Enumerated Update

I saw Purple Rain in the theatre, and that album is truly the soundtrack of my 8th grade year. Skip remembers his high school, a Christian school, sending home a letter cautioning parents not let their children go see "The Prince" in concert. He was quite a phenomenon, then and now.    

1) Prince Rogers Nelson, 1958 - 2016:

Skip is inconsolable.  He was in Minneapolis earlier this week, and if he could have foreseen events, he would have surely stayed for the Paisley Park vigil, or more importantly, would have gotten Prince appropriate treatment for the "flu". Skip's friends/coworkers who live in the area (one of whom lives about a mile from the famous Park) report that it is a very sad day in Chanhassen and, indeed, the world.

Skip and I have differing opinions about Prince's contributions, but I will say his reputation as a performer, while excellent, is probably understated. Here is the backstory for his 2007 Super Bowl performance, and here is the show in its entirety (not the best quality).

For those who remember him all the way back to the beginning, here is his Academy Award win.

"Can you make it rain harder?" was his response to concerns about the Super Bowl rainstorm and properly solidify him as a true pro. His willingness to strap on four different electric guitars and perform during a thunderstorm gives us some understanding into his erratic behavior during the week leading up to his death. After performing a concert Thursday night, he was hospitalized Friday, discharged "AMA" and then hosted an "all night dance party" Saturday night*. The thing is... I don't think that is an erratic schedule, by Prince standards.

Something tells me our house is going to be humming with Prince's music this weekend, and we will start to see more and more concert footage appear on social media channels. Prince was litigious and very aggressive about the unlawful playing of his music (justifiably so), but maybe his estate will be less... diligent.  In the meantime, his fans can make do with his 32 studio albums, 15 of which were released since 2000.

*One of Skip's coworkers was going to attend, but changed his mind at the least minute. #regrets

2) Earth Day: We have spent some time this week talking about the environment, politics and religion.  We live in the Bible belt and are always amazed at the disconnect between being good stewards and politics. If we are good stewards, we should care about the environment (and maybe not ridicule those who do), and we should want to have decision makers who are protecting our planet.

William George declared he wants to live in California since their policies/practices are more environmentally friendly. Certainly, Californians are more aware, but in the interest of providing a counterpoint to the discussion, we talked about traffic, smog and an unwillingness to reduce water usage.

Then George said he would live in California but not drive, and I explained that it's a huge state, one in which everyone drives.

We concluded by agreeing that reducing our carbon footprint is the best strategy, and we can do that wherever we live.

3) Outrageous: I tried to move on to other topics, but cannot block the Prince trivia out of my mind. Here's a collection of outrageous Prince stories. 

4)  Best ever: Even I can get on board with Prince when he partners with my fave, Lenny Kravitz:




5) Virtuoso: Finally, while continuing our years-old debate about Prince yesterday, Skip forwarded the 2004 George Harrison tribute to me a) because he knows I cannot resist anything Beatles-related and b) because it brilliantly evidences Prince's guitarmanship, even when playing next to some fellow legends.

Touche`.

Godspeed, Prince.