So many of my acquaintances in music circles through the years worked for Prince at Paisley Park. I didn’t have as intimate a connection. But I still have a cool Prince story. (a couple more, but here’s just one)…
I worked at First Avenue in 1986-87. I got put on the stage crew by spring of ’87. Prince was finishing up his “Parade” tour and did an impromtu show at First Ave.
I was there in the daytime with a few other First Ave employees and some guy came in who was dressed really cool. He had little specs on and a peach shirt with a colonial era collar and a black coat. I suddenly realized it was Prince.
I thought he looked so cool – cooler than I’d seen him look for years. He and his massive band got on stage for a sound check. They ran through parts of a couple obvious songs. Then they began to sort of jam on something I’d not heard. There was a drum machine playing a funky beat. When the band had gone through what looked to be their previously rehearsed parts, Prince kept making his guitar scream, his eyes closed, seemingly he was in a different place.
The band watched looking like they weren’t sure what to do next. Someone stopped the drum machine. Prince got pretty intense (pissed), seeming to be harshly brought out of a deep trance, “Turn the beat back on!!”, he yelled.
The beat came back on, he went back into his guitar screaming trance, and the band played the riff behind him. None of us knew he was writing material for “Sign O The Times”.
Later that night for his show, he had a yellow suit with polkadots doing the Parade tour show which I’d seen footage of on MTV. I thought, “Man, he should dress like he was this afternoon. He looked SO cool.”
Months later I was living in Dallas and “Sign O the Times” came out, and on the cover he looked exactly as he did during that sound check at First Ave. And of course the record was another surprise of incredible stuff.
As a musician, song writer, and recording producer myself, I very much appreciated what he was doing that afternoon, although even some of his band seemed unappreciative of his scolding. And I’ve always felt honored to have that afternoon’s event as one of my personal memories.
Thanks for the great memories, Prince!
