Per Nilsen – Prince: The First Decade (DanceMusicSexRomance)

This book wasn’t exactly engrossing, despite being exhaustively written. Seriously, the minutiae is here. Prince fans would rejoice in having so much so easily to hand.

But for me? It was a bit of a war of attrition, turning pages felt like wearing the damn thing down bit by bit.

Don’t get me wrong. I like Prince, and I can appreciate what he did. But this was waaaaay more than I needed to know about interpersonal relationships and drama in the bands he created, and all the little bits about what songs got played live where, and blah blah blah.

Let me try to sum it up for you:

Prince was a genius.
He worked crazy long hours.
He worked to the exclusion of many other things.
Prince was a genius.
He was sometimes misunderstood in his time.
He often took credit for other peoples’ contributions.
Prince was a genius.
He was restlessly creative.
He shunned media and social contact.
Prince was a genius.
He had trouble with relationship commitment.
He alienated and overworked many people.
Prince was a genius.
The more he created, the further he went inward.
He was (mostly) a control freak.
Prince was a genius.
He responded to mounting pressure by recording more music than ever.
He disbanded his best line-up for the wrong reasons.
Prince was a genius.

There. Now you don’t have to read it.

R.I.P. Prince

Ferfucksakes, 2016. That’s enough!

As you’ll see everywhere for the next while, Prince has died, aged 57.

Here’s what Wiki said about causes: “On April 15, 2016, Prince’s private plane was forced to land in Illinois so he could seek medical treatment for flu-like symptoms. He had performed in a concert one day earlier in Atlanta, Georgia. On April 21, 2016, he died at the age of 57. He was found unresponsive at his home in Chanhassen, Minnesota.”

My own connection to his music is slight. I always enjoyed what I heard, and knew he was one funky motherfucker, but I didn’t rush out to collect all of his records, or anything. But I absolutely mark the passing of a truly unque artist who seemed to do things his way and did it all very, very well. I always think of him as a song-writer first, but his singing, dancing, stage-show… and of course those songs… pop perfection. He was also a damn good guitar player, and he always seemed to support and promote young artists he thought worthy.

The passing of another legend.

Musing…

Sunday Musing…

As I’ve probably made fairly clear in these pages, I spend a lot of time in thrift shops and used record stores. I am an inveterate bargain hunter. Also, I’m always looking for that gem-like needle in the proverbial haystack, that one record I never thought I’d see, in some unusual/unlikely place.

I’ve lived in three provinces in this great country, and have travelled lots of places besides, here in Canada and abroad, and I always, always look for the record/second-hand shops (that also sell music) in town. Never know when something I’m after will turn up!

But I have to say, that in all of those years, I think I can prove that Prince was wrong.

I have never, ever once seen a raspberry beret in any of those places.