That's funny that she was just looking at TV/video appearances to identify Prince, but not songs on the radio. I know there's a lot of people worldwide who don't even realize Prince was black. I remember one teenager telling me (in 1992), "If more people knew Prince was black, more people would like him"

EmmaMcG said:

EmmaMcG said:

What does Mahecon mean? My mother hated Prince. I remember when my ex gave me a lend of the 3121 album around the time I first started listening to Prince myself and my mother was, let's say, less than complimentary about Prince. She was a lifelong Michael Jackson fan (as I am too) but never got into Prince. Perhaps it was a thing for people who grew up in the 80s? Some people felt they could only be a fan of one or the other? Anyway, my mother died quite young a few years ago and when we were sorting through her stuff I found a bunch of Sheila E albums on vinyl. I remember listening to The Glamorous Life when I was small but it seems she had quite the Sheila E collection that I never knew about. She had a Time album too. So maybe my mother was a closet Prince fan all along? My husband is kind of in the same boat. Though he doesn't especially dislike Prince, he also doesn't like him either. There are one or two songs he'll listen to but overall, he's not a fan. I'm long past the point of trying to convert him though. The closest I could get was to get him into Lenny Kravitz so I'll settle for that.

More likely she didn't realize those Sheila E. and Time records had much to do with Prince.

I played a Prince song for my hippie mother-in-law who is a folk singer and guitarist. She asked me if it was Tiny Tim because of his voice. She was being a facetious arse, but you'd think a musician would know better.

steakfinger said:

steakfinger said:

In the past, my mother didn't like P at all...especially from 81 to 85. She thought he was a "hot mess who needed Jesus". By the 2000's, she grew to respect him and his talent. She also liked the diversity of his music.

My dad respected Prince as a musician, my mum always used to say he looked like he needed a good square meal. Neither liked the music that much.

EmmaMcG said:

To this day, I still have family members that are puzzled as to why I liked Prince and his music. They thought he was just a weird, strange person, and for the life of them, couldn't see or understand what I saw in him, and why I loved him. It didn't bother me though, because I liked who I liked, and I made no apologies for it, nor was I going to explain why....and, why should I? They had entertainers they liked, and I didn't care, or question and ask them why they liked them, it was none of my business, just like it was none of theirs why I liked Prince.

Phase3 said:

It's maricon and it's a lot worse than the word gay, it's a slur.

My family only tolerates my interest in Prince music; my daughter's eyes glaze over.

Shortly after Prince's passing, I posted on facebook about him (I post on facebook maybe once a year):

EmmaMcG said:

SweetKathleen said:

"This might be reaching but he might secretly be a prince fan or appreciate prince deep down."

I think that's very unlikely. Dad's a very practical man and I don't think he pays too much attention to music at all becuase it just isn't important to him. However, he did once say that he was impressed by Wynton Marsalis so maybe there's a glimmer of hope there.


My uncle use to taunt me about being a prince fan until he saw his 2007 superbowl performance and the "while my guitar gently weeps" performance.I would just show him those 2 performances to get his opinion"

Interesting idea. I suspect he's already seen the superbowl performance as watching sports is one of his maiin leisure activities. If I ever decide to discuss Prince with him again, the "while my guitar gently weeps" performance might be a good place to start. Thanks.

Darshy said:

Prince wasn't always so great @ Public Relations.

SweetKathleen said:

Shortly after Prince's passing, I posted on facebook about him (I post on facebook maybe once a year):

"...Then he died—all alone. Extremely sad. Since then I have been watching videos of interviews and performances trying to catch up on what he’d been doing for those 31 years and who he seemed to be. I just want to express that his musical talent was extraordinary and inspiring. He was a master at writing and performing. I get the feeling that he had a kind heart and worked hard—two of the things I find most valuable. I will miss him."
Within a month I visited my father who does not have a facebook account--but his wife does. He brought up Prince's passing and asked how I was doing. I thought he was sincerely asking and I responded that I was having trouble processing his passing and wasn't sleeping well at all. I realized after the fact that he thought the whole situation was funny that I would be affected by his passing and that he was not actually concerned in the least.
I love my dad for numerous reasons but compassion is not his stong suit. I've thought since then that I could list for him all the reasons that he might admire Prince and I could present some of Prince's music that he might be impressed by....but it's probably not worth the effort. I can appreciate Prince without anyone else's approval and that's the way it should be.

.

I am sorry that happened to you. I can relate somewhat. My dad has always ranged from disregard to outright dislike for Prince. He literally cringes at the sound of his voice. A friend of mine suggested maybe it was if he didn't like R&B music. The truth is, my dad introduced me to the music of Ray Charles, James Brown, and classic Motown in general. For whatever reasons, he just couldn't tolerate the sound of Prince's music or voice. And someone else once suggested he just maybe didn't connect to '80s-era pop music. But my dad (despite being born in 1945) was a big fan of lots of '80s artists, including Madonna, Animotion, Mr. Mister, Simple Minds, Duran Duran, Thompson Twins, Culture Club, Whitney Houston and others (not connected any of those to Prince, just citing it as a reason why I don't think his distaste for Prince was connected to '80s-era production).

.

Anyway, when Prince passed my dad called me that day. I don't remember why, but it was completely unrelated to Prince's passing. He asked me if anything was wrong because he thought I sounded out of it. I explained how devastated I felt by Prince's passing and what a sense of loss I felt. There was dead silence on the line. After half a minute, he was like, "Well, anyway, stock market had an off day today," or something like that. I don't think he even meant to sound negative or hurtful, but rather it just didn't seem to occur to him that someone would be upset about it.

.

There's a term for it and it's "disenfranchised grief." That can come in many forms. It's very valid and nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed of, by the way. It's essential any type of grieving that isn't recognized by the general public at large. For obvious reasons, it's universally recognized when someone grieves the loss of an immediate family member. But there are many forms of loss that can trigger very real depression and very real grieve and sorrow that are just not universal experiences. The loss of a pet. The falling-through of a planned adoption. It pretty much can be the grieving of anything that isn't an experience that everyone (in general) feels and experiences in the same way.

.

A good friend of mine (formerly good friend, for reasons completely unrelated to what I'm about to say) said to me -- "I could never see myself crying over the death of a celebrity, no matter how much I liked him/her." Okay, that's you. I would've never said that to someone, but before Prince passed I hadn't experienced anything like that before myself. I was upset about Michael passing, I was upset about Cobain passing. And others. I didn't really shed tears or lose sleep or lose my appetite though. I did when Prince died. And it did hurt that my dad, who knew full well that I had been a dedicated Prince fan for 32 years, could be so blatantly non-acknowledging of how I felt.

.

Anyway, my dad didn't and still doesn't like Prince. He did take me to see "Graffiti Bridge" on opening night, because I couldn't drive yet and had easy way to get to the movie theater. He liked the Mavis Staples scene.

CAL3 said:

RighteousOne said:

EmmaMcG said:

What does Mahecon mean?

I think I can guess; and I’m sure it’s very enlightened.

-

The spelling is wrong, but it's an ugly spanish word for a homoseual, a poofter, fagg, homo, gay... etc

-

''Maricon''

-

Margot said:

Prince wasn't always so great @ Public Relations.

-

Héhé.

Now that's a slight understatement.

-