Fizer said:

Quote from the book "Let's Go Crazy" by Alan Light: "After the show (Orange Bowl), he (Prince) and Sheila E turned up at an after-party at a Miami club. They both had very short haircuts, and Prince would only speak to Miami Vice star Don Johnson."

actually I can see it now

Sheila E, St Paul both had the short blond highlighted hair, Prince with his reflection in other thing was probably doing the same.

I think I'm going to draw a picture of Prince with Sheila Es hair style and the cloud suit

Sheila E St Paul Steph B Juan Escovedo and Aaron(from Mazarati)

He did the blonde highlights late 1997 - 1998

SoulAlive said:

I guess this explains why Prince has blonde hair on the cover of ATWIAD?

.

Wow. I hadn't thought of that. I always wondered why he did that.

Giovanni777 said:

SoulAlive said:

I guess this explains why Prince has blonde hair on the cover of ATWIAD?

.

Wow. I hadn't thought of that. I always wondered why he did that.

I know a lot of people are still caught up in conspiracies of Prince's death.

But these kinds of little facts opening up are so much more interesting, something as little as this actually opens up a huge section of background info

Giovanni777 said:

SoulAlive said:

I guess this explains why Prince has blonde hair on the cover of ATWIAD?

.

Wow. I hadn't thought of that. I always wondered why he did that.

and the guy in black with a white face and all three of the guys up top...

OnlyNDaUsa said:

Giovanni777 said:

.

Wow. I hadn't thought of that. I always wondered why he did that.

and the guy in black with a white face and all three of the guys up top...

I always thought that could have been Charlie Chaplin

OldFriends4Sale said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

and the guy in black with a white face and all three of the guys up top...

I always thought that could have been Charlie Chaplin

The guy in the white face is not Prince. In fact, wasn't it on one of OldFriends' threads about ATWIAD that we saw all the influences for the people on the album, including the tambourine guy? Clara Bow is up there, Sheila posted for the ice cream girl, Susannah posed for violin girl, Wendy posed for old crying lady, the artist himself posted for cloud guitar guy. But the tambourine guy was someone else - not Prince. Might have been Charlie Chaplin, but I forget.

TrivialPursuit said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I always thought that could have been Charlie Chaplin

The guy in the white face is not Prince. In fact, wasn't it on one of OldFriends' threads about ATWIAD that we saw all the influences for the people on the album, including the tambourine guy? Clara Bow is up there, Sheila posted for the ice cream girl, Susannah posed for violin girl, Wendy posed for old crying lady, the artist himself posted for cloud guitar guy. But the tambourine guy was someone else - not Prince. Might have been Charlie Chaplin, but I forget.

shrugs i choose to see it as 5 versions of Prince...

OnlyNDaUsa said:

shrugs i choose to see it as 5 versions of Prince...

I mean, a lot of folks choose to see Prince's music differently than how he described it or purposed it.

TrivialPursuit said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

shrugs i choose to see it as 5 versions of Prince...

I mean, a lot of folks choose to see Prince's music differently than how he described it or purposed it.

IIRC the guy with the white face even has a beauty mark... and the 3 up top look just like him... and who else is going to play his guitar?

TrivialPursuit said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I always thought that could have been Charlie Chaplin

The guy in the white face is not Prince. In fact, wasn't it on one of OldFriends' threads about ATWIAD that we saw all the influences for the people on the album, including the tambourine guy? Clara Bow is up there, Sheila posted for the ice cream girl, Susannah posed for violin girl, Wendy posed for old crying lady, the artist himself posted for cloud guitar guy. But the tambourine guy was someone else - not Prince. Might have been Charlie Chaplin, but I forget.

I cannot find the other thread that focused on the characters...

There was a woman from the ghetto
Who made funny faces just like
Clara Bow, how was I 2 know
That she would wear the same
Cologne as U and giggle the same
Giggle that U do?

Jill Jones: The picture on Around the World in a Day, when he showed me the cover, he pointed out who everybody was. Jerome was the little old man with the cane. He told me Sheila was combined with Melvoin] with the violin. And he goes, "And this is you." And it was the old maid crying, with a blue dress and these horrible boots. I'm still: Why was I always crying? I cried in Purple Rain, I cried in Graffiti Bridge, before he cut it out. He always had me crying, and I'm crying on the cover. And then he said, "I'm gonna know you until the very end of this—you're gonna be here." And I said, "Why aren't you in the [picture]?" He said, "I'm up the ladder. I'm gone."

yeah, I remember reading that now... and I still say it is 5 different Princes!


who would have predicted I would be stubborn!

OnlyNDaUsa said:

TrivialPursuit said:

I mean, a lot of folks choose to see Prince's music differently than how he described it or purposed it.

IIRC the guy with the white face even has a beauty mark... and the 3 up top look just like him... and who else is going to play his guitar?

dude come on lol all 3 of those up top do not look like Prince lol the one in the middle looks like a darker skinned Prince

I think the one to his right looks like Jesse Johnson

the doctor looks like Prince

the white face looks like Prince as Charlie Chaplin, Charlie wore his hair like tha and did the white face make up

OldFriends4Sale said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

IIRC the guy with the white face even has a beauty mark... and the 3 up top look just like him... and who else is going to play his guitar?

dude come on lol all 3 of those up top do not look like Prince lol the one in the middle looks like a darker skinned Prince

I think the one to his right looks like Jesse Johnson

the doctor looks like Prince

the white face looks like Prince as Charlie Chaplin, Charlie wore his hair like tha and did the white face make up

wow he really does look like prince there, the small frame, well muscled and the hair to one side. Miles davis said prince's stage act had some chaplin in it, i never really saw that but i definitely see some influence.

OldFriends4Sale said:

TrivialPursuit said:

The guy in the white face is not Prince. In fact, wasn't it on one of OldFriends' threads about ATWIAD that we saw all the influences for the people on the album, including the tambourine guy? Clara Bow is up there, Sheila posted for the ice cream girl, Susannah posed for violin girl, Wendy posed for old crying lady, the artist himself posted for cloud guitar guy. But the tambourine guy was someone else - not Prince. Might have been Charlie Chaplin, but I forget.

I cannot find the other thread that focused on the characters...

There was a woman from the ghetto
Who made funny faces just like
Clara Bow, how was I 2 know
That she would wear the same
Cologne as U and giggle the same
Giggle that U do?

Jill Jones: The picture on Around the World in a Day, when he showed me the cover, he pointed out who everybody was. Jerome was the little old man with the cane. He told me Sheila was combined with Melvoin] with the violin. And he goes, "And this is you." And it was the old maid crying, with a blue dress and these horrible boots. I'm still: Why was I always crying? I cried in Purple Rain, I cried in Graffiti Bridge, before he cut it out. He always had me crying, and I'm crying on the cover. And then he said, "I'm gonna know you until the very end of this—you're gonna be here." And I said, "Why aren't you in the [picture]?" He said, "I'm up the ladder. I'm gone."

I haven't seen any discussion about this here in ages, but people forget how deeply Prince was affected by the film Amadeus, which was released in the U.S. about three months after Purple Rain.

I remember reading an interview back in 1985 with Sheila E., where she cited the former as an influence on Romance 1600 (which I though was weird given the references to Michaelangelo and two-century discrepancy in dates, but anyway...). She said that Prince was stunned by how closely the costuming reflected what Marie France was doing with both the Purple Rain movie and tour.

I always interpreted the blonde-haired character in the cloud suit as Prince's take on himself as Wolfgang (i.e., Tom Hulce in the movie):

EnDoRpHn said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I cannot find the other thread that focused on the characters...

There was a woman from the ghetto
Who made funny faces just like
Clara Bow, how was I 2 know
That she would wear the same
Cologne as U and giggle the same
Giggle that U do?

Jill Jones: The picture on Around the World in a Day, when he showed me the cover, he pointed out who everybody was. Jerome was the little old man with the cane. He told me Sheila was combined with Melvoin] with the violin. And he goes, "And this is you." And it was the old maid crying, with a blue dress and these horrible boots. I'm still: Why was I always crying? I cried in Purple Rain, I cried in Graffiti Bridge, before he cut it out. He always had me crying, and I'm crying on the cover. And then he said, "I'm gonna know you until the very end of this—you're gonna be here." And I said, "Why aren't you in the [picture]?" He said, "I'm up the ladder. I'm gone."

I haven't seen any discussion about this here in ages, but people forget how deeply Prince was affected by the film Amadeus, which was released in the U.S. about three months after Purple Rain.

I remember reading an interview back in 1985 with Sheila E., where she cited the former as an influence on Romance 1600 (which I though was weird given the references to Michaelangelo and two-century discrepancy in dates, but anyway...). She said that Prince was stunned by how closely the costuming reflected what Marie France was doing with both the Purple Rain movie and tour.

I always interpreted the blonde-haired character in the cloud suit as Prince's take on himself as Wolfgang (i.e., Tom Hulce in the movie):

Ya, some people have said that was a fave movie of his. He had a lot in common with mozart, mozart was a guy who could create in whole stuff that was already completed when it came to his consciousness, child prodigy, possibly manic depressive and most importantly, the first composer to have a sense of himself being a star and not a servant.

EnDoRpHn said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I cannot find the other thread that focused on the characters...

There was a woman from the ghetto
Who made funny faces just like
Clara Bow, how was I 2 know
That she would wear the same
Cologne as U and giggle the same
Giggle that U do?

Jill Jones: The picture on Around the World in a Day, when he showed me the cover, he pointed out who everybody was. Jerome was the little old man with the cane. He told me Sheila was combined with Melvoin] with the violin. And he goes, "And this is you." And it was the old maid crying, with a blue dress and these horrible boots. I'm still: Why was I always crying? I cried in Purple Rain, I cried in Graffiti Bridge, before he cut it out. He always had me crying, and I'm crying on the cover. And then he said, "I'm gonna know you until the very end of this—you're gonna be here." And I said, "Why aren't you in the [picture]?" He said, "I'm up the ladder. I'm gone."

I haven't seen any discussion about this here in ages, but people forget how deeply Prince was affected by the film Amadeus, which was released in the U.S. about three months after Purple Rain.

I remember reading an interview back in 1985 with Sheila E., where she cited the former as an influence on Romance 1600 (which I though was weird given the references to Michaelangelo and two-century discrepancy in dates, but anyway...). She said that Prince was stunned by how closely the costuming reflected what Marie France was doing with both the Purple Rain movie and tour.

I always interpreted the blonde-haired character in the cloud suit as Prince's take on himself as Wolfgang (i.e., Tom Hulce in the movie):

Wow I remember the Mozart inspiration, thanks 4 reconnecting this.

It was a wig, after purple rain he used a hair dye that made some of his hair fall out/burn off. Wish I could find the article, it was recent.

[Edited 5/11/17 10:24am]

leadline said:

It was a wig, after purple rain he used a hair dye that made some of his hair fall out/burn off. Wish I could find the article, it was recent.

[Edited 5/11/17 10:24am]

But it´s already been mentioned and posted above.

I´m wondering now whether he was wearing a wig during the last Purple Rain show because that quote from Alain Light´s book that mentions Prince and Sheila at the club with short hair sounds very unusual. Did he have short hair during that last Purple Rain show at the Orange Bowl? That would be very unusual and would not really fit in to the Purple Rain look. Back then he was very meticulous when it came to matching a hairstyle and look to the current album and its visuals.

And I doubt he was wearing a wig during the last Purple Rain show because if he did it must have been one hell of a wig not to fall off his head with all that dancing and jumping and acrobatic moves back then.

This whole topic has had me wondering ever since I read that article that Steve Parke posted on Huffington Post.