Face Down Under

Prince works outside record labels

2009-04-22T12:43:00.000+10:00

I don't know about you," Prince exclaimed to the adoring masses at his March 28 Nokia Theater performance in L.A., "but I'm about to tear this place apart."

The Purple One applies the same principle to his business affairs: He has consistently torn down the established labels' sales model and built it back up in his own image.

While free file-sharing has eroded royalty accounting and emptied the wallets of many a pop icon, Prince has always been one step ahead of the game, dating back to 1997, when he became the first artist to sell an album ("Crystal Ball") directly to his fans over the Internet, for $50.

In the past few months, Prince has been at it again, revamping his business model by deciding to release the three-album set -- "LotusFlow3r," "MPLSound" and his protege Bria Valente's debut, "Elixer" -- on his own NPG Records and giving a facelift to his exclusive fan website, unplugged since 2006.

"The gatekeepers must change," Prince told the Los Angeles Times in January about his latest endeavor to work outside the record labels and other go-betweens.

Pulling off such a feat required the art of seduction that characterizes much of Prince's music. He began spending more time in L.A. than at his Minneapolis homestead, not only to sync up with the West Coast music scene but to court the media with private performances at his Beverly Park mansion. As the launch date for "LotusFlow3r" drew near, Prince played three back-to-back dates on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno"; headlined the most coveted, and funkiest, post-Oscar party, at the Avalon in Hollywood; and topped it all off with a record one-night, three-concert event at L.A. Live's Nokia Theater on March 28 that sold out in a record 7.7 seconds.

Nonetheless, his "gatekeeper" philosophy isn't a newfound one. The pop artist's angst with the labels dates back to 1996, when he ended his 20-year contract with Warner Bros. Records; one of the sticking points was that the company failed to release some of his material. Since then, Prince has partnered with labels on a project-by-project basis. His 2007 album "Planet Earth" was released through Columbia Records and sold close to 300,000 units -- a figure considerably below his previous partnership with the label on "Musicology," which went multiplatinum with the help of free giveaways at his concerts.

Prince's revamped Web domain, appropriately Lotusflow3r.com, gives his loyal followers exclusive access to an array of film footage and music from the Purple One's "Vault" -- a library that contains an immense amount of unreleased material. At a lofty annual subscription price of $77, fans also will be treated to such perks as live-cam concerts from the mansion and first dibs at tickets for last-minute, unannounced gigs, which have become a Prince trademark.

While some of the privileges are on par with Prince's previous html address, his Web designer, Scott Addison Clay, who has been behind such high-gloss movie sites as "The DarkKnight" and "Twilight," says Prince "felt his earlier fan site turned into MySpace. There were forums where fans could talk and see each other on the Internet." Lotusflow3r.com touts the highest-quality MP3s around at 320 kilobytes per second -- iTunes' typical average kbps is 192. There's also talk of a potential hookup with Microsoft's Xbox.

"Prince wanted (the) LotusFlow3r (website) to function like a videogame in its interactivity," says Clay, before adding, "but not in the way that you control Prince with jujitsu moves -- that wouldn't be appropriate."

Assuming that 1 million fans sign up worldwide, that's $77 million directly in the hands of the Prince empire -- untouched by a label's bookkeeper. The site's launch, coupled with his three-

concert L.A. event and the release of his three-disc album set exclusively through Target the morning after (at a price of $11.98) underscores Prince's MO to be a brand-name corporation unto himself, with money streams from publishing, touring, merchandising, advertising, ringtones, fashion and satellite radio gigs.

While the price that Target shelled out to Prince to sell his latest CD set is undisclosed, analysts put the amount at mid-six figures.

Sure, his recent album sales might be far from the 13 million "Purple Rain" benchmark, but it's not about being multiplatinum for Prince, rather multiplatform.

"When I'm taking all the proceeds, I don't worry about how well it does on the charts and I don't need a No. 1," Prince asserted at a 1997 Manhattan news conference pegged to his cyberspace foray. "I'm No. 1 at the bank.

"

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002627.html?categoryid=16&cs=1

Mickey's Chocolate Model

2009-04-19T19:23:00.002+10:00

Pretty entertaining mash-up: download it here.

Prince - Chocolate Box
Kraftwerk - The Model
Toni Basil - Mickey

Chocolate Box video

2009-04-15T18:54:00.001+10:00

ooohh this my song!

Fulltank Sweetens Chocolate Box Music Video for Prince

2009-04-15T16:48:00.000+10:00

Santa Monica, CA (April 13, 2009) -- Creative production studio Fulltank announced today that it provided visual effects, including on-set supervision, for a CGI-intensive promo for "Chocolate Box," the new single from Prince's "MPLSoUND" album released on March 29th. The video, helmed by music video director P.R. Brown, features an all-digital fantasy world inspired by the dark urban aesthetic of SIN CITY. To view the music video, visit: http://www.fulltank.tv/pri/.

"When I started the process of bringing Prince's vision for the video to life, I was fortunate to have found the guys at Fulltank," said Director P.R. Brown of Bau-Da Design. "Throughout the project, their passion for the video was clear and they went well beyond what I thought could be produced given the time we had. It was a pleasure working with them, and they really helped bring to life the hyper stylized vision I had for the piece."

In the promo for "Chocolate Box," Prince is an all-seeing Orwellian figure, whose gaze looms over a shadowy cityscape as projected onto the sides of skyscrapers and a psychedelic airship. Rapper Q-Tip - who collaborated with Prince on the track - stars as a man in pursuit of a beautiful and mysterious woman. Their athletic hunter-hunted game of parcour takes them across rooftops and buildings. When they finally meet, the video goes from a black and white palette accented by occasional flashes of color, and crescendos into a technicolor explosion of surreal graphical elements. Neon jellyfish bob in mid-air, a giant fuchsia sphere pulsates with otherworldly energy (and Prince's omnipotent visage), and lightning zigzags across the sky. The video closes with "To be continued."

In addition to providing on-set visual effects supervision for the one-day shoot at the SOURCE film studio's greenscreen stage in Hollywood, Fulltank Creative Director Chris Do and Executive Producer Ben Morris and a team of nine artists oversaw 190 visual effects shots over the course of five very short weeks, using live-action material captured with the RED camera at 4K.

Because of this truncated timetable, Fulltank developed a workflow based more on a feature film, rather than commercial production pipeline. Instead of working shot by shot, Fulltank set very particular daily milestones, sending files through to the render farm every evening for testing in the morning. Said Chris Do, Creative Director, Fulltank, "This video pushed us to develop a custom production pipeline that we're using on future Fulltank projects. That's an opportunity rarely awarded to smaller creative shops, which aren't often able to allocate the time and resources for in-house R&D."

Despite the obvious challenge of this tight deadline, Fulltank was given almost 100 percent creative control over the VFX - an amazing opportunity to develop the look and feel of the video with director P.R. Brown. Added Do, "We were so fortunate to work with such an intuitive and organic director, who also has an extensive visual effects background. This enabled us collaborate very closely because he understood the process, and the vibe that Prince wanted to achieve."

Fulltank relied on a software toolkit comprising primarily of Adobe After Effects and Apple Shake for compositing, with Autodesk Maya and MAXON Cinema 4D for modeling, all running on Macintosh and Windows platforms on a 15 quad core render farm.

About Fulltank
Fulltank was conceived by Executive Producer Ben Morris with the core idea of building a creative production studio that captures emotion through engaging visuals and narratives. Fulltank's creative team uses its diverse background in print, illustration, typography, photography, cell-animation, design, concepting, directing and storytelling to produce imagery and ideas that deliver strong creative messages. www.fulltank.tv.

Production Credits:

DIRECTOR/EDITORIAL: P.R. Brown
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Chris Do
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Ben Morris
PRODUCER: Sean Deveaux
ART DIRECTORS: Jonathan Kim, Matt Collarafice, Takashi Takeoka.
DESIGN: Jonathan Kim, Jon Gutman, Matt Collarafice, Takashi Takeoka
COMPOSITORS: Matt Collarafice, Takashi Takeoka, David Do, Martin Jung
MATTE PAINTINGS: Thomas Yamaoka
LEAD 3D DIRECTION: Jon Gutman
3D/ANIMATION: Omar Gatica, Ian Rufuss, Alex Ceglia, Billy Maloney, Martin
Jung

http://www.vfxworld.com/?sa=adv&code=3631a5a1&atype=news&id=27197

30 Years of Hip Hop in 60 Minutes

2009-04-13T08:16:00.003+10:00

Not Prince related, but this should appeal to most music fans, the BBC has put together an astonishing megamix of 538 songs covering 30 years of Hip Hop.

Its an amazing mix, i suggest you download it.

Prince Opus

2009-04-12T12:00:00.002+10:00

Want a Prince-themed ipod?

Want to pay $2000+ for it?

Head on over to Prince's Opus page and check it out...

Prince Target Commercial

2009-04-06T21:04:00.004+10:00

Prince's 'Lotusflow3r' Off To Strong Sales Start

2009-04-02T20:01:00.001+11:00

April 01, 2009 05:52 PM ET

Keith Caulfield, L.A.

Prince's new album, "LotusFlow3r" (NPG), issued exclusively in the U.S. through Target stores on Sunday, March 29, leads Nielsen SoundScan's Building Chart, which was released today, April 1.

Yet, the album may not finish the week at No. 1.

Why? The Building Chart reflected unweighted sales through the close of business on Tuesday, March 31. Which means that new releases -- which almost always bow on Tuesday -- usually only have one day's worth of sales included on the Building Chart that is released on Wednesday of each week. However, Prince's album dropped on Sunday, so the Building Chart actually reflects the set's first three days worth of sales.

We'll have a better gauge on how next week's official Billboard 200 chart will shake out on Friday, April 3, when SoundScan releases its next Building Chart. As it stands now, Prince's album is ahead of the No. 2 set, Keith Urban's new "Defying Gravity" (Capitol Nashville), by a very wide margin.

Billboard estimates the seven merchants who report to Nielsen SoundScan's Building chart -- Trans World Entertainment, Best Buy, iTunes, Starbucks, Borders, Target and Anderson Merchandisers -- comprise about 60% of all U.S. album sales.

Other albums looking good for a top 10 debut on next week's Billboard 200 chart include UGK's "UGK For Life" (UGK/Jive/JLG), Diana Krall's "Quiet Nights" (Verve) and Flo Rida's "R.O.O.T.S." (Poe Boy/Atlantic).

Nielsen SoundScan's sales tracking week, as reflected in the official Billboard 200 chart, runs from Monday through Sunday of each week. The newest Billboard 200 chart, released today (April 1) -- where the "Now 30" compilation debuted at No. 1 with 146,000 -- reflected the week that ended on Sunday, March 29.

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/prince-s-lotusflow3r-off-to-strong-sales-1003958005.story

Prince performs three L.A. shows in one night

2009-03-30T19:35:00.002+11:00

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Funk rocker Prince blasted a concert promotion giant for its poor sound equipment as he struggled to perform three concerts in one night at separate venues in Los Angeles.
The man who once sang about traveling "Around the World in a Day," shuttled among three venues on Saturday at a new downtown entertainment complex operated by AEG Live.

But his ambitious promotion for an upcoming album hit a snag soon after he hit the stage at the 7,100-capacity Nokia Theater. He had problems with the monitors, and constant pleas to the venue's crew to fix them never had much impact.

"This is my celebration. I don't care what goes wrong," he said midway through the 90-minute set, before scrunching up his nose in disgust.

The second show, at the 1,100-capacity Conga Room, began with a five-minute soundcheck and lasted about an hour. Each of the shows was promoted as being "full-length."

The third show, scheduled to begin at midnight, kicked off an hour late as Prince and his crew grappled with sound issues, forcing fans to wait in a long line outside the 2,300-capacity Club Nokia. He began the show before many entered the venue.

Toward the end of the show, he mentioned a few AEG executives by name, and told fans to complain to them about the buzzing speakers.

"I came to see Alicia Keys here, and it was the worst sound I've ever heard," Prince said, noting that the AEG had spent plenty of money on seating and lighting.

"If you fix the sound, I'll be here every night, and I'll do it for free."

Prince played most of his hits, like "1999," "Kiss" and "Let's Go Crazy," at the first show, which was attended by celebrities like basketball legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood. The set lists and the bands were different for each show.

Prince's new album, the three-disc set "Lotusflow3r," will be released on Sunday exclusively at big-box retailer Target Corp and on his Web site.

Officials at AEG did not reply to a late-night email seeking reaction to Prince's criticisms. The firm is owned by Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE52S0QZ20090329

Chocolate box extended mix

2009-03-30T19:30:00.001+11:00

AUSTRALIA: Get yo Prince on April 7th

2009-03-25T23:42:00.002+11:00

Thanks to a tipster in the shoutbox, i can confirm that the lotusflow3r delux 3disc set will be available from April 7th domestically. You can pre-order here.

Melbournites, "Music Machine" in Chapel Street is said to be receiving copies of the CDs within the week!

RRP is $59.95 for Australians.

Thanks for the tips guys!

And so it begins...

2009-03-25T20:05:00.002+11:00

So lotusflow3r is open...ive been browsing it now for a while, ive found the MLPSound album but cant find the lotusflow3r download yet. Im not interested in Elixer, I'll grab it later...much later on.

None of the videos in the "orb" seem to run properly, and i have a pretty fancy computer and great connection, so it seems the site is already frought with tech issues that i just paid AUD$110 to witness...

Another Prince website, another debacle...sigh...

Reminder: Prince on The Tonight Show THIS THURSDAY NIGHT!

2009-03-24T19:12:00.001+11:00

Aussies with Foxtel can tune in from Thursday to witness Prince as the musical guest. It begins at 10.30pm on "The Comedy Channel".

https://www.foxtel.com.au/EPG/EPG.aspx

Official countdown is up and running

2009-03-24T18:58:00.002+11:00

With still no word on an Aussie release date/distributor, the lotusflow3r website ticker clicks along for the Americans...

LA Times Review -"LotusFlow3r"

2009-03-24T18:57:00.002+11:00

02:30 PM PT, Mar 23 2009

By now, most music fans are well aware that Prince will self-release three albums that will sell in one $11.98 bundle at Target and on the artist's website starting Sunday. Which one you fancy the most depends on what flavor of Prince "u" prefer -- the nasty antiquity of "MPLSound," the guitar-hero antics of "LotusFlow3r" or the VIP-lounge purrs of his protégée Bria Valente on "Elixer."

"MPLSound" is a valentine to Revolution-era traditionalists. The nine-song collection pays homage to Prince's beloved Minneapolis and trades in nostalgia, lifting the syncopated drum machine beats from "When Doves Cry" and name-checking Rick James. But it's not all naughty retro: "MPLSound" also incorporates Prince's faith as a Jehovah's Witness, like when he shouts "thank you, almighty" and "hallelujah" to a lover in "Dance 4 Me."

All three albums have a touch of the spirit, an abiding cleanliness that elevates sex to heavenly communion, but "MPLSound" might be the most pristine for what it ultimately lacks: the sense of real, lusty sin.

Ballads "Better With Time" and "U're Gonna C Me" leak syrup all over the soundboard, but "Chocolate Box," a strutting bit of funk braggadocio set in the club with a guest spot from Q-Tip, is electrifying. In "Valentina," Prince addresses Salma Hayek's daughter: "Tell your mama she should give me a call." Hayek might be one of the world's most voluptuous movie stars, but new mothers and their "nightly feedings" are not the typical pop subjects.

Possibly the album's most notable track -- for reasons fine and regrettable -- is the spirited romp "Ol' Skool Company." Here Prince, his voice doctored to sound like he's taking hits of helium, lets his curmudgeon rip for more than seven minutes, longing for an "old-school melody when God, his son and the love of family ruled in the community."

Valente, Prince's latest in a storied line of beautiful muses, has a lovely voice that matches his current tastes for the clean line. Her soundscapes, produced and arranged with Prince, are lighter than her mentor's, traipsing from velvet-chaise funk to street tales of girly crushes to dance-floor siren calls.

The problem is that not enough of "Elixer" sounds strong or fresh. Her single "Another Boy" is sweetly reminiscent of '80s freestyle icons Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam, but it doesn't have that group's rhythmically inventive backbone. In "2Nite," Valente whispers "disco," a genre that needs at least one modifier to not sound mummified in polyester -- and then reports that there are "no drugs or guns up in this place," just "old-school jazz put a smile on your face."

It's one of the many times when Valente feels uncomfortably like the mouthpiece for Prince and his oldster agenda.

The biggest challenge of Prince's triptych is "LotusFlow3r," a guitar-steeped odyssey that bounces from Steely Dan jazz chords to James Brown-esque mandates for funk to the tattered-flag psychedelia of Jimi Hendrix. Though Prince has covered Radiohead's "Creep" on several occasions, he's not interested in mimicking Jonny Greenwood's articulated melancholy. Instead, Prince's guitar is a warm explosion, sometimes self-indulgent but always rendered with starry-eyed fascination for the instrument, endearing from a masterful musician who plays so many.

In an effort to align himself as a true rocker, Prince includes a reverb-soaked cover of Tommy James and the Shondells' "Crimson and Clover," but it doesn't improve on Joan Jett's definitive rendition. His own compositions are much more twisty and tasty. "Feel Good, Feel Better, Feel Wonderful" is a jaunty slice of party funk with Prince's most charismatic vocals this side of "Kiss" -- screechy, swaggering and caterwauling. "Love Like Jazz" swings the other way, a bewitching gem that wouldn't sound out of place as the intro to a '60s sitcom.

Prince geeks out on the whammy bar, drawing long, noodly jams on "Boom" and the songs that bookend the album. But it's more rewarding when he introduces control and structure, delivered by a crew of stars including Maceo Parker and keyboardist Morris Hayes. "MPLSound" might be comfortingly familiar, but "LotusFlow3r" is the work of a musician who's still curious after all these years.

-Margaret Wappler

Prince
"LotusFlow3r"
Three stars

Prince
"MPLSound"
Two and a half stars

Bria Valente
"Elixer"
Two stars

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/03/album-reviews-p.html

Review: Prince's 3-CD set is wildly uneven

2009-03-23T18:31:00.000+11:00

Review: Prince's 3-CD set is wildly uneven

By JOSH L. DICKEY, AP Entertainment Writer Josh L. Dickey, Ap Entertainment Writer

Prince, "LOtUSFLOW3R"

Of the 31 tracks on Prince's new three-CD fire sale, only a handful will glint in the eyes of loyal fans who still sift his newer material for rare gems. To those awaiting a free sample on the radio, sorry you aren't going to get one this time around, either.

It's been 15 years since a Prince single cracked the Top 10 ("The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" charted No. 3 in 1994), and nothing from these three discs sounds in danger of breaking that streak.

The rare die-hard who understood "The Rainbow Children," Prince's wildly conceptual Jehova's Witnesses manifesto from 2001, may be able to translate the shifting language of "LOtUSFLOW3R," the central record in this effort. It's heavy and esoteric at times, jaunty and jammy at times, and highly indulgent all the time.

Thing is, if you're going to listen to someone indulge themselves in genre-bending psychedelia, it may as well be this guy.

The best track is "Boom," with its melody that descends like a dazzling meteor shower, ponderous slabs of wet bass crashing all around and light saber-buzz guitar to slice through it all. The song embodies the dark yet delicate surrealism of the new fan site that Prince helped design, lotusflow3r.com, from which "members" can download all three albums as part of a $77 annual subscription fee beginning Tuesday.

The deal includes a T-shirt, dibs on concert tickets, access to a vast archive of concert video footage and other digital geek-out goodies. (The three-CD set is being sold in its physical form exclusively at Target for a much more earthly $11.98.)

On another guitar-heavy highlight, "Dreamer," Prince unabashedly echoes Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child" in fact, the better part of "LOtUSFLOW3R" careens around the edges of the bluesy, spacey trail that Jimi blazed. But its unevenness is its undoing; weird mumbling, random atmospherics, dissonant touches and an unnecessary cover of "Crimson and Clover" punch gaping holes in the cosmic seriousness with which the record takes itself.

Thank goodness, then, for "MPLSoUND," much of which may be the artist's greatest gift to fans in many years.

The disc starts out as an old-school romp that sounds as if Prince rolled up the rusted door of a warehouse behind Paisley Park, surveyed the dusty, vintage synth gear, and said to the posse behind him: "Fellas, let's make a funky record today."

The first few tracks could almost be mistaken for "Controversy" outtakes: You'll recognize the dry, flat pop of primitive electronic drums, campy whirl of analog keyboards and wild-eyed vocal stylings that ground an edge on Prince's early stuff. But sure enough, even "MPLSoUND" gets bogged down in throwaway slow-jams and shuffles that suck nearly all the fun energy from a promisingly rowdy start.

A third CD, entirely sung by new protege Bria Valente, is so lifeless and irrelevant as to hardly merit mention here. "Elixer" is a wholly forgettable trudge through generic R&B plodders that would drag down the most dynamic of singers; and Valente is not one. Her breathy whispers and naughty good looks, for that matter are more reminiscent of Ashley Alexandra Dupre than Apollonia.

The good news is that at $11.98 for all three, you can afford to rip the good tracks from "LOtUSFLOW3R" and "MPLSoUND" to your iPod, then use "Elixer" as a mirror to work on your air-guitar face. Because you're going to need it.

New Details on Prince's Online Venture, Live Dates, Photos, and More!

2009-03-14T11:23:00.000+11:00

EXCLUSIVE: New Details on Prince's Online Venture, Live Dates, Photos, and More!

Seth Colter Walls

Prince's new online venture, LOtUSFLOW3R.com, will debut on March 24. The site will offer digital downloads of the three new albums previously announced with a March 29 street date, in CD format, at Target stores. Two sources in Prince's camp also have confirmed that the rumored price of $77 for one year's subscription to the site has been formally settled upon. The picture above is an exclusive screengrab provided to us by Prince's web developer, Scott Addison Clay, who recently gave me an advance tour of the Web site. That main image, derived from the cover to the album of the same name, will be the user's portal into the online "world" of that album, complete with lyrics, artwork and new photos, in addition to the tunes. Two other "worlds," one for each of the other two Princely releases, also exist on an animated 3-D plane, in an arrangement that Clay compares to the popular game Myst. The album "MPLSoUND," as previously reported, is Prince's electronic counterpart to the guitar-heavy "LOtUSFLOW3R," while "Elixer" is the debut offering from Prince's latest protege, Bria Valente. Check out the covers for "MPLSoUND" and "Elixer" below, first on PopVox:

On the technical tip, Clay's creation is clearly a step up from some of Prince's past online homes, some of which were subject to unfortunate outages at peak times of Prince interest. And, by the way, the new music sounds pretty exciting, too. "Boom," the proper kickoff to LOtUSFLOW3R following a 30-second instrumental interlude, mixes psychedelia with funk rhythms and orgiastic guitar wailing. The song "Chocolate Box," on the electro-influenced album titled "MPLSoUND," features one of the all-time great Prince boudoir boasts: "I got a box a chocolates / that'll rock the socks of / any girl that wanna come my way." It also features one of Prince's best collaborations with a rapper to date, in the person of Q-Tip. During the 90's, Prince's revolving door MC's-for-hire were generally far less distinct than his music. And even when Prince used name-brand rhymers like Chuck D, their styles did not always mesh. Q-Tip's jazzy delivery, however, is the perfect fit for Prince's endearingly askew electronic sound-world. Here's to more of that kind of collaboration. (You can read my January profile of Q-Tip here.)

There are other new details, as well. Prince will perform "multiple times," in different locations around Los Angeles, on March 24, though those performances will not be streamed or recorded for the site. As Billboard previously reported, Prince will then be a guest on the Jay Leno show from March 25-27 (and again during Leno's last week in May). A representative for the Purple One says, however, that ticketing information for the three non-Leno events on March 24th will be posted on the beta version of LOtUSFLOW3R.com in the coming days. "The site is going to be your key to figure out how to get access," Prince's representative told NEWSWEEK.

Three new videos, one for each single off the new albums, are also in the can. "Crimson and Clover," Prince's cover of the Tommy James and the Shondells classic (with a little bit of Hendrix's "Wild Thing" thrown in for good measure) is the first single from "LOtUSFLOW3R." The aforementioned "Chocolate Box" is the nominee from "MPLSoUND," while the Bria Valente song "Everytime" will be the first multimedia from that disc. All three videos will debut on the site upon its March 24 launch.

And for the curious, here's another, exclusive new shot of Bria, taken by Prince himself:

During the tour, LOtUSFLOW3R.com appeared to be a multimedia powerhouse capable of playing videos and live clips (including Prince's cover of Radiohead's "Creep" from last year's Coachella) while also handling advanced 3-D modeling and Flash-based photo galleries. Clay gave us some more details about future plans for the site. Check out next week's print edition of NEWSWEEK for more details.

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/popvox/archive/2009/03/13/exclusive-new-details-on-prince-s-online-venture-live-dates-photos-and-more.aspx

Dr.Funkenberry: Prince to play tonight show

2009-03-11T10:19:00.000+11:00

3 nights in a row!

The one and only PRINCE will be on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno for 3 STRAIGHT nights.

It will be March 25th, 26th, and 27th.

We also received this note from a no-name reporter:

NEWSFLASH –

Purpleheadz, r u listening?

Prince will b per4ming an unprecedented 3 nites in a row on The Tonight Show March 25, 26 and 27. B part of audience history when Leno’s studio gets a purplemusic makeover! R u ready?

I had a feeling this might be part of the fun stuff starting March 24th and put in a call to the Tonight Show. Hopefully, we can have some tickets to give away. Will let you know.-Dr.FB

First lotusflow3r mail-out

2009-03-10T09:41:00.003+11:00

Talking about events in LA (like they would occur anywhere else)..

Americans: Pre-order lotusflow3r now

2009-03-09T18:45:00.001+11:00

While we wait to hear on where it will be available in Australia, follow this link to pre-order in the USA.

I'll post updates once ive found pre-orders available in Australia.

Tracklistings leak...

2009-03-05T14:49:00.001+11:00

Keen eye'd Prince fans on .org spotted this on Amazon.com before the purple police took it down...:

Disc 1—Lotus Flow3r: From the Lotus. . . Boom; Crimson and Clover; 4EVER; Colonized Mind; Feel Good, Feel Better, Feel Wonderful; Love Like Jazz; 77 Beverly Park; Wall of Berlin; $ Dreamer; . . . Back to the Lotus

Disc 2—MPLSound: (There’ll Never B) Another Like Me; Chocolate Box; Dance 4 Me; U’re Gonna C Me; Valentina; Better with Time; Ol’ Skool Company; No More Candy 4 U;

Disc 3—Elixir: Here Eye Come; All This Love; Home; Something U Already Know; Everytime; 2Nite; Another Boy; Kept Woman; Immersion; Elixir

Prince commercial for Target :/

2009-03-03T23:51:00.002+11:00

Prince Films Commerical For Target; Will Release 3 CD Set With Retailer

Prince shot a commercial for Target on Friday in Los Angeles. Prince is due to release 3 CD’s thru Target and his web site , Lotusflow3r.com on March 29th, 2009.

The 3 cd’s will be two by Prince entitled Lotusflow3r, and the other familiar to Drfunkenberry.com members, MPLSOUND. The 3rd will be by Bria Valente entitled “Elixer” which is produced by a certain someone to have that Minneapolis Groove.

The Cd’s look like they will be sold as a pack, the artwork and lyrics available online. I did not have a chance to ask one of the web designers if it will down-loadable. A doctor likes to print out his lyrics man.

As for the video shoot, it went well and was shot at Universal Studios and it was a closed set. How did we hear about it then? We have our ways.

The commercial features Prince and Bria Valente and should be airing within the next couple of weeks. We hear they may have some footage of it up sooner or his own web site.

Also, for that thing we thought was a cell phone at the Avalon show, is actually a Lotus Flow3r branded flip video camcorder and can be checked out HERE http://darkhavenstudios.c...tusflow3r/

To answer a ? that is on that link, I want a poster. wink

March should be a fun month for fans of the purple one.-Dr.FB

More on Target, as well as some info on lotusflow3r site

2009-03-03T23:49:00.000+11:00

Prince's Big-Box Deal: Minneapolis Represent

'Prince has signed an exclusive deal with Target to release a three-CD set at the end of this month; the package will contain two new albums by The Purple One called LotusFlow3r and MPLSound, as well as a disc by his protege Bria Valente. The Minneapolis-based chain (!) will sell the package for $11.98. But that's not all—his career-spanning multimedia site lotusflow3r, which launched in beta earlier this year, is apparently getting ready to go live. When I visit it, all I get is some burbling music and a black screen, but lucky for all of us, someone at AOL's Spinner got to check out the goodies within. And by "goodies," I mean "an extensive live archive of Prince concerts." I bet at least a few of you out there are drooling!

But the real treasure for Prince devotees is in the archive. According to Clay, Prince has filmed almost every one of his concerts since the 'Purple Rain' days, and to prove it, he had Spinner click on a video link inside Prince's virtual head, where we discovered a performance of 'Break It Down' from last year's Coachella show.

LotusFlow3r, which will launch sometime this month, will be a paid subscription site (Clay is speculating that the initial cost for a year will be $77), and to give fans their money's worth, Prince will continue to roll out content on a regular basis, including live video clips and possible full-length concerts, as well as unreleased music. According to Clay, Prince has copious amounts of never-issued material, which Clay and his team are in the process now of cataloging.

But do subscribers get discounted admission to his parties? Because that is a value-add.'

http://idolator.com/5163091/princes-big+box-deal-minneapolis-represent

Prince to release new CD set through Target

2009-03-03T23:48:00.001+11:00

NEW YORK – Prince is coming to a Target near you.

The superstar is releasing a three-disc CD set through the retailer at the end of this month. The set will include two new albums — "LOtUSFLOW3R" and "MPLSoUND" — as well as a third by his new artist, Bria Valente, for the price of $11.98.

Prince is just the latest music legend to release new music exclusively through a major retailer. AC/DC and the Eagles were among the acts who sold millions of CDs through their partnership with Wal-Mart.

Prince has released his recent CDs through major labels, but they were one-album deals that gave him the flexibility to go elsewhere when the project was done. Last fall, he released a coffee table book of photos titled "21 Nights" documenting his record-breaking, 21-night run at London's 02 Arena in 2007. The book also included a CD of live performances.

"Prince has long been renowned as one of the world's most original and iconic musical artists," said Mark Schindele, Target's senior vice president of merchandising. "We are thrilled to have the opportunity to share his most recent work with our Target guests."

The CD set will be on sale at Target and its Web site on March 29.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090302/ap_en_ce/music_prince;_ylt=At0r09PdxBpdWafVeLlcF3FxFb8C

Prince Breaks Out Beatles, Rolling Stones at Oscar Party

2009-02-24T09:26:00.002+11:00

2/23/09, 12:34 pm EST

Last night in L.A., after all the Oscars were handed out, Prince played host to several hundred diehard fans — and a few famous names — at his all-night afterparty. The stars certainly had their pick of flashy post-show parties Sunday night — the Vanity Fair bash at the Sunset Towers Hotel, Elton John’s annual AIDS Foundation soiree at the Pacific Design Center, Madonna’s get-together at Guy Oseary’s pad, Demi Moore’s house party for her closest A-list friends (check out photos from some of the night’s bigger bashes) — but those looking to get their groove on until the wee hours of the morning headed to L.A.’s Avalon Ballroom, where Prince was playing a solid mix of covers and hits.

Unlike Prince’s past awards show after-parties, typically held at his Hollywood Hills home and thrown under a strict by-invitation-only policy, this one was open to the plebes among us. At $100 per person — first come, first serve — the show doubled as a launch-pad for his soon-to-debut website LOTUSFLOW3R.com. A few hundred hopefuls had lined up on Hollywood and Vine hours in advance, knowing full well that it would be a very long wait. After all, the Purple One was still sound-checking at 11:30 p.m. and doors had yet to open. Shortly after midnight (and while Prince and select guests were being entertained by an all-girl jazz band upstairs at the Avalon’s exclusive lounge Bardot), an orderly crowd made its way inside filling only half of the venue’s main floor — not that the post-Oscar folks (some still wearing gowns and tuxedos) were complaining after a full day of elbow rubbing.

Starting close 1:45, the nearly two-hour set kicked off with a tease — the opening progression to “Purple Rain,” which brought out the diminutive Prince, strolling onto the stage carrying a blinged-out baton. He soon traded it in for a guitar and, backed by a three-piece band, two backup singers and one killer harmonica player, Prince launched into a string of covers, beginning with The Cars’ “Let’s Go” and segueing into “Crimson and Clover” mashed with “Wild Thing.” “I’m the DJ tonight,” he boasted from the stage shortly after dedicating the night to Oscar winner Penélope Cruz and giving a nod to celebrities viewing from the VIP area. Among them: Alicia Keys, Queen Latifah, Angie Harmon, Tyler Perry, Maroon 5’s Adam Levine and Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson.

And while the bars had closed twenty minutes into the performance, Prince’s banter kept spirits high. Introducing a bellowing rendition of the Beatles’ “Come Together,” he asked his subjects: “I’m here and you’re here, that’s all we need to start a party, right?” Indeed, as Prince launched into the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Woman” and then surprised all with a true-to-the-original take on Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle,” the dance floor had filled considerably. By the time “Jungle Love” and “Play That Funky Music” came around, the place, as they say, was jumping. Prince closed out the set by asking for volunteers to join him on “The Glamorous Life,” the song he wrote for Sheila E., then proceeded to invite audience members to the stage for free-for-all, to which a couple dozen brazen fans eagerly obliged.

“Turn those Blackberries off and dance,” Prince chided just after three in the morning, his guitar hero energy not waning in the slightest. The crowd’s energy, however, was another story. Still, diehards hoping to hear more from the Prince hit list stuck around until the bitter end, and weren’t disappointed to get “I Feel For You” as an encore (at 3:22 in the morning). But he never did come back to “Purple Rain,” and with awards season over, it may be a while before we get another chance.

Funkin' 'til dawn

2009-02-24T09:26:00.001+11:00

Prince's Oscar night house party: Funkin' 'til dawn

Feb 23, 2009, 11:16 AM | by Whitney Pastorek

There are very few artists for whom your Aunt Whittlz will wait in a chilly parking lot for two hours, PopWatchers, but Prince is one of them. To borrow a phrase from the Airborne Toxic Event -- one of the few acts the Purple One didn't cover during tonight's public house party -- it was sometime around midnight when those of us assembled outside Hollywood club Avalon were let in from the cold, and my feet, tortured by high heels since sometime around noon, had lost their will to live. Though I'd later be given a handwritten list that included names like Eliza Dushku, Taye Diggs, Alicia Keys, and Queen Latifah, the only celeb in sight at this lonesome hour was Baron Davis, who plays basketball. And yet I waited, patiently, to be summoned inside. For he is Prince. And he operates on his own time, a time that my colleagues estimated at approximately two hours later than hip-hop time, which means approximately four hours later than the time you and I are expected to maintain. Which is fine. Because he is Prince, and I think he actually might be able to buy the Greenwich Mean if he wants.

Follow me after the jump for the rundown on the funkiest Oscar party of the night, sponsored by LotusFlow3r.com, a new website named for one of the three albums Prince is expected to release this year. Along with his own time zone, Prince is also operating in his own music industry these days, and LotusFlow3r -- note also the paisley-riffic spelling-- will be your home for all things purple in the days to come.

It was 1:39 a.m. when the band at last took the stage, and teased with the opening chords of "Purple Rain" before transforming them into a funky jam anchored -- as was much of the night -- by the extraordinarily hardcore blues-harp blow of Frenchman Frederic Yonnet. At 1:44, the tiny guitar god emerged, clad in what looked to be fancy black pajamas with mirrored embellishments at the neckline and cuffs, twirling a bedazzled cane with panache before picking up his axe for a groove that wandered through Allen Toussaint's "Yes We Can Can" and some very "Also Sprach Zarathustra" aaaahs before bizarrely landing in a square-on cover of "Let's Go." Which is a Cars song. Which was pretty much how the whole evening went.

"Turn the lights down, please," Prince asked, after sending a shout-out to Penelope Cruz, Taraji Henson, and Esmeralda Spalding, all of whom were apparently watching from a balcony where your intrepid reporter was not allowed to go. Down on the ground, the vibe was less fancy Oscar soiree, more junior prom. "I'm just gonna let this breathe," he continued. "Y'all all right? This is what we do at house parties. I'm the DJ tonight." And DJ he did -- except, you know, with his guitar -- right into a mashup of "Crimson and Clover" and "Wild Thing," which led to "7," the opening voiceover of which sent scads of party-goers onto the half-full dance floor to tear things up. The bar had closed, but its tenders remained, silhouetted against the mirrors, nodding their heads coolly to the music. "I'm here, and you're here," Prince said. "That's all we need to have a party, right?"

Indeed, that and a crackling cover of the Beatles' "Come Together" will get a jam going for sure, especially when your simple six-piece band -- bass, keys, drums, harmonica, and two backup singers -- can create a super-sized wall of whatever sound you want, accompanied by the festive circus light show of Cora Dunham's kit. Yet the noise being generated by those musicians was no match for the man of the hour, who wields his instrument with ultimate precision even when breaking down "Let's Go Crazy"-style. Unlike some of our more prominent public noodlers (with their funny man-faces and their histrionic jerking about), it is a joy to watch Prince ply his craft.

He did "Cream," which I wasn't sure he was still allowed to play; he did "Honky Tonk Women"; he did Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle," which was hands down the highlight of the night, especially his take on that rollicking solo in its midst. I thought for a second he was gonna do Poison's "Fallen Angel," but then he stopped, breathed, kicked into "The Bird" and "Jungle Love," and by 3 a.m. he had the most amazing cross-section of the crowd dancing on stage -- a flock of people that, in all sincerity, looked like the outdoor audition scene in Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. There was the '80s video dancer, gyrating sweatily in a business suit. There was the tomboy in her white t-shirt and jeans. There were two women in cocktail dresses vibing on each other. There was a dude on crutches. One man was squatting behind Prince, inexplicably beating the floor with a scarf. Sadly, none of them stepped to the mic when their host said, "Okay! Karaoke, y'all! Who knows 'Glamorous Life'?" and so the backup singers were left to carry that weight all alone, but a portly gentleman in a porkpie hat was more than happy to take the verse on "Play That Funky Music." This was when the junior prom became something more like an 8th grade dance. Next to me in the crowd, a woman in a white sweatband was actually vogue-ing.

But all good things must come to an end, or at least a pause, and so Prince left his house party for a bit -- tossing his guitar into the crowd on the way, where it was instantaneously retrieved by a very large roadie -- and the silence of the encore break set in. So, too, did the realization that it was nearing dawn and your Aunt Whittlz had been up n' at 'em Oscar style for nearly 21 hours. I tried to call upon the eye contact I'd made with Brad Pitt on the red carpet to fuel me, but it was no use -- the tank was empty, and everything I was experiencing was colored with that "this would be really cool if it was like 7:30 p.m. right now and I'd actually eaten lunch or dinner" stain, and I just wanted to go home. I waited for Prince to return, to see what he'd kick into for his second set, and when it turned out to be "I Feel 4 You" (which I'd totally danced to when the actual DJ played it like three hours before), I headed weakly for the door. I am a total wuss, PopWatchers.

I'm supposed to maybe get a full set list later, which I will post here if you're interested. Meanwhile, do know that I had a pretty good time during Prince's Coachella show last summer, and tonight's festivities completely and utterly blew that bit out of the water. I cannot recommend strongly enough that the Academy consider this man for next year's Academy Awards show: He obviously loves him some Oscars, loves him some movie stars, and will cover any song that moves. Imagine him taking on whatever ballad closes out the next Pixar hit! Ah, the glory. Plus, he'd be there, and we'd be there... and that's all you need to have a party, right?

Prince to allow crew to film his Oscar party

2009-02-20T09:49:00.001+11:00

Prince

Purple One will release footage on his new website

Prince is throwing a massive Oscar party on Sunday night (February 22), and he is allowing a camera crew to film the festivities for his website.

The notoriously reclusive Purple One reportedly decided to throw the bash after French actress Marion Cotillard called to RSVP to a party he was supposedly throwing.

Apparently when Prince heard he was rumoured to be hosting the party, he decided to make if official and planned a bash.

According to usmagazine, Prince will release the footage from the party on his website LotusFlow3r.com .

Prince Upset As New Song “$” Leaks Online

2009-02-17T14:51:00.000+11:00

Prince is upset with Dania Ramirez. Either Dania or director Sanaa Hamri leaked Prince’s new tune titled: “$”

The 3 of them were in the process of creating a video for the song when someone (No one has come forward as of yet) leaked the song online.

In these days when piracy is rampant, the thought of one of the main dance trax from the new cd titled “Lotusflow3r” leaking ahead of schedule makes the heart stop!

We are being asked if you come across the song online, please pretend you never read this post and delete the song immediately without listening. Please wait for the offical CD release…which will be any day now.

If you can…

(This tip was sent in by a no-name reporter and…I really really don’t think I can. Will you all have more self control than me if found?-Dr.FB)

http://www.drfunkenberry.com/2009/02/16/prince-upset-as-new-song-leaks-online/

Prince Ready to Rock on Oscar Night

2009-02-12T18:54:00.002+11:00

Today 2:30 PM PST by Marc Malkin

Prince plans to have one of Tinseltown's best performers at his annual late night Oscar bash—himself! The Purple One is opening up his home after the Academy Awards for a super-VIP party and is planning to perform for the guests who manage to stay awake until the wee hours.

Last year's session, which included jams with Stevie Wonder and John Legend in the middle of his living room, didn't get started until 1:30 a.m. Guests at the soiree included freshly minted Oscar winners Marion Cotillard, Tilda Swinton and Javier Bardem, who danced with his still-undercover girlfriend, Penélope Cruz. Sean Penn, Kate Beckinsale, Eva Longoria Parker, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Rosario Dawson and Brett Ratner were also there.

About 300 folks were let in, but "it's going to be more exclusive this year," a source familiar with the party planning tells me. As I reported yesterday, Madonna and Demi Moore will once again be hosting a private afterparty with Guy Oseary at Oseary's home.

Vanity Fair returns after a one-year hiatus with a smaller-than-usual fete at the Sunset Tower Hotel. Sir Elton John's annual gala takes place again at the Pacific Design Center and will include a live auction that benefits the music legend's AIDS foundation (as do ticket sales to the party).

Mercedes-Benz is moving its annual viewing and afterparty from the Four Seasons Hotel to the Montage Beverly Hills. Lindsay Lohan's DJ girlfriend, Samantha Ronson, will provide music for expected guests like Amy Adams, Marisa Tomei, Patrick Dempsey and Ben Stiller, among others.

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/marc_malkin/b99604_Prince_Ready_to_Rock_on_Oscar_Night.html

New pics up on lotusflow3r

2009-02-11T18:37:00.003+11:00

Two new pics up on Lotusflow3r...one doesn't count and this is the other.

SPECIAL: Red Cross Bush Fire's Appeal

2009-02-10T22:43:00.003+11:00

Below you will find a direct link to the Red Cross donations website, if you can please help out fellow Aussies in their time of need, thanks FDU.

The 2009 Victorian bushfire Fund to assist individuals and communities affected by devastating bushfires in Victoria has been launched by the Premier John Brumby in partnership with Red Cross and the Federal Government.

Make a secure online donation

Prince attends Clive Davis gala dinner

2009-02-10T14:41:00.003+11:00

Prince was in attendance at the Clive Davis gala in LA honoring Clive's life work in the industry. Also in attendance; some woman sitting next to Prince. Maybe his flavor of the month :P

2009-02-04T18:57:00.000+11:00

Another impression from the Purple Party, this time from blogger Kat Corbett.

So, there I was, trapped in Prince’s bathroom while the sound of his band kicking into “I Want You Back” by The Jackson 5 pumped through the space between the door and the floor. I frantically twisted the lock and turned the knob trying to get out in time to witness the magic but the door wouldn’t budge. I checked my cell phone—no service—no chance for a 911 rescue call. What would I say anyway? “Um, yeah hi, I’m trapped in Prince’s bathroom on the bottom floor of his house and I’m going to miss him sing one of my favorite Jackson 5 songs, so could you bring a crowbar to Beverly Park?” Another minute of twisting the door handle only lead to red fingers and I pictured myself stuck in his bathroom for days surviving on gobs of cherry lip-gloss and two sticks of Juicy Fruit. I pounded my fists on the door and shouted for help but the music was too loud and I realized that no one could hear my screams. This was not a dream, this was really happening. Last Saturday night at 1am I was being held captive by Prince’s bathroom.

Let me start at the beginning and please forgive me if this entry sounds like a twelve-year writing in her diary but what do you expect after spending a night at Prince’s house?

It all started with a cryptic email inviting me to Prince’s pad to witness the launch of his new website www.lotusflow3r.com with a live performance to follow. I had heard whispers of these Prince gatherings before, but I was suspicious of the email as it wasn’t from prince.com. I replied saying, “Is this legit? If so, I’m in.” I was instructed to wait for further instructions—very hush hush. At that point, I assumed I was actually going to Prince’s house or being shipped off to Russia and sold into the sex trade—either way it was important to shave my legs.

At 9:45 pm I stood at Prince’s front door, an hour and a half late and couldn’t find the doorbell. I thought of knocking but with a house of that size, who would hear my puny knuckles hitting the glass? I took a deep breath, opened the door and walked inside. I expected everything to be purple but there wasn’t even a hint of plum in the grand space that seemed to go on for miles. I entered a spacious kitchen busy with a small group eating hors d’oeuvres and enjoying cocktails. One of the first people I met was Steve Appleford, a writer for Rolling Stone—confirmation that I was in fact in Prince’s house and not headed to the Ukraine. I ordered a whiskey and immediately locked eyes on Prince’s black Schimmel piano just steps away from the kitchen island. This gorgeous instrument was just sitting there in the middle of the room. It should have been behind a velvet rope on a revolving stage under a spotlight but there it was by the bathroom and I touched it. My hands were on the black lacquer before I could stop myself and I ran my fingers over the keys where he probably works out new songs during breakfast. The top of the grand piano was flipped open with a gold Prince symbol hood ornament. It looked like a spaceship and I didn’t know whether to play it or drive it. As the others snacked, I fantasized about eating Cheerios in the morning by the kitchen island while Prince played “When You Were Mine” and “I Want to Be Your Lover.”

A little after ten we were instructed to go to the screening room. I was the first to leave the room and landed in the vast hallway clueless as to where to go next when out of nowhere HE appeared.

“Hi,” he said. “Are you looking for the screening room?”
“Hi,” I said. “Yes.”
Pointing, “Just go down those stairs and go left. I’ll see you in a bit,” Prince said.
“Thanks,” I said as if an usher at the Arclight had just shown me to my seat.
“Holy moly!” I said to Steve. “Prince just gave us directions!”

Prince is launching a new website in March called www.lotusflow3r.com where he will share everything including the release of three new records this year—two by Prince and one by his latest protégé, Bria Valente. This website is his new venture to deliver music, downloads, concert tickets etc. to his fans. After the website demonstration we spilled out into the hall toward a modest size rec room. Area rugs absorbed sound on the floor, a drumkit sat under the mantel where a fireplace should have been, two couches and yes, there were a few purple chairs. Female vocalists, Liv Warfield, Marva King and Shelby J stood behind their microphones ready to go, a bass player, two keyboard players, Cora Dunham on drums and no more than twenty-five people in the room (I counted) and me. I often find myself in situations and ask, “How did I get in here?” This was definitely one of those times. Prince grabbed his guitar and they kicked into “Let’s Go” by The Cars. “Crimson and Clover” followed, then Prince shouted for Frederic Yonnet to bust out his harmonica and they ripped into The Stones’ “Miss You,” and I lost my mind! Prince was ten feet away playing Rolling Stones songs. “This is really happening,” I said to myself. “This is really happening.”

Every time a new song began, a woman magically appeared with laminated lyric sheets that looked like IHOP menus and placed them on Prince’s music stand. When the band kicked into “Everyday People” we all let loose and began dancing—the small house party was in full effect. Prince put down the guitar and walked through the tiny dance floor. I felt totally high without any drugs, spinning on Prince’s carpet, under a cheapo disco ball (the kind you buy at Spencer’s) as Prince covered Sly and the Family Stone.

Then…

Out of the speakers I heard the sound of rain. “No, it can’t be,” I said, to the guy next to me.

Then…

The most identifiable first few notes of “Purple Rain” trickled out. Ah!

Then…

The room got quiet, Prince laughed, skipped past the song and went into a random jam. Ack! I was bummed for a second but then he launched into “I Feel For You,” made famous by Chaka Khan but written by Prince. How could I be mad? He was singing “I Feel For You” while we did the hustle. “Y’all done tore up my carpet!” Prince joked as we shook it. He threw out “Irresistible Bitch” and “Hot Thing” and when I thought I couldn’t handle anymore, he launched into “Controversy.” OH-MY-GOD. I was in Prince’s basement dancing to “Controversy” live. I was having my very own Co-AH-chella moment. At that point in the night I realized what a total music geek I truly am. It is a presumption to think that all of the women in the room either wanted to bag the purple one or become his new protégé but I think it’s a safe bet. Certainly, all of the men were hoping to catch a smidge of his mojo. I, however, stared at that man, watching his fingers glide effortlessly over the strings as if was an extension of his body and all I wanted was for Prince to give me a guitar lesson. Dork.

During the next jam I moved my coat from the couch so a woman could sit down. This woman turned out to be Anita Baker. I knew exactly who she was but couldn’t name one song she sang and it killed me the whole night. All I could envision was her face on a smooth jazz radio station billboard.

Sidebar: The next day I would find out from a very good source that Miss Anita was at Trashy Lingerie just hours before the Prince get together. Saucy.

The Doobie Brothers were next to get the Prince treatment and I couldn’t believe I knew most of the words to “Long Train Runnin.” Another jam session followed which was a perfect time to hit the ladies room. En route I caught sight of a motorcycle encased in glass. I was told it was THE motorcycle from Purple Rain and I giggled like a wee school girl as I sang “Take Me With U” all the way down the hall and that’s when I got trapped in Prince’s bathroom.

So, there I was, the lock was stuck, The Jackson 5 was pounding on the other side of the door and I was panicking that Prince would find me five days later in the fetal position wedged against the toilet clutching a bottle of Method hand soap. I took a moment and surveyed the room as if it was an elevator and seriously looked for an escape hatch. How does one get stuck in Prince’s bathroom? Am I the only one to get stuck in Prince’s bathroom? Why does this stuff always happen to me? I focused all of my energy on one last desperate twist and the door finally opened. After seven tense minutes, I was free and booked it past the dj booth, past the purple pool table with the gold prince symbol into the small room and caught Prince performing the last minute of the Jackson Five. Little did I know we were only halfway through the night.

While the band took a break, we retreated to the kitchen for desert. Pita chips, guacamole and raspberry torts, which I kept calling “Raspberry Beret” torts, lined the granite island in the kitchen. Prince did a wardrobe change and reappeared. His platform sneakers had blinking lights on the heels like runners use at night to avoid getting creamed by passing cars. Even with Prince buzzing around the room, the vibe of the kitchen was super friendly and mellow. There was no one telling me things like, “Don’t look him in the eye,” or “Stay five paces behind him at all times.” It was as normal as that situation gets. AGAIN, WHAT WAS I DOING THERE?

“Have you seen the pool yet?” Prince’s web guy, Scott, asked me. Before he hit “yet” I had pushed him out the backdoor and demanded a tour. A hot tub is the first thing you see in the grand backyard then a long pool that looks like something out of a Chanel N° 5 ad. It was clear that Prince was renting this house but he had personalized it in his own way. In the distance, at the very end of the pool stood a giant metal cut out of Prince’s symbol. “I must touch it,” I squealed and made a bee-line for it with tourguide in tow. A forest of trees lined the backyard, a volleyball court was just a few yards away and then Prince’s studio. We couldn’t go in but we could see inside through the giant windows. It’s not as elaborate as I imagined. A couple of computers, a flat screen and a keyboard were the only things in the room. I’m sure Paisley Park studios are a bit more elaborate.

Back inside, I cruised past shelves of his personal pictures—shots of Dave Chappelle and Salma Hayek. Pictures of Apollonia and Mariah. Then back to the kitchen when we heard Prince say something like, “Let’s hit it again. Come on!” Back in the music room the band kicked into “Love Bizarre” and I channeled Sheila E as I sang along under the soft lights.

Then…

Prince launched into “Erotic City.” NO, NO, NO, THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING. He never does that song anymore—too many dirty words. There were only fifteen people in the room at this point.

Then…

He stopped the song just before the vocal would normally come in. My plea for him to “Do it” got a laugh but that’s all and he launched into another random jam. What a tease.

Two women emerged from behind and dramatically tossed two one-dollar bills at his feet. Prince slid off his guitar and in James Brown style got down on one knee, then another, collected the money, stood back up and said, “I haven’t seen George Washington in a long time.” Prince was totally messing around having a good time and I kept thinking, “He’s so normal right now…but he’s Prince? And he’s goofing around like a normal guy right now.”

“Anita, get up here,” Prince demanded and Anita Baker shimmied over in her very high heels and belted out an awesome jam. Prince jumped back in with a bite of “Love Rollercoaster” into The Commodores “Brick House,” into Rick James and I was “Super Freaking” out.

As we danced, Prince occasionally popped inside the group and all I kept thinking about was the security backstage at Co-AH-chella. It was Secret Service type of stuff but Saturday night he was standing in the mix with no security hovering. I’m sure his boys were there but I didn’t see or feel anyone and I am so thankful for that moment.

Prince’s web guy, Scott, was called forth and Prince pointed to the microphone. The girl came out with the lyric pages and the band busted into “Play That Funky Music” and that white boy went for it. I could tell web dude was like, “Holy shit, I am singing on Prince’s microphone and Prince is playing guitar behind me.” Holy shit, indeed.

Sometime after 3 am Prince finally called it quits and did a blow out jam. I floated out of his house and through the windy turns of Mulholland. I definitely did some damage to my hearing but I don’t care. I was at Princes’ house watching Prince play just a few feet away from me and I don’t know if anything else matters.

USA Today: New Prince Albums in due March 09

2009-02-04T17:30:00.001+11:00

Prince and friends party like it's 2009




Prince, shown here at the 2008 Grammys, threw a party/performance Saturday night in Beverly Hills to celebrate the upcoming release of three new albums.

By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY

BEVERLY HILLS — To celebrate his cyberspace return and three upcoming albums, Prince threw a house party Saturday night for 30 guests who got a large-screen tour of his elaborate website lotusflow3r.com followed by a rowdy two-hour concert.

The Purple One, who vanished from the Web after shutting down his groundbreaking NPG Music Club in 2006, is ramping up the new membership site in time to deliver MPLSound, Lotusflow3r and Elixir, the debut by protégée Bria Valente. He's planning a simultaneous late-March release. Site designers unveiled a dizzying interactive universe, including a sphere of photos and performance clips.

Guests, including Anita Baker, assembled downstairs for a raucous dance bash, featuring Prince and a rocking soul band serving up mostly heated covers, including The Cars' Let's Go, The Rolling Stones' Miss You, the Jackson 5's I Want You Back, and Sly & the Family Stone's Stand and I Want to Take You Higher. After a long jam inspired a full-house Electric Slide, Prince quipped: "Y'all done tore up my carpet. I'm never inviting y'all back."

Rolling Stone Attends Purple Party

2009-02-03T09:54:00.003+11:00

2/2/09, 1:12 pm EST

The e-mail invitation was vague but intriguing: spend Saturday night at Prince’s mansion in Beverly Hills for “a journey through the galaxy” and a live performance by the man himself.

As the first to arrive, I’m greeted by Scott Addison Clay, the bearded young developer behind Prince’s new Website, lotusflow3r.com. He wears a tweed jacket and sits behind a widescreen computer monitor to show off a bit of the new site, launched just minutes earlier. Leaning against a nearby couch is a sparkling metal cane, with Prince’s “love symbol” etched into the handle.

Clay notes that 10 years before, Prince helped revolutionize the relationship between music and the Internet by being the first major artist to debut music exclusively on the Web. And lotusflow3r.com is where Prince will release three new albums in 2009, including MPLSound, Lotus Flow3r and the unveiling of his newest female protégé Bria Valente.

Then there is a voice behind us: “Can I use my computer?” It’s Prince, smiling in a blue shirt decorated with a stylized drawing of his own image, and shoes with heels that blink colored lights. “It’s OK, I just want to check my e-mail.”

This is his home office, just one corner on a large estate in the exclusive gated community of Beverly Park, in the hills above Los Angeles. In another room is a space-age grand piano with liquid curves and framed snapshots of Chris Rock, Spike Lee, Quincy Jones and other friends. Outside on a pedestal amid the reflecting pools, recording studio and a beach volleyball court is a metal sculpture of his symbol. This is could only be one man’s house.

Downstairs in the home theater, Clay gives a deeper glimpse of what’s coming on the site, set to slowly unfold in coming months. For now, it is limited to a home page with a barren cliff beneath a night sky and three new songs: “Another Boy,” “Colonized Mind” and “Discojellyfish,” which flow from a boombox that glows purple. Fans will eventually be asked to pay a subscription fee to open up other areas of the site, with music, lyrics, animation, photographs and video (including Prince’s cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” at Coachella last year).

Guests are led down the hall, past the pool table and a pair of motorcycles that look like they just rolled off the cover of Purple Rain, toward the sound of a band tuning up in a small room. It’s a crowd of barely 30 people: three invited fans, a few journalists, soul singer Anita Baker, DJ Kat Corbett from KROQ-FM and Miss Valente, tall and elegant in a low-cut dress.

Prince is in the corner with a guitar and the first song is a shimmering cover of the Cars’ “Let’s Go,” followed by “Crimson & Clover” (by Tommy James and the Shondells), before erupting into the Troggs’ “Wild Thing” as Prince raises his guitar, singing like Hendrix himself: “Baby, I think I love you . . . sock it to me!”

He calls harmonica player Frédéric Yonnet up to blow through the Rolling Stones’ “Miss You,” following a tough, sexy groove as Prince announces: “Come on out on the dance floor, come on!” It’s just the first of two sets he’ll lead tonight, and it’s a purely musical performance, without the big production of a tour date, playing vivid originals going all the way back to 1979’s “I Feel for You” and surprising cover tunes, including several Sly Stone hits (”Everyday People,” “Stand,” etc.).

You could see when Prince was especially moved by an emotional vocal from Baker or one of his three backup singers (Marva King, Shelby Johnson and Olivia Warfield), whose solos are epic performances unto themselves. Baker joins him for several duets, including “Guitar.”

“Real music by real musicians,” Prince announces, slipping into another funky psychedelic groove, leaving room for big solos from the band and his own guitar.

Near the end of the second set, it’s nearly 3 a.m. as Prince and bassist Josh Dunham jump into a sticky groove that’s instantly recognizable as a 1976 riff from Wild Cherry. Prince points directly at Clay, his Internet guru, by now pealed out of his tweed at the edge of the dance floor. He calls him over to the microphone, and Clay immediately begins singing, reading from an ovesized lyric sheet: “Play that funky music, white boy! Play that funky music right!”

Prince leans back against drummer Cora Dunham, still slashing at his guitar, eyebrows rising, as if he can’t believe what he is witnessing. But it’s a kind of unbelievable, brilliant moment, one of many during more than three hours of live music. Clay is still dancing behind the microphone, his dress shirt soaked, and for one moment the baddest white dude on the West Coast. “That’s pretty funky, right?” he asks. With Prince and the band behind him, it could hardly be anything else.

LA Times pt.3: Everyting but the pancakes

2009-02-02T11:02:00.001+11:00

"It was two years ago to the Sunday when Prince, under a torrent of rain in the middle of Miami’s Dolphin Stadium at Super Bowl XLI, dazzled the world with a panoramic 12 minutes of his biggest hits next to pumped-up covers of “Proud Mary” and the Foo Fighters’ “Best of You.”

But in the wee hours of Feb. 1 in the opulent basement of his Beverly Hills mansion -- a rec room that boasts a Prince-emblazoned pool table and and an encased "Purple Rain" motorcycle -- Prince played an equally wide-ranging and mind-boggling set for a far more intimate gathering of fewer than 50 people, all of it designed to celebrate the launch of his Website lotusflow3r.com.

After a presentation of the new site, which looks to be an all-encompassing portal to Prince's history as well as a direct line to the three albums he has slated for 2009 (the first being "Lotus Flow3r", the electro-charged '80s flashback "MLPSound" and the debut of his latest protégé Bria Valente), Prince emerged for post-press conference concert with a blistering rendition of the Cars’ 1979 new wave hit “Let’s Go.”

Prince led his lethal band, including the amazingly hard-hitting female drummer Cora Dunham, through a nearly two-hour set. It was a rollicking, celebratory affair, and it included takes on the Rolling Stones (“Miss You”), the Doobie Brothers (“Long Train Running”), Mary J. Blige (“Be Happy”) and a Sly & the Family Stone medley.

Among the small but enthusiastic crowd were "Fame's" Debbie Allen and singer Anita Baker, the latter of whom eventually joined the band to trade vocals with Prince and his stellar trio of female vocalists, Liv Warfield, Shelby J and Marva King. When he launched into his own well of hits to churn out his 1981 single “Controversy” and “Feel For You,” the song made famous by Chaka Khan, a small dance floor erupted into what could have been a scene for a surreal music video commemorating the “Electric Slide."

“Y’all done tore up my carpet!” Prince chuckled afterward.

Never one to shy away from music technology, Prince let the band take a breather to perform a solo set on a keyboard sequencer. Vamping along alternately on guitar and drums, he spun out versions of fan favorites like 1982 B-side “Irresistible Bitch” and "Sign o’ the Times"-era nuggets “The Ballad of Dorothy Parker” and “Hot Thing.”

When Prince finally ended the show, he played an amiable host in the massive kitchen, flitting around the room in shoes that lighted up with red lights with each step as two cooks prepared an array of food for his guests (yes, the shoes lighted up with each step). Downstairs, DJ Rashida, in front of the original motorcycle from the film "Purple Rain," spun dance hits until a fuse blew.

Chatting up one of Prince's backup singers, Liv Warfield, she suggested I stick around. “There was talk of another set,” she dished. “You always have to be ready at a moment’s notice.”

Not 20 minutes later, Prince strode by purposely. “Come y’all, let’s hit it one more time, real quick,” he said to his band, and soon everyone was back in the basement for Round 2.

The now post-2 a.m. set was a gospel-tinged stroll through classic soul and R&B classics, showcasing his female singers on songs like “When Will We Be Paid” and the Friends of Distinction classic “Going in Circles.”

Ending with a spirited rendition of “Love Bizarre," which segued into a live mash-up of the lyrics to Rick James’ “Give It to Me Baby” matched with Prince's own “Let’s Work,” the singer, who by the way does a hilarious Kat Williams impression, seemed impressed with the endurance of the dozen or so die-hards that stayed until the end, which was sometime past 3 a.m.

Sending guests on their way with a click of his illuminated heels, Prince once again proved his status as one of America’s premier musical icons. The only thing missing was pancakes. "

-Scott Sterling

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/02/live-at-princes.html

Purple Ticket Winner write-up

2009-02-02T10:58:00.001+11:00

From a purple ticket winner's post on .org:

"our "ULTIMATE PRINCE EXPERIENCE" happened last night I've been contemplating if I should write about this since 3AM in the morning last night and now is the time. I have a lot to say so bear with me. As was reported there were 3 purple ticket winners that had the chance to go to Prince's Beverly Hills mansion last night and preview upcoming things on his new lotusflow3r.com website and have Prince play for them. I am one of those 3 and oh boy last night was like an unimaginable surreal dream come true. The other two people who attended were amorbella and to my surprise an old friend RDhull.

The night started off kind of hectic because all of us scrambled trying to find the location of the house. We were all on our own missions looking for the place (mapquest sucks) on our own and amorbella was lucky enough to use her GPS system. With the help of a good semeritan who pulled over and asked me if I was lost I soon after found my way to the gates I was looking for. I told the gate guard my name and when the gates began to open I knew it was on like donkey kong. After many twists and turns through the windy roads I finally arrived. I was greeted at the door by Prince's security man then by Scott Clay(the guy who is in charge of the new website) and a writer for Rollingstone Magazine. The two of them walked me into the kitchen where hor de veurs (I know I spelled that wrong were being served. (RD was all over the stuffed mushrooms and i enjoyed the deviled eggs, yes deviled eggs at Prince's house.

Next to the kitchen was a sitting area with plush couches a television and coffee table which connects to a big circular room with that amazing piano in it. Outside of the windows you could see a gigantic courtyard with a huge symbol sticking up out of what may have been a fountain. We mingled and were served drinks in the kitchen with other guests and writers for magazines (Huffington Post, USA Today, etc) as well as the designers of the website Scott Clay and Anthony Malzone, Prince hairdressers, Anita Baker, Marva King, CC and Josh Dunham, Renato Neto, Rhonda (P's old bass player), Morris Hayes, Bria V., and other random guests who I have no idea who they were.

At this point me and RD were in total disbelief of how we ended up in this awesome situation. (BTW he wanted me to let you all here at the org know how much he loves and misses you and this time he mos def got that name check!)

After an hour or so of mingling I just knew we would be seeing Prince soon. The designers announced that we would all be heading downstairs to preview the website which had gone on live at 8pm. As I was walking to the staircase I spotted ole boy in the hall way dressed to the nines and talking to a lady from a magazine. amorbella and RD's wife had just been greeted by Prince in the hallway before that moment. When i saw him I had my Jamie Foxx moment of the evening and did everything in my power not to look him directly in his eyes but I failed.

At this point we entered the theatre room. This room had a huge picture screen, awesome sound system, comfortable couches, and thick soft carpeting. We all sat down and the lights went dark for the presentation. Scott Clay lead the presentation and showed us things to come on the site that I refuse to talk about here because by no means do I want to spoil what's in store for all of us in the future. All I can say is you will all(even the naysayers) be blown away by the graphics and 3D effects plus the many surprises which are in store.

After the spectacular preview of the site Scott told us that now was the time for us to head down the hall where Prince would be performing for us. At that split second we heard his guitar being played by him loud from a room where he was with the band and the music began. We all got up and shuffled our way through the pool room where we saw the pool table with a symbol layed across the top. We the passed by the dopest DJ booth with Rashida(I think it was her at least don't quote me on that one) doing her thing and into the music room we entered. Prince was in his little area to the left of the room with all his guitars keyboards and sampling equipment, CC on the drums in the center Josh on Bass to the right and the three back up singers in front of Josh. Over on the far left center side of the room was Mr. Hayes on keys. I'm no good with setlists so I'll write what I remember him playin and maybe perhaps when I get RD's report i will post the songs a little better.

From what I remember in the first part of the show he played everything from the Rollingstones (you know RD was lovin that) to many many other covers like Free, Ohio Players, Lets Go, I Feel 4 U, Stand Sly and the family stone every day people "Take you Higher" and a couple others that some people complain and says "he always plays those". Regardless I have no problem with what he plays. CC rocked on the drums and halfway into the show John Blackwell stepped in. They played Sexy Dancer and Controversy mixed with other songs I couldn't identify. (I told you I suck at set lists and I had no time to try and jot things down). Throughout the show Renato came in to play on the keys where Mr. Hayes sat. Prince also called in a guy named Fred( I think to play harmonica) many songs later the band went out through a back door and Prince took off his guitar. He went over to his sampler and started spittin out the sickest old school Prince beats which he tweeked and screwed around with such as the beats from Dorothy Parker (mind you he sang a few lines of that song) to Erotic City, Hot Thing, Forever in My Life, Partyman, and the ever so awesom beat of Irrisistable Bitch. When he played that beat he made his way over to the drum set and played along to the beat as RD and I stood right in front of the set and and sang the lyrics out loud saying UHHH instead of bitch out of respect for ole boy. At that point Prince walked out of the room and I guess he went up to the kitchen to eat.

A little while after we danced a bit more then we were escorted back into the theatre room by prince's assistant for our statements on the evening. We did that then we were told we could go drink and party some more. We hung out for a while and then we called it a night. i know I'm all over the place with this report but I did the best I could."

Link

Anti-climax: lotusflow3r updates

2009-02-01T19:38:00.002+11:00

Well im not sure if its open or what its doing, but Prince's website, lotusflower, has been updated, you can now see some stuff that makes very little sense on the telly and a few sample tracks...all of which we have heard before in some form...

...so umm i hope the website actually, you know, opens with some stuff on it...bleh...

check it out, i hope you like black empty space...

Poll results

2009-01-30T20:18:00.002+11:00

What do you think of the new Prince Songs?

This is what FDU members had to say about the new Prince songs on lotusflow3r...

Love Them = 76%
They R ok = 12%
Where is my SOTT CD? = 12%

New poll up! What's going on @ HouseQuake?

Scrooge-McPrince strikes again!

2009-01-30T19:59:00.004+11:00

Prince is back to his old tricks again, fucking with his fans(ites). Housequake is now closed and in its place is the following message:

"Housequake.com is closed until further notice... On 'request' by Prince I changed back the old Housequake header. Sorry people, but I can't afford to play any more games. Thanks to Prince & his staff for their "support" over the years. /Aaron"

Will this lead to the revival of the PFU website? We will keep you posted on the status of Housequake as the opening date for Prince's official site comes ever closer...

UPDATE: HQ Mod Gav sheds some light

"Damn, there's more conspiracy theories here than ever !

Firstly, the simple reason that nothing's been said is that as many of you know, I look after the Prince liaison and legal statements for Housequake and I've been snowed under with my day job - in fact I only found out HQ was closed by email from one of the other mods this morning.

As some have noticed, relations with official sources have been very good of late, however mostly because we've been "playing the game" and trying our best to not offend P. An example of this is how we've had a header that doesn't even mention Prince's name nor shows his photo.

A couple of weeks ago, one member put together some excellent lotusflower "inspired" banners that used a symbol that looked a bit like Prince's but with a flower modification. As they didn't infringe copyright, we took the decision to put these live, along with the official banners we were supplied directly by P.

Roughly 24 hours later, we got a very blunt email saying "this must be removed" from one of his team. We tried to discuss this explaining that it's very difficult to have a fan website that doesn't have a picture of Prince or even show his symbol, however P was adamant that we don't "imply official status".

As someone else noticed on this thread, this was quite frankly the straw that broke the camels back and Aaron came to the belief that this really isn't a fun thing to do any more. Please remember that this is just a hobby for Aaron. It costs him money to run (we can't take donations any more as it changes our legal status and this was used by Prince's legal representation to claim we were a commercial organisation - nice huh ?) and take up a great deal of his time. Would you spend time and money on something you didn't enjoy ?

Is HQ over ? I personally don't know but I've spent a great deal of time playing "united nations" to repair relationships between Prince and all the PFU members (I brokered the "ceasefire" between the PFU and Prince) so I'm not about to give up yet.

It Ain't Over !

ps - thanks for the notes of support for HQ. This isn't about Prince.org vs Housequake, this is purely about fans rights to support an artist in a reasonable manner."

2009-01-27T09:48:00.000+11:00

Prince of Darkness

Posted Jan 26th 2009 8:10AM by TMZ Staff

The only thing more fleeting than fame in Hollywood is Prince. He always seems to slip away with nary a trace ... until last night! His Majesty, looking eerily like Batman, was driving himself to and from Chateau Marmont. It's a recession thing....

http://www.tmz.com/2009/01/26/prince-of-darkness/

Prince, D'Angelo Pair Up

2009-01-21T22:31:00.001+11:00

D'Angelo's first disc since 2000—reportedly due out this summer through J Records—is expected to include contributions from none other than Prince. Lindsay Guion, D'Angelo's manager, confirmed the collaboration as well as ones with Cee-Lo Green, Raphael Saadiq, Mark Ronson and Roy Hargrove. Some tour dates in Europe and the U.S. are also expected.

"He's able to smile again and he's ready to connect [with fans]," Guion said to Billboard last summer. "He's coming back. And he looks great, by the way."

http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/news/article/0,,4917474,00.html

Miami Horror samples Prince's "Bambi"

2009-01-20T12:39:00.000+11:00

In heavy rotation on JJJ radio:

what do you all think of it?

I like it.

lotusflow3r updates!

2009-01-16T19:42:00.002+11:00

Prince LIVE in LA 1/31/2009 CONFIRMED!

New song: Chocolate Box streaming now!

Go there now!

EDIT: Dr.Funkenberry reports:
"Prince’s New Web Site Updated & Concert In L.A. Posted in Celebrity News, Entertainment, Music on January 16th, 2009 by drfunkenberry

As we told you right here FIRST last month about 777 Chick hearn Court, things were gonna be poppin in 2009 there.

Well, go to Prince’s new web site Lotusflow3r.com and enjoy some new songs like Chocolate box, and click on the ticket chillin on the other side of the tv screen. You will see a $77.00 ticket for January 31st for an event (perhaps the opening of the site with a charge of $77.00 or maybe a concert in L.A.? Only time will tell.)

Prince has been funkin’ it up with a pleathura of great musicans and it should be on fire. Shoot, we hear things are so hot, he MAY not wait until January 31st to kick things off.

Much love and enjoy your chocolate box.-Dr.FB"

Vault interview of the day: Prince

2009-01-16T09:23:00.000+11:00

Digging in the vaults again, here's a sit-down with Prince during the Musicology tour. Hard to believe he hasn't been back here in five years.

PRINCE'S NEW POWER PARTY OVER? ROCK STAR SHOWS INDUSTRY HOW IT'S DONE

Date: Saturday, August 21, 2004

Source: By Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News

MILWAUKEE

The lazy take on Prince in recent years was that his best days were behind him.

His sales were down, the media said. His music wasn't as good as it used to be. His behavior was erratic - the name changes, the record company wars. Game over.

He turned his back on opportunities other performers would sell their souls for. The term "difficult" got slapped on him. Still more jeers from the sidelines.

But the truth is more interesting than the fiction. The man who once was one of the biggest rock stars in the world saw years ago that the music industry couldn't keep doing business the way it had, so he went directly to his fans online.

And halfway through the most successful tour of 2004, in a summer when almost every other tour is tanking, Prince's concerts are a virtual coast-to-coast sellout, breaking records in major cities. One Pepsi Center show next week is sold out, and the other is close to it.

His new Musicology album is great and near the top of the charts. All the hot young artists in 2004, from Alicia Keyes to Outkast, bow to him. And it has finally dawned on the record industry that selling music online is the future.

It turns out Prince made the moves everyone else wishes they'd made. While the music industry flounders, Prince flourishes. Does he ever just want to say "I told you so?"

"No!" Prince says, shaking his head firmly, but smiling slightly during a rare interview before a recent concert here. To hear him tell it, no vision was needed, anyway.

"It's almost like hearing a weather report and knowing it's going to rain. You can tell people and they either believe you or not."

Rather, Prince says, he's disappointed the industry didn't come along for the ride sooner. His label, Warner Bros. Records, had put great faith in him early in his career, but wavered as the years went on. "It just means they weren't enlightened enough or had the same faith that I had. If you love somebody, you should always love them."

The multitalented performer knew when he started this fight - when he went after Warner to gain control of the music that had made hundreds of millions of dollars - that it would be a long road.

"You're just worried how you're going to get out of this and not look like exactly what I eventually ended up looking like - this spoiled, pampered baby," Prince says.

But the need to keep his music pure - and Warner's refusal to release it - left him with no choice. "Before I left Warner Bros., I had a big and successful career in all areas. If they wanna run (a single) up the chart, they'll do it."

He couldn't play that game anymore. "I grew up when albums came out every three or four months. I wanted to make a lot of music."

And he wanted ownership of the copyrights, but the label balked. "Whoever created it is the owner. Is that even a question?" he says incredulously.

But now, backstage in Milwaukee, he smiles and chats happily about his life and music. "I'm not bitter or mad. You've gotta tip your hat" to the music industry, he says, sarcastically, for making so much money off artists' sweat for so many years. "It worked great for them."

The man behind the myth

Prince talks in passionate italics and exclamation points, enthused with music and society, far removed from the man of few words you often see in TV interviews, but every bit as intense.

Before the interview he ran an hourlong sound check, personally tweaking the sound on every microphone onstage, including those deep in the saxes of Maceo Parker and Candy Dulfer.

They worked through I Feel For You, Controversy and more Prince classics as he directed sound changes via wireless mike from all over the venue, calling out the changes in precise decibel levels. Much is made of Prince's perfectionism, but it has its purpose. The sound at the beginning of the check was as good as any concert; by the time he finished, it was like sitting in front of an upscale stereo system.

Fans know that 2004 is anything but a comeback. For years Prince has been productive, more musically accessible than ever, and making more money than ever. He tours regularly and records constantly. He divides his music between pressed CDs (the jazzy NEWS and the latest return to form, Musicology) and online-only discs (The Slaughterhouse and a new classic, Chocolate Invasion). Much of that music is as strong as his best-known work, such as Purple Rain and 1999.

So while it's not a comeback, Prince has chosen 2004 to be more visible. He has undertaken his most extensive tour in years and grabbed high-profile opportunities he has shunned in the past, including agreeing to open the Grammy Awards after years of requests. He is also sitting for more interviews, including this one. He insists, though, that much of it is out of his control.

"You can't take anything away from the media. They pick and choose what they want to focus on," he says. "We're given pre-packaged pop stars every day. They control who's on heavy rotation."

Yet, he notes with satisfaction, "the album's in the top 10."

Yes it is, in part because of the controversial way Prince is getting it out - every concert-goer gets a copy of Musicology added to the price of their ticket. That has pushed sales to 1.3 million so far, and Prince makes no apology for it. It gets the music out there without the usual record-company nonsense, and concert-goers for the most part have been thrilled with getting something tangible to take home. It also has stirred debate in the record industry and media.

Billboard and Soundscan have revised their policies to disallow such a tactic, but Musicology is "grandfathered" in and each copy still counts. The album returned to the top 10 again this week.

Prince likes the controversy.

"There's something a little different now that they have to pay attention to - this bundling situation," says Prince, who remains indifferent to criticism that it's artificially inflating his figures. To him, all that matters is getting heard.

"I know it's getting to people."

Battling for musical freedom

Prince has been a prolific songwriter, with more than 30 albums in his 26-year career. Does he ever just put down the guitar for days or weeks on end?

"I hear music still, but I spend long periods when I don't actually play it." Inspiration comes, but he just retains it. "I was hearing a song today in my head. I'll be messing with that later."

It's not just his own music that entrances him. For years he has sung Joni Mitchell's A Case of You; last year, he finally released a version on a limited edition of his live album One Night Alone - Live!

People ask: "How did Prince get like this? What's his history?" he says. Besides his obvious funk, soul and rock influences, he figures they should know the more subtle stuff.

"I love all Joni's music," he says, adding that he does her songs "just to keep her name out there. Joni's music should be taught in school, if just from a literature standpoint."

The same goes for James Brown, Earth Wind & Fire, and Sly Stone. "Take Sly out of time! Bring him back like he's brand new."

He laughs a lot these days, but knows he has a serious image when it comes to his music.

"My life got real serious there for a second - getting out of the record industry. You have to realize that I was told I couldn't leave. Excuse me? What did you say? With the mergers and revolving door of executives, it was like musical chairs or something."

The fight with Warner (which eventually allowed Prince to leave the label, but he had to leave his classic albums behind) took on guerrilla tactics. Prince famously wrote "slave" on his face and changed his name to a symbol as a protest. He took other tacks as well.

When Warner balked at releasing The Gold Experience in 1995, Prince had his independent publicity firm send the video for the first single, Dolphin, to the press, ensuring that the song would be written about and that the music would leak. Warner caved and the album was released as Prince intended.

Musicology is being distributed by Sony Music, but under a vastly different agreement than he had with Warner. It's a one-off deal with Prince's NPG Records; Sony only distributes it. And Prince pockets $7 for every $10 disc sold.

"I'm the content provider, I don't feel any pressure from them. They don't have any power over me," says Prince, who has learned a lot from his contract battles.

"Going through 10 years of struggle makes my meetings now with the executives a breeze. They know straight in they're not owning anything. That's not even a question," he says gleefully.

Do other artists come to him for advice? Yes, Prince allows, "but what's more interesting is when the executives come to me for advice."

So what does he tell them? "You get the artist you deserve," he says.

To fix things? "Start from scratch. You like music, right? Me too. Remember when there were these hippies running the business?"

It's time, he tells executives, to get back to that. "You're gonna have more fun. You're gonna make a lot more money."

"We have more record companies and look at their (failure) rates. They're trying to make more and more money. We gotta maybe get back to making some good music."

What infuriates him is watching the industry prey on rappers, bleeding them dry the way they bled bluesmen decades ago, then discarding them. New artists are encouraged to be more outrageous than what came before, to shock for the purpose of making a quick money score.

"They're taking our kids out of our community and doing it to them. You disenfranchise part of the nation," he says. "That's the sad part. What can you say other than arrogance and greed? That's what you school people on."

The issues of Prince

Prince always has commented on social issues. On Musicology, the song Dear Mr. Man doesn't mention anyone by name, but pointedly lays out problems in our nation. On July Fourth, he released The United States of Division via his Web site. It opens: "2004 / still at war / and everybody hates Americans."

"Look at the reality and the truth," Prince says. "They're our supposed 'elected' officials who are supposed to take care of us. Some people are benefiting, and some aren't."

The top 10 percent of the population controls most of the wealth in this country, Prince notes, "and it's not a rainbow coalition. Don't get me started on that."

But start he does. "What is democracy? What does that word mean?" he says with exasperation. He's also dismissive of those who won't speak up for fear of retribution. "Don't dare say anything about it or you're going to get your CDs smashed. What's so scary about that?"

Likewise, a thread of spirituality has always run through his work, be it subtle (Let's Go Crazy, Same December) or more overt (God, The Holy River).

"As you get older, you start to look at it. It's not even the age-old cliche of 'Why are we here?' There's right and wrong. And then there's the lie, an illusion so powerful people literally live in a collective hallucination. They see walls that aren't there," he says. "Sooner or later we have to . . . say 'When did we fall off track here? How are we going to fix this thing?"

His much-discussed path as a Jehovah's Witness has gotten too much sensationalized coverage, he says; he's interested in spirituality and answers, not strange ceremonies or theories. "I'm very practical. You go Trekkie on me, I gotta go."

Prince has made a tentative peace with Warner Bros.; there are rumors of a special edition of Purple Rain in the works. That may be merely wishful thinking; the new DVD of Purple Rain comes out Tuesday with no Prince involvement and thus no substantial upgrade.

An overhaul of his catalog is needed. Warner slapped substandard copies of his music onto CD years ago and has never upgraded them. Prince's best album, 1987's Sign O' the Times, sounds absolutely awful, with fluctuating volume levels and passable but muddy sound. Prince leaps to his feet in agreement when these issues are mentioned.

"Tell them that! We need to bring it up to the industry standard!"

He'd love to see remastered and expanded versions of his work and surround-sound versions of his classics, but with the master tapes in Warner's hands, he can't make that happen. "I can go re-record it and put it out - but should I have to?"

As well as looking forward, Prince has spent time looking back. The live show features his hits. Scattered through gigs this year - live and on TV - have been appearances with Prince alumni: Morris Day of the Time, drummer Sheila E, and most strikingly, an acoustic performance on TV with Wendy Melvoin of his most revered backing band, The Revolution.

When asked about that reunion with Melvoin, Prince grows wistful.

"She plays acoustic guitar with me better than almost anyone," he says quietly. "The opportunity came up and her name was the first to come to mind. I'm looking for things to juice me, too."

By the numbers

* 666,666: The number of CDs Prince had to sell under his old record deal to make $1 million.

* 142,857: The number of CDs Prince has to sell now, on his own, to make $1 million

* 13 million: The number of Purple Rain CDs sold since 1984

* $19.5 million: The money Prince made off those Purple Rain sales

* 1.3 million: The number of Musicology CDs sold this year

* $9.1 million: The money Prince made off those Musicology sales

* 30: Roughly, the number of studio albums Prince has released in 26 years.

* 24,800: The average number of people who see Prince in each city

* $1.5 million: The average concert gross in each city

* $63.26: Prince's average ticket price

* $143.60: Madonna's average ticket price

* $79.5 million: Madonna's tour gross

* $45.7 million: Prince's tour gross through June 30

* $100 million: Prince's expected gross at tour's end

Sources: Pollstar, Www.Riaa.Com, Sony Music, Www.Npgmusicclub.Com

Lack of airplay means a generation misses great music

Prince's newer music hasn't gotten the airplay it deserves.

Even though he took control of his musical life when he parted ways with his major record label deal, and even though he has done work as good as his biggest hits, much of it gets passed over by the mainstream.

Is being overlooked the downside of independence?

"Who overlooked it? You gotta sit in the creator's seat," Prince says defiantly, suggesting nothing is overlooked there.

Despite that, radio, video and the general public have, unfortunately, not had easy access to what easily ranks among Prince's best work. He may not much care, but we do. From the past decade, here are the 10 best Prince songs you may have never heard.

* THE HOLY RIVER

From 1996's Emancipation, it's one of Prince's most personal songs. The Holy River builds from a piano ballad to a rock rave-up, chronicling his disillusionment with fame and wealth ("putting your faith in things that only make you cry . . . the more they say they love you, the more you just wanna die").

But it's hardly rock-star moping. It has a gorgeous melody, self-deprecating lyrics, and a confessional story of spiritual redemption ("lookin' back, y'all, I don't miss nothin' except the time"). Just to prove his point, Prince finishes it off with a joyous guitar solo. One of his top five songs.

* DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS

From the 1996 soundtrack to the ill-fated Spike Lee movie Girl 6, this is an aching piano ballad as Prince says a forced goodbye to a child and urges them to have faith that somehow it's all going to be OK someday. A low-key tear-jerker.

* JUDAS SMILE

From the recent download-only album Chocolate Invasion, this funk-fueled morality tale was also reportedly intended for a Spike Lee movie, Bamboozled. It's a warning to not lose yourself and look for truth, warning "for every soul, there's a buyer."

* CALHOUN SQUARE

The 1998 Crystal Ball track has a loose tone set by the studio chatter that introduces the track, as Prince advises a musician: "You're listening to the drummer, but you still wanna have fun. It shouldn't be work." Languid, funky bass and guitar lines turn into a roaring guitar rock chorus, a melange of everything Prince does best.

* WHAT'S MY NAME

Another gem on the four-CD Crystal Ball set, this is three angry minutes of muttered vocals and despair. "Take my fame / I can't use it / My girlfriend calls me lame / The game was over yesterday." The popping bass funk disintegrates into swirling, scratching chaos, sounding unlike anything else Prince has ever done.

* DOLPHIN

The rarely seen, filmed-in-one-take video from the 1995 album The Gold Experience is a revelation in itself, perhaps the most fun visual Prince has ever presented. Spurred by his business dispute with Warner Brothers, Dolphin is a song about standing your ground, laced with a soaring melody and stinging guitar solo. A tad overwrought, but fun.

* GOLD

Another classic from The Gold Experience finds Prince explaining to fans why he's fighting so hard for his art in a sweeping anthem reminiscent of his Purple Rain heyday. He also decries culture's obsession with money and youth: "What's the use of money if you ain't gonna break the mold? . . . What's the use in being young if you ain't gonna get old?"

* SAME DECEMBER

The best song off the overlooked 1996 Chaos and Disorder album, it's a mini-suite of styles with surging dynamics and the feel of an epic.

* A MILLION DAYS

A solemn ballad off the new Musicology album, it's full of loss and ache, underscored by a menacing electric guitar: "It has only been an hour since you left me / but it feels like a million days." It treads much the same ground as Prince's classic '84 B-side, 17 Days, but filled with more humility: "I didn't have the heart to say I'm sorry / Now I haven't got a heart at all."

* DEAR MR. MAN

Another Musicology track, one of the most political Prince has attempted since Sign O' the Times. "Ain't no sense in voting / Same soul with a different name / Might not be in the back of the bus / But it sure feels just the same."

http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/rocky_mountain_music/2009/01/vault_interview_of_the_day_pri.html

Prince's Sister Releases Gospel CD

2009-01-15T17:56:00.002+11:00

The sister of award-winning artist Prince has released her first gospel CD.

Most, however, will be wondering what kind of gospel it is that Tyka Nelson looks to share in A Brand New Me.

"I'm not really any religion,” she told columnist C.J. of the Star Tribune shortly before Christmas last month.

Though Nelson says she attends a Pentecostal church, she also says she studies with Jehovah’s Witnesses, the self-described “Christian” movement that has been denounced by major Christian denominations as either a cult or heretical sect.

“[S]o I say I'm Apostolic Pentecostal Jehovah's Witness Seventh-Day Adventist Jew," said Nelson, whose brother, Prince, is a devoted and outspoken follower of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Last month, Nelson’s new album was made available online at CDBaby.com, after about a month on ElectricFetus.com. Nelson also performed in Minneapolis with her band, The Word, to celebrate the release of her new CD.

Nelson is Prince’s only full sister and made her major label debut in 1988 with Royal Blue. Her second album, Yellow Moon Red Sky, was released on Ichiban Records in 1992.

http://christianpost.com/Entertainment/Music/2009/01/prince-s-sister-releases-gospel-cd-14/

Wendy & Lisa's new album

2009-01-14T10:13:00.002+11:00

In case you weren't aware, Wendy & Lisa have a new album on the way called "White Flags of Winter Chimneys".

As Retro Active expands its purview from the '80s to the '90s, it's somewhat appropriate that this post remarks on some folks who became massively popular in the '80s but who, oddly enough, didn't truly find their voice until the next decade.

Prince cohorts Wendy & Lisa have just released their first new album since 1998's Girl Bros. LP. Written and recorded as a form of creative catharsis after the death of Wendy's brother Jonathan Melvoin (Smashing Pumpkins), Girl Bros. had a spare, unfussy approach that, despite the pallor of despair that hung over it, managed to finally bring the essence of W&L's popcraft genius into focus.

Of course, it was released under the name "Girl Bros." not Wendy & Lisa, and was distributed through World Domination, a label whose name was more reflective of its endless ambition rather than its capabilities, so it generally escaped notice.

Which was truly unfortunate.

With its expansive and atmospheric acoustics-and-effects approach, Girl Bros. was decidedly adult-alternative in nature, but wholly blessed with an original sound that was far too quirky and dark for the Starbucks crowd, and closer in spirit to the mood set by artists like Lisa Germano. It was also, needless to say, light years away from "Raspberry Beret."

That approach continues on their latest album, White Flags of Winter Chimneys, exclusively via their Web site. (CDs and vinyl will be coming in March). Though - and thankfully for Wendy & Lisa - there's not quite as much sadness inspiring it, the new disc manages to take up nicely where the last one left off.

It's been said that the main thing Prince learned from Wendy & Lisa was how to "color" a song; maybe he could also stand to learn another lesson: when you wait a while between records - until you've actually got good songs that mean something to you - your albums come out of the oven sounding pretty fantastic. - Jason Ferguson

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2009/01/flannel_file_girl_bros_wendy_l.php

Jamie Foxx stand-up

2009-01-13T14:17:00.001+11:00

Meeting Prince...(not new just hilarious if you haven't seen this)

a classic moment:

Watch more NETLOG videos on AOL Video

Prince - The truth

2009-01-13T10:37:00.000+11:00



	Hear the documentary

Is Prince still worthy of his royal tag? That's what we're asking after his sell-out 21-date shows at London's O2 Arena.

1Xtra's Jenna G looks back at the career of one of the most important black musicians of all time and asks what makes him tick.

We explore his turbulent personal life, discover why he changed his name to a wordless squiggle in the 90's and the hits and misses in his music.

Hear from Prince himself as he explains the source of his own deviant imagination.

A word of warning though, this documentary refers to the sexual nature of Prince's lyrics. As a result some listener

http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/tx/documentaries/prince.shtml

Prince Throwing Golden Globes After Party Bash

2009-01-12T20:42:00.000+11:00

As you read this, things at Prince’s Golden Globes after party should just be starting to get into swing.

The Emmy’s last year sucked, but the party at Prince’s more than made up for it. The purple host should be entertaining winners and presenters (there are no losers if you are partying with Prince.) and others.

Prince recently announced to the L.A. Times that he is releasing 3 new cd’s in 2009, Lotus Flow3r, Mplsound and the project with Bria Valente. (Anyone hip to this site knew stuff was brewing long before anywhere. Not bragging, just making sure you are paying attention to this site.) You should also pay attention to Lotusflow3r.com, Prince’s official web site.

Here is the L.A. Times Prince interview part 1 and part 2 with Prince again to hold you over.

As for the retailer that will most likely distribute the new cd’s ,we have a pretty good idea as well as some others, but rather wait to give you the news when it has been finalized. Don’t call me a tease, cuz you know in the end, I intend to please.

While that happens, here is hoping sometime today, we have some sort of review for you all about the party. You know one thing, I will try.-Dr.FB

http://www.drfunkenberry.com/2009/01/12/prince-throwing-golden-globe-after-party/

One night with Prince

2009-01-09T10:40:00.000+11:00

Rockin' the limo, boudoir ballads, Prop. 8, Barry White, sex, faith, Pro Tools. Was it a dream?

It was 11 p.m. on the night before New Year's Eve, and I was doing something I hadn't expected would crown my 2008: sitting in Prince's limousine as the legend lounged beside me, playing unreleased tracks on the stereo. "This is my car for Minneapolis," he said before excusing himself to let me judge a few songs in private. "It's great for listening to music." He laughed. "I don't do drugs or I'd give you a joint. That's what this record is."

That morning I'd received an e-mail inviting me to preview new music at Prince's mansion in the celebrity-infested estate community of Beverly Park, where he's currently keeping his shoe rack. The summons wasn't entirely unexpected. Prince, who's less reclusive than his reputation would indicate, has spent a year and a half consulting with culture industry leaders and occasionally entertaining media types, with an eye toward taking complete control of his own musical output.

His new mantra is "The gatekeepers must change," and he's refashioned his career to become one of them.

Since beginning his gradual relocation from the Midwest to the Left Coast, Prince has headlined the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and 2007's Super Bowl halftime show. He sold out a 21-night run at London's O2 Arena and released an album, a high-end photo book and a perfume. Most recently, he's whetted fans' appetites with sneaks of songs from three upcoming releases, first on the popular "Jonesy's Jukebox" radio program on Indie 103 and then on two websites, the now-dark MPLSound.com and the still-evolving Lotusflow3r.com.

This flurry of activity has been characterized by what might be called methodical spontaneity. Everything happens quickly, whether it's a show that takes place only a few days after its announcement or an evening interview arranged that morning. But Prince's personality seems to be governed by two oppositional impulses: the hunger to create and an equally powerful craving for control. Intense productivity battles with meticulousness within his working process. Others might not anticipate his next move, but it is all part of the chess game for him.

That's why I was there, on the eve of a holiday eve, as the mainstream music industry was enjoying a break from its ongoing plunge toward insolvency. The turn of the year is a slow time for pop, not the moment blockbuster artists usually release material. But Prince has been hinting for a while that his upcoming recordings might not be tied to a conventional label. Abandoning that machine, including its publicity arm, requires other ways of getting the word out.

Prince began experimenting with new methods of distributing music more than a decade ago, and his early efforts with the now-defunct NPG Music Club paved the way for later bold moves by Radiohead and others. Most recently he's partnered with major labels to get copies into stores. Columbia handled the release of 2006's "Planet Earth," except in Britain, where copies were distributed free via a London newspaper, the Mail on Sunday.

Now Prince is about to unleash not one but three albums without major label affiliation, and talking to well-vetted writers is one part of the rollout. How well vetted? "You're blond," he said when we met. "I thought you were a redhead." (He'd done his research; I'd changed my hair color only the year before.)

When I entered the house, which has the vaguely European opulence of an upscale spa, I found Prince with designers Anthony Malzone and Scott Addison Clay, examining mock-ups for a "highly interactive" website. "It's a universe," said Malzone, showing how a mouse click could make the whole screen rotate. "There's a lyric in one of the new songs about an 'entirely new galaxy.' We took that cue, and from there on, we thought that everything would emanate from Prince."

The website, still under construction, revealed the recognizable logo of a major big-box retailer with whom Prince is finalizing negotiations to distribute the albums. The three will hit the Web and that retailer, the artist said, "as soon as the holidays are over."

I'd be hearing music from each of them.

"Let's go to my car," Prince said. "We'll listen to the first album there."

Religious perspective

Entering his garage, he ushered me into a low-slung black sports car that he's apparently named after his late friend Miles Davis. I strapped on my seat belt, but we didn't venture outside. Instead, Prince turned serious as he brought up a recent New Yorker article that had spun beyond his famously controlling grip.

"I want to talk about that interview," he said, gazing seriously over the steering wheel before turning on the music. He'd felt the writer had taken certain remarks he'd made -- particularly one about gay marriage that implied he was against it -- out of context. (The New Yorker stands by the story.)

"They try to take my faith. . . ." he said, his voice trailing off. "I'm a Jehovah's Witness. I'm trying to learn the Bible. It's a history book, a science book, a guidebook. It's all the same."

Prince's understanding of religion requires him to avoid political stands, including those that concern morality. "I have friends that are gay, and we study the Bible together," he said. He did not vote for Proposition 8, the referendum to make gay marriage illegal. "I don't vote," he said. "I didn't vote for Barack [Obama], either; I've never voted. Jehovah's Witnesses haven't voted for their whole inception."

Prince, who became a Jehovah's Witness in 2001 under the guidance of veteran bassist and songwriter Larry Graham, views everything through the lens of his religion. No topic -- sexuality, civil rights, his disdain for corporate pop -- comes up in which it doesn't play a role. Recounting a recent meeting with Earth, Wind and Fire singer Philip Bailey, for example, he commented that that group's penchant for Afrocentric garb revealed a lost history similar to the one uncovered in the Jehovah's Witnesses' version of the Bible.

Prince's statements can sound extreme to a secular listener. Some have accused him of trying to conceal his views to avoid alienating nonbelieving (and, particularly, gay) fans. But his desire to be tolerant seems sincere. His favorite television show, for example, is "Real Time With Bill Maher." Asked if the comedian's confrontational atheism bothers him, he harrumphed. "That's cool," said Prince. "He can be what he wants. I like arguments. Somebody saying I'm a terrible guitar player feeds me."

Prince's faith fulfills a yearning that his songs expressed long before he became devout: a need for some kind of ruling theory to explain the sorrow and violence that intertwines with life's joy. Songs as early as 1981's "Controversy" focus on a quest for God, and his catalog overflows with complex number and color systems, prophetic statements and disquiet about the fallen state of humanity. In his religion, he's found a code as inexhaustible as the one he was previously generating himself.

Which leads back to "MPLSound," the album Prince recorded by himself at Paisley Park studios mostly last year. "People ask me, 'Why don't you sound like you used to?' " he said by way of introduction. "But that music doesn't have any wave energy to it. It'll move a party, but that's not what I'm doing here."

These tracks did sound new in some ways: electronica-based, futuristic and subtly mind-altering. They also harked back to early Prince, including touchstones like "When Doves Cry" and "The Black Album." Some, like one about a "funky congregation," could become live show pieces. Others, like the playful "Hey Valentina," inspired by his friend Salma Hayek's baby, and the Space Age ballad "Better With Time" -- dedicated to another actress pal, Kristin Scott Thomas, who costarred in Prince's 1986 film, "Under the Cherry Moon" -- contained sounds that didn't seem possible to replicate anywhere but in Prince's imagination.

The key to this particular aural universe, it turns out, is the ubiquitous computer platform Pro Tools. Prince avoided the system for years. One thing he's truly moralistic about is the use of artificial vocal enhancement by subpar artists, which in his view has reduced mainstream pop to a "weak diet" of sugary junk. Yet he's unlocked new elements within the very control surfaces Pro Tools employs. Using both analog equipment and digital technology, Prince has come closer to the body-altering music he wishes to make.

"I'm interested in the inner workings of music, the effect on the body," he explained. "I'm trying to understand why we respond to beats differently." His former associate, the producer Terry Lewis, helped him realize Pro Tools might help. "Terry talked me into it. He said, 'Don't think of it as a digital machine,' " said Prince. " 'Don't play by its rules.' I just took it and started flipping things."

As the music played, Prince singled out a few lyrics. "The songs we sing lift us up to heaven," he said as a song espousing "old-school ways" played. "This one's about Babylonian tricks." Then the music ended, and we moved on to the next offering -- one that took us into Prince's bedroom.

Celebrating pleasure

Before the New Yorker piece, the biggest question about Prince's spiritual conversion concerned its effect on his own sexual expressiveness. No one in pop has written more powerfully about the transformative power of sex. His sometimes perverse, often humorous fairy tales opened up worlds of pleasure and possibility to listeners. After finding Jehovah, however, fans worried that he would denounce his most fruitful subject matter.

But a really powerful code can unlock anything. "I've studied Solomon and David now," Prince said, referring to two famous Old Testament lovemen. "[In biblical times] sex was always beautiful. You come to understand that, and then you try to find a woman who can experience that with you."

Songs on all three of Prince's new projects celebrate carnal pleasures, but the album he played in his white-carpeted bedroom explores the topic from top to bottom. It's "Elixir," the debut of Bria Valente, Prince's latest protégée. Valente grew up in Minneapolis and attended parties at Paisley Park as a teen, but she registered on Prince's radar in Los Angeles. A tall brunet with a smooth, delicate voice -- "she knows how to use her breath like I do on my falsetto, to make it glide over the track," he said -- she is Prince's collaborator, along with keyboardist Morris Hayes, in reviving the quiet storm sound.

"This might be my favorite," he said, playing a steamy ballad. "Remember those old Barry White records? A whole lot of people are gonna get pregnant off of this! I gotta call her." With that, he left me to contemplate Valente's "chill" songs, the heart-shaped mirror over his round bed and the large Bible on the nightstand.

It never became clear whether Valente is Prince's partner in more than an artistic way. Since meeting him, she has become a Jehovah's Witness. She lives just down the hill from Beverly Park, and later in the evening, she joined us at a nearby nightclub -- she's a friendly young woman who held her own in conversation with the superstar directing her career.

At the club, Prince carefully sat me between himself and Valente, only touching her once, when he gestured for her to accompany him to the front of the club to check out the noisy blues band rocking the crowd. Later, she laughed when he sneaked away to play a quick keyboard solo with the band. "He's like Velcro," she said. "Stuck to the stage."

Beautiful women always have been important in Prince's life, both as musical collaborators and as prominently displayed companions. He has been married twice, separating from his second wife, Manuela Testolini, in 2006. Now he carries himself with the exacting self-sufficiency of a middle-aged bachelor. Often citing famous beauties as close friends, he never mentioned a sexual conquest.

Whether or not he needs a day-to-day companion right now, Prince does seem to require a muse. Valente's project has allowed him to make more openly sensual music than anything else he's re- cently produced. He even took the high-fashion-style photographs that will adorn the CD booklet.

As her album played, he spoke of other female musicians he currently admires. "Have you heard Janelle Monae?" he asked. "She is so smart. How about Sia, do you like her?" The jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding was due to spend a few days with him later in the week. The names of previous collaborators peppered his conversation: the singers Tamar Davis and Shelby J., his old companions Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman.

For now, Valente is the conduit for Prince's female energy. Her music sounds contemporary but also connects to earlier Prince protégés like the Family and Taja Sevelle. Though he was quick to praise her songwriting abilities (and to point out that he helped her cement a good publishing deal), he spoke about her songs as they played, almost as if they were his own.

"The art of making records, I give it so much respect," he said as the album's final track, a New Age-flavored set piece about Valente's baptism, concluded. "But it gets trampled on for the sake of commerciality."

He led me back into the hallway. "Let's get in the limo to listen to the last one," he said.

An album's range

"Lotus Flow3r" will likely be greeted by Prince fans and the general public as the central product of his latest creative spurt. It's a full band album with a sound that ranges from cocktail jazz to heavy rock. The first track included the lyric his Web designer had mentioned about the expanding universe, while subsequent ones referred to traveling to other dimensions and transcending race.

Directing his driver to take us for a spin after leaving to change from black loungewear into a red suit, Prince explained that "Lotus Flow3r" began to emerge during the sessions for his 2006 album, "3121." Prince selected the best of his massive output for this release, delaying its finish until he was sure every element hung together.

"The thing that unites these songs is the guitar," he said. He'd fallen back in love with the instrument after playing in Davis' backup band during a 2006 tour. He singled out a vampy solo in the samba-influenced "Love Like Jazz." "When we do this live, that's going to go on forever," he said with a grin.

Positioning "Lotus Flow3r" as a rock record is a canny marketing move, given urban radio's current focus on hip-hop-defined samples and beats. This music sounds more organic, meant to be played live, and Prince is trying out players for a new band, ones who'll be able to grasp the tricky changes in the new songs. He makes decisions, he said, by "listening to the universe. If a name is mentioned to me three times, I know I need to check it out."

Whatever band he assembles will have to be able to leap from the light-stepping funk of the song simply titled "$," about "the most popular girl in the whole wide world," to the soul jazz of "77 Beverly Place," to the heavy-metal thunder of the album's title track. That song references both Carlos Santana and Jimi Hendrix, but asked about the influence of the latter rock god, Prince demurred. "I try to play guitar like singers I like," he said, later adding, "Don't you think journalists can be lazy, I mean, when they make comparisons?"

He delivered this criticism in a kind tone. Talk turned to the Internet and the need for musicians to claim a niche. "My audience is really big, though," he said. "And they're really easy to reach online. Everything has gone viral."

He continues to be firm on copyright issues -- "I made it," is his simple response to those who call him a hypocrite for restricting his material online even as he uses the Web for his own purposes -- but seems fairly open to trying new ways to promote his avalanche of music. "You can put in that I'd like to play the Troubadour," he said, though he hasn't made any arrangements for local club dates.

As the night wore to an end, the conversation turned free form, touching on topics ranging from Edie Sedgwick (he saw "Factory Girl") to Ani DiFranco (he loves her) to his favorite guitar (the blue and white Stratocaster he played during the Super Bowl, named "Sonny" after an early mentor). And then the limo pulled into the driveway.

He hugged me goodnight, and I got into my mud-stained Mazda Protege. Hugging the road down Mulholland Drive, I asked myself, "Did that really happen?" So many moments would seem fantastic in the retelling.

But then, as Beverly Hills became the Valley, I realized how carefully executed this visit had been. Each listening environment had been ideal: the close confinement of the sports car for the intense "MPLSound," the boudoir for "Elixir" and the classic rock star ride for the far-reaching "Lotus Flow3r." And though Prince had been open about many things, he's also an expert at wielding the phrase "off the record."

What I'd experienced was like a dream -- a dream Prince had designed just for me. Which is what he's been doing for his fans for 30 years.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/01/one-night-with.html

lotusflow3r.com updates...

2009-01-08T16:29:00.003+11:00

Opening sooner?

Looks like there is some work going on at Prince's official homepage, the text is usually rotating, now its a static image along the bottom of the page...while not a big update (and one you may have missed if i didn't point it out), it begs the question..will we see the site opening sooner than we all thought?

I certainly hope so!

Prince = Greatest Performace in Coachella's History

2009-01-07T22:12:00.001+11:00

(The Doctor’s words on this performance, added for the blind.) These are the many reasons Prince’s Coachella performance still should and needs to be released on DVD. The greatest performance in Coachella history. Prince has rocked every stage from a bowling alley to the Super Bowl stage. His performance at Coachella, no one could hold a candle to or even a lighter at the end of a “Purple Rain” solo. Prince proved on that night, under those stars, his star still shines bright, and perhaps somewhere, that maybe there is a planet Prince, because his performance was not of this world.

We share with you one of our all-time favorite reviews below (I did not write it) and it is with my deepest regret that I did not attend Coachella (ducks Prince’s cane) and may never live it down.

Enjoy the review regardless:

The superstar’s tremendous performance now stands as the greatest in Coachella history.

If you weren’t there – if you stayed home because the lineup just didn’t seem so great, because the triple-digit temps would just be too much, because you curiously lack an appreciation for what a masterful showman Prince continues to be 30 years on – well, this all may seem like hyperbole.

How Much Prince Is 2 Much?

2009-01-06T21:58:00.003+11:00

No one could ever accuse Prince of being lazy. The ultra-talented funkateer recently told the Los Angeles Times that he plans on releasing three albums in 2009, all of which will explore different musical ideas and all without any major label help. Two of the discs will be Prince affairs (the pop-oriented MPLSOUND and the guitar-heavy Lotus Flower), while the third, Elixir, is a Svengali job for some singer named Bria Valente.

Now I'm the kind of person who has seen Under A Cherry Moon multiple times and paid big money for both Crystal Ball and One Nite Alone...Live! (never heard of 'em? Exactly)--yet I find myself worried rather than excited about Prince's upcoming output.

His purple majesty has always been prolific. During the height of his popularity in the '80s, he was putting out an album a year when sales rivals like Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen were taking three and four years between studio releases. But that fecundity came with a cost. While Prince's music is never less than interesting, it isn't always great. The guy, it turns out, is human. By the mid-'90s, his flood of new material had drowned out casual listeners. Slowly but surely, the artist once known as TAFKAP became an underground phenomenon, his descent fuelled by rote R&B, hectoring lyrics, and jazz fusion excursions.

Then he was quiet--no new studio material arrived in the three years between 2001's The Rainbow Children and 2004's Musicology. But the latter, straightforwardly funky album was exactly what the mainstream wanted. Unsurprisingly, the ensuing tour and his induction into the Rock Hall of Fame helped transform Prince from gifted weirdo in the basement to beloved icon. Two more well-regarded albums (3121 and Planet Earth) followed in 2006 and 2007. And last year, Prince basked in the adoration of the indie crowd, blowing minds with an epic set at Coachella.

What all this means is that Prince has some goodwill capital to spend. I'd hate to see him blow it on genre exercises. Even if the music on the new albums is great, its impact will be blunted by its quantity. Unfortunately, when Prince competes against himself, there's a good chance no one will win.

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/spin/4068/how-much-prince-is-2-much/?page=3#comments

SPIN Review: Prince's 5 New Songs

2009-01-06T09:50:00.000+11:00

His last album, 2007's Planet Earth, was bundled for free with Sunday papers in London (the first single, "Guitar," was a Verizon exclusive). It's something of a shame that this is the only thing the album is remembered for because it was as good -- as distinctly Prince-like -- as he's sounded in years, stacked with languid funk jams and, like the song says, guitar.

So it's with equal parts surprise and, well, not, that the artist formerly known as the Artist Formerly Known As Prince picked ex-Sex Pistol Steve Jones' radio show on L.A.'s 103.1 to debut four tracks that may or may not appear on his next album, which he may or may not release himself.

And fitting, then, that the songs generally skew towards the rock end of the Prince spectrum. Most notable might be the frisky cover of Tommy James' "Crimson and Clover," which opens with the familiar chords in that warm, "Purple Rain" tone before getting thick and crunchy, with a dash of "Wild Thing" in there just to bring back those long-dormant Hendrix comparisons. The frenetic, "Crosstown Traffic"-biting "Wall of Berlin" should keep those coming.

"Forever" -- sorry, "4ever" -- is pure mid-tempo pop that doesn't really stick to the ribs after a few, admittedly perfunctory listens.

"Colonized Mind" is the resident slow jam, pondering spirituality and the skewering the music industry in the same verse, then climaxing in a frenzy of overdubbed guitar solos.

A fifth subsequently leaked track, the six-minute "There Will Never B Another 1 Like Me," is solid dance-funk Prince, although the line "checked my e-mail to see where the party be" might be the most patently unsexy of his career. The mundane vision of our purple minx logging into gmail is countered by the revelation of his hair-grooming secret. (Olive oil!)

Worth noting: This sneak preview comes courtesy of Jonsey's on-air cohort Mr. Shovel, and there's no official word as to where these songs might eventually materialize beyond the low-fi radio rips floating around right now.

All in all, these feel like refreshing throwback tracks -- but that's what we said about Planet Earth and even Musicology before that. There's something about Prince's willful iconoclasm that seems to get in the way of his reaching the Revolution-era glory we all seem to want from him. As if it were what we wanted that counts.

http://www.spin.com/blog/review-princes-5-new-songs

Prince One Step Closer to Over-Saturating the Internet with New Music

2009-01-06T09:46:00.000+11:00

We may have already fudged up our New Year's resolutions by napping through spin class and substituting pudding for dinner for the last four out of five days. Prince, however -- being the magical, too-rad-to-be-human pop icon that he is -- is already making good on his.

Fresh from announcing plans to self-release three whole new albums in 2009, the Purple One has launched a new website, LotusFlow3r.com. The site features streaming tracks (which you may remember from a few weeks ago), a wee Purple Rain screencap and Prince's usual disregard for the fact numbers are not, in fact, interchangeable with the alphabet. And, in time, the site promises to become the go-to spot for purchasing his three new albums (and not healing runes and guardian angel bookmarks as the iTunes-meets-new-age-bookstore artwork might suggest).

Recently, Prince revealed to the L.A. Times that two of the upcoming records are under the working titles MPLSOUND and Lotus Flower. MPLSOUND -- a vowels-optional reference to the star's Minneapolis turf -- is said to be "electro-flavoured" Prince. As for Lotus Flower, the Times says that the purple-hazy guitar tracks leaked in late December -- including "Crimson and Clover," "Colonized Mind" and "Wall of Berlin" -- are expected to appear on that disc.

No word yet as to when the full albums will surface, but new songs "Crimson and Clover," "There Will Never B Another 1 Like Me" and "Here Eye Come" are currently streaming online at LotusFlow3r.com

http://www.dose.ca/music/story.html?id=44da23e5-e54b-4767-a236-f7ecf06184b5

2009-01-06T09:31:00.001+11:00

Two new articles on upcoming albums

MTV.CO.UK: Prince Launches Protege

Rolling Stone: This music is nasty, but it’s not dirty

Face Down Under 09'

2009-01-05T22:48:00.000+11:00

We're back!

After a little while in the internet wilderness we are back online and ready for Prince 09!

I've personally relocated to Italy (ironic how im running an aussie fansite lol, but somebody's go to do it), and now that im getting my internet sorted out here i'll be able to update regularly.

While the site layout may have changed (blogging), its still the same friendly site you know and love. And if you miss the old site its still here...link to your right!

Dont forget to join our forums and comment on the stories!

Thanks Aussies!

New Site...new song

2009-01-05T22:16:00.000+11:00

Another song has surfaced, entitled: "HereEyeCome".

Its streaming right now on LotusFlow3r

Prince opens brand new official website (finally)

2009-01-05T21:22:00.000+11:00

http://www.lotusflow3r.com/

Well folks after years in the wilderness our favourite purple man has finally decided to open an official website in preperation for the upcoming new albums.

Dont get your hopes too high though, its mearly an opening teaser page, streaming a few tracks (posted one story under)....

While the teaser is sparse at the moment it promises sevral important features...

NEW Music
Pre-order concert tickets (!!)
Buy/watch videos

Well if those features aren't enough to wet your whistle i dont know what will.

Keep an eye on our site for updates!

New Prince Songs from forthcoming triple album release...

2009-01-05T21:10:00.000+11:00

Ok boys and girls, the floodgates are opening for the new Prince album...and here is a special sneek preview...of 5 (yes five) new tracks...will they or wont they all appear on the new albums?

Wall Of Berlin:

Crimson & Clover:

(There'll Never B) Another Like Me

4ever

Colonized Mind

Prince convicted, found guilty of plagiarism!

2009-01-05T20:53:00.000+11:00

Making headlines (well in the music press) here in Italy is the sensational news that Prince has been convicted of plagiarisim. His huge hit "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World" from his album, "The Gold Experience" has apparently borrowed heavily from the track "Takin' me to paradise", a recording from 1983 mind you.

A link to the track in question is posted below, and i can tell you it sounds nothing like TMBGITW.

Original article:

Roma, 23 dic. - (Adnkronos) - Prince messo alle corde da due autori italiani. Dopo il caso clamoroso della causa di Al Bano a Michael Jackson, stavolta e' uno dei musicisti piu' apprezzati del mondo a finire nell'occhio del ciclone dei plagi. Il genio di Minneapolis e' stato dichiarato colpevole di plagio ai danni di due autori italiani: a darne notizia in esclusiva e' il numero di "Musica & Dischi", la 'bibbia' della discografia italiana, dove viene riportato il testo della sentenza della Corte d'appello di Roma, in cui il brano "The most beautiful girl in the world", firmato da Prince e pubblicato nel 1993, viene dichiarato plagio del decisamente meno noto "Takin' me to paradise", composto 10 anni prima da due autori italiani, Bruno Bergonzi e Michele Vicino e regolarmente depositato presso la Siae.

Anche le edizioni Chappell sono state riconosciute vincitrici della vertenza. Il brano di Bergonzi e Vicino era stato inciso, senza grande esito commerciale, da Rainard J. Pur non essendo ancora nota l'entita' dei danni che dovranno pagare la star, al secolo Roger Nelson, e gli editori del brano, si tratta comunque di una vittoria su tutta la linea per i due autori italiani: i giudici hanno riconosciuto come fondata la richiesta avanzata di risarcimento, poiche' il pezzo di Prince "affida quasi esclusivamente il proprio dato caratterizzante ad un'unica melodia ripetuta numerose volte", ed il refrain di "Takin'me me to paradise" e' effettivamente identico alla melodia di "The most beautiful girl in the world".

http://www.adnkronos.com/IGN/Spettacolo/?id=3.0.2845048053

here is a link to the track in question:
http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/contplay/index.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fprince.org%2Fmsg%2F7%2F292658%3F%26pg%3D3

Prince plans three albums in 2009

2009-01-05T19:35:00.000+11:00

Rock star Prince says he wants to release three albums in 2009 - without the help of a record label.

The musician told the LA Times he was in "final negotiations" with a major US retailer to distribute the music, which will also be made available online.

Four guitar-heavy new songs were premiered on Los Angeles radio station Indie 103 shortly before Christmas.

They included a cover of Tommy James and The Shondells' Crimson and Clover and a blues jam called Colonized Mind.

These tracks will form part of an album called Lotus Flower, according to LA Times journalist Ann Powers, who was summoned to Prince's mansion to hear the new material.

"Needless to say, it was an amazing experience," she wrote on the newspaper's website.

Sade influence

Powers said Prince's second album marked a return to the electronic sound of When Doves Cry.

Called MPLSOUND - a reference to the star's hometown of Minneapolis - it includes a duet with A Tribe Called Quest rapper Q-Tip and Prince experimenting with "new ways of recording".

The 50-year-old said his third record of 2009, a seductive collection with vocals by new protege Bria Valente, was recorded because "we got sick of waiting for Sade to make a new album".

However, fans know that Prince's ambitious plans often get discarded or forgotten about as his attention wanders.

The prolific musician's career is littered with unfinished, abandoned and radically altered records - most famously 1987's Black Album, which was withdrawn just weeks before its release.

Sign O' The Times, considered by many to be Prince's career highpoint, was itself a compilation of tracks intended for three separate projects - Dream Factory, Crystal Ball and Camille.

His last album, Planet Earth, was given away free in the UK with The Mail On Sunday newspaper in 2007.

Some of the new recordings have been previewed on a characteristically mysterious website called mplsound.

He told Powers he was pressing ahead without the support of a record label because "the gatekeepers have to change".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7808098.stm