm]

[Edited 8/28/16 18:38pm]

I hope that the estate/publisher goes ahead with publishing the memoir. Even if there isn't enough for a book based on the manuscript that Prince wrote for the book "The Beautiful Ones," I feel that there are probably enough interviews that he did in order to create a memoir. If not that, then perhaps the book could be a hybrid memoir-biography. Perhaps close family, friends, and close professional associates could contribute reflections or accounts, and then all of these could combine to create a book that is a hybrid memoir-biography.

I've said this before, but I'll restate it here.

But first, there were only about 50 pages or so, allegedly. So, that's not much of a book.

However, well after Kurt Cobain died, they eventually published pages from his notebook(s). Literally just scanned and printed them in a book. Even the cover.

With so many notebooks that Prince had over time, that's what they should pull out and put with the 50 pages. It'd make a nice bigger book, pretty much the size of a Mead notebook. There'd still be great space for unseen documents (studio notes, early drafts of album artwork, etc), plus the notebook and 50 pages. Purple cover, gold embossed on the front, the rest - let it speak for itself.

TrivialPursuit said:

I've said this before, but I'll restate it here.

But first, there were only about 50 pages or so, allegedly. So, that's not much of a book.

However, well after Kurt Cobain died, they eventually published pages from his notebook(s). Literally just scanned and printed them in a book. Even the cover.

With so many notebooks that Prince had over time, that's what they should pull out and put with the 50 pages. It'd make a nice bigger book, pretty much the size of a Mead notebook. There'd still be great space for unseen documents (studio notes, early drafts of album artwork, etc), plus the notebook and 50 pages. Purple cover, gold embossed on the front, the rest - let it speak for itself.

The Cobain thing was uncomfortably intrusive. I feel the seame way about a similar project surfacing from Prince's personal writings. It's grave-robbing to publish stuff that wasn't intended for public consumption.

I would like to see the memoirs completed and have additiona commentaries from his living associates, employees and from his some of people who grew up with him. It will be ashame if they won't do anything to do it.

[Edited 8/29/16 7:57am]

CAL3 said:

TrivialPursuit said:

I've said this before, but I'll restate it here.

But first, there were only about 50 pages or so, allegedly. So, that's not much of a book.

However, well after Kurt Cobain died, they eventually published pages from his notebook(s). Literally just scanned and printed them in a book. Even the cover.

With so many notebooks that Prince had over time, that's what they should pull out and put with the 50 pages. It'd make a nice bigger book, pretty much the size of a Mead notebook. There'd still be great space for unseen documents (studio notes, early drafts of album artwork, etc), plus the notebook and 50 pages. Purple cover, gold embossed on the front, the rest - let it speak for itself.

The Cobain thing was uncomfortably intrusive. I feel the seame way about a similar project surfacing from Prince's personal writings. It's grave-robbing to publish stuff that wasn't intended for public consumption.

Personal notebook vs something that was written with the intention of release are 2 different things.

I hope they publish the manuscript as it is--50 pages or whatever, unedited. I'd pay full price for it, as if it had been completed.

But unedited. Just as he drafted it.

Proceeds to go to the estate.

leadline said:

CAL3 said:

The Cobain thing was uncomfortably intrusive. I feel the seame way about a similar project surfacing from Prince's personal writings. It's grave-robbing to publish stuff that wasn't intended for public consumption.

Personal notebook vs something that was written with the intention of release are 2 different things.

I agree. But i would like to read those 50 pages, no matter how short they are. And I'm sure the estate knows this, so it's probably their biggest card to play, commercial wise. And mind you, they have plenty of big cards to play, with the Vault and all. But these are words, written by Prince himself, at a later stage of life when he could make sense of some things, evaluate others and basically cut throught the bullshit. Plus, they were intended for us to read.
Imo, the estate will probably release them, either on their own or as a complement to some other book collection they might be considering (or even a disk collection). Let us wait.

[Edited 8/29/16 8:40am]

[Edited 8/29/16 8:40am]

The thing to release (if it still exists) would be the purple notebook he kept with his ideas for Purple Rain. They could include it as part of a 35th anniversary collection in 2019 or a 40th anniversary collection in 2024.

Enough time would have passed at that point - and it would be an amazing read.

CAL3 said:

TrivialPursuit said:

I've said this before, but I'll restate it here.

But first, there were only about 50 pages or so, allegedly. So, that's not much of a book.

However, well after Kurt Cobain died, they eventually published pages from his notebook(s). Literally just scanned and printed them in a book. Even the cover.

With so many notebooks that Prince had over time, that's what they should pull out and put with the 50 pages. It'd make a nice bigger book, pretty much the size of a Mead notebook. There'd still be great space for unseen documents (studio notes, early drafts of album artwork, etc), plus the notebook and 50 pages. Purple cover, gold embossed on the front, the rest - let it speak for itself.

Dupe.

[Edited 8/29/16 8:59am]

jayseajay said:

CAL3 said:

The Cobain thing was uncomfortably intrusive. I feel the seame way about a similar project surfacing from Prince's personal writings. It's grave-robbing to publish stuff that wasn't intended for public consumption.

Oh I'm not sure. The personal letters of important people have been published after their deaths for aeons. And we have the archives of famous thinkers which contain all their notebooks and letters and wotnot. People are intersted in the processes and thoughts of people who make significant cultural contributions, and wanting to study that is totally legit.

CAL3 said:

The Cobain thing was uncomfortably intrusive. I feel the seame way about a similar project surfacing from Prince's personal writings. It's grave-robbing to publish stuff that wasn't intended for public consumption.

I definitely see that side of it. But, did all Cobain fans find it uncomfortable or intrusive? Probably not. It's all relative. What some see as unnecessary, others see as essential. One man's GTFO is another man's ZOMG! I think stuff with lyrics would be great, maybe even notes about his movies, or clothing design (all of which we've seen in some fashion in short order); just expounding on what we've seen, and new stuff, too. Surely if this ever happened, some things would be left out.

Although again, as someone else here stated, many letters, etc. from famous people are released well past their death. It's part of history, whether pop culture, political, religious, or otherwise. People don't release certain things because they're alive, and want to protect their livelihood, and privacy. But once they're dead, there's little chance they'd care what was released.

I doubt it, but it would be nice. Id definitely buy it

MrSquiggle said:

Why do I get the feeling the estate will be publishing something soon? I was reading back over his Twitter last night and I saw the article where he announced he was working on the book. He said something like "I'm going as quickly as possible from my first memory, hopefully we'll get all the way to the Super Bowl."

I went back and read his Twitter message too, and it put a huge lump in my throat. If they did publish a book I would buy it, but it would still make me yearn for what Prince himself would have published. Things like this are what make me want to cry ... knowing he is no longer here to write his own book now. There is something about the loss of this man that hurts like no other celebrity loss, and I can't explain it. It just .... hurts.

Morningstarlet said:

MrSquiggle said:

Why do I get the feeling the estate will be publishing something soon? I was reading back over his Twitter last night and I saw the article where he announced he was working on the book. He said something like "I'm going as quickly as possible from my first memory, hopefully we'll get all the way to the Super Bowl."

I went back and read his Twitter message too, and it put a huge lump in my throat. If they did publish a book I would buy it, but it would still make me yearn for what Prince himself would have published. Things like this are what make me want to cry ... knowing he is no longer here to write his own book now. There is something about the loss of this man that hurts like no other celebrity loss, and I can't explain it. It just .... hurts.

Yeah all that right there.......

Morningstarlet said:

MrSquiggle said:

Why do I get the feeling the estate will be publishing something soon? I was reading back over his Twitter last night and I saw the article where he announced he was working on the book. He said something like "I'm going as quickly as possible from my first memory, hopefully we'll get all the way to the Super Bowl."

I went back and read his Twitter message too, and it put a huge lump in my throat. If they did publish a book I would buy it, but it would still make me yearn for what Prince himself would have published. Things like this are what make me want to cry ... knowing he is no longer here to write his own book now. There is something about the loss of this man that hurts like no other celebrity loss, and I can't explain it. It just .... hurts.

I don't like to use the word "celebrity" for him. When I hear non-fans talk about it as a "celebrity death" I feel almost a bit hurt, like they're not understanding me at all. It's like if Obama died. Sure, he's a celebrity, but not really? Prince's being a celebrity and having to deal with fame is just an unfortunate side consequence of his work-- he's an artist. It's the death of an artist. I don't think the distinction is pedantic.

MrSquiggle said:

Why do I get the feeling the estate will be publishing something soon? I was reading back over his Twitter last night and I saw the article where he announced he was working on the book. He said something like "I'm going as quickly as possible from my first memory, hopefully we'll get all the way to the Super Bowl." This was in March. By this time he was confident enough in there being a book at all that he was prepared to announce the title and the publisher.

I feel like you wouldn't do that unless you had a good chunk of material already written? He said "Random House... Ain't nothin' random about this book." Like surely you wouldn't be announcing all of this if it was just a spur of the moment idea with nothing written. I would love to read whatever they have, even if it ends up edited together into something cohesive from scraps like Gil Scott-Heron's autobiography The Last Holiday which is actually one of my favourite books and I think his estate did a fabulous job on.

[Edited 8/28/16 18:37pm]

[Edited 8/28/16 18:38pm]

I posted something about a month ago that stated the publisher is still working on something. I think there were some bits he recorded. Not sure if he had journals, but it's possible and then there's photos he's taken. I sure they can blend something up. Maybe not a full memoir but something. I'm sad he never completed it, I'd of eaten that up.