I will be the first to admit I was not big fan of Prince. My first thought upon hearing he had died was " geez he was MY age" He was about three weeks older than me. It was the same thought I had when Michael Jackson died. 1958 was a pretty good year, huh?
As what happens when anyone famous dies, first came the tears and the tributes, then came the nasty remarks. Someone I know on FB went on and on complaining about Prince and his attitude toward gays. Well that may be true. Personally I thought Prince was a jerk- a TALENTED jerk- but a jerk nonetheless. I saw Purple Rain and wondered why people were so enamored of him. Ok he was a musical genius, but the movie showed him to be a misogynistic a-hole. Now... he may not have BEEN a misogynistic a-hole, but the character that was supposed to be based on him certainly was and why would you put that out there like that?
I realize that Prince's music was something special. I never met or saw Prince in person but people who went to his shows came away enthralled. He was the consummate showman In the weeks to come, more bouquets and brickbats will be tossed his way. I cannot help but think of the quote from the Joan Baez song, purportedly about Bob Dylan, that "Idols are best when they're made of stone."
For my part, I am trying to separate the dancer from the dance and try to appreciate the musical legacy that Prince Rogers Nelson left behind. The battle for his estate, if he left no will is going to be nasty. There is a rumor of a huge unpublished catalog of music. Hopefully he left everything in the hands of someone who cared about the man and his music enough to honor and not destroy that legacy.
I will not say Rest in Peace, but wish him a continued musical journey wherever we go when we leave this world.
See, back in the mid 80's when I was still young and nimble enough to go out dancing, his music was much of what I was dancing around to. I still remember one summer party at someone's poolside, where we all thought it would be fun to dance barefoot in the moonlight (oh, wait, that's someone else's song) which seems fun, but blisters from their deck the next day. Anyway, over the years, my interest waned - his attitude towards gays put me off. And his affectations (that weird symbol by which he was to be known) (not speaking at his Oscar win but having those two girls do it for him) but there were some songs that I still love, especially 1999 and Delirious............and already the rumors of a death by heroin or coke overdose. Still, boy some of that music was fierce! Tom
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