Prince's "American Idol" performance is legendary. Threads throughout the year have discussed it. Of course, the very first thread was started by Prince's people - that one was awesome! Is he coming?!? He's in a limo!!! Traffic is horrible! He might not make it!!! He's just around the the corner!! It's a live show - if he's late he can't perform!! What's going to happen?!?!?

Man, that really was exciting!

But then there was the performance itself. Was it live? Was it taped? Was there a band? If so, who played? NPG? American Idol band? Did they rehearse? Did Ryan Sechrest really know Prince was there? WHERE WAS TAMAR?!?!?

Well, mystery/mysteries solved! Saturday night I had the pleasure of spending some time with Maya McLean. First of all, she is AWESOME! She's an incredibly mystical person. Her view of life is extremely refreshing. And the stories! I'll tell some in a minute but let's solve the mystery!

SPOILER ALERT - If you don't want to know the facts; if you like the version of the story that is popularly held - DO NOT READ FURTHER. And that's cool, trust me.

Here's what happened:

First, they weren't late. Prince was there in plenty of time. In fact, they stood offstage for awhile and Prince didn't have an entourage. It was just him, the Twinz and a manager. EVERYONE wanted to talk to Prince as he stood offstage but Maya and Nandy acted as "bodyguards" and stood on either side of him. They aren't any bigger than Prince, LOL. But it worked.

Second, Tamar was supposed to be there but was in New York at the time. This did not make Prince happy. She got kicked off another performance for missing this one. But not kicked out of the band, obviously. Whether Prince wrote an "Old Friends For Sale" about that episode is still an open question.

Third, yes - they DID rehearse the performance. Absolutely. When I asked Maya about it I said, "Maya, one of the great controversies in the Prince community is whether or not y'all rehearsed that. The legend is that you didn't - y'all just showed up and kicked ass. Which is it? And if you want to leave it as a mystery, I'm cool with that". She laughed and said, "I'm about truth, not mystery. We rehearsed". There you go.

Fourth, they performed to a track. Prince HATED that but there was no other way to do it. I'm sure you can count on one hand the number of times Prince played to a track - especially in the last 20 years or so of his career.

Fifth, they created so much energy in two minutes that when they got back in the limo, they couldn't come down. So they went somewhere else and played. I don't know where, I didn't ask. Probably back to Prince's house but maybe someone knows different. Where ever it was, I can tell you that Prince played some rock and roll that night.

Maya was REALLY great. She played guitar for an hour and her songs are really good. So is her voice. She and Nandy have/had a band called Heroine and I bought the CD. Gonna listen to it today. But the stuff she played Saturday night is unreleased and she's not sure if she will ever release it. She said she'll get it out if it feels right to do so. Maya is VERY much guided by her inner voice.

She shared a few Prince stories. Here are two:

As we know, Prince was always Prince. Especially in the way he dressed. One day Maya showed up at Paisley Park in jeans, flip-flops and frizzy hair. It was a day off. Nothing was planned. Prince saw her and said, "You know you can't show up here looking like that." Maya replied that it was an off day - who cared? Prince said, "You never know who might show up. And you're in flip-flops!" Maya grabbed a copy of The Watchtower, found a picture of Jesus in sandals, and said "So is this guy!"

Last year Maya had a reading with a close friend of hers who, Maya says, has the power to speak with spirits. Her friend contacted Maya's mother and then said, "There is another energy here and it is really strong. It's Prince." Maya asked what Prince was doing and the friend said, "I don't understand this but he's messing up his hair". Maya died laughing and told us that first story above. She also said she was able to tap into her friend's energy and have her own conversation with Prince. She kept that private but it was clear it was an uplifting conversation.

She hung around for a long time after her show and talked with everyone and took pictures. I asked her, "Do you meet nuts like us everywhere you go?"

She smiled and said, "Yes."

We talked about guitar playing. She said Prince taught her and Nandy some alternate chords for "Take Me With U". Of course, that's my favorite song! (I will fight you if you try to make the insane argument that "RockNRollLOveAffair" and "Take Me With U" are the same song.) She laughed and said, "The guy wouldn't make a barre chord! He always used his thumb for the bass note. That was hard for Nandy and I". And wouldn't you know it - there was a picture of Prince and his guitar right and behind and us and yep! his thumb was wrapped almost to the D string!

I told her there were three things I'd never seen Prince do, and one of them was take a drink of water onstage. Surely, I said, he drank water during breaks? She smiled and shook her head no. LOL.

What's the link to this?

luv4u said:

What's the link to this?

LOL, there is no link. This was a personal meeting. I have pictures, though!

Maya appeared at this event: http://prince.org/msg/2/454229

Another time, Maya, Nandy and Tamar were in a dressing room, warming up their vocal chords and stretching. During one vocal run Prince walked by, stuck his head in the door, and said "I remember that trick".

I told Maya there three things I'd never seen Prince do: (1) make a barre chord (see above); (2) use an alternate tuning on his guitar; and (3) drink water onstage. I asked her if she ever saw him drink water onstage. She thought about it for a second and said, "No, I didn't". How about backstage, during a costume change or something? She thought again and said, "No, I never saw him drink anything ever during a performance.".

Amazing!

Where did the rumour that they hadn't rehearsed come from? Seems a bizarre idea.

leecaldon said:

Where did the rumour that they hadn't rehearsed come from? Seems a bizarre idea.

It's been bandied about here many times. It's usually an outgrowth from the "Ryan Sechrest and the crew had no idea Prince was going to appear and didn't get there until right before he came onstage" theory.

RodeoSchro said:

luv4u said:

What's the link to this?

LOL, there is no link. This was a personal meeting. I have pictures, though!

Maya appeared at this event: http://prince.org/msg/2/454229

Great stories!

Very cool. Houston jealous right about now.

Great Pic Rodeo!

RodeoSchro said:

thanks so much for sharing!!

I remember this performance really well.I have to watch it every few months.I remember feeling like a kid at christmas when Prince apperared!! I wish he wouldve brought his guitar and rocked the place out.I loved the performance of "Lolita" but I feel he made a bad choice by performing "Satisfied"...but anyway it was a COOL performance and I just how he just walks off.

None of those were mysteries.

Ryan Seacrest had been to Prince's LA home before this performance. Of course Ryan knew!
They kept it a secret from many people but obviously, the stage hands and producers knew.

The chef has the year wrong in this story (it was obviously 2006 if Stevie and Salma were there)...which matches the date of the AI appearance.
https://www.foodandwine.c...ivate-chef

Obviously, they'd have rehearsed.

Obviously, he performed to a track. There's no band.

I always thought it was a total lip-sync, though.
THAT'S the only thing I wonder about.

Thanks for the info! I remember posting about Tamar first running into Prince at a party during the musicilogy era... info from a friend who knew both Tamar (Ashley) and her friend who took her to a Prince house party. And some folks didn't believe it back then. There was such a Houston connection with the Prince world in the 2000's.

RodeoSchro said:

Where's your shirt from?

ImperfectAngel said:

RodeoSchro said:

Where's your shirt from?

They have the same shirt for sale on the paisley park website

Thank U for those photos purplethunder3121

Noticing how the arm cuffs on Maya & Nandy are worn mirror image, not the same cuff on the same arm. That is the kind of for visual detail Prince had and it blows my mind. Not an accident.

ImperfectAngel said:

RodeoSchro said:

Where's your shirt from?

I got it at Paisely Park. Those are tickets from the Musicology tour.

Yep, he did.

Also, there is this 2004 picture of Prince....

conhawa said:

I was watching the 2009 Montreaux concert the other night. Im pretty sure i saw him grab a bottle of water from the floor by his guitar pedal and take a drink.

conhawa said:

I was watching the 2009 Montreaux concert the other night. Im pretty sure i saw him grab a bottle of water from the floor by his guitar pedal and take a drink.

During which song? dvd 1 or 2?

luv4u said:

luv4u said: