jfenster said:

jfenster said:

violetcrush said:

jfenster said:

im not being funny

Ya might not have meant to be funny, but your post was hilarious 😂 Come on!! Stop drinking the kool-aid

It was pretty funny. The gov't doesn't have technology that reads brain waves and can read thoughts. If that were the case, they'd have already instituted it into cell phones, web cams, smart watches, bluetooth ear pieces, etc.

Not even the devil can read your mind.

To clarify, I wasn't suggesting that Prince divided up his Celebration audience into two camps and then labled one side "The Banished Ones". I was just free forming stuff that went on during the ONA and TRC period where things took a sharp turn and remembered "the Banished Ones" being a central theme of the album.

I believe Kevin Smith's synopsis and interpretation of events, mostly because they involve fresh eyes and aren't entirely viewed through the lens of an NPGMC devotee. I'm sure for fans there was a measure of insight and a certain level of automatic acceptance but Kevin was a fan and told us about his experience as a relative outsider. He may have misinterpreted some things but I don't know why he'd just flat out make shit up.

We've gotten more than one peek behind the curtain from people who work in media (Smith, Van Jones) and people who knew him best (Mayte) during his "The Truth" phase and a lot of it was full of praise for the genuinely positive things he did but to pretend that Prince didn't introduce a less inclusive and more rigid absolute idea of who was invited to his party circa 2001 or so is ignoring the things he was actually saying and doing.

For that matter, it ignores the message and lyrics of the music.

I don't hate on him for it and I still had fun being a fan but I'll tell everyone a brief story.

As an NPGMC member, I had soundcheck access 2 nites in a row for ONA in Atlanta and on the second night he took questions and the conversation became so much about god, the truth and all that stuff I checked out to go get a drink since he obviously wasn't gonna play anything and was only interested in lecturing us about god. It was insufferable and boring.

I met my future wife outside. Divorced now with a son. We made it 10 years.

herb4 said:

As an NPGMC member, I had soundcheck access 2 nites in a row for ONA in Atlanta and on the second night he took questions and the conversation became so much about god, the truth and all that stuff I checked out to go get a drink since he obviously wasn't gonna play anything and was only interested in lecturing us about god. It was insufferable and boring.

I met my future wife outside. Divorced now with a son. We made it 10 years.

Wow thats a cool story.

onlyforaminute said:

I'm curious how this "change" was preceived by the religious elite in the industry. Were they wary, did being a JW create a barrier they wouldn't cross, too much other stuff was mixed up in it?? [Edited 10/4/19 18:22pm]

What religion/or group of people exactly do you mean by the religious elite in the music industry? Is there a religious elite in the music industry?

mk456 said:

violetcrush said:

@Herb4 - The audio of the ONA soundcheck that I listened to was the sane as your experience in Atlanta. I guess this was his m/o during that time. Could be that it was his witnessing schedule? Why knock on doors when you can get 50-100 people in one sitting. * I definitely think Kevin’s story was an honest telling. He also told Steve Parke’s story about Prince requesting a Camel at 3:00am at PP in the middle of Winter for his video shoot. Steve also mentioned that in his book, and said Kevin owes him a coffee for giving him that story The way Kevin talked about his experience was funny, but he’s a mainly a comedic writer so that makes sense. He knew he was being filmed too, so I do not think he would want to risk legal action from Prince’s camp for slander. * Kevin’s story about Prince splitting up the fans into two groups was during one session, and it was just Prince’s impromptu way of explaining that the men who follow the “theocratic order” will get all of the women - I guess because they are accepting God’s law He did not say that Prince was doing this every time he went in to speak to the fans. It was a one-time occurrence. [Edited 10/5/19 7:30am]

Here is a shorter clip of Kevin discussing part his experience at PP with Prince in June of 2001. It's the part about him realizing that Prince wants to shoot a documentary about his religious views and about TRC and him explaining to Prince's production manager that he cannot do that type of film...

*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R73S6sIaIqY

TrivialPursuit said:

violetcrush said:

jfenster said: Ya might not have meant to be funny, but your post was hilarious 😂 Come on!! Stop drinking the kool-aid

It was pretty funny. The gov't doesn't have technology that reads brain waves and can read thoughts. If that were the case, they'd have already instituted it into cell phones, web cams, smart watches, bluetooth ear pieces, etc.

Not even the devil can read your mind.

one day u'll eat your words

jfenster said:

TrivialPursuit said:

It was pretty funny. The gov't doesn't have technology that reads brain waves and can read thoughts. If that were the case, they'd have already instituted it into cell phones, web cams, smart watches, bluetooth ear pieces, etc.

Not even the devil can read your mind.

one day u'll eat your words

What's all this?

You sound like you wish it would happen. In a mean way even.

There is no "devil". How about that?

Will I one day get to eat too and will enjoy it if or when I do?

jfenster said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Not even the devil can read your mind.

one day u'll eat your words

And one day you'll realize we're all sentient human beings. You have no great insight here. Just because you believe in something harder while clutching your proverbial pearls doesn't make your belief more real.

I never understood why people like you fight so hard to give the devil so much power. Makes the rest of us question who you really worship and what you really believe in.

TrivialPursuit said:

jfenster said:

one day u'll eat your words

And one day you'll realize we're all sentient human beings. You have no great insight here. Just because you believe in something harder while clutching your proverbial pearls doesn't make your belief more real.

I never understood why people like you fight so hard to give the devil so much power. Makes the rest of us question who you really worship and what you really believe in.

because its not a belief....im living it

jfenster said:

TrivialPursuit said:

And one day you'll realize we're all sentient human beings. You have no great insight here. Just because you believe in something harder while clutching your proverbial pearls doesn't make your belief more real.

I never understood why people like you fight so hard to give the devil so much power. Makes the rest of us question who you really worship and what you really believe in.

because its not a belief....im living it

Bless your heart.

databank said:

It's incredibly long and after reading about 50% of it my impression is that it's one of the smartest and most well informed articles I've ever read about Prince, but I'm too tired and it's too late so i write this now just so I'm reminded by my org history to finish reading it tomorrow. But whether or not i agree with your conclusions in the end, thank you for this.

I truly appreciate you reading it and your kind words. It is long, and it didn't start out that way. The genesis of it was a few years ago actually, and it languished on my Tumblr. I decided I wanted to do more with it. I felt I understood Prince more when I reflected on it, and frankly I agree with some of his monologue. So it seemed like the right thing to do to expand on it and really go balls to the wall. Post again once you're done.