Someone brought this up over @ Housequake. On www.newfunktimes.com (great site!) there's an interview with P-Funk guitarist extraordinaire Dewayne 'Blackbyrd' McKnight where he discusses meeting Prince.

Here's some snippets:
ALEXANDER: I've got a question about a rumor. I don't know if this is true at all, but I heard it said once that Prince had the idea of tinkering with the personnel when George signed with Paisley Park, and bringing in some new musicians. And George had to squash that idea.

BLACKBYRD: I believe it's true. It was never brought to my attention, but I heard the same thing that you heard. I don't know. Strange, strange fella ... so talented ...

ALEXANDER: What kind of interactions did you have with Prince?

BLACKBYRD: I went over and [Prince] shook my hand. And I started to speak to him. What I was *going* to say was, "Thank you for having me here," and "You guys really know how to throw a party." That's all I was going to say. And, "I love your music." And he -- (makes faces, fly-swatting gestures and garbled noises). He went into this thing. And Cowboy came up and said, "Yo man, you can't talk to Prince." That's exactly what he said to me. "Man, you can't talk to Prince, man. Nobody can talk to Prince."

From that moment, I went over to the bar and immediately just started drinking everything I could. Man, I was so hurt. I was so fucked up by that. "Okay, you ..." (laughs) "I know you bad!" He's *bad*, man -- I mean, I love his music. I can't say as a person 'cause I don't know. He did shake my hand, okay? He shook my hand. But after that -- damn!

And now, every time I speak to him, he'll look at the ground. He'll do that same almost kind of, "Oh shit!" and look at the ground. George says that he's that shy. I ain't going for that shit! Nobody's that motherfuckin' shy! He wants to come onstage and jam with Michael on "Maggot Brain," but he'll never do it. He's never done it.

The last time I guess I saw him was in Paris. And I turned around and waved at him and did the peace sign. I keep asking George to this day, "What, does this guy not like me?" [George] says, "Man, he loves y'all so much, you just don't know." I say, "I can't buy it! *Wave* or something!" It's like, what is he, scared? I'm not going to hurt him. God, I love him![QUOTE]

Now this sh*t is f*cked up! We're talking Blackbyrd here, a funk legend who since the 70s played with Parliament-Funkadelic, Brides of Funkenstein, Headhunters and Herbie Hancock among others. Prince should be coming up to HIM to express his admiration, not thinking about replacing him with someone else in GC's band! No wonder he hasn't stepped up to do Maggot Brain with the Kidd yet - I rate P extremely high as a guitar player, but man he'd be in BIG trouble doing that tune with that band replacing Blackbyrd and duelling with Mike Hampton! That's sacred ground man, no posing, no tricks just pure emotion. You don't joke about that.

I'd be hurt too but I'd get on with it. Damn P is shy, so I'd just wave to him and continue on with what I'm doing. If I was Blackbyrd I'd remember that I'm playing in the funkiest band in the world, P Funk. That would be enough for me. Forget about anybody else. I'd be too busy busting out Flashlight, One Nation Under a Groove, and dare anyone to come on stage when Maggot Brain's playing.

NovaAngel said:

Fuck the shy bit. That shit is disrespectful. Prince is a grown ass man. He should act like it.

Irish9 said:

Damn straight. But hey some guys are just naturally shy I guess.
[This message was edited Fri Sep 5 5:39:30 PDT 2003 by NovaAngel]