every new beginning...

okay so this will be an amusing mess.

I hope for better, but have finally concluded that all these stories in my head need to be outside it somewhere.

I've dropped scraps and shreds at various places, but this will be the one page to try and remember it all on.

I've been a Prince fan since growing up in Minneapolis with KDWB and WLOL radio playing the "Minneapolis sound" in the 1980s made me one. U Got The Look, The Glamorous Life, LRC, 1999, The Bird, Delirious, I Feel For You, Manic Monday, Raspberry Beret. Mmmmmm.

I remember it started to be more than just a passing thing when the single New Power Generation got regular airplay. I knew Prince songs before, but just the radio ones, and the ones they played at the roller skating rink over in Coon Rapids. This new song felt like it came from inside me somehow.

The lyric, the idea, the ferocity of the performance, all of this spoke to my inner teenager craving rebellion and anarchy. This was also in the timeframe of the first Gulf War, so the idea of "making love and music the only things we're fighting for!" had extra appeal among us budding proto-hippies.

I soon enough bought the Graffiti Bridge soundtrack on cassette and proceeded to wear that thing out. I even made a mark with my fingernail on the little clear window in the middle of the tape so I could know just where to rewind it to and hear SHAKE! by The Time.

I grew to love that tape because of the openly acknowledged awkward relationship with a father figure that the voiceover introduction shared with me. I felt like if Prince could have a weird relationship with his father, or even just The Kid from the movie, maybe I wasn't such a misfit weirdo after all. I mean, look at Prince being awesome. If he came from a messed up beginning and grew up to be okay, maybe someday somehow I'll be okay, too!

The story continues through my appreciation for the Batman soundtrack.

There are plenty of stories to tell.

I just had to get started.

I attended 12-15 or more events at Paisley Park over the years. With the help of numerous references online and offline, I'm gonna try to zoom in on each of those experiences and get them down in text so that I don't forget them, and maybe someone else will appreciate them too. Anything's possible, right?

I also read some of my crappy teenaged poetry at the Neo Manifesto poetry readings at the NPG store in Uptown Minneapolis between 1994-1996. We were there once a month for more than a year. I can remember some of the faces I saw turn out regularly for those events, also.

And of course there are plenty of other memories to pepper in from all sides and angles.

I can't let any more of these memories slip into the past. I have to try and nail them down in words.

Thank you, internet and world at large, for showing me how much we all love Prince.

I intend to do anything I can to add to the celebration.

Peace and B wild!